About Madeleine Morris Expertise Regarding Vietnam, I have lived in Ho Chi Minh City for more than four years and have travelled extensively elsewhere in the country. I speak Vietnamese quite well, as well as French and Spanish. I can answer questions on where to stay, what to see and where to go. I can also answer questions about cultural etiquette; both professional and personal. For anyone coming to settle for a while in Vietnam, I can answer questions on most topics concercing settling in, doing business, legal and visa issues, language, where to shop, how to get help, emergencies, etc.
Experience I have lived in Vietnam for six years now (and can't seem to find a way to update the "expertise" part of this profile! I currently teach full time at RMIT Vietnam.
Organizations International Ladies in Vietnam Org
Canadian Vietnamese Business Association
Thank you for volunteering your time. I am an expert in another section and I know it can be time consuming at times. We are a couple in our 50's and usually travel independently. We are looking for advice about how to see Vietnam. We are leaning toward a tour to take the "hassle" out of Asian travel, but want the independence also. Do you know anything about Intrepid Traveler, Sinh cafe, Kimcafe, Queen cafe, Griswalds, Green Bamboo, Handspan, Djoser or any other tour company that covers Vietnam in depth...perhaps a 20+ day tour... and still gives one the feeling of not being herded in a group? Is Vietnam "do-able" independently and how much time is spent finding hotels and making connections? Also, when would be the best time to visit both North & South? We were thinking late April/early May. What do you think?
Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Gary
Answer Dear Gary,
To be very honest with you, I don't know much about tour companies in Vietnam. The only one I know of with a very good reputation is Travel Indochina (http://www.travelindochina.com.au/) They're Australian and very professional as far as I can tell. I did some print design work for them and they were very straight up and good to deal with. They also hire really competent tour guides.
The only serious advice I have is to stay away from any of the government-run tourist companies like Saigon Tourist/Viet Tours or Hanoi Tourist. Same for government-run hotels like the Rex, the Continental or the Majestic in the south. They have a lot of history but they're over-priced and very badly managed.
It's entirely possible to "do" Vietnam independently and how much time you spend finding hotels and such is really dependent on how much of a bargain you want to get. There are very comfortable accommodations for $20 per night, but they take more finding than the $40 per night accommodations.
From what I can tell, you have enough time, you're young and, heck, you can definitely do it on your own and pick up tours at somewhere like the Sinh Cafe when you want to go to somewhere specific. Sinh Cafe is very reliable and has offices in every major city now, I believe.
The only thing I would say is that the roads are awful outside the major centers like HCMC and Hanoi. If you want to do the whole country, and want to see some countryside as well, my suggestion would be to fly part way and bus part way. The train sounds romantic but you just DON'T want to see what the toilet looks like, if you get my drift. The only train journey that I've heard is really worth taking is the Victoria train from Hanoi up to Sapa. Aparently that's wonderful and very luxurious to boot!
The time you're planning to visit is the end of dry season. Convenient for tours but hotter than the rainy season. It's about 94 degrees farenheit most days in the South at that time of year. It's tollerable as long as you have a nice hotel room with air-con to retreat to when it gets too much.
The best thing to do is just be easy on yourself. It's perfectly possible to do this without suffering as long as you don't strand yourself out in the middle of the Delta at 3 pm in the afternoon! If you try and tough it out, the heat will exhaust you and you'll feel wiped out all the time.
I hope that's some help to you. If you need to know more, please let me know.
Madeleine.
