Tiger Cup

So, I've never been much of a sport fanatic. For those of you who know me well, you'll know that I'll pass up a game any day over a night out or a good read. But when the Tiger Cup came to Saigon, I couldn't resist going to my first soccer game of my life. Six of us ventured out to the stadium sans tickets and searched for scalpers. True to form, they were there in abundance and the 6 whities who walked up were accosted shamelessly from every direction. Luckily, Dave speaks Vietnamese and could get us a good deal. Or so we thought. Soon after we all triumphantly received our tickets, we walked to the gate only to be informed that we had been taken for a ride. The clever scalper had glued together a used ticket and a different stub and sold it to us as real. Nasty of him. But we soon found real tickets and squeezed our way through masses of crowds to the only tiny spot remaining in the entire stadium at the very top. It was worth it. It was 2 hours filled with entertainment by an elated crowd and a rather weak Vietnamese soccer team who feigned injury every time they were given a penalty. Not quite the sportsmanship we're used to. Vietnam and Singapore ended up tying at 1 all and we all trudged home, not exactly victorious but my first soccer match ever was definitely an invigorating experience.