Day 1 - Vietnam Discovery from Hanoi to the Meekong Delta - 'Inside Vietnam' adventure with EXPLORE

Day 1 - Hanoi

The tour starts today!  I rarely admit to being 'excited' as I'm usually trying to remain calm and collected with the stress but this is one time I happily say 'I am excited'.   I’m also a little nervous, having social anxiety in unknown situations.  It's never stopped me, it's just part of me.  I arrived two nights prior to the tour.  I've just left my first hotel, a rather fine and relaxing 5-star establishment, very suitable for my 'blagging-it  that I'm posh' status.  I was purely 'researching' for clients you understand.  The hotel was however a little way out of the downtown area, through the dense Hanoi traffic.  My taxi makes steady progress to the Explore group hotel.  The traffic here, is saturated with millions of scooters it seems, it moves at a steady, stop-start, fast/slow pace.  I would love to see a driving lesson taking place!  This is not a problem however today as the taxi’s aircon is priceless in the Vietnamese heat as we are all soon to discover.

Arriving at the Nesta Hotel, it's right in the heart of old town Hanoi, just a couple of hundred meters from the famous train street.  I had an amazing evening food tour yesterday and it concluded with experiencing trains coming through Train street, amazing!  The whole city is adorned with countless red flags of the Vietnamese star alternated with the hammer and sickle.  A recent celebration created this carpet of small red flags and apparently the population decided to just leave them all in place. 

Smiling as I am finally here at the start of another adventure tour, my bag carried in kindly by the hotel staff and I am standing confidently at the front desk.  I cheerily and proudly proclaim (quietly of course) “I’m here with the Explore group”.  I glance around the lobby noticing the small bar in the corner and the grown-up refreshments on offer, priorities, priorities. 

"Sorry Sir, your name is not on the list".  Ah, ok, an interesting start to my tour for sure, I did book late and these things happen with so many cogs to the travelling admin machine.  "Ok Sir, leave it with me, take a seat, have a welcome drink".  The staff at reception are on the phone to my tour guide Joseph in a flash.  I sit on the comfy red sofas as I calmly wait, I can’t change the situation by stressing about it, so I just start the journey early and relax! In a matter of minutes, I am happy to hear the kind man on reception say, "Your name is now on the list and here is your room key"!

Now, the bathroom, well, interesting let's say.  The toilet has a control panel and maybe 10 or so buttons and not surprisingly, not a word in English.  A google translate of the instructions on the wall appear to reference water temperature and the like.  Some of the icons indicate the direction of the water from seemingly impossible angles.  I should have taken Yoga classes it seems. 

One of the icons with a little person is in red, I'm guessing a warning?  Because judging by the water angle indicated, one wrong setting and button press with the water pressure dialled to the maximum, you could become an unwilling participant in the Vietnamese space program.  There is a simple handle on the side of the toilet, I'll take this option, a safer bet than the dealing with the panel of doom.  I really don't want to have to explain to anyone how I ended up in Hospital in Vietnam.

The group meet in reception around 6pm.  I’m not sure who is who at first, there’s two Explore groups here I understand.  Joseph announces to the lobby our orientation meeting is starting now upstairs.  In my head, “Names, names, remember the names”.  We sit down, there’s a good feeling with this group already and as it will turn out, the best group I’ve had in 8 adventure tours over the years.  I’ve got all the names memorised in a few minutes and with a great group we’re off to a flying start.  The itinerary is laid out for the next 2 weeks, monies of various denominations change hands for upcoming tour costs and excursions.  It seems a packed itinerary but we'll get to see and experience so many wonderful places, meet amazing people and get a thoroughly immersive feeling for this mysterious country.

We head out to our first dinner at a restaurant close-by, I cannot remember the name of, it's all a blur as we dodge the scooter traffic and are guided up the steep and narrow stairs to our table at the back, a theme that will appear a few more times in the coming days.  The food starts arriving and there is a lot, finish one dish and another arrives.  The staff's English is ok, our Vietnamese much worse  but we manage.  Tasty and filling the food is for sure but more than most of us can handle.  It’s a great atmosphere, joking and storytelling, everyone getting to know each other a little.  This is without doubt the best part of these tours, getting to know new travellers and make connections with people.  The choices you all make resulting in whose here tonight meeting for the first time.

Some of the group are still on jet-lag time and adjusting their internal clocks, having arrived only today into Vietnam, so we're back at the hotel by 10pm and an early night for some.  However the ‘committee’ on the first night has established itself as we have a couple of nightcaps at the dinky hotel bar which is draped in little lanterns and red flags.