roosevelt

Please suggest a guide who would spend time with us to tour HCMC itself. We will be travelling to Can Tho, but thought it helpful to work with a guide to appreciate the people, culture and their sights. We hope that we can find a guide who is as high caliber asTong was for Bangkok.

Smeagol

We used come and go travel in HCMC. We did a standard Cu Chi/ City tour and the guide was Nhung. She was fantastic. I would say contact them. Tim who i initially dealt with (a British Expat) was very helpful and they will tailor tours to suit. They also employ their guides so they have checked them out first.
We were very happy with Come and Go. (in fact Nhung was a great laugh.. she taught us the national song of VN and we in turn had her sing God save the Queen!!!) www.comeandgovietnam.com

sueblue

Here is an excerpt from a posting where I recommended some of our guides. (We just got back on 1/9.) I only included the ones for Saigon.

Just got back from our trip and wanted to post the contact info for 4 great guides we had. We found these guides independently during our trip, after having several poor experiences with guides assigned to us by Tonkin. When really in need, we would listen to other guides leading tours throughout a site, and if their English was great, and they seemed really knowledgeable, we would pull them aside discreetly and check their availability or if they had any friends they could recommend. For our guide in Hanoi, we got him through the Sofitel Metropole.

Saigon: Tim, Email: [email protected], Phone: 0937866697

Tim sounded like an Oxford trained Rhode scholar after dealing with two other guides assigned by Tonkin. His English is very good, he has very interesting analogies when comparing Eastern and Western cultures, and is a class act. He is also very honest. He is a freelance guide, but also works extensively for Buffalo Tours.

Saigon: Ho Sy Long (First Name is Long) , Email: [email protected], Phone: 84-912-918-066

Long was actually my favorite guide. His English was exceptional, and he was a firecracker of energy. He is extremely knowledgeable and social, and seemed to know all of the guides and tourist agencies in Vietnam (as he has worked for most of them). He works freelance and he was recommended to us by the Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi. We spent 3 days with him in Hanoi, but after our last day with him, he was moving to Saigon. Long seemed almost like a New Yorker . . . he seemed to be very adept at multi-tasking, answering our millions of questions, while at the same time, reserving or cancelling the many things we asked him to check for us. He also took me for new sunglasses after my bag was cut in the night market, and also postponed his trip to Saigon to take me to Halong Bag on short notice when all of the travel companies told me that all guides, boats, and cars were booked for that day. Long also has quite a personality and his bubbliness really added to our stay. In fact, if you are going with more than two people and are spending alot of time in Vietnam, I would suggest even considering have him take you through all of Vietnam. The additional cost will probably be marginal considering the convenience of booking one person with flawless English who is very knowledgeable and enthusiastic.

barefootbeach

Thanks again Sueblue for your excellent recommendations. Are there any other guides you could recommend for the rest of your trip?

free2bgr8ful

just to add to the other very good suggestions, if you'd like to do some free sightseeing in HCMC (on day trips) i can recommend SAIGON HOTPOT - they are a bunch of university students who will take you out and show you HCMC for no charge- you just pay all transport (taxis) and lunch and entry fees...tipping to the students not allowed.

ekscrunchy

This is good info--thanks for posting the names of the guides, Sue.

sueblue

Sure, everyone. Here is the rest of that original post:

Phnom Penh: Sun Veasna (First Name is Veasna); Email: [email protected], Phone: 855-12910029

Veasna was an amazing guide. His English was exceptional, and he also had some very interesting political views about Cambodia and Vietnam. His father was taken by the Khmer Rouge when he was two years old. His knowledge of the country was incredible . . . when he took me to the prison, he sat me down and told me the history for about 30 minutes before we even entered the prison. He answered our millions of questions about the Khmer Rouge and the genocide with incredible patience and a real enthusiasm for getting the story out, no matter how difficult it was for him personally. Veasna really made our trip to Phnom Penh worthwhile. Veasna is also a freelancer.

Angkor Wat: Luon Vanna (First Name Vanna, Email: [email protected], Phone: 855-12-799412

Vanna has a little bit of an accent, but is really a class act. His knowledge of all of the carvings was expansive, probably even more so than we wanted to hear! At the beginning, I had a little difficulty understanding some of his descriptions of the various legends surrounding the place, but I quickly realized the legends were pretty difficult to understand anyway. As we heard more and more of the guides speak in the region, we quickly realized how strong Vanna was. He was also great at planning our time there in the most efficient manner, considering the incredible heat, our extensive itinerary and our short time there (2 days).

I hope this helps anyone looking to schedule their own guides. We found it extremely time consuming finding these people while we were on vacation. I strongly recommend setting things up beforehand, especially during busy season. We were there over Christmas and New Years, and the pickings were very slim on short notice. Good luck!

daawgon

I also took the Saigon Hotpot tour and it was exceptional.

dgunbug

Sue - Did Long or Tim take you out to the Cu Chi Tunnels and Temple or did you use them just while in town? Did you use either of them for the Mekong Delta? Do you remember what they charged and if that included transportation?

sueblue

Dgunbug, we were with Tim in Saigon, Cu Chi and the Mekong Delta. I didn't see the Cai Dai Temple near Cu Chi because I was meeting my friend in the afternoon and we were doing a 1/2 day city tour. (I had already done the War Remants Museum the day before.) We did see a different Cai Dai Temple en-route to the Mekong which Tim took us to. As far as cost, I got Tim through Tonkin (after repeated calls complaining about 2 other guides from them) so I paid Tonkin directly. I got Long from the Sofitel Metropole. I think if you book them directly, they should be charging around $35? They get paid less from the travel agencies and you will typically pay more for a good one through the agencies, so they likely split the difference. This cost doesn't include transportation or entrance fees. I suggest paying the entrance fees yourself but have them quote the cost for the car, driver, and gas.

Leslie_S

Sue - I realize you have no way of knowing for sure - but is your sense that with the guides you used, planning for a trip a year out is possible or waiting until closer to the trip date would be better?

sueblue

I guess you can contact them . . . Many of the good guides get booked in advance but I'm not sure how much in advance . . . my sense is maybe 2 or 3 months out. In the case of our specific guides, Tim has a child and a baby on the way so it's likely he will be staying in Saigon. Long recently moved to Saigon so not really sure where he will be one year from now. Regarding Phnom Penh and Angkor, I imagine our guides will be there a year from now.

happy_life

There's so much useful information on this thread that I doubt I need to ask many questions about Vietnam which is on the wishlist. Thank you all.

Cheers