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After a tearful farewell on Saturday morning I arrived & Heathrow & cried some more! It's been really hard for me leaving the children - in a matter of seconds I go from determined 'I spend every waking minute caring for you children It's time to do something for me' to 'I'm such a bad mother' guilt about leaving them. I know they'll be fine but that hasn't stopped me crying at the sight of nearly every small boy I have seen!
The group of 47 met at 8am & we all checked in & headed through security for some breakfast. There are several ex colleagues of mine on the trip so it was nice to catch up even though one is a bad influence & almost managed to convince me to have a beer with my scrambled egg (Philip Spenceley)! I managed to resist & soon we headed for the gate........only to find out there was a 2 hour delay so we headed for.........the pub! Peer pressure! To be fair, about 15 other members of the group had the same thought so it was nice to get to know some of the others.
So after a delayed 11.5 hour flight to Singapore we made our connecting 2 hour flight to Ho Chi Minh City as that too was delayed. It didn't take us long through passport control, had a short wait for our buses & then as we couldn't check into the hotel til 2pm we went to a restaurant for lunch. The gang was looking fairly knackered by then - I only managed a total of 3 hours sleep the whole trip & haven't found anyone that had any more than that!
We've got a couple of local guides on the trip that gave us some interesting info on our journey to the hotel. The main piece of local advice was how to cross a road in the city. There are no crossings & there is constant flow of traffic so you can't wait for a gap. You simply step into the road & keep walking steadily across it. Do not stop, do not hesitate & do not turn back. The cars & mopeds will drive around you & slow down to avoid you!! I love the way everyone wears a helmet on mopeds (must be the law) yet they are happy to cram as many people, animals, luggage on as possible. We've even seen parents driving along holding a sleeping baby!! There are 10 million people in the city & 4 million mopeds......busy busy!
We finally made it to our hotel by 2.30pm (we're 7 hours ahead of UK) but only had time to chuck bags in rooms, quick change then out at 3pm to get measured for our bikes. I'm so glad I brought my saddle with me because the skinny ones on the bikes look like they could do some damage!!
We've now got an hour off to shower, unpack etc. then a briefing with our tour reps at 6pm followed by dinner at 7pm then hopefully as early into bed as possible! I am shattered but excited. The weather is hot but not roasting - late 20s & it doesn't feel too humid today so fingers crossed tomorrow starts well.
Highlight of dinner tonight was Jenny, one of the Scottish girls on the trip asking Dr Nick, our trip medic across the dining table: "so, Dr Nick, how severe does the chaffage have to get before you get involved?"!! Needless to say there was no comment!! We have all got a large pot of Vaseline/Sudacream to avoid this situation.
In bed by 8.40pm. Excellent - here's to a good nights' sleep.
Lots of love
Xxx
- comments
Pennie Glad you got there OK. Have an ace trip and lots of fun crossing the roads, forgot about that. Just keep walking though, it does work :0) xxxxx
Gemma Glad u made it there safely!!! Have a fab time and b strong! ! X x
Gaynor Strange Glad to hear you have settled in! I'm sure after some sleep you will all be raring to go! Look forward to reading tomorrow's blog! Sending love to you all. Give Gary a big hug from me! He'll think it's his lucky day! Xxx
Lydia Strange haha the chaffage comment is hilarious! Good luck to you all I hope you are having a fantastic time! x
Emma and Jez Good luck we are tracking your journey so keep updating - well done on day 1 xxxx