The story of a person walking across Vietnam: Traveling to share

(Baonghean.vn) - After 5 years of preparing for a cross-country walking trip from the golden-named Ho Chi Minh City to the capital Hanoi, Pham Thanh Long - Director of Gia Pham Law Firm has affirmed the motto "Live to love, love to live". The 33-day journey of more than 1,868km, through 20 provinces and cities across the country, with an average of 83 - 88,000 steps per day, ended at the Ly Thai To monument on August 26. And his experiences along the way could be written into a book.

Lawyer Pham Thanh Long is the founder of Gia Pham Law Firm. He is a successful businessman, honored with the “Golden Star of Vietnam” award, and is also a photographer and an excellent triathlete. Living in Hanoi, working in the capital and Saigon, Long has been nurturing the idea of ​​​​a cross-country walking trip since 2009, and only now has the opportunity to do it. On the morning of July 20, Pham Thanh Long began his thousand-mile journey at the Hang Xanh intersection (Ho Chi Minh City) back to Hanoi, returning home with his wife and children on his feet. He only had 680,000 VND in his pocket with the intention of living off the people and friends along the way to experience.

Live to love

An important lesson that cannot be ignored when walking across Vietnam: The more you give, the more you receive. On the first day of the journey, the Southeast region was scorchingly hot in the morning and pouring rain in the evening. At the end of the first day, his feet were blistered. On the second day, he still woke up at 4:30 as planned. It continued to rain heavily and the wind was very strong, but the hiker still kept walking. “The second day with the nearly 80 km Dau Giay - Xuan Tam route was a very difficult day. However, once I got over it, I found any other difficult task became easy,” Long shared.

The journey through Phu Yen, one of the most difficult stages of Pham Thanh Long

On the 5th day of the journey from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi on foot with his wife and children, putting his backpack on the ground in Mui Ne (Binh Thuan), lawyer Pham Thanh Long wrote in his diary, “Day 5... Perhaps the continuous days with long journeys of many hours have almost destroyed all the remaining energy. This is the time when the body is forced to be stronger to adapt to the new situation.” Long recorded and shared his diary entries from the day he left Saigon on foot so that his friends and relatives at home could easily follow his journey.

From the motto of life: "Live to love and love to live", in this journey, Pham Thanh Long practices a way of life relying on the people's hearts and the support of friends. This is a journey without bringing much money but still being able to live to demonstrate a new lifestyle, not needing money but still being rich, rich in love and sharing.

After 5 days of traveling, Long had only spent about 100,000 VND. He asked for water from people's houses along the road, and for food, he bought fruits from farmers' gardens, rambutan, dragon fruit, bananas... all very cheap. In addition, he brought some vitamins and minerals to ensure nutrition along the way. At night, Long stayed at people's houses to learn more about the lives of the locals. These "unexpected" hosts were all very kind, inviting travelers to dinner, whether simple or sumptuous, and most of them were made from homegrown products. Many people also woke up early to prepare breakfast and pack food for Long's next journey. Like Mr. An, the owner of an eco-tourism area where he stayed overnight near Bau Trang, Binh Thuan, woke up early in the morning to prepare a pot of sticky rice with beans and sesame salt for him to set off on his journey.

The lawyer expressed that the enthusiasm of the locals to help him along the way made him feel more clearly the kindness of the Vietnamese people. "Just asking a few questions, saying that you/your child is walking home, magic appears. The more I travel, the more I see that the Vietnamese people are always generous with love," Long wrote in his travel diary.

In 2009, he and two friends took a cross-country cycling trip. At that time, through Vinh city, we and young people picked him up from Ben Thuy bridge and during the conversation in Truong Thi ward (Vinh city), Pham Thanh Long (also known by the nickname LongPT) shared his stories and experiences with the young people of Vinh city about his passions and aspirations to rise up in life, of which the cross-country cycling trip that time was a testament.

Passionate about photography, once the admin of the famous website photo.com.vn, he and his friends with the same passion have traveled all over the country. Perhaps there is no place in the beloved land of Vietnam that those who love to explore and experience have not set foot on. He confided, "For me, traveling is to feel, to love every little corner of my homeland more. But it is also a way to train my will...."

Now, with the trip "Thousand miles of mountains and rivers to go...", he wants to explore his own will and determination in a different way. Of course, for someone like Pham Thanh Long, he has stopped at least a few times, visited or made some memories on this walking journey. Therefore, there is no shortage of friends on those roads. However, there were times when the road was long and lonely, his feet were tired after a day of scorching heat, Long had to stop at a poor neighborhood in Quang Ninh (Quang Binh) just to... beg for food and a place to sleep. The whole poor neighborhood was bustling because there was a dark-skinned guest, who didn't look "too bad" to beg for food. So cold rice mixed with salt and chili, instant noodles were brought out. Long said, "That was probably one of my best meals, because it was warm with human affection." Long shared on his Facebook page on August 17: "Rice with fish sauce and chili, instant noodles with water, begging across Vietnam is really classy. The whole poor village brought rice, instant noodles, and fruit to welcome us. I was moved to tears."

