Hello Bob I am going on the Vietnam holiday with Cambodia add on next week (15 February) and was very interested to read your excellent review. I have been on holiday with Just You every year since we met on the Jordan one, and every one has been great. I go at least twice a year and have clocked up 18 now! My last two were in Australia and New Zealand both of which were fantastic. It was good to see your photo and article in the magazine two years ago. Thank you for posting these reviews. They are always interesting and useful. Where are you going next?
Hi I'm just back from this fantastic holiday which I enjoyed from start to finish! There were 33 on our tour, of whom 22 went on to Cambodia. I'm very glad I did the add-on as all of us who did really loved Cambodia. The tour of Vietnam was very comprehensive; the weather in Hanoi was unfortunately wet but this didn't stop either the city tour or cyclo ride, both of which were very interesting. Hanoi is a bit on the shabby side, with beautiful parks and some fine buildings. Halong Bay was of course a highlight and we all enjoyed the stay on the junk. Again, the weather wasn't great there - very overcast and hazy, which I gather is pretty normal for Halong unfortunately. Still we we able to admire the views and get some reasonable photos. The trip to one of the caves was worth doing. Word of warning - forget all the photos you've seen of the picturesque wooden junks: they have all been painted white so they can be more easily seen at night, which does take away from their appearance!
When we reached Hue the weather improved enormously and in Hoi An it was glorious; what a wonderful town with a great atmosphere, another holiday highlight. My Son and the Cu Chi tunnels outside Ho Chi Minh City were both worth seeing, as was the War Remnants museum. We spent a lot of time on the water on this tour, very enjoyable seeing the world go by on various rivers; however don't expect the boats to be luxurious, they are functional with a small space at the back for the sun-worshippers and photographers. The journey to Phnom Penh by boat was very enjoyable with lovely scenery. I loved PP, a very scenic city which I would have liked to seen more of. The temples at Siem Reap were great to see and the floating villages on Tonle Sap also very interesting.
The hotels in all were very good, with the one at Can Tho being outstanding. The only exception was the Angkor Paradise which didn't live up to its name! The food was very good throughout, with most meals being seven or nine course tasting menus shared between four people. You usually had a choice of using chopsticks or a fork and typically at each meal there might be one or two spicy dishes, the rest being delicately flavoured. We had excelllent seafood throughout and the food in Cambodia was fantastic; the only let down was the Foreign Correspondents' Club in Phnom Penh which was very poor. Most people had an upset stomach for a day or two, usually sorted out fairly quickly by a dose of immodium! One lady was more unfortunate and had a trip to a clinic, but she had recovered later in the day and was well enough to travel the next morning.
So all in all, an excellent holiday with lots of variety. The group were all friendly and mixed extremely well together. For the first time in five JY holidays I was the youngest (at 42!), but as everyone comments age is a state of mind and I've made some very good friends out of this tour and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in seeing south-east Asia. The people we encountered were very friendly and welcoming and it was a very well structured and balanced tour - with not too many very early starts!
I hope this review encourages you to book this tour; I am sure everyone on it thoroughly enjoyed themHselves.
All the best,
Bob
Thanks for the report Bob. I'm really keen on this trip and its great to know that it gets such a good review. I haven't had time to fit it in so far but am hoping that I can do one of the trips on Nov/Dec.
