The best thing about Duong Dai Lam (Lam) from Asia Pioneer is that he listens. We are interested in history, architecture and food, and really appreciate good views.
Our trip provided these things and more:
– In every city we had gorgeous hotels with fabulous views, with a number of upgrades. Hotels appreciated Asia Pioneer business.
– Halong Bay cruise was one of the highlights – small, comfortable boat with great food and most incredible landscapes. How did they get such a good chef for a 10 cabin boat?
– Lam suggested many off the beaten track attractions that helped us to understand and appreciate the country.
– Our tour guides in every place were knowledgeable about history and architecture, forthcoming with cultural and lifestyle information
– They were very flexible both in planning, and trip changes when the weather did not cooperate. For example – we don’t ride bicycles, so we ended up doing one day tour on the back of 2 scooters. Fun!!!
– Street food tour with Luu in Hanoi was fun, delicious and educational. We kept eating on the street throughout the trip. No food poisoning, just delicious food.
– Private cars were medium size SUVs immaculately maintained and drivers were safe.

I infrequently gush – see my other reviews. But this was one of our best trips, and the private tour ended up costing less than a comparable group tour booked from US.

Perhaps the best way to explore the Mekong Delta area. Can Tho is a lively overnight stop with well situated lovely hotel. All hotels selected by Indo China Pioneer are well situated but don’t expect western standards in hotels beyond Can Tho. Good combination of cycling and site seeing including boat and ferry trips, workshop visits with good choice of restaurant and roadside stops for fresh fruit.
However the route rarely left normal roads and didn’t appear to be as described in the brochure. Some quiet rural roads followed but others were quite busy, particularly in the vicinity of the small towns we cycled through.
We were concerned that we were not measured for our bikes on the first day which just arrived in the back of the minibus that collected us from our hotel. The frame size for my partner’s bike was much too large for her and it was fitted with a male shaped saddle which caused her considerable discomfort on the first day. The saddle was changed on Day 2 after she refused to continue the holiday with that particular bike at the end of day 1.
The guide did not appear to be completely clear of the route at times and we needed to complete an ‘about turn’ 3 times during the trek which may be why our route didn’t appear to be as described in the brochure. Indo China guides are very knowledgeable and helpful and know many local secret gems to visit but their spoken english can be difficult to follow at times even for me as a native English speaker. Indo China Pioneer specialise in providing tailor made tours for small groups down to 2 in number and flexibility in preparing a holiday programe to suit individual customers requests including the selection of the most suitable hotel using their wealth of local knowledge. Moderately priced boutique hotels are typically chosen.

This is the second time I have used Asia Pioneer. They excelled again. This time, we had 5 Rotarians who had completed a project in Cambodia, and needed some holiday time afterwards. We booked an 8 night Hanoi/Sapa/Halong Bay tour.
Again, the Asia Pioneer Team performed beyond my expectations. On time, knowledgeable and flexible at all times.
We had a small problem with our van after the 5 hour drive to Sapa. By breakfast the next day, we had a new van and driver to look after us for the rest of our journey.
We got a great upgrade on the Halong Bay cruise.
I can’t commend Asia Pioneer highly enough. If you want further details, please PM me directly, if I go again in Indochina, it will only be with Asia Pioneer.

Kata Tran has organised many holidays for me – in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. All excellent. She organised a 12 day trip to Myanmar in January 2016 with a few days each in Yangon, Bagan, Mandalay and Inle. Great guides and drivers. Lovely hotels. Terrific boat trip from Mandalay to Bagan. Day trip to old colonial Maymyo. Highly recommended. Kata always listens carefully to what you want and is very flexible.

After researching an upcoming trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, I decided it would make more sense to use a tour service. I liked Lam’s suggestions at Asia Pioneer. I told him what we wanted (my son, daughter-in-law, daughter, and myself) and he organized everything with my particular requests in mind. Four of us traveled for 1 month throughout all of Vietnam and Cambodia, with private guides and drivers, staying at boutique hotels and seeing all of the sights worth seeing. Out of 10 hotels, we had only one that was unacceptable, and the guide brought us to another, acceptable hotel right away. The whole trip really went like clock-work. We received great service and I will not hesitate to use Lam and Asia Pioneer in the future.

Found Asia Pioneer while I was using Trip Advisor to find out about Vietnam/Cambodia. Lam at Asia Pioneer organised a tour for 2 of us with private guides and drivers in each city. We had the most amazing trip. Everything was incredibly well organised and we had a fantastic and different experience in each city. Our guides were fantastic and made sure we had a fabulous experience in each place we went. The trip was great value and covered all internal flights, tours, hotels most meals and a private driver and guide in each city. We didnt have to worry about a thing! Cannot recommend Lam and Asia Pioneer highly enough. We had a fabulous holiday.

Due to pressure of work we had limited time to research for our trip to Vietnam Kata Tran put together a very personalised tour of all the things we wanted to do and this could not have been more perfect – this was our very first trip to Asia which we approached with a bit of trepidation – right from the beginning i.e. itinerary setup to being in the exceptionally capably hands of our three lovely tour guides Linh in Ho Chi Minh quy in Hoi An and Phillip in Han Oi we were treated with respect and great professionalism – the care shown to us particularly by lynh was superb and everything was organised impeccably – we felt that we were not on our own ever! – when a monsoon caused all junks in Halong bay to be brought back prematurely to harbor – most of our fellow travelers were stranded with no accommodation or alternate plans -Indo China pioneer however had arranged for our collection had changed our hotel bookings and arranged for our immediate transfers before we had even been alerted of the imminent problems – I therefore have no hesitation in recommending using them to arrange your holiday – they were exemplary!