We’ve just welcomed one of our clients back from Cambodia & Vietnam. Here are a few of her remarks on the trip!
We had a fantastic time and everything seemed to work like clockwork. We had a great start from the beginning, by getting an upgrade to business class, which we also got on our return flight to England. All this made a great start and end to our holiday. I don’t think my boys want to travel any other way. It made a great difference and we arrived both sides of the journey much livelier and not so jet-legged.
We loved Siem Riep and Angkor Wat, which was sometimes hard work, but going back to our lovely hotel, refreshing ourselves in the pool made everything quite easy. We had one afternoon when the heavens opened and so we took refuge in a restaurant, had lunch and a couple of beers and watched the world go by in the rain, it was quite interesting to see nothing stops, even in a monsoon!
The flights with Vietnamese Airlines were great as well, always on time and no problems at all, actually more like bus-services. You got your bottle of water and off we went, I think Ryan Air could learn from them!
Now to our transfers and guides, you couldn’t have chosen a better company. Our first guide in Cambodia was a lovable rogue with a great sense of humour, which appealed very much to our sons and to us. Always ready with a story to tell, about his country and his king he made hours of sightseeing quite easy and fun. He was very sensitive towards the boys and often suggested breaks and a couple of hours swimming in-between excursions to more temples, which made it much easier for us, no moaning children.
Saigon was a real hit with everybody, first we were shocked by the volume of the traffic, 1000s of scooters everywhere, but it was fun and exciting. Our guide Jon was brilliant, always a smile on his face and many stories to tell, he was very quickly our favourite guide. I can’t tell you how impressed we were about his knowledge and how much we learned from him, there was never a dull moment. He gave us fantastic tips on restaurants, where to shop or just to get a nice cup of coffee. I also have to praise the drivers, the best ever in Asia, there was never a moment we didn’t feel safe in the hands of these guys.
Jon’s enthusiasm for his country was very infectious and helped us to get as much as possible out of this trip. The boys loved him for his stories and his fun, there was never a complaint or moan. We all were very sorry to lose him when we moved on to Hue.
Again, Hue was brilliant as well, quite a lot to see and very hot and humid, so one day lying by the pool, doing nothing was very welcome! The guide was very informative, he knew his city very well and had lots to tell about the Vietnam War and showed the boys the bullet holes from the battle in the palace. Very exciting! The hotel we stayed was absolutely beautiful, I had never stayed anywhere with a Art Deco theme before and expected to see Hercule Poirot to come around the corner any moment.
We loved Hoi An, especially the longish stay by the pool. This time we did organise the sightseeing ourselves, not more then 1-2 hours a day, we had to promise. The restaurants were one of the best here, after Saigon. Hoi An is a lovely place and we enjoyed our stay very much.
The Evason hotel in NaThrang was big winner, the accommodation was brilliant, staff very courteous and ever so helpful and the nicest thing of all was our upgrade to the Hideway hotel which was amazing. Quite decadent, you should see the size of the villas, which we had two of. We had one rainy day, but it didn’t matter. We still went snorkeling, had a trip to the Spa, which was amazing and whiled the day away with reading and doing not much else. In the evening we had to be picked up by our butler, she had to take us by golf buggy to the restaurant, which normally is undertaken by bike. This all added to the charm and fun of this hotel and was a great way to end our time in Vietnam.
