Indochina trip with Tonkin Travel- Alison and others please comment comment
 

I just received a quote from Tonkin Travel for a 25 day trip through Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. They were very responsive throughout the planning. I told them which hotels we wanted to stay in and other details such as meals, guides and drivers where necessary. Alison, are these people reliable? Did you like the guides they provided? When to you pay the remainder of the tour- besides the deposit? Did you get references?

Zin - Alison hasn't posted for several days but I have also been working with Tonkin. They have many excellent recommendations on tripadvisor.com and as a result of those and Alison's experience, I feel totally comfortable with them. You pay for the remainder of the tour on arrival - cash is cheapest, although you can do credit credit card with additional surcharge. I think any drivers you have set up will be fine. My experience with guides in SE Asia is mixed - there are many places such as Hanoi that you can probably do fine without them as long as you have requested an English speaking driver.

If you give us a complete itinerary we can advise where a guide would be helpful and where it would not. From my experience, Tonkin will be happy to eliminate guides where you do not need them. A guide is required by law in northern Vietnam and very helpful at Angkor Wat in Cambodia by the way.

Craig, Thank you so much. I intend to check out trip advisor. We intend to hire a guide that friends recommended in Siem Reap. Generally we are hiring guides for the first day of a destination and doing most meals on our own. Tonkin certainly is very competitive.

I'm here!
Tonkin is definitely reliable. However, we did not use them for guides. We did use them for car/driver to Halong Bay.
We didn't really use guides except for Jason Super Star for Mekong Delta. And of course we used Dara and Ponheary for Siem Reap.
In Vietnam figure out the places you really need guides and only book guides in advance for those places. The rest you can do on your own or book when there.
If you post your itinerary it will definitely help with comments.
BTW, Tonkin specializes in Vietnam. I don't know anything about their skills in Laos or Cambodia.
In Cambodia we booked our hotel through our guide and saved a bundle.
I was in Laos many years ago and certainly didn't feel i needed a guide for LP. We did hire a guide on the spot for a trek to a hill tribe village.
Tonkin would definitely be great for booking all your flights/hotels outside Vietnam.
You may want to ask them for references from someone who used them for Laos.
Let me know if you have any other questions. Happy to help.
Alison

For those that have used Tonkin, did you have any concerns about sending the credit card info to them. The form even wants 3 signations back to back, I find this a little interesting. We tried to bank transfer the funds but my bank needs corresponding bank info complete with aba numbers and Tonkin only has swift numbers. Anyone help please?
Please email me direct [email protected]

"A guide is required by law in northern Vietnam" Where in Northern Vietnam??? I never had a guide anywhere in Vietnam...

Judy, we had no problem transferring the money to Tonkin. An experienced banker should be able to come up with the corresponding bank and its ABA number - our bank did that for us. However, you shouldn't have a problem faxing the credit card info to them(other than the added layer of fees).

thursdaysd: if you want to climb up the Fanxipan in Sa Pa, a guide is required by law. Apart from that, NO NO NO.