NGUYEN KINH DOANH
EXCELLENT WEBSITE FOR TRAVEL TO VIETNAM

THIS IS OUR 8th TRIP TO VIETNAM. WE ARE FORTUNATE TO KNOW YOUR TNK TRAVEL WITH VERY INFORMATIVE WEBSITE ON TOURISM.

ON NOVEMBER 20, 2006, WE WERE ALSO HAPPY TO TAKE PICTURES OF PRESIDENT GEORGE BUSH'S MOTORCADE AT THE CORNER OF NAM KY KHOI NGHIA AND VO VO VAN TAN. THE EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS ARE IN OUR WEBSITE WWW.NGUYENKINHDOANH.COM.

THANK YOU SO MUCH TNK TRAVEL AND WE WISH YOU THE BEST OF LUCK IN YOUR ENDEAVORS.

PLEASE WRITE IN OUR GUEST BOOK TOO.

NGUYEN KINH DOANH
1905 S WESTERN AVE., SUITE 7
LOS ANGELES, CA 90018
CELLULAR (213) 361-7929
E-MAIL: doanh1@sbcglobal.net

Peter C
An enjoyable experience

Dear TNK,

An email to thank you for your service and for a great tour of the Mekong Delta.

I am a tour leader with 10 years experience in South East Asia, I can say honestly that your operations management and performance are excellent. Your guides are great and personable even with the massive turn-arounds throughout the tour. I was very impressed.

I hadn't booked with your organisation and randomly chose Brothers. When we switched buses at the Bonsai display place Ms Nhi became our chaperone and guide. She is a great asset to your company and was able to manage the chaos in the travellers minds easily, pleasantly assertive and welcoming. Ms Nhi is extremely competent.

I hope that with the inevitable economic pressures descending on us at this time that TNK can hold their prices. Everyone I spoke to on the tour commented on the value for money and the efficiency of movement.

Well done TNK and certainly Miss Nhi.

Yours gratefully,

Peter Cochrane

The Kane family
A wonderful experience with TNK travel (January 2009)

Our family of 4 just came back from first ever trip to Vietnam (18 days). We chose TNK Travel and it was a great trip. I wanted to thank TNK and to share our experience with future prospective travelers.

We started the planning almost a year ago. I must say we were hesitant at first and concerned about choosing a reliable travel agency. I read a lot on the internet (e.g. tripadvisor .com) before identifying a few prospective travel agencies. I then asked for an initial quote from my top 3 choices. TNK was the middle quote but what I liked about them was the level of detail in their initial proposal. I then looked at their guestbook and selected 17 people worldwide who recently travelled with them and emailed each of them to ask about their experience. Every single one of them responded and all were very positive about TNK. This made me comfortable with the idea of having to send money upfront to book a trip in an unknown country where I would have no recourse if dealing with an unethical company. With TNK, everyone assured me that once an itinerary is finalized, the company will do whatever is needed to deliver on its promises and to make it a pleasant experience, and they sure did in our case.

Over the following month, I exchanged several emails with Mr. Dsung Trinh, the Managing Director, to modify the original proposal based on my research about the sites we wanted to see. For example, we removed Sapa from the itinerary because the Northwest is quite cold in January, but added Phu Quoc Island instead. In the end, we agreed on a price for the revised itinerary, and I paid the customary 30% deposit by credit card (with a 3% fee). From that point-on, I dealt with Mr. Dac Dahn in their operations department who always promptly answered my numerous enquiries via email, and sent me hotel vouchers and e-tickets confirmation from air travel within Vietnam, as well as the invitation letter for the Visa. Fast forwarding to the end of the year when our trip began:

