The driver is
good, I never felt endangered and he was extremely nice and fun.
Yangchin was very
good, she's usually very knowledgeable.
Facebook and a
random youtube video talking in Cantonese to a reporter helped me to choose
Spinn Cafe to organize my trip in Tibet. Paypal helped too, it's difficult to
trust random amounts of money sent to personal accounts as there is little or
know recourse. So, given all the recommendations on Facebook and other sites, I
gave it a go. It's really just a security issue.
I think you
handled it well, I had a lot of fun especially in Lhasa with you and the feast.
Everyone should always have a Tibetan feast!
I'd say 4, it
would be a 5 if that permit issue didn't worry me as I know mail in general can
stall for ages, so preferably I was expecting the permits to arrive at the
hostel before I even arrived.
You've been
extremely informative.
I can say Lhasa,
FEAST, Your Cafe and I guess just the journey are what I like most in this
tour.
You're welcome to
come to Vancouver and hang out with us! I'll probably make a trip up there with
a friend again someday!
Gabriel Zi-hao Lai
(Vancouver, Canada)
I appreciated the
skill of our driver, who always made us feel safe along often narrow and treacherous
roads. He drove carefully and, when necessary, slowly. Though I wasn't able to
communicate with the driver because of the language barrier, it was clear that
he cared about our comfort and health during the trip.
There's no
question that Tenzin Sangbo is a terrific guide, very knowledgeable about
Tibetan culture, history and religious practices and always eager to help. I
was surprised to learn that he was only 24 years old -- his competence, street
smarts and maturity led me to think him much older.
During my trip, I
relied heavily upon his expertise, especially since I over-estimated my ability
to handle the difficulties of acclimatization, attributing symptoms of altitude
sickness to caffeine withdrawal! It was Tenzin who alerted me to my condition
and who made sure I received proper treatment so that I could continue with my
trip. I really don't know what I would have done without him. I recommend him
as a guide without any reservations. He more than deserves his bonus.
What I liked most
in this tour is Tenzin's willingness to ensure that our trip went smoothly and
the care that was expressed by everyone involved - from Tenzin, to the driver,
to even the owners of the nomad hotel, when it was clear I was unwell. I
appreciated everyone's concern.
I am very pleased
with my experiences with you and Spinn Cafe.
Thy Phu (Toronto, Canada)
We were very
satisfied with the driver. The ride was smooth.
I would like to
recommend the same tour guide to other travelers. I think she is very nice and she
is familiar with Tibetan culture so that we could know more about interesting
things about Tibetan culture. ex. why Tibetan women wear different colored
dresses.
We like the
flexibility of your tour arrangement. My husband and I was hesitating before
the trip because we had limited vacation time, only 2 weeks. We had a lot of
plans within the time frame.Most of
the Tibetan tours offered by other travel agencies are at lease 6 days
but you could offer us something shorter.
The thing that I
like the most in this tour is that we had a lot of free time so that we were
able to do a lot of things by ourselves.
We both had a
great time in Tibetan, even it was a short trip.
I appreciate you
for everything in this trip. I wish you the best in you endeavors.
Charles Rooney (Connecticut, USA), Tracy Rooney (New
York, USA)
Our drivers were
really great! We are very glad to have them as guides. They were very friendly
and we felt really safe with them. We would recommend them at anyone who would like
to travel in Tibet.
We greatly
appreciated Lobsang’s services. She was really nice, helpful and accomodant.
Maybe an older guide with more experience would be better for older people but
it was perfect for us, crazy young French people! And we would surely recommend
her to friends!
We are very
grateful for your help on the tour arrangement, because you granted all our
requests and accommodate to all the changes we asked! At first we wanted to
find the cheapest travel agency, you were the cheapest, and your service was
perfect!
It was good that
you let us see and choose the hostels.
We would like to
thank you again for your help on the handling of our tour. Everything was
perfect and we really really enjoy this trip!
We wish you the
best for the future!
Ivan Artuikh (Toulouse, France)
Corentin Aulagne (Saint Etienne, France)
Clemence Buisson (Chartres, France)
Laurent Courtois (Lille, France)
Eva Fernandez (Montauban, France)
Thomas Gelez (Lille, France)
Kevin Thibout (Dreux, France)
The driver is
very good and always shows up early.
We're amazed by
how flexible and accommodating our guide is. He's very knowledgeable about the
places we went to as well as other things related to the Tibetan culture.
