Pure Vietnam Beauty & Spa Nha Trang Blog

Pure Vietnam Beauty and Spa Charity for July - Thanh Son Pagoda

With the start of the school year in Vietnam upon us we decided to go to Cam Lamh Pagoda, Thanh Son Orphanage for charity for the month of July.

Some of our amazing friends have given us money to spend on worthwhile causes and with some of this money I bought Books, pencils, pens, erasers and sharpeners for the children of this Pagoda. They have around fifty children attending local schools at the moment. As every parent knows sending children to school costs quite a bit of money! It is wonderful to be able to help these Children a little with their education.

We also took food for the children, 100kg of rice, 50 bags of fake meat, 2 kgs of dried mushrooms, 5 kgs of beans and cartons of milk along with cake. One of the girls I teach English to donated a carton of milk.

Thank you Ngoc.
I took some photos of some of the ladies who prepare the food here. They do an amazing job and are always gracious and smiling.

One of the children that was left at the orphanage when he was a new born weighed just 700gm. He's now 25 months old and they call him little mouse. He is so tiny but has a great smile and uses it on all the girls.

There is a 9 month old baby that I remember when he was first left at the orphanage. He has grown so much. He is nearly walking and has a few teeth and just smiles all the time.

Some of the children have mental and physical disabilities. Two of them are restricted to the floor or chairs and need restraining when not in chairs. We bought the smaller child a mobile with music so he has something to play with and have some more tactile stimulation. He loved the music that it played.

It was an excellent day. Thank you to all the people who donated money to help the children and those that helped buy everything and those that came with me. It was an amazing and humbling day as always. Makes you very glad to be alive.

Pure Vietnam Beauty and Spa Charity for June - Loc Tho Pagoda

What a fantastic morning! Charity for the month of June was at Loc Tho Pagoda.

We took fake meat, vegetables, fruit, beans and dried mushrooms to eat. This Pagoda has 130 local and orphaned children that attend their school. We are lucky to have friends visiting from Australia at this time and they have four young children. We took our friends to the Pagoda and the Australian children taught the Vietnamese children a song, called mother finger and the Vietnamese children got to show the Australian children some of the songs that I have taught them while I have been teaching English here, head shoulders knees and toes and the hokey pokey.

There was a lot of laughter and fun. The Australian children bought pencils to give to the children of the Pagoda so they could color in.

At the end of the lessons we taught the children how to brush their teeth correctly. As a part of the charity we bought every child a toothbrush (with some extra’s and big tubes of toothpaste as well).

After teaching, while the children had a break, we all played in the playground. It’s amazing how well the children were able to play without having to know the language. The teachers also got to practice their English.

Thank you to our Australian friends. Paul, Nicole, Jasmine and Riley Peacock, Roz and Brian Harmsworth and Pierre, Tracey, Max and Sebastian De Villecourt. Also many thanks to Pure Vietnam staff and friends who came with us.

Sweets and Sinto

Sinto

There are many places to have different smoothies (Sinto) in Nha Trang. There are also many different combinations. I’m not a fan of Durian and I have a problem with drinking avocardo. This is a favourite local drink avocardo and durian smoothie when they are in season. I love ripe mango (Xoai). One of the best places we have found for this is on 2 4 Street. It is just back from a busy intersection that you turn left at and go to the university, on the left hand side if you are going into town. I am unsure what they do differently but this place at night is packed with students. Yes it is cheap but the quality is great. Only open after 5 pm.

You can also get flan here. Crème caramel without the brulee but served with ice and coffee. Doesn’t sound fantastic but apparently delicious. I like it without the coffee. 10 000 per serve. Price lists are on the wall.

Deep fried Banana and Sweet Potato

Deep fried banana and sweet potato. Several places on Dang Tat Street. Normally available between 3-5pm. 10 000 per serve. You will get a mix of both. You can ask for just banana (duey). There are a few places around that do this. It is better fresh and hot than cold. The batter loses its crispness and can become oily.

Sweet Banana Soup

Sweet banana soup. Sounds a little weird but it is amazing. We went out with some friends from Australia the other night who we had previously taken here and she wanted to go here first in case it was closed or sold out by the time we finished dinner.

