Stormy days in Saigon

Last Wednesday we were hearing about a big storm about to hit Saigon.  All the schools in the city ended up closing early, to our surprise.  We got dismissed about 45 minutes early because the storm was expected to hit around 3 to 4 pm.  Everyone happily went home, but nothing happened until the middle of the night.  I woke up to the sound of hard rain, for hours.  In the morning, I was expecting some school closures because I knew for sure that roads would be flooded.  Our school is located in an area surrounded by small river ways which partially flood the surrounding roads occasionally due to tides.  Knowing it would be a wet day, we put on our rain ponchos and drove to school.  The main boulevard that everyone drives down was flooded in some parts.  We saw many motorbikes stalled on the side of the road from all the water.  When we reached the gate that led to the subdivision our school is in, the principal was standing there telling everyone to go to the second gate further down the road because it was more dry.  It was pretty flooded, and we were lucky that the bike made it to the end of the road to school.  I wish I could have taken a pic of the road!  Buses were late, but most kids in the junior grades showed up at school.  It honestly felt like a "snow day" in Canada!

Now, typhoon Haiyan is expected to hit Vietnam.  This is a super typhoon that did a lot of damage in the Philippines this weekend.  Luckily, it is not hitting Saigon, but we will likely get some rain due to how huge it is.  I'm just about done with rainy season here... I will gladly welcome months of stifling heat from the endless sun!

HCMC is in the south part of Vietnam, thankfully!