Contrautimes in June

Inspirational Travel 1

THE CON TRÂU TIMESIssue 6 - June - 2012

2 Inspirational Travel Inspirational Travel 3

THE CON TRÂU TIMESTHE CON TRÂU TIMES

Table of Contents Joining Buffalo tours

Leaving Buffalo tours

Ms. NguyeN Thi VaN – gerMaN sales execuTiVeHi. My name is Van and I’m 24 years old. It’s my pleasure to be newcom-

er at Buffalo Tours. Since 15th June I have started my probation period as sales executive in the German team. So far I have been very im-

pressed by the professional working environment and friendly colleges. It’s very nice to meet all of you in Buffalo Tours!

Mr. Vo Duy TieN – TraVel coNsulTaNT BTa – sai goNTien started with Buffalo Tours on Wed, 30th May and graduated from

The University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City (UEH) and has good experience within the Tourism Industry.

Ms. NguyeN Thi Nga – accouNTiNg execuTiVe iN ThieN MiNh group

Nga joined Buffalo Tours on Tuesday, June 5th 2012. She graduated from Thang Long University

Ms. NguyeN Thi Duc haNh - MarkeTiNg assisTaNT MarkeTiNg DeparTMeNT

Hi! My name is Hanh, 23 years old. I started working at Buffalo Tours since June 25, 2012. My first day was fulfilled with beautiful flowers,

sweet chocolate, and extremely warm welcome from my colleagues. I am, therefore, enjoying working in such a professional, dynamic and

friendly environment.

Ms. NguyeN ThaNh hai - ageNT sales execuTiVeI hope you are all doing well.

Today is my last day at Buffalo Tours. It has been a nice journey with you since Dec 2010. I’m not so good at writing nice words and actually I

couldn’t sleep last night so I made a short video for you all (2 mins only). Let’s put your headphone on and make it full screen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiUWj9mbDAc&feature=youtu.be I wish you all the best in your life,

With my best regards,Hai

publisherHr Department

DesignerBui Minh Tan

staff WritersLy Man Nghi

Thuy TranHanno StampVu Thuy Tu Mi

Hang DoTuyet Huong

SomzMichele Whealy

editorBev TaylorRay Petts

customers’s contributionBarbara

CreditsJoining & leaving Buffalo toursTravel events1. Training in Victoria Chau Doc2. Mai Chau Trip for Newcomers3. VET Conference4. BT Cambodia – Unforgetable Summer Trip5. Cholon Tour – New Rep Office in Beijing6. How Awesome – May Birthday Celebration at BT Sai Gon7. VIVU Again8. New Member at BT Thailand

guest feedbackVacancies in hanoiTips9. Overcome The Awkward Silence

Birthday and anniversaries8.List of June birthdays



was very excited waiting for the courses. Mr.Tue from Learn Smart introduced to everyone practical lessons engaging with brainstorming activities. Ms.Huong continued with her “teaching techniques to attract listeners” skills the next 02 days. It was touched to see how all the students were giving mutual support for the final exam preparation in the last days. As the result for hard work and diligence they all passed the course with satisfaction and happiness.

Moreover, the participant also joined in the Green Day event on 05 June 2012 morning organized by Victoria Chau Doc Hotel in collaboration with local government to help cleaning garbage in the nearby area. With the Learn Hard – Play Hard spirit everybody did have a good time enjoy Chau Doc local cuisine and have fun with other Tour Guide came from Victoria Can Tho and more others exciting activities. Hope that everyone will have another chance to do this again next time.

By Nguyen The My - Training Manager

Training inVictoria Chau Doc

21 staff members from Buffalo tours, Buffalo tour agency and Victoria Vietnam ( Can tho, Chau Doc, Hoi An, Phan Thiet & Sapa ) participated in Training Design

and Delivery Skill course in Victoria Chau Doc from 04 to 09 June 2012. Despite the fatigue of long journey being on different kinds of transportation, everybody



By having the opportunity of staying six month in Vietnam many people would consider me as a lucky person. My friends back home in Ger-many mostly think that working in the tourism

industry is like being on holiday all year long.