Like I mentioned
when we met, I think your service is very professional. I think your very
detailed and timely response to my information request was the deciding factor.
I also appreciate your flexibility in terms of accommodation arrangements. My
wife is relatively picky about accommodation, and we really appreciate your
flexibility.
I think your
travel service is perfect, and we really appreciate all your help. We look
forward to visiting Tibet again in the future.
Johan Sulaeman (Sukabumi, Indonesia), Deserina
Sulaeman (Jakarta, Indonesia)
I was really
impressed with my driver. He was friendly, knowledgeable and drove very safely.
My guide was
still good. His knowledge of Buddhism was very useful for me in monasteries.
I chose you
because you came well recommended. I think your handling of the tour was good,
considering the difficult circumstances. You were always quick to reply to my
emails, and honest in your replies even when you couldn't deliver (ie the
Chamdo permit).
Daniel McCrohan (London, UK)
The driver was
excellent. He was very kind and careful driver with a sense of humor.
Your handling was
great and very helpful. You'd been very responsive, informative and interactive
in the tour arrangement. I liked the way how you tailored the itinerary to suit
our needs. I chose it because you're highly recommended by some friends and the
way that we interacted through Gmail.
I think your
service was excellent, and you were fast in replying our emails too. You were
very kind to buy medicine (for attitude sickness) for us when we just arrived.
Yet it would be better if you can enjoy the sunrise with us in Pabongkha
Monastery, and will be even better if you could send the photos to us! :P
Thanks so much
Pazu for bringing us this lovely trip! Keep enjoying everything in Tibet!
And thanks so
much for the company and wonderful memories. Truly, we didn't feel that you're
doing any business. You've been so sincere and enthusiastic. Truly some nice
friends to enjoy Tibet together.
Riding bicycles
with you and Oat, hospitality and beautiful encounters under such sacred and
magical skies were what we enjoyed most in Tibet.
Keep enjoying
your magical life in Tibet and stay well and keep in touch.
Catherine Lau
(Faculty of Law, the University of Hong Kong)
Bonnie Chung
(Faculty of Law, the University of Hong Kong)
The driver took
me to airport, very nice pleasant and most helpful with luggage, a good driver,
a big hug. I wish I could have known a bit of Tibetan language.
Excellent tour
guide, so nice, courteous and polite and very knowledgeable about history,
culture, etc. Vbery pretty and
intelligent.
Kong, you were
very patient with me and all the delays about getting a train ticket. I
appreciated. I chose your agency on
website after typing solo travel tibet,
your questions and answers gave a good impression. Honest and
knowledgeable. I would recommend anytime.
I like everything
in this tour: Lhasa, the Tibetans, the trip by train, the freedom I could
choose my guesthouse, the guides, the weather, landscape, your services... I
miss lhasa and hope to go back, this time to Lake Manasarovar and Mt Kailash.
Jeannie Perreault (La Perade, Canada)
I would recommed
the driver to other travellers. He
was very jovial and friendly and made the experience enjoyable. He drove slower than everyone else on
the road, but consequently, I think that made him a better driver and I felt
safer. I don't think there was a
time where I think I was afraid of his driving.
I would also
recommend the tour guide to other travellers. She was a little shy, but was incredibly
knowledgeable about our trip and what we wanted to do. She was very friendly and loved learning
about us and vice versa. I had a
lot of fun talking with her and learning about Tibet.
Well, personally,
my Tibet trip far exceeded my expectations and that was due mainly to the
hospitality and friendliness that you had provided at Spinn Cafe. I felt like I was at home in Lhasa and
that is a very special thing to feel when you are thousands and thousands of
kilometers from home. I thought
that you handled the tour arrangement just as well as I would expect any tour
operator to handle it. I picked you
over others because you seemed like a real person as opposed to someone working
behind a computer desk punching numbers for a big company to get his paycheck.
I had full trust
in you, so I didn't really need all that, I also felt that our communication
was good. If there ever was a
miscommunication, I think we both cleared it up quickly. The communication I had with you was
another reason as to why I chose you to arrange our trip as opposed to someone
else.
The thing I liked
most about our tour was hanging out in Lhasa. You really made me feel at home and I
loved going to the restaurants you took us to and all the people we met, and it
was an all around great time. You
play a good daddy for us out-of-continent folk, haha.
If I were to do
this tour again, I probably would also mainly just hang out in Lhasa because I have
seen most other things, and there is nothing wrong with going out to elaborate
20-course dinners with Pazu Kong!
