Rickshaw Travel

Wishing you booked that Easter get-a-way for this year? Us too! 🙌 Now is the perfect time to book your 2020 Easter break, from Borneo to Cuba or Thailand to Costa Rica... it's never too early! http://bit.ly/2UMuwSA

Meet the real Vietnam with our authentic and meaningful holidays. From sipping Vietnamese coffee in Hoi An to floating on Bai Tu Long Bay - we've got it covered 👍 http://bit.ly/2X2NhOS

We're recruiting! 🙌
- Are you an experienced travel specialist who loves creating exciting adventures for families?
OR
... - Have you travelled extensively through Asia and wish to share your expertise and experience by creating exciting adventures for other travellers?
We're looking for two people to join our friendly team down here in Brighton. Interested? Find out more 👉http://bit.ly/2Dab7Ro
See More

From cool blue glaciers to endless salt flats, tropical rainforest and hidden kingdoms in the clouds, a holiday to South America is the perfect setting for an epic adventure.
What South America destination do you want to visit?👉

India is one of the world's most engaging, colourful, chaotic and spiritual places out there. Discover this diverse country the best way, the Rickshaw way... 👌 http://bit.ly/2UyZptx

Blue skies, freshly made cocktails and the feeling of sand between your toes... that's what summer's all about! ☀ The summer holidays are the perfect time of year to experience the world, especially if you don't want to chance the 'typical' British weather.👎
From palm beaches of Indonesia to vintage Vespa's in Vietnam - we have some excellent destinations for your summer holiday 👉 http://bit.ly/2G1TWDh

Want to take an atmospheric journey through the Golden Triangle filled with faraway romance and exotic palaces?
Check out our eye-opening 12-day itinerary through some of North India's highlights 👉 http://bit.ly/2UoD4Pc

Holy guacamole we can't get enough of our new Mexico itineraries! Cultures, beaches, scenery and food... what tickles your fancy about Mexico? 🇲🇽🌮🌵☀

🎉Mexico has arrived at Rickshaw!🎉 You can now discover the best bits of this vibrant destination with us.🇲🇽
Whether you're a sucker for scenery, a foodie fanatic, culture vulture or a beach bum - our holidays are packed with more colour and flavour than a spicy burrito. P.S - we've also added some Guatemala and Belize trips too... can you 'Belize' it?! 😜 👉 http://bit.ly/2JXxqjd

Discover a stopover city in Asia...🙌 http://bit.ly/2OsLwYi

The beautiful island of Lombok, Indonesia, was hit by a series of devastating earthquakes in 2018, leaving a heartbreaking 417,000 people without a home or a job.
After putting our heads together to work out a way we could help, we organised an event that raised €938 to build new homes in Lombok for families left without one. 🙌
Thank you to everyone who donated and took part. We managed to help build homes for 4 families and today we got sent an update of these photos...... Does anyone else feel that warm, fuzzy feeling? ☺
Want to find out more?👉 http://bit.ly/2JIf7OA
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Whether you're planning an adventurous honeymoon or a once-in-a-lifetime family trip, we're here to take the hassle away. 🙌
If you know the kind of experiences you'd like, but not sure which destination - take a look at our inspiration🌏👉http://bit.ly/2JDzcFK< br>

We reckon that the best way to experience the real heart of Cuba, is by staying in family-run casa particulares... why? Here are 15 reasons why! 👉 http://bit.ly/2TmBmco

Now that spring is upon us, summer is just around the corner! ☀ Have you got your summer holidays planned? Wander barefoot on the Malaysia beaches, head to the famous salt plains in Bolivia or wander through the lantern-lit streets in Vietnam...
Check out where to go when in August 👉http://bit.ly/2uk5F9F

Travelling to a new destination can be an attack on the senses; especially the tastes, but what better way to get to know a destination than by sampling the local cuisine?
Mmmm. Our mouths won't stop watering looking at these dishes...🍣🍚🌯🍲. Which one do you want to tuck into? Tell us using the reactions! 👉

Eeep! We just can't keep it a secret any more... Mexico is joining the Rickshaw family and we're just about ready to burst with excitement! 🇲🇽🌵🌮
We'll be offering trips by the end of the month, but if you want to have a quick sneak peek, check it out 👉 It's 'm'excellent! 😆 http://bit.ly/2Jb8oN6

We travelled to Vietnam and Cambodia. I cannot fault anything with Rickshaw travel from the many enquiries before actually booking to the holiday itself. The information given was spot on. The holiday was amazing!

All staff were knowledgeable and extremely helpful.

Deffinately booking with this company again.

We have had 3 amazing holidays with Rickshaw Thia land Peru China and now Sri Lanka wouldn't go with any other company.

So half way through my trip to India with my partner and 7 year old. Thanks Katie and all the team for making my dreams a reality! The standard of drivers and guides has been outstanding. Everything so far has blown my head it was so good. Looking forward to the next half of our experience. A million thankyous!

Rickshaw have been brilliant helping to plan and put together 3 wonderful trips. Cant wait to start planning the next one

Loving it so far! In particular Hue and Dry Halong Bay and the lovely hotel you arranged. Looking forward to Hoi An next. Thank you.

Kate and the local agents in India created the experience my wife and I wanted, but didn't know how to build We planned to spend a month in India seeing the sights, meeting the people and learning about the culture. We started putting the trip together ourselves, but were only able to plan a "me too, bubble experience" by following guidebook and Trip Advisor recommendations, which are good, but don't help you find the local gems.

Kate and team booked clean and comfortable hotels, transportation, guides and cooking classes. They made sure we interacted with locals daily. We have memories and experiences that will last a life time. THANKS KATE!

Just finished my 3 week vacation to Thailand. Everything was amazing, no complaints, loved all the hotels and the local travel agency. Khiri Travel, had amazing guides working for them. Will definitely make my next trip with Rickshaw Travel. Thank you to my agent Chloe for creating the perfect anniversary trip!

I've booked 3 trips with Rickshaw - Peru, Malaysia and India. Absolutely fantastic from start to finish. Sometimes it's very tricky for everything to go completely according to plan, especially in another country with language barriers, but I've been nothing but satisfied with each of my trips and wouldn't hesitate to book again. Such flexibility with the different mini itineraries, brilliant accommodation and takes the stress out of organising it yourself!! Brilliant :)

I've been on two amazing trips to Thailand and Sri Lanka with Rickshaw and would recommend them to friends without hesitation! :)

I love travelling and experiencing as much of a place as possible - working long hours with not a huge amount of holiday time Rickshaw Travel have made this possible! We have been on 2 trips - one to Cuba in 2014 and Vietnam last year. They were very well organised, everything went perfectly and we came back feeling that we had seen a lot of the culture and countryside of these 2 amazing countries even though both trips were a little over a week long! Can't wait till our next Rickshaw adventure - the hardest part is deciding where to go!

I have just got from the most amazing holiday in China which was organised by Rickshaw. I will definitely be using them again. Next on the list Cuba!

An exciting itinerary and very well organised, one of the best holidays I've had! Thank you Rikshaw �

We're on our way back from a fabulous 2 week holiday in Costa Rica with our 3 kids! Rickshaw organised a great itinerary in four locations... all transfers between hotels and to organised activities were extremely efficient, always arriving on time with helpful drivers. Fiona was very helpful before and during the trip when we had questions. Only one of the hotels was slightly disappointing (reason for 4 rather than 5 star) as the pool was empty but Rickshaw and their local agency responded to us immediately. Costa Rica is a beautiful country with such lovely people and amazing wildlife! We had an amazing time! We would happily use Rickshaw Travel again... thank you!

Excellent help from a very patient Jules while we worked out our month in Indonesia and Borneo. Really helpful to have an agent help arrange things even in the age of the Internet when you think everything is to hand... we've got a fantastic looking itinerary and now can't wait til 2018 !

We booked our holiday middle of last year to celebrate our friends 30th birthday - we assumed booking with a tour company meant they would organise everything and we wouldn't have to worry about a thing! Since yesterday morning we have had nothing but hassle in Cusco- we had our bus tickets delivered with shocking instructions so we proceeded to walk around for an hour trying to locate the local supplier that Rickshaw had gone through only to find their office didn't exist. After finally getting in contact with someone from the Lima local office we still weren't at ease. We arrived at Cusco bus station at 10pm last night and after taking 18 hours to arrive in La Paz, not only did we discover other "expenses" such as ferry rides that were never highlighted to us previously we arrived hoping to be picked up by the transport they had arranged to take us to our hotel. The other issue we had was our itinerary from Rickshaw said that our transport was picking us up from the airport even though all the buses come to the bus station! No surprises after 20 minutes of wandering around the terminal we had to catch a taxi to the Hostal Naira and being three white females tired and exhausted we were being overcharged for the 5 minute taxi ride. Only to find our voucher for our "transport" is sitting waiting for us here ??????? How exactly does that make sense Rickshaw Travel??? Honestly disappointed and not really too sure what to expect for the remainder of this week while we are under your care! We would appreciate you contacting us at Hostal Naira or via email as we are very unhappy with the "Rickshaw" experience so far.

I tried to sort this out with the agency, but they never got back to my complains. So I am going to write this now in public in the hope that others are warned. I had the most awful experiences of my life with a privat tour as a photographer to Vietnam, booked with Rickshaw Travel.

I am a professional travel photographer and travel around the world each month, so I would call myself a seasoned traveller. But what happened there to me was too much to be quite about it.

Below there is a letter I wrote to the agency with a list of my complains. As they never got back to me - this is now an open letter.



Let's start at the beginning :



When I arrived I found out, that nobody was informed that I am a photographer nor that I'm vegetarian. Although Zoe (from the agency) promised me to do so.



The driver who picked me up from Hanoi airport, didn't speak English. Which is normal in Vietnam, I know. But after a 12 hours flight I needed a stop in between. When I asked him to stop he didn't understand. No bathroom, refreshment or anything for me during the 3 hours drive after that long flight.



I had to organise and pay a driver in Halong although my paid driver stayed in Halong and had nothing to do. It could have been a bit of a service to offer his service to me.



On the cruise boat in Halong I got an extension of a family room instead of a proper cabin. Although I booked long in advance - they overbooked the boat and squeezed me in because I was the only solo traveller.



While the other guests were telling me how nice and spacious there room is (lounge chairs and coffee table, bath tub, window in bathroom, mini bar etc) - my room was so small, I could hardly turn around. It was situated above the engine with all the fume - and I had no bathroom window, so no fresh air was possible. It was also extremely noisy because of the engine. But not only that - the room was directly beneath metal stairs and you can imagine how noisy that was... Of course I had also no minibar and no bath tub, nor a coffee table or chairs. And the bathroom was so small - the shower was above the loo. I slept exactly one hour.



Returning to Hanoi I had no driver. I was placed in a shuttle bus. Nobody knew where I'm going to be dropped off, I was obviously forgotten.



Back in Hanoi they made me wait more than 4 hours on my own in a cafe with all my luggage and my camera gear.



In Sapa they booked an extreme hiking tour instead of a photo tour and asked me to leave my photo equipment in the hotel behind me. Which I obviously refused to do. I had to pay for an extremely expensive hotel (last minute booking) on top plus one day driver.



In Ninh Binh the guide refused to take me to good photo locations. Even when I tried to insist. I told him I need landscape photography and like to go to some small roads and paths. We were driving on a motorway and he said, that we are driving now through landscape... He didn't go anywhere where I wanted. Arriving at a tourist restaurant we got out of the car and he pointed to a grapefruit on a tree and said - there you have your landscape, you can take a picture of that. I tried to explain a lot of times to him what I need for my work. Either he didn't understand or didn't want to understand. I got almost nothing which is suitable for my work. Although it was clearly arranged with Zoe that I will have a private guide in Ninh Binh to take me anywhere I want.