For a Destination Management Company (DMC) one of the main assets is skilled and knowledgeable staff. Therefore I got lucky and my company sent me on a weekend trip to Mai Chau. Apparently Mai Chau is one of the upcoming destinations in the area and I was re-ally excited to find out what all the fuss is about it.

After the minibus left Hanoi it was about an hour drive through buildings, construction sites and even more buildings. Hanoi is developing so fast and sooner or later it will break all limits. Once we were able to leave the hustle and bustle of the city behind the landscape became more and more scenic. After two hours of driving a well deserved coffee break gave us the first

opportunity to make some nice photos.

The landscape totally changed within those two hours from the typical Hanoi low lands with the Red River Delta into some “Halong Bay” look-a-like limestone mountains with some lush vegetation. After another 90 minutes we finally left civilization behind and the western looking villages changed into picturesque wooden stilt houses and the background scenery was just amazing. Well, after arriving in Mai Chai we all got pretty hungry from sitting in the van and a local family surprised us with a very sumptuous local meal. For me, the meal was the perfect opportunity to enjoy a local “Hanoi Beer” and to take a walk through the village of Mai Chau. I was amazed by the unique combination of tra-dition, simple lifestyle and development. All buildings seemed to have a power connection, water boilers, some had air condition and everything was quite de-veloped but still very authentic. Chickens were running

around the road and some pigs, while having a deli-cious meal of rotten fruits didn’t really seem interested in my presence.

Finally it was time to go on the hike. I was a little bit disappointed of the weather at first because after having weeks of sunshine in Hanoi the weather finally changed into deep hanging clouds and a light drizzle. Nevertheless what I found out later, the weather does not really affect the overall atmosphere a lot. While sunshine offers wide views, green rice paddies and a good chance of sunburn, cloudy weather puts the whole destination into something magical and mysti-cal. After hiking a short way suddenly water buffalos appeared nearby and they also seemed pretty bored due to the weather conditions.

After an easy hike we arrived save at our home stay for the night. The guesthouse was very simple but clean and mosquito nets ensured a relaxing night in the

mountains. Our private cook again made a very sump-tuous meal after a day hiking in the mountains. Some staff even tasted some homemade Vietnamese vodka to have the real village experience.

I adjusted my behavior according to the locals around me, so I went to bed at 9pm and woke around 5:50 in order to get some Vietnamese breakfast. A good hardworking Vietnamese farmer’s breakfast (Rice, egg and bread) is the perfect basis for another six hour hike through Mai Chau. The scenery was amazing and the crazy weather combined everything from rain, clouds, fog up to sunshine.

A good hint to all fellow travelers is to wear good trekking shoes with you as conditions were muddy. At around 5pm we finally arrived back in Mai Chau and hundreds of nice photos are the best proof of having an awesome weekend away.

“By hanno – german intern”

Mai Chau Trip

for Newcomers



VET Conference

This two-day workshop developed skills & values for participants to facilitate activities across a range of Buffalo Tours business situations.

In particular, participants practiced facilitating learning activities (leadership, team-building, en-vironment and community-development based themes) which will be conducted in the field that will add great value and uniqueness to all VET products.

Through the Workshop, VET team did obtain the following Objectives:

• Developed a definition of a Buffalo Tour VET Facilitator;

• Identified skills required to be a Buffalo Tour VET Facilitator;

• Prioritized skills each participant needs to im-prove to be a Buffalo Tour VET Facilitator;

• Created an action plan for each participant to improve to be a Buffalo Tour VET Facilitator;

• Assessed how and when they will apply the skills required to be a Buffalo Tour VET Facilitator;

