Went to Commonwealth Bank of Australia,CBA first thing … to pick up our ATM cards and transfer the money to the VINA account. The international transfer amount had not
been set up for us. Picked up the phone at the branch … talked to a very friendly CBA
Customer Service guy in Australia. He was unable to fix it, so he connected us to
the Coolum branch … and they fixed it in no time. That is what I call SMART BANKING!!! All done, money transferred at 10 am. One off cost of $22. At 12:30 we went to the ATM across the road form the hotel, made the first withdrawal … free of charge, no conversion fees. Great service … can only recommend it for frequent travellers.
PS: I'm not getting any commission for this write up - but I'm working on it!!!
Picture: Pauline, branch manager, expat from Sydney in the local CBA uniform!!!
Taxi to Peace Orphanage 27.000 VND ~ $1.70
Met with Dr. Nhi and the head of the Peace Orphanage. Visitors Permit granted without paper trail!!!
Then discussed support for Minh Than … and tow other children. Further details next week. Kids had siesta, we went to COOP super market to buy some necessities like tea, milk, cheese, bikkies and other items like a tea kettle. Walked back to hotel … and it started poring. Recharge our batteries, then off to meet with Hoa / Peter van Stone in Binh Thanh district.
Taxi to Binh Thanh D5 - 75.000 VND 25 minutes ~ $5!!!
Found his house – HQ for Company of Grace. Siesta!!! Had to ring Hoa on his mobile to wake him. Hoa is a very nice guy, extremely approachable. We had very fruitful talks and we share a lot of common ground. Hoa is supported by Global Interaction.
Hoa is setting up the House of Grace orphanage but structured differently, it will be more like a school. Children live with foster parents in the area and come to House of Grace to be educated and trained. This way the children grow up in a family atmosphere.
House of Grace is THE project of the Company of Grace, CoG.
CoG run Tourism Services, Legal Services, Furniture Resale, they do Disable Rehabilitation, Vocational Training, Translation Services, Language Teaching and Handy crafts Work.
We will go to his house again for a Vietnamese cooking course on Tuesday.
Hoa told us that they would like to receive second hand mobile phones and lap tops.
Please keep that in mind when your contract runs out ... please pass your "OLD" mobiles on to us!!! The resale value here is between US$ 20 - 40!!!
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