Indochina Odyssey Tours

Having only two weeks to spend in Cambodia and Vietnam, my husband, Paul, and I decided to do an independent tour rather than a group tour.

After visiting family in Singapore, we flew to Phnom Penh to start our tour, which had been arranged by Indochina Odyssey Tours (Sai Dong, Long Bien, Hanoi 10000, Vietnam; www.indochinaodysseytours.com). It took place Jan. 18-Feb. 1, 2016, and cost $2,172 per person, including three internal flights.

We were extremely pleased with the design of our trip, as our agent, Eason Wong, listened carefully to what we wanted to emphasize and what we wanted to avoid. His suggestions for add-ons were “right on” in terms of our interests.

The tour was well paced and well crafted, with alternating types of experiences (e.g., a boat trip between visits to two major architectural sites). We had a full itinerary but with enough free time to cool off (in Cambodia), explore restaurants on our own (Vietnam) and enjoy the wonderful massages offered at our hotels.

We found Cambodia to be extremely hot, although I think January is cooler there than other times of the year. We welcomed the cooler weather of central and northern Vietnam, but other tourists thought it was too cold.

All of our guides and drivers were excellent and very courteous. The guides spoke English well, and we always felt as if we were touring with a family friend. 

They were flexible enough to allow us time for extra rest (and air-conditioning) at the hotel midday and to allow us to eat at a restaurant other than the “tourist” one that was originally planned. We each have some food restrictions, and the guides made sure restaurants served us only what we could eat.

We had selected 4-star hotels and were very pleased with the service we received at each of them.

An unexpected advantage of having private guides was we had very good conversations and discussions with them that I doubt would have been possible on a group tour.

It would have been inconceivable to do the tour with more than just the two of us, in terms of the quality and quantity of venues, especially with experiences like a foodie walking tour of Hanoi’s Old Quarter.

One day we had a question about the pickup time for a cooking school excursion. I received a reply about an hour after emailing Indochina Odyssey Tours.

Traveling to Cambodia and northern and central Vietnam was exciting, and having a driver and guide made our trip easy and fun.

For more info, feel free to email me at lahollombe@aol.com.

LIBBY HOLLOMBE
Sherman Oaks, CA