20 years in Vietnam
After two decades in Vietnam, I can reflect on a long and transformative journey filled with personal growth. Seventeen of those years were dedicated to running my organic resorts and restaurants in the northern region of Vietnam.
During my time in Vietnam, Hanoi became my home for two decades, although I originally hailed from Sydney, Australia, and received my education in Tokyo, Japan. My lifestyle and philosophies gradually leaned more toward Eastern traditions rather than Western.
Twenty years ago, I established my heart-centred organization in Vietnam, driven by a powerful mission to support and empower local impoverished Vietnamese communities and survivors of sex trafficking.
In the early 2000s, I opened my first guest houses and restaurants in northern Vietnam, creating a chain that employed underprivileged youth and ethnic minority people. The endeavour aimed to provide them with opportunities for growth and development.
Inspired to introduce organic, fresh, home-cooked meals to the people of Hanoi, I founded an organic cafe in 2010 called Maison de Tet decor. Thankfully, it quickly gained popularity and outgrew its humble beginnings, leading to a relocation to a beautiful French villa.
In addition to the organic cafe in Hanoi, my ventures expanded to include various projects. These included an organic farm where we grew produce for the cafe, the rescue and rehabilitation of wild horses from the Northern highlands, breeding of rare livestock, crafting decor in workshops, and cultivating organic green tea, peaches, and tropical fruits. This location also served as a venue for Nourishment Day retreats.
Witnessing the seeds of my projects start to bloom and flourish, and observing the positive impact they had on numerous people, brought me immeasurable joy. It was an absolute privilege to be a part of such transformations.
Throughout my journey, from my student days in Tokyo to my fifteen-year stay among the hill tribes in northern Vietnam, I always prioritized my health and well-being. I was exposed to various natural ways of living, which further shaped my outlook.
However, it was in Sapa in 2002 that I met Ta May, a wise Red Dzao Ethnic minority lady. Her rustic steam distillery became the place where I experienced my first-ever Red Dzao Medicinal Bath, using her freshly distilled indigenous herbs.
That encounter changed my life forever, igniting an enduring passion for essential oils and a deep commitment to entrepreneurship while inspiring others toward healthy living.
Sapa Rooms boutique hotel ~ Sapa Vietnam
Sapa Rooms boutique hotel holds a special place in my heart as it was my first property in Vietnam, and it forever transformed me. Over the years, countless guests have stayed at my hotel, and each one left with a sense of change and transformation. Our guiding principle was encapsulated in our catchphrase, "Travel with generosity."
Sapa Rooms went beyond being just a boutique hotel; it was a nurturing and supportive haven for both our guests and our staff team composed of underprivileged youth and ethnic minority individuals. Every member of our team was carefully chosen from disadvantaged households in Vietnam.
During that time, my mission was to provide vocational training, support, and encouragement to our staff, giving them and their families a chance for a better future.
From the early hours of 7 am to the peaceful nights when our last guests retired to their beds, Sapa Rooms buzzed with life and activity. Each evening at 6 pm, our hotel guests were treated to a nourishing meal, prepared straight from our own vegetable gardens. Then, promptly at 8pm, local ethnic minority children would gather outside on the terrace. Many of them had walked all day to sell their homemade trinkets and had not had a meal.
In a heartwarming gesture, every night without fail our hotel guests after finishing their meals became the waiters and waitresses, serving a warm bowl of soup to these shy boys and girls.
This became quite the tradition over many many years in Sapa Rooms. On any given night we would host between 15-40 kids for dinner. There was one simple rule: everyone had to wash their hands before dinner. This practice served as a gentle lesson to the children about the importance of personal hygiene. Then one by one they all took their bowls into the kitchen and greeted me as they left. Cảm ơn Bác rất nhiều - Thank you very much Uncle.
A few of my boutique properties over the past 20 years.
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Sapa Rooms boutique hotel 2002-2012
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Hmong Mountain Retreat 2008 - 2014
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Maison de Tet decor 2010 - 2021
Here's a quick rundown of my heart-felt operation.
In the beginning, somewhere around 2003, there was Sapa Rooms boutique hotel, Hmong Mountain Retreat. Hanoi House Cafe. Cafe Mau. 6 on Sixteen boutique hotel... then in 2011 came Tet Decor Cafe followed in 2014 with my open garden cafe BackYard bia hoi...
Inspired to take fresh, light, home-cooked meals to the people even further; in 2010 I created Tet Decor Cafe. Thankfully people warmed to it all, quickly outgrowing its humble surroundings in Hanoi Vietnam, the cafe grew and changed locations. In 2014 Maison de Tet Decor opened.
A different vibe, the same uncompromising sustainable ethic.
In addition to Maison de Tet decor, there's more... a small and stellar array of undertakings, namely an organic farm Fragrant Path nature retreat where organic produce is grown for my restaurants, wild horses from the Vietnamese Northern Highlands are rescued and rehabilitated, there’s some rare breed livestock, decor is crafted in the workshops and organic green tea, peaches and tropical fruits are grown.
Ma Cha Black Hmong Ethnic Minority school revitalisation
Building a safer, cleaner, and healthier environment in which to learn
Mac Ha, located 7 km from Sapa town in Northern Vietnam, is the most impoverished area of the Sapa region. There are over 1,000 Black H'mong ethnic minority people living in and around Ma Cha village. Sapa Rooms supports the 120 children in the school from kindergarten to 5th grade. Our long-term focus is to continue to solely support the Ma Cha school so these children are able to have a more comfortable environment in which to learn, grow and develop. As we believe education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty.
Before Sapa Rooms support, most of these children had no shoes, many had no pants and they certainly had next to no school resources. Going to school in Winter for these children was and still is extremely difficult. Close your eyes and imagine for a moment what it must be like for these children to firstly walk up to 6km barefoot over rice fields to school each morning when the temperature in winter is often minus 5 degrees Celsius. the children sit in cold cement classrooms with no heating while the wind whistles through the broken windows and doors.
Christmas 2009, Sapa Rooms donated USD2,500 of duck down jackets at the request of the teachers, there were 120 jackets altogether donated, one for each child. Christmas 2010 Sapa Rooms boutique hotel raised enough money to cement the school’s playground to prevent the spread of disease. Each month we donate more than 300 kg of second-hand clothing and school supplies which are generously donated by our guests.
This project was my Passion Project
it was a massive undertaking
for more than 10 years of my life.
there is not a day that goes by that I don’t think of these kids
and where they are now in their lives.
My goal was to make support Macha School with the following physical improvements so that the children will had a safer, cleaner, and healthier environment in which to learn.
Specifically, we did the following:
Construct a hand-cleaning facility so the children can wash their hands, to maintain hygiene
Connect utilities to the school, the school currently has no electricity, water or gas
Build a toilet facility, the school has no toilet
Refurbish the teachers cooking and meeting room
Repair the broken windows and doors to stop the wind drafts in the minus 5 degrees
Paint murals all over the school to make it bright and happy
Build a climbing fort for the kids to play on.
Landscape the edges of the playground with flower beds and vegetable gardens.
Making that shift from self to service
The key to realising a dream is to focus not on success but on service! Ask yourself what are your gifts and talents you can share to raise the collective consciousness of all that you encounter.
Making that shift from self to service will bring an immeasurable amount of pleasure to your work, your relationships, and the vision you have of your own life.
Fulfilling your life up to the top with meaning is what gives you that powerful spark of energy unique to only you.
The result is an electrifying current of clarity rising from the deepest part of yourself.
You have the power to make the choice to turn up the volume to your unique calling. In all truthfulness, it’s the best thing you can do to live healthier and happier.
