Gieo Le-Thanh

Thanks for the Memories

l3thanh — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 12:15:48 +0000

Thanks to everyone who has supported Reaching Out and Vietnam Volunteer Network this year… Merry Christmas

Say Hello

l3thanh — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:41:35 +0000

Meet the kids of Go Vap orphanage in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The orphanage is home to about 200 children, many of whom suffer severe physical and menthol disabilities.

Sunset at Phu Quoc

l3thanh — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 23:57:23 +0000

I couldn’t resist taking this photo…

Phu Quoc Sunset

Scars of War

l3thanh — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 03:27:22 +0000

Welcome to the Agent Orange ward at the Tu Du Peace Village located in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

The ward is home to about 60 disabled children; their disabilities are due to the devastating effects of Agent Orange.

Reaching Out visited the Agent Orange ward to deliver milk aid and christmas gifts and to meet the children living on the ward. The children were a delight to meet, and had such amazing personalities and were full of life.

Please follow Reaching Out at http://reachingoutvn.wordpress.com

The Only Monk in the Village

l3thanh — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:15:01 +0000

Our video of our visit to the Thanh Son Buddhist Orphanage just outside of Nha Trang, home to over 100 orphan children and a few poor people who the monk has taken into care. The orphanage is run by just a few monks, who care for the children and provide an education.

Reaching Out are honoured to be able to have provided the supply and delivery of much needed rice and milk for the children as well as some school stationery.

l3thanh — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 20:26:59 +0000

It’s Not Unusual….

l3thanh — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 19:51:03 +0000

Argh! It’s 02:45 in the morning(Saturday I think)… This is the second day in the run that I’ve not been able to sleep…

We visited the Thanh Son Buddhist orphanage near Nha Trang this evening. There are about102 orphan children and a few poor people who have been taken in by the Buddhist monks. It was amazing to see the kids, they were SOS disciplined and polite. There were some who could have easily have been about Liêu’s age training to become monks. Not all the children were training to become monks, they were all given the choice, which is amazing I think. More to come on on Thanh Son after our visit tomorrow when we shall be buying food supplies and aid for the orphanage and cook for the children…I hope they like beans on toast :s

Well since I can’t get any sleep, I’ve taken advantage of the spare time to edit the Thanh Xuan video…go check it out on the official Reaching Out blog http://reachingoutvn.wordpress.com

iPho II

l3thanh — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:40:28 +0000

It’s now 3:34 in the morning and I’ve been awake for hours… Seem to be going through that phase where you can’t get to sleep. I don’t think its jet lag, because I slept pretty well on the first night. In fact, I over slept and the only difference really was that I was a little tired and was up until 2am with Matt drinking at the Late Bar. I really don’t understand why I can’t sleep, maybe it’s the bed or the lack of beers :s

Had a chat with Rufi and the girls on FaceTime and was going to try Catherine, but it seems she was too busy making her Christmas pudding. It’s the whole wheelie-bin debacle a lover again!

Thought I’d catch up the blog stuff until the sun comes up and I can go for a jog around the lake, or maybe I’ll just go for a brisk walk and take the camera so you can see all the Vietnamese doing their Tai Chi and other early morning exercise.

After our meal last night, I went for a walk around the lake in vain hope to find myself a new cowboy hat, as I didn’t bring the one I bought last year as I’m definitely going to need one for Nha Trang and Saigon as its much hotter down there…

As I was walking around the left side of the I could hear this odd quick-step sort of dance music, that wouldn’t seem out of place on an Inspector Clouseau movie. As I walked towards the music, I was amazed to see a small group of people all ballroom dancing to the music! That’s sorted out my ‘Strictly’ fix, lol

Unfortunately I was unable to find myself a replacement cowboy hat, as the shop had shut by the time I had pulled myself away from the dancing.

Oh great news btw; after joining Kim, Matt and Angela for a quick beer near the back packers area, I came across the official ‘iPho T-Shirt’ company so picked one up for a mere £7! Unfortunately the one I bought last year seems to have shrunk in the wash with some other t-shirts (and trousers too :s)

The world is a much brighter place now I’ve found myself my iPho!

Universal Translator

l3thanh — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 08:44:09 +0000

Woke up this morning a little later than planned, well actually a lot later than planned. In the whole excitement of arriving in Hanoi, meeting up with Kim, Angela and Matt as well as finding some amazing food I neglected to reactivate my alarms for this morning and slightly oversleep :s

I also discovered that my phone is now in English which is a nice surprise. Matt explained that we bumped into a group of Spanish tourists, and they managed to change the settings for me… It’s amazing who you can meet in this country.

Holding onto my Dong

l3thanh — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 08:41:09 +0000

Well it’s my first proper day in a Hanoi, the weather is amazing. Very sunny and warm, with a pleasant cool breeze.

Meet up with Kim and her friend Angela last night, and Matt finally arrived at the hotel after somewhat of a delay at immigration control.

Kim gave me the Vietnamese sim, which I installed into my phone, an rather old and battered Nokia 6100, and was then stumped as I hadn’t counted on the menu not being in English. Initially, I made the mistake of thinking it was Vietnamese, then realised how stupid I was being as it was Matt pointed out that it was in fact Spanish. It’s a good job I don’t work with interfaces for a living :s. try as I might, I just couldn’t work out how to change in to English so decided that I’m just have to put up with it as it is…

We took a stroll through the night market which went on for miles as it stretched along Hàng Ðào. It was very interesting to see all the locals bustling away bargaining for goods and better prices. We cam across a great looking street restaurant and ate and got pestered by a couple of kids trying to sell some chewing gum.

I tried my usual polite tact of shaking my head and saying “No Thank You”, but the little girl, who looked about the same age as Liêu (7 I think) as very persistent and continued to tap my shoulder int the hope (presuming) she’d wear me down. Fortunately for me though, after bout five minutes of shoulder tapping, she got the impression that she would have no luck with me, and just before she turned to leave, decided to land a nice sharp kidney punch on my lower right kidney… didn’t see that one coming :s