Private food tour for ‘Masterchef’ Desi and her lovely husband from Indonesia
My team and I are delighted that Indonesia’s ‘Masterchef’ Desi Trisnawati and her lovely husband Mail Chen recently experienced our Private Tours of Da Nang and Hoi An. We had such a wonderful time showing this lovely couple the beauty of Vietnam, its culture and our local people. Desi & Mail were like-minded people! We had so much fun introducing them to the sights, smells and tastes of central Vietnamese food – this is food for every day Vietnamese people and prepared with pride for local people at market food stalls and street restaurants! Thank you both for such beautiful memories.
“Walking In My Father’s Footsteps………..”
Michele visited to retrace her father’s wartime journey – he was stationed in Da Nang for 3 years during the Vietnam War. Prior to her visit she gave us lots of information about his stay here, locations and sites which he remembered. With my research team we located all the sites and places of interest and spent a long and emotional day in and around Da Nang with Michele At the end of her day with us, and without prompting, Michele said a few words ‘to camera’ Michele Mahone is a US stand-up comic, was an American TV entertainer on the ‘Today Show’ and is still well known in Australia as an entertainment reporter for ‘The Weekend Today Show’. But to us, she is but a wonderful and respected guest and now a lovely friend. One of the most beautiful memories I had with Michele Mahone was when she played the song ‘Goodnight Saigon’ in the car, we both cried. This was my first time listening to the song, and it got me thinking.I came from a VC family, my grandfather worked for the VC, my uncles, my neighbors fought very hard at that time and most of them got injured. My parents grew up with lots of ups and downs during the War. My mother’s friend was a VC guerrilla and she still has more than 10 scars on her body and she still feels painful whenever the weather changes. She was one of the bravest and kindest woman I have met and I still remember every single word she shared when I visited her on the occasion of Tet ( Vietnamese New Year). “Each of the scar I carried on my body was like the flowers from the war, and these flowers were to remind me of my younger days, to be grateful with the independence we are having today”Like the young generations, I was so fortunate that I was born and raised in the peace time. I came from a small village where back in late 1990s, when we usually had the shortage of electricity, most of the families pulled their chairs and sat right in front of their houses under the moonlight and talked about the wars, how they survived, Vietnam’s subsidy period or anything about daily life. The image of neighbor’s gathering and talking, children playing “hide and seek”, peaceful atmosphere of the rice paddy fields, and the stories that I learned are all in my heart. Those were the days that I never forget because this is a part of me. I always appreciate the wonderful opportunities of meeting many different people from different countries. I love my job so much and I am thankful that my family and best friends inspired me to understand more about my passion and my career path. All of my clients have been very nice, thoughtful and kind towards our Vietnamese people, which is amazing! I met some veterans and their families during the tours. I was lucky that they chose me to help them find their old bases or where their family members served or died in Vietnam. I always remember the trips that I spent with Colonel Hugh Sproul, Justine and Christine, Katherine, Donald E Woodard , Bruce Thompson, Katelena Hernandez and Michele Mahone. Each trip with these lovely people gave me a deeper look at the war from different perspective. Not only Vietnamese, but people who were here during the war also suffered a lot! It was indeed a painful memory for both sides. Usually, I translated their stories from English to Vietnamese and shared with the locals so they can have a better understanding for the other sides. And I love connecting people together. I think I have now found another mission. That was to give veteran and their family members a memorable experiences with Vietnamese in Vietnam.On another side, I have also encountered many VC, families of veterans on my life journey and really, no-one ever talked about hatred or anything bad about the American people or whoever got involved in the war. They just mentioned about how intense the fighting was, about the loss of their team members, about the strong spirits of “freedom and independence”. I have never met anyone who said to me ” American was our enemy, don’t welcome them, or anything” Never, ever! It might sound strange to you, but it is true. I think, most of Vietnamese people moved on after the war. We never forget our history but what really matters now is how we give our children better living conditions. We believe that one of the best ways to help family better is to give our children a good foundation of education. This explains why so many parents worked very hard in order to support their kid’s education. That is one of the powerful ways to stop the sufferings. Now, when you visit Vietnam, you will feel how peaceful and safe our country is. You can feel the positive energies from the smiles of our hard-working farmers/ workers, cheerful children, the happy faces of grandparents even though they might struggle a lot.
New ‘CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE’ 2019 for Xuan Tu Vietnam Tours
My company has just received TripAdvisor’s ‘CERTIFICATE OF EXCELLENCE’ for 2019 – that’s five years in a row! recommended sitebuy it now I am so grateful that, behind this award, is the hard work, time and effort every single Xuan Tu Tours staff member has dedicated to our clients this year and, thank you from the bottom of my heart to you all – the biggest part of this achievement! ?
“More than perfect tour!”
Thank you Min Woo Bea’s family from Korea for your kind words , and for choosing our company for your private tour to Hoi An Ancient town and rural Cam Thanh Coconut village. With your tour guide, we are really happy you had such an amazing day. We wish you all the best and hope to meet you again one day in the future. Love from Xuan Tu team. More than perfect tour~~!! First of all, I have to say Lam & Yu are very kind and amazing person not only because they guide my family but also they care my family with their warm heart. Thank you. The tour was amazing. Literally all tour can be flexible depends on what the tourers want to do.We started to go to coconut town and took the boat and vegetarian village. As the weather was very hot and humid, so my family got tired soon. We were asking them to change our tour as we wanted to stay more cooler, they arrange to go spa for my wife as well as the Vietnamese smoothie cafe to take my family rest. Then, we asked them to go local food which was the better food than what I expected. My entire family were satisfied with the tour.And if someone comes to Danang and if they want a tour in Danang and Hoian with their children, ask Xuan Tu to have Lam and You to be your guide. I believe they will never let you down. Thank you for having my family very unforgettable memories. Personally, I am very happy to know you guys.Already miss you guys and miss the time we spending with you~!! ^^
Merry Christmas from Xuan Tu Tours
Xin chào! to all my friends from around the world. I know for many of you it will soon be Christmas time – and my teammates, my mom & dad and myself would like to wish all of you celebrating this wonderful time of year a ‘Merry Christmas’. Like with my family, I know some of you do not celebrate. But we really hope 2018 has been kind to every one of you, and wish you all a successful, happy and prosperous 2019 with good health. Its been a great year for my company and staff, and all those you have helped to support in our community. The ‘Xuan Tu Tours’ company BLOG is up and running, there’s a link below! And I have designed three new Private Shore Excursions for our client’s docking in Saigon – more information will follow in the new year. Finally, a great ‘thank you’ again for choosing my company when visiting my amazing country. One day, we hope to see you all once more.