Tuesday Vietnam beat Qattar to get into the Asian Cup! The first we learned of it was when we were riding in a taxi back to the hotel and heard a crowd of male voices erupt. As we rode further we saw crowds around tv screens in every bar and restaurant, frequently going nuts. So far so good. Lots of jubilant Vietnamese fans. In 40 years, their team had never gotten that far before. Fast forward to dinner time. The tour director had arranged for us to have a multiple course tasting menu at a restaurant in an old museum. Sounded interesting, but what we didn't know was that meanwhile every young person with a motorbike was headed to downtown, waving Vietnamese flags and shouting in celebration. There are hundreds of thousands of motorbikes in HCMC so it was quite the spectacle. Fun to see everyone so happy......Until we found ourselves completely surrounded by exultant kids on bikes. It literally took 30 minutes to go a few blocks. My friend Chris said it was like trying to drive a bus through the Women's march. Finally the driver and guide decided that we just were not going to be able to get there by bus. So we had to get out and walk the rest of the way (about two football fields distance). Linda and I are among the youngest in the group so this was 20 folks, average age probably 70, threading their way through a tight mass of folks on bikes headed the other direction. The mob was friendly, but not exactly yielding. The restaurant was only a couple of miles from the hotel, but total time to get to dinner about 2 hrs. Time to get back home about the same. Since this was the first full day after the all day, all night flight, it was challenging to put it mildly. Quite the adventure though. The kind that gets better in the retelling, but a little hair-raising at the time. We're not unhappy to be out of the City in time for the first round of the finals.
