Reviews

First rate

Holiday was great, flight times not so good. Arrived in Bangkok at 06.00, hotel at 08.15, room not available until 14.00. First of the group to arrive and last to leave. Flight back even worse, left Chiang Mia at 21.05 arrived Heathrow 06.15

Alexis was very helpful and clarified a few things to my wife and I. She explained some options with the PO rod and cons of each

I very much enjoyed all aspects of this trip. The varied landscape of the Bangkok area and the North was great. The mirad of temples never cease to amaze. Our tour guide, York, was superb. He introduced to the country and immersed us in its culture. He went out of his way to make everyone's trip special from being informative, pointing out sights, encouraging us to try local produce and ensuring all were comfortable.

I really enjoyed the tours but the solo tour was amalgamated with the classic one without notice. The first and last days were spent hanging around waiting for our rooms and our return flight - due to flight times. So no guide on those days. Not good. Had I realised I could have flown home with some other people much earlier. The guide was fabulous - very informative, efficient and caring. When we got to Chiang Mai we were split into 4 mini buses so the cohesion of the group faltered a bit after that and information on itineraries wasn't passed on to all. Our return flight from Chiang Mai to Bangkok was delayed an hour so we only had one hour to find our flight to LHR - very stressful. However we covered everything I expected to do on the tour and more. Hotels were fine. Drivers were great - and they kept us topped up with water. Just needs more thought on organisation.

Hoi was a highly professional guide who went above and beyond to make sure everyone enjoyed themselves. He had a very sociable personality. On these tours the guide can be the key to a successful holiday and Hoi deserves great credit for achieving this. Our guide in Bangkok (Ling) was equally professional and considerate as my wife wasn't feeling well.

Excellent tour and brilliant guides. Only downsides, the hotel in Bangkok was too far away from any tourist sites and the atmospheric pollution there was dreadful. Any one with any respiratory issues would have real problems. I think that you should advise potential customers with these issues not to travel at the end at the end of the dry season when the farmers burn stubble in the dried out paddy fields. Otherwise, very enjoyable.

We really loved Thailand and Laos, the accommodation was great and the trips excellent as were both our guides the only reason for not giving 5 stars is because when we arrived in Bangkok early morning after a sleepless flight we were told our room would not be ready till 2pm. We were exhausted but had to wait in the reception for 4-5 hrs even though the hotel was half empty due to coronavirus. The boat journey down the Mekong seemed to go on forever, in the itinerary it suggests the second day will be just to visit Pak Ou caves and then check into hotel but in reality we were on the boat longer than day one. Everyone on board agreed they had had enough cruising by then. Unfortunately because of the pandemic we were stuck for an extra 3 days but I would just like to say that our guide Ken was exceptional and would not leave us until we were at the airport with tickets in hand, I really do hope that you recognise his dedication and professionalism.

Overall the tour was near excellent with a great itinery, good hotels and restaurants, and with both guides ('Joe' in Thailand and 'Ken' in Laos) providing a very creditable service, especially Joe who looked after us as best he could when a few 'cracks' appeared in the arrangements in Thailand.

The problems in Thailand were as follows:

1. Seven of the group, including my wife and I, had an overnight flight from London and arrived at the hotel in Bangkok at 07:00 to be told our rooms would not be ready until 14:00. The itinery states we would 'transfer...to your hotel and check-in to your room.' This largely wasted our first day in Thailand although, to our guide's credit, he remained with us and helped fill some of the time.

2. On our third day in Bangkok half of our group, including my wife and I, had to check out of the hotel room by 10:00 (the others in the group managed to arrange a room extension) although we were scheduled to travel by overnight train starting at 22:00 and not checking in to the next hotel until after lunch the next day. Fortunately our guide again stepped up to help by getting the first hotel to allow us to shower at the sauna in the afternoon.

For both the above situations, had we been aware of these before booking we would have been happy to pre-book room extensions to allow us to shower and catch some sleep rather than just killing time in some rather sweaty clothes.

3. The information in the suppled Wendy Wu Travel Guide concerning the Overnight Train is wrong or out-of-date in many respects including luggage arrangements, what can be taken on board (e.g. drinks), sleeping berths, etc. As it happened, the arrangements and facilities were better or more convenient than expected and nearly all of us in the group enjoyed the train.


Putting aside the above, my wife and I really enjoyed the tour and expect to book more tours with Wendy Wu in the future.

This holiday was packed with a huge variety of visits and excursions which were all excellent.
There are some other comments though:
1.Wendy Wu must allow at least 2 hours transfer at Bangkok Airport..
2.The number of visits to street markets could be reduced.
3.A free afternoon would be appreciated now and again
4.More time to be allowed for shopping and taking photographs
5.The level of difficulty for the tour should be increased to 2 since a number of our group had trouble walking the distances involved

Very well organised.
Good, varied program.
Guide for Cambodia & Vietnam very knowledgeable and helpful.

Guide in Bangkok could of been better.
Trip to Bridge over the to River Kwai/Hellfire Pass was ty far to travel (7hrs) particularly as a large part of Hellfire Pass was closed off due to a ? Landslide.

Although very interesting I Would of preferred to of done more sightseeing in Bangkok.

Service rating :

The organisation of the main trip, Grand Tour of Indochina was very good but nobody was expecting me in Bangkok for the extension Bangkok Short Stay.
Buffalo Tours were not to blame as they had no details. In the end I emailed Wendy Tours in UK and a hotel was booked, I had to make my own way from the airport to the hotel, guarantee the cost of the hotel booking with my credit card but by the following morning all was arranged. I have since received a hamper for the mess up (not really my type of food) and received £15 (at current rate 400bht) for the 500bht taxi fare)

Product :

Enjoyed the trip; guides were good, excursions were interesting and informative, some long drives but we did cover a lot of ground during the tour. If I was nit-picking, the trip to the Ban Khoang village was very forgettable. We left the coach well before reaching the village and then walked through the whole village and back again with little to see. We did visit a house and had rice wine there but the trip was 2-3 hours long. On the other hand the Cat Cat village trip the next day was excellent with lots to see.

Service rating :

The tour of Myanmar was wonderful only one blip was the delayed flight from Heathrow four hour delay , after arriving in Bangkok had a two hour wait trying to get another flight to Yangon and nobody informed the guide that there was a delay so had nobody to meet us ended up getting a taxi to the hotel

Product :

The tour in Myanmar was one one of the best I have experienced with an excelant guide with good food and very friendly people ten out of ten