The banana is wrapped in sticky rice and grilled. It is sliced up and served with sweet coconut milk and sago covered with crushed peanuts. Available after 7 pm. This lady has been making it for 40 + years. In winter it sells very quickly. In summer because of the heat it is available 9-10pm if your lucky. It is very sweet but addictive. 10 000 per serve. On 2 4 street. Past the traffic lights on your right outside of the church.

Coconut Jelly

Coconut Jelly in a cup. This is made from agar agar and coconut water and some times some flesh and some people make to coconut milk top. I like the coconut milk top. At night in some of the busier areas students will come around and sell these. Normally 6-10 000 each. There is a lady who sells them in Dang Tat Street after 4-5 pm and they are excellent. Not too sweet and refreshing. You get the spoon as well 4 000VND each in Dang Tat Street.

There are a lot of lunch places selling much the same but a little different. They change their menu everyday so that you do not feel bored. There is once place in Dang Tat Streer where we like to eat. The lady she has many food available which made of egg, pork, beef...We had 2 meals with rice, chicken, vegetable, sauces and a bottle of Revive for 70 000VND. Normally, you can pick what you like. Pointing is allowed. We think the lady actually speaks good English but she doesn’t actually speak to you.

Another choice for lunch probably is Banh My or Pho. Expect to pay from 15 000 VND to 20 000 VND each dish of Com. They will have small box for you if you want to take away.

Pho is about 20 000 VND to 30 000 VND a bowl.

Here are some places of Com that you may be have for lunch in Dang Tat Street.

Local Sea food in Dang Tat Street

In the middle of Dang Tat Street is a seafood place that we like to eat at Hai San Sinh Vien. This area is mainly know for student snail however we eat other seafood and the owner really looks after us. It is street food with locals. The tables are small and we eat on the roadside however there is inside seating but still at small tables. The food is cooked to one side but all fresh.

Before we started eating we had a street vendor selling Quail eggs and peanuts come around and who can resist these great snacks. One bag of each. Peel the eggs and dip in a little salt and pepper mix.

Obviously the price will depend on what you order. We went the other night and had 6 large prawns BBQ’d (on skewers), about 500gm clams steamed in broth with chili, lemon grass and lime, and stirfried sqid with some vegs. This is a delicious dish known as Muc Xao. Cooked with tomato and pineapple it is a sweet and sour dish. In all we paid 257 000vnd but this also included drinks (beers and water).

There is lots of entertainment in the street with singing, sometimes magic and dancing. Obviously watching the world go by is entertaining in itself J

BBQ Duck

Yes I know BBQ Duck is available in most countries however this would be one of the best places to eat duck that I have been to and I have eaten it in many countries. This is street food at its finest. BBQ’ed in the street. The duck is cooked on a rotisserie over coals and basted in a special sauce every so often. The bulk of the fat is rendered out this way so it isn't as fatty as a lot of other duck places are. There is steamed duck available but it is the BBQ Duck that all the locals come for.

You will eat at the tables with the locals and very few foreigners. ½ a duck with salad and rice will cost approximately $6.00 for two people. Order Chao (pronounced gow) (rice soup with BBQ duck juice) you will probably get some duck blood in it just ignore it if you want or eat it, it tastes a bit like liver. The basic drinks of beer, pepsi, mineral water, sting and 7 up are available served with ice in a glass. Filtered water is available. The sisters that run this business with husband and some friends have been doing this for years.

We have been very regular customers of this establishment and is one of our favorite places to go. If I am feeling a little off the Chao is what I have. To me it is the same as chicken soup with that amazing warm nourishing feeling. Address is 29 Phan Chu Trinh with the name of “Dung Linh”. Opens around 4- 5 pm and goes till late.

Teaching English to Children

One of the things I am privileged to do is to teach English to children at a local Pagoda. This Pogoda has orphans but also has a school for local children whose parents don't have a lot of money. The Pagoda teaches to fifth grade. They feed all the children lunch ensuring they get a reasonable meal each day. I go there on Saturday mornings and teach English from 7:30-9:15. I teach 2 classes, third grade and a combined fourth and fifth class. I have been doing this for a couple of months now and whilst it can be a little challenging it is a fabulous thing to watch some of the kids start to have an English conversation with me. They are innately shy and so it has taken quite some time but now they run to me to greet me, I play skipping and games with them. I get cuddles and high fives.However when you bring out the camera they certainly aren't shy.

