Today, Bill and I had our first shopping experience in HCMC. WHOA!!!! What a day! We started off walking to the market but quickly realized that the streets are labeled differently and we were getting LOST! So, we turned around and decided to get a taxi. Below are a few pictures from the walk we took.
The photos are a little foggy. It's pretty humid here and when I took the camera out, the lens fogged up! I then had to dodge scooters so I decided to put the camera away!
I was absolutely amazed at how on one street there were huge houses and wealth. Literally 30 seconds away was unbelievable poverty. I looked and Bill and said, "We are so lucky."And, we are. Here we are living in a beautiful, air conditioned apartment. And right down the street from us, people are living in shanty-like towns. We've been here for 3 days now, and I'm already humbled.
The people are so kind. Everyone we see smiles at us. Everyone is helpful and friendly. The people are so hardworking. While they are doing back-breaking work, they look up and smile at us. They are beautiful.
I didn't take any other pictures of the houses and restaurants by our place yet. We were on a mission today to get household goods and groceries. We will be setting aside a day to do all touristy stuff, so be on the look out for more pics soon!
Grocery shopping and household goods shopping was very very very different than what we're used to. We went to a store called, "Life1". It was about as big as our apartment. Not a lot of selection, but we got what we needed. Seriously, enjoy your Target, Schnucks, Walmart shopping trips! I already miss the convenience they offer. We then went grocery shopping at Au Phu Supermarket. This supermarket caters to the expat community so there were a lot of imported goods. They actually some food we were familiar with like Fruity Pebbles, Ritz crackers, Cheerios, Pringles, etc. I saw a young Vietnamese couple buying items to make an Italian dinner. How cute! We bought our essentials for about $50. Not bad!
We took a taxi home and on the way we saw a Circle K convenience store. I got excited to see something "Western".
Ok...that's about it for now. We'll keep updating the blog. We miss you all.
Love,
Missy and Bill
I get it already. . .lots of new stuff. I just want to know if you got the fruity pebbles. What a cliffhanger. I'm elated to see you've made it safe and have a wonderful new place, with interesting new characters with culture to explore. It reminds me of that time I went to that place and wore that blue checkered dress, met that lion and tin man. . .they were wonderful singers and dancers, but it was scary with all these other "little monsters" about. That was last weekend when I attended the Lady Gaga concert. That bitch is everywhere. Heard music there, yet? I'd love to hear your impression!
ReplyDeleteI love it! Next time I'm at a Circle K, I'll take a pic and send it to you. We can compare!! Glad to hear all is well. I'm glad you're with Bill, and not doing this alone.
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