We landed roughly on schedule in Hochiminh on Dec. 31st in the evening and had to wait an hour or so (not ideal after a long flight from the U.S.) to get our visa on arrival ($25 per person in cash). Once we exited immigration and customs, our guide (J.J.) and driver were there to greet us with a sign bearing our name. They took us to our hotel. Because of the traffic, we ended up being in the center of the city near the cathedral at midnight, surrounded by thousands of motorcycles ringing their horns when the near year arrived (quite a cultural experience). From there on, the entire trip was very pleasant (I will post details on the hotels on tripadvisor.com). We visited Saigon (and stopped by the TNK office to pay the balance of the trip), the Mekong Delta, Phu Quoc, PanThiet/Mui Ne, Da Lat and Nha Trang by private van and boats with J.J. (who was excellent, paying attention all the time to what we liked and making sure we would always have it). We almost missed the speedboat from Rach Gia to Phu Quoc, because the itinerary was 30 minutes off. As a result, we couldn’t have a scheduled lunch, but TNK compensated us with an excellent previously unplanned dinner in Hue. J.J. ordered a van with more legroom when we returned from Phu Quoc to HCMC (we flew back), arranged for a small canoe to pick-us up and take us to our hotel in Cantho where we were stuck in traffic on the way to the ferry, etc…Then we flew to Danang and were greeted by our new guide Tui (Mr. Dac Dahn had kindly arranged for French speaking guides at the other locations at our request), and from there visited Hoi An, My Son and Hue, Tui was excellent as well, very knowledgeable and helped us solve an issue we had with a tailor-made suit. In Hoi An, the reservation was not a river view room, but after contacting Mr. Dac Dahn generously agreed to pay the difference and we were upgraded accordingly (we had insisted on 2 deluxe rooms with sea/river/lake views everywhere) and I had not noticed it was not the case at that location. We then flew to Hanoi which we visited with our last guide (Mr. Lan, who was OK but not as good as the first 2), and went from there to Halong Bay for a memorable 2-day cruise, then flew back to HCMC, stayed overnight near the airport and had an early morning flight back to the U.S. On returning to HCMC, no driver was there to greet us, we were told after we called the agency that he was stuck in traffic due to an accident. We took a taxi to the nearby hotel, and the driver who picked-us up in the morning for our return flight to the US. reimbursed us more than we had actually paid for the taxi. We didn’t have to pay a departure tax, it was apparently already included in our plane tickets.

Overall, a great trip thanks to the logistics, efficiency and professionalism of the TNK staff and agents. Food was excellent (though too copious for us, we always have festive lunch menus booked by TNK with 6 or 7 courses in nice restaurants (included in the price), nice buffet breakfasts in most hotels. The only problem (which is beyond TNK’s control) was insufficient hot water in many hotels for two people to take showers one after the other), a really bad road with big holes when exiting MuiNe to go to Da Lat and a third guide in the north who took us to a number of expensive stores along the road when we saw much cheaper prices elsewhere (we suspect he had a kick-back from these stores (but to his credit, he advised us to see the anthropology museum in Hanoi instead of a couple of extra pagodas, which we really enjoyed). Other than these minor opportunities for improvement, we had great hotel rooms with very nice views (important to us), good weather, good food, good guides and drivers (who seemed satisfied with the tips we gave them), and we were taken to all the places agreed-to on the itinerary. For those who do not feel adventurous enough to be on their own in Vietnam, we do strongly recommend TNK travel as an ideal, reasonably-priced solution. You can count on them for a memorable and pleasant trip. One final comment, although you can pay everything in Vietnam in US dollars or Euros, prices are cheaper if you pay in Dongs (local currency, FX at 17.3 VND/USD on the average during our trip, calculated at 15 by the stores if you pay in USD). Also a word of caution, Vietnam Airlines only allows 20 kg for a checked suitcase and 7 kg for a carry-on so travel light……

If you are thinking of going and have any question about our experience, don’t hesitate to contact me at dkane@mmm.com.

Our sincere thanks to MM. Trinh, Danh and the entire TNK staff for a wonderful trip. The Kane family (Austin, TX, USA)

Anna Luedicke
Hello

Hello, I just wanted to say thank you very much for all that you did for us in our recent trip to Vietnam. We just had such a wonderful holiday, helped by expert administration by you. Everything went according to plan and was so slick. With 2 young children, it took all the worries away and let us enjoy ourselves. The quality of the cars and guides was very good and we wanted for nothing. We selected your company because of your competitive prices and now that we have seen that you have quality service to match, we will recommend you to our friends.

