Stephan Bates
A wonderful trip to Dac Danh Vietnam

Dear Mr Dac Danh

We have recently arrived back home in England following our tour of Vietnam and Cambodia with your company and felt we must write to you to let you know what a fantastic time we had in your beautiful country. We were thoroughly impressed with all our guides and drivers with their knowledge, consideration and professionalism. Everyone we met in Vietnam was extremely friendly and welcoming.

In particular we would like you to pass on our grateful thanks to Mr. Ky in Ho Chi Minh city who was extremely knowledgeable and a wonderful ambassador for your country. We will certainly be recommending his services to any friends of ours who may be visiting in the future.

Please also pass on our good wishes to Cheng in Cambodia and Cam in Hue - both of whom made our visits to their areas extremely enjoyable.

Finally may we also ask you to pay a particular thanks Hoa in Hanoi for making the last few days of our stay so memorable and also amusing. He was a great guide and good company, we hope one day to be able to return to Hanoi and hope that Hoa may be able to be our guide for a trip into Sapa. We shall certainly be recommending him to friends.

Many, many thanks for all your assistance and looking forward to seeing you again some time in the future when we return to Vietnam again.

Yours sincerely,

Gordon and Elaine Ashton
Our Holiday

Ms Hang Vo !

We have just returned home after a month away and one of the first things I wanted to do was thank you for the wonderful 8 days you had organised for us.

Everything was better than expected and we will be telling our friends and family to be in touch with you whenever they go to vietnam.

We will be touch for our return visit next year

Thank you again

Gordon and Elaine Ashton

karen toft
Thank you

Hi Winston – a note of thanks for our wonderful trip to Vietnam. Everything went without a hitch – absolutely superb !!! The guides were fantastic as was the country and all the places we went and people we met. The trip covered a variety of sites, activities and experiences so I congratulate you on organizing it for us.

I have only one comment to make and that’s regarding tipping the tour guides. As we don’t tip in Australia , nor do the Vietnamese, but considering the poor wages we had no idea what to tip and we couldn’t tip the guide without the driver. Perhaps giving some guide to future travelers would be of benefit. We overtipped in the beginning but got it figured out by the end after asking Mr Danh & Mr Trang. Also we weren’t sure about tipping the boat drivers considering we were the only ones on the boat eg on Perfume River and Halong Bay.

This is a trivial issue in the big scheme of things so I want to make more the point about the fabulous timing and thought you put into our time there. Again , many thanks.

Regards………..karen Toft & Clive Hockey

Annikki and Pierre
Indochina Customized Tour ( Nov 11th 06 ) /Mr. Pierre Herbert / Tour Report from Pierre

Hello Mr Dac Danh,

Annikki and I hope you are very well and we wish you, according to our western calendar, a very Happy New Year for 2007 and a lot of success for TNK Travel.

We came well home thru Malaysia and have been very busy since. But we promissed you a short report and comments on our beautiful trip thru your country and the two neighboring ones. Here it is:

First we must thank you again for a well organized tour, showing many highlights. Also, we have to confirm that the tour guides you selected for us have been very punctual, very friendly and had sufficient knowledge of the place and customs to make us enjoy every day.

Nhi for the Mekong Delta, Heng for Phnom Penh, Phin Borey for Siem Reap, "Jack"for Houen Xai to Loang Prabang, Khamtam in Vientiane, Tranh in Hanoi, Thinh in Lao Cai, Huy in Hue and Tong in Ho Chi Minh City, all have been doing an excellent job.Some were very knowledgeable in history like Phin Borey and Huy, which is always very appreciated by us.

The hotels were confortable enough. Luxury is not what we wanted but being in a genuine local environment. But in Chau Doc, the Ben Da Nui Sam Resort was situated in front of the loudspeaker broadcasting political news at night and early in the morning, which made resting impossible. In the early morning, at breakfast, the staff was bringing a very frugal breakfast and refused to bring a second cup of coffee...That hotel we cannot recommend. In Vientiane, the Lane Xang hotel is old and we got a small, rundown room. We called the agent Max and he rectified for a Superior room. In Ha Noi, the Army Hotel was OK but a bit "cold"! All hotel were situated at convenient distance from points of interest, so that was a plus.
We can especially recommend the Asia Hotel in Hue for its friendly atmosphere, its situation on the Perfume river, its comfort and breakfast.
Pakbeng Lodge on the Mekong is also to be recommended for the same reasons.

Meals were mostly adequate, some excellent like the ones on the Huong Hai junk on the Ha Long Bay.

Otherwise, we have the following recommendations:

1. In the Mekong Delta, a visit on one of the Cai Rang Market boats would be very interesting to speak with the boat people and see how they organize their living onboard.

2. In Ankor, before entering the temple area, we had to wait on line 1 1/2 hour (taking a pass photo and making the day pass). If the visitor was told in advance to bring one pass photo, it would speed up the entry.
Also in Ankor, you may forget the sunset at Phnom Bakheng because the crowds are too big now and the lookout totally disorganized.

