At 6pm, feeling somewhat nervous, I headed down to the lobby to meet the group. I really didn't know what to expect - I was really concerned that probably I would be too old for everyone (it's an 18-30 something tour, and i only just make the 30 something now!). So i was really worried.
Our group consists only of 6 people - a French Canadian (Francois), two Norwegians (Beate and Erik), myself and 2, very young Brits on a gap year (Shantelle - who wishes to be called "Shanty" and Sophie). Our "leader" (not guide - in Vietnam and most part of Asia you must be a native to be a guide) is Vaughn, from the Philippines. He is lovely, a really kind-hearted and generous guy who is keen to ensure that everyone has a good time but that everything is very fair. Francois seems lovely too, in a kind of a cute geek way - he has a 3d camera that he made himself, and has downloaded wikipedia to his iPod, so anything you want to know, he's your man. Erik and Beate are on their way back to Norway having spent 11 months in Australia working - they are very down to earth people, very inclusive and accepting of all, and Erik particularly is quite mischievous. The two UK girls are however another matter. They're ok I guess - but oh so immature. They're on the 4th month of their gap year and so far they've been to Tanzania, South Africa, Thailand and volunteered in Cambodia - so that makes them a world authority on all things travel related, of course - and all things in general. Sophie honestly just reminds me of a wet dish cloth - absolutely zero personality, and spends most of her time either sleeping or looking like a stunned mullet. When she does open her mouth, usually not much of any value comes out. She's harmless enough though. The really dopey one, in terms of saying and doing stupid things, is Shanty. Upon being told we were going to the UNESCO world heritage ancient city of Hoi An, she asks, "is it hidden?". What?! Then when she bought a soft drink, she shook it up and then goes "oh I didn't realize this was a can and I just shook it". My personal favourite though was when we were in a bar, she was watching the TV for a full minute, and then says "oh is this basketball?" - like what have you been watching then eh? She's also extremely loud and has a terrible habit of mimicking others in order to make fun - especially of those who don't speak English as their first language, and then of course of me as she considers me to be "Grandma". I got a bit sick of it so I gave her a serve when we were in the mud baths (which will be in a subsequent post) and as a result she hasn't done it to me since, fortunately for her.
Anyway after meeting the group Vaughn went through some of the more important points and then we headed out for dinner. We went to a restaurant in the backpacker area. I guess the price was pretty cheap but I've been used to paying less so I wasn't that impressed, especially as it seems we're to have dinner together every night! There goes my food budget!
Whilst we were in the restaurant we suddenly heard a loud commotion and lots of cheering from outside. Turns out that Vietnam were in the Asia cup finals or something for soccer and won! The streets absolutely went mad with this news - people literally went nuts. The scooters were flying around with Vietnamese flags, waving and cheering and basically encircling us as we tried to get across to the other side of the road - it took us ages to get anywhere! It was such a lively, exciting atmosphere, and the locals were most impressed when Shanty and Sophie tried to high five everyone and were screaming and cheering too in response. It really was all too incredible.
The plan for the next day was to go to the Cu Chi tunnels in the morning and then the others could go see the War Remnants museum upon our return. Vaughn originally advised that this would cost $96 but we got it at a cheap tour agency for $9 each hiring a private tour. This meant we could dictate what time we left etc. I wanted to go earlier so we would have more of the day left but Shanty wanted a sleep in, so we arranged to leave at 900.
I don't know why we bothered though, as she and Sophie went out clubbing after we returned to the hotel - while the rest of us, knowing the fullness of the day ahead, went to bed. I think it's going to be a long trip....
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