The holiday was in the main really good and had some major highlights including:
Visiting the elephant sanctuary
The eco day out to the former mines
Singapore Gardens by the bay etc
James Bond island
Hell fire pass and train ride
Plus all the hotels were good and Cougan, our Malaysian guide was really good even though he continually tried to make us over eat!
Only complaint was the Mossy Forest visit that was in our opinion highly dangerous and could have easily ruined someone’s holiday.
Not so good was the flight to Phuket that was not met by our Thailand guide, Bennie. This was clearly a Wendy Woo mess up and I believe she was a late appointment to the role. One of our group had paid for roaming so rang your office and somehow things were sorted. It was a bit chaotic because the hotel arranged for us to visit Temple that for tired folk was a bit much!
In Singapore and Malaysia, the entire group were together in one vehicle but in Thailand, we were separated and in 2 minibuses. This was a weakness and meant our guide was disadvantaged and the group were not getting one set of messages.
One day of the Thailand tour included an unreasonably early start to catch a long train journey. We all as a group agreed to travel in the minibuses instead after breakfast It was hard going and probably the least memorable day of the tour. It was interesting to be so close to the Myanmar border as this was the road route. Why did we have to sign a form to cancel our train tickets? We would suggest a rethink of this part of the tour.
Finally, we paid a lot extra for premium economy on Cathy Pacific and it probably wasn’t really worth it. Also, we would have preferred direct flights to Singapore and back from Bangkok. Going via Hong Kong was really tedious and use of the Cathy Pacific lounge would have significantly improved the boredom especially as the flight back was delayed!
We had a great time but it could have been better hence we hope these comments will be helpful - after all we were the guinea pigs for this tour and with a bit of refinement, repeats will be excellent.

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.

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.