October 30/31, 2016

We drove to LA for our International flight. We were several hours early so we sat in the VIP lounge until the flight boarded. We took a business class flight on EVA. The beds were incredible. The gave us PJ's , a great kit of stuff and a cozy quilt. I slept quite a bit. Great flight. In planning the trip,as always, I relied on the Fodor's chat room.After posting itineraries from 2 US agencies it became apparent from other Fodorites that it made sense to use an agency in Vietnam. The agency that kept coming up was Custom Vietnam Travel (CVT). Susan from CVT was just amazing along with Minh Ninh and Smiley, the owner of the agency. I emailed back and forth with Susan for months and got immediate responses and great suggestions from her. I would highly recommend CVT especially now knowing the amazing guides and drivers they provided to us. I was very clear that I wanted a customized high end private trip with English speaking guides and driver the entire time and that is what I got. In fact I would say they exceeded my expectations. You will see we did have one hiccup in Bangkok but CVT did everything to fix and never dropped the ball.

11/1/16
We landed in Taiwan and had 3 hours until our flight to Hanoi so we relaxed in the VIP lounge and showered. It felt great. EVA Air's service is amazing. The flight was fine but a little late. When we got off the plane on our way to customs we saw a guy holding a sign with our name. I paid CVT for the fast Visa service. We gave the guy our passports, 2 passport photos and $135 per person. About 15 minutes later he brought our passports back with the Visa and then sent us on to the LONG line to go through Customs. We probably should have gotten our Visa in NY as I am not sure it was worth it as we had to wait on the long long line anyway. We got our luggage and as we walked out of the baggage area Susan from Custom Vietnam Travel was there waiting for us. The driver took us all to the Sofitel Metropole Hotel in the French Quarter area. It really has a French influence where everyone says Bon Jour, etc.It is a beautiful hotel. Susan sat with us in the lobby to review the itinerary, give us a local cell phone to reach her and then we paid the remainder of our balance. She was just adorable. The hotel employee gave me a beautiful bouquet of roses. She walked us up to the room on the Opera side of the hotel. The room is lovely. They had a beautiful box of chocolates on the bed with a note wishing us a Happy Pearl Anniversary. We took a stroll around the hotel. We went to a few galleries and then walked around the Hoan Kiem Lake. We then got back to the hotel to rest for a bit as we had a 600 bunker tour in the hotel. We went down for the 600 bunker tour. It was fascinating. They discovered them 5 years ago when they were building the Bamboo Bar. One interesting comment is that we call the war the Vietnam war but the Vietnamese refer to it as the American war. We were so tired that we made reservations at the Vietnamese restaurant in the hotel, Spice Garden. Very good but we were really tired. We were up in the room by 800 ready for bed.

11/2/16

We had a quick breakfast at the hotel. The choices were amazing. I had the typical Vietnamese breakfast, Pho. It is a soup with chicken or beef and noodles. It was quite good. We got picked up by our driver, Cuong and guide Hoang at 800 to start our Hanoi Capital tour. He shared that the Vietnamese believe that 5 elements created the universe, fire . wind, water,wood and metal and they were represented on the old Vietnam flag which was changed by Ho Chi Min in 1945.The car came equipped with wifi so that was a real benefit with all the driving we will be doing.We first went to the Ho Chi Minh Palace. We were unable to go into the mausoleum as it is closed for a couple of months a year for maintenance. We saw his home and second home on stilts. We then went to the One Pillar Buddha pagoda and the Confucious temple. We then went to the Temple of Literature and then on to Museum of Enthology which was really fascinating to see the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. We then went to the Hanoi Hilton. After we went to Le Tonkin for a Vietnamese lunch. This was arranged by the agency and it was quite good. We sat at a table in an outside courtyard and had an 8 course meal.
After lunch we had an hour long cyclo around the lake area. It was fascinating to be riding with all the scooters and cars going in all directions. Our guide showed us how to cross a street. Apparently the scooters see your pace and ride accordingly around you. After we walked around the shopping area with our guide as we wanted to go to a few galleries and stores I read about. We bought some beautiful things at Tan My design. We bought a beautiful tablecloth and napkins, beautiful salad servers and some girl gifts!! When we were done shopping our guide took us to the Anam Spa. I got a 1 hour massage and 1 hour facial. My husband got a 2 hour massage. It was a clean and very nice spa and the services were quite good. We took a taxi back to the hotel as we were running late for our 715 dinner reservation at Cau Go. The driver picked us up at 700 and drove us to the restaurant. Since it was our 30th anniversary the agency arranged the dinner. We had a private table on a small patio up above on the 6th floor. The views were amazing and the food was delicious. There also is another floor with a roof top of tables that was also impressive. The agency had a beautiful cake sent over to us at dessert. It was a huge cake that was not only beautiful but delicious. It was so sweet of them to send that over. We decided to walk back to the hotel instead of having our driver wait for us. Around the lake there was a tai chi group working out and a group of ball room dancers dancing together. The city is so lively.

