Oh my.  Quick post on the best food in Hoi An, Vietnam.  It can be found at Mango.Mango, where bright yellow and green walls, black lacquer tables and amazing meals reside.  We’ve gone twice in our 10 days and I’d like to think we could get in one last meal there before we leave.  The Seared Tuna Steak is ‘like buttah’….undoubtedly the best sashimi tuna I’ve had in I don’t know when.  Even Mike, who is not a big fan of sushi/sashimi thinks it is wonderful.

My favorite tuna sliders at a restaurant back home are going to strongly challenged to remain number one in my book.

Yum.

You can find them at 111 Nguyen Thai Hoc.  Seating downstairs with bright artwork on the wall is great as is upstairs overlooking the Thu Bon River at night.  Eclectic world music adds even more dimension to the experience!

Anyone been to Hoi An?  What’s your favorite restaurant?

Buddha overlooks a fine meal at Mango.Mango ~ Copyright 2009 ~ Michael Matlach

Cheers!

Meg

Treasures from Reaching Out Handicrafts ~ Copyright 2009 ~ HarmonyWishes, Inc

Hoi An, Vietnam: I can’t think of a bigger win/win for me than to be able to combine my shopping instinct with my altruistic instinct and I found just the spot in Hoi An.  It’s at Reaching Out Handicrafts, a Fair Trade Gift Shop where you can buy arts and crafts, textiles, ceramics, jewelry, accessories, and home décor – all made by people with different abilities.

Reaching Out was founded in the Spring of 2000 by a group of disabled craftspeople in Hoi An, led by Le Nguyen Binh, in order to teach young disabled people marketable skills in a friendly, supportive environment.   The results are spectacular!

They offer a gorgeous collection of items and operate as a social business, using principles of Fair Trade.  The collective represents the various artists, allowing them to focus on what they do best – developing and manufacturing beautiful products.

They employ 35 disabled craftspeople in the workshop plus many more that work from home.

Earlier this week I purchased some silver earrings with the Chinese characters for ‘Patience’ – something I need more of!  And a gorgeous big brown faux suede bag with colorful circular designs embroidered on which will be perfect for airplane travel – I can fit my Mac, several books, bottle of water and a camera and still have plenty of space left…

Beyond the surface beauty, I anticipate additional enjoyment every time I use the items when I remember their origin and the fact that I could contribute in a very small way to assist people with disabilities in Vietnam to achieve independence, dignity and integration into mainstream society…

There were several other things that caught my eye, so I’m heading back again this morning….in the meantime, here is an image Mike took while spending several hours in their workshop..

If you find yourself in Hoi An, they can be found at 103 Nguyen Thai Hoc Street….or on the web at http://www.reachingoutvietnam.com

Artisan at Reaching Out Handicrafts - Hoi An, Vietnam ~ Copyright 2009 ~ Michael Matlach

Cheers!

Meg

Welcome to the HarmonyWishes blog!  If you are familiar with HarmonyWishes, you know we are a fine art ecard site whose intent is to promote spiritual diversity and understanding through positive imagery.  We are the yin to the yang of negative thought, speech, imagery that surrounds us all daily – HarmonyWishes strives to provide the balance and equilibrium we all need.  Whether Christian, Jew, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, agnostic, athiest – everyone is welcome in the spirit of hope and optimism that despite different cultures and beliefs, we are ONE.

Our ecard site was launched two years ago – and we’ve focused on supplying a steady stream of images to inspire you….but there is more that we want to share beyond just beautiful photography, painting and mixed media imagery – we want to challenge you to dialog with us about music, books, the arts and who knows what….

Our hope for this blog is to provide a thought provoking place to land every now and then where you can find links to sites we like, books we’ve read, music that lifts us up…and we strongly encourage reader feedback – tell us what you are looking at, what you find inspiring or, on the other hand, what troubles you in a global sense that you would like to fix!

My husband always accuses me of sounding ‘too corporate’…well, that’s my background and it’s pretty deeply ingrained at this point but I’ll try to loosen up as I share my ideas, hopes and dreams for a better world…

Mike’s the Art Director of our HarmonyWishes site and will be throwing in his two cents worth every now and then….

And Megan is our Media Outreach Coordinator – she’s currently based in Oaxaca, Mexico after completing a Fulbright scholarship year there, so I expect interesting blog posts from her!

I think it’s only appropriate that HarmonyWishes blog launches from somewhere other than our home base in the U.S. – we are working on some projects right now in Vietnam….a place we return to often..more on that in future posts…in the meantime, enjoy one of Mike’s images taken on a previous trip to the area…

Hoi An,Vietnam ~ Copyright 2003 ~ Michael Matlach

Cheers!

Meg