Convoy For Babies (CFB) HCMC -> Dong Nai 9/29/2013 page 2 - Vietnam forum

Tran Hung Dao · 2013-09-23T10:55:09+02:00

Brief Mode (for those who are short on time): Who: Expats and Expat-friends (locals) who want to make a difference. As of 9/28/2013 - 20:49, the list includes: Tran Hung Dao, 1, motorbike Friend of THD, 1, motorbike Citsym, 1, car Anniest, 2, need a ride x2 mark stutley, 1, need a ride Miss Kellie, 1, motorbike Rosyvn, 1, motorbike cang_nduc,1, need a ride What: Charity convoy to bring food (formula) to babies at an orphanage. When: 7 O'clock Sunday morning, September 29, 2013 until you get sick of playing with babies. Where: From HCMC to an orphange in Đồng Nai province Why: To feed and play with abandoned babies, get expats out of the city, make a difference. How: Convoy via motorbike and car, each participant will bring a can of formula to be given to the orphanage. While at orphanage, we will play with babies. You are free to play with the older kids, handicapped adults, or just roam around smelling the fresh air, but the focus is on babies (since we can't solve all the world's problems, just one bit at a time). You're free to leave anytime. REGISTER WITH ME SO I CAN GET AN IDEA OF HOW MANY ARE GOING. Here's the form (to be filled out in triplicate, stamped by local police ward, authenticated by embassy, delivered to immigration office :D) Expat-Blog Nick: Number in my group (including me): Mode of Transportation: [ ] motorbike [ ] car [ ] need a rideVerbose Mode (for those who have time and want to get into details): Initially inspired by Expat-blog member Anniest in her post about needing inspiration after returning to the Big City from a visit to Thailand (Click Here to Read That Thread), I came up with a challenge for her: Go Visit An Orphanage It looks like you'll try anything so how about this? Do the opposite! From your story, the trip to Thailand was a "level up" from Vietnam...you had your highs when you went there but now you came "back down" to Vietnam and feel uninspired. So how about you go visit someplace "lower"? I have a place you might be interested in: There's an orphanage in Đồng Nai province that I know of. It's run by a few Buddhist monks for well over 30 years. I would be willing to personally escort you via motorbike from the Saigon Bridge to this orphanage. All you need is to bring with you a can of powdered milk/formula (or bring 300,000 vnd and we can stop at Big C at the Vung Tau crossing to buy a can) to give to the babies there.After I posted that response, there was a good number of people interested in doing this. So this new post is to invite other Expats and Expat Friends who may be interested in doing some charity work this upcoming Sunday. We will meet this upcoming Sunday Morning, September 29th at 07:00 AM at the far side of the new Sài Gòn Bridge. http://i.imm.io/1gEQU.jpeg This past Sunday I did a recon of the area looking for a place for people to meet and this is a good place: large space, not crowded, in public view, easy landmark to get to. The bridge is on a major highway, the Hà Nội Highway, and one of the few access routes into the Big City. The bridge is under construction so this expansion part is not available to thru traffic until November. We can use the "blindspot" that cars/motorbikes currently don't use as a gathering/meeting/rallying/staging point. So it is a major landmark so everybody knows this...even your taxi drivers will know where to take you. Copy this on a piece of napkin to give to your taxi driver: Cầu Sài Gòn It's the name of the bridge in Vietnamese. You can tell your driver to go over the bridge and stop immediately on the right side as soon as you get off the bridge. You can look for my yellow motorbike - yellow motorbikes are very rare so you shouldn't have a problem finding me. For motorbike riders, you should fill up your gas tank since I don't want any motorbikes breaking off from the convoy to get fuel. We are "all for one and one for all" so we stick together even if your motorbike breaks down or gets a flat tire, the entire convoy will stop and help...but running out of gas is a lack-of-planning correctable fault (you will get the Doophus award if you do this). About one kilometer before the bridge, on the eastbound direction - the direction you'd be going if you're coming out of the city to the rally/stage/meeting point - there are two gas stations (Total and Petrolimex) you can gas up. They are located right next to each other. If you went under the pedestrian bridge, then you've passed the gas stations by about 300 feet. The orphanage we will be going to is called Chùa Diệu Pháp located at Tân Cang hamlet, Phước Tân commune, Long Thành district, Đồng Nai province (ấp Tân Cang, xã Phước Tân, huyện Long Thành, tỉnh Đồng Nai). It is about 10 minutes from the Mango Garden Resort (Du Lịch Sinh Thái Vườn Xoài). We'll convoy there along the Hà Nội Highway until we get to the Vũng Tàu crossing/roundabout/rotary/traffic circle; this is where the highway meets up with QL51, the Vũng Tàu Highway. We will rest here in the BIG C parking lot. For those that didn't buy baby formulas, we can go into BIG C located at this intersection. However, they won't open until 8:30 AM. So we will use this time to chat, drink coffee, whatever. For a special treat, we will send some people inside to buy some BIG C bread...this is NOT your typical bread. It's BIG C and since they're a French company, their bread/Baguette are like ...to die for. There's always a crowd at the bakery section of BIG C. As you know, a crowd means that alot of people know the food is good. After our break at BIG C, we'll head down the Vũng Tàu Highway (QL51) to our turnoff. The authorities just recently blocked off the T-intersection of our turnoff with concrete barriers so we'll have to travel a kilometer or two down the road to turn around. I will stop the convoy at this blocked off location to remind drivers the plan to go forward and do a U-Turn. Once we make it to the orphanage/temple, we'll meet with the monk that runs it. I'll explain to her about our plan to visit the babies section of the orphanage and present her with our gifts of formula. She is from Huế City so I usually have no idea what she is saying. I'm still learning the central accent. At this point, we're free to ask her questions, look at the wall of picture of past orphans growing up, etc. She usually invites guests to eat lunch that consists of an omelette-like dish. I forgot what it's called in Vietnamese but it looks like an Omelette. Instead of using eggs, they use rice powder. Anyhow, if she invites, we'll stay for lunch. After the initial greeting of the guests, she'll lead us to the babies section where there's about a dozen cribs that we can go around and play with babies! You're free to pick them up but make sure you know how to handle babies. They're fragile and might break. Once we're done playing with babies and or eating lunch, we'll head back to the highway. At the Vũng Tàu Highway, we will officially end the convoy since people know how to go home from there. Mission Accomplished! http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b361/macrobaye/mission-accomplished.jpg

