June and July in Vietnam and Elsewhere...

Three months will be up next week and I head for home on 2 August. Can't say that this stint in Vietnam has been particularly taxing as the last few weeks have included travelling back to Australia for Mum's 90th birthday party at Tweed Heads/Coolangatta, a KOTO party and the ANARE (Antarctic) Club's midwinter dinner in Melbourne, a holiday with Peter in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Singapore, a short trip to Thailand as well as the very first KOTO Saigon graduation ceremony at the Saigon Opera House on 14 July.

I also managed to squeeze in a weekend at Luang Prabang in Laos - always enjoyable! While eating at "L'Elephant" restaurant it's easy to imagine that you've died and gone to heaven....

Mum loved her party which brought together members of the extended family that I haven't seen for over 50 years! She's the happiest and healthiest she's been in years and well settled in to Darlington Retirement Community at Banora Point, NSW.

With Mum at her Darlington party

Mum and friend at the family party, Coolangatta Surf Club

Mum and another good-looking chick at the party

Great Vietnamese food at Huong and Van's party, Richmond, Melbourne

With Huong at the party

A bonus on the trip to Australia for Mum's 90th was flying through Melbourne and being able to catch up with Huong and Van, KOTO alumni, who are studying at Box Hill Institute of TAFE, as well as rolling  up to the ANARE Club midwinter dinner. Both are studying well and have good part-time jobs at Sofitel Collins Street. I'm proud of them!

With Peter Koenig at the midwinter dinner

The day after Huong and Van's party, Peter and I flew back to Vietnam in time to celebrate my 65th birthday in Ho Chi Minh City with KOTO colleague, Brenda (who has just left Vietnam after seven years with KOTO to take up a job in Canberra!). 

I've been staying in the same hotel in HCMC for years and management sent a lovely bunch of flowers up to my room on my birthday! That evening Peter, Brenda and I shared a long, tasty dinner at Camargue French restaurant in HCMC (with a couple of bottles of Cotes du Rhone in memory of my sojourn at Lyon...)

Birthday flowers from Spring Hotel, Saigon

With Peter and Brenda at Camargue (Slightly out-of-focus but we probably all were at this stage)

After a couple of days in Hanoi, Peter and I headed off to Kuala Lumpur and Penang which neither of us had visited before but will probably return to in the not-too-distant future. KL has some amazing architecture - both modern and colonial - as well as a great range of cheap food! 

Our hotel in KL - the Royale Chulan

The Royal Selangor Club (formerly the Royal Selangor Cricket Club)

Yes, the Petronas Towers. I suppose everyone has to take a photo....

Peter at gardens at KL City Centre gardens

In Penang we stayed at Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion - a restored Chinese mansion from the colonial era that is exactly the kind of hotel we love to stay in. With only 16 rooms and perfect Feng Shui it really is an experience! Friendly staff and lots of little break-out areas where you can relax in privacy really make the place. We also had a great evening meal on the seaside verandah of the also restored "Eastern and Oriental Hotel" watching two ships come in to Butterworth/Penang under tug assistance.

Our hotel in Penang - the Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

Hainan Temple, Penang

Khoo Khongsi Pagoda, Penang

Botanic Gardens, Penang

Shoreline Penang - the view from the Eastern and Oriental

A quiet beer on the Penang waterfront - looking towards Butterworth

The fabulous Customs House in Penang

After Penang we spent a few days in Singapore with friends Wayne and Junaidi and Barry who was visiting from Port Macquarie. It's worthwhile visiting Singapore every few years to see how quickly the place changes. The Marina Bay Sands hotel complex and the "Gardens by the Sea" may not be to everyone's taste but they are certainly impressive! Not too many bargains in Singapore these days but still a great range of food - from food courts to upmarket restaurants. A bonus in Singapore was catching up with our friend, Sze Tho, from Johor Bahru in Malaysia, who made the journey down from JB to spend a day with us.

A couple of tourists on the Singapore River

Singapore River sculpture

Peter and Sze Tho relaxing over a coffee

Science and Technology Museum, Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands Hotel with the rooftop "gondola"

"Gardens by the Sea" with plant-clad steel "trees" and conservatory

After Singapore Peter flew out of HCMC back to Australia and I spent a few days with John Salter and his wife, Nui, in Jomtien, Thailand (near Pattaya) before returning to HCMC for the very first KOTO Saigon graduation when classes 1 and 2 received their diplomas.

Time spent with John is always relaxing as two Southport State High School Old Boys reminisce over a drink or two....

The Salter Residence in Jomtien

In the pool with Nui

The bedroom in the luxurious guest suite at "Chez Salter"

John at home

The first KOTO Saigon graduation ceremony was a bit of an emotional roller-coaster ride especially as Mr Doan, class 1, made a moving speech about his life before and after KOTO. He is my hero...

Singing, break-dancing and re-enacting former lives before KOTO (an emotional experience for both trainees and the audience) made up the entertainment which was put on wholly by KOTO trainees.

Classes 1 & 2 on the steps of the Opera House, Saigon

Dressing up...

The Graduates

Tuan and Phan

Hang and Kha

Son, class 1, Ruth, chef-trainer, Brenda, training manager, Philip, Phi, class 1

Onstage at the Opera House

Opera House interior 

Next major event was the Dream Bottle Ceremony for Class 21, the latest class at KOTO Hanoi. The trainees write down their dreams and aspirations for the future, put them in a bottle which is then placed in a special glass cabinet in the foyer of the training centre (where they can see it every day) and they get their dream bottle back when they graduate. Class 21 have only been at KOTO six weeks and are a small class with only 17 trainees but they're doing well.