I am not a qualified teacher but I have had experience with teaching adults. I want it to be fun so we do lots of games and coloring in and drawing. I’m lucky enough to have found a website that I pay a yearly subscription to that helps enormously with training aids.

The other week I decided to teach them about different types of clothing. I made cut out dolls and cut out lots of different clothing with tags so the children could dress and undress the dolls. They had a great time! Most of the time I have a short story about what we are teaching and they love hearing these.

They all want to help and often they will sort all my papers for me (sometimes not necessarily how I want them) but they love to help.

I have started teaching some of their teachers English as well. These ladies work here for not a lot of money and it is nice to do something for them. We meet twice a week after school. There are some of their friends coming as well and it’s turning into a bit of a social thing. The other day I asked them to write a story about their family. They blew me away with the effort they put it. They are learning so fast. It bought a bit of a tear to my eye.

This is certainly one of those things that you do that you get more out of it than you give :)

Pure Vietnam Beauty and Spa Charity for May

Thank you to Maria Voloshina for generously donating money towards the money that Pure Vietnam spends on charity each month.
Pure Vietnam has been open for one year and the first 1 000 000 vnd that we made we spent at Mr Phuc’s orphanage so I decided that one year later this is where we needed to go . This orphanage has around 20 children. We have been coming here for 12 years. It was the first orphanage that we visited in Vietnam. It is great to watch the children grow up.

We contacted them and asked if they needed anything special. Mr Phuc told us 6 of the children needed bags for school. With the help of staff and friends we went to the markets and bought lots of fruit, vegetables, 4 chickens, 50 eggs, 20 toothbrushes, 6 packets of cake, 50 sausages and two cartons of milk. Lots of food for hungry children. Lots of protein to keep them full so they can concentrate at school.

It’s great to go and spend time with the children and see them smile. Thank you to Dung, Nga, Nhu and Hien for helping us with the shopping and taking it to the orphanage. A cold drink after was certainly appreciated. We had a wonderful time.

Banh Xeo (Vietnamese Pancakes)

Banh Xeo is literally "sizzling cake"(a pancake) named for the loud sizzling sound it makes when the rice batter is poured into a hot skillet. This is a savory fried pancake made of rice flour, water, turmeric. Initially slivers of fatty pork, small prawns, squid and quail egg or chicken egg are placed in the skillet and quickly semi cooked and then the batter is placed on top with sometimes diced green onion and bean sprouts. This is cooked quickly with a little oil. Banh Xeo comes in two sizes and I find that the smaller ones can be a little oily for me. The larger Banh Xeo is cut into pieces and then you wrap in mustard leaf, lettuce leaves or rice paper wrappers, and stuff with mint leaves, basil, fish leaf and/or other herbs, and dipped in a sweet and sour diluted fish sauce. The sauce can sometimes have pineapple added to give the savory flavor. There is normally only a little chili added to the sauce.

We discovered this local place which I think is really delicious. 50 000vnd for two pancakes more than fed 3 of us. Watching the lady cook is lots of entertainment as well as watching the world go by on motorbikes. Address is 85 To Hien Thanh Street. Open only in the evenings.

Bo Ne (Steak)

Steak in a Vietnamese city is probably not going to be what you are used to having in Australia or America. However you can have a steak locally without paying restaurant prices.

Bo Ne is a smaller steak, normally served with a meatball and sometimes an egg on a sizzling plate that continues to cook the meat. It is normally served in a sauce that is very flavorsome. Accompanying it will be a salad and sauce of mayonnaise and chili, and if you’re lucky, a bread roll.

This is a very filling meal for the princely sum of around 70 000vnd. I tried something called shaking beef cubes the other night and this ended up being an equivalent of a stir fry. This was too much for me (a female) and the two of us finished it off. I think this could be easily shared between two people. The place we like to eat Bo Ne at is 116 Hoang Van Thu Street. Normal chairs with tablecloths however you will be the only foreigner there. Normal drinks of water, beer, some soft drinks are available. This is a busy restaurant but they are very efficient. Staff are very friendly.

Bun Bo (Hue)

This dish is eaten at any time of the day. I like to have this for breakfast particularly if I am feeling a little delicate. For dinner I like Bun Bo Heo, which has the same broth but with the added bonus of a hunk of pork.

