Published on Mar, 2024
Alex is a polite, knowledgeable, and flexible tour guide. He was timely and responsive to my questions leading up to the tour date. He is articulate and speaks English very well. Alex arranged a driver to pick us up from the Halong Bay international cruise terminal (8am) into Hanoi (2hr drive). Alex was at the drop off point (Temple of Literature) to greet us, we also visited the Hoa Lo Prison, walked through the old quarter and the French quarter. Alex tells stories and history at each site. We also wanted to eat specific foods, so Alex fit in coffee and food stops into the schedule (we paid for our foods). Alex was attentive, ensuring we successfully crossed the roads and would call out ‘mind the gaps’ on streets. From the lunch stop to Hoa Lo prison, Alex requested for ride service (ie like Uber) but there was road closures, so we decided to walk 15min instead. We ended our 1/2day tour at the prison. Our arrangement with Alex had 3hrs free time at the end. So he also coordinated a driver back to the cruise terminal (at 7pm). The driver doesn’t stay with us all day, instead when we were ready to leave, Alex requested a driver to pick us up. Overall I felt confident working with Alex and our day in Hanoi was productive.