Thanks again for
everything you did for our trip, it was greatly appreciated! Hopefully, we can come back again
sometime!
Sunil Gopal (Arizona, USA) and Robin Richardson (Illionois, USA)
The driver is
fine, with occasional stops for us to take toilet breaks and he seems more than
happy to stop along the way for us to take photos. He is also experienced
enough to navigate through the dark moutainous trail with the help of our guide
when we requested him to drive straight from Kailash to Saga which took more
than 10hours of driving.
We are very happy
with the services of our tour guide Tenzin. He is sincere. He makes effort to
ensure our needs are met therefore making this trip a memorable one.
I thought that
throughout the arrangement of the tour, we were able to get precise and frank
responds from you within a short period of time which makes the arrangement
easier.
I personally appreciate
the dinners gatherings which you have arranged when we gotten back to Lhasa.
I find that the
little arrangement like welcoming us at the airport with the white scarf,
arranging a meeting with us prior to leaving for Kailash, passing us a set of map
and oxygen canister each and of course our favourite Spinn Lemonade have made
me feel very welcoming.
This is something
which i have not experienced with other agency.
I chose Spinn
because I feel comfortable with it when we first enquire on the tour. You are
also very open about the cost of the tour and knowledgeable when handling with
our queries. I think mostly importantly is that Spinn is able to portray to
clients that it is reliable.
I also like the
flexibility of our itinerary, the randoms stops along the road for
photo-taking, the welcoming feeling from you and your staffs as well as our
guide and driver & all the people we have met.
We enjoyed our
tibet trip very much and it have been a fun journey for us. Nice to have met
you guys. And after hearing so much on the trip, my parents are also very keen
to go on there next year. Hope to link up with you again when the time is near.
Definitely I will
recommend your service to other people.
Ong Jun Quan (Singapore)
Hola Pazu!!! Greetings
from Guatemala!!!!
We had a
wonderful journey to China & Tibet, and definetly the best nights were in
Lhasa, at your bar!!! We're still laughing about your videos! Hope you put them
in you tube, they're so funny!!!
It was great
meeting you, I hope we can keep in touch and that you keep updating us with
your videos so we can continue laughing! Alejandro says hello!
Ana Sagastume (Guatemala)
The driver is
very experienced and practice safe driving (unlike majority of the other cars
on the road). He is flexible and is willing to driving more than 12 hrs and
able to take on difficult road at night (10+pm to 11+pm) in order for us to
reach a town where we can stay (we decided not to board at the tent at Lake
Mansarovar after our Mt Kailash trip, and going straight into 1 town, hence
such long drive).
He is also able
to understand Chinese and communicate with us in Chinese, telling us some of
the history and stuffs together with our tour guide. He took the initiative to
help us carry out bag when he see us carrying it, not many drivers has such
kind of initiative. Very happy go lucky, thus it makes the overall trip an
enjoyable one. I would definitely recommend the driver for long trip like us
(given his excellent driving skill and knowledge), and for older travellers
that may not know English very well, he will be of a great help.
As for the tour
guide, I would recommend Tenzin to other traveler, given his age (same as us!),
he is surprisingly well verse in many things, from political to history, myth
and legend of Tibet. It is in fact a bonus for us to have him as a guide (thank
you!). During our very tough trek in Kailash (us being city boys and girl),
Tenzin helped us tremendously by guiding us, carrying our heavy bags together
with his own (although he didn’t have to), he even packed some dry food for us
for fear that we didn't have enough.
It is really
thoughtful of him. He continued to fulfill his duty as a guide, which is very
remarkable. Also, unlike other guides that may want to earn more commission, he
didnt take us to shops that sell expensive tourist-ish stuffs, but bring us to
shops that we want and also restaurants that we want. During the drive at
night, he even went down the car to guide our driver because there was no
street light and it was very dark. He definitely put us first instead of
himself. He will ensure that he helped us resolve difficult issues/problems
before he take his rest (albeit a really LONG day).
For all these, I
suppose Tenzin do deserve a rating of 5, and definitely deserve the extra
commission (money). It a form a appreciation for all the hard-work he did.
