Hi Van
Thank you so much for the best holiday.  The food was fantastic, probably a little too much at times I haven't lost any weight after cycling 700 kms. The accommodation was above the standard I expected especially for the one night stays.

The organisational side of things was excellent running like clockwork. The staff you employed went out of their way to help and make sure we had water, food, were comfortable on our bikes, we were very spoilt.

Our truck driver was there all the time filling water bottles getting us food.  Our bus driver (Hi - not sure how to spell it) was running after us making sure we had everything we needed and his driving was exceptional.  Ican't praise Bobby and Nghi enough they made the trip a wonderful experience, it was hard to leave we felt they were part of our group.

11 - 24 Nov 2012. Cycling Hanoi to Saigon 2012 - Biking Hanoi to Saigon 2012 -  Vietnam Cycle Tours

*FOR NEXT YEAR*
I would like to organise another trip for 2013, doing the Mekong Delta/ Phu Quoc Island area because that would be completely different to what we have seen.  Just a couple of questions - what month do you think we should do the Mekong Delta - I will aim to get about 12 people again and we would look at flying in on the Saturday to Ho Chi Min and starting the trip on the Sunday - then flying out 14 days later on the Saturday Night, I think that was a great way to see everything and the flights were easy from Sydney to Ho Chi Minh.

On this trip we wouldn't do the guided tours of temples etc and would be looking more at country side and villages.

Any help and advice you can give me would be great.  Not sure if anyone found a bike seat left in the bus, not a problem if they haven't but Debbie thinks she left it behind.

Thanks again and please thank your wonderful guides and drivers for us - maybe they can all do the next trip with us, that would be good.

We have really enjoyed our 3 days of cycling in the Mekong Delta - even more than we expected. Our guide, Harry was fantastic and made our trip even more enjoyable with his charm, memory and good English.

We have now had a 2 weeks holiday in Vietnam with many good and interesting experiences - but the cycling trip was the best ! The icing on the cake in what has been a fabulous holiday. Thank you very much 25 - 26 - 27 Nov 2012

Dear Vietnam Backroads,

Many thanks or a fantastic trip, I have to say it was one of the best experiences of our whole trip. Thang was an excellent guide - very knowlegeable. The driver was lovely too.
I am emailing to ask i could buy a Vietnam Backroads jersey, I saw our guide Thang wearing one. I would like to wear it at my cycling club back in the UK!

I am in Saigon for one night staying at Captown hotel tomorrow (22nd November) an sign out 23rd to fly back to the uk. I am Medium size (same as Thang).

Would it be possible to get a jersey to the Captown hotel for me?
14^th -17^th Nov 2012

The hotels were really good with exceptional of stay at The Long hotels which was average.Food was good though. Great mix of local cuisine and good to eat at local restaurants. Hoang was a good guide and very helpful, looked after us well and our driver was excellent too. We always felt safe with him behind the wheels. It was good that the bike riding was flexible for our abilities. We will recommend this tour to our friends.

06 - 14 Nov 2012

Hi Van,

Overall our trip was well organized although it was very late booking. All of us enjoined every minute of our trip and would love to come back to do another bike trip with Vietnam Backroads Bicycle Tours. 
21 - 22 - 23 - 24 July 2012

Ms. Hue,

My sister and I just got home after our month-long travels in Southeast Asia. We had an amazing trip! 6 - 7 - 8 July 2012

We really enjoyed our experience with Vietnam Backroads Bicycle Tours.  Our guide, Nghi, and driver, Mr. Loc, picked us up promptly from our hotel in Ha Tien.  Mr. Nghi showed us how to adjust the bicycles and then we were off on our adventure! The bicycle tour was a great way to experience the Mekong Delta.  We biked through many villages and saw the surrounding countryside that we probably wouldn't have seen otherwise. It was an eye-opening experience as we biked through villages and greeted the local people- many of whom had not seen a foreigner in a long time.  We would highly recommend Vietnam Backroads Bicycle Tours!

We would suggest that drinks be included in the price of the tour for lunches and dinners.  Also, if it would be possible to set up payment through credit card on your website that would be a lot easier than the hassle of the money transfer.

Thanks again,

Hi Mr Van,
Just want to thank you, Hue, A. Trung, and Chu Hoang for a memorable biking experience.  It was truly a special reason for me to tour the Mekong Delta.  I have been posting my journey on FB so my friends & family could follow me on my journey.  Please share this link with Mr Trung and driver, Mr Hoang.

