Having just returned home after a long trip to explore the sunny and windy Central region, Ms. Dinh Mai (Vinh Phuc) has had the experience of driving a car across Vietnam 3 times, including 2 times with her son. Whenever she has free time, she is always ready to "go on the road" to explore Vietnam.
Because she likes to travel by car, Ms. Mai "bought" herself all the necessary items for the trip, not only personal belongings but also cooking utensils and self-defense items.
She said: "For men, normally they just need to bring a few sets of clothes and that's it, but for women like me, in addition to personal belongings, they also bring all kinds of accessories. Men don't like to be messy, but women I want to cook for myself to save money."
Besides, Ms. Mai also carries enough self-defense equipment with her such as knives, sticks, clubs, switchblades, pepper spray... During a recent trip with her sister group, when setting up the tent to go to bed, Ms. Mai also shared Items for companions to hold for protection.
"I remember, one time, when my mother and I were sleeping in the tent, a young man who seemed to have mental problems came to the tent and intended to tease him. I immediately brought out a weapon to threaten him, so he just run," she recalled.
On two previous trips across Vietnam, Mai's companion was always a boy. However, on the last trip, the boy returned home after 10 days traveling with his mother because of the hot weather.
Ms. Mai posted an article looking for "strangers" to go backpacking with her. To ensure her own safety, she only looks for women with similar interests and does not go with people of the opposite sex.
Even though this was their first trip with "strangers", the sisters happily enjoyed the natural landscape across the country. Every day, Ms. Mai's car "rolls" about 200km or more and does not default to a place to rest. Going to a beautiful place, the whole group will stay for 2-3 days.
As for where to sleep, somewhere beautiful and convenient, the women will choose to set up a tent so they can easily watch the sunrise the next morning. In some provinces and cities, if there is someone they know, they will ask to sleep over to save money.
The memory that she remembers most is the evening when the group set up tents at Thien Cam beach, Ha Tinh. The next morning, waking up on the sparkling beautiful beach, everyone was excited and saw how meaningful the trip was.
After that, her group continued to move to Da Nang and Hoi An and stayed for 2 days and 3 nights, visiting the night market, swimming and experiencing basket boats in the Bay Mau coconut forest.
Regarding eating, her group only eats at restaurants when they miss meals. All four female members of the group often wander through the fishing village or the afternoon market near the sea to look for food.
She said: "Even though I have tried all the cuisines in different places, even if I eat delicious seafood, for me, country rice is still my true love! Eating seafood for one or two days is boring. Our group is not fixed. places to eat, go to any place to find out if there is any strange dish and then try it."
