Is that wasabi I can taste? This isn't your regular Bloody Mary, but then this is not your regular afternoon at one of Saigon's best-known five-star hotels either.
The ballroom at Le Méridien has Saigon's early May sun bursting through its river view windows and right into the room.
People are milling around with purpose in all kinds of dress.
I'm not entirely sure how I got here or when I agreed to this, but less than 24 hours after hearing about it, I knew I had to head down south from Hanoi.
A runway has been erected down the middle of the room. A sound check is going on at one end. The Bloody Mary is helping.
