First impressions

It's been a long day and I'm overwhelmed. Ho Chi Minh City is what I had expected and more. The honking....even now as I'm sitting in my room, I can faintly hear it. The number of kamakazi motor bikes on the road has me shuddering everytime anyone of them comes near.

We spent the day looking at a school (can't go through 2 school tours in one day,will be information overload for me) and at several houses. Thank goodness there are not that many international schools in HCMC. I've narrowed it down to two and am going to see the next one tomorrow.

I used to be in real estate when I was in Singapore. I loved it as it gave me a chanceto peek into other people's lives (even then I was a busybody) and see how they lived. So, I was pretty excited about looking at some houses today.

It was an eye opener. For one thing, the ones we saw had as many stories as the house we are staying in now in BKK. A couple stood out because one had a room dedicated to a bar that came complete with pink and blue neon disco lights (seriously)! The last one that we saw appealed to TH and Sean as the top floor was a recreation room that came with a pool table (TH) and had a karaoke system, again accompanied with floral pink and blue neon. Sean loved the karaoke which has me worried as it could be a sign of things to come when I'll have to haul him away from karaoke joints to do his homework!

Of course being the foodie that I am, we had to have our pho. For dinner we were introduced to a restaurant that served central Vietnamese food. Didn't take any pictures as we were starving. It was something I've never had before but very yummy. Even their noodle was served dry with grilled pork and loads of vegetables (mint, cucumber, bean sprouts etc).

Am still trying to get used to the currency. All those zeroes at the end of it confuses me. When I had to pay 250,000 dong (don't you just love what it's called?) for lunch, I was horrified till I realised it was bout 500bht or S$25. Food here is more expensive than BKK for sure. I guess it is something we have to get used to.

I have to admit, first day, first impressions and am a bit apprehensive. I don't remember feeling this way when I first went to BKK. I guess it will be OK. Hmmm... now all I need is to find me a good mani-pedi place.