There is an amateur softball "league" in Saigon that started up today after a rainy season hiatus. I traveled out to the end of the Earth in An Phu (District 2, about 10 miles from my house) to play. Phil , the athletic director from Saigon County Club, hosted.
We attracted some attention from some onlookers curious about what the foreigners were doing hitting balls with sticks and running around like madmen. I wanted to get a pic of the action with an onlooker with a conical hat on, but wasn't fast enough with the camera. There goes the Pulitzer.
Most participants were Canadian or American, with a few Aussies thrown
in for good measure. Rhonda, the organizer and globe-trotting Canadian
expat, had an intimidating T-shirt that said "Middle East Softball
Championship." The level of play was surprisingly high for people who
haven't played softball for many months -- the final score was 22 to 16
after about 5 innings with several dramatic hits, plays and catches.
In traditional softball style, we capped off the workout with pitchers
of cold beer. It was excellent.
To my Saigon readers: Come on out and play! We'll be there every Sunday at 3pm barring the country club's need to use the field. Shoot me an email if you're interested and I'll make sure you get on the mailing list.
By the way, I found out about this from a website with an outstanding summary of business and social events in the expat community. It's called "Upcoming Events, Eh?" by a guy named Graham Potter. Check it out.