Please use this link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Linhs-Ride-to-Make-a-Difference/432414850113115?filter=1 

I will be in Saigon until Tuesday morning so feel free to call A Minh's cell phone if you wish to contact me while I'm still here. I hope to find myself back in VN again soon so I can go on another biking adventure.

Saigon - Ben Tre - Tra Vinh - Soc Trang - Bac Lieu - Ca Mau. 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 July 2012
   
Regards,

Hello Hue,

We are back in the flatlands, in Holland. We have wonderful memories of our trip in Vietnam, we are very happy about the holiday. This was the first time we were on a biking holiday and we were very impressed by the smooth organisation of Vietnam Backroads. We are very happy about every aspect of the holiday and don't know anything we are not happy - not even when we think very hard on it.

To be specific we are very happy about:
- the information before the trip (website, e-mails, adjustments on standard program).
- the bikes were of high quality and well maintained.

To be honest we were a bit worried about it in advance as it is so important for the quality of the trip. Even when the bike size was not correct for me on the first day it was solved the next day with a larger framesize.
- the mechanical skills of Van and Trang. They continously optimized the bikes for us.
- the routes and the maps by Van - they were really the backroads of Vietnam and we never had to bike on the busy and dangerous highways. The routes were easily adapted to the circumstances (longer or shorter trip). Combined with the mechanical skills this is for us the most unique features of this company.
- the chosen hotels. The only hotel which fell al little out of tune was the one in Hanoi.
- the information Trang gave to us about the history and culture of Vietnam.
- the safe driving of Mr. Huang. In a way we were always happy to see him as we knew that he would have fresh water and fruits for us ready. During transfers we felt always very safe.

One advice for booking the flight tickets: ask for the names as given in the pasports, since a change can cause problems at in checking for the flights. Another thing is that one request for not taking any more pictures of your guests should have been enough, and three requests is too many. We're happy to recommand your company to anyone who wants to cycle in Vietnam. We're certainly to return to your company one day to have another trip in Vietnam or Cambodia.

Best regards, 23 May 2012. See video clipCycling

Dear Ms Hue,
I'm still in Vietnam, but it will be my last week here before I go back to Malaysia :( Anyway, here is my comment: This is my second time biking with Vietnam Backroads and Mr. Van. As expected, the experience was great. Although we didn't bike as much as I had expected, the boat trip through the canals was extremely fun too. I enjoyed the the coconut candies, the honey tea, taking pictures with the tame python, the sampan ride and the food. This trip was meant to be a graduation trip with my friends, and I strongly believe that it will be a trip that all of us will remember for many, many years. Hence, thank you very much Vietnam Backroads! If I were to be back in Vietnam again, I would definitely sign up for a longer trip and challenge myself :) Ms Hue, please pass my appreciation to Mr. Trung (spelling?) and Mr. Van. Thanks to you too for the great service! ^^ Sincerely,Wei Syn
A day trip by bike to My Tho and Ben Tre on 4^th June 2012

Dear Van,

Thanks again for leading us on yet another marvelous trip cycling in the Mekong. Our relatives from the Bahamas absolutely loved it. They felt it was the highlight of their trip to Vietnam and Thailand, bringing them closer to people and culture than any other experience. Thailand is called the Land of Smiles, but for them, Vietnam won the comparison. They'll never forget the calls of "hello!" from children along the roadside, and the families who showed us their farms and homes.

As well, the food at all the places you brought us was excellent. Superior to the up-scale Mekong Lodge, with its cooking classes, which we chose in place of your recommendations. Your support team was always there when we needed it, and there were some hot and tired moments when some needed a ride in the bus. It's really great the way you accommodate riders of such different abilities in the same trip. I need to pick a weekend for a trip in the Fall when we get back to school. I'll see who's interested and email you to set a date. I expect quite a few of the teaching staff will want to come.

