mekong delta tour

[greatam]

 

Greatam - More info from Blue Cruiser

 

 

This would be on their 14 seat motor boat.

"+By our experience on Mekong River We will take you from Saigon To My Tho at 10h00am, You will arriving ( My tho at 12h00 If Cai Be at 1h00 pm) up to traffic on the canal. You can get lunch On THE THOAI SON ISLAND option of MY THO or at Cai BE Restaurant SEO MAY then Bluecruiser boat can take you to visit floating market or some small canal You want.

 

+If in your group they want to joint pupet show in HCMCTy at 6h00pm. You only choose the Saigon- My THO ( Lunch at THOAI SON)- back to Saigon it will be on time for you around 4h00pm.

 

Noted: @(MY Tho to Cai BE we need to drive around 30 to 45 minutes)

@ You can pay around $2 each person for the slow boat to come into the very small cannals in Thoai Son Island."

"If you want to see floating market, you should go to CaiBe. It is about 3:30 hours from SaiGon to Caibe, because we will go along small canal."

 

I found out that Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) is doing this trip on their tours next year. It is highlighted as "New for 2010" on their web site. So, they figured out there had to be another way to see the Mekong from HCMC besides driving. It looks like they are just going to My Tho, but if coming this far we might as well go the extra way to Cai Be (initial email said it was 30-45 minutes further). I believe what was sent to me last night just skips My Tho and goes to Cai Be and Cai BE Restaurant SEO MAY is suggested.

 

This last correspondence and follow-up from them said 3.5 hours going through the canals. We should be back in town for the 8:00pm puppet show for those who wanted to go to the theater.

 

With transaction fees for either wire transfer or credit card use (I don't know if that is available yet but if they are trying to get individual business - they have a US Rep - in the US should be looking at PayPal or other secure ways for people to transfer money) the total should not be more than $600.00 for 8 people ($75.00pp max).

 

 

PayPal costs PayPal users (sellers of services/good) 3-5%, just like it costs for a credit card. These kind of things are NOT common in SE Asia/Middle East. Those are CASH societies. I use a credit card for pre pay hotels/transport/translators, etc. Fax front and back of credit card BECAUSE the Vietnamese banks WILL NOT accept verbal authorization.

 

Trying to get your money back through PayPal is a NIGHTMARE, once they have processed the charge with your bank. While your bank may "suspend" a transaction, the final decision belongs to Pay Pal. And they DO NOT as a general rule refund a transaction. They put it back in your PayPal account, NOT back on your credit card. Went through it last year on a large payment to us for shipping building materials that no one would receive COD (check was never "available". We finally put the materials in storage in California-they are still there). Company (shipper) tried to stop payment on the CC for our freight charges. Took over 4 months and and only got a $2500 credit (out of $3800) to our company PayPal account, not a credit card reversal. Had to get a PayPal debit card to get the money out of our account-with each $300.00 debit charged for withdrawal. I like PayPal, but if you have a problem, the rules are definitely different. We provided the service and never got all our money.

 

I don't know what to tell you anymore about your trip. The emails are very confusing. 30-45 mintes BY CAR is what I read unless you go straight to Cai Be. Have you spoken in person to the US rep? The emails are written like those I get direct from Vietnam, not by a Vietnamese living in the USA. And definitely not by someone who has lived in the US very long.

 

On this one, you will just have to go with your instincts. And by the way, the water level is very low in the rivers right now. I had to drag product to Vung Tau Thursday instead of transshipping it at Phu My. Unless they get a lot of rain in Asia, you may not be able to get as far into Saigon as the ship states. Just be prepared.

[Jade13]

PayPal costs PayPal users (sellers of services/good) 3-5%, just like it costs for a credit card. These kind of things are NOT common in SE Asia/Middle East. Those are CASH societies. I use a credit card for pre pay hotels/transport/translators, etc. Fax front and back of credit card BECAUSE the Vietnamese banks WILL NOT accept verbal authorization.

 

Trying to get your money back through PayPal is a NIGHTMARE, once they have processed the charge with your bank. While your bank may "suspend" a transaction, the final decision belongs to Pay Pal. And they DO NOT as a general rule refund a transaction. They put it back in your PayPal account, NOT back on your credit card. Went through it last year on a large payment to us for shipping building materials that no one would receive COD (check was never "available". We finally put the materials in storage in California-they are still there). Company (shipper) tried to stop payment on the CC for our freight charges. Took over 4 months and and only got a $2500 credit (out of $3800) to our company PayPal account, not a credit card reversal. Had to get a PayPal debit card to get the money out of our account-with each $300.00 debit charged for withdrawal. I like PayPal, but if you have a problem, the rules are definitely different. We provided the service and never got all our money.

 

I don't know what to tell you anymore about your trip. The emails are very confusing. 30-45 mintes BY CAR is what I read unless you go straight to Cai Be. Have you spoken in person to the US rep? The emails are written like those I get direct from Vietnam, not by a Vietnamese living in the USA. And definitely not by someone who has lived in the US very long.

 

On this one, you will just have to go with your instincts. And by the way, the water level is very low in the rivers right now. I had to drag product to Vung Tau Thursday instead of transshipping it at Phu My. Unless they get a lot of rain in Asia, you may not be able to get as far into Saigon as the ship states. Just be prepared.

 

Interesting regarding PayPal. Someone on my role call mentioned using them. I had heard there could be issues but better than wiring cash. I know a lot of people use them for Craigs List transactions (I only do local cash and carry).

 

I think I will talk to the US Rep next week. Emails are coming from Vietnam, but initial correspondence when I made a request through their web site indicated message was going to multiple mail boxes because US Rep emailed me to say they would "answer on Monday" and about a time difference which of course I already knew about.

[Jade13]

Greatam - Thank you for your help. This is looking great with Blue Cruiser. We are chartering a fast motor boat to take 10 passengers on the Mekong Delta on a day trip up to Cai Be (even though we understand the market will be slow by the time we arrive). They have named a restaurant where we can get lunch (Cai BE Restaurant SEO MAY). I am now told it is 2 hours from Saigon to My Tho and another 30-45 minutes up to Cai Be. So this will be 8-9 hours total. The price is confirmed at $566.00 (they have actually agreed to this price for up to 12 passengers, but we will probably keep it to 10 on their 14 seat motor boat).

 

Additionally, we can make payment to their US Rep and he has agreed to take 5 separate checks (which I will send together), has agreed to full payment 5 weeks prior, and has agreed to a full refund should our ship not dock in Saigon (I know, getting it back could be another problem, but he agreed in writing - I'm more glad he has agreed to separate checks so the risk is divided). It is $56.60 pp.