3. In Ha Long, the crowds are also big now and...nearly 200 junks departing at about the same time...!!!
Unless the captain of your junk is given instructions to avoid the crowd, your visitors will be soon on line or in a pack to visit anything. We interviewed several locals and captains. Alltogether, there are nearly 600 junks now!

In a summary, we really enjoyed both the way Mr Dzung Trinh, yourself and your staff organized and followed up our tour, how you friendly treated us as customers, we met many other friendly persons along the trip, we discovered the sceneries and features of cultures that made our tour a permanent emotion that we still enjoy.

We wish you much success for this year!

Kind regards to you, to Mr Dzung Trinh and your staff.

Pierre and Annikki

Andrea
Mekong Delta tour (Oct)/ Andrea

Dear Hang
Hello,

Just a quick email to say thank you for arranging this trip. We just got back and it was excellent.
I would recommend your service to my friends and colleagues.
Thank you,

Andrea

A Bergman
Customized tour

My wife and I had a wonderful 15 days tour in Vietnam. It was a private customized tour, just for the two of us.

During the itinerary setup, Mr. Dzung Trinh was very helpful in meeting our specific requirements.

All went very smoothly and according to the plan.

Thanks a lot for the wonderful Vietnamese experience.

A. Bergman (Tel Aviv, Israel)

Ho Dac Nguyen
thank you !

I knew TNK since 3 years.Just one word for those who read this message :You can really trust them !!!!
Special thanks to Mrs Pham Nhu,Miss Thao,M.Duy !!!
Rendez-vous to the next year !

Ho Dac Nguyen

The Kane family
A wonderful experience with TNK travel (January 2009)

Our family of 4 just came back from first ever trip to Vietnam (18 days). We chose TNK Travel and it was a great trip. I wanted to thank TNK and to share our experience with future prospective travelers.

We started the planning almost a year ago. I must say we were hesitant at first and concerned about choosing a reliable travel agency. I read a lot on the internet (e.g. tripadvisor .com) before identifying a few prospective travel agencies. I then asked for an initial quote from my top 3 choices. TNK was the middle quote but what I liked about them was the level of detail in their initial proposal. I then looked at their guestbook and selected 17 people worldwide who recently travelled with them and emailed each of them to ask about their experience. Every single one of them responded and all were very positive about TNK. This made me comfortable with the idea of having to send money upfront to book a trip in an unknown country where I would have no recourse if dealing with an unethical company. With TNK, everyone assured me that once an itinerary is finalized, the company will do whatever is needed to deliver on its promises and to make it a pleasant experience, and they sure did in our case.

Over the following month, I exchanged several emails with Mr. Dsung Trinh, the Managing Director, to modify the original proposal based on my research about the sites we wanted to see. For example, we removed Sapa from the itinerary because the Northwest is quite cold in January, but added Phu Quoc Island instead. In the end, we agreed on a price for the revised itinerary, and I paid the customary 30% deposit by credit card (with a 3% fee). From that point-on, I dealt with Mr. Dac Dahn in their operations department who always promptly answered my numerous enquiries via email, and sent me hotel vouchers and e-tickets confirmation from air travel within Vietnam, as well as the invitation letter for the Visa. Fast forwarding to the end of the year when our trip began:

We landed roughly on schedule in Hochiminh on Dec. 31st in the evening and had to wait an hour or so (not ideal after a long flight from the U.S.) to get our visa on arrival ($25 per person in cash). Once we exited immigration and customs, our guide (J.J.) and driver were there to greet us with a sign bearing our name. They took us to our hotel. Because of the traffic, we ended up being in the center of the city near the cathedral at midnight, surrounded by thousands of motorcycles ringing their horns when the near year arrived (quite a cultural experience). From there on, the entire trip was very pleasant (I will post details on the hotels on tripadvisor.com). We visited Saigon (and stopped by the TNK office to pay the balance of the trip), the Mekong Delta, Phu Quoc, PanThiet/Mui Ne, Da Lat and Nha Trang by private van and boats with J.J. (who was excellent, paying attention all the time to what we liked and making sure we would always have it). We almost missed the speedboat from Rach Gia to Phu Quoc, because the itinerary was 30 minutes off. As a result, we couldn’t have a scheduled lunch, but TNK compensated us with an excellent previously unplanned dinner in Hue. J.J. ordered a van with more legroom when we returned from Phu Quoc to HCMC (we flew back), arranged for a small canoe to pick-us up and take us to our hotel in Cantho where we were stuck in traffic on the way to the ferry, etc…Then we flew to Danang and were greeted by our new guide Tui (Mr. Dac Dahn had kindly arranged for French speaking guides at the other locations at our request), and from there visited Hoi An, My Son and Hue, Tui was excellent as well, very knowledgeable and helped us solve an issue we had with a tailor-made suit. In Hoi An, the reservation was not a river view room, but after contacting Mr. Dac Dahn generously agreed to pay the difference and we were upgraded accordingly (we had insisted on 2 deluxe rooms with sea/river/lake views everywhere) and I had not noticed it was not the case at that location. We then flew to Hanoi which we visited with our last guide (Mr. Lan, who was OK but not as good as the first 2), and went from there to Halong Bay for a memorable 2-day cruise, then flew back to HCMC, stayed overnight near the airport and had an early morning flight back to the U.S. On returning to HCMC, no driver was there to greet us, we were told after we called the agency that he was stuck in traffic due to an accident. We took a taxi to the nearby hotel, and the driver who picked-us up in the morning for our return flight to the US. reimbursed us more than we had actually paid for the taxi. We didn’t have to pay a departure tax, it was apparently already included in our plane tickets.

