Sunday 11 September 2011

Best Hotels in Asia includes Sofitel Metropole and Nam Hai

Go Asia Travel: The Sofitel Legend Metropole Hotel Hanoi and The Nam Hai Resort in Hoi An shared top billing as Asia’s best leisure properties for this year via an online poll by Hong Kong-based travel and trade journal Smart Travel Asia.



The Metropole Hanoi and The Nam Hai shared the first position in the travel magazine’s list of TOP 25 Leisure Hotels & Resorts.
The Nam Hai ranked second last year, while the Metropole third.
For booking at Sofiltel Metropole Hanoi and Nam Hai Resort contact at www.goasiatravel.com and info@goasiatravel.com



Coming second this year is the Peninsula in Hong Kong. The Amandari Hotel and the Bulgari Resort, both in Indonesia’s Bali shared the third.
In addition, the Caravelle Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City claimed 23rd on the list of top business hotels in Asia.
The results of the three-month Best in Travel Poll 2011 were culled from votes cast by the readers of SmartTravelAsia. Voters had submitted their own nominations from thousands of possible choices in Asia.

Aside from being named Asia’s Top Leisure Hotel and Resort, voters also ranked the Metropole 18th on the list of Asia’s Top 25 Business Hotels and 8th among Asia’s Top 25 Conference Hotels. The Nam Hai collected an additional award as one of Asia’s three Top Spa Hotels and Resorts.
Editor and director of Smart Travel Asia, Vijay Verghese, noted that the placement of two Vietnam properties at the peak of the leisure list of “aspirational brands” underscores the country’s increasing appeal as a holiday destination.

A total of six Vietnam properties made the poll’s lists, including the Park Hyatt Hotel Saigon, the Furama Resort Danang, and Princess d’Annam Resort and Spa in Ke Ga Bay of Binh Thuan Province.
News by VNN

Thursday 1 September 2011

Charity Tours in Vietnam, Sapa Charity Tours with Go Asia Travel


Charity Tour to Ethnic Children in Sapa

Taking a charity tour to Sapa with Go Asia Travel. Although Sapa is known as a popular tourist attraction, many families’ living standard of Hmong, Dzao, Dzay ethnic groups are still below the average, they are lacking of hygiene food, water supplies, equipments to do farming. Most of children have to stay at home to help their parents to do housework, they do not have chance to go school. We will do charity in Lao Chai, Cat Cat village to help the children there to reduce the burden of life. See more Vietnam Charity Tours


Tour outline:
Day 1: Hanoi arrival (welcoming dinner and water puppet show)
Day 2: Hanoi city tour and night train to Sapa (Soft sleeper in AC wooden cabin) (B, L)
Day 3: Lao Cai Station – Sapa and do charity in Ta Van village (B, L, D)
Day 4: Do charity in Cat Cat village and night train to Hanoi (B, L)
Day 5: Relaxing and charity briefing before departure (B)

Tour itinerary: 

Day 1: Hanoi arrival (D, WP)
Arriving at Noi Bai airport in Hanoi, Go Asia Travel tour guide and driver will pick you up and transfer to your hotel in Hanoi. Relax after your journey before a ‘Welcome dinner’ at a traditional restaurant with Vietnamese cuisines. In the evening, you will have tickets for a performance of traditional Water Puppetry, an art form unique to northern Vietnam, and a good, light-hearted introduction to its rural culture, over night in Hanoi Imperial hotel.

Day 2: Hanoi Capital with a quick look – night train to Sapa (B, L)
After breakfast, our tour guide will pick you up and transfer to visit Temple of Literature, the first university in Vietnam dating back to the 11th century, and a popular attraction, as is Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum. Lunch will be served in a local restaurant before drive back to downtown for refreshment by Hoan Kiem Lake with a cup of tea or coffee. The tour is followed by 1 hour drive on cyclo to observe the daily life of Hanoian, along the narrow and bustling streets. Most of them are named starting with “Hang” plus the current on sale goods. Dinner is for your choice. 7h30pm, our guide will take you to train station for night train to Lao Cai, overnight on train.

Day 3: Lao Cai station – Sapa – Lao Chai village – Ta Van village (B, L, D)
Upon arrival in Sapa Town we have breakfast in local restaurant, after that, start a day trekking through the terrace fields to go further to the most remote and poorest village where local people meet lots of difficulties with their life. We visit their families; offer children foods, course books, clothes. We will meet local authority to support scholarship for the poorest children. Stay overnight with the local people in their house.

Day 4: Ta Van - Sapa – Cat Cat with charity program and night train to Hanoi (B, L)
Located just 3 km from Sapa town, Cat Cat is a home for Black Hmong ethnic group. They meet a lot of difficulty in clean water supplies. This causes some diseases such as diarrhea, intestinal diseases, mental retardation…We go there to give them medicine to reduce those diseases. We also give the children books, clothes and some money to help their parents reduce their hard work. You go back to hotel for showering and then our car will transfer you to Lao Cai station for overnight train back to Hanoi.
Day 5: Arrive back to Hanoi (B)
We pick you up at station and transfer to hotel in Hanoi for early check in, spend the whole morning for relaxing, shopping before going to airport. Hanoi Sapa Tour for Charity ends.



Be noted on Vietnam Charity package Tours:

Accommodation and foods: We aim to do charity, so staying in 3 star hotel in Hanoi is the best solution that makes you feel healthy and comfortable or even safe. In Sapa, you should stay overnight with the local to understand clearly their daily life and how they live. It will be the remarkable memory in this tour. You will enjoy the absolute local foods cooked by local people with hygiene and quality.
What to bring: You had better take sun cream, hiking boots, bottled water, and comfortable clothes. GAT travel’s staff will wrap all necessary charity offerings in to a box together with your offerings. We make sure all of this hand directly to poor children, cash donation should be handling to poor family, and you will do that directly.
Guide acted as interpreter: Our guide will help you with Vietnamese-English/French or reverse conversations with our staff’s support to pre-contact to local government and authority under the name of our company.

Tour Price:
Tour name:    Charity tour to ethnic children in Sapa
Duration:        5 days and 4 nights from Hanoi
Rate:                 info@goasiatravel.com

Tour included:
- Accommodation: in local house
- Transfers by private air-conditioned vehicle as specified in the itinerary
- Return train tickets: Hanoi - Lao Cai – Hanoi by A/C soft sleeper cabin
- Experienced English-speaking guides acted as interpreter
- Entry fees for all visits as mentioned in itinerary
- Meals as indicated in itinerary

Tour excluded:
- International and domestic flights
- Visas & visa fee, travel insurance, tips & gratuities
- Personal expenditure like shopping, drink, laundry, phone

Contact Go Asia Travel for the best deal of Vietnam Charity Tours; GAT travel do charity activities everymonth, if you like to join it, email to info@goasiatravel.com