Exceptional photo tour and more - The photo trip was very professionally organized from start to finish. With James we not only had a competent photo guide, but also an experienced and empathetic guide who knows the local people and circumstances well and was thus able to give us very private insights and contacts to the family businesses. As a translator he was available for all questions. We have received an extraordinary amount of information and experienced moving life stories. Thanks James for the great morning. Matthias and Peter

Amazing private tour 📸😊 - I had expectations but…this was over them :) i was the only one on this trip and we started with a delicious breakfast on the road( traditional noodle beef soup🤤). After this we entered the village, where my guide Nam ( introduced me to all the locals), and we interacted with them so close☺️. I was able to reproduce all there emotions in my pictures☺️. The guide Nam showed me all good spots for shooting, so that i was able to do my best from this trip 😎Recommend 100% to choose them ;)

Village of colors - We loved the experience of being able to make our own incense with essence, very cool the village full of color and its people very friendly as throughout the country.

1000% The best tour guide - Mike is not only a great tour guide with patience and a lot of knowledge, but also an amazing human being. If you have the chance to work with him, it’s a privilege and he would make your trip nothing short of exceptional. He knows everywhere you go and everyone you meet and makes sure you get great candid pictures. I highly recommend Mike and all of the tours he provides. I’m sure you will not only learn a lot but also have a great time with his amazing sense of humor. Highly recommended, Mike and his team are the Best.

A chance to feel the local culture with all senses. - Firstly I would like to say thanks to my guide Sam, he is a young and passionate photographer. He not only gave a good tour,also helped me to discover the potential of my camera and shared some good tips on portrait & landscape shooting etc. He was also very helpful when it comes to translation. This trip was amazing in a few ways. We were very lucky with the weather and the with the locals. It's worth to get up for the 5am departure. The trip started with a bowl of Bun Cha as breakfast and we got the chance to visit the village before the majority of tourists started to come in. Other than the main photo shoot spot(the incense drying area), we got to walk around and stop by to pay visits to different local familes who work for either the incense production or bamboo basket craftmanship. I was able to gain good understanding of the production process and I was also given the chance to slightly interact with the locals. It was a precious opportunity to experience the culture. This was an unexpected trip that added some meaningful moments to my Hanoi trip.

MY GREAT EXPERIENCE - 4/5 star. Comfy van, great english speak guiders. They know what we want to do. You should on time if you want to pick up at your hotel. Dont make other waiting you

My favourite thing I did while in Vietnam - I did a whole day photo tour with Mike, including the incense village, fish trap village and soy sauce village and I can easily say this was the best thing I did during my trip in Vietnam. The tour was so much more than just taking photos. It was an opportunity to get a real insight into the local people's lives and understand their stories. It was a truly immersive experience and one I will never forget. And of course the photo opportunities were out of this world! You could see the wonderful relationship Mike had with the local people we visited and he made the whole experience truly enjoyable, as well as always providing some useful tips for capturing excellent photographs. Mike really helped us to work a scene and get the absolute best we possibly could from a photographic perspective. If only I had more time to do some of the other photo tours on offer! Thanks again Mike :)

An artistic and unique tour looking inside parts of northern Vietnam not many get to know! - Absolutely incredible tour! It was such an eye-opening experience to learn how this village is so cohesive to making incense. I was a bit shy at first because I use my iPhone as my photography medium but Mike made me feel totally comfortable and gave me some amazing tips that I can even use in the future. Being able to get to know the locals and their stories just made the whole experience truly a once in a lifetime memory.

Incredible Experience - This was one of the best day tours I've ever signed up for while traveling. I visited the incense, fish trap, and soy sauce village and had such a wonderful time. Not only did I get some amazing photos from my day, but I truly loved visiting the villages, meeting the people, and learning about their crafts. It was such a special experience - to meet these people, who are so welcoming and friendly, and to hear about their life experiences. I also had a fantastic guide, Jame, who taught me a lot about the villages and showed me how to use my camera / gave me tips for my photos. I definitely plan to book another photography tour when I visit Vietnam again.

Phenomenal tour and experience learning from local villagers - Fantastic trip organized by Mike and team. Very adaptable and repsonsive to your objectives - they put together a combined two-trip itinerary into a single day for us. Our guide was particularly in tune to providing advice where helpful but most importantly giving us space to do our own thing when we were in creative mode, which is quite under appreciated versus normal guided tours where the guide may not be a photographer and can be a bit overbearing. In contrast, the team here struck the perfect balance of suggestions of shots / locations and then letting us roam. One thing we appreciated was getting to meet all of the long time residents of the villages and hear their stories through the interpretating services of our guide. Many of these residents have been there for decades and are often the last few keeping up traditional arts and crafts. We were glad to see that our visits could help support the preservation of these traditions and we were honored to learn from these village elders. If you are at all interested in photography, this is a must do if you have a day to spare in Hanoi. Highly recommend the inscence village + fish trap combo trip - it will be a ~12-14h day but 100% worth given everything you get to do and see.