Nhat-a-tat

Here are some photos of our miracle boy, Nhat. We will get the full story together soon, but we thought you might want to see these now.

The photograph above was taken of Nhat about six months ago. Not long after that the girls decided that they really needed to do something - and yesterday he was operated on. A local doctor plced a shunt somewhere inside that beautiful head of his to enable the excess fluid to drain out of his skull. If this procedure was not undertaken, his head would have continued to grow and he would have certainly died due to the pressure on his brain. Hydrocephellus.

These photos were taken yesterday and today.



This is little Nhat and Ms Hoa. Hoa means flower in Vietnamese, but this woman is the gem that is sitting with Nhatty night and day during his recovery at the hospital. She is from the orphanage.











Thanks to all of you that lent a helping hand.

Mekong Merchants

The big sale day finally arrived last Saturday. And since H is still frolicking at Glen Maggie instead of being here - my sales services were required.

I got to Mekong Merchants at about 0830 and things were already bumping along. (Forgot the camera, so once I helped Jo and Rob get things out of the car and on to the table, I shot back home so that you V4As could have this vicarious experience with the help of fairly average images!)



The pillows looked good and the sales started to roll in - a little slower than Jo had hoped. By 1100, we had sold no more than 6 pillows and things were looking grim. The customers (the majority being German and American women by my reckoning) seemed more intent to buy things that they could wear home. Well, this seems to be the world we live in.



But I have to admit that I had fun regardless of the rate of sales. And despite my partners slightly despairing mid-day feelings, there were lots of people circulating through the bazaar, checking out the jewellery, the pots, clothes, pictures, baby stuff and all manner of other neat stuff.

Meet Birgit, a lovely German who was set up on our left. She has been stringing natural pearls and other cool things together to create classy jewellry for the last few years. A slow but steady stream of female customers came to admire and buy these unique trinkets. I liked the belts - but they weren't long enough. So I had to buy H a surprise - shhhhh!



And these three young ladies were on our right, selling T shirts and a crazy "monopoly" board game that is based on property around HCMC. I wonder if Parker Bros with ever catch up with the crazy entreprenuer, Hilde, who came up with the idea.



Apparently these pots are made from sand dredged up from the bottom of the Saigon River. (I wonder how you separate the sand from everything else down there...) Anyway, they are beautiful, translucent pots and vases that look great with a candle in them. The local manufacturer donates all his 'spare stock' to this regular sale day. All the proceeds go to a worthy cause.



By the end of the day, we had sold about 40 pillows. We decided that this was a top effort for the first time around, and that it was all worthwhile. Hilly's split of the loot will go into our 'MAD' (make a difference!) fund.



And just to finish off - this bit of nature floats in a pot pond just out by the front door of Mekong Merchants. Kinda nice - but wish I had a real camera....

JHJ - soft spots

A few months ago, one of our friends, Jo, found out that Hillary used to do a lot of screen printing. Well that was the start of a new idea! The girls went off and sourced material, paints, screens and all the bits and pieces necessary for the operation. Throw in a little H design flair and before you know it - enough screen-printed silk to cover 70 pillows!




The big idea is to sell these masterpieces at the Mekong Merchants Bazaar. This market is run every six months or so and is a chance to raise money for charity. Some of the money will be going to the relief program in Burma and the rest will be up to the girls - probably to our favourite orphanage at Go Vap.




JHJ I hear you say? Well, that's the new designer label that will send the feathers flying all over HCMC. Jo-Hilly-Jill - the three girls with paint on their hands!



The big sale is on in a few weeks, so I will need to man the stall with Jo since both H and the other J will be on R&R in Oz.

Dalat daze

Last weekend, we went to Dalat and relaxed for a couple of days in this cool town, which sits at the southern end of the Central Highlands. It was less than an hour by small plane and then 40 minutes by road to get to our villa.



The resort, the Evason Ana Mandara Villas Resort, was built about 80 years ago by the French. After 1975, the government took it over and used it for entertaining big-wigs. But it fell into disrepair (what a surprise) until it was bought by this Thai-based company.

There are at least 12 villas spread across a hilltop overlooking the city. Each villa has 4 - 6 self-contained 'hotel' rooms. Quite old-worldy, but very comfortable. And surounded by pines and beautiful gum trees!



The restaurant is just a stroll away from the villa and the cooking is ooh soo french. The courtyard was great for breakfast, while the table by the fire on Saturday night was all ours. It was amazing to be sitting by a fire in Vietnam and not be watching someone cooking non-descript meat. It was actually that cool up there in the evening!

The pool was a nicely heated 29 degrees.





Despite the lure of the restaurant, we did manage to see some of the countryside. We met up with a couple of blokes offering tours on the back of their motor bikes, so off we went. Four hours of winding roads and visiting pagodas, farms, silk factories and mushroomed basements.

The riding was great fun, but next time we will find the bigger bikes run by a group of tour guides called the Easy Riders.




We saw silk from worm to scarf. We couldn't resist buying a scarf and bag from the girls at a shop near the Laughing Budda.





