Vietnam through a young expat’s eyes Dana visits Linh Son pagoda in the central highlands city of Da Lat. Phan Thanh Having lived in Vietnam for three years and cycled from Hanoi to Saigon in just one month, a young Canadian girl wants to learn even more about Vietnam and its people. She dreamed of telling her own story of VN in a book read by many people across the globe. Her dream suddenly came true in June when Moon Travel Guides, a top publishing house based in the US, hired her to write a guidebook about Vietnam. The lucky girl is 25-year-old Dana Filek Gibson. Her friends in Saigon gave her the nickname Little Na because she is petite. She speaks Vietnamese well, enjoys driving a motorcycle, and loves Vietnamese street food. The more I travel, the more I love VN Dana has to work every day from 7am to midnight to meet her March deadline. She acts as a tourist to collect information about hotels and restaurants in popular tourist destinations, recording the details as she goes. Dana takes time to find information before travelling to a certain city or province. She says it is much easier to find information about tourist attractions in big cities like Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi by doing research on the Internet or asking experienced tour-guides. For attractions in rural areas and the countryside, she asks local people or her friends for information. Dana said she became interested in studying about VN because it helped her understand more about its culture and history. She toldTuoi Tre that when she first came to Saigon in 2010, she was much impressed by several tourist attractions such as the Reunification Palace, the Notre Dame Church, and Ben Thanh Market, but she took them at face value. However, after researching these sites, she began to find Vietnamese history more and more fascinating. Dana told Tuoi Tre that she loves learning about Con Dao Island because its history is important to Vietnamese people. Her favorite beachside city is Da Nang and the mountainous area she loves most is the northwest. Dana also said she loves local people. “I’ve been in Vietnam for a long time and have talked to many Vietnamese in Saigon, Hanoi, and Da Nang. I’ve realized local people are very kind,” she revealed. She said foreign tourists appreciate the hospitality and friendliness of Vietnamese people. When she cycled from Hanoi to Sa Pa to Dien Bien Phu with her parents earlier this year, they were welcomed by locals warmly and made to feel they were part of their families. From the letter in 1964 to “rip-offs” Dana said she would never forget a story told to her by an old Vietnamese man she met in Tra Vinh when she was in the Mekong Delta region to collect materials for her book. When she was walking around Hang pagoda in Tra Vinh province, a local man in his 70s appeared and began talking to her. He told her many interesting stories about antiquities, tourist attractions, and historic relics in Tra Vinh, including Hang pagoda. Before leaving, the old man showed her an old letter sent to him by an American military official nearly half a decade ago. In the letter, it was written that in a town where just a few people could speak English, he [the old man] spoke English very well and was a kind and honest person. It urged visitors of the town to ask him for help. The writer’s signature was at the bottom. Dana believes that the biggest problems that Vietnamese tourism authorities have to deal with are rip-offs and scams that target foreigners. “If a product is worth VND10,000, it is acceptable if you sell that product to foreigners for VND12,000, but it’s not fair if it is sold for VND30,000,” she said. In her guidebook, Dana will provide readers with some tips to avoid being ripped off or fall victim to scams. She suggests that tourists request the price of an item before paying, bargain for a cheaper price, or simply select the best option from shops that sell similar products. She hopes her book will become a dependable guide for tourists to Vietnam, especially for those hailing from America. When asked about whether or not she can compete with Lonely Planet, Dana replied that she just hopes that her book is able to offer tourists more choices. “Most western tourists don’t like to buy tour packages because they cannot explore a real Vietnam,” Dana said. “If everyone reads Lonely Planet and goes to the places it recommends, there is no real Vietnam any more. So I hope my book will have its own readers,” she added. After graduating from the Writing faculty at Emerson University based in Boston, Massachusetts in 2010, Dana came to HCMC in Vietnam to learn about Asian culture. During her first year in the city, she was a teacher at some major English schools. She said she enjoys teaching kids but her passion for writing is stronger. In 2012, she began her own column in Asia Life Magazine, titled “Odd One Out,” a lighthearted take on expat life. She also writes in-depth features about Vietnamese culture, such as the Chicken Beauty Contest in Hoc Mon, a rural district of HCMC. Dana says that after finishing her travel guide, she will continue to write about Saigon, where she first fell in love with Vietnam and where she has lived for three years. “The more I study about Vietnam, the more I love it and realize that it is part of my life,” Dana said. “I’m very happy. This opportunity (writing a guidebook) is not for everyone. I find it very meaningful to study about Vietnam and to travel. It’s very hard to find a job at newspapers or magazines, especially in the US and Canada where employers often prefer experienced people to youth" - said Dana Filek Gibson. The guidebook, Moon Vietnam, covers most visited areas of Vietnam and is due to be released next summer. Its target readers are American tourists, especially backpackers. The guide will include information about restaurants, bars, and tourist attractions, and give travel tips for Vietnam’s most popular tourist destinations such as Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Lat, Nha Trang, Mui Ne, and the Mekong Delta region. QUYNH TRUNG, Tuoitrenews