We got to know
Spinn Cafe through Lonely Planet forum. We were looking for a trustworthy
agency which we can trust in this tour arrangement, and your reply in Lonely
Planet forum attracts us to book you since you know better than anyone how
traveling etc works and the difficulty traveler may faced traveling in Tibet
since you've experienced it first hand yourself. We would recommend your
service to my relatives and friends definitely. :)
We also like the
flexibility to change the itinerary as we like in between the tour, it’s a
private tour, so I dont have to tolerate other people’s slowness etc, guide and
driver being extremely accomodating, able to experience the other side of tibet
which I believe large tour wouldn’t be able to. Most imptly, traveling in a way
not many people is able to in normal tour group.
Celestal Lee Xinying
(Singapore)
Mei and i reached home yesterday morning in good health. You
know, we already start missing Tibet and Spinn cafe when we were in the train
to Chengdu. Just couldn't control my tears when the train moved away from
the station.
Somehow, I feel glad that we had made the right choice of stayed in Lhasa
longer. Though I left Lhasa with bundles of joys and memories.
Tibet was like a mystery and unreachable place for me. But now,
the perceptions have changed. i feel like i found a home for my
soul.........hahaha!!
Comments for the driver Kelsang:
●
Very experince driver with good driving skills
●
Know the routes well
●
Able to provide estimated time frame and
distance from one place to another
●
Very helpful in looking for the right hostel
and negotiate for the best room rate for the group
●
Stopped at many spots without fail whenever
requested by the photography mania
●
Can speak in Chinese language rather well
●
Played good Tibet songs and music with right
volume
●
Overall comments: Highly recommanded for other
travellers
Comments for
the tour guide Tashi:
●
Very helpful, patient, pleasant and caring
personal
●
Always tried his best to provide informations to
his clients
●
Tried to get information from
others whenever in doubts eg: monk in-charge of the chapel
●
Know well about the needs of his clients such as
places for filling our stomach and best place to sleep from our very limited
budget.
●
Passion to teach people about his language,
religion, and cultural believes
Comments for the tour coordinator Pazu Kong:
●
Reply to client's enquiries promptly
●
Provide very clear and transparent information
and quatation
●
Able to give good advise or his personal
opinions
●
Has good communication skills esp in English is
a vast advantage to deal with foreigner travelllers. My personal experience, I
had gone through a lot of hassel as tried to understand feedback/reply
from some agents and the information provided were usually not specific.
●
Willing to take his efforts to follow up
cases before finalized everything though the requests from client
changed from time to time eg: changes of length of tour, visit spots, numbers
of tour members, and permit application process.
●
Some hiccups did happened during the tour.
However, prompt actions had been taken and problems solved.
●
Overall comments: You did it well. Keep it up.
What I like most of this tour is the warm hospitality and sincere
friendship from Pazu Kong. And what I didn’t like is the rules and regulations
for Tibet entry and travel set by the authority.
Khoo May Pin (Melaka, Malaysia) and Tiew Geok Mei (Melaka, Malaysia)
Our driver our tour guide were very good. I chose you because you
were recommended by Jim and Helen.
Everything was good.
Brian Cheadle (Northwich, Canada) and
Barbara Cheadle (Leeds,
Canada)
Thanks for helping me to organize my tour in Tibet. I enjoy my trip
very much.
I rate my driver the highest point of 5 and I would recommend him to
the other people. He is a friendly person, a responsible driver, and always
kind toward other people. He has no complaints about making frequently stops for
me to take photos and always energetic during driving. His driving skill is
good and he drives very safe.
I rate my guide the highest point of 5 and I would recommend her to
the other people. She is very familiar with all the hotels and travelling procedures
in Tibet. She is on time for meeting and explains everything very detail. She
is considerate about me. I remember I missed my breakfast in Shigatse and she
asked the hotel to give me some bananas. She also helped me to move my luggages
during my trip.
Your handling of the tour arrangement is excellent (5 Points).
Everything is very efficient and I got my questions anawered very quick. I will recomend you to my friends.
Eric Yau Kin Kei (Los
Angeles, United States)
I'd recommend the same guide
and driver. We know that it is very hard to drive on off road so we recommend
our driver for the long trip that we had.
I'm satisfied with the way you organized our trip and already recommended Spinn
Cafe to another travelers.
What we like most of
the tour is that it’s dependably arranged, you’ve delivered all the
necessities.
Hana Badando (Manila, Philipines) and Geshiela Estrelon (Quezon City,
Philipines)
The driver drove very very good , not too fast
and not made me fear at all ka. : ))
The tour guide is very nice and take care us
every moment : )) plz say to him "Thank you so much miss my guide ka : ))
and thanks for sent my postcard ka".
