The V'Explore team

Many people have asked me what tour company they should use. There are many companies in Vietnam. So many in fact, it can become a daunting task to find one. In the 14 years I have been traveling to Vietnam, I have used a number of different local tour companies. Why Local? Because you can get a much better deal than having your overseas tour company do it. Many overseas companies simply contract your group tour to a company located in Vietnam, and make a commission without doing much of the work or planning. There are many local tour companies that can be found on internet forums. Many of them have a reputation they wish to maintain, and specialize in a region where they will personally guide you. They can be a good choice but do a little research. Some of

Vuong Nghia, Hau, Joy and I

them have a lot of cheerleading going on where none should exist, others on the forums are agents that contract the work out to individual guides and make their profits from commissions. Again do some research n them. Many of them simple just hire un tested guides and leave you in their care. The best of the best tour companies have very high standards and are meticulous to a customers needs. Here is where I would like to introduce you to the tour company I personally use, and my now good friends.

In the top picture:1^st row, Mr. Long next is Mr. Fu (the owner of our land tour in Cambodia) then Mr. Thavin (the owner of our land tour in Laos) then Mr. Tung our operator in Ha Noi.2^nd row, from the left hand of Mrs. Linh (Nghia’s wife) is Ms. Trang, next is Thanh then Quyen, Lien , Mrs. Tuyet (Our operator in Hue).

From the right hand of Linh is Ms. Binh, then Ms. Dung then Ha (with her baby)who is now our tour operator in Ha Noi.

Please be advised that I do not work for, or am paid by V’EXPLORE Travel. I write this because this is my honest opinion.

http://visitindochina.net/index.php Check out the homestay in Mekong Delta. That is Owee and Ca’rot in the small boat.

Hau and Nghia turning a wake into a good time

I suggest contacting my good friend Hau, just tell him you found him through me or the Tide Hotel and he will give you his personal attention

Hau Nguyen (Mr.)

Sales Department.

Skype: nguyenthaihau1   hau@vexploretravel.com

Now let me tell you a bit about my friends both personally and professionally. I first was introduced to the owner Nghia and his general manager Hau in the winter of 2008. I had a group of 16 co-workers and friends that thought it a great opportunity to travel to Vietnam with

No traffic where we are

someone who knew the country. I had the destinations in mind, but did not want to use any of the companies from the past because of poor travel experiences. Two of them were big name companies that I see references to a lot of time in the travel forums. I did some research on the Trip Advisor forums and sought out an advisor such as myself for his opinion and experience on the company he had used. Through him (now a good friend), I was introduced to V’EXPLORE. I sent a list of destinations, and a schedule that I wanted all of them to fit into. To my surprise, he replied very quickly with the first draught of an itinerary that was very close to what I had in mind. Aha!! I thought. If these people could come in with a decent price, it looked like I found the right company. Trying to organize a country wide trip on my own was exhausting and difficult to do. We went back and forth until the details were

Always eat too much

worked out and it was time for a price. To my amazement, they came in not only lower than I had costed on doing it on my own…… but much lower. I had told them the star rating of the hotels I wanted, the places I wanted to go that were different from most tours. They seemed to have built almost the perfect trip. Hau and Nghia met our group at the airport and escorted up to our hotel. We did not see them again until the end of our trip, and we spent an evening of eating, drinking and fun before leaving. There were a few emergencies, and they were able to change on the fly. We even had one of our party pass away in Hanoi, and they came through with flying colors. I have now been on a number of tours with them and am currently planning another adventure for Feb of 2011.

Here are a few things that set them above other companies:

A wave from Nghia

They only use accredited and licensed guides.

All guides are personally interviewed and assessed for English ability.

Only new vehicles in good condition are used.

All trips are custom built for you at the budget level you wish.

They are able to get accommodation and transfer prices lower than you can yourself.

They assure that all of the meals included on your tour are in quality establishments that are safe to eat.

If anything…. And I mean anything happens and you have to make changes to your itinerary, they can handle it. It happened to me.

The group V'Explore arranged the tour for.

Nghia and Hau are now very good friends and we spend time together going on adventures whenever we have the time to get together. I have met many of their staff and have been impressed by the honest, good nature, and their hard working spirit.

If you are planning a tour, Email them and have them custom build one to your tastes. I would not recommend them unless I was 100 percent satisfied. I also have a reputation to maintain.