Thanks again! It's always great to ride the Vietnam backroads with you. 29-30 April 2012

Sincerely,

Dear Miss Hue,

Good Morning Miss Hue
We are in Cambodia for the next 5 days and then our adventure in SE Asia is over. We thoroughly enjoyed our cycling part of the trip with Backroads.  We were delighted to get off the busy roads and away from the motorcycles and horns and pollution. The paths we biked were so interesting.  The village people and farmers were exceptionally friendly calling out "hello" at every opportunity.  The experience totally changed my opinion of the wonderful Vietnamese people. Our guide, Bobby, was exceptional.  He worked hard at explaining the sights and answering all our questions.  He had a great sense of humour. Our driver was great as well.  Although he did not speak english he was always courteous and ready to help. We enjoyed our hotels on the the second and third night.  The hotel Cuu Long (I think that was the name) on the first night was very rundown.  It was clean but very tired. The meals Bobby set up for us were great.  He worked hard to give us a feel for the real Viet Nam. The only part that we would improve upon is a little more cycling, especially on the third day. Bobby explained that there were no back roads to take and he was quite right that the main road would not be fun to cycle.  We are avid cyclists and would have prefered to cycle closer to 60 Km a day rather than ride in the van. We will certainly recommend Backroads on Trip Advisor when we return to Canada.
Thank you for all your assistance, especially to Van the Man for retrieving our passports and sending them on the bus to Can Tho. We offered to pay Bobby for that service but he refused.  It was much appreciated. 12 April 2012
Sincerely

Dear Van,

Hi Van,
We had a most memorable time with Vietnam Backroads, we would do it again and certain would recommend your company to others. Here a few things we enjoyed as well as some other feedback.

Hotels were great and trip organization was fantastic - this allowed us to focus more on the vacation/site-seeing aspect of the adventure Guides and drivers - wonderful people. The bikes in Cambodia were more comfortable than the bikes we used in Vietnam. Food was excellent but at times too much - we hate to waste food and we felt because of the large portions, we were wasting some of it. The guides in Cambodia would stop and educate us along the way about the culture, people, history, etc. The same thing occurred in Vietnam but not as much. Day to Day flexibility was perfect allowing us to ride at our own pace. We would have liked to stop at some of the smaller markets in remote towns, we missed some of those opportunities. Overall, the experience was excellent, we would love to do it again someday. 05-12 Dec 2011

Take care Van!

Dear Van
Please find attached my feedback.  I am sorry it is not more constructive but really I have no criticisms.  For us we were very lucky as you we incredibly flexible and could be as there were just the two of us.  You have two converted bike tourers! As for value for money it is certainly not the cheapest trip but good value for what we do, the quality of equipment and for 2 comfortable hotels.  However payment is tricky!  I understand the need for a deposit but it was suprisingly difficult to do an international bank transfer. None the less I was more comfortable with doing that than supplying my card details.  Payment of the balance at the end would have been much easier to do with a card or knowing dollars was your preferred method of payment I would have taken dollars out in Cambodia and carried them with me.  So maybe some more info on that before the tour could have been helpful. Feb 2012

Anyway thank you again for a fantastic few days - a real highlight of the trip as a whole!  I hope it is ok but I suggested my biking friends from Cambodia get in touch if their tour is taking them through Saigon.  Video Clip

I took my 13 year old daughter on the trip, and she is not confident cyclist. Van took wonderful care of her, and after the first hour, I was not worried at all. The guides could not have been kinder or more helpful, answering our questions and telling us about the history and culture of Vietnam. It was a fantastic experience. 07 - 08 - 09 -10 Feb 2012

Thanks Van

The restaurants were fantastic! Great food and refreshment. The guides were so nice and funny, they make everything very easy. We will recommend your tour to friends. The routes were amazing. Everything was fasunating. I love my ride. 07 - 08 - 09 - 10 Feb 2012 Video Clip   Biking Mekong Delta Phu Quoc Island Cycling with Vietnam Backroads

Thanks you so much for the trip. Thanks Tan.

This was a fantastic trip professional organized accommodating and fun. We strongly recommend this to anyone considering a bike trip. Thank you for the amazing time! 07 - 08 - 09 - 10 Feb 2012

Nghi was a wonderful guide.

Hi Van,
The trip was fantastic, Van.  Your choice of places to buy fruit, see sights and people, to eat in restaurants, and to interact with local population was exceptional.  We appreciated your flexibility about length of rides and changing agendas to see sights or eat at more interesting restaurants. We enjoyed learning about the country and culture your  perspective. The bike maintenance was impeccable, as were the bike refreshments. The bike equipment was high quality. We love the jerseys. Fantastic! Cycling Vietnam Backroads 2012

Happy New Year. Don and I hope we can ride with you again someday! Biking Saifon to Hanoi Cycling Ho Chi Minh to Hanoi