A US man has scored more than 4,800 followers on Facebook mainly thanks to his touching stories about his life in Viet Nam.

Thirty-year-old Philip Veinott is now in charge of marketing and social media for Viet Nam Is Awesome, a tourism website offering local experience for foreign tourists.

His love for Viet Nam, the country he has been living for six years and which he now calls home, is obvious in the pieces of writing on Viet Nam Is Awesome and on his Facebook page alike.

The English language teacher said he often writes once a week and the writing usually costs him a few hours

A supplied photo of Philip Veinott

His topics are simple and usually come from his past experiences, according to Veinott.

He has so far published around ten such stories, sharing his first-hand experience on food, student life, and travel tips with readers.

The stories also feature cleaning ladies who he said should be appreciated but people just do not care, how inconvenient it is for tall people in Viet Nam, or why Viet Nam is awesome to him.

Veinott would feel a bit shy when people praise his writing, saying he is not a professional writer and only writes what he sees, thinks and experiences.

One of his most famous stories is the “The luckiest unlucky day,” which earned him around 50,000 likes after going viral on social networks.

In the story, Veinott recounted how lucky he was to have met a Vietnamese couple who helped him when he had one of his arms broken after an accident.

One of the most touching stories, in the meantime, is the “Why Viet Nam is my home,” which he said had allowed him to sit down and think about the reasons why he considers Viet Nam his home.

To the man from New Jersey, the awesomeness of Viet Nam comes from tiny little things like the feeling of being free when driving a motorbike, or seeing the way Vietnamese people enjoy such street foods as snails.

The teacher who loves writing added that he hopes to get more people involved so that he would not be the only one who promotes Viet Nam and says the country is awesome.

Tet is the cause of love

Philip Veinott would never forget the first day he came to Viet Nam on the occasion of Tet (Viet Nam’s Lunar New Year) in 2008 to see his former boss, an overseas Vietnamese, in Ben Luc District in the southern province of Long An. Veinott admitted that he had no idea about Viet Nam at the time and did not want to come.

However, the man changed his mind shortly after being fascinated by the completely different life in Viet Nam.

Besides teaching and blogging, Philip Veinott has also been known as the founder of SlapDish, a service that offers free vouchers from restaurants and hotels in Ho Chi Minh City.
Companies will give Veