just want to share https://journals.worldnomads.com/oktooch/ Fri, 24 Apr 2026 22:51:04 GMT World Nomads Adventures I was complaining to some officer at Halong City harbor about the ticket I couldn’t use to see Halong Bay. I found the fact that it’s impossible to see Halong Bay without joining a Tour organized by local people. But I have already bought a ticket and thought I would get a seat in a boat to see around Halong Bay. I realized what a big mistake I have made. “Is it one of many scams I read about Vietnam?” I asked myself. I wouldn’t let them sell me ticket for useless. If I couldn’t be in a boat at least I could have my money back. They should give me solution. I was so depressed arguing with people who spoke so limited English. In a feeling of loneliness and hopeless a man wearing uniform approached me. I was sure he was in charge there because all officer around respected him. I read his name was written on his uniform, Nguyen Van Linh. To see him had empathy to me, I told him my problem. Unfortunately, he didn’t speak English at all only Vietnamese. We spoke with different languages and tried to understand each other by looking body language. He seemed understand what happened then took me to an officer to help me. From one officer to another officer, felt like a ping pong ball, all I got was just misunderstanding and deadlock. When he realized that nobody at the harbor could help me, he took me to ticket counter and asked the officers there to give me help. I told the officers about what happened. With a very limited English the officers could speak, I explained with the rest of my energy about my problem and what I wanted. Finally they gave me back my money. The day after, I came again to the harbor for Halong Bay trip. This time by joining a Tour. When I was going to enter the boat I saw Mr Linh. He smiled to me and said something in Vietnamese while pointed the boat. I was sure he wanted to say “You can go to Halong Bay now with this boat, you will be safe”. I could only say thank you for his help. I found that Mr Linh threated me as a father helped his daughter to get out from trouble. Without his help I wouldn’t get my money back, wouldn’t understand how to see around Halong Bay. It’s amazing how he could understand me just from my body language. The way he helped me changed my premature opinion about Vietnamese. Mr Nguyen Van Linh made me realized that I have no right to judge a nation just by what people said. By his helped I learnt that each nations is a place where either good people and bad people live in. https://journals.worldnomads.com/oktooch/story/100256/Vietnam/A-Local-Encounter-that-Changed-my-Perspective-The-Power-of-Body-Language Travel Vietnam oktooch https://journals.worldnomads.com/oktooch/story/100256/Vietnam/A-Local-Encounter-that-Changed-my-Perspective-The-Power-of-Body-Language#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/oktooch/story/100256/Vietnam/A-Local-Encounter-that-Changed-my-Perspective-The-Power-of-Body-Language Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:49:35 GMT 0 It’s 5 o’clock in the morning at Siam Reap-Cambodia. I was at hotel loby and ready for my Angkor Wat journey and waiting for Rady. Rady was a tuktuk driver in Siam Reap who was local and we met one day before that day. I asked him to take me around Angkor Wat with the price we agreed for. After waiting around 5 minutes I saw Rady approaching with his tuktuk, then began the journey. Actually, it’s almost no particular conversation I had with Rady since I was busy with the amazing temples in the place. But finally I can had a very nice conversation with Rady when we’re waiting for sunset at the last temple. I bought couple of coconut there and gave one to Rady. I asked him to sat with me and the conversation flowed. I was so surprised to know his life by his words. In his age of 24, Rady had to work and fight so hard to survive for his life. The tuktuk he used to take me around Angkor Wat was his only treasure. He bought the tuktuk around one previous year. The price of his tuktuk was $600 and he got credit from Bank to pay the price. Every month Rady must pay &80 to the bank until the payment end. TWhen I asked him about his education, Rady told me that he didn’t get any formal education at a formal school for financial reason. His passion to get knowledge and to speak English well, took him to Pagoda for studying. Everyday, at 7.00pm Rady went to Pagoda for studying and had to pay Riel 1000 for one hour as the fee. His life story touched my heart. Actually, Rady taught me a very big lesson that day. I did’t see sadness or any complaint on his face for the life he had to deal with. knowing his life made me determined to appreciate my life, to always be thankful for what I had in my life. No matter it’s small or big. Rady’s dream to be well educated and to be fluent in English opened my mind to follow my dream and never stop getting it. Thank you Rady to let me know your life story and to taught me a very important thing. https://journals.worldnomads.com/oktooch/story/86386/Worldwide/My-Scholarship-entry-A-local-encounter-that-changed-my-life Travel Worldwide oktooch https://journals.worldnomads.com/oktooch/story/86386/Worldwide/My-Scholarship-entry-A-local-encounter-that-changed-my-life#comments https://journals.worldnomads.com/oktooch/story/86386/Worldwide/My-Scholarship-entry-A-local-encounter-that-changed-my-life Mon, 23 Apr 2012 12:51:56 GMT 0