Indochina Odyssey Travel Consultant Saddie's Homepage

HCMC, or Saigon is a big city but if you have the time to visit, fascinating. Also, a jumping off point to the boats on the Mekong River.

Having Indochina Odyssey Tours (IOT), with Ms. Tea, as a guide, allowed us to navigate the city. Reunification Palace, Saigon Skydeck with an overview of the city, and an 8:00 AM concert in front of the Opera House on Sunday with attendees mounted on their motor scooters were highlights. We had been to Hanoi earlier, and had been trained by IOT guide to cross the street with an onslaught of motor scooters so we were pros in HCMC. We stayed at the Park Hyatt which is within walking distance of the river, and Dong Khoi shopping. Wherever we traveled in VN/Cambodia, our IOT consultant Sadie had coordinated every detail, had a guide meeting us when we exited a plane, boat or border. I am highly recommending Indochina Odyssey Tours for this visit. If you need to go a pharmacy or look for a specific shop, they will make it happen. Great, organized and dependable company.

Myself and my partner used Indochina Odyssey Tours to book our tour of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia and we weren't disappointed! From first contact, Sadie provided excellent advice, guidance and customer service. The tour itself was excellently organised and we were looked after at every step of the way.

Our guides were always very friendly and helpful and always had a bottle of water to hand when we needed it! It was very hot while we were there! Our only criticism of the guides was that they were sometimes too friendly and helpful and felt the need to fill every silence with updates on where we were and the local history (Occasionally we wanted to relax in silence, but that's just us and we probably should have told the guides this!).

The hotels varied, which may have been due to the differing prices in each country. The hotel in Luang Prabang was beautiful and pure luxury. The hotels in Thailand and Cambodia were also very good and of a high standard. The hotels in Vietnam, however, were of a slightly lower standard. By no means bad, they were all good hotels, but not to the same standard as in the other countries. All of the hotels, however, were in excellent locations and central to everything that we wanted to do in the area.

Tours and Activities were all well organised and the guides all really new their stuff. I can't list everything we did individually, I would be here forever, but most of what we did were amazing once in a lifetime opportunities and we may never have experienced them if it were not for Odyssey. Highlights included Elephant trekking and cookery class in Thailand, Kuang Si Waterfall in Laos, Halong Bay in Vietnam and the Angkor complex in Cambodia. All unbelievable! Having a private car and driver was also great, meaning we could stop for photo opps when we wanted and move at our own pace. All of the cars and drivers were great, again some better than others, but none were below 'good' standard.

They also paid for our dinner and provided a cake and card for my girlfriends birthday, which was a really nice touch.

Problems/Criticisms - I can only think of 2 problems that we had on the entire trip that I can mention. First was the trip to the 'Tiger Zoo'. I had expressed concerns about visiting this place when booking and was assured that it was a very humane place and all of the tigers are treated very well. This is not the case. They may be well fed and cared for, but the cages they are kept in and the way they are forced to perform is horrible. It should not be allowed. We found the whole experience a little bit upsetting. I think this is down to a differing outlook in terms of animal welfare in the western world and in Asia, as all of the locals, Chinese and Russian tourists loved the place... Whereas we thought it should be closed down!
The second problem was that we had a flight time changed during out trip. Our guide was aware of this and notified us of this, but made no attempt to organise any activity for the afternoon that we now had free. Instead he dropped us at the airport at the original time and we had to sit for 4 hours before we could even check in.

All in all though, I would highly recommend this company, the whole experience made our trip really special and if we decide to do another trip like this in the future, we will certainly be using them again.

Our initial itinerary offered by Sadie at IOT was more or less the one we eventually booked, three weeks duration starting 6th May 2014. Started in Hanoi then to Halong Bay then the central plains including Da Nang, Hue and Hoi An then to Saigon and eventually a relaxing beach at Phan Thiet. If you decide to do our tour or similar let Sadie and IOT sort it for you and sit back. Vietnam is wonderful, the itinerary was full and went like clockwork, was packed with so many interesting tours and we were looked after by three great guides. Special mention here to Nang, Quinn and Tiou. The eight 4* hotels, all the restaraunts where lunches were served and the transport were first class. We have visited most of SE Asia but have never been looked after like we have been on this tour. Thanks INDOCHINA ODYSSEY TOURS.

