American man finds "dream wife" when coming to Vietnam

They met through a dating app when Yang came to Hanoi to attend a friend's wedding at the end of 2022. The young couple arranged to meet at a shopping mall. The guy got the wrong address and missed the appointment by nearly an hour, but Lan Ngo still welcomed him with a gentle smile.

Even though they had just met, they quickly hit it off over their shared love of animals, travel, and food. "She was gentle and exactly the type of person I was looking for," said Yang, an IT engineer in Colorado.

What remains in Lan's mind is a caring, gallant, and masculine Chinese-American man. "He has smiling eyes," the girl, who also works at an IT corporation, shared.

As fate would have it, they coincidentally went to the New Year countdown party in Thailand. The second time they met, while having lunch, the guy suddenly held Lan's hand and said: "It sounds a bit crazy because we've only known each other for a few days, but I want you to be my girlfriend." The Vietnamese girl refused because they didn't know each other well.

Together with their friends, they continued to explore Bangkok. One evening, sitting together, Lan told about her sad stories from the past as well as her past relationships. "I have never opened up to anyone, not even my best friend, but I don't know why he was able to tell me his deepest secrets," Lan shared.

When the knots in her heart were released, her tears just kept flowing. The guy put his arms around her and comforted her: "Sorry, I'm late." A few days ago, he wanted to conquer the girl, but at this moment, he was determined to pursue her to the end to protect Lan.

On the last day in Thailand, Yang asked her out to a coffee shop. Once again, he expressed his feelings: "I want to make you happy, I want you to be the reason I come back to Vietnam. I promise I won't let you regret this decision."

Lan said that all those days ago, she always refused him because she thought she was at the age where she needed to settle down and had a family, and didn't want to waste time on a long-distance relationship with a different nationality. "But because of him, I took a risk on a relationship that I had only known for a few days," she said.

After accepting her love, Lan had to return home to work, while Yang continued his plan to travel to Southeast Asia. That weekend, the guy surprised his girlfriend by returning to Hanoi to take her to Malaysia to see a Van Gogh exhibition. After the trip, he followed her back to her hometown to celebrate Lunar New Year.

This is the first time Lan has publicly announced her lover to her family, friends and social networks. "I am also the first girl he has introduced to his parents," she said.

After nearly two months together, the day came when Yang had to return home. To maintain their love in a long-distance relationship, the two set common rules. The girl wanted to say "I love you" every day, and prioritized calling instead of texting. The boy wanted to communicate effectively, respectfully, and never hang up when there was a conflict. They still had dates, even though they were more than 13,000 km apart.

During the time apart, Lan learned to cook, do makeup, and exercise regularly. She tried her best to improve her English every day. She also became more mature in the way she loved, instead of letting the man guess her thoughts, she would proactively speak them out. The girl believed that not only women need to be complimented, but men also need to be encouraged, so she learned many English phrases to compliment her boyfriend.

However, there are still inevitable disagreements between two people of different nationalities. Once Lan saved a photo of her boyfriend with a pig emoji because she thought it was cute, but Yang was upset because she thought she was fat. Another time he complained because she was late. Tensions escalated when Lan defended herself by saying that in Vietnam, it was normal for boys to wait for their girlfriends. When she calmed down, she admitted that her culture of being late was wrong. Yang also admitted his mistake for getting angry and from then on always told her what needed to be on time and what could be "time-wasting".

"To love a foreigner, in addition to understanding, patience, putting your ego down and being open to thoughts different from your own," said the Vietnamese girl.

Lan's gentle love makes Yang more perfect every day. He said that unlike her fragile appearance, she gives him a mature love. She doesn't think she's a woman that makes him give in when angry, on the contrary, because she knows he has many responsibilities and worries, she always acts as his emotional support.

Yang's love also brought Lan back to her true self. She had a hobby of dyeing her hair and dressing sexy, but before people commented that such an appearance "would only attract bad boys". Before meeting Yang, she dyed her hair dark and dressed in the style expected of a "good girl".

"The first time he met me, he asked me why my style had changed 180 degrees and encouraged me to live true to my interests," she shared. "Now I just need to know that I'm beautiful in his eyes."

And because I once heard the girl I love say she likes to look at the night sky,In November 2023, Yang flew to Vietnam to take her to the Yi Peng sky lantern festival in Chiang Mai (Thailand). The next day, he secretly took Lan out with his friends to let her model. In the moment she raised her hand behind her back to pose, the guy knelt down and proposed.

"I knew you were the one from the first time we met. The time we spent together made me want to be with you forever. And today I want to ask: Will you marry me?"

She was surprised and happily nodded.

After getting engaged, they returned to Vietnam and went to China to inform both families and prepare visa procedures for the reunion in April 2024. The couple is currently on a journey to explore the United States and prepare for their wedding in Da Nang next April.

One afternoon in late August, the newlyweds stopped to explore a volcanic cave in Idaho. This was the eighth state he had taken his wife to on their honeymoon over the past two months.

"Before I met her, I had the goal of exploring the world. After falling in love, I wanted to show her the whole world," he said.