The resort in Ninh Binh was basically an open hut in the middle of nowhere. During night it was extremely windy and freezing in the hut, duvet was damp, mice and rat poo on the sheet. And I shared my room with two rats. The hotel manager tried to get rid of them by stuffing towels in the biggest gaps. But of course that didn't work.



The resort was so remote - I couldn't do anything without driver and guide. But the guide just left me there for one whole day and I couldn't do anything. Not even wifi was working, not to mention that I was supposed to take photos for my work.



The hotel manager of that resort was as shocked as me to see me sitting there all the time (also the second day we only visited things till 2 pm and the third day he dropped me off the airport 2 hours too early). And he talked to the guide because he also thought that it's not right what is happening.



And now the absolute highlight of my trip.... Mekong Delta. The guide there heard already from the company that I wasn't satisfied with the tour so far. And decided to make my life now even harder and before knowing me decided that whatever I say it'll be wrong. She told me that she heard awful things about me and started to shout at me that I am a horrible person etc. I was stuck with her on an island where I couldn't take any photos. There was simply nothing to do. So I suggested that we book a boat in the morning to discover the small canals. She insisted that it is not on the program and she doesn't have to do that. And again she shouted very loudly at me, offended me in any possible way, me, my personality, my work etc. She said things to me not even an ex partner would ever say to me. I asked her to calm down and to talk with me in peace and with respect. She got even worse. I then asked her to let me speak to the agency - she refused to let me use her phone, my phone didn't work there though which I told her. We then started to go for a walk. It was very hot and I had no water. She refused to help me to get some water, but she was the only person on that island who spoke English. So I was depending on her. She shouted to that point, that she will be happy to get rid of me. At that moment I began to feel very scared as I was totally depending on her. And I was in tears. I could hardly speak and called the emergency number as soon as I had reception again. They picked me up immediately after I told them what happened. I then continued my trip with only a local guide for a boat trip to the floating market and was for the rest of the time on my own.



I tell you - nobody ever in my life treated me like she did. I still can not believe how she behaved. It was like a nightmare, usually I don't loose control but to that point I could do nothing but crying and begging to get me out of that situation.



Do I really pay money to be treated like that???? Even when she thinks I'm the most horrible person on earth - for those few days she had to be professional enough and shouldn't say it. Who gives her the right to damn my person and my personality?



I was also on my own on with the driver back to HCMC. Of course he didn't speak any English. We drove from 11:00 am - 2 pm back to HCMC without a comfort stop nor the promised lunch break. I arrived at the Ruby hotel to wait here for 8 (!!!!) hours. They do not have a restaurant, nor a bar, nor anything. I was sitting in the reception and still had no food. 8 hours!!! I feel like cattle being transferred from point A to point B and nobody cares about me and my well being. And no - I can not walk in the city as I don't want to leave my camera gear in the reception, as I have no room.



The whole trip was a nightmare. I never ever experienced something like this in my whole life before. And you already know that I travel very often.



I booked a private tour with a private guide. Besides Halong Bay of course as I agreed with a group cruise. A private guide means that I am flexible to stop and to see what I want to see. But whenever I wanted to do anything - I was told this is not in your itinerary. Well - a private tour does give advice in terms of the itinerary but as also discussed with Zoe in advance - I was meant to be flexible and see on location where it is worth to take photos of. One can not say that in advance. That is why I paid more money and did not join a group tour. But as a matter of fact I got only that what any group gets. Nothing more. No private tour. The famous program I got you can get here at any hotel reception booked for less money. I paid more to get more. I didn't.



I was treated very badly. Without respect and no politeness. No flexibility. I was shouted at. I was not given water or food, I am left in bars and receptions for many hours to wait etc etc.



And no - I do not think it is me. With all my other trips I did not have those problems. The opposite - I was always in close contact with my guides and also the local agency, with many of them I still am and they are interested in my work and my photos. In Vietnam it happened the first time that I am called difficult and even awful. I am merely a professional and not a tourist. So I knew what I want/need to see for my work, while tourists can be satisfied with a hammock on a remote island for a whole day.