With twenty-four participants including free-lance guides, full-time BT guides, Victoria Hotel staff, BT HAN operations staff and all BT VET team from CNX, HAN, LPQ & REP offices we had two fun days to-gether learning a lot of new useful things. Over the next six months there will be a follow up with the team to see how well they accomplish their objec-tives and apply the skills learned from the workshop to their daily work. “By Thuy Tran – VET Team leader”



At 4pm the bus was waiting outside the office to take us to Battambang. We headed off with 8 staff and 4 bikes as our team are avid cyclists and would not accept to use the local bikes for

their cycling adventure. We arrived in the dark and went straight to dinner at the restaurant we use for our clients. After dinner everyone was tired so we checked into the Stung Sangke Hotel.

The next morning, everyone was up early and either swimming or relaxing by the pool before breakfast. After a hearty breakfast we headed off for our first adventure which was an 11km kayak down the Stung Sangke River. We paired off into mixed teams for the paddle down the river. Some of us were faster, some were stronger, some were better at teamwork and one kayak had a mind of its own and went in circles all the way. It was enjoyable to paddle down the river and see local life along the river banks.

In the afternoon we visited Cambodia’s only winery and

although it was not the season to see the grapes or for harvesting it was interesting to see the farm and taste the wine, grape juice and brandy made on site. Towards the end of the day we all went on the bamboo train, which consists of 2 metal axles, one small motor and a bamboo platform that goes along the single track at approx 17-20 kms/hr. The fun begins when you meet another “train” com-ing the other way. The unwritten law says that whoever has the least amount of cargo must give way and their “train” is taken apart on the side of the track, the bigger “train” goes through and then the small one is put back together on the track. We met 2 other “trains” and since we had 9 people on ours we never had to give way. Tonight we all had fun at karaoke singing some crazy songs to enjoy our last evening of our trip together.

On our last morning on Sunday, some staff went shopping while others went cycling in the countryside. We had lunch together before the 3.5 hour drive back to Siem Reap.

“By Michele Whealy – Cambodia Country Manager”

Cholon Tours’ representative Office in Beijing has been officially opened on June 06, 2012, located in Chao Yang Street, Beijing, China.

Our office is specially aimed at advertising all tourism services of Cho-lon Tours, Viet Nam Travel Consultancy and in connection with our key Chinese travel agents to extend our sales market. With a new office based on Chinese outbound clients we do believe that Cholon Tours will enjoy solid growth and development in the future. “By Ly Man Nghi – Cholon Tours”

BT Cambodia Unforgetable Summer Trip

New Office in BeijingifCholon Tours



This was the first time I had a “group birthday” with 7 other staff from

the Saigon office which was a great surprise and very exciting. At 15:00 pm

lots of presents arrived with promo-tions staff from Nest Cafe. All Buffalo staff stopped working to look at and recognize all the gifts were for the 7

staff enjoying their birthday within the month. I jumped with excitement as

one gift was Hoang Bach a famous singer. Oh my god, my idol. He sang “ Happy birthday “ and many

songs with us. These moments were so fantastic.

Thank you Buffalo Tours very much . I’m proud to be an employee of Buffalo .

“By Vu Thuy Tu Mi – Operation Executive – SG Branch”

HOW AWESOME May Birthday CELEBRATION



Hello everyone! It’s been a busy month for iVIVU.

We launched a new site, with iVIVU with our logo, the cat

in summer beachwear and a number of new features and

content. It’s really cool.

We have posters now in over 300 office buildings in Hanoi

and Ho Chi Minh. A new membership program is on

the way, so that everyone can “vivu” now more easier

than ever.

Lastly, check us out on Facebook (facebook.com/ivivu) and participate in our photo contest, “What to eat on your vivu trip?” It’s mouth-watering.

I know its shameless self-marketing right here, but more than ever, we need everyone in Thien Minh and Buffalo Tours to support and spread our brand around. Wish us luck!

