Dear Saroun

Wow....! Just wanted to say a huge thank you for the wonderful service on my recent trip on the MV Pandaw. Your knowledge, service, efficiency, helpfulness and humour was very much appreciated. It was really great to have some chats with you and learn more about your family, your life and your second family – Pandaw.

One of my highlights was visiting one of the local villages and dancing with the children. Such happy faces. The other highlight was visiting the schools and seeing the commitment of the teachers and the students that want to improve their future.

Our guides were all excellent. Lee is a true asset to Pandaw, very knowledgeable. Long was wonderful, funny, committed and was able to share true stories regarding the Killing Fields. It astounds me that I was able to see the smiling, happy faces considering what Cambodians have endured in the past. I hope life will improve for these wonderful people. I wish you and your family the very best.

As travel agents, we do get very well looked after on our educational trips, however, I believe all the guests onboard felt very special and looked after. I feel so confident to offer Cambodia and Vietnam to our clients as a truly enlightening experience.

The little touches such as bottles of water when leaving for day tours, cold face towels and cleaning of shoes were all exceptional. The fact that the staff were cutting out steps into the mud embankments was beyond belief. I don’t know of any other company/staff that would do this for their guests.

Every single staff member was wonderful. We all loved Pha, his smile was so genuine and always so polite. It was so relaxing to go to the Sun Deck and have a cocktail and chat with other guests. Housekeeping, kitchen staff, waiters, and all those behind the scenes were fabulous. I cant talk highly enough of them.

I have now come to believe that Cambodians are truly the most beautiful people. The locals in the villages that we visited were so happy to see us and regardless of the fact that they had so little, were always smiling and welcoming. The staff onboard MV Pandaw had smiles that were infectious and the hospitality was second to none.

I am hoping to travel to Cambodia again and bring my children with me for them to experience true happiness and humbleness of the Cambodian people.

As I mentioned to you, I would like to send some items (books, pens, pencils etc) that you can provide to some of the schools and villages that we visited. If this is possible, could you please advise the best address to send these to. I know you will ensure these go to the correct people that will appreciate the assistance.

It was great to meet you and your staff. Many thanks for making this trip truly memorable. I will never forget this special journey. Please pass my regards to your staff and if allowed, I would love to make contact with them so if you can pass on email addresses, phone numbers or facebook details, I would greatly appreciate this. I know you are very busy with the new destination Laos but if you have time, please send me an email.

Looking forward to seeing you again in the future.

Thanks and regards,
Vivienne Zaarour

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.