Bun means thick noodles and Bo means beef — Bun Bo Hue is most often based on a pork-intensive stock, with small amounts of braised or raw beef added as a garnish. The noodle in Nha Trang is thicker than that added in the northern parts of Vietnam.

Bun Bo originated in Hue, a former capital of Vietnam. Outside the city of Hue and some parts of Central Vietnam, it is called bún bò Huế to denote its origin. Within Huế and surrounding cities, it is known simply as bún bò. The broth is prepared by simmering beef bones and beef shank with lemongrass and then seasoned with fermented shrimp sauce and sugar for taste. Very spicy chili oil is added later during the cooking process. Bun Bo is spicy, sour, salty, and sweet all at once. The beef and pork based broth’s main flavor is the delicate infusion of lemongrass. The rice noodles are cylindrical and round, slippery and firm.

Bun Bo normally consists of the thick noodles with slices of beef and it routinely has cubes of congealed pig blood, which is dark brown in color. The texture resembles tofu and the taste is fairly mild. It is easily avoided if you don’t want to eat it.

A stock is kept simmering then room temperature noodles are placed in a strainer normally dipped in hot water and then placed in a bowl. Raw beef or pre cooked beef is added along with the blood and then the stock is placed over to heat everything up.

It is commonly served with lime wedges, sometimes a mix of lettuce, shaved banana flower, mint leaves and bean sprouts, there is always the various mixes of chili ranging from hot to blow your head off hot, soy sauce and sometimes fish sauce.

We like to have this for breakfast in Dang Tat street – 20 000 VND or if we are closer to the city at breakfast time, on the corner of Phan Chu Trinh and Le Loi Street – 40 000VND. Dinnertime it has to be on the sidewalk near ABC bakery on Phan Chu Trinh Street between the two round abouts – 30 000 VND.

Fresh Seafood - Hai San

There is an amazing range of fresh seafood available in Nha Trang cooked in many different ways. We like to eat seafood in a few places but the main place we like to eat if we want a reasonable amount is Thap Ba Street. We go to a restaurant called Dong Xuan. It is the first restaurant on the left hand side after you turn in from Tran Phu Street. It is north of the city over the bridge. You are out of the main tourist area but some tourists will come here.We bring many of our customers here and always bring family and friends here.

The prices are lower than in the city and it is popular with the locals so the turnover of food is good meaning it is fresh. Out the front of the restaurant is the seafood set up in baskets in water some with oxygen being pumped in to keep it alive. You can pick what you want and choose how much (by weight), normally negotiate a price and decide how you want it cooked. There is a menu for hotpots, rice and vegetable. All food is served with a great array of sauces. I don't like chilli and so they give me soy without chilli.

We like prawns (Tom), crab (Ghe) and shell (like a vongole). The shell is cooked in a broth with lemongrass and chilli, prawns are steamed as is the crab. This is finger licking good. One kg of prawns, 1 kg of shell, 4 crabs a couple of beers and soft drinks for four people cost us 762 000 VND $36 USD. You always pay for hand towels too (2 000VND each). We couldn’t fit anymore in.

This is our bill for feeding 4 adults and drinks. $36.00

There is small seating out the front (local place) and inside the restaurant is big seats with tables that have tablecloths. You can choose.

While you sit here there is a large range people hoping to entertain you with music, dancing and magic. They sing or dance and their friend will come around and sell you some sugared peanuts or crackers and this is how they make money.

There is also a range of people selling many things from rice cakes, lotto, green mango, chewing gum and if you are lucky enough coconut jelly. I love this. We bought some for 6 000VND each. This one is particularly good incorporating coconut milk and well as coconut water. This little boy (who is eight) was selling green apple and chilli salt. He looked hungry so we gave him crab (which he had never had) and a coconut jelly to eat (which he loved). He would be at school all day and then out with his mother selling food trying to earn money at night.

I had an amazing day doing the monthly charity for Pure Vietnam Beauty and Spa.
I went to a Pagoda about 40kms south of Nha Trang. This Pagoda has 70 children in it ranging from 8 months to sixteen years of age with some of the children having disabilities. Downs syndrome, spina bifida, cleft palatte were some that I recognized and some I didn’t recognize. They do it fairly tuff here because they are not easily accessible like the other orphanages in Nha Trang (not that any of them have an easy time).

