We arrived in Vung Tau Vietnam Friday afternoon. The flight landing was amazing as it gave us a nice view of the landscape and an aerial view of all the waterways and rivers in Ho Chi Minh City. Arriving at the airport, we were greeted by three ladies in traditional Vietnamese "long dresses" with a World Youth Chess Tournament sign. They gave Jonah a bouquet of flowers and a very warm welcome.
It was very comforting to see that there were people from the organizers there to receive us as language can always be a challenge.
One of the ladies escorted us through customs (we bypassed all the lines), picked up our luggage and directed us to a van for transport to the hotel. While waiting to leave, Jonah had his first taste of being a celebrity. Everyone was asking him questions on where he was from and numerous questions on chess. A lineup soon formed and half a dozen people (student volunteers for the tournament) requested to have a picture taken with him.
Our drive from the airport to Vung Tau took approximately 3 hours. Driving through Ho Chi Minh City was Horrific yet intriguing! There were motorcycles and scooters everywhere. Street lights do not exist and the streets were flooded by these scooters zipping everywhere in every direction. It was utter chaos! We even saw babys and kids straddled and doubled up on these scooters. "Swarm" came to mind when we saw the traffic. Interestingly enough though, admist all the chaos, there was a sense of calm and a system in place as all the scooters flowed freely without any accidents. Actually the system in place was the "horn". Horns were going off everywhere alerting drivers and scooters of there presence. It was amazing and Jonah was shocked.
The three hour drive to Vung Tau seemed short as we were taking up the scenery on the way there. Jonah did pass out after 30 minutes though as he was exausted from the travel.
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