But I can give that back - I would never call a person awful though but I can say that my trip was awful. Very awful. And very expensive for me as I could not fulfill my work and my photo agency won't pay me as expected.

We travelled to Vietnam and Cambodia. I cannot fault anything with Rickshaw travel from the many enquiries before actually booking to the holiday itself. The information given was spot on. The holiday was amazing!

All staff were knowledgeable and extremely helpful.

Deffinately booking with this company again.

We have had 3 amazing holidays with Rickshaw Thia land Peru China and now Sri Lanka wouldn't go with any other company.

So half way through my trip to India with my partner and 7 year old. Thanks Katie and all the team for making my dreams a reality! The standard of drivers and guides has been outstanding. Everything so far has blown my head it was so good. Looking forward to the next half of our experience. A million thankyous!

Rickshaw have been brilliant helping to plan and put together 3 wonderful trips. Cant wait to start planning the next one

Loving it so far! In particular Hue and Dry Halong Bay and the lovely hotel you arranged. Looking forward to Hoi An next. Thank you.

Kate and the local agents in India created the experience my wife and I wanted, but didn't know how to build We planned to spend a month in India seeing the sights, meeting the people and learning about the culture. We started putting the trip together ourselves, but were only able to plan a "me too, bubble experience" by following guidebook and Trip Advisor recommendations, which are good, but don't help you find the local gems.

Kate and team booked clean and comfortable hotels, transportation, guides and cooking classes. They made sure we interacted with locals daily. We have memories and experiences that will last a life time. THANKS KATE!

Just finished my 3 week vacation to Thailand. Everything was amazing, no complaints, loved all the hotels and the local travel agency. Khiri Travel, had amazing guides working for them. Will definitely make my next trip with Rickshaw Travel. Thank you to my agent Chloe for creating the perfect anniversary trip!

I've booked 3 trips with Rickshaw - Peru, Malaysia and India. Absolutely fantastic from start to finish. Sometimes it's very tricky for everything to go completely according to plan, especially in another country with language barriers, but I've been nothing but satisfied with each of my trips and wouldn't hesitate to book again. Such flexibility with the different mini itineraries, brilliant accommodation and takes the stress out of organising it yourself!! Brilliant :)

I've been on two amazing trips to Thailand and Sri Lanka with Rickshaw and would recommend them to friends without hesitation! :)

I love travelling and experiencing as much of a place as possible - working long hours with not a huge amount of holiday time Rickshaw Travel have made this possible! We have been on 2 trips - one to Cuba in 2014 and Vietnam last year. They were very well organised, everything went perfectly and we came back feeling that we had seen a lot of the culture and countryside of these 2 amazing countries even though both trips were a little over a week long! Can't wait till our next Rickshaw adventure - the hardest part is deciding where to go!

I have just got from the most amazing holiday in China which was organised by Rickshaw. I will definitely be using them again. Next on the list Cuba!

An exciting itinerary and very well organised, one of the best holidays I've had! Thank you Rikshaw �

We're on our way back from a fabulous 2 week holiday in Costa Rica with our 3 kids! Rickshaw organised a great itinerary in four locations... all transfers between hotels and to organised activities were extremely efficient, always arriving on time with helpful drivers. Fiona was very helpful before and during the trip when we had questions. Only one of the hotels was slightly disappointing (reason for 4 rather than 5 star) as the pool was empty but Rickshaw and their local agency responded to us immediately. Costa Rica is a beautiful country with such lovely people and amazing wildlife! We had an amazing time! We would happily use Rickshaw Travel again... thank you!

Excellent help from a very patient Jules while we worked out our month in Indonesia and Borneo. Really helpful to have an agent help arrange things even in the age of the Internet when you think everything is to hand... we've got a fantastic looking itinerary and now can't wait til 2018 !

