WE DID IT.
So the new KOTO is open. Officially.
The Australian Ambassador did his duty and later, less formally, the KOTO graduates opened it too with a roof top cutting of the cake.
Like I said before, when we first moved in, it didn’t quite feel like home. But, at the opening, with it so full of people, it felt so vibrant and the smiles were everywhere. We’re growing into it.
Since my last visit to the restaurant there were so many new details that I hadn’t seen before. Each one seemed to strike a memory. In the formal dining area where they’ve started a gallery of past graduates. Among them is the wonderful Miss Hanh, now a major star at Le Pub and who looks after me so well on my frequent visits.
Alongside her was Miss Thu – with that open, warm, Vietnamese smile of hers. Last year we both appeared in a BBC news clip.
On the walls, alongside 1000 bricks were posters I had designed plus souvenirs from the bike ride.
Around me, all the kids were wearing the t-shirts created by my talented mate back in Newcastle.
Meanwhile among the guests were so many old friends. It was also, incredibly gratifying to see Mr Huy, my old marketing colleague playing a role in the unveiling. He was one of the original nine KOTO trainees. His dedication to KOTO goes way beyond us here today, gone tomorrow, foreigners.
Also there was Guyette who my mother and father sponsored through her training.
As ever it was good to see all the KOTO staff. Volunteer Clare (pictured with me and KOTO kids below) and Vietnamese colleague Tham, are the real stars of the new KOTO. They lived it for well over two years.
Every coat of paint, every piece of furniture, every electrical socket, every tile, every light fitting – they made it all happen. Two people who did an incredible, and an incredibly stressful, job.
The new KOTO is quite a place. We’re so close now to getting KOTO right and when it’s perfect then replication is next. There will be so many hundreds more young people that KOTO can help.
It has to succeed. It will succeed.
It has been a pleasure to be in Vietnam. It is a truly wonderful place. In all honesty I find it had to be objective about this country. I am too much in its grasp.
Being part of Hanoi felt so invigorating. What did I do to deserve something this good? How did I get so lucky?.
It felt most strong in those early days – flying around Hanoi on the back of a motorbike with the biggest grin on my face.
This was me. Doing this. Living this life. Who would have thought it?
There is also one more happy slice of my life that has been conspicuous by its absence in this blog. I have met someone. Someone special. An environmental volunteer. She will be with me on my next adventure.
She is yet another example of how my life has gone so right here. I will shut up now because otherwise she will kill me, but life is good. Very good.
So, where are we going?
In March I fly out to Nicaragua. There, by a lake, in a beautiful city called Granada, is a street kid cooking school called Café Chavalos.
Guess what? They need a new restaurant.
It starts again. What could be more perfect? I’ll see you at Our Man in Granada.
* The rest of the KOTO opening party pics here plus one more youtube movie here.
I’ve written before, while we dreamed of the new KOTO restaurant, that I fantasised about the opening night.
When everything was going horrifically wrong it was the thought that kept me going.
Specifically it was about putting on the event, watching as everyone cooed over the new place and then, once they had gone, enjoying a beer with the wonderful people who had made it possible. We’d all be wearing goofy smug smiles and someone would voice what we were thinking. They’d say: “We ****ing did it!”
Well that is only a couple of weeks away. The official opening is coming soon.
In the meantime, I am back in Hanoi after a month long break in the UK (pics). I then returned via Bangkok – touching down on New Year’s Eve and sleeping through both the new year celebrations and, I found out later, bombs going off.
My jetlag also meant I got up obscenely early the next morning (pics).
Then, late on January 3rd I returned “home” to Hanoi.
You may recall that when I left, the new KOTO restaurant wasn’t quite open. Well it is now and I couldn’t wait. I was there for breakfast the very next day and it’s looking incredible.
It’s in the middle of what they call, in the industry, a soft opening. In other words they are ironing out problems and getting feedback. Once everyone is content, they’ll extend the opening and have that fabled opening do.
Sure, there are some little things that need sorting and in a strange way, it’s yet to really feel like home. But it does look beautiful. I particularly like the new Temple Bar area.
So, one more post to go. I’ve spent Christmas vaguely mulling over any conclusions I can take from all of this.
In the meantime I am meeting an old KOTO colleague for lunch today – seeing as I don’t actually work there any more she can tell me the plans for the opening hours.
However, in the meantime, it is open for breakfast and lunch (and evenings at weekends). Make sure you get down there if you’re in town.
All the new KOTO pics here.