11/3/16

We had breakfast and checked out and had the hotel hold our bags until tomorrow as we were leaving for an overnight on Halong Bay. Our driver and guide left early from Hanoi to drive to Halong Bay to meet us when we got off the sea plane. We had a new driver Lam that transported us at 8:30 to the airport for our 50 minute seaplane flight. We had an amazing flight and as soon and as we got there our driver and guide were there waiting for us. They drove us about 20 minutes to the other side of the lake where we checked in to the Indochina junk Dragon Legend 2. One of the reasons we selected the Dragon Legend is because they can go to areas the other boats cant. I read that the waters get very busy with all the other boats but we did not experience that. We had to wait around 45 minutes until they boarded us on the tenders. We took a small tender to the boat and had a briefing about the boat and schedule. We got our assigned rooms and had a half hour until lunch. The cabins are really nice. We had a wonderful lunch on the outside deck. We cruised on Bai Tu Long Bay seeing the fascinating limestone karats.After lunch we had 45 minutes until we leave the boat for kayaking. We went kayaking on Vong Dang-Cong Dam area and got off at a small beach before we got back on the kayaks to go back to the boat. So fun!! My husband had a massage while I relaxed in the room until dinner at 700. Dinner was delicious. There were 3 honeymoon couples and 2 anniversaries, ours being one. They brought out cakes and gifts and everyone celebrated. After the crew played 2 instrumental songs. After we went back to the cabin for the night.

11/4/16

My husband got up early to see the sunrise and I met him on the outer deck for breakfast at 7:15. We then cruised to the Cong Do area and got on to small boats that took us to Thien Canh Son Cave which was quite interesting,. We went back to the boat and relaxed on the upper deck and then packed and checked out. We had a wonderful lunch. They served green bean soup for dessert which was delicious. When we disembarked our driver and guide were waiting for us. We first stopped at a pearl farm called Legend Pearl. We saw them taking the pearls out of the shells and how they culture them. They had a huge store where we bought a few gifts. We then went to the village of Yen Duc for a water puppet show. Since it is operated by the Dragon Legend we saw several of the people that were on our boat and they were going back to Hanoi on a van provided by the boat company. We opted for a private car to be more comfortable at the suggestion of CVT. The show was very cute and they acted out some features of Vietnam culture. We then stopped at Daiviet which is a government owned shop. They sell everything from large marble sculptures, leather products, lacquered items, and embroidery pieces. There were disabled workers there actually making the embroidery products. We stopped there for a bathroom break as it takes 4 hours to get back to Hanoi from Halong Bay. We ended up staying there longer than expected as we bought a large marble sculpture that will be shipped home. The driver and guide did not rush us nor did they care how long we took. We continued our drive back and there was quite a bit of traffic heading back into the city. We stopped at the Metropole hotel to get our bags and then went to the Old Quarter to check into the Essence Hotel. I thought it would be nice to experience staying in a different area. It is quite congested with young people all over. They actually close the streets to cars from 7-12 from Friday to Sunday. Luckily we got there around 6:30. The hotel is nice. We have a suite with a bedroom and living room. It is definitely not as upscale as the Metropole but very nice. We relaxed a bit. Our niece happened to be in Hanoi so we arranged for her to join us for dinner. She met us at the hotel at 8:00 and we walked a couple of streets to the Green Tangerine restaurant, which was excellent. We all enjoyed our meal. We walked her back to her hostel walking through the crowds of people. We then got a little lost finding our hotel but we found it. We then went to bed for the night.