We booked our holiday middle of last year to celebrate our friends 30th birthday - we assumed booking with a tour company meant they would organise everything and we wouldn't have to worry about a thing! Since yesterday morning we have had nothing but hassle in Cusco- we had our bus tickets delivered with shocking instructions so we proceeded to walk around for an hour trying to locate the local supplier that Rickshaw had gone through only to find their office didn't exist. After finally getting in contact with someone from the Lima local office we still weren't at ease. We arrived at Cusco bus station at 10pm last night and after taking 18 hours to arrive in La Paz, not only did we discover other "expenses" such as ferry rides that were never highlighted to us previously we arrived hoping to be picked up by the transport they had arranged to take us to our hotel. The other issue we had was our itinerary from Rickshaw said that our transport was picking us up from the airport even though all the buses come to the bus station! No surprises after 20 minutes of wandering around the terminal we had to catch a taxi to the Hostal Naira and being three white females tired and exhausted we were being overcharged for the 5 minute taxi ride. Only to find our voucher for our "transport" is sitting waiting for us here ??????? How exactly does that make sense Rickshaw Travel??? Honestly disappointed and not really too sure what to expect for the remainder of this week while we are under your care! We would appreciate you contacting us at Hostal Naira or via email as we are very unhappy with the "Rickshaw" experience so far.

I tried to sort this out with the agency, but they never got back to my complains. So I am going to write this now in public in the hope that others are warned. I had the most awful experiences of my life with a privat tour as a photographer to Vietnam, booked with Rickshaw Travel.

I am a professional travel photographer and travel around the world each month, so I would call myself a seasoned traveller. But what happened there to me was too much to be quite about it.

Below there is a letter I wrote to the agency with a list of my complains. As they never got back to me - this is now an open letter.



Let's start at the beginning :



When I arrived I found out, that nobody was informed that I am a photographer nor that I'm vegetarian. Although Zoe (from the agency) promised me to do so.



The driver who picked me up from Hanoi airport, didn't speak English. Which is normal in Vietnam, I know. But after a 12 hours flight I needed a stop in between. When I asked him to stop he didn't understand. No bathroom, refreshment or anything for me during the 3 hours drive after that long flight.



I had to organise and pay a driver in Halong although my paid driver stayed in Halong and had nothing to do. It could have been a bit of a service to offer his service to me.



On the cruise boat in Halong I got an extension of a family room instead of a proper cabin. Although I booked long in advance - they overbooked the boat and squeezed me in because I was the only solo traveller.



While the other guests were telling me how nice and spacious there room is (lounge chairs and coffee table, bath tub, window in bathroom, mini bar etc) - my room was so small, I could hardly turn around. It was situated above the engine with all the fume - and I had no bathroom window, so no fresh air was possible. It was also extremely noisy because of the engine. But not only that - the room was directly beneath metal stairs and you can imagine how noisy that was... Of course I had also no minibar and no bath tub, nor a coffee table or chairs. And the bathroom was so small - the shower was above the loo. I slept exactly one hour.



Returning to Hanoi I had no driver. I was placed in a shuttle bus. Nobody knew where I'm going to be dropped off, I was obviously forgotten.



Back in Hanoi they made me wait more than 4 hours on my own in a cafe with all my luggage and my camera gear.



In Sapa they booked an extreme hiking tour instead of a photo tour and asked me to leave my photo equipment in the hotel behind me. Which I obviously refused to do. I had to pay for an extremely expensive hotel (last minute booking) on top plus one day driver.



In Ninh Binh the guide refused to take me to good photo locations. Even when I tried to insist. I told him I need landscape photography and like to go to some small roads and paths. We were driving on a motorway and he said, that we are driving now through landscape... He didn't go anywhere where I wanted. Arriving at a tourist restaurant we got out of the car and he pointed to a grapefruit on a tree and said - there you have your landscape, you can take a picture of that. I tried to explain a lot of times to him what I need for my work. Either he didn't understand or didn't want to understand. I got almost nothing which is suitable for my work. Although it was clearly arranged with Zoe that I will have a private guide in Ninh Binh to take me anywhere I want.



The resort in Ninh Binh was basically an open hut in the middle of nowhere. During night it was extremely windy and freezing in the hut, duvet was damp, mice and rat poo on the sheet. And I shared my room with two rats. The hotel manager tried to get rid of them by stuffing towels in the biggest gaps. But of course that didn't work.