Your arrangement is great !!! and thanks you so
much for change a itinerary with out any change : ) . The reason for choose
your tour coz you keep replying my email and a price is reasonable.
Everything perfect for me : ))
Passaporn Shompoopun (Bangkok, Thailand)
For personality and efforts he made to please me, the tour guide
would get full marks. He is a very good and nice person. I also had many laughs
with the guide which made this trip fun!
You did a fabulous job arranging the trip, I decided to choose you
for your honesty. This was apparent in your writing with advice about other
tour organizers.
Marisa de Jong
(Amsterdam, Netherlands)
Overall great driving of the driver, and the
tour guide is a very good and responsible person who takes good care of his
clients.
You had a very detailed Q and A at your website,
which gives us confident to choose you to arrange the tour. I think you made
good arrangement with the transport and accommodations. Overall it was a great
trip, real good experience.
Basically, I only have good comments regarding
this trip.
I think your cafe made it extra special where we
are able to meet other tourist in Tibet like those people from Hong Kong. We
are able to sit around in your cafe and chill.
Chong
Zheng Feong (Singapore)
I found the drivers very careful and
responsible. The tour guide is excellent, he was very open and frank, had a
good sense of humor and understood western idiosyncrasies well. We could know
that he understood what we wanted to see and do. He was always prompt.
I chose your service because of a personal
recommendation. I enjoyed your tour arrangement because it was so flexible and
personalized. It kept us out of buses and down on the street level.
All seemed to go smoothly.
Grant Bickel (United States)
I just wanted to let you know how much we
enjoyed our tour. The driver is good and I gave positive feedback for our tour
guide and would like to rate 5 for him. He is great at his job, insightful,
knowledgeable, informative, helpful and kind.
Thanks again and we will make sure to recommend
you to our friends and comrades who are thinking of visiting Tibet.
Novita Utami (Padang, Indonesia)
The driver is good and the tour guide is great,
he has a lot of knowledge about the history and eager to learn any culture.
We are also satisfied with the way you handled
our tour, we think you gave us details info which help us in Tibet. And from
the beginning you handle our tour it was fast and simple. That was our reason
to choose you.
Eva Ali (Eva Ali (Jakarta, Indonesia)
It was great to have the chance to know some of
the secret corners of Jokhang Circuit with you, including the nunnery (best
place in Lhasa for me!). Hanging around Namso lake and 'chatting' with the
nomads doing the koras.
I think you provide great service. I think you
are very professional and responsive and I would definitely want to use your
services if I went to Tibet again.
I felt you treated us as friends and not only
clients and I hope you continue to be so personable when your business grows and
you have less time (as I'm sure it will grow!).
Thanks again for such great times in lhasa. you
are a star!
Marion Khamis (Santiago de Chile)
Drivers did a good job. And the tour guide was
very good. He had a sense of humour that is important for some westerners (I
liked it). He was also very polite, helpful and seemed sincere. We were more
than happy to tip him at the top end of your recommended range.
You came well recommended and we appreciated
your knowledge and personal attention to our problems.
I liked the Spinn café – the ambience and the
music.
Thank you!
Malcolm Griffiths (Middlesbrough, Canada)
A belated 'Thank You'! We had a great time in
Tibet, everything worked out perfectly!
Our guide, Migdon, was very helpful, pleasant and
easy to work with.
I recommended your services to a young Belgian
couple we met in Dunhuang - I hope they contact you!
Dennis Nicoll (Vancouver, Canada) and
Catherine MacGregor (Windsor, Canada)
Five points to the driver and full marks to the
tour guide as well.
We decided to join your tour through the
recommendation of our friends, full marks to your service too.
Cultural social and monasterial facts were well
explained. Thanks for all your help and we are very glad and fortunate to be
able to visit Tibet.
Alfred
Pawelek (Belitz, Polland) and Mary Pawelek (Newmarket, Canada)
Full marks for the driver and tour
guide. And full mark for your service as well. I booked with you because you
gave me the best price, the best service and you'd been recommended by a
friend.
The lakes, the landscape and the
people were amazing, also, the nunnery was great because we saw them
chanting/praying and they were very welcoming!
Thanks a lot for the great time, I
recommended you to plenty of people in China and to people I met in Nepal.
Wiebke Dittert (Hannover, Germany),
Madeleine Huller (Texas, USA), Johannes Schmidt (Wurzen, Germany)
We will give our driver a rating of 5
(out of 5), the best driver!!!