Overall, a great trip thanks to the logistics, efficiency and professionalism of the TNK staff and agents. Food was excellent (though too copious for us, we always have festive lunch menus booked by TNK with 6 or 7 courses in nice restaurants (included in the price), nice buffet breakfasts in most hotels. The only problem (which is beyond TNK’s control) was insufficient hot water in many hotels for two people to take showers one after the other), a really bad road with big holes when exiting MuiNe to go to Da Lat and a third guide in the north who took us to a number of expensive stores along the road when we saw much cheaper prices elsewhere (we suspect he had a kick-back from these stores (but to his credit, he advised us to see the anthropology museum in Hanoi instead of a couple of extra pagodas, which we really enjoyed). Other than these minor opportunities for improvement, we had great hotel rooms with very nice views (important to us), good weather, good food, good guides and drivers (who seemed satisfied with the tips we gave them), and we were taken to all the places agreed-to on the itinerary. For those who do not feel adventurous enough to be on their own in Vietnam, we do strongly recommend TNK travel as an ideal, reasonably-priced solution. You can count on them for a memorable and pleasant trip. One final comment, although you can pay everything in Vietnam in US dollars or Euros, prices are cheaper if you pay in Dongs (local currency, FX at 17.3 VND/USD on the average during our trip, calculated at 15 by the stores if you pay in USD). Also a word of caution, Vietnam Airlines only allows 20 kg for a checked suitcase and 7 kg for a carry-on so travel light……

If you are thinking of going and have any question about our experience, don’t hesitate to contact me at dkane@mmm.com.

Our sincere thanks to MM. Trinh, Danh and the entire TNK staff for a wonderful trip. The Kane family (Austin, TX, USA)

Annette - Taipa Area School, NZ
Holiday in Vietnam

I recently spent time in HCMC and surrounding areas on a school history trip which had 10 travellers on board. We searched the web and found AnAn2 hotel, (whom we booked a few days) they forwarded our itinerary ideas to TNK Travel. Within a short time and some emails between TNK & us, we had our itinerary set with a budget direct from Vietnam which could not be beaten in NZ. Arriving at the airport we met our fabulous tour guide. He had so much information and answered all of our questions in English. He was never late and offered us a few extra stops and changed a few things as we wished. Vietnam is a most extroadinary place to visit the people have big hearts, and nothing is too much trouble as we dsicovered at the hotels and restaurants we visited which had been booked by TNK. The food was delicious whereever we were. TNK's driver got us from A-Z without a hitch in a country where driving would be a challenge for most visitors. When outside HCMC TNK had other tour guides to meet us, equally with plenty of information on the area we were visiting, I would recommend both TNK Travel and AnAn2 hotel (which is right next door) to anyone visiting Vietnam. They are situated in the heart of District 1 HCMC where there is an array of street life 24/7. We had a great trip and I would like to return.

Kurt Ulrich
2 weeks Mekong delta tour and Phu Quoc island

Dear TNK Team, dear Luu vo

I visit in the last 2 years alone or with group tours many times Vietnam.
Last trip in 2007 I fund for the Mekong delta tour a tour operator in Phnom Penh and partner office in Chau Doc, Vietnam.
This tour was very cheap but!!! also very simple in service, accommodations, food and organization!
This year in February I had a group of 10 Swiss guests and I was happy to here from TNK travel agency in Saigon.
The secretary Luu vo was a great organizer and she send me quickly a package of a tour around the Mekong Delta during 2 weeks.
We had our private guide Mr. Ky, a friendly Vietnamese. He had doing for us the best job and he show us beautiful famous places away from the big tourist groups.

Two destinations was not so good standard and could be better for next time!
We would enjoy in Can Tho one night in homestay leaving but the bungalows was not only very old, there was not clean and during the night we had no water!
A similar situation we fund on the island Phu Quoc in the Tropical Resort. One of the nicest place so close to the beach under a lot of palm trees, but the quality of the bungalows was less then medium.

Anyway all of my guests enjoy this Vietnam trip and we can recommend TNK one of the best tour operator in Vietnam.

Thanks so much. Kutschi