Asia Tours and Trips

We saw a wide range of Mongolian scenery: sand dunes, steppe, city, rock formations. A fair amount of driving was therefore needed but managed well with coffee and wee (not usually toilet) breaks. Snack and booze purchase stops included too. Great drivers who kept us safe and comfortable across the, mainly gravel, tracks. You'll see non-stop birds of prey, camels, horses, sheep, goats, yaks, marmots, squirrels and maybe a deer or ibex. Staying in gers was generally comfortable. Bring eye masks and ear plugs for the sunny mornings and sometimes noisy camp evenings (fellow travellers or yaks). Our bags were often taken from the cars to the gers for us. Could get busy around buffet meals and some extremely rural camps had limited staff to keep everything topped up promptly. There was a pleasing amount of salad and vegetables but everything has a chunk of mutton or camel on it. Everything. Wifi, showers & electricity varied. Expect little and you'll be pleasantly surprised. Prepare for all the hot or cold overnight and sandstorm /snow /heat /cold /rain in the day. For the most however we had excellent weather. Good to interact with nomadic herding families and be welcomed into their gers. Sara guided us well, always happy to explain about Mongolian culture and show us her beautiful country. Mongolia is about the scenery mainly but the museums, buddhist sites, music and people were also showcased. You'll be sad to return to the bustle & traffic of Ulaanbaatar at the end.

Both tour leaders were very good. The itinerary was very good ... we saw and experienced so much! The tour group was fragmented and poor ... the worst group of people that I have travelled with. In particular one person on the tour refused to speak with or acknowledge me and one of the others on the tour, bringing all of the charm of a spiteful girls playground to the experience. A tour group is a transient and fascinating experience in social balance. Even if you don't get on with people there has to be a recognition that making the experience uncomfortable for other people on the tour is not acceptable.

There were just six people on our tour which was a real bonus. We were very well looked after from start to finish - including our tour director personally picking us up from the airport at 4:30 am. The tour itself covered all the main tourist attractions with lots of extra inclusions eg acrobatic show, foot massage. The river boat cruise was also excellent. It had included activities, as well. Accommodation, transport and included meals were very good. Two internal flights and two high speed train trips were also included. I definitely recommend this tour.

The entire tour was wonderful. Both tour managers were excellent and enjoyed their guidance and commentary while on tour. All the sites and experiences in both countries were exciting and interesting. The accommodations were all very good locations, had great service, and the morning buffets were wonderful. We have gone on several Collette tours and each one has been great, well planned out and executed without any problems.

Great tour. The schedule has enough breaks including time to shop or explore and bus/train journeys to avoid fatigue. The region’s visited provided a variety of cities and topography to appreciate the different areas of Japan. The hotels were first class, comfortable and in most cases the restaurants provided options if Japanese cuisine was not favoured.

Everything about this trip was excellent. The itinerary was well thought out and very interesting. I didn’t really enjoy Ubud but that’s personal preference. Boat trip was great and we saw Komodo dragons. Hadi & Ihsan were great leaders.