Some friends of ours had given us some money to buy things for orphans.Jacob George, Kim Chi Tran, Robyn Glasgow and daughter Tarja and Nguyen Lanh.
I decided to pool the money along with some of ours and bought a couple og kilos of dried mushrooms, many bags of fake meat (Buddhist’s can’t eat meat), cartons of milk, boxes of noodles, lots of rice, and chuppa chups.

I hired a car and went with Minh Hiền a friend of hers and one of our security guards who wanted to do charity.Steve Brown and the rest of the staff had to work.

These kids are shy yet want to talk and touch. They all want attention.

They who have nothing shared their lunch with us. It was their honor to be able to give to us because we gave to them. A very humbling experience. It was a delicious lunch of pumpkin, fried sweet potato, rice and zucchini soup. The older boys are so studious and are very keen to practice their English. Some of the older boys kept studying through lunch. (maybe they had an exam coming up?)

We gave out milk and chuppa chups. Each child would only have one chuppa chups with many of the older boys giving the younger children theirs so they had two.
We should all take a moment to appreciate what we have and especially on Mother’s Day appreciate those who have given to us selflessly.
It is both a humbling but an incredibly uplifting experience to be able to help someone else even just a little.

Banh Can (rice flour cake with many different fillings)

Banh can are small round cakes made of rice flour batter, baked over a charcoal fire on a special plate that has rounded hollows and these have little cast iron lids that go over each hollow. The cakes are then served with a combination of fried green onion, fish sauce and thinly-shredded green mango (you add to your taste) mixed with mouthwatering sauce of lemon juice, garlic, sugar and red pepper.

There can be many fillings. Quail eggs (Trung cut), squid (Muc), prawns (Tom), beef (Bo), chicken eggs (Trung Ga) and small snails (Hen) are some of the combinations I have seen. Chicken or quail eggs can be added to the batter for another variation on the cake. The eggs change the color from white to yellow.

You can get a pork ball in the sauce while you are waiting and this is called Xiu Mai (10 000vnd each). These are delicious.

There are many places to buy these but only on the streets. It is an afternoon or evening snack or meal.

This place (51 To Hien Thanh) is we think, the best in Nha Trang. It is a husband and wife team. She does the cooking and he does the serving and taking orders. He can speak a little English but pointing is also effective. It offers a mixed plate of six pieces, normally this is enough for one, costing 60 000 vnd. You can get all of one or none of what you don't like. I personally am not much a fan of the Hen (small snail) but I love everything else. They are open after 3pm most nights. Some evenings there is quite a crowd so it can be a wait but it is worth it.

(tiếng Việt bên dưới)

We are fortunate enough to have some wonderful friends who are like minded people. Chris Greenwell, Steve Gee, Malcolm and Robyn Campbell and Colleen Rendell all gave me money to spend.Pure Vietnam was going to Thanh Son Orphanage to take food so I combined our trip.

I combined this money and was able to buy:
• 180 school books
• 100pens
• 80 pencils
• 50 refillable lead packets for pencils
• 80 erasers
• 12 boxes of chalk

Thank you all so much for your very generous donations. The children are very appreciative. It helps immensely with their education to have the basic tools

Thanh Son Orphanage was founded in 1994 and has had up to 100 orphans.
Unfortunately things have been hard for them and their numbers have fluctuated. At present they have 75 children under their care.

Chúng tôi thật sự may mắn khi nhân được quyên góp từ những người bạn hào phóng của chúng tôi. Chris Greenwell, Steve Gee, Malcolm and Robyn Campbell và Colleen Rendell đều gửi tặng tiền cho chúng tôi thực hiện công tác từ thiện. Pure Vietnam Beauty and Spa dự định sẽ mang thức ăn đến trại trẻ mồ côi Thanh Sơn, sau đó chúng tôi quyết định phối hợp cả hai.

Tôi đã gộp tiền của tất cả mọi người lại và đã mua được:

180 tập

100  viết mực

80 viết chì

50 ruột viết chì

80 cục tấy

12 hộp phấn viết bảng

Cảm ơn mọi người rất nhiều đã tham gia quyên góp. Tất cả các em đều rất vui sướng. Với dụng cụ học tập này phần nào cổ vũ tinh thần cho các em đến trường.