Lobsang was the best guide we could ever
have, he knows a lot of Tibetan culture, people and religion. He did more than
a normal guide. I have travelled very much and I never had such a guide, he
became a good friend. He's what we like most in our tour indeed!
Your arrangements and patience were
excellent. Thank you very much for everything!
Javier Beltran from Spain (Malaga),
Jaime Carceller from Spain (Santander), Jaime Gonzalez from Spain (Santander),
Paula Toca from Spain (Santander)
We would recommend both the driver and
the guide - they both went above and beyond, we will give them a rating of five
out of five. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and kind, and also a lot of
fun. I was really happy with your
service - you always answered quickly and let us know any alterations right
away....I found your details on thorntree when researching the trip. ? Learning
about Tibet and seeing the stunning scenery.
Adrian Young (Barnsley, Britain)
Sarah Warren
(Swansea, Britain)
I was very happy with the arrangements
by Spinn cafe and found my Tibetan tour guide Tenzin to be thoughtful,
informative and helpful. I had booked a no guide day to wander Lhasa on my own
but ended up hiring him for that day too. If you get a good Tibetan guide it will be an asset to understanding
Tibet, not a liability. Tenzin, my tour guide, was excellent, pleasant,
knowledgeable, adaptable to interests and needs of individual traveler. I
thoroughly enjoyed our interaction.
My driver was also excellent, very
good driving skills, patient with photography stops and a pleasure to share
long trip on dirt roads with.
Kong, you have made sure everything
went well clearly communicated requirements and plans adapted to changes in a
pleasant competent and efficient way and does great card tricks. .
What I liked most in this tour was
spending time with the tour guide and Tibetan people.
Thanks again Kong, I wish you all
Peace, Happiness and Prosperity.
Steve Burger,
www.globalfolkart.com/
Global Folk Art
Calgary, Alberta,
Canada
Our trip was fantastic, I would highly
recommend the driver, my only regret was that he didn't speak English and I
didn't speak Tibetian, but he was really great. I would have loved to get to
know him better, 10 stars to him.
Same same with the guide, he was also
fantastic, 10 stars to him too!!! The guide was extremely knowledgeble and
flexible with our time.
The package that you offered was great
for individual travellers, good price, flexibility, great service, specially
the magic tricks!!! I will definitely recommend you to fellow travellers.
Thanks for the great trip!
Trish Brown (Melbourne, Australia)
The driver was very good. He was very
friendly and most importantly he was safe. He followed all traffic rules and at
all times I felt comfortable with him. He was also very attentive in terms of
thinking of what we would like to see - such as the first night drive to the
hotel, he pointed out the Potala Palace; he slowed down for us to take photos
on our road trip to and from Shigatse; he also pointed out the black necked
cranes, etc. I would recommend him for your future clientele.
To be honest, I normally hate guides.
However, Tenzin, was quite an exception. He was genuinely kind and
accommodating throughout our whole trip. He was also very polite and
considerate. If all tour guides could be like this, I would be very
happy. I would recommend him for your future clientele.
From day 1 of being in contact with
you, I have felt quite comfortable in my dealings with you. Your blog, news articles,
and cafe allow people from far away to feel that your services and business are
legitimate.
You were very considerate in thinking
of and preparing our needs related to expectation of accommodations and
adjustment to altitude.
Communication was always very clear. I
appreciated that you would send emails with final quotes and clarification on
matters. Everything was quite transparent.
Besides the fantastic scenery and the culture,
what I enjoyed about the tour was that our schedules/plans went smoothly. When
we needed to change a plan, it was okay. Flexibility was probably what I
appreciated the most.
You should be quite proud of the
services you have offered us.
Michele Tung (United Kingdom),
Yoland Wang (United States),
Dominique Speekenbrink (the
Netherlands)
The driver drove without fail whole
way, even understood English quite well and was on the good mood all the time.
I enjoyed our trip and I'm quite happy how everything went. I think that you
made really good job, organizing the permits really fast and also your
personality was great. You would have been great guide too. :)
Maria Laitala (Hollola, Finland)
It may have been the most incredible
tour ever for me... and I appreciate how quickly you managed to organise
everything for us and how fabulous it all was.
I really hope to come back through
Tibet in the future and will definitely make arrangements through you.