11/5/16

We had a really nice breakfast at the hotel. We were picked up at 800 to head to Ninh Binh which is 2 1/2 hours south of Hanoi. Our guide bought 4 tickets so that we would have our own sampan boat which is a rowing boat. The older man rowing the boat rowed us for 2 hours on the Trang An. We went through beautiful caves and had a relaxing ride viewing the beautiful landscape. At the end our guide was waiting for us and we had lunch at the restaurant there., Ben Trang An restaurant. They served a lot of food which was quite good. They served grilled goat meat which I did not try, my husband did. They also served fried rice cakes which is common in that area which were really good too. After lunch we stopped at the king Dien Tien temple who was the first king of Vietnam. We then headed back to Hanoi. I must add here that our guide and driver have been amazing. Our guide speaks perfect English and is so knowledgeable. He kept us on time the whole way and was willing to stop and do anything we asked for. The driver was amazing but most importantly a great driver which is not easy in Vietnam with all the scooters and cars all over the place. They were always early when they were scheduled to pick us up. I feel so fortunate to have had them both. When we got to Hanoi we quickly had a snack at Bun Cha Obama which is the place that Obama and Anthony Bourdain went to when Obama visited Vietnam. The Bun Cha was delicious. After we had an ice cream at Fannys which was really good. Apparently the best ice cream in Hanoi. We then went back to the Green Palm Gallery where we bought an oil painting that we had seen the first day we arrived. Our driver drove us all back to the Essence Hotel. We said good bye to our driver as he was on another tour starting tomorrow. He was such a nice guy and we were sorry to say good bye. The guide plotted out a few places for us that we plan on going to after dinner. Susan from CVT called our guide several times over the past few days to check in to ensure all was going well with our trip. Our guide gave us his cell number every evening in case we needed him. He has an amazing work ethic. It appears that all the Vietnamese have a great work ethic. Another observation is that the portions of food served at restaurants are huge. They keep bringing out dishes. We needed a taxi to get to the restaurant this evening. The hotel porter walked us to the corner as it was after 7:00 and the street the hotel was on was closed as it is Saturday night. Apparently there are good taxis and bad taxis so you need to know which one to use. We went to Home restaurant. It was a charming setting with a guitarist and violinist and the food was quite good. We had them get us a taxi to the lake area. We went back to the roof top restaurant Cau Go that we had already been to as we wanted to take pictures from the roof top. After we walked back to the hotel and strolled through the night market on the way. It was just crazy how many people were out partying shopping eating and drinking. We bought a few greeting cards.When we got back to the hotel we noticed people outside sucking on balloons. When we asked the concierge what they were doing he went across the street to get us a balloon filled with helium. We also sucked on the ballon but not sure what the big deal is!! We went to bed and packed up for or flight in the morning.

11/6/16

We had a leisurely breakfast as we were being picked up at 9:30 to go to the airport. When we went to check out both Susan and Minh Ninh from CVT were there to say good bye. They are just the sweetest women. They wanted to make sure all was going well with our trip. Of course we couldn't thank them enough. Our guide Hoang was there too. We had the driver take us all to the Egg Coffee place Cafe Giang that is quite famous in Vietnam. We sat on the low chairs and we all enjoyed an egg coffee together. It was delicious. We then said good bye to Susan and Minh Ninh and headed to the airport for our flight to Saigon. Hoang helped us check in and we needed to pay an extra baggage fee for all the items we purchased. We were sorry to say good bye to Hoang. He really made our time in Hanoi so special. The flight was 1 hour and 45 minutes. It was just ok as there was a man whistling the whole time and the plane ringers were going off a lot. Our guide Phu and driver Thao were there waiting for us. It took about a half hour from the airport and then we checked into the Park Hyatt which is a beautiful hotel. It was already 330 so we showered and freshened up. We are being picked up at 6:00 for our Jeep City Food Tour. Before we left we took a tour of the hotel. Beautiful pool. There was a Vietnamese wedding being set up that had the most amazing floral decorations that we have ever seen. It was a obviously a wealthy family. Our hotel is right near the opera house in District 1. We got picked up in an open roofless Jeep which was a great way to see the city and the weather was beautiful. We passed the Tan Dinh church and stopped at our first food stop Banh Xeo for pancakes and fresh spring rolls. We also had coconut juice in the coconut which was quite good. The pancakes were amazing. We passed the post office and Norte Dam Cathedral. We got out and walked into the vestibule as there was a sevice going on. Our next food stop was in District 4 which is a very poor area and went to 662 for fish. You pick out your fish amongst many types of fish. It was certainly fresh and authentic. We stopped at Ben Thanh market which has a lot of stuff and my husband bought a fake Jaeger Le Coutre watch for $80. Our last food stop was for a drink at 1 Saigon rooftop. air 360 Sky lounge on the 22nd floor.The views were amazing and it was certainly a happening bar. The food tour was done and we returned back to our hotel at 10:30. Like Hanoi everyone honks all over the place!!