Trại trẻ mồ côi Thanh Sơn được thành lập vào năm 1994 và hiện tại trại có 100 trẻ mồ cô. Không may rằng các em không có điều kiện sở hửu đầy đủ như trẻ em bình thường và 100 là một con số không hề nhỏ. Hiện tại chỉ có 25 trẻ được quan tâm chăm sóc, 75 còn lại các em tự thân trông nom bản thân.

(tiếng Việt bên dưới)

A gift of 18 new clothes and shoes for TET...
One of the local orphanages that we have visited many times has 18 children. These children range in ages from one year to 11 years old. Most of the children are over five years. TET is the time for new things to bring in the new year. bringing good luck. Just because you are an orphan does not mean that you shouldn't have new things.

Pure Vietnam bought dresses, shorts and tee shirts for all children. Then to give them the experience we took each child to a shoe shop so they could pick out their own shoes. It was priceless. To see their excitement and the joy in their faces. It was very hard for them to make the all important decision of which pair of shoes to choose! I think many were intimidated by the choice. The joy and pride on their faces when they had on their new clothes and shoes was worth any amount of money.

Thank you to our staff and friends that helped us with this. It is a big responsibility to take someone else's child on your motorbike. Without their help the children would not have had this experience.

We had a great time. I think the children were exhausted by the time we left. I know we were. Chuc Mung Nam Moi!

Quà Tết cho các em

Một trong những trại trẻ mồ côi chúng tôi thường ghé thăm có 18 trẻ em. Các em nằm trong độ tuổi từ 1-11, phần đông các em từ 5 tuổi trở lên. Tết là khoảng thời gian trong năm để mua quần áo mới, sắm sữa để mang lại những điều may mắn. Và đối với các em sống trong trại trẻ cũng vậy, các em cũng sẽ có Tết.

Pure Vietnam Beauty and Spa mua váy, quần, và áo mới cho tất cả các em. Các em còn được chở nên các cửa hàng để tự chọn những loại quần áo em muốn. Cảm giác được ngắn nhìn các em hớn hở thật khiến tôi bồi hồi, thỉnh thoảng tôi bắt gặp một vài em khó khăn lắm mới đưa ra được quyết định chọn đôi giày nào. Niềm hạnh phúc trên khuôn mặt của các em khi các em được chọn những gì em thích, dù chỉ là đôi giày hay bộ quần áo, còn vô giá hơn khoảng tiền mà chúng tôi đã bỏ ra cho các em ngày hôm ấy.

Xin chân thành gửi lời cảm ơn đến các nhân viên và bạn bè của chúng tôi, quả không là dễ để có thể chở các em đi trên xe gắn máy. Nếu không có sự giúp đỡ của mọi người khó lòng chúng tôi có thể có được một ngày tuyệt vời như chúng tôi đã có.

Thật là một ngày đáng nhớ, tôi đoán là các em kiệt sức sau ngày hôm ấy, chúng tôi cũng thế.

Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!

Off to To Bong we went. We loaded up a 15 seater bus with milk, vegetarian meat, vegetables, dried mushrooms, nappies and formula for the baby who is now three months old (give or take).
There were eight adults and two children in the bus. Time is always so short when we go to To Bong as many of our staff come with us. The trip by bus is two hours and we need to be back at the spa before 1330 so staff can start work at 1400. It is always so rushed but a great experience.

Ghé thăm trại trẻ Tu Bông, chúng tôi thuê một chiếc xe 15 chổ chất đầy sữa, thịt chay, rau củ, nấm rơm, tã và sữa bột cho các bé 3 tháng tuổi.

Trên xe có tổng cộng 8 người lớn và hai trẻ nhỏ. Thời gian dường như nhanh hơn mỗi khi chúng tôi đi ra đây, và thường thì đa số các nhân viên của tôi đều muốn đi cùng. Chuyến đi bằng xe ô tô thường mất khoảng 2 giờ đồng hồ mới đến nơi, và tài xế phải về đến spa lúc 13:30 để nhân viên kịp vào ca lúc 14:00. Chúng tôi luôn phải vội vã nhưng bù lại luôn là những trãi nghiệm tuyệt vời cho mỗi lần đi.

