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Guiding Light: Nguyen Dinh Hieu

Posted by Andrea on (Updated: )  |  Leave a comment

In Northern Vietnam, Hieu is our man. A top guide for Hanoi, Hieu has never regreted following his dream of becoming a guide …

Hieu Nguyen

Name: Nguyen Dinh Hieu

Age: 34

History with company: Started with Journey within in 2011 as a local guide in the Northern part of Vietnam after completing training.

How did you become a guide?

In 1998 I started my university degree with English language training. That was only my second choice as I failed the entrance exam to get into National University, Tourism Faculty. After 2 years studying at foreign language university, my mother wanted me to get a teacher training certificate to become a teacher as at that time my mother was a teacher and she said that she could find a job easily for me if I became a teacher. It took me awhile to think about my mother’s suggestion, then I decided not to follow it and took the entrance exam of Hanoi Open University (HOU), Faculty of Tourism as working in tourism was still my desire at that time. I finished my first university degree in English in 2002 and in 2003 I started as a tour guide, particularly on weekends, while I was still studying at HOU. In 2005 I graduated from HOU and officially became a tour guide after getting my guiding license.

What do you like about being a guide?

Being a guide, people think that all the trips are kind of the same. The same things we do it all the time, same place, same scenery, same foods, etc … but, it actually is not. I find it different because each time I meet new people, with new characteristics, have new conversations and new experiences — that makes me still love being a guide.

What is your favourite part about being a guide?

Being a guide, I have had the chance to travel around the country and have had the chance to share the Vietnamese cultures with different people that I meet. I have had the chance to meet people from different cultures, meet people of different nationalities, trying specialties from different parts of the country … and even meet new challenges. For me, that is the favorite part.

What is the most challenging part about being a guide?

The most challenging part about being a guide for me is to understand the needs of our guests, find out what they are expecting and satisfy them while trying to balance the benefits of the office and all the people behind the scenes. Guests are not always nice, things do not always go right, different people have different characteristics and will bring different challenges to us. Keep smiling & always show the enthusiasm to the job is also not that easy. This is definitely a challenging part.

What is your favourite thing to show guests?

Our rich culture, our long history, our delicious foods and our beautiful landscapes throughout the country are definitely things that I want to show guests. But if I have to choose one thing to show guests, rich Vietnamese culture should be the chosen one.

What kind of things do guests ask you/ want to talk about?

Guests from different cultures are interested in different things so they ask & talk about different things. Everyone seems to want to ask & talk about Vietnamese culture, history, religions, foods, facts & figures about our country.

What food / restaurants should guests try?

As guests traveling to different parts of the country & each region has its own specialty that they should try. I am from the Northern part so I would suggest guests to try “Phở bò” or Rice noodle soup with beef which is the specialty form Hanoi. “Nem rán” or deep fried spring rolls is another cuisine guests should try. A meal at Ngon Restaurant in Hanoi should be in their dining plan.

What should guests coming to (insert area they guide) know?

Halong Bay is a must-see attraction in the Northern part of Vietnam. I heard someone said that: “If you did not see Halong Bay in your Vietnam trip, it means that you has not been to Vietnam yet”. So, it is simply a place that highlights any trip.

Most memorable guest?

During my more than 10 years working as a guide, I have been with many guests from different countries and have lots of memorable guests. But the one that impressed me the most was an American war veteran that traveled alone in Vietnam twice. The first time he was with me for only 3 days, not much time but we did see lots of things around the city. He was so impressed that he decided to come back 4 years after that & required me as his guide. I was very surprised of his love to our country and I was even more surprised when he wanted me to take him around on my motorbike. He wanted to see things more closely & clearly, he wanted to interact more with local people, he wanted to experience more of the things local people experience. Imagine, us driving 300km per day for 3 continuous days on my small “Honda wave” which was more than 10 years old with the “lovely” road conditions in Vietnam during summer time. Something neither of us will ever forget!

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Guiding Light: Nam Nguyen

Posted by Andrea on (Updated: )  |  Leave a comment

Hanoi is Vietnam’s capital city and one of the must-see travel destinations one everyone’s list.  Nam Nguyen is one of our guides who loves showing guests everything Hanoi has to offer. Here he talks about his guiding inspirations and getting his start …

Nam Nguyen

Name: Nam Nguyen

Age: 30 years old, recently married.

History: Guiding for 8 years, working with JW since last year.

How did you become a guide?

When I was a little boy, every day I joined my friends for a sports game in my front yard which happened to be located beside the main road between Hanoi to Halong Bay. I still remember that during that time we saw many tourist buses pass by — we always felt happy and put our hands up to let foreigners know we want to say hello to them.  It would make us so happy when they would answer us in the same way! I had really hoped some day in the future I would get a chance to talk to them. My father was a business man in the Soviet Union and we often got his picture with Russian friends when he sent them back home — that made me more curious about Westerners. After high school, all of these reasons pushed me to apply to the Tourism University to work in this business.

What do you like about being a guide?

My major at University was Tourism Business and Administration. I had a part time job at a travel agency during the last year of school and the company was focused on the French market. One day the boss got a booking from two Americans and she immediately requested I arranged the trip for them and then became their English guide for their tour. For 22 days I traveled from the North to the South Vietnam with my two clients, who became my new friends and also my teachers. One of them was a soldier during the Vietnam War and they told me a lot of stories I had never heard. This first challenge made me decided to follow the path to be a tour guide.

