23rd January - Football Crazy

Train SE1 arrives on time at 04.40.  We are whisked straight out of the station and onto a bus, without even having time to admire the steam loco plinthed outside the terminal. Ho Chi Minh City, as it is officially called, is just starting to stir and even at this time feels warm and humid to us. Those of us who were brought up watching the TV news in the 60s and 70s think of it as Saigon and it appears that most people here take that view. Because of the utterly heathen hour of our arrival we are too early for breakfast or check in at our hotel so Dien has arranged for us to visit city's flower market. Folks here have been up and about long enough to have prepared all of their displays, have lunch with a couple of beers and be playing cards or other games. It is very colourful but somehow lacks the spontaneity that we have seen in Indian flower markets.

We arrive at the hotel just before six and are allocated rooms straight away. The Golden Central Hotel certainly is central but is a bit older than the hotels that we have had so far. The room is quite small and the electrical sockets hidden behind the furniture but there is a fridge and the a/c works so we should get by. After dropping the bags we head straight up to breakfast on the 17th floor, where we get a window table and watch night turn into another slightly grey day.  Our next duty call is 12.30 for lunch so we lose no time in catching up on our rather interrupted sleep. When we do start our day proper we have time to take some laundry to a place round the corner, working up a fair sweat on the 200 yard stroll. Exiting the hotel is like walking into a sauna. Crossing the road here is much more difficult as the traffic is relentless. On the way back to the hotel we spot a laundry that is even closer. 

Just to be different lunch is at a Vietnamese Heritage Restaurant although it is not obvious to us what the difference is. The food is just fine and as usual there is far too much of it. The afternoon programme is a city tour with stops at some of the highlights. The first of these is the Palace of Reconciliation which was originally the headquarters of the President of South Vietnam. Dien gives a long rambling commentary about events in the 1960s as we stand sweating outside the front of the building. We stare longingly at it in the hope that it is air conditioned when we finally get in there. There are a couple of tanks to examine before we get inside. Given what we have heard about the various Presidents of South Vietnam the interior is furnished rather tastefully, although there is a snooker table on the top floor, as well as a rooftop helipad complete with captured US helicopter. Our tour lasts about an hour during which the rain hammers down outside. We finish up in the basement bunker which is a set of airless rooms connected by narrow corridors. By the time we get out the rain has finished and the humidity has dropped a bit.

The coach takes us on to see the Notre Dame Cathedral which is not open for visits as it is being renovated. It stands opposite the rather grand French built Post Office. At home this would undoubtedly have been transformed into a Wetherspoons by now. We move on to visit the Continental Hotel which was where Graham Greene stayed in his 'Quiet American' days. There is a small crowd on the pavement outside peering through one of the windows. They are watching the Vietnam v Qatar football match on a television which explains the shouts of joy and groans of anguish we have been hearing over the last hour. With twenty minutes left Vietnam have just scored to make it one all. We walk over to the hotel de Ville at the end of a traffic free street lined with frangipani trees in full flower. There is misery, then jubilation all around. Qatar score with three minutes to go but Vietnam equalise again a minute later. Extra time!

The last stop on the tour is the Central Market, only a block away from our hotel. Most of the group decide to skip this and stay on the bus but we are up for it. Having assured Dien that we are capable of making it back to the hotel under our own steam we enter. There is a subdued murmur and a noticeable lack of customers. Most stall holders are glued to their smartphones watching the last few minutes of extra time. We wander round without being badgered to make purchases and without seeing anything that we would want to buy. Extra time ends and the tension ratchets up as the Penalty shoot out begins. From the wails and shrieks that go up it sounds as though Vietnam have missed their first penalty. We start moving back to the hotel looking for beers and tonic waters on the way. We see a place at the front of a street food market and stock up. Across the road a crowd watching a TV in a shop roar triumphantly several times. We add a draught beer to our order and sit down to watch the fun and realise that the traffic has virtually disappeared. A few more roars and Vietnam have won. The street is full of happy smiling people and a bar up the road turns the sound system up full to celebrate.

Back at the hotel we have just enough time to shower and change before our dinner call. The bus takes us to a restaurant near the Cathedral just in time to see the hordes of two wheelers with passengers waving huge national flags start to gather. The meal is a very plain western style three course of soup, chicken kebabs with chips and salad, and chocolate torte. We are amazed to hear most of our fellow travellers welcome this and say how much they prefer it to spring rolls, noodles and rice. Why come somewhere different if you don't want different food. The wine here is extremely pricey but they do have the craft beers that we saw in Hoi An. D has IPA and R goes for Passion Fruit Beer. As we eat the crowd outside grows and grows and the firecrackers start. It is bedlam.  As we leave the restaurant and nearing the hotel we see the road is blocked by flag waving revellers. The last 200 yards is done on foot. All this fuss and it is only an Under 23 match.