The baby seems to have grown so much. He had reflux and wasn’t keeping his food down but we found a formula that he could tolerate and he is growing at a great rate. The children were playing with a big wooden car that someone had made for them and seemed to have a lot of fun doing that. Unfortunately once we showed our staff around the grounds and orphanage and had a quick visit with the master for a lovely artichoke tea it was back on the road again.
Thank you to staff and friends who came with us. We had a great time.

It is a long day when you have to come back to work that afternoon.

We appreciate your time

Mấy đứa nhỏ dường như lớn nhanh hơn, các em vô tư vui đùa cùng các thanh gỗ. Chúng tôi sau khi đưa nhân viên tham quan chùa một vòng, nhâm nhi tách trà cùng vị Trụ Trì thì cũng đến lúc phải ra về.

Xin gửi lời cảm ơn chân thành đến các nhân viên và bạn bè đã tham gia cùng chúng tôi.

Chúng tôi thật sự đã có khoảng thời gian tuyệt vời.

Sẽ là một ngày dài cho các nhân viên của tôi khi họ phải quay trở về và bắt đầu ca làm việc.

Tôi lấy làm biết ơn khi mọi người chia sẽ thời gian của mình cùng chúng tôi.

(tiếng Việt bên dưới)

November Charity for Pure Vietnam
Than Son is where Pure Vietnam has decided to do charity for this month. Off we went in the truck loaded with food, with several of our staff and friend Lanh.
10 boxes of noodles, 100kg of rice, many boxes of milk, clothing for the children and sweet treats as well (of course).

I went shopping for all of this with one of our staff. It was a great deal of fun to select the different chips, cakes etc that we would take. Being a temple meat, eggs and cheese were out however we certainly had many other choices.

It was wonderful to spend time with the children and get to know them a little. Initially the children were very shy but gradually they started to talk and laugh. Some of them spoke a little english and we had a bit of a discussion about different subjects. I was discussing school studies and they were learning history and maths on this day.

One of the staff discovered a three month old baby and everyone fell in love.

We would like to thank all of our great staff who prepared the bundles of goodies the night before as well as the staff who came on their day off and those who came in the morning who were going to work that afternoon (a long day for them).

On the way home we stopped and had Banh Canh (fish soup) which was absolutely delicious.

All in all a great day with excellent company.

Always very hard to leave.

Pure Vietnam Beauty and Spa  và công tác từ thiện tháng 11, 2014

Chúng tôi đã quyết định thực hiện công tác từ thiện tháng này tại Chùa Thanh Sơn. Chúng tôi đến đây với một xe đầy ắp thức ăn cùng một vài nhân viên và một người bạn,Lanh. Tất cả có 10 thùng mì, 100kg gạo, 10 thùng sữa, quần áo cho các em bé và một ít bánh kẹo.

Tôi đã tận tay đi chọn trực tiếp tất cả các thứ cùng một nhân viên. Thật lòng mà nói thì cũng hơi khó để mà chúng tôi có thể chọn được loại bánh kẹo các em, vì ở đây bán tất cả mọi thứ. Là vì mang thức ăn đến chùa nên chúng tôi không thể nào mang thịt, trứng, phô mai. Tuy nhiên ở đây lại có vô vàn những sự lựa chọn cho thức ăn khác.

Tôi cảm thấy rất tuyệt vời khi được vui chơi và làm quen với các em. Ban đầu thì các em còn hơi ngại nhưng sau đó thì tất cả cùng nô đùa. Một vài em còn nói được Tiếng Anh, chúng tôi đã cùng trò chuyện vể rất nhiêu chủ đề. Chúng tôi đã nói về các môn học, hôm nay các em đã có giờ lịch sử và toán học trên lớp.

Một trong các nhân viên đã phát hiện ra một em bé 3 tháng tuổi cự kỳ kháu khính, cô bế em bé ra và tất cả chúng tôi đều ngây ngô ngắm nhìn và thay phiên nhau âu yếm em.  

Chúng tôi gửi lời cám ơn đến tất cả các nhân viên, những người đã cùng chùng tôi chuẩn bị tất cả những vật phẩm để mang đi. Các nhân viên đã tham cùng vào ngày nghỉ của mình cũng có một số đi buổi sáng rồi về làm ca chiều.

Trên đường đi về, chúng tôi dừng lại ăn Bánh Canh, và phải nói là trên cả tuyệt vời.

Chúng tôi thật sự đã có một ngày tuyệt vời cùng nhau.