He didn’t help us much to learn about the long history of Vietnam. Many included meals were just so-so, and we found better restaurants on our own, when meals weren’t part of the itinerary. Our guide sometimes even helped bring food out from the kitchen, which was weird. He took a shrimp paste condiment off our table once, and took it to his own table, saying, “Westerners don’t like it.” I had to fetch it back, and he was wrong - it was good. Weird. He was particularly devoted to one woman who was mostly there to shop, and had to buy an extra suitcase to bring it all home. Fine, but there were more of us on the trip than just her. Maybe he saw her as a big tipper?
Beer drinking is a particularly popular pastime in Vietnam, and our guide was often not around, enjoying his pastime. He took one guy in our group out one evening, and that guy was too hungover the next morning to do that day’s bus excursion. Sad.
One of OAT’s special elements is visiting schools, under-served villages, or other institutions that they have sort-of adopted to help improve the lives of some local people. They encourage us relatively wealthy visitors to bring some supplies or gifts as part of that effort. An orphanage operated by monks and nuns was on the itinerary (although OAT’s printed agenda, which we received prior to leaving the USA, listed it on the wrong day, and calling the OAT office prior to the trip failed to resolve that), and we brought some things better suited to older kids, and some intended for the younger ones. The head monk was going to distribute what we’d all brought. I asked our guide to make sure the right things were distributed to the appropriate recipients, but was ignored. Five-year-olds got the stuff that would’ve been more appropriate going to the older kids. A boy who must’ve been 15 or 16 got a pink, obvious girl’s cap with a space in back for a ponytail. He looked stunned that the head monk would present it to him, but apparently had to accept it, and wasn’t free to hand it to any of the young ladies he glanced at, then back to the cap, then over to them again. Our guide didn’t help with that, although he’d taken some of the group who’d not brought anything to a Target-type store to get some trinkets. Unfortunate.
One activity was getting shuttled to a farmstead on the back of a ubiquitous Vietnamese motor scooter, to meet a former soldier who’d fought with the U.S. side in the war. Guide demonstrated for all of us how to get on the back of our scooter, behind the driver. After I’d gotten on mine, he came over and said, “How did you get on? You’re not strong enough to do that!” I was livid, but didn’t say anything at the moment. I’m not an ultra-marathoner, and have spent most of my life dealing with weight issues, but I ski a lot (downhill and nordic), hike, work out at the gym, do yoga and Pilates, and am quite strong for a 75-year-old. Maybe there’s a cultural difference between Vietnamese and Americans, but what he said would be inappropriate anywhere, and I was on the damned scooter, so why would he say that?!? He made sexist comments throughout the trip, and 3 of us trying to suggest that you don’t say some things to older American women went unheeded. Nine-year experienced OAT leader? How he’s kept that job, I find extraordinary.
OAT asks for a trip evaluation from each customer, and I gave them a frank assessment. No one from OAT ever contacted me back. Maybe they’ll read it here.
OAT sometimes has big discount prices on trips. I won’t say I’d never do another trip with them, but the guide on our last trip has left a very negative feeling. Our Africa guide was much better, and I’ve stayed in contact with him, yet apparently he’s never been hired for another OAT trip. Strange.
We enjoyed the Croatia trip in 2005, with guidebooks and a rental car. Their tourism infrastructure is more developed now, and it would be easier to go on your own now than ever. But a (good) tour is another option.