The resort was so remote - I couldn't do anything without driver and guide. But the guide just left me there for one whole day and I couldn't do anything. Not even wifi was working, not to mention that I was supposed to take photos for my work.



The hotel manager of that resort was as shocked as me to see me sitting there all the time (also the second day we only visited things till 2 pm and the third day he dropped me off the airport 2 hours too early). And he talked to the guide because he also thought that it's not right what is happening.



And now the absolute highlight of my trip.... Mekong Delta. The guide there heard already from the company that I wasn't satisfied with the tour so far. And decided to make my life now even harder and before knowing me decided that whatever I say it'll be wrong. She told me that she heard awful things about me and started to shout at me that I am a horrible person etc. I was stuck with her on an island where I couldn't take any photos. There was simply nothing to do. So I suggested that we book a boat in the morning to discover the small canals. She insisted that it is not on the program and she doesn't have to do that. And again she shouted very loudly at me, offended me in any possible way, me, my personality, my work etc. She said things to me not even an ex partner would ever say to me. I asked her to calm down and to talk with me in peace and with respect. She got even worse. I then asked her to let me speak to the agency - she refused to let me use her phone, my phone didn't work there though which I told her. We then started to go for a walk. It was very hot and I had no water. She refused to help me to get some water, but she was the only person on that island who spoke English. So I was depending on her. She shouted to that point, that she will be happy to get rid of me. At that moment I began to feel very scared as I was totally depending on her. And I was in tears. I could hardly speak and called the emergency number as soon as I had reception again. They picked me up immediately after I told them what happened. I then continued my trip with only a local guide for a boat trip to the floating market and was for the rest of the time on my own.



I tell you - nobody ever in my life treated me like she did. I still can not believe how she behaved. It was like a nightmare, usually I don't loose control but to that point I could do nothing but crying and begging to get me out of that situation.



Do I really pay money to be treated like that???? Even when she thinks I'm the most horrible person on earth - for those few days she had to be professional enough and shouldn't say it. Who gives her the right to damn my person and my personality?



I was also on my own on with the driver back to HCMC. Of course he didn't speak any English. We drove from 11:00 am - 2 pm back to HCMC without a comfort stop nor the promised lunch break. I arrived at the Ruby hotel to wait here for 8 (!!!!) hours. They do not have a restaurant, nor a bar, nor anything. I was sitting in the reception and still had no food. 8 hours!!! I feel like cattle being transferred from point A to point B and nobody cares about me and my well being. And no - I can not walk in the city as I don't want to leave my camera gear in the reception, as I have no room.



The whole trip was a nightmare. I never ever experienced something like this in my whole life before. And you already know that I travel very often.



I booked a private tour with a private guide. Besides Halong Bay of course as I agreed with a group cruise. A private guide means that I am flexible to stop and to see what I want to see. But whenever I wanted to do anything - I was told this is not in your itinerary. Well - a private tour does give advice in terms of the itinerary but as also discussed with Zoe in advance - I was meant to be flexible and see on location where it is worth to take photos of. One can not say that in advance. That is why I paid more money and did not join a group tour. But as a matter of fact I got only that what any group gets. Nothing more. No private tour. The famous program I got you can get here at any hotel reception booked for less money. I paid more to get more. I didn't.



I was treated very badly. Without respect and no politeness. No flexibility. I was shouted at. I was not given water or food, I am left in bars and receptions for many hours to wait etc etc.



And no - I do not think it is me. With all my other trips I did not have those problems. The opposite - I was always in close contact with my guides and also the local agency, with many of them I still am and they are interested in my work and my photos. In Vietnam it happened the first time that I am called difficult and even awful. I am merely a professional and not a tourist. So I knew what I want/need to see for my work, while tourists can be satisfied with a hammock on a remote island for a whole day.



But I can give that back - I would never call a person awful though but I can say that my trip was awful. Very awful. And very expensive for me as I could not fulfill my work and my photo agency won't pay me as expected.