Most Inspirational Moment
We'd done a fair amount of walking around Hanoi on a drizzly day when Nam (our group leader) realised that we probably wanted a break. Rather than go into a "normal" restaurant, we hunched down onto little plastic chairs within an alcove on the pavement of a back street where we were given rice spirits, herbal tea and puffs of tabacco out of a big, bubbling bong. The man providing the tea break looked like an elderly son of Ho Chi Minh, himself and despite his meagre business assets could not have been more cheerful and kindly towards us. This was an inspired idea from our group leader as I don't know if we, left to our own devices, would ever have stopped for a break at somewhere which appeared to be as rough as this place appeared. With Nam in attendance, we knew it would be good and in fact, it was one of many wonderful moments in the holiday.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Huge smile. Cheery upbeat nature. Thoughtful to our wellbeing and needs. Nam did everything he could to make our trip as smooth as it could possibly be. However, he didn't just take us to dozens of temples and tourist sites, he brought his personal history and experiences into the equation so that we received an insight into the people's history that was as deep as could be possible in the twelve days that we were with him. Getting to know Vietnam through Nam was a key part of the holiday. Our tour leader in Cambodia was a lovely chap and did a fine job of looking after us and making sure we were well catered for but his rough grip of English was such that it was difficult to gain much insightful information from him.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Don't have any worries about the internal flights. They were all less than an hour and took place from smallish airports where everything went amazingly smoothly and on time. Thanks to early starts and terrific organisation, the flights took very little out of our days. It was amazing to be able to jump from the different cultures and weather in the three different parts of the country. I'd been concerned about the food and the security. I'd imagined that we'd be eating all sorts of strange meats and little else. In fact, there were always chicken, beef and vegetarian options. You didn't have to eat snails, frog legs and squid. I had a dicky tummy on one of the days but I was the only one in our group of eleven who did. With regards security, every hotel room had a working safe. Personal safety was never an issue ... the Vietnamese seemed like a very honest, hard working, moral bunch. We were warned to be very careful in Ho Chi Minh City but didn't experience or hear of anything to worry us. Everything you hear about crossing the roads is true. It is unbelievable. You simply have to walk out into the sea of motorbikes and have faith that they won't run you over. It works but takes a heck of a lot of getting used to. Oh yes ... if you are ever asked if you want to go on an out-of-town cycle ride ... accept. Both the cycle rides we went on were wonderful. They were chances to get out into the beautiful countryside and receive a taste of village life.