Durations: 13 Days - 12 Nights
Travel consultant: Hieu Ha
Customer name: Alevtina Levina
Address: Rusia
Start date: 2017-06-01
Finish date: 2017-06-14
Dear Mr Hieu Ha!
It was a great pleasure to travel with your company. I am very appreciated for your help and support during the trip! My warmest thankful to all guides and drivers who travel with me. Hope to come back one day to your beautiful country.
My kind regards, Alevtina Levina from Russia
INDOCHINA DISCOVERY from 11 March – 29 March 2015
Dear Hong Nguyen,
Many thanks for your email. We have a great vacation. Your company offered us a great time!
All the guides and driver were very nice without any exception! In each country I completed the survey and gave it to the guides.
There was just one thing that didn't work: Your company changed one domestic flight in Myanmar to an earlier nonstop one, which actually was very nice! That was from Bagan to Yangon on March 29th. We didn't need to fly over Mandalay and Heho! The guide wasn't informed about this change to an earlier flight and therefore nobody was at the airport to pick us up. But we also managed that :-)
And there was this credit card issue, but I told you that this is already forgotten!!!
I will definitely recommend you and your organization. We have had one of the best vacations ever!
All the best,
Felix from German
MYANMAR DISCOVERY from 23 Feb – 8 March 2015
Dear Ms Hong Nguyen,
We had the elephant camp today and I just wanted to send my greetings from everyone that it was a really really great day and everyone really loved it! We lines the idea that the work elephants get nice retirement days and enjoy themselves. It was a wonderful experience alltogether, with really good food, excellent staff and a beautiful and silent surroundings. So we really enjoyed it. Thank you!
So far everything has fine really smoothly and nicely and we are enjoying ourselves :)
Thank you again for all the work you have done. We are enjoying ourselves!
Cheers,
Essi from Finland
Grand Myanmar Discovery from 08 Feb to 07 Mar 2015
Ly An,
Have completed the survey.
Wish to thankyou personally for an excellent trip.
We appreciated the quick response to our needs when our trip to Hsipaw had to be cancelled due to the road closure. The way you responded to our requests for alternatives was very much appreciated and we were very content with the outcome.
We will recommend your services to our friends should they be considering a trip to Myanmar.
Kind Regards,
Lorraine Medlow & Ross Morgan from Australia
Myanmar Discovery from 27 Feb to 7 Mar 2015
Hi Binh Yen,
Thank you very much Binh for making the arrangements for our Myanmar trip. And special thanks to Kyaw Min for being such an amazing guide!! My parents are very impressed with your attentiveness and great suggestions during the tour. Thank you for following up with any issues we had during the stay at Mandalay Hill Hotel. Aureum was great – in particular the one in Inle Lake.
We really enjoyed the trip and thank you for making it a wonderful family experience!
We will surely refer you to our friends who will likely be visiting soon – maybe in a few months time as it’s getting hot now…
Best regards
Jennifer from Hong Kong
Captivating Myanmar 8 days (26 Feb – 5 Mar 2015)
Dear Ms. Nguyen
We have enjoyed our trip very much, as everything was perfectly arranged and perfectly on time.
Our guides were very nice and helpful, and did not hesitate to show us things outside of the program (synagogue in Yangon) or to bring us to events, such as feasts for novices.
Concerning the hotels:
- Clover: so-so, not very exciting, ok for one night
- Yadarnabon: ok
- Mountain Top: good
- Paramount: very good
- Than Garden Hotel: fantastic location, good hotel
As too the program, it was a very concentrated one, and I would advise you to reduce the number of items (for instance, we cut down most of the visits to workshops: iron, paper, umbrella, woodcutting, stone carving, as these are things which can be seen anywhere) or at least to have the guides explain in advance the program and let the clients choose, knowing well that it is impossible to do everything.
Also, in Yangon, the reclining Buddha can be omitted: it is new, and there are many other curiosities, which are far more interesting.
In any case, everything went well, there were no problems, and we will definitely come back.
With many thanks for all your help and best regards
Mr. Alan Kupferman from France
Myanmar Discovery 18 days (14 Feb – 3 Mar 2015)
Dear Hue,
We returned savely after a long flight back to Germany.
We had a wonderful trip through Myanmar with a lot of highlights. Everything was perfect organized. "Thank you very much" to you and the team in Yangon. You have done a great job!
We will recommend "MYANMAR TRAVEL" to all of our friends!
I have already filled out the feedback form and gave it to our last guide "Sue-Sue" in Yangon.