In my next post, I will suggest an itinerary that will take a tourist to fantastic destinations mostly undiscovered by tourists. I might even be convinced to be a guide for such a tour.

Mekong attraction

In the mid 2000’s Vietnam seemed to discover the tourist dollar. The government let it be known to the people that tourism and the foreigners that were to come with it, will be welcomed and anybody causing us difficulties would be dealt with. It is now 2010 and Tourism has flourished. Most cities have developed areas that foreigners stay and around them has developed a tour industry that may surpass anything similar in other countries. There is heave competition for the tourist dollar and a person can get extremely good deals on travel and accommodation to many places. With the increase of tourist traffic, the ever industrious Vietnamese have introduced services that can be quite unique and exactly what a budget traveler is looking for.

First let us address tours:

Many people are overwhelmed by the amount of information that comes

In Binh Quoi resort

 their way when searching for a company. Many of them are good and will do anything to satisfy the customer. There are some that are not, but a little homework will ensure you make the correct choice. All reputable tour companies use guides licensed by the government. They will display their licenses around their necks at all times when escorting guests. They are charged to keep you safe and visit establishments that have acceptable standards for a foreigner. The last thing you want is to end up with a bad case of diarrhea and have to suffer in places where the toilet is a hole dug in the ground. The meals will be safe to eat, toilets will be relatively clean. Travel forums such as Trip Advisor can help to make a correct decision, but a person has to try to weed out the people or company promoting themselves for a profit or commission. Also…. Do not be put out by the package you

Stadium in Mekong

might see advertised on a website or other media. A good travel company will take the areas of interest you wish to see and custom built it to your taste. You are the boss.. You choose where you want to go, and if the tour they have pre-built is OK by you, go for it.

Things to ask a company before deciding are

Do you use all accredited guides?

Do they speak the language you want?

Are the busses or cars in new condition?

Garden decoration

How long has your company been in business?

A little time and reading will get you a good guide…… or…. You can always ask me for a referral. I have personal friends in the business that specialize in English speaking tours.

Now, why travel to Vietnam?:

Vietnam is a country and culture very different than others. Through much of its history, Vietnam was an occupied country endlessly struggling for its freedom from foreign rule. This constant struggle has created an extremely rugged and tough people who are able to live in extreme hardship without complaint or thought about it. They work hard at everything, and

Mekong bridge

consequently also play hard when it is all over. They are a happy gracious people with a hard edge that sometimes makes foreigners nervous, but under that edge is a person who would like dearly to be your friend, and invite you into his/her home. It is something to behold, the differences in life here. At first it may come as a big culture shock. Someone described the experience t me as “Vietnam is like a big unassembled jig-saw puzzle after all of the loose pieces were poured onto the floor. It makes no sense, but as you slowly put piece by piece together, it slowly starts to make sense.” A very apt description I think. Soooo the people are great but what about value?…. I am here to tell you that Vietnam is one of the least expensive travel destinations in the world. They still have not quite figured out the rules of supply and demand, but rather compete with each other driving prices down. There also were or are a lot of regulations to where and what kind of hotels could be built. When the Vietnamese saw the tourists come, many in order to get a piece of the pie renovated their homes into guest houses and mini hotels, and they are everywhere. A person can rent a guest house in an out of the way area for as little as 4 dollars a night. On average, a budget

Hotel in Mekong

 conscious traveler can get nice accommodation right in the heart of all the action for 10 to 20 dollars a night anywhere in the country.

The average person here makes about 60 to 100 dollars a month, so all prices are relative to that. You can spend more money staying in foreign hotels eating foreign meals, but why come to Vietnam for that? I meal in Vietnam might cost a dollar or so, and the cold beer with is 30 cents. The taxi to drive across town maybe 3 dollars. Quality clothing of any kind can be purchased for 4 of 5 dollars. Jeans, shorts, shirts…. Take your pick.

So we have established that the people are friendly and it is not an expensive place to find food and accommodation, but what about moving around?

First there is the tour company you may have chosen. They will arrange all of your transportation for you, but if you wish to go on your own?

a small house

The main modes to transportation are Air, Train, Bus, Sleeper bus, Express Taxi Bus. aqnd Open tour bus.

Travel by air is not expensive in Vietnam and a flight between cities will range from 40 to 80 dollars on an average. They are easy to book online and if no holidays are involved, a person can usually get flights in the same week. It is the fastest mode of travel. Next fastest is the express Taxi bus. It is run by a number of different companies. They have assigned seating and travel from point a to b with minimum stops. Usually these are 15 seat passenger transports. Then there is the train. The comfortable trains run at night and a solid sleeper can rent a berth and try to sleep the distance travelled. There are also recliner chairs for the more budge oriented person that does not mind roughing it a bit.

