Saturday saw Vietnam host its first ever Colour Me Run. It was such a great event, well organised and loads of fun! We would definitely be happy to see more things like this happening in HCMC in the future. The run started at 3:30 in the afternoon, and was always going to be a super hot affair. We had organised with some friends, to have a braai afterwards on our rooftop to finish off an already epic day. So everybody met at our apartment before the run to drop off their things for the braai.
We then took a slow walk - with some beers - to the start of the event. When we got there, we were quickly swept up in the electric atmosphere. Some people had really dressed for the occasion, and everybody was visibly excited for the event. There was a big stage and a DJ playing music to get the crowd into it (as if we needed any encouragement). Each participant was given a packet of coloured, powdered paint for the race, but many people had already opened their packet and had started bombing their friends and strangers around them.
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| The walk to the start (Marius, Andrea, Kirsty and Ross) |
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| Before - very clean white shirts |
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| Kirsty and Mel |
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| Ross and Craig |
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| The early stages - just a bit of colour |
After a little while, the announcer asked everybody to make their way to the start of the course. We all (the crowd of contestants) headed to the start-line, blasting anybody close enough with our powder. There were big T.V. cameras, loads of official (and unofficial) photographers and drones which flew overhead and captured the festivities from above us. After a few official announcements, thank-yous and other boring babble by the organisers (which absolutely nobody listened to), the run was counted down and the first batch surged forward.
The majority of the 'runners' managed to run to the first corner (about 100m) before stopping to walk and complaining about the life-threatening stitch which seemed to be tearing their ribs apart. It was very amusing to see. At the first kilometre mark (and every kilometre after that), there was a 'booming stand' which consisted of a dome across the road, loud music and event officials armed with endless supplies of pink coloured powder. There was no way of making it through without being COVERED in colour (a good thing, considering the purpose of the event). At the first stand, there was so much powder in the air that the sun was blocked out, and it went black for a while as we passed through.
The second stand consisted of blue foam (which of course assisted in getting the colour to stick to the contestants). The third was yellow powder. It was not as hectic as the first stand, because the crowd was a little more dispersed at this point. The fourth stand had green foam, and the race ended in a cloud of purple from the fifth and final stand.
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| Colour 'tans' |
It was a fantastic event enjoyed by all ages, and the fun was embraced by everybody involved. After the run/walk, there were some live performances by Suboi, Timomatic and Kelly Rowland. We were skeptical at first, and planned to skip the post match concert to go home and braai. However, our (fairly large group) got separated during the run, and we kind of got caught up in the hype of the occasion. As a result, we stayed and watched the music before walking back home.
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| Our shoes only got a little bit of paint on them |
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| The cloud of paint during our booming session |
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| Enjoying some beer (and strange looks) on the stairs of the local shop (B'smart) |
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| Marius and his mom who was visiting from SA. |
It was already a little late for some of our friends, so they went home. But the rest of us had our first official braai in Vietnam on the rooftop of our apartment building. Unfortunately we forgot to take photos of this memorable and notable occasion, as we were too excited over the fact that it was actually happening. The braai soothed our souls and gave us an eagerly awaited taste of home.
