Testimonials

After Lams organizing our family’s trip to Cambodia so brilliantly we used the services of Indochina again to arrange our veitnam getaway. Lam was helpful and accessible and listened to our needs and wrote an itinerary that suited us perfectly…especially appreciated the accomodation choices in both Cambodia and veitnam. The drivers and guides all excellent helpful informative and flexible. can not recommend this company highly enough. Excellent. Lam went out of his way to meet my family’s needs and never seemed to tire of my countless emails and questions. Perfect in every way. Thank you

We did a 30 day tour crafted by Mr Lam. Overall, an excellent experience. Visited Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Mr Lam and his team were very responsive to emails and questions right from the first contact. Also very responsive to small issues that inevitably come up on a trip of this length. Was great to have lunch with him in Hanoi as well. A very hands-on owner-operator. We would highly recommend this company for anyone who wants to see and experience a lot of Asia in a short amount of time without the worry of “where do we stay, how do we get there, etc”.

I contacted several companies in the UK and abroad as I wished to arrange a bespoke trip for me to Indochina. Some could be hardly bothered to reply, others were very expensive and did not listen to what I wanted, whereas Kata at Asia Pioneers kept in constant contact with me, listened to my requests, changed things, suggested ideas and we finally came up with my amazing trip of 6 weeks.
I started off in Bangkok, up to Chiang Mai (my day with the elephants will stay with me always), Chiang Rai and into Laos where I spent a wonderful 9 days travelling with Sipone and 2 days trekking with BoSand. My homestay was amazing as I was the only western person there!!

In Hanoi Kata called at my hotel to meet me which was a lovely surprise – what a lovely lady.

I then travelled through Vietnam (Sapa homestay and a cruise on Halong bay plus more) and into Cambodia, ending up in Thailand to spend a much needed 4 days on Koh Chang.

My guides and transport arrangements were wonderful, always on time to collect me from airports, train stations, hotels, etc. The drivers drove safely, had cold water in their vehicles and wet wipes to freshen up. Nothing was too much trouble.

Travelling alone meant I could adjust my itinerary if I wanted, which I rarely did. My guides became friends and I was always sorry when I had to say goodbye. As they were always local, they had inside knowledge about their own areas.

I requested 3* hotels as I felt I would be out all day and did not need to spend more money than I needed. Almost all were of a very high standard, some more like 4*.

I also had a 24 hour emergency number to contact if there were any problems – IP thought of everything.

Thank you, thank you all, Kata and my super guides, for making this trip so wonderful.

If anyone is contemplating a trip to Indochina that they must contact you to arrange. You are first class….

We really enjoyed our trip to Cambodia. Asia Pioneer was flexible in responding to our needs and produced a terrific trip for us. The entire experience is exactly what we hoped for.

Guides adapted to meet our needs, not a cookie cutter tour. If you are looking for a custom tour of Indochina do not hesitate to contact Lam at Asia Pioneer. They are a local tour company comp that will ensure that you make all connections, are prompt, caring,kind and make you feel very welcome. No worries when you deal with Lam.

After submitting the enquiry form on their website, I very quickly received a phone call (to Australia) from Mr Lam Duong at Asia Pioneer head office. After discussing our wishes, he organised an itinerary to the Mekong Delta and on via fast boat to Phnom Penh.
At all times email communications were very promptly responded to.
Our guide Thai was superb, and our driver (also Thai) very competent. We felt very privileged to be travelling in style, watching tour groups herded in the Mekong river ferries, village visits, etc, while we always had our own transport and someone all to ourselves telling us all the stories, explaining everything, and answering our questions, etc.
Lovely airconditioned late model SUV to get to first destination, Mekong Lodge (tip: river side bungalows cop a lot of the river traffic noise in the wee hours as the fishing boats head out; try to get the ones further in the garden).
Second hotel was in Can Tho at the Van Phat Hotel 1. Big shiny hotel out of town (tip: the “free shuttle bus to town” advertised on their website is only available to groups). We didn’t mind having a quiet afternoon, though. We rubbernecked at the new estate of super-wealthy people’s mansions then had dinner at the hotel’s pleasant riverside open air restaurant and watched the life of the river go by.
The hotel in Chau Doc (Hai Chau Hotel) was ok, a bit grubby and basic. The breakfast tablecloths had spills and bits of old noodle on them, for example. Maybe it’s the best of limited options in the price range.
We said goodbye to our guide at Chau Doc, and all went well till Phnom Penh, where there was a bit of a glitch as the expected driver to our hotel didn’t show and we had to catch a taxi. The accommodation (Willow Boutique Hotel) was very nice, but the hotel had got our booking wrong and had booked a queen room for 3 nights instead of a twin room for 2. Fortunately they had a twin room, but if you stay at this hotel, don’t let them give you room G1. It’s a repurposed building and G1 has a lovely bank of floor to ceiling windows – overlooking the terrace bar! And side windows overlooking the rubbish bin area. So it’s nice for vampires and others who never open curtains, but a bit sad for those who like a bit of daylight.
I emailed Lam and received a very prompt apology, and their Phnom Penh representative organised a complimentary dinner and tuk tuk to a restaurant to make up for it. Unexpected, but so nice of them to do that for what were really very minor inconveniences.
All in all, we were very pleased to have entrusted Asia Pioneer to organise this part of our trip for us.