“By Hang Do – GM – iVIVU.com”

ViVu again



1. online sale executive 012. sales Manager – BTa (hanoi) 013. sale & reservation executive – uk agent (hanoi) 01 4. Travel consultant_BTa (sgN) 02 For detail job description, please visit our website at: http://www.buffalotours.com/about-us/careers.html

Please send us email to: [email protected] if you would like to apply or if you know any qualified candidates. Thank you.

Vacancies in Vietnam

Feedback on what our staff members have been doinghi huong,

Many thanks for the creating the wonderful trip for us. We had an unbelievable trip and were really impressed by everything that Buffalo Tours did. The tour guides were highly professional and very nice. The restaurants you chose for the included meals were excel-lent, as were the accommodations. It is probably the best tour I have ever had with a travel company and you should be so proud of the wonderful job you did putting our trip together. Many thanks for the lovely gift that you brought to us. I just want you to know that my sister-in-law is planning a trip to Vietnam this winter and I will really encourage her to work through you to use Buffalo Tours. Again, many thanks for your wonderful arrange-ments. The trip was absolutely perfect.

Sincerely, Barbara

New Member at BT ThailandThanakorn surasonthi (Moo)Moo is our new driver in Buffalo Tours (Thailand). He is interested in traveling, photography, swimming and playing football. His favorite quote is always at his side to remind him, “Doing my best to do my duty”(Written by Som)

pattaranida lohakul (som)I graduated from the faculty of science and worked as a patent examiner in Ministry of Public Health. Now I am a personal assistant to General Manager (HR & Admin) in Buffalo tours, Thailand. I’m interested in photography, designing, and dancing. I love to meet new people, visit interesting places and see interesting things. My passion is traveling around the world.

Since I joined the Buffalo Tours team, I have learnt new things and known how to be a good worker. We have a good teamwork and everyone knows that great things can happen if individuals master the fundamentals and work together as one unit, the belief that “none of us is as good as all of us.

I believe everything I have been given in life, good or bad, is always for the best.

Discussions during meetings can be feast or famine. Either you can’t get a word in edgewise or no one speaks up. Next time your meeting falls silent, try these tactics:

• Let it be. Wait a moment before breaking the silence and offering a suggestion. The group may need time to reflect on an idea.

• Name it. Call out what’s happening, and ask the group about it, “It seems we’ve gone quiet. Does anyone want to talk about what’s going on?”Take a break. Sometimes a short break gives people the chance to refocus.

Overcome The Awkward Silence

18 Inspirational Travel

THE CON TRÂU TIMES

Nguyen Thi Mai lanphatchadaphon Netibud luyen kim sauphan Thi kim NgocVu Minh hieuNatthapat VerawattanapornDang hong haiNguyen Van hungly Man NghiTran Thanh loanpornrapat chimpeeThai Thi kim Nhutcao Thi Minh NgocVu Thi Ngoc Thaophung Quoc Tuyen

1-Jul2-Jul2-Jul3-Jul6-Jul10-Jul11-Jul20-Jul22-Jul23-Jul25-Jul27-Jul29-Jul29-Jul31-Jul

German salesAccountantTicketing ExecutiveAccountantAgent sale executive - Team LeaderChief Accountant DriverTechnitianChinese Inbound Manager - Cholon ToursAgent sale executiveReservations ExecutiveGuide - Cholon ToursGR executive - Team LeaderChief AccountantGuide - Cholon Tours

Birthdays:

Birthdays Anniversaries&

Nguyen Trung congle Dinh chienho Viet haNguyen Thi Bich Vanha Thi huepham Thi khanh lyhoang Ngoc locNguyen Manh cuongpham Ngoc MinhTa Thi Thamsayan Mongpho

03 years in services03 years in services03 years in services03 years in services06 years in service04 years in service05 years in service07 years in services07 years in services03 years in services02 years in services

CTOProjectCFOFinance ControllerAgent sale executiveOnline salesTour guideTour guideTour guideAirport Rep.Driver

Anniversaries:

Contrautimes in June

Documents

Transcript of Contrautimes in June