All the best to you,
Thanks again
Peter + Sonja Gottschalk from Germany
Grand Myanmar Discovery (Yangon – Kyaikhtiyo – Bago – Pindaya – Kalaw – Inle Lake – Bagan – Mt. Popa – Monywa – Powing Taung – Amarapura – Sagaing – Mingun – Mandalay Hill – Kyaing Tong – Tachilek) 19 days/ 18 nights from 12 Feb to 03 Mar 2015
Dear Mr Alan Hoang,
Rather then filling out the two page survey, I thought it gave us more space to give you our comments in this way:
First, we would like you to know that we were overall very pleased with our visit to Myanmar and your services and yes, it is a beautiful country and we will recommend to anyone and certainly our friends to visit Myanmar.
Before arriving we were somewhat concerned about safety given that a country like yours has not always proven to be peaceful. But, we were very pleasantly surprised as we felt secure at all times and have not had any problems concerning security.
Now, to the nitty gritty.
1) The drivers
They were all very nice, courteous and drove responsibly on roads that were not always the easiest ones.
2) The guides
We were overall satisfied with the guides. Some we liked better then others, that is the human element. However, one comment that could be useful to make is the fact that they would need to polish up their knowledge of English. It was often difficult to understand their prononciation and it sometimes lead to interesting misunderstandings. One exception though was Nan, our guide in Heho and Inle Lake. Her English was close to perfect.
As far as knowledge is concerned, none seemed to be short of it, even though we got different answers to the same question from different guides.
I would say that some guides seemed genuinely interested in being a guide, whereas others were busy with their own private life. This was the case in Yangon. But age could be a factor. The guides in Bagan, Mt Popa, Inle Lake and Kyaing Tong were more mature in that sense.
3) The itinerary and the visits
We felt that there was a great deal too much accent put on Budhist temples, stoupas and monasteries. We enjoyed seeing the crown jewels of them, but we felt that we did not need to see them all. We actually changed a few visits as we were also interested in seeing a museum or simply walking the streets to see how people in Myanmar live. This way we were able to see the remnants of colonial Yangon, the Strand Hotel and the museum with the thrones and the royal regalia. To us Europeans, these things are of interest.
Mt Popa was very pleasant as a day excursion.
Bagan was of course for us and I am sure for a lot of tourists, the cherry on the cake. What a beautiful city you have there. We enjoyed the sunset from the pyramid very much., although we thought that safety was overlooked due to the amount of people on the pyramid at the same time. The second sunset from the boat, was a disappointment and not a necessary excursion.
At Lake Inle, all of the visits were interesting and worthwhile. We were able to interact with the people at the market and in the weaving centers. However, somebody has to explain that their prices are overly inflated not only for Myanmar, but even in comparison to Europe or the USA (350 US$ for a little jacket!! I can do better in the best silk shop in Bangkok or Singapore).
In Mandalay we mostly enjoyed the King's bedroom (the Shwee Nandau Kiang Palace) that has been given to a monastery, That should be The Top visit in Mandalay. The royal palace was nice as well, the teak bridge a bit of a disappointment. The worlds largest book copensated for it.
The boat ride to Mingun we did not feel was a necessary excursion.
The programs in general were a bit long for those who do not like too much heat. Maybe splitting the day in two parts : early morning till 11 am and then from 4 pm onward, could be a suggestion? It would also allow to enjoy the swimming pool of the beautiful hotels in Mandalay and Yangon and avoid the scorching heat between 11 and 4.
Maybe the management of expectations could be improved with regard to the trekking times. The 2 hours up hill took 30 ' more, which is not so bad, but the downhill, instead of 1 and 1/2 hour took 2 and a half hours. Difficulty of terrain, but mostly the increment in heat did the trick. It was exhausting.
We loved our trecks in Kyaing Tong though, they were shorter and we avoided the big heat. the visit to a small temple when visiting the Loi people, was a real treat. Off the beaten track it seemed so much more authentic.
4) the Hotels
Here, of course there are big differences in quality and we understand that a lot of effort has to still be made when trying to develop tourism.
One problem is payment : few accept credit card and those who do, add 3.5 % to the bill.
the second one is pure management. There are so many people employed and just staying around that it is not understandable that maintenance would not be up to scratch.
We loved of course the Shangri-La in Yangon. Perfectly up to western standards. The hotel at the Golden Rock, OK it was just for one night, but could not be categorised as a 2 star. There was no alternative anyway. The positive was its central location. Hotel in Kalaw: here you have a perfectly nice hotel, but no heating (it was freezing cold), we were the only guests in the hotel and felt like guinea pigs. The dining room was nice, but extremely cold and nobody thought of lighting the fireplace which would have been a nice gesture. Maybe warm water bottles in the bed would also have helped. Even if the hotel is empty, full service needs to be provided. Otherwise, the hotel should say that it is closed.
