Traveler Reviews

• Rhett J 07-Jan-2018

  This tour was a disappointment from the very beginning. We waited at our hotel for 30 minutes after the scheduled pick up time only to find that the driver was there on time but looking for 2 guests going to the airport and not to the train station. Once he figured out it was us, we did make it to the train station only to be dropped off at the door with no instructions. We waited through 2 lines before we found the correct office. If the driver had told us where to go, this could have been avoided. At the office, a girl handed be an envelope without any instruction. I said, is that it? She said, Do you want a cookie? We had to find the train without any assistance. The train was not on the track specified on the ticket, but after asking several people, we found the train and then our car. I was stuck in the top bunk with no ability to sit up for the duration of the 6 or 7 hour trip. Our tour guide, Hien, and driver picked us up at the station and then dumped us in the freezing cold hotel basement where we offered showers while we waited 2 hours for the tour to start. Our tour guide said he had to go home to warm up. The hotel lobby, basement and restaurant were totally freezing. We are talking in the high 40s at most. Freezing! Our guide came back to the hotel and picked us up a few hours later and commented on the cold. It was recommended we select rubber boots from pile on the floor. I could not find the correct size so ended up with too small boots on what would be one of the more miserable walks of my life. We then proceeded to spend 4 hours climbing down a wet, muddy path that we barely could look up from. I don't remember the views, because all we did was look at the path. We were offered assistance by very friendly villagers who would then end up insisting we buy there products from them. At the destination of our unpleasant walk and after my companion paid a motorcycle to take her on the last leg, we were forced into a miserable tourist trap restaurant to eat mediocre food. We canceled the rest of our trip and insisted Hien take us back to the hotel, which he did via car. It was only a 15 minute ride, which we could have taken down to avoid the miserable hike. The next day, we paid extra to got to a special market that was lest visited by tourists and more traditional. It was a 2.5 hour drive from the hotel and ended up being a huge, huge disappointment. It was full of plastic items and modern goods and did not feel special at all. The small craft market within walking distance of our hotel in Sa Pa was much more satisfying. To add to our troubles, our tour guide who claimed 8 years of experience, had the least effective English skills we found in all of Vietnam. Just one example, redchee was meant to say Green Tea. We stopped asking him questions because it was pointless. At this point, we asked about the third day and when we realized it meant another muddy hike, we canceled the day and organized a trip back to Hanoi. If we had not done so, we would have come back from the hike and had to wait in the freezing cold hotel until another train ride back to Hanoi that evening. This entire trip could have been self-planned and toured and bee much more enjoyable. I will never use Viator again.