Travelling to new places, experiencing new cultures and various cuisines, meeting different kinds of people, and inspiring those who share the same ideals are aspirations that Dinh The Anh and Pham Mai Huong want to pursue.

Freelance photographer and paragliding pilot Dinh The Anh. Photo: DINH THE ANH

The Anh is a freelance photographer and paragliding instructor of the Da Nang Paragliding Club, whilst Mai Huong is a travel blogger. With their great passion for travel, both natives of Da Nang are inspiring the community of travel lovers to live life to the fullest through beautiful photos, unique videos or their personal stories.

Dream to travel around the world

Despite being graduated from the University of Economics - University of Da Nang with a Bachelor's degree in Accounting, The Anh wants to spend more time for himself and satisfy his passion for traveling, taking pictures and discovering new lands.

The Anh takes a lot of photos during his journeys to new places and then posts them on social networking sites and forums. His photos are continuously voted best photos of the week, month, and year, hereby creating extra motivation for him to open a Hai Chau District-based wedding photography studio called ‘Nu wedding’.

Aside from travelling, The Anh loves conquering adventure sports such as Stand-up paddleboarding, or SUP, off-road riding, and paragliding. Amongst them, he loves paragliding most.

“I thought that paragliding flights would give me the wonderful opportunity to enjoy panoramic views of the city's stunning landscapes, as well as satisfy my passion for taking unique photos and filming unique videos in the air. So I have fallen in love with paragliding since then, and I'm now a paragliding instructor with an international paragliding pilot licence” said The Anh.

The Anh has traveled to about 20 countries, of which nearly 10 countries can go paragliding such as France, Italy, Germany, the USA, Netherlands, Thailand, Korea, and Malaysia.

"When traveling, especially in foreign countries, it is necessary to know foreign languages ​​and drive a car in order to be proactive in all circumstances. I always take a 20kg rucksack full of paragliding equipment by my side on every trip" shared The Anh.

According to The Anh, when flying in other foreign countries, paragliders are only allowed to fly in forest, mountain or sea terrain. Meanwhile, in Da Nang, paragliding lovers can experience a variety of terrain, just flying over the Son Tra Peninsula, Linh Ung Pagoda, the sea, or even on roads, bringing visitors interesting experiences.

The youngest person who flew with The Anh was 8 years old and the oldest was 84 years old.

“Most people who fly for the first time have a feeling of fear, but when they overcome their initial fear and successfully reach the finish line, they will feel extremely ‘adventurous’” said The Anh.

Inspiring the community

Pham Mai Huong decided to quit her job at a university in Da Nang to work as a freelance journalist and travel blogger. Huong's main work is writing, taking pictures and filming. Huong makes money by collaborating with many newspapers.

During each trip, Huong always writes and shares her articles and feelings on social networks which all receive active response from the community, thereby spreading and inspiring travel lovers.

Huong told Da Nang Newspaper “When I was 25 years old, I watched the movie "Everest disaster" and dreamed of once setting foot on the Everest Base Camp. There are two base camps opposite Mount Everest: South Base Camp is in Nepal at an altitude of 5,364 metres, while North Base Camp is in Tibet, China at 5,150 metres”.

“After half a year of planning, I went to Nepal alone. It was the first time I have left Viet Nam. Although I was deprived of oxygen that time and had to stop at the last leg of my journey, I began to realize that I needed to fulfill my dream of becoming a freelance reporter and travel blogger. Since then, I have set foot in many different countries, met many interesting people, experienced many different cultures and understood more myself” added Mai Huong.

Mai Huong has been to 12 countries and made a trans-Viet Nam journey. On her trips abroad, she has mostly volunteered for some farms through free volunteering organizations. In each destination, Huong had about 2 weeks to live with local families. At first, she went just for the purpose of exploring and broadening her horizons. After many trips, especially from trips to Nepal and Mongolia, Huong has inspired many people with the same passion for travel through her stories, photos and videos posted on her Facebook page.

Huong has got married and become a mother of one r. She has recently opened a handmade embroidery shop and spent time taking care of her young daughter. Huong is writing a draft of a book about the journeys she has done, as well as the lands and cultures she has experienced.

“I want to spend at least a year experiencing and exploring the big world, and challenging myself. I accept difficulties, challenges and unforeseen things to once live like that. At least I find myself having a meaningful youth. At least I know what I can do and how far I can go" said Mai Huong.

Reporting by THANH TINH - Translating by M.DUNG