Lake Inle: we stayed at the Paramount Inle Resort. A hotel that we had booked ourselves. We hated it and it was really deceptive advertising as it is not on Lake Inle, but on a very busy canal, nearby a monastery. So we were woken up at 4 by prayers which lasted till 6 and from there on had to endure the incredible noise of the long tail boats coming and going in front of our window. The standard of the hotel is despicable and I can only recommend to you that you do not send anyone to that hotel. We forfeited one night out of the three that we had paid and stayed the second night in Nuang Shwee at their sister hotel which was perfectly alright, clean and good service.
Bagan, here we stayed at the Bagan Hotel River View. It has all the ingredients (location, setting and size) to be a 5 star hotel. But, the service was terrible, the rooms and dining area were dirty and not cared for and all the people working at this hotel seemed to be very unhappy. Breakfast was despicable and you had to be careful not to be eating the flies that were nesting on everything from honey to bred to butter etc.
As we had forwarded our days in Bagan by one, we first stayed one night at the Myanmar Treasure Resort. A fine hotel that deserves its business.
Win Unity Hotel in Monywa. A barely OK hotel. The swimming pool was nice, but the newly build rooms were already in great need of maintenance. We felt that we could have gone directly to Mandalay instead of spending the night in Monywa.
The Mandalay Hill Resort, here again, a perfectly western standard hotel with excellent service.
Kyaing Tong. Here, I made the reservation myself and liked the internet presentation of the hotel better then the one your agency was offering. Maybe a mistake. Here again we were the only ones in the hotel. Not a pleasant situation. Too much staff and not enough people working. They have beautifully maintained gardens but the rooms and corridors are not well kept. I would not go back to that hotel.
Finally, I would like to thank Mr Ha Hieu for organising this trip for us in a very professional and attentive manner, as well as Ms Nway Nway Eai in Yangon who organised for the shipping of our extra suitcase to Kyaing Tong.
We leave with our hearts and minds full of beautiful memories and hope that our children and grandchildren will experience an improved beautiful Myanmar in the future.
With kind regards,
Matilde Bingemer and Gerrit Lovink from France
Grand Indochina Tour 23 days (7 Feb – 1 Mar 2015)
Dear Ms Hue Nguyen:
I'm sorry for taking several days to reply to your message. Life back home was very busy upon our return and jet lag made it hard to reply to accumulated email messages after work. But here I am to thank you for such a well planned tour. We greatly enjoyed our entire trip for the peoples, culture, foods, sights and landscapes we experienced. A big reason for our great satisfaction is how well the tour guides showed us the top sights and beyond, and how safely the drivers took us around. They and the drivers were always on time to take us sightseeing.
We especially appreciated how friendly, patience, enthusiastic, kind and attentive to our needs and wishes both guides and drivers were, and also how knowledgeable about the places and peoples we visited the guides are. Their tips for vantage photography spots; the information they provided about local people and their foods, customs and way of life; their sense of humor –all made our trip ever so special. Every single one of them went the extra mile to help, do and suggest something special, like adapting our itinerary every now and then, helping us to buy something in particular, etc. Thank you and every single guide and driver.
We also enjoyed the hotels you reserved for us. Some were spectacular; the others were excellent. The flights were always safe, comfortable and on time. We especially enjoyed the experience of flying in turbo propeller airplanes.
Among the highlights of our trip were the following:
– Sunrise at Angkor Thom temple: The magic and silence of the early morning almost on our own was fantastic considering how many people visit Angkor everyday.
– The cooking lesson in Hoi An for the fun and tasty learning experience to make Vietnamese food (our favorite during the trip).
– Visiting the Pagodas in Luang Prabang at a time when not many people were there and the light was beautiful.
– The hot balloon ride in Bagan was beyond words.
Two things we did not really like:
– The boat ride in Tonle Sap, because it was too dirty and the floating community we visited seemed to be too centered around tourism.
– Stopping for a while at sculpture stores in Vietnam, because we spent more time than a restroom break looking at things we were not interested in buying.
All in all, we enjoyed the trip very much! Cảm ơn bạn rất nhiều for your enthusiastic and hard work to plan our trip so well. We will strongly recommend your travel services to our friends and family traveling to SE Asia.
We look forward to going back one day. All the very best to you, your family and your colleagues,
Juan C. Edwards from Chile
Myanmar Journey 22 Feb to 27 Feb 2015
Dear Ly An,
I just arrived back home and would like to thank you for all your efforts. The trip was amazing and everything was beyond our expectations.
Hope to travel again with you.
Best regards,
Andre Boulos from Switzerland
Myanmar Journey 22 Feb to 27 Feb 2015
Dear Ly An,
Happy New Year! I hope the year of the Goat is a happy and prosperous year for you.
Thank you for your email and informing me of the outstanding amount due. I am not sure how the error occurred. Thank you so much for all of your arrangements for our holiday. I had such a fabulous time exploring Myanmar!! Kind regards,
Simone from Australia Alevtina Levina from Rusia.