Monkey Bridge Tours’ three principals have known Vietnam for a long time and they love it. They each have unique experiences and personal understandings of Vietnam. It is this rich vein they draw on to take their passengers into the Real Vietnam.
Carl, Kim-Dung and Walter help travellers to experience a Vietnam with a 4000 year story of heroes and events that are celebrated as if they happened yesterday. Dynamic shifts have left a rich story on the face of the land and its people. A land of spiritual and commercial dynamism where the culture combines old subtleties and nuances with modern innovations and efficiencies.
MBT does not ignore or avoid the popular and often-crowded places that most tourists visit, but does them differently. Drop in for a few hours but then stay up the road away from the crowd the vendors and the hawkers. But with so much more to see in Vietnam -- and now with the improved transport and hotel infrastructure to do so – MBT actively ventures to places that few overseas tourists see.
Every tour is a shared adventure of exploration and endless surprises, Innovation and a healthy dose of spontaneity create those “magic moments” that make its tours truly memorable
We meet an old Dien Bien Phu veteran on the Hanoi-Haiphong train and are invited to drop in at home for tea and old memories.
We arrive at the famous Phat Diem Cathedral in time for the evening Mass in Vietnam’s oldest Roman Catholic diocese.
We see the annual veneration of a 13th Century hero in the village where his descendents live.
We witness a family’s tears and joy at finally finding the grave of their long-lost soldier son killed in the South.
In Da Nang disco, we find ourselves surrounded by laughing and welcoming young Vietnamese
We are always flexibie and ready to stop and learn. How rice is harvested and how those mechanized threshers work. How to make rice paper and rice wine and all those different types of fish sauce.At a lovely beach, we stop for a quick swim and a seaside snack of fresh caught crabs and prawns.
Magic moments touched with humanity. Let MBT take you through the Real Vietnam
Why Monkey Bridge Tours
People often ask why we are called Monkey Bridge Tours. We chose the name Monkey Bridge Tours for its evocative nature and association with Vietnam.
What the Vietnamese call “monkey bridges” are temporary structures thrown across canals and waterways to get to the other side. Often made of bamboo, the bridges start with two x-shaped poles sunk upright into each muddy bank. The x-points are then joined together by cross-beams – one up, one across and then one down. Sounds simple but you need the dexterity of a monkey to cross over, even with hand-rails attached to the upright poles. They can be particularly tricky on wet and muddy days. Instantly familiar, the name always evokes a wry chuckle. Many city dwellers flatly refuse to venture across.
With Vietnam’s modernisation, there are fewer “monkey bridges”. However, they remain a familiar sight in rural Vietnam. We always stop to have a go. It’s not easy to cross a Monkey Bridge – or a culture gap. But we’ll help our passengers do both!