Misunderstanding and the first "business" trip

I loved journalism, but I failed the university entrance exam in my first year. So I went to a tourism college to get a job quickly and earn money to cover my expenses. After graduating from the tourism college, I wrote poetry and prose, and I also collaborated with some small columns in several newspapers. At that time, I mistakenly thought that being a journalist meant traveling a lot, even traveling for free.

I remember in 2003, when I was working at a coffee shop in Hanoi, I wished to go on a business trip to learn about reality. That year, I only had a bicycle. I asked my boss for a week off.

I cycled straight to Bac Ninh City to learn about the lives of a group of blind people who were opening a massage parlor to make a living. Then I asked for directions to Pha Lai (Chi Linh). When I was in high school, I learned about the Pha Lai Thermal Power Plant in the newspaper, so this time I decided to go outside and see how big the plant was.

Straight ahead, I continued to the Con Son-Kiep Bac relic site for sightseeing. That year, I stayed with a family who sold small goods. With a love of discovery, I cycled through many villages in Chi Linh, then to Nam Sach district.

On the way, I was overwhelmed with joy when I came across Kinh Thay River - a famous river that has been mentioned in poetry. Occasionally, on both sides of the road, I came across vast rice fields and low hills, looking like upside-down bowls on the fields. On the way, I went to Vo Ngai village, Ngoc Lam commune, My Hao district (Hung Yen) to visit a female friend I had met through letters. I stayed at my friend's house for a night, and the next morning I rode my bicycle back to Khoai Chau (Hung Yen) to learn about the banana "warehouse" along the river. After finishing my work, I crossed the ferry to Phu Xuyen (Hanoi) to continue my work as a waiter in a coffee shop.

The cycling trip to the famous Con Son - Kiep Bac relic site of Hai Duong province and the countryside in Hai Duong and Hung Yen opened my eyes. But it also made me "realize" that to get information, you have to struggle, it is not at all "free travel". Journalism is not as simple as I thought.

Happily, after that trip, my five articles were published in the newspaper.

A difficult journey in my early life before I studied journalism gave me experience and many lessons, so that in 2005, when I passed the entrance exam to the Faculty of Literary Composition and Criticism (Hanoi University of Culture), I loved to travel even more, to devote myself to becoming a journalist. The vibrant life in the regions, the fates, the scenes of life, the unexploited beauty or even the beauty that was being suffocated... were all attractive, urging me to set out.