Convoy For Babies (CFB) HCMC -> Dong Nai 9/29/2013

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MarkinNam Serial expat

Member since 19 May 2013

MarkinNamSerial expat30 September 2013 02:50:23

#41

978

thanks A w谩s realy g么od to meet your,spot on with the hugs, both the little babies and the big ones, makes me look like a playboy

MarkinNam Serial expat

Member since 19 May 2013

MarkinNamSerial expat30 September 2013 02:54:56

#42

978

same same for me, V,un fuzz me dude, han gup lai mate! really made my trip uno numero

Anniest Active member

Member since 05 September 2013

AnniestActive member30 September 2013 07:00:00

#43

I love it ! But I didn't get any hugs...

Tran Hung Dao ViP

Member since 06 August 2013

Tran Hung DaoViP30 September 2013 07:11:41

#44

1523

Anniest wrote:
I love it ! But I didn't get any hugs...

I just thought the same thing when Citsym posted the info/graphic.聽 But your mother was present and would probably beat the crap out of any boys that gave you a hug.聽 PDA is still a taboo here.

But I think you need one so here ya go:

A cuter hug:

Anniest Active member

Member since 05 September 2013

AnniestActive member30 September 2013 08:20:26

#45

mark stutley wrote:
Annie have to say, I was trying NOT to upset you but it was tough real tough i think you love it

why so tough ?

Miss Kellie New member

Member since 05 June 2013

Miss KellieNew member03 October 2013 10:34:43

#46

Hello, if anybody has any other pics I'd really appreciate you forwarding them on - if you are able and if you haven't done so already.

It was a great experience and I look forward to heading out there again some time in the near future.

Thanks!

MarkinNam Serial expat

Member since 19 May 2013

MarkinNamSerial expat13 October 2013 06:28:36

#47

978

Anniest,mmmmm sort of was i have a picture to prove it:top:

Tran Hung Dao ViP

Member since 06 August 2013

Tran Hung DaoViP06 November 2013 07:52:52

#48

1523

Hey check this video out.聽 I googled the temple and there's our head monk/nun!聽 Also this video has some familiar faces - the kid with the cerebral palsy as well as the bloated head baby is in the film.

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