11/7/16

We were being picked up today at 8:30 for our tour to Cu Chi tunnels north west of Saigon. Breakfast at the hotel was amazing. Amazing selection beautifully presented. We drove for about 1 1/2 hours to Ben Dinh Tunnel. It was fascinating seeing where the Vietnamese hid away from the Americans. We crawled through the tunnels and it was quite hot in there. At the end they served us tapioca and nuts and tea. Very interesting. We drove back to Saigon and had a great lunch at Cuc Gach. Our son had told us he read about a restaurant built by an architect that was quite good. Pure coincidence that it was the same restaurant that the tour company sent us to. The concierge at the hotel also highly recommended it. Great restaurant. It was a beautiful place too. Apparently Angelina Jolie came there?? We then stopped at Minh Phuong , a lacquer factory. The process is quite fascinating. They use duck shells to crate the whites. We bought 2 trays. We then went to the Chabad of Vietnam. We met the Rabbi Avremi Hartman who moved here 2 years with his wife and children. He indicated there are 300 Jews in Vietnam, none Vietnamese. We then toured the Presedential/unification/independent Palace. We saw the presidents quarters, meeting rooms and basement bunkers and communication center. We then went to the War Museum. As an American it was quite hard to take in. The Museum is a must see. We then went to see the Post Office. There were some stores that we wanted to go to on Dong Khoi Street which is the high end shopping street. We bought some beautiful lacquer items at SaiGon Crafts. We then stopped at yet another fake watch place and my husband bought 2 more. Before dinner he had to go back as one was not working. Surprise, surprise. We also stopped at Catherine Denoual Maison linen shop that had beautiful bedding and table linens. It is right across the street from the hotel. We then took a taxi to dinner at Noir. It is an incredible eating experience in the dark. You can choose East, West or Vegetarian type food. We chose East. Many of the staff are visually or hearing impaired. They walk you into a very dark space and guide you as to where everything is on the table. The first course has 4 items, the 2nd course has 4 items and then 3 desserts. It is fun to try to guess what you are eating. At the end after they guide you out they sit down with you and show you what each item you ate looked like and the ingredients. I thought this was an amazing dinner and experience. I would highly recommend it.

11/8/16

Another great breakfast at the hotel. We got picked up at 8:00 to go south west to the Mekong Delta in Ben Tre city. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. We got on to our own boat which was a row boat with motor. We rode on the Ben Tre river. Our first stop was a place to see how bricks were made. We then rode on to a coconut farm. They make all sorts of coconut items. We saw how they make coconut candies, which we bought some as well. We then sat for tea with their homemade honey. There were bees swarming every where. The people there served us some fruit and sang local traditional songs accompanied by 2 guitarists. We then got on the boat that left us off at Nhon Thanh village. We walked a bit on the road and stopped to see a family making mats. We then walked a little further and had a choice to be driven by a rickshaw or ride bicycles which we opted to do. A young man escorted on his motor bike and we followed about 2 miles to a home in the woods where we were served lunch. We passed rice fields and all sorts of vegetation. Again a lot of food. They served us a whole elephant ear fish that they deboned and wrapped with vegetables in rice paper. We also had soup, shrimp, rice and noodles. It is a man named Mr. Hai Ho's home . There were other tourists there so it is obviously the place to eat on the Mekong Delta. After lunch we walked through the forest over creeks where we got on to a sampan boat. An older woman with a beautiful smile rowed us to where our other boat from earlier was waiting for us. We got off in Ben Tre city and our driver was waiting there for us. I must say the guides and drivers are well timed and always there waiting for us. We got back to the hotel and scheduled 90 minute massages at 137 Foot Massage Salon that the guide had recommended. It was located near the Ben Tre market. The massages were quite good. They use their whole bodies. We then quickly went back to the hotel to change and went to Hoa Tuc for dinner. It is located across the street from our hotel. It actually was a great meal. In fact my husband said it was the best soft shell crab he ever had. We went back to the hotel.