With Ms Ha, Manager, Jimmy Pham and Cameron Hancock, Welfare Manager, at the Dream Bottle Ceremony

Class 18 provided the MC's (Mr Binh and Ms Ngoan) and the vocalist (Mr Long)

Passing on lighted candles at the Dream Bottle Ceremony

With Class 21

With Lam, class 19, and Bao, class 20, at the Dream Bottle Ceremony

So that's about it for another year! Working at KOTO and Blue Dragon is rewarding but it's always good to come home...

May in Hanoi

The major event in May was the annual KOTO graduation ceremony at Daewoo Hotel, Hanoi, on Monday 7 May when classes 16 and 17 received their diplomas and headed off to make their way in the world. They'll always remain part of the KOTO family though and many will return to KOTO as staff members sometime in the future to pass on the skills they've learned.

The evening featured pop singers, spectacular break-dancing by class 19 and 20 trainees, play acting, a classical music quartet and professional dancers as well as the handing out of diplomas. With over 400 people attending, it was a robust affair as previously graduated classes got together for reunions with their old classmates.

Quoc Anh, class 16, and Chien, class 17

 Break-dancing by Class 19 and 20 Trainees

At the graduation with some of the great kids from Class 19

Included in the Class 16 graduates was Mr Quoc Anh who, a few years ago, was destitute on the streets of Hanoi after losing a leg in a motorbike accident. He appealed for help to KOTO founder and father-figure, Jimmy Pham, who gave him a bed and a job and also managed to get him a better prosthetic leg. Quoc Anh was later admitted to the KOTO training program and was determined that his handicap wasn't going to hold him back. He took on extra english lessons and learned how to negotiate steps with a full tray of drinks/food on only one good leg. His efforts paid off and he's now a barista at the upmarket "St Honore" French bakery and bistro on West Lake. I dropped in on him yesterday and he looked happy and well. 

There was a happy reunion with Class 19 at the KOTO Training Centre as training got under way again but it was a shock to learn a startling statistic. Of the twenty-three kids in this class, eighteen of them either have no parents (and were raised in institutions) or have only one parent (their mum). Even some of those with only one parent ended up in institutions as mum simply couldn't cope. It's sad to reflect on so many kids growing up without the love of parents, siblings, grandparents or other family members and you could excuse them if they were angry, sad, pessimistic, and generally disenchanted with what life has dished out to them. But they are, like most KOTO trainees, happy, grateful, enthusiastic and eternally optimistic!

One is my foster son, Hiep, who has never known his father, has no siblings or grandparents and ended up in an institution when his mother developed mental problems and was unable to raise him. Over lunch recently I asked him what he wanted to do when he finished his KOTO studies. 

Many trainees look forward to being a top-flight bartender dishing up exotic cocktails at a flash joint like the Sunset Bar at the five star Intercontinental West Lake. The list of desirable possessions that such a job may makes accessible includes an i-phone, i-pad, and a Honda Airblade motorbike or something similar.

So what does Hiep want to do?

He wants to be another Jimmy Pham and "help the poor people of Vietnam"!  Such a big heart in such a tiny body.

With Hiep, Class 19

As well as Class 19, two other classes are currently studying at KOTO Hanoi; 20 and 21, the latter having been on the job for only about a month.  A lack of funds meant that a number of staff had to be laid off recently and KOTO now only has one full-time Vietnamese english teacher which means plenty of work for volunteers like me! Normally I wouldn't meet Class 21 until they've completed their full orientation and been segregated in Kitchen and Front-of-House trainees but we've already met in the classroom. There are only 17 of them as opposed to the usual 23 - 24 in a new class  but most have completed high school and they are an enthusiastic bunch.

Class 21

Class 20

KOTO family competed in the recent National Cocktail Competition run by the multinational Monin cocktail syrups company in Vietnam when Ms Giang and Mr Binh from Class 18 and staff member Mr Thuong (Class 12) made the semi finals. Ms Giang did well to win the semi finals despite still being a trainee but was wiped out by the professional bartenders from Ho Chi Minh City who took out first, second and third places in the finals. Still, it was a great effort and good experience for all who participated.

Giang at the Monin National Cocktail Competition

Plenty of visitors turned up in May too so social life has been busy! Mac's friend, Sze Tho from Malaysia came over for the KOTO graduation and then took ten of his own hospitality trainees from Johor Bahru to visit KOTO Saigon's restaurant. While he was in Hanoi we tried out the new upmarket Pots n Pans restaurant which is associated with KOTO. Ian Henry's grand-daughter, Melanie, also paid a visit before heading off on a grand tour of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and we caught up for dinner at KOTO restaurant on a quiet Saturday night. Athol Gardiner and wife Liz have also been visiting their son, Aaron, in Hanoi and we met up for dinner at both KOTO restaurant and Pots n Pans on either side of their trip to Sapa. http://potsnpans.vn/

The dining room and wine cellar at Pots n Pans restaurant

And foster son, Lam, also brought his beautiful daughter, Dieu Linh, to visit one Sunday morning.

Dieu Linh on the phone

Dieu Linh on the milk