Vietnam Tours Reviews - Vietnam Private Tours Review

Durations: 27 Days - 26 Nights

Travel consultant: Thanh Huyen

Customer name: Henry McCown

Address: USA

Start date: 2018-04-11

Finish date: 2018-05-08

Hello Ms Thanh Huyen:
Thank you for your wonderful card. Below you will see our annual Christmas letter in which our wonderful Vietnam trip features greatly. We have recommended you to various friends and will do so in the future. You guys are terrific!!
Henry is mostly recovered from his fall. The shoulder has healed but the back is giving him problems. So, we hope and pray that over time he will heal completely.
Christmas letter follows:
Ellen and I enjoyed ourselves a lot this year (which beats all the alternatives!), mostly just hanging out, sharing jokes and stories, reading a lot, eating extremely well, pushing ourselves hard at the gym and in our walks, planning trips and traveling, and getting together with friends.
Early in the year we did a ton of planning for a month-long trip to Vietnam in April - May. The planning paid off in an exceptionally interesting visit. Frantic activity on every hand, fragrant smells from ubiquitous street cooking stalls, a color riot, a REALLY different culture, wonderful and warm and funny people....that's the Vietnam we experienced. We traveled first to Hanoi, then a cruise through the mystic islands of Bai Tu Long Bay; flew down to the old imperial capitol of Hue, then drove on through Danang ("China Beach" in the bad old days) and lovely HoiAn; finally on to hectic Ho Chi Minh City and last, the awesome Mekong Delta.

Of the places visited, we most enjoyed sailing in flat-calm seas through mist-shrouded karst islands which seem to spring vertically throughout Bai Tu Long Bay. Hoi An, south of Danang, is defined by the thousands of lanterns which decorate the city's buildings and streets at night, turning it into a wonderland of brilliant colors. The town is also home to hundreds of bespoke tailor shops which welcome the tourists. In the Delta, the mighty Mekong splits into nine large waterways which define the area. The countryside is bright green with lush vegetation and offers wonderful fruits and veggies, as well as friendly, laid-back folks (as in the USA, the folks in the north are a bit more reserved). We encountered no hostility whatsoever as a carry-over from what they call the "American War". Only problem with a trip to VN is that no American carriers serve its airports. So we flew via Tokyo, a 40-hour trip door-to-door on the way out and 50 hours on the way back.....ouch!
Several years ago we made a long-ish driving trip in the Pacific NW, only a few days of which were in Oregon. So, this year we decided to go back to see more of what we had missed there. Portland turned out to be like Austin, only with large shade trees all over the downtown area and world-class rapid transit throughout the city and surrounds. We loved the place, which is full of excellent restaurants and dozens of brewpubs, as well as a wonderful, large park which brings the wilderness right into the heart of the city. We then spent time in three small towns along the rugged Oregon coast, enjoying the great hiking, forever-views, sea air and seafood.

The colors were beginning to change, which made for spectacular scenery. And it was blackberry season -- in the western half of the state, along the coast and inland, all the back roads are covered with huge clumps of blackberry bushes, and I believe that we must have stopped to pick from at least half of them! We'd load up with two or three liters of fresh berries at a time, eat lots of them and then Ellen would turn the rest into preserves and syrup to add to our morning pancakes and evening yogurt. Most of the time after picking, we looked as if we had just committed major capital crimes.
Spent time also in Eugene, home of the U. of Oregon and one of the most beautiful and welcoming small cities we have ever visited; and in Bend in central Oregon, headquarters for all things outdoors and mecca for great hiking.
Now we're just back from 16 days on the Mexican Riviera Maya, where we stayed again in the giant Barcelo all-inclusive resort. Each morning was a delight....lots of fresh pineapple and papaya with lime juice for breakfast, followed by a couple of times around the lovely, scenic, 2.5 mile perimeter walk to amortize breakfast. The Barcelo staff are simply the most friendly and helpful folks we have encountered anywhere.

So, that's about it. We're looking forward to a quiet end of the year and hoping (not planning for, merely hoping!) for more civility inside the Beltway and across our land in 2019.
Warm wishes to all,
Henry & Ellen

Henry McCown from USA.