Many thanks,

Anna Luedicke

Andrea Mallett
Thank You

Dear tnk,

Your company organised a wonderful trip for ourselves and our friends (Mallett & Crisp families) over christmas and new year 2006/2007. We have some photos and things we would like to pass on to the wonderful guides that showed us around your beautiful country. If we send them to you are you able to pass them on for us? If possible do you have an address for Dat who did such a wonderful job of showing us around Saigon and Mekong Delta.

Thank You again for a wonderful trip we have been recomending your company to all of our friends.

Andrea Mallett

kete gocedenio
Thank you for a wonderful experince with my family

Hi Dzung Trinh,

As a photographer, I have been travelling South East Asia for 17 years. I have been to vietnam many many times. However this was the highest rating I can ever give to a Vietnam tour operator. I would give a Double A for satifaction index. Worth mentioning is Luc, the tour guide with us to Sapa. Although new in the guide tour business, he really take time to see that we are taken cared of. He eat only when he sees we are well seated. Prompt and courteous, he is always there when needed. The hotel staff in Hanoi are also great. Very courteous and accommodating.

I would like to say that the pinnacle of our journey is the surprise New Year's dinner in a cave in Halong bay. We were all taken aback with the setting, live musician, candle light dinner. It is simply magica. The 7 piece acoustic band played really well ( I was a sound engineer in London )

I am glad the tour turned out extremely well because I have hesitant in the beginning as I don't know your company. Definitely I will recommend your company to our friends.

Once again, thank you for a wonderful experince with my family.

Regards,

Kete Go Cedenio

Shaun McCree
Halong Bay - Huong Hai Junk

Went in middle of February 2008 when the weather was bitterly cold & misty. This was a real shame as everyone agreed it would have been a fabulous two days otherwise.

Kurt Ulrich
2 weeks Mekong delta tour and Phu Quoc island

Dear TNK Team, dear Luu vo

I visit in the last 2 years alone or with group tours many times Vietnam.
Last trip in 2007 I fund for the Mekong delta tour a tour operator in Phnom Penh and partner office in Chau Doc, Vietnam.
This tour was very cheap but!!! also very simple in service, accommodations, food and organization!
This year in February I had a group of 10 Swiss guests and I was happy to here from TNK travel agency in Saigon.
The secretary Luu vo was a great organizer and she send me quickly a package of a tour around the Mekong Delta during 2 weeks.
We had our private guide Mr. Ky, a friendly Vietnamese. He had doing for us the best job and he show us beautiful famous places away from the big tourist groups.

Two destinations was not so good standard and could be better for next time!
We would enjoy in Can Tho one night in homestay leaving but the bungalows was not only very old, there was not clean and during the night we had no water!
A similar situation we fund on the island Phu Quoc in the Tropical Resort. One of the nicest place so close to the beach under a lot of palm trees, but the quality of the bungalows was less then medium.

Anyway all of my guests enjoy this Vietnam trip and we can recommend TNK one of the best tour operator in Vietnam.

Thanks so much. Kutschi

Mr. Chris Kostrzak
Packaged tour (Sep 24 - Oct 5)

Hello Ms Hang
 
It was my pleasure to see you again
I'd call you from Hanoi but unfortunately it was your day off work .
I would like to thank you for excellent holiday , all hotels , points of interest and tours are very well organise . I will recommend you to all my friend  as the best travel office in Vietnam and Asia area.
 
Thanks again
With best regard
Chris Kostrzak

Deirdre Kriz
feedback on our trip

We were in Vietnam for 2 weeks and had TNK travel organize our accommodation and tours for us. From the very start everything went like clockwork. The guides and drivers they provided for us were very friendly and well informed. Not once were we ever late for a plane or boat, which there was many of both. They made our holiday to Vietnam very stress free and most enjoyable. I would reccommend this company to all I know who will be travelling to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

The trip was perfect.