Thirty years old on the Truong Son road
Returning home after a 31-day journey of exploration along the North and South, Mr. Nguyen Le Van still couldn't believe that he had just completed a journey of more than 6,000km by motorbike at an age of "rare in history".
This is not my first time backpacking, I have been across Vietnam more than 10 times before. But this trip is a big challenge for myself, from health, endurance to spiritual limits," Mr. Van shared.
Departing from Ho Chi Minh City on April 10, Mr. Van chose to roam along the Truong Son Dong route. After crossing the Central region in hot sunny days, the man continued to follow the northern provinces.
Returning in the afternoon, he travels from Dien Bien back along the coastal route. To conserve energy, the distance of more than 2,000km is divided into 10 days, each day he only runs about more than 200 kilometers and then rests early.
During the trip, Mr. Van took the opportunity to visit and explore many landmarks, ancient pagodas, historical relics associated with national heroes such as Ngo Quyen, Tran Hung Dao, General Vo Nguyen Giap...
Not only does he like to admire the scenery, he also spends a lot of time exploring the culture and cuisine of localities.
The U80 man once tried enough specialties when he set foot in the highlands such as thang co, khau nhuc, smoked buffalo meat... but the most impressive was still rotten vegetables - a typical vegetable of the Northwest region.
He recounted that once he stayed at a people's house in a highland village, in the middle of the night he suddenly smelled a "strange smell" flying everywhere. Asking around, he learned that the house next door was cooking stinky vegetables.
“Recognizing that the smell was very strong, I had to close the door tightly. But then when people invited me to try it, I found the vegetables soft and strange. The only thing is that after eating, the smell was still in my mouth forever,” Mr. Van recalled with a smile.
Initially, his children were worried when they saw that their father was still backpacking at an old age. The daughter advised him to park his car from Hanoi and then fly back to ensure his health.
However, when they saw that he still regularly updated the safe journey every day, the whole family gradually became more reassured. The children only told him to walk slowly, divided into short distances and "go home whenever you want".
Following the wheel of charity
Few people know that the passion for travel has followed Mr. Van for decades. Before roaming through Vietnamese provinces and cities, this man had wandered through 13 states in the US, set foot in Thailand, Japan... but after all, the place he wanted to return to the most was still his hometown.
Mr. Van expressed: "I have been to many places but in the end still find Vietnam to be the best. The scenery of our country is majestic, people are emotional, and the more I go, the more I love my homeland.
Later, his trips gradually became associated with charity activities. He joined the Vietnamese Arms charity group - a place that has built nearly 400 civil bridges nationwide, with more than 40 bridges in the North with Mr. Van's footprints in it.
Despite his old age, Mr. Van still drives his own motorbike to survey, attend the groundbreaking ceremony, bridge inauguration and connect with sponsors.
All travel and accommodation expenses during the charity trip were borne by him.
In addition, he also accompanies the "Lighting up Dreams" group, bringing gifts to remote and isolated school sites.
Many places he went through were precarious in the middle of the mountains, the road was only fit for a motorbike, one side was a deep abyss, the other side was a cliff. There were trips where landslides occurred right in front of his eyes as soon as he arrived.
He recounted: "Once in Ha Giang, after I attended the bridge inauguration ceremony and left not long after, the mountain suddenly slid down right in front of me. If I had gone about half an hour earlier, I would have been'stuck'.
The landslide trapped him between two traffic jams, and he had to stay at people's houses for 3 nights. Finally, he followed the locals, waded through streams, climbed over large rocks to escape.
Mr. Van once suffered injuries such as a broken leg and rib fracture due to a motorbike accident. But after recovering, he continued to backpack. The U80 man still feels lucky because he has a "big network".
The 80-year-old "backpacker" still tells himself that if he is still healthy enough, still maintains his spirit and passion, who knows, one day he will continue to start the engine and set off to explore the S-shaped strip of land many more times.
