Excellent entertainment for a day with variety and interest from ancient to modern. Efficiently organised and executed by local provider.

Tour of Grand Palace and Wat was excellent and the guide was both knowledgeable about the relevant history and happy to discuss life in modern Thailand, which was a great bonus.The downside of this trip was that the visit to the headline Palace and Wat took less than half of the time of the tour. What was not listed on the Viator itinerary was the visit to a Gem Centre and which we would most certainly have avoided, having on a previous visit been hijacked into a visit to the same centre for the 'hard sell'. What was also extremely frustrating was the length of the drive through Bangkok afternoon traffic first of all to get to the Gem Centre and then back across the city to the hotel in a minibus provided at and by the centre and which waited for a full load before setting of and making numerous drops. We felt that 2.5 hours of our holiday had been hijacked and I would hope that Viator will either have this part of the visit publicized in its web site itinerary to give people the choice of booking it, or have it removed by the local providers. The local providers were in all other aspects highy organized on our several encounters with them.

Halong is stunning and an absolute must, but, as with HCM Hanoi trip, guide was inexperienced and had little offer in the way of promptness, information or organization. If you choose this trip be aware that only a limited time is spent amongst the pillars of limestone and that the ship idles for a prolonged period on the far side of the pillars waiting to go forward to dock. this is understandable given the amount of traffic, but being summonsed to eat lunch in the 'salon' of the junk during the short period of time amongst the pillars is not the best way to make the most of a limited time available to view the best scenery on offer.

A slight misnomer as only the first part of the tour was related to Ho Chi Minh. Not as informative or interesting as a similar trip in HCM and guide was inexperienced and might still be waiting for us in the hotel reception had we not, after 30 minutes waiting in the reception, tried to locate her.

Excellent and varied trip, which provided a great sample of the Mekong and its way of life. A certain degree of agility is needed to get on and off the various types of transport involved and do not expect new or modern boats. Running repairs were required on the engine of our main transportation.Guide very active and familiar with the territory.

A good introduction to Vietnam and an informative guide. Lunch should be optional.