Reviews

I would have rated the whole tour as 5 star but the bus which took us from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh was very tired, uncomfortable and old; is was too small to accommodate 12 clients, the driver, tour guide and ALL the luggage on the inside of the bus. The method of transport needs to be changed to reflect the price charged for the tour, it was not cheap but the bus was.

A fabulous holiday, and a great introduction to Cambodia and Vietnam. There were a few niggles, aren’t there always?

The good things:

The guides were knowledgable, friendly and efficient.
The hotels were splendid, large air conditioned rooms, with decent showers, and even a bath in one.
The itinerary was very extensive, and although it did some things I wasn’t interested in, it made up for it by going to places that were fabulous, that wouldn’t have occurred to me .
The group was a really good size, there were 17 of us.

The niggles:
The food, while always being of excellent quality was generally all very similar, which became boring. There were a few western meals, but I would rather have had a more varied Vietnamese diet. I am not vegetarian, but I don’t eat much meat, and having it twice a day for the whole holiday got pretty disheartening.

The visit to the museum in Phnom Penh was really emotive. The itinerary suggested we would be allowed to do this at our own pace, but instead we had a guide that wanted to forcefeed us information. I would have much rather been given an audio guide, which was available, and left to my own devices.

All in all a tremendous experience I would recommend to anyone.

Service rating :

The tour guides were very knowledgeable about their counties. The Cambodian guide, Sheiha, was brilliant giving dates with the history. The hotels were better than I expected, especially the Aviary, in Siem Reap. Transportation was well organised, but we had to spend a long than expected at Phnom Penh airport when leaving for home, because a couple on the tour had an earlier flight, and wanted to be at the airport an hour earlier than was suggested..

Product :

I thought the Laos tour was better balanced than the Cambodian one as it included some natural scenery and visits to ethnic villages. it would have been good if the Plain of Jars was addedd to the tour. In Cambodia I would have preferred to have time in a village, and just one night in Battambang- this to include the bamboo railway. Then two nights could have been spent in Phnom Penh - and include the Killing Fields. I understand that there are internal restrictions on what is possible to see in a limited time and that it is impossible to see everything, hence the excellent score as the holiday gave me an experience I shall never forget, and to me it was a 'test of faith', given that these countries have a huge population on poverty, and both have suffered, and are still suffering, extensively from many wars. It made me think how lucky I am to be where I live. Thank you

Service rating :

All ran smoothly. Our guides - Savoun in Siem Reap and Bora in Phnom Penh - were very pleasant and helpful, although their very strong Cambodian accents made them difficult to understand at times.

Product :

A fascinating country. The weather was far hotter than we anticipated - certainly a lot hotter than in Vietnam. Probably better to visit during the cooler months which we understand are November/December.

The hotel we stayed in in Phnom Penh was very poor. The room was not clean, there were cockroaches in the bathroom and the catering was mediocre.

A comment: you might consider because of the high level of congestion in Saigon and Hanoi, to select restaurants that require less travel time. Often coming back to the hotel after a busy event in the afternoon we would be faced by a restaurant journey (though often not far in distance) which could take up to 30 mins, and later a return journey. This always meant a rush for everyone, including our guide .