Returned home from an amazing trip organized for myself, my husband, son and his girlfriend. Sadie was our IOT contact. We found her the guides, and drivers to be accommodating, friendly timely, and very knowledgeable. Our accommodations were very good.
Still can't believe how fortunate we were to research this tour company and book this trip all online and via email. Our trip lived up to and surpassed our expectations.
Thank you Sadie and IOT.

This was our family's first big vacation and we booked online through IOT. The process was easy and our assigned agent was extremely patient and helpful as we changed our plan many times in the process. We eventually decided on a very affordable trip touring Ho Chi Minh City, the Mekong Delta, Hanoi, and Ha Long Bay. We took our infant and saw as much of Vietnam as we could in 10 days. Our guides spoke English and our drivers were on time and efficient. You can design your own tour how you want or let the professionals do all the legwork. We would use this agency again if we ever decide to re-visit.

A complete exceptional service from a friendly professional team. My wife and I designed a 14 day tour from South to North Vietnam with Indochina Odyssey Tours and it was sensational. Special mention to the local guides at each of our destinations for their knowledge, passion, friendship and insight into many aspects of Vietnamese life that I sure we would not have experienced in a large group. We will be back. Visited October 2013

I have only praise for the company indochina odyssey tours. They are amazing. The chosen guides were incredible. Absolute minds of information and very caring. They went out of their way to look after us when we were faced with the Typhoon in Danang and Hoian. Well done Indochina Odyssey and especially to Peter (Tuan) one of our guides. You are a gem. We can definitely recommend him and Indochina Odyssey Tours to anyone.Thank you for a wonderful holiday
Jenny and Yvonne (Perth)

Sadie of IOT arranged my tour to Hanoi. My hotel in the middle of the Ancient Quarters, was very nice, comfortable amid extremely lively and convenient location. The Hanoi guide and driver were very professional and accommodating. The city tour and the cyclo ride through the Ancient Quarters was very interesting. The Ha Long Bay overnight cruise on the Bhaya junk was the highlight of my tour, an incredible trip. This is my 2nd trip arranged by IOT, a 5-star company, and I highly recommend them. Visited August 2013

Just back from a 15 day tour of Vietnam and Cambodia organised by IOT and what an experience it has been - absolutely fantastic !!!

The guides assigned to us were exceptional, our accommodation superb and the restaurants we were taken to for lunch every single day were excellent. The itinerary you planned for us was just right - we never felt that we had done too little or too much.?A special note of thanks to Sadie our travel consultant who was very patient and co-operative, making numerous changes to our itinerary to ensure we had the best experience ever.

Considering we were a family of two ladies and two children, we felt VERY safe and comfortable throughout the tour. IOT - my mum, children and I would like to say "thank you"!! Visiting Vietnam and Cambodia through IOT was one of the best decisions I made!!

Many thanks to everyone at IOT, in particular, Sadie, for organising a great trip to Vietnam for us. Sadie was meticulous in her preparation of our trip. We requested a combination of culture and activity based holiday and we were not disappointed.

Quang our guide in northern vietnam was fantastic. He was always willing to take us off the beaten track. He even brought us to a deserted island in Halong Bay to swim. We had some interesting hikes up mountains and were rewarded with fantastic views. Bhaya cruises were great. We had our own private boat, which we we not expecting.

Linh, our guide in Hoi An was so friendly and very knowledgeable about Hue, My Son And Hoi An itself. She gave us a great insight into everyday life in Vietnam The Boutique Hotel was a well chosen hotel and perfect for a relaxing few days by the sea.

IOT were always there to sort out any problems. After initial problems with our rooms in Saigon we were very well looked after. Our room was upgraded and we all received free foot massages.

On several occasions our rooms were upgraded and we were made feel very special. IOT organise a personalised tour suited to your particular group. It so refreshing to be taken off the beaten track and experience the day to day lives of the people of the country.

Many thanks Sadie for a great trip