What is your favourite part about being a guide?

Meeting many people and talking to them. I am so proud when I can help them understand any small thing or new aspects of the culture of my country.

What is the most challenging part about being a guide?

When I was a single man, there was not many things that made me feel too challenged in this job, but after got married, to balance the time for family and my job is real challenge, especially when I think about having a child in future.

What is your favourite thing to show guests?

Any of the things which I know.

What kind of things do guests ask you/ want to talk about?

Every one has different personalities and different demands — to quickly understand what a guest wants and to show them what they want to know is the most important thing.

What food / restaurants should guests try?

It depends on each guest.  A guide has to get information from the our guests at first about their favorite food or any kind of food they can’t eat to help them choose the good restaurant for Vietnamese food or for other available restaurants like Italian food, French food, Halah food or vegetarian, etc.

What should guests coming to Hanoi know?

For all the trips, I often have a brief chat with them at the first, for example: the time zone, the weather and what they need for the tour like sun-glasses or a hat. I also like to talk about the population of the city and country, hotel location and some interesting thing around their hotel.  Security in the city, local traffic and the country’s political systems are also of interest. I often remind guests of the details of their trip itinerary and discuss  what they want to do or when they want to do things, then I can arrange a flexible trip to make them feel more comfortable. I also let them know the details of local culture so they can be respectful, like wearing a long dress when visiting the local temple. I never forget to give them my contact number and local map in case the need to contact to me at any time!

Most memorable guest?

I still remember any guests face who already was been on the tours with me, I never forget any body. But the most memorable guests are the 2 Americans who were my first guests on this job.

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Planning the Perfect Day

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Here a guest reviews her experience planning a once in a lifetime trip with Andrea for Conde Nast Traveler …

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I wanted to share the following feedback regarding Andrea Ross. She is an amazing agent, who deserves to be on your list, which is how I found her. THANK YOU!

Our family consists of mom, dad, and four boys ages 14, 11, 8 and 8. My husband and I have traveled the world with our kids. We have been to six continents and our kids have been to five. We used Andrea Ross in June 2012 for our family trip to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. Our trip was almost three weeks long. Andrea was meticulous in her planning. She worked with me from the beginning to plan a trip that would be fun and educational for our active family.

She included meals with local families. My children were able to sit on the floor in homes and enjoy a meal with these families. We visited villages, swam in Hal Long Bay, learned about land mines, Pol Pot, gave alms to monks at 4:30 am, visited a food market (bugs, blood blocks, or worms anyone?), relaxed by the beach and learned so much more than you can teach in a classroom.

I really enjoyed visiting the Cu Chi Tunnels. We were able to meet with a man, Mr. Nam, who fought against the Americans in the war. He was missing an eye and arm due to battle. We had total access to the area and were able to ask Mr. Nam ANYTHING regarding the war and history… and he answered (This experience was similar to visiting a Nazi concentration camp…you are glad you went for the education, but you never want to go back.) Afterwards, we followed him to his house and sat with his family and had dinner and tea. When we said goodbye to Mr. Nam and he gave my 8 year old twins a big hug. We also enjoyed meeting the family of “The Girl In The Picture”- Kim Phuc.

In Laos, Andrea arranged for us to ride elephants, and not in a pasture. We crossed a river, went through the mountains and jungle, something my children will never forget. We also had what I consider a most perfect day…Andrea set up a wonderful chicken curry lunch beside the Kuang Si Waterfall in Laos — Disney could not have designed a more beautiful and peaceful place!

We were the only family there and were able to enjoy it’s beauty. Afterwards, my family enjoyed climbing a tree and swinging from a rope into the water all afternoon. We had had something else planned, but our guide knew it was an amazing day and let us stay as long as we wanted to. You can see from my son, Cooper’s face how much fun that day was. Andrea had planned “the perfect day” for our family — we will remember that day forever.

In Cambodia, we stayed at her hotel, Journeys Within, which was wonderful. The staff treated us like family, they even search for and found the Laura Croft Tomb Raider DVD for us so we could watch it the day before visiting Angkor Wat. They also brought us yummy fresh popped popcorn to our room during the movie. Who does that? Andrea Ross makes it happen. I could go on and on about the little details that Andrea paid attention to for my family.The things that made me a raving fan of Andrea were the following:1. Andrea listened to what I WANTED and made suggestions. She never forgot that it was “our” trip and I never felt like a million people had done the same trip.2. Andrea stayed within my budget.

3. Andrea will fix a mistake if needed. I understand that travel brings challenges, especially when you are planning a multi-country three week trip for 6 people, four of whom are children. When we ran into a snag at the airport, what could have been a huge issue turned into no issue at all because Andrea and her team can make things happen.

4. Andrea hires great people who know what they are doing. Every single time we landed at an airport, someone was waiting with a smile. They were there to make sure we had a great time. If my kids were just too tired from a long flight, they switched the schedule around to accommodate us — these are little things that can make a good vacation GREAT.

5. Andrea is very open to feedback, both good and constructive.

6. Andrea communicates.

7. Andrea plans the most AMAZING adventures! Our family came home feeling like we had really learned about the cultures of the countries we visited.

I cannot recommend Andrea Ross highly enough. Other agents should strive to reach her level of service. I have already recommended her to friends, who visited Myanmar over the holidays. Bottom line — the picture of my son (above) sums up what my family thinks of Andrea Ross.

— Molly, traveled in 2013

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