OMAP has helped many lovely foreign friends to discovery Vietnamese culture and beauty.
Let's hear about some great moments of us
Mathilde from France
We had a trip to Khau Pha - Yen Bai by motorcycle to join an paragliding event in the framework of the yellow rice season festival.
We had an opportunity to admire the terraces in havest season, majestic mountains, and spectacular paragliding jumps. The most wonder thing was experience of camping besides a streams in Thai Lim village and eating grilled black pork, which anyone should try at least one time in his or her life.
Mathilde said: I have visited Ha Giang and really love this place. I don't know that there are other place like Khau Pha with the same natural beauty.
Mei Ling from Malaysia
We introduced Meiling to Home-cook Gia Dinh, a cute steak restaurant in Tue Tinh street. The food was cooked by a chef who nearly got the first prize in Vietnam Master Chef season 1. Meiling really loves her dish namely Bonsai steak and cute fruit juice cups. She said she would come back someday.
Then we went to City View coffee in the building beside Hoan Kiem lake to enjoy Vietnam Phin coffee - a traditional coffee. She love Vietnamese coffee too much, thus she bought 2 big packs of Trung Nguyen roasted coffee powder as a gift to her friends.
Frank from Germany
We had a visit to some historical places in Hanoi: Hoa Lo prison, Van Mieu (The Temple of Literature) and Uncle Ho Museum. He paid special attention to historical evidences of the war in Hoa Lo prison, and said he had never seen the same things before.
He want to try Vietnamese coffee, so I leaded him to Trinh Ca coffee, where we tried traditional coffee, and listened to Trinh Cong Son music. He said the coffee in Vietnam is stronger and more fragrance than in his country. and siting in this place made him feel peaceful while I told him about Vietnamese legend of Hoan Kiem lake
Gregor from Austria
Gregor was curious, he asked me many things about traditional, cultural things. We visited Quan Thanh temple and had an interesting conversation with an old woman who's wise and know about the temple clearly. In Tran Quoc pagoda, we talked about customs in Tet holiday and ancestors worship. He found very strange about burning votive of Vietnamese people.
He enjoyed Pho Cuon in Huong Mai restaurant, and Bo Bia in Thanh Nien street so much.
In the afternoon, we went to Wonmen's museum, and he thought its decoration was beautiful. We discussed more about agriculture, shamans and 3rd gender people, and find some homologues between culture in Western and Eastern.
Won Jun from Korea
Won Jun really loves Vietnam food, so we went to High way 4 restaurant, where we could enjoy many traditional foods such as white paper, hot spot.
He thought Vietnames girls are beautiful.
Zukovic from France
He shared that he had heard many things about Vietnam war and decided to visit this country.
We had a trip to Cai Be floating market. Floating market is one popular kind of open market in Mekong Delta provinces where people can buy all agricultural stuffs in the big boats running in the rivers.
We had a chance to visit coconut candy village and orchards, drink honey green tea, and listen to Don Ca Tai Tu ( one traditional music of this land). Zukovic said he would never forget this interesting trip.
Andy from Korea
Andy is a cheerful and cunning guy. He loved shopping in Old Quarter because of cheap price. Moreover, he was good at bargaining with shop keepers in Hang Dao street to buy some souvenir.
He surprised about my ethnic pride when hearing my introduction about visited places. And he admitted that he surprised about the development of Vietnam which is far different from his imagination before the trip.
Chiharu from Japan
Chiharu had worked in Hochiminh city for few months, and it was the first time she visited Hanoi. We had a dinner with Seafood hot pot in Le Duc Tho street. After driving around Hoan Kiem lake, we tried Sữa chua mít (Junk fruit with yagurt) and Hoa quả dầm (mix fruits with yagurt) in To Tinh Street, and Tra Chanh (lemon tea) and Hạt hướng dương (Sunflower seeds) in Cathedral Hanoi. A full night with junk foods and the interesting stories about Japanese working culture and oversea travelling among young girls.
Chiharu said she knew nothing about Vietnam before her boss asked her to move Vietnam's branch, but now she love this country and local people's hospitality.