Lisa Honey (Farnborough, United Kingdom)
All in all a fantastic trip and thanks
for handling it all in such a nice and patient manner - we really felt well
taken care of by you.
Katrine Skipper Pedersen
(Allinge-Gudhjem, Denmark)
I enjoyed every bit of the experience.
I suppose we could have packed in a bit more with the time we had, but given
that it's our first time and not knowing how AMS would affect us, the slower
pace suited us well.
Thanks very much for helping us with the
planning, and your hospitality - we like the Strategy Game very much and guess
what? I just bought two sets, one for Bee and one for myself.
We enjoyed the trip very much and will
certainly recommend you shd any of our friends want to visit Tibet.
Chng It Soh (Singapore),
Tan Bee Hong (Singapore)
Firstly wanted to say we really
enjoyed our trip and for all the difficulties was definetly a trip of a
lifetime and one I will not forget. Being able to organise through you was
great as gave us much more freedom to do what we wanted to and not feel forced
to do what the agency wanted to do. I guess it meant we could still remain a
little independant!
The price was also great as was
considerbly cheaper then any other tour (maybe you are too cheap!!)
About the driver, I would recommend
him, felt safe the whole time, although we did notice he was slower on tarmac
roads and much faster on gravel, we therefore think he must of been a rally car
driver in a previous life!
About the tour guide, Gonkom, was
pretty good, he came across as young and was very much on our level, as I saw a
lot of the other tour guides and they seemed very boring. So for young
westerners would recommend him.
The break down of pricing was great as
well as really saw the cost. I liked the Rama Kharpo Guesthouse in Lhasa as
felt really homely. The tent camp at EBC was good and also fun.
Overall we had a great time and was
really happy with booking it though you and not some faceless agency, it was
really easy to correspond with you and you always answered all my questions.
I will of course recommend you to any
friends I know planning a trip. If you pass by Kuala Lumpur in the next couple
of years (will be moving there next month) be sure to drop me line!!
Leo Frankel (London, United Kingdom),
Caroline Frankel (Brighton, United
Kingdom)
We really appreciated you getting out
of your way to help us. Like arranging us a biking tour with Oat, which was
nice.
The driver was very fine. He was
always on time and drove very carefully.
The tour guide has good knowledge of
history and religion, good info for hotels/restaurant/places (outside Lhasa).
He spoke good enough English.
The Barkhor area tour you gave us at
the end was very nice, simple, funny and interesting.
We are sure you are gonna succeed with
your Tibet tours. You really care for your guests. We`re sure they will be
happy to meet you and do your tours, as we did.
Thank you for all your help, time and
the movies you gave us. Please visit us, when you and Oat come to
Shanghai/Taicang.
Thomas Maurischat (Langen, Germany),
Paola Pastor Leon (Guayaquil, Ecuador)
We did the Lhasa-Kathmandu trip with
the agency Spinn Cafe in Lhasa. Spinn gives you very detailed information and
prices. you will know exactly what is included and what is not. Also I found it
very handy, to have the agency in Lhasa self.
The guide we had spoke very good
English and had a lot of extra information. Also we could wander around alone
in Lhasa. Many other tourists we have seen, were always with their guide.
The driver we had was very very good.
He did not speak English, which was a shame, because I had the impression that
he had a lot to tell. The tour guide was very knowledgeable. he told us many
many things about the Potala. I think he was very clever, this helped us very
much. I would recommend him to other travelers.
I would also highly recommend Spinn
Cafe.
Oliver Ramseyer (Bern, Switzerland)
www.vadrouilleasiatique.blogspot.com
The driver drove very safely and
responsibly for the duration of our tour, we can recommend him to other
travelers.
You also gave us the best tour of our
trip.
Kong's Service: 10/10- You were
incredibly communicative and tried everything to make the tour enjoyable for
us. We'll recommend contacting you to anyone who is considering coming to
Tibet. The scenery on the drives was once in a lifetime. Staying in a tent at
EBC was a great experience. The evenings we spent at your cafe were a lot of
fun.
Derek Hazard (Minnesota, United
States),
Andrea Hazard (Kempten, German)
Lamu was a great guide, quite
knowledgeable and great insight as well. As for the preparation of my trip, I
have no complaints whatsoever. It was excellent! You were very transparent from
the start, from the payments, restrictions, breakdowns.
Your transparency was what made me
decide to book it with you, and it was fairly priced. Everything was done
according to specified plan, and I cant recall any deviation from the originally
specified plan.
