Panoramic View

The following day, I was still adjusting to the time zone differences, so am just staying and lazying in the apartment.

Here are some views taken from the balcony.

The apartment that i'm staying has 42 floors and my unit is at 39th. This building/tower is the highest point among the vicinity. The unit is facing the housing area which consists of flats and terrace houses, very much like Malaysia. Even the weather is exactly the same, with hot and humid tropical weather.

Despite the similar weather and housing type, there are several differences that i notices:

people here speaks Spanish, very little or none English

they drive on the right

USD notes is the legal tender in Panama, however, their coins are a mix of US coins and Panamanian Balboa coins, which carries the same value. I was having a hard time to identify the penny, nickel, dime and quarter coz there are some in US coins and some in Balboa with their local spelling, for example quarter = un cuarto de balboa.

more details on their coins, please refer here.

and i'm still couldn't get the logic of having the size of the 5cent coin bigger than the 10cent😂

These pictures (on the wall) exactly shows my puzzlement.

After lazying around for more than a day, I ventured out from my comfy crib, to get some food and groceries!

Walked past some interesting spots, such as a Chinese church...

There are several fast food restaurants within the neighbourhood, and the established ones have their standalone building, with drive thru.

Even the Krispy Kreme doughnuts have its own building with upper floor dine-in area.

I made a note to come back for their doughnuts someday...

In the meantime, let me settle my dinner at Burger King first. And yes, it has its own building.

The menu board - items are in Spanish (with some English) and prices in USD/Balboa.

Ordering the food was challenging, coz the staff doesn't speak nor understand English. This was my first encounter with their locals (other than the GM that I met earlier, who is proficient in English), so i wasn't expecting such level of comprehension.

Well, gotta use Google Translate.

I had Double Whopper at USD8.85 nett

After then, I walked back to the apartment and discovered more eateries located just opposite the tower that I'm staying.

There are Papa John Pizza, Chicken Lab, Dinastia Tang (Chinese/Asian restaurant), Oh-Toro (Japanese restaurant), plus a few pizzas and burgers restaurants.