The sleeper bus is a good way to travel. Very inexpensive and the beds are not too uncomfortable. If you can sleep anywhere, this is the way to go.

Real men love props

Lastly are the open tour and the regular bus. The open tour is a concept where you can purchase a ticket to a destination and have 30 days to use it. The ticket allows a person to get off anywhere along the route, spend a day or two, and continue on another day. It stops frequently for breaks and nap time, so be prepared for a long day. The regular bus can be fun but very tiring. It is a constant busy overcrowded mode of transport, and almost anything is allowed on board as long as the people can profit from it. I have literally rode with chickens.

Enough for now…… more to follow…

About me….

I am sitting at a traffic circle just watching the world go by when..  A very dirty and probably shell shocked man of about 60 walked directly across the circle with his intention directly aimed at me. He stopped, gave me a crisp salute, and then went into a long speech in very bad English. I listened not hearing much of anything and let him go on. When he was finished, I stood up from my motorcycle. Nodded to him, and fished out a 2000 note. Unlike a beggar, he accepted the note as a payment for the report he had given…. Saluted, and stiffly walked across the dangerous traffic circle as if it was not there. I was lucky… I called that one correctly…

I now have my Vietnamese drivers license!! I no longer have to carry my passport. I have local ID. I am a little disappointed though. I was told that I would qualify for all the same vehicles my Canadian license was good for, however, they seemed to have changed their mind and only issued me a license for motorcycles under 175 cc and cars. Oh well…. I had no intention of driving a bus here anyway, but it would have been nice to say I could.

 About NhaTrang…..

NhaTrang is a city on the move. I wrote earlier that there were really no supermarkets here and that almost all shopping was done in little neighborhood open air markets. NhaTrang is surging into modern times so quickly, I marvel at some of the things I see. There was only one so called supermarket here, and a very poor one at that, is called the Maximark. It existed 11 years ago when I was here and still exists to this day. Now it looks like it’s days are numbered. Yesterday they opened a new location which is the first shopping mall like place in NhaTrang. It is the closest thing to a shopping mall here so far. The first floor has a real supermarket with things I have been trying to find here for a long time. The second and third floor has clothing, kitchenware, jewelry, and gift items like many other store. It is probably more like a version of a superstore kind of set up which goes by many different names depending your location. It is built up in floors instead of large in ground area.

There is also a new complex under construction that will be called the NhaTrang Mall. The sign says opening soon, but the building still looks far from completion. On this post is a couple of photo’s of a street with construction fences and projects in the works. All of the tall buildings over 5 floors are new within the last 5 years, and mostly within the last couple. The tallest is the Sheraton, a brand new hotel opening in the next few weeks. The other fenced off areas are other giant hotels being built by large hotel chains… the names escape me at the moment, but they are as familiar as the Sheraton. I am saddened to see the large hotels being built. The location used to be occupied by a large variety of shops. Old French colonial buildings and hotels, restaurants, and other businesses that made the street a pleasure to walk along. These new hotels are taking up almost all of the beachfront road. Before long, the beach area will be where people just go to get pampered and lay on the beach. I have no doubt that there will be security to chase off any of the locals that want to use the beach when the projects are finished. It seems a shame.

There is a little hope though…..   The north side of the river crossing bridge  is still undiscovered by the big chains. It is still a place where a person can get good value, merge with the locals, eat great food, and relax on a not to busy public beach, however, who knows how long that will last. Also, there are not a lot of curio shops, a person has to go a couple of kilometers to do their shopping.

 NhaTrang is roaring into modern times whether it likes it or not. Myself? I would have liked the modern shopping, but am saddened at what the big hotels are doing to the beachfront.

 A travelers tip…

The Maximark is a great place to check out an item you are interested in purchasing. Find the tagged price ,and  then go to the market armed with the knowledge. Because of the overhead, the Maximark will be a bit more expensive. ( maybe 1000 on a 10000 item )

See if you can get a deal. Myself?????   I almost always try to hammer a person down in price, make the deal, then sometimes pay the original asking price if close to the true value, just because I know I am helping in a very small way to support people who work hard for little profit. Nothing is for free, but a person can help a bit when they can.