11/9/16

We slept in and had a late breakfast. We then sat by the pool for an hour before getting ready to head to the airport. We got picked up at 2:00 for a 4:30 flight to Siem Reap.The flight was only 45 minutes. When we arrived we needed to get a Cambodia Visa. As we were filling out the forms a man had our name and he handled the whole thing for us. When we left the baggage our guide Mr. T was there. He is quite a fascinating man. His family survived the Kmehr Rouge. He is missing a finger and eye but very involved with children's organizations. He plays many instruments, teaches sells gems and guides. There is a book written about his family, specifically his brother who is a doctor at the children's hospital and him, called Tragedies and Triumphs by Chad Williams. He speaks beautiful English and is very knowledgeable. We drove about 20 minutes to our hotel Phum Baitaing Resort. It is on the outskirts of the city on a beautiful piece of property. What a hidden gem. Since we had a driver every day it really didn't matter that the hotel is not in the city. Many of the villas have a dunking pool. If I knew I would have requested one. They checked us in and walked us to our villa. Amazing, charming and authentic. We dressed quickly and went to the front of the resort and our guide and driver drove us to our restaurant in town, Viroths. Great food and beautiful restaurant. After we took a tuk-tuk back to the resort. I am so happy that we decided to stay here over the Park Hyatt.

11/10/16

After breakfast we were picked up at 8:30 and headed to Angkor Thom, which means huge city and took 28 years to build. It is surrounded by a water moat. We went in on the South Gate, the rowing gate. There is also a North gate, pottery gate, 2 East gates, funeral gate and victory gate, and a West gate, death gate. Heading into the gate are Buddha faces representing charity, compassion, sympathy and equality. All the temples represent 2 religions, Buddhism and Hindu. In this temple there are happy faces all over. Just amazing!! We then saw the Baton Temple which was built in 1010. We then saw the Terraces of Elephants temple. It was quite hot. We then went to Ta Prohm which is named 4 faces and was built for the king's mother. It is covered with trees , an amazing site. This temple is famous as it is where Tomb Raider was filmed with Angelina Jolie. We then went to a restaurant, Triple K for lunch near the temples. After lunch we went to Sarah Sang, the royal bath. It was just beautiful. It is a man made body of water. We then stopped at Banteay Kdei which was built for the king's teacher. We left the temples and went into the city to look for art. We stopped at Theam's house which had beautiful art items. Since we were going to the Phare Circus tonight which is 5 minutes from our hotel, we ate at the hotel. The food was quite good. Our driver picked us up at 7:30 for an 8:00 performance. It was very entertaining and most importantly the proceeds help underprivileged kids and gives them a chance. I would recommend assigned seating as we had general seating and we were on the side which was a little difficult to see from. Our driver waited for us and drove us back to the hotel.

