(VOVworld) – Traveling to 10 ASEAN countries, conducting 100 interviews on the topic of what people think about Vietnam, and making short videos about ways to make Vietnam more attractive to foreigners is what 26- year-old Bui Quang Binh, an English teacher from Da nang has been doing.

Bui Quang Binh in Singapore

After traveling and discovering new places as a hobby, Bui Quang Binh decided to make a journey around ASEAN to discover how foreigners view Vietnam. Binh’s journey began last May, since then he has traveled to Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Myanmar and Malaysia whose capital cities were Binh’s destinations: “I want to find out what foreigners think about Vietnam and I want to share this information with others, so we can draw useful lessons”.  

3 days before the trip, Binh carefully prepared questions, some regional specialties of Vietnam and a camera. At each stop, Binh raised the Vietnamese flag and sang Vietnam’s national anthem to attract attention. Binh conducted interviews with young foreigners and recorded what they said about Vietnam. At each stop, Binh had only enough time to meet 5 or 6 people but he made full use of that short time to introduce images of Vietnam: “It’s interesting to teach foreigners about Vietnam. When they look at an image of Ha Long bay, they say they are surprised at such a beautiful scene. I invite them to try Vietnamese specialties such as green bean cake, coconut candy and Vietnamese rice alcohol. Many have changed their mind about wanting to visit Britain, the US, or Australia, and after seeing images of Vietnam and listening to Vietnamese music, now want to come to Vietnam”.

As an English teacher, it’s not difficult for Binh to talk with foreigners about their views of Vietnam’s social, political and educational issues. One unforgettable memory Binh has during his trip is when he stopped in Myanmar and watched a Myanmar TV report on China’s illegal placement of oil rig Haiyang-981 in Vietnam’s exclusive economic zone and continental shelf: “I felt so moved to see people demonstrating to protest China’s illegal acts. I nearly burst into tears watching Vietnamese people express their patriotism”.

Developments in the East Sea at that time prompted Binh to collect the views of people in ASEAN countries of China’s actions. Binh said most of the people questioned do not support China’s illegal acts. All of them said they believe in peace and resolving disputes through dialogue. Many young Chinese were shocked to learn that the truth is quite different from what they were taught in school: “I met a Chinese girl in Singapore who said she was surprised to hear that some things are different from what she learned from textbooks in China. She wanted to know the truth”.

With the interviews and ideas he collected during his trip to 10 ASEAN countries, Binh produced 10 short videos on different topics. The clips “What does ASEAN think of Vietnam?”, “What does ASEAN think of China’s acts – solutions for Vietnam”, and “You were yesterday” have been posted on Youtube and have attracted thousands of views.

Binh said he hopes his videos will help Vietnamese people see themselves through foreigners’ eyes, and join efforts to improve the image of Vietnam and its people.