Hello Mrs Nguyen,
I hope your whole team is doing well. Thank you again for your warm welcome to your offices!
Here in Quebec, we live with lower temperatures, close to freezing, and we have a little nostalgia thinking of your warmth and happiness to live in Vietnam.
I want to tell you that I will go today to mail your cell phone to the address I took from your mail. Thank you for the suggestion to keep it, but we find it justified to return it to allow other client-tourists to take advantage of it, as we appreciated. It’s reassuring to know that you are on the line in case of a problem!
Also, I allow myself, as promised and without any pretension, to speak for my travel companions, and to make you some small suggestions in order to further improve your service offer. Even if you are already the best, of course!
So here it is:
– the touc-touc ride at the beginning of the program gave us the tone of the hectic traffic in Hanoi and in your big cities! It was WOW… to suggest to your future clientele! We were very excited about this walk. phew
– it might be good to advise before departure for the night on the train to Sapa, that our large suitcases will remain in a locker at the hotel and to take a small travel bag or backpack, in order to put the essentials of our needs in it (one of us did not have one not). And the same thing for boarding the junk in Halong Bay, there too, our large suitcases remaining in lockers at the hotel.
– we had a free afternoon on the beach in Saigon. But as the rain/strong winds prevented us from enjoying it, Diep, our guide, suggested that we take a basket boat ride (with Thai and her mother) on a small tributary of the Mekong. It was our falling for something! So, we take the liberty of suggesting it to you as an activity to offer, and not only if the weather is acting up.
Again WOW!
– during our free day in Saigon, the day of our departure, we had time to visit the Museum of War Memories which was not planned in our program: it was so interesting that we have to suggest that you also offer it to your future visitors. We really appreciated knowing the Vietnamese version of the war. It was very interesting and moving. Another WOW! The whole history of the war was of great interest to us and our guide barely mentioned it!
– our guide Hoan in Hanoi had a bad rating in our group: she was very nice but as we wrote on your evaluation sheet that we gave her, she was a little reserved and had a little trouble getting along to understand. We made her repeat and even spell words sometimes. His explanations were brief without too much elaboration, with few comments on history, the war, for example. We always had to ask questions to find out more. In short, after having known the 4 other previous guides which were all perfect, the comparison was easy!
– at the end of the program, we found that the tasting of tropical fruits was redundant… because, since the beginning of our journey, we had only eaten tropical fruits with meals, the same as those presented at the said tastings at the end of the program.
– our homestay welcome, our hosts Bâ and Yêu, in Mai Chau, was most enthusiastic! We shared with them their house, their table, the rice wine, and a superb dinner. A traditional dance show presented only for the four of us! What a big WOW!
Superb stay! Recommended, that’s for sure!
And finally, we only have to thank you for the whole organization in general. Apart from the Hoan guide from Saigon, we were won over by all your staff and the Thai guides in Hanoi city, Than in Sapa, Joseph towards Halong Bay, Diep in Hue and their drivers. All very talented, fine connoisseurs of their history, they brought humour to conversations and embellished long car journeys with their stories and jokes. All of them were so friendly: we loved them! So WOW again!
So… finally, everything was excellent, perfect! We only have good words to say about you! The logistics of coordinating the arrival of the drivers and their vehicles were always on point: never late. Always courteous!
In short, well done! Your people are fascinating!
And thank you again for your service! And watch your mailbox to collect your phone!
Goodbye and I hope to see you soon, one day!
Sylvie Dallaire
for Ghislain Turcotte, Gaétane Dubé and France Lamoureux Lalonde