11/11/16

We got picked up from our hotel at 5:00 AM to see sunset at Angkor Wat. At about 6:15 after the sun rose we toured the temple which is beyond amazing and the enormity of it was just fascinating. We did not wait the hour to go to the top. Not sure it is worth it. We arrived back at the hotel at 8:00 and had breakfast. We relaxed until 930 when we were picked up to go to Koenig Plus to take a private wood boat around Tonie Sap lake. It is the largest fresh water lake in Southeast Asia. We were supposed to go to see another temple first, Banteay Srei. We had seen enough temples and it was quite hot out. We did meet people that said it is different than the other temples and quite beautiful. The lake trip was very relaxing and fascinating to see the homes on stilts on the lake and how the people live there. The lake recedes during certain months and it becomes rice fields. We went back to town and had lunch at Chanry Tree which was very good. We then went to Ank Custom shoe shop to buy sandals. They will make them Custom in 3 days but we were leaving the next day. They literally make the sandals upstairs in their shop. We then went to a dive massage place that our guide recommended for 90 minute massages. I couldn't wait to get out of there. We took a tuk tuk back to the hotel to relax and change for dinner. We went to Cuisine Wat Damnak, a restaurant owned by a French couple. We took a tuk tuk there and he waited for us to take us back to the hotel after dinner. We both were having major stomach issues but still wanted to make it for dinner as it is not easy to get reservations. We made ours 3 months in advance. We had the 5 course option and could barely eat anything. Everything looked amazing and what we did eat was delicious. They ended up not charging us the full amount as we skipped one of the main courses. Our tuk tuk took us back for a good nights sleep.

11/12/16

We got picked up at 9:30 to go to Le Tigre de Papier for our cooking class. They first took us to the market to show us all the fruits and vegetables and any kind of food for sale. The meats and live fish were all out in the open for sale. A little creepy!! We then got to choose a starter and main dish to make. We both picked fried spring rolls for a starter and I picked chicken with cashews and my husband picked pineapple chicken. It was a lot of fun and we met some really nice people. We chopped and cooked and then got to eat. It was our best meal in Cambodia even though my stomach was not great. We also made the dessert fried bananas and they served it with fruit. Great place to go for a cooking class and from what others in the group indicated it was the one class where you make what you want and there is no set meal. Our driver picked us up and brought us back to the hotel. We packed up and sat by the pool for an hour and a half as we were being picked up at 3:30 to head to the airport for our last leg of the trip to Bangkok.
I need to mention a few things: the manager of the hotel, David Ashworth was so welcoming and kind. We really loved this Resort.
Our driver was beyond great. He works for Absolute Tours and his name is Mr. Chea and his number is 855 7167 90403. He was the most polite young man and always on time waiting for us.
Our tour guide is probably one of the most knowledgeable guides in Cambodia. His name is Vudthy Long. I believe he too works with Absolute Tours but his number is 855 99 76 1481 and his email is [email protected].
We got to Bangkok and we could not find our driver. We had another guide call the number we were given. Not sure what the problem was but they finally showed up. Since we were late for the dinner reservation I had made we made the decision to stay at the hotel. We checked into the St. Regis. A really beautiful hotel. We got upgraded to a corner suite. When we got to the room there was a bridal bouquet, rose petals all over, a bubble bath drawn and pastries wishing us a Happy 30th anniversary. We went down to the Italian restaurant and had delicious pasta. My stomach was not doing well so it was great to have Western food.

11/13/16

We were told we were being picked up at 730 to go to Damneon Saduak Floating market which is about an hour out of the city. The guide was about 80 years old and missing most of his teeth. I could not understand a word he was saying. Not good!! We first stopped at a coconut making tourist trap and then on to the floating markets. There were people and boats selling garbage all over the place. We told the guide to have the boat guy cut the ride short so we could head back to Bangkok. It was a complete waste of time. In the mean time we were in touch with CVT that we were unhappy. We then went to see the Golden Buddha and then on to the Royal Palace and then to see the emerald Buddha. We did get to the area by a boat on the canal. We had a quick lunch near the palace and then on to the canal to head back to the driver. We were supposed to go to Jim Thompson's house but I really wasn't feeling well so we went back to the hotel. My husband went to the pool and I rested. We got dressed and was supposed to be picked up by the driver who never showed so we took a taxi to the Sheraton Royal Orchid hotel where we were to meet the owner of Nang Gin Kui. It is a dining experience where Florian and his wife Goy make a 12 course dinner for diners. However it was only us that night. He walked us from the Sheraton to his condo and we had a lovely dinner and basically chatted with Florian the whole evening. The food was amazing and very interesting. We stayed 5 hours and then Florian took us down to get a taxi to the hotel. In the mean time there seemed to be real issues with CVT and the local Bangkok agency, Asia Travel Estate. We told the owner that we were happy to.not have a guide the next day to Ayutthaya and that we would have a day to ourselves. He felt terrible and worked on the issues the entire day. He made it clear that he was no longer going to use that agency any longer. I would warn every one to stay away from the local Bangkok agency. They were rude and not flexible and never showed up when they were supposed to. Mr. Smiley insisted on crediting us back all the charges related to our stay in Bangkok including our dinner cost because he felt so terrible.

