The journey from Durban to Bloemfontein took seven hours in the end. There were some slight delays due to roadworks, but hoping to make it in five hours proved somewhat optimistic. We listened to the first hour of the Holland v Denmark match on the radio. It didn't sound as if Nicklas Bendtner set the world alight, but that Robin van Persie put in a decent performance.

We reached the outskirts of Bloem (as the people here call it) at about 2.50 (kick off being at 4). As the park and ride was in the direction of our guesthouse, going away from the centre, we opted to use it. It was far less popular than we feared, so there was no problem getting out after the game. We were dropped off about 100 yards from the stadium and made our way in with plenty of time to spare.

The stadium in Bloem looks quite old, although Adam told me it was only built 15 years ago for the Rugby World Cup. Whatever, I liked its character. Good steep stands with a setting winter sun behind the west side that was reminiscent of Highbury. This was the first game featuring an African side that we had attended, and the crowd were even more into having a party as a result.

The game, between Cameroon and Japan, was fairly uneventful for a long time. We were disappointed not to see Alex Song and the only Arsenal interest (aside from players the club have been linked to, such as Mbia) was the introduction of Junichi Inamoto for the last few minutes of the match from the Japanese bench.

However, the crowd were not going to rely on a field full of pampered overpaid footballers for their entertainment, and just got on with having a good time featuring the inevitable vuvuzelas, using the instruments both to make noise and as an accessory for some crowd dancing. if the game was not warranting interest, then you simply watch the crowd. I was entranced by a young boy with his father sitting near us, about five years old and blowing his horn for all he was worth. He got a mean note out to boot. In the second half, as it got a little chillier, his dad wrapped him up in a blanket in the design of the South African flag. He continued to use his instrument and the effect was kind of symbolic.

During the game, it really struck me that this is a totally unique World Cup. And for that reason alone, it is wonderful to experience it first hand. Apparently there have been a lot of complaints about the vuvuzelas. Whether these are from people watching on TV or those attending matches, let me state that I think they are absolutely wonderful. If you are at a game and part of the experience, I can't see how you would fail to be converted by the atmosphere they create. And they are not deafening either. You'd think so hearing them on TV, but unless someone is blowing straight into your ear, there is no problem. I am sure if someone brought one to an Arsenal home game, they wouldn't get it past the security check at the turnstile. Therein lies the difference between the approach to life in England and South Africa. If you go somewhere to be entertained, no-one is going to stop you having a good time. Of course, this society has an infinite number of problems, but with this tournament they are at least trying to work on it.

There were a good number of empty seats in the stadium. Some, were simply unsold. There are many many corporate boxes completely unoccupied, I suspect because of the asking price FIFA came up with. Having said that, I believe a number of these go with the sponsorship deals for the major companies that advertise around the pitch. Possibly they simply could not afford to fly their guests in and pay the doubtless extortionate hotel prices they were being asked. Some of the ordinary seats, I suspect, have been bought by fans abroad who, on discovering how expensive it would be to come here, decided simply not to use their tickets. They will not even have an unused ticket as some kind of souvenir, as you can only collect tickets by physically turning up in the country and retrieving them with the credit card used to book them. However, the empty seats do not dent the atmosphere, they simply don''t look good on television, rather like those at Arsenal which may have been sold, but indicate a lack of interest.

As for the game, Cameroon were tremendously disappointing, fashioning about two chances of real note that I can recall. I didn't expect great things from Japan, but they defended well and were certainly worth at least a draw. I doubt they will beat either of Denmark or Cameroon, but then I didn't expect them to get anything from this game, so who knows.

The weather has changed a little. The sunshine was glorious in Bloem, but it was very much winter sun, and we were well wrapped up for the game. Watching Italy and Paraguay play in Cape Town last night, I was relieved we had moved on from there before it rained. It looked seriously like a seriously heavy downpour, although even that didn't seem to dampen the atmosphere.

It was dark after the game, and finding our guesthouse - which we had not had the time to do before the match - was a little tricky, due to the lack of light on road signs. Fortunately, we had decent directions and were able to find the place with a little sharp braking at a couple of turn offs. A good night's kip and we are all set to head off to Johannesburg where we will meet up with our next host, Martin. The evening game takes us to Ellis Park to see Brazil take on Korea. I lost track of which day of the week it was for the first time yesterday, which will become a very common occurence on this trip. I'm definitely getting into the swing of things though, and am now glad I made the trip.