We made it!

Well, here we are getting ready for bed after our first full day in Ho Chi Minh City. We arrived late last night, jet lagged and with a very unhappy cat, and were met by the very cheerful and helpful assistant principal and Mandarin teacher. The trip itself was largely uneventful, aside from a 3-hour delay right at the very beginning.

Here's Melody being all chill in the waiting area in Logan Airport.

We did have to rush through Toronto, though, to make up for lost time. In Tokyo we were actually a little early, thanks in part by an employee who kindly took it upon himself to escort the cat and assist with her paperwork.

And in the plane from Tokyo to HCM City, Awesomecloud totally crashed.

The hotel is awful about cats - they offered to put Melody in her carrier in the basement - but fortunately a teacher at the school offered to keep her in his apartment with his cat. I went for that. He invited us over to check on her tomorrow. No reports of problems so far.

This morning we had pho for breakfast and then set up to explore the neighborhood of the hotel. We saw busy streets and quiet parks.

And just now we had a nice dinner at a makeshift street restaurant in Bến Thành Market.

Here's my coconut with a straw stuck in it and carefully held mini spring roll.

Tomorrow we have an epic house-hunting schedule, starting at 8:30 AM. That's 8:30 PM the previous day for all you East Coasters reading this. That's right - while you settle in for some prime time TV tonight or some internet surfing before bed, we will be in tomorrow morning already, seeing homes with a realtor in the outer neighborhoods of Ho Chi Minh City. 

And while you all start your day this morning, I'm going to turn in. My Thursday has already nearly ended. Good night!