Interesting people we can meet during the Hanoi not-to-go-alone areas & stories from the Vietnam War tour

While hosting the “Hanoi not-to-go-alone areas” tour, we had the pleasure of meeting many interesting people. One of my favorite individuals is a Vietnamese veteran who fought in the border war back in 1979. After returning home, he opened a beer shop to welcome his old veteran friends. He kept the beer prices low, at just 8,000 VND per glass, so that all of his friends could afford to enjoy it every day.

If you walk by in the morning, you will see a group of old men sitting and drinking one or two glasses of local bia hoi. They laugh, talk, and share stories with each other. On the wall, he hung a photo of his family, a photo of him and the soldiers holding the Vietnamese flag when he was very young in the army.

→ If you love history, this tour is an excellent opportunity to join our Hanoi not-to-go-alone areas & stories from the Vietnam War tour.

Hung, the friendliest local, we can see him sitting at the beer shop almost every day. He loves to talk to the guests about his life in Germany from back in the days when he went to school there. Whenever he sees us, he warmly welcomes us in Vietnamese and then in German. He is always happy and excited if someone in the group knows how to speak German.

Back in June 2023, we had two guests join our “Stories from the Vietnam War”: David from the US and Zi from Singapore. We were lucky enough to have a chat with a 95-year-old Vietnamese man. He was passionate about telling us his life story. He was born in 1928, throughout different periods of Vietnamese history, he learned French, then Russian, and Chinese. Ten years ago, his children went to the US, Japan, and Australia to study and work. That’s when he began learning English.

He expressed his happiness at meeting David and Zi and wished them all the best for their trip. We then said goodbye.

We are proud of the experience we offer, which brings travelers closer to local people and helps them understand how locals live. Additionally, we donate 20% of our profit from the tour to charity organizations: Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation and Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange.