Day 10 - Petersham Vs Hanoi Dragons

Friday 28/9

After a quick shower, I had to rush downstairs to arrange our new itinerary with Tuan. Thankfully he was very flexible and it was decided that they could take us straight to the game after an abridged version of the originally planned tour.

First stop was to be Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, which we all had to don long pants for. I'm not sure if we arrived in peak hour, but there was a line stretching for a good few hundred metres which we were forced to join after handing over all our cameras and bags. By joining at a designated tourist spot we seemed to jump half the queue. No doubt we paid for it in dollars, but it seemed like money well spent as we slowly shuffled our way along the footpath, which was thankfully shaded by an aluminium roof.

After much stopping and starting we finally made it inside the mausoleum where there were signs prominently displayed advising that there should be no talking and no hands in pockets. After snaking around a few more corners the group finally arrived in a smallish dimly lit room where the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh is on display. You are not allowed to stop, nor is it a good idea to say something about it looking like a waxwork dummy, especially in earshot of the heavily armed guards in the chamber. A few more corridors and you are deposited in the sunlight on the other side from where you started out.

Next on the list was the one pillar pagoda which is only a short walk from the mausoleum. Tuan explained the history of the one pillar pagoda, which had to do with a king who wanted a son, and a dream that came to him one night about building the pagoda. As with all good stories, this one had a happy ending and after building the pagoda the king did get the son he craved.

As we made our way back towards the bus, we managed to lose someone. Tuan told us to wait across the road from the mausoleum, while he went to look. While we waited the queue seemed to diminish and then totally dry up. Next thing you know there was a changing of the guards ceremony taking place, pretty much for our own personal viewing. Tuan came up with the missing tourist (I can't remember who it was) and we made our way back to the bus. As we were leaving I noticed that the long queue was again making its way towards the Mausoleum.

Next stop was the game. I had been given instructions which seemed to make some sort of sense to the driver who deposited us at a university. We walked around a few buildings and down an alley before reaching an internal road that went for about half a kilometre, some of it past our oval, which was unfortunately protected by a 15 foot fence. Once again the ground didn't have any change rooms, but it did have toilets.

Everyone was feeling decidedly the worse for wear as this was to be our third game in six days. Matters weren't helped by seeing a fit looking opposition already stripped and doing warm up activities. We eventually got ourselves organised and out onto the field, although I thought Uncle Dan was going to have a heart attack when he was told that he would be doing the refereeing.

Little John was captain for the day, due to the fact he was departing later that afternoon. He very astutely elected for us to kick off to avoid Bob L letting the ball go through his legs into touch for the third time in a row. I strained a groin muscle taking the kick off, which had the effect of slowing down my normally glacial speed even further. Despite this setback, our numerous injuries and general tiredness we played very well for the first 2/3rds of the game and were actually leading at the last break, before their superior state of health allowed them to overtake us. I don't think we helped our cause by only having 8 players on the field at one point. None the less it was a pretty valiant effort by the boys. The highlight of the game was watching Pigeon chase down their 5/8th over 50 metres after giving him a start, stealing the ball from him and kicking it into touch.

On the completion of after match beers and t-shirt shopping we made our way wearily back towards the bus, only to find the gate we had come through was now locked for lunch. After finding out that all the other gates were also locked we managed to yell out and get someone to come to the gate. She explained to Tuan, that the person who had the key was at lunch and wouldn't be back for another hour. Tuan organised to get a message to the bus and we stumbled all the way back to where we had come from to another entrance which was thankfully open, found the bus and headed back to the hotel for a much needed shower.

After my shower I headed down to the main bar of the hotel just in time to see the last quarter of the Aussie Rules grand final, and to have a farewell drink with Little John (and a wonderful tourist he was too). Anthony, one of the Hanoi players had come back to our hotel and offered to take us to a good restaurant for lunch once the game finished. We said out goodbyes to LJ, finished our beers and followed Anthony down the road for a few blocks and then left for another block to a street full of restaurants. It was getting fairly late in the day for lunch and the planned stop was closed so we ended up across the road where we all ate Pho Hanoi (the best Pho I have ever tasted) and drank a couple of beers for 25,000 dong (a couple of dollars).

There was nothing much planned for the rest of the day so after lunch we headed to the Spotted Cow for a refreshing ale before the presentation dinner that night. Once again Anthony guided us in the right direction towards the presentation, which was held in the upstairs bar of a very flash looking hotel. Our only instructions were: 'do not go, or throw anything, into the pool'. Once again the hospitality was outstanding and there was plenty of food and drink to go around. The only black spot on the night was Fatcat being very negligent in his duties at guarding Garry the Gecko. Poor Garry was not only stolen 3 times but also damaged in the process.

Once the speeches had been spoken, food eaten and free beer dispensed with it was time to return to the Spotted Cow for the serious drinking part of the night. Things are a bit hazy here but I do know we ended up at the Apocalypse Now bar. All my notes have to say on the matter is: Apocalypse – rubbish. I have no recollection of the place at all so I will just have to stick with that appraisal.

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Linus

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