Once, when passing through Hai Lang (Quang Tri), he met the traffic police, they asked him questions, talked to him and admired his will. The traffic police officers sent him 2 bottles of water for him to drink on the road, and that was also the third time he received water from the traffic police.

He shared that on his journey from the South to the North, his meals were not calculated according to the "3 meals a day" model as before but "whatever is available". That way of living "based on the people's hearts" helped him experience and understand the lives of Vietnamese people across the country and see that human potential is enormous.

People from all over the country such as a monk, a woman selling sticky rice, a fruit seller, a Quang noodle restaurant owner, a student, a teacher… all help him understand more about their lives, thereby feeling more appreciative of the life he has. Moreover, that will inspire him to continue contributing values ​​to the community in the training career that he is passionate about.

Lawyer Long, while traveling across Vietnam, did not forget to show affection to the children he met along the way. And the people he met, he helped them with something or they could learn a meaningful lesson from him. Because this is a great lesson that is always practiced during the journey, he received help and support from many people. During the trip across the S-shaped strip of land, he only had a few hundred thousand dong in his pocket but he still lived comfortably thanks to the help of the Vietnamese people. Because many people were willing to feed him, let him sleep, bring him water, even walk the same distance... That proved that the lesson "Giving is receiving" is always true anytime, anywhere.

The will to travel

The journey of over 1,800 km is not short, of course. Thus, the will of the person conquering a thousand miles must certainly be tempered by courage and training, right from the thought.

To complete the thousand-mile journey, Pham Thanh Long has followed a very strict training regimen. Every Sunday, he runs about 30 km. Every Tuesday morning, he usually wakes up at 4 am to practice running and has maintained this discipline for the past 2 months. On average, he runs about 50 km per week, equivalent to a distance of more than half a day's walking. In addition, he prepares light clothes and equipment to reduce weight. During this cross-country trip, Long travels an average of 60-80 km per day. With a speed of about 5-6 km/h on the plains and about 4 km/h on the mountains and forests, 80 km can take up to 20 hours to travel. From early morning to night, every day is like that. Therefore, most of the eating and drinking activities take place on the road because there are stretches of 150 km without any support points. There are places like Deo Ca, a very long pass with no shops on it (Deo Ca is the 3rd longest pass in Vietnam, about 28 km long).

Lawyer Long's trip did not surprise his friends. Nguyen Vinh Cuong, a close friend of Long, said that his friend had shared his intention to walk a year ago and even invited him to go with him. Because of work, Cuong could not participate but was confident that Long would complete and surpass his goal. "Long is a strong person, with an iron will and great determination," Cuong said.

Two months ago, his determination to walk became clearer when he read a proverb that said: “The most important thing you have to do is decide to go and the hardest part will pass.” Lawyer Long was not alone in his journey. Many friends and acquaintances who knew him as a walker were ready to join him at certain stages. There were three young people determined to follow him from Saigon to Hanoi. Originally from Hai Phong, currently working in Ho Chi Minh City, 19-year-old Cao Manh Hung followed Long throughout the trip. Hung said that in the first few days, he often fell behind, but thanks to Long's encouragement, he felt used to the journey. "Long is a person with a very strong will, I want to take this trip to learn more from him," Hung shared.

In particular, while traveling on the road, lawyer Long can still manage his work well at the company as well as his business group. Long explained: "With the support of technology, the world has become a flat world, so I can work anywhere I sit...". Also thanks to GPS devices and software that accurately divides coordinates on the map, Mr. Long records his entire journey every day to know whether he went well that day or not, and at the same time shares his location on the website for friends and relatives to know.

A stop on the route from Ha Tinh City to Vinh City on August 23

Lawyer Pham Thanh Long and author in Vinh City

Lawyer Pham Thanh Long starts a new journey from Vinh City to Cau Giat

The day we met in Vinh City, the 27th leg (Ha Tinh - Vinh) after nearly a whole day on the road, Pham Thanh Long was still cheerful and chatted with us. He confided: "I understand that "traveling a day, learning a basket of knowledge", the way of traveling and living with the people like that, I will learn a lot of things on that journey, from my people and my fellow travelers, will learn many more things. In 2009, after cycling across Vietnam, I had many big changes in all aspects of life. So I think the accumulation in the past 5 years is enough for me to have a new breakthrough in life. Making this journey is probably to have other breakthroughs, I will learn many things and have many new sources of energy. What is more important is: I prove to myself that the source of energy inside humans is huge but we just do not use it. And I can use it for nearly 30 days to do things other than living, learning, connecting with people. Moreover, it can show my own strength in future things, when I return to work, no difficulty can hinder anymore.

Meeting friends and colleagues at the end of the journey at Ly Thai To monument (Hanoi)

With wife at Km0 (Hanoi) after completing the trip

Offering incense with friends at Ly Thai To statue to end the journey

Pham Thanh Long shares his experiences about the trip with press agencies in Hanoi on August 26.

Returning to his family and friends in Hanoi on August 26, concluding his experiential trip, lawyer Pham Thanh Long proved one thing: Each person is very strong, can do everything and do things that most people think are difficult.

Tran Hai