11/14/16

We slept in and had a late breakfast. We went on the sky train which has a stop right at the St. Regis and headed to the Jim Thompson House. Very interesting and worth the visit. We then got back on the sky train and headed to the tailor Rajawongse at 130 Sukhumvit Road to order clothes for my husband and son. They have an amazing operation there. Our son had ordered suits and shirts from him previously and they shipped the items with no problems and everything was perfect. If you can get there at the beginning of your stay and get measured and then go back for a fitting that would be perfect. We did not stay that long so that was not possible for us. We then got back on the sky train and headed back to the hotel to sit by the pool and relax for our last day in Asia. We had dinner reservations at Nahm which is located in the Metropolitan hotel. It was good but a bit too spicy for us. The restaurant itself was beautiful and the food very good.

11/15/16

We got picked up by a car that we arranged through the hotel at 930 and headed to the airport for our 12:40 flight to Taipei and then on to NY. We sat in the VIP lounge for an hour before boarding. We had an uneventful 3 hour and 40 minute flight to Taiwan. We had 2 hours to do our Duty Free shopping in the Taiwan airport and then sat in the VIP Lounge for about a half hour until boarding. We arrived safely in NY and got picked up for our ride home


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Thank you so much for your trip report. We leave on a Uniworld tour of Vietnam and Cambodia in a few days followed by a week in Japan on our own.

So appreciated your report and looking forward to visiting Vietnam and Cambodia.

Thank you for writing this in such great detail, rjbriskin. I now want to return to Hanoi to see/shop/eat as you did---let alone see the other places on your itinerary I've yet to visit. Even more amazing is that your trip report ends on November 15, and it is now only November 16th! Welcome home.
Glad to read that CVT worked well for you. I thought they were great too. I want to adopt Susan!
What a shame about the local BKK agency Asia Travel Estate. Must have been frustrating (understatement). frustrating (even infuriating) Bad enough, but fortunately, it came at the end of an otherwise great trip. Good thing you didnt start the trip with that experience!
More questions/comments later.

Again impressed by the amount of detail here, which I and other Fodorites can put to use. For me, that includes the Saigon/Mekong Delta area, Siem Reap, and Bangkok, some time in future, fingers crossed!
Now that you' ve done it, what are your thoughts on your one-night stay on board the Indochina Junk boat? All else being equal (time, budget) would you have preferred two nights in retrospect?
Also, your thoughts on the different areas of Hanoi in which to stay. Having stayed in both the French quarter and the Old Quarter, IF you had to choose just one between the two, which would you recommend as a base?
Same with Saigon.Were you happy with the Park Hyatt area of the city as a base, or would you recommend a different area?

I really enjoyed your trip report and am eager to go to Vietnam sometime in the not-too-distant future! Thanks for the detailed descriptions of the different places you visited -- loved that you were open to so many different experiences. And, when I finally do get to Vietnam, I'll be sure to contact CVT that you and CaliNurse recommend. I'm only sorry you had such a poor experience in Bangkok, but you seem to have been able to manage well on your own.

What a wonderfully detailed report! I remember your planning threads. I'm sorry you had a bad experience with the agency in Bangkok. As you discovered, you really don't need guides or hand-holding in Bangkok. I loved your description of the floating market - I agree - a total waste of time. It reminds me of the Luxe Guide description : "floating tourist tat."

Glad you had such a good time, sorry you had stomach problems.

Calinurse- I think one night on the Indochina junk is enough. As for the French Quarter or Old Quarter, I much preferred the French Quarter and specifically the Metropole Sofitel. I thought the Park Hyatt area in Saigon was great.

I too have used CVT to put my trip in February together and glad to hear the Vietnam portion came off successfully. Sometimes private tours workout well, sometimes they are a disaster. I can't wait for February.

I really enjoyed reading your report. Thank you for posting. I am going to Vietnam in April and doing some of the things that you did so was interested in your thoughts. Thank you