On Sunday morning, we visited Cho Dalat - the market in the middle of town. Bought some fruit but decided to head back to find lunch.



Back in the airport at HCMC, we bumped into a well-known bluesy, rock'n'roll gituarist musician named Curtis King. I previously met Curtis at the 'Sax n Art' Jazz Club in HCMC (yes, the same one that saw Paddo's bloody fingers beating the stringing a few weeks back) last year. Auscham also had his band play at the Business Awards last year. He told us that he is now travelling to Dalat every weekend where he is living - "been dreaming of escaping the heat of the city for years". He still has to work in town, but he can be heard playing every once in awhile at a small pub in cool Dalat. Sounds like a plan.

War!

Last Sunday we found ourselves at Cu Chi, about 1.5 hours drive out of town. Normally people head out there to go through the infamous tunnels and play with real guns, but that was not our aim.



Our destination was the animal rescue shelter that is run by a non-profit organisation called 'Wildlife At Risk' - WAR!! This group is dedicated to trying to save many of the country's endangered species from extinction. And with enemies like habitat loss, hunting, pollution and, above all, an illegal wildlife trade, the animals and WAR have quite a battle on their hands.



So we joined a group of 20 people that were organised by our favourite chamber of commerce, rolled up the sleeves and helped dig, paint, garden and attend to animal cages.

But above all, we met the staff and learnt a lot about their efforts and why its is so important.

This strange armadillo-like creature is called a Pangolin. The other strange looking creature is Simon, a fun-loving englishman that is absolutely passionate about what he does here.

Pangolins are also known as scaly anteaters because their body is protected by a scaly armour and they love to feed on ants and termites. They are an amazing animal that would prefer to be on its own. Unfortunately they are being wiped out for their exotic meat and Chinese medicine!



Go visit http://www.wildlifeatrisk.org/index.php?lang=en to find out more. (Oh, and I stole this photo of thier Grey Langur)

Smile!

This weekend we went to an annual ball that raises money for kids like this gorgeous little one.

Operation Smile was set up by two American doctors in 1982. They had traveled to the Philippines with other medical volunteers to help children with cleft lips and cleft palates. And after seeing just how many children needed help - they got involved. In fact, they got realy involved, to the extent that Operation Smile now operates in Bolivia, Brazil, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Gaza Strip/West Bank, Haiti, Honduras, India, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Russia, South Africa, Thailand, Venezuela....

...and Vietnam.

Over the years more than 100,000 children and young adults have been helped - that's involved.



The ball was held at the Park Hyatt, who put up the grand ballroom for nicks. We had missed out on this event last year, but made sure that we were with the mates this time around.



We had popped into the tailor the week before and got blow flies for all the lads - black with pink polka dots went down a treat (and only 30,000 dong a piece!). We were looking good and the girls were babes.



But the night was not about us - it was about raising money for the kids. They run a silent auction of lots of art and photography and also a live auction of paintings donated by several local artists.

H had decided to buy a particular painting done by a Vietnamese artist that she knows. But when the time had come to bid, her $1000 was totally swamped by a local who's who (Mr Khai of Khai Silk fame - another story some time) that decided he liked it too. He casually stuck up three fingers, thus trebling her bid. Good tactic - us novices were blown out of the water and he walked away with a steal! Next time Khai.



In the end, we did get a beautiful photo from the silent auction which will be a nice momento of a fun, but special night.



Next year, H is going to screen print bow ties and assorted stuff adorned with smiley faces to raise even more dosh for this good cause.

And the night also made us think more about our favourite orphan, Nhat, and the hydrcephalus kids like him, that we hope to help in some long term way.....

Keep smiling!

Sunday bloody sunday

Easter Sunday. Sorry for my irreverence, but Easter isn't exactly a big deal here - Jesus who? However, we did decide to acknowledge the day and headed down to the Renaissance Riverside where we rolled away a few stones of our own.



Hilly had bought a very funky dress that she was a bit worried about wearing, but she did and she ended up getting all the Easter Bunny nominations.

I am not sure, but this could be the first time that Scott and Rachel have made it on to the austere pages of V4A (that's Scott standing up on the left). Scottie, who has a wonderful Scottish accent, is Rachel's husband and was celebrating the re-signing of his annual contract. And in true style, he bought 3 bottles of Yalumba red, 'The Menzies', which went down a treat. David and I followed up, but Scott's choice was definitely the winner. Thanks mate.



Actually there were a few new faces, which is good since Andrea & Duanne, banJenna and Terence weren't around. Stewart and Mel are Sydney-ites that have been here for a few months. Stewart works with HSBC (with David) and Mel is a GP. Really nice couple with two young boys.



I think that Rachel really likes my watch, but I am not sure.

We all ended up back at our place, where we enjoyed the views from the roof and the gentle sounds of the FIVE boys rampaging around the pool!



Phew....... Nice to veg-out by the end of the day.

Chuc Le Phuc Sinh!