Other than experiencing Lhasa and the
Tibetans, your personal touch to everything was a plus factor. :) I mean,
especially for solo travelers like me, it can become quite depressing not being
able to share the experience during the height of the excitement. Yeah, i know
it shouldn't be in the realm of the business, but most of the time it can be a
differential thing.
After all, great travel is always
accompanied by the "making friends category". It's a great
thing you have the cafe, Kong.
To be used both for marketing and
making friends.
I'm thinking of going back, really.
When I was in Xi'an I was looking for at least a volunteer job in China. Haha.
Obviously,
I haven't found one. I'm definitely
doing the Shigatse, Gyantse, Everest Base Camp next time.
Thanks too for everything. :) And
hello to everyone!
Anne Astorga (Manila, the Philipines)
We're Back in Belgium since a few
hours, thank you once again for making our stay in Lhasa such an enjoyable
experience.
The consistency of the tour was very
okay, there was no communication problem at all. What we like most in this tour
was your personal input and flexibility of the program. But time went by much
too fast, we would like to add more time.
Once again we want to thank you so
much for everything.
We saw on your Facebook page that Jim
and Helen still had a great time with you after we left. Glad we met them.
We're still busy with filtering our
more than 4000 pictures. I hope to put some of them on Facebook soon. In the
meantime I'm sending you already a few pictures of our trip with Oat along the
riverside and the old village.
Hugs and greetings,
Marion Ceunen (Gent, Belgium), Dimitri
Declercq (Ronse, Belgium)
Driver Nyima was fine, he speaks
little English but we have an English speaking guide. He was a good driver,
quiet and friendly. Tour guide Tenzin was also okay, friendly and his English
was ok.
We had no communication problems,
communication with you was excellent and you were also very prompt in answering
our emails.
We also appreciated the phone calls
from you when underway.
What we like most was the scenery and
the impromptu times we spent with you in Lhasa! We loved the drive to and from
Mount Everest, the visit to Mount Everest base camp and staying near the base
camp were the highlights of our trip.
Jim den Hartog (Leidschendam, the
Netherlands),
Helen den Dekker (Andei, the
Netherlands)
Hope everything is ok at your place, thanks
for sending us the DVD and I will pass your contact data in the next days to
one or two friends who're planning to go to Tibet,
too.
Our driver was very friendly and attentive.
He had a relaxed way of driving. The tour guide was very educated in Tibetan
culture and religion. He could tell us a lot of interesting and funny stories
and we could enjoy a lot of entertaining sightseeing tours. The guiding service
was excellent.
We really appreciated that your door
was always open for us not depending on the daytime! ;) Thanks for helping us
to organise the flight back for Tobias. The tour arrangement was consistent,
there were no misunderstandings and our tour guide was very open for
spontaneous changes in the day's programme.
We appreciate the kind-heartedness and
openness of our tour-guide, and it was the highlights of our tour to see the
Mount Everest and experience the Tibetan culture.
Florian Franke (Koblenz, Germany),
Sven Joerg Knueppel (Burgstadt,
Germany),
Andreas Lars Wachaja (Backnang,
Germany),
Tobias Glasenapp
(Heidelberg, Germany)
I liked the driver very much,
especially because he seemed to be in for jokes and didn't complain once when
we asked for our 100th picture-stop. Our tour guide knows a lot about
Tibetan culture and religion and he seemed to enjoy all our questions; like
trying to win a debating 'game' like the monks do.
I'm very satisfied about our tour. And
I like the fact that along our way we could change our plans. I appreciate the
possibility to change our itinerary on our way.
Thanks for arranging our tour; I'll
recommend Spinn Cafe to other travellers!
Tamara van Driel
(Eindhoven, the Netherlands)
I already recommended you to other
travellers who were interested in tibet. Hope they contact you.
Driver Pasang was really nice, he
understands english well (he is just to shy to speak it). He is reliable as a
driver and drives very safely.
Our tour guide Tsering is very friendly
and keen to share his knowledge. if he is not sure about a naggy question from
me, he can say that he doesn't know the answer - which I prefer rather than
telling me some wrong stories. He knows a lot about Tibetan Buddhism and the
fact that he was in a monastry for some time makes it authentic what he says.
I liked the variety of sites we
visited and foremost Tibet, its culture, religion, people and our team. it was
a great experience. I appreciated and liked very much what I saw.
Christian Zehnder (Zurich,
Switzerland)