Dear Paul

My wife, Barbara, and I were guests on the Laos Pandaw cruise from Vientiane to Chiang Saen from the 2nd to 12th December. On sorting the papers out I find a note asking for some feedback and ideas for improvements. I’m afraid we are going to disappoint you.

There is absolutely nothing that I can imagine to improve upon our experience. The delights of exploring the quiet country of Laos, the superb boat, the wonderful crew – all with different regional backgrounds and skills – all made it an unforgettable trip. That part of Asia was a somewhat unfamiliar destination which we wanted to explore by river, but we rapidly got depressed by the package tours and the larger river cruises on offer on the lower Mekong. (We tend to travel independently, but enjoy the company of a small group of people; otherwise, I would prefer to chew a leg off than go on an organised cruise). As I gather is common, an old friend then recommended that we try a Pandaw cruise. I will still never “go on a cruise” but Pandaw doesn’t count – it belongs to its own unique category.

Perhaps the only comment worth making is that some tour dates were not available to us as they were apparently block booked by tour operators. For us, one of the great pleasures was sharing the trip with 14 other people from 8 countries, who had all booked independently, with a wide and varied lifetime of experiences to share. I suspect if we were on a voyage with 9 other couples like us from similar backgrounds, we would rapidly tire of our company! I think a significant part of the charm of the cruises would be lost if they became just another homogenous package tour group offering.

With many thanks and very best wishes,
Frank and Barbara Almond

Dear Mr Strachan,

Having just completed the Upper Mandalay to Prome cruise, Oct 16-26, I have the following observations:

- The boat, crew and general amenities were exceptionally well maintained and presented.
- Service too was exceptional
-The activities could have been a little more varied, and, at times, more comfortable (horse carts)

- The guide was the drawback: he needs to learn more about flora and fauna, and to be willing to engage in conversation about everyday life and social history and not just politics. He was not skilled in delivering his information in the most comfortable of circumstances, several times speaking at length in hot sun. He repeated constantly, to an unusual extent for such a guide. The briefings in the evening could have been more conversational instead of dictatorial, as we were all comfortably seated and ready to hear. He avoided answering questions which questioned his voew of events.

I am sure with more experience, he will relax and preach less and share more, but he does need immediate guidance in how much to talk and when.

- The lack of cool dining and relaxing space meant that pur group retreated to their cabins rather more than was good for community. When the boat is still, more fans would alleviate the worst of the heat, but air-con would tempt people to stay up longer in the evenings.

Overall a wonderful experience on a lovely vessel.

If I had to describe our experience on the recent Brahmaputra cruise in one word, the world would be "brilliant"!

This being our 5th cruise with Pandaw, we thought we knew what to expect. But our expectations were topped in several ways: The culinary experience, for example, was the best we’ve ever had on a Pandaw cruise. The mastermind behind this is, no doubt, Executive Chef Kunai Shukla. Of course, there was a great team behind him, but his beaming presence throughout the day, be it in a presentation on spices or by being on hand almost around the clock, really was more than one would expect from a chef.

In early posts of yours you mention that a few things in India might be, well, Indian, and that the standards might vary from those in other Pandaw areas. This, in our opinion, was absolutely not the case. In fact, we thought that the whole crew, starting from the ships hands, were interacting with the guests in a very warm and genuine way and the standards of housekeeping were high, without any glitch.

If we just might make one suggestion, specifically for a country like India: That the bedding would be in pure cotton, rather than a blend.

This being your first Brahmaputra cruise, we expected a few "surprises" as to the sightseeing-program, thinking of Borneo… But everything went smoothly. Of course, there were a few minor details and suggestions from our side, which we shared with Arnab, the able purser on the ship. Almost not noticeable to outsiders was the discreet advice administered by Win, who stayed in the background and certainly made sure that Pandaw standards were always met.

Where do we go next with Pandaw? Is there a chance that the Kalimantan project could still take-off?

Best regards
Willem van Niekerk & Hans-Peter Kaufmann

Willem van Niekerk & Hans-Peter Kaufmann have created a picture book of their Brahmaputra expedition which you can click here to view online.