Hello Vietnam

I'm happy to say that we have arrived in Vietnam safely and are loving it!!  The flight from Toronto to Hong Kong was very long (15 hours or so), and after a layover for several hours there, we were able to fly to the final destination:  HO CHI MINH CITY, also known as Saigon.  If anyone is ever flying to Asia, I would highly recommend the airline Cathay Pacific.  We were given tons of food, and even got to order off a small menu in economy class!

At the airport in Hong Kong, waiting for the next flight

Along with John and I, there were 3 other teachers from the school on our flight - Greg, Mike, and Catharine.  When we arrived at the airport in HCMC, we were greeted by the head of the school and then taken to our hotels on the school's private bus.  It was kind of surreal driving through the streets with Vietnamese signs, street food stalls, and insane motorbike traffic.  Even though I've been to this city before on my travels, it was crazy to think that I would actually be living here.  I wasn't able to get a lot of sleep on the plane, and despite being in transit for so long I felt pretty good!  We arrived in HCMC before lunch time, so it was important for us to stay awake all day so we would be able to get on normal sleep patterns.

Just arrived in Vietnam!

The hotel we stayed at was located in the neighbourhood of Phu My Hung in District 7.  It is about 20 minutes away from the school, and is full of a variety of restaurants and tons of modern apartment buildings.  It is an up and coming "foreigner" area in the city.  I wouldn't describe it as a touristy place - this is where many expats from different countries are living and working.

The apartment search began several hours after we arrived.  We were taken to a variety of places by several housing agents.  Some places were dingy, other places were decent.  Ultimately, we were able to find an apartment the day after arrival with an amazing rental agent we found on our own, named My (pronounced like the word "me").  My took us to view 12 apartments!  I felt like I was on the TV show "House Hunters International."


The apartment we chose is in the Sky Garden complex, which consists of many buildings, shops, restaurants, a gym, pool, and tennis courts.  Sky Garden is about 50% Korean expats which is kind of strange but cool.  I feel like I've never left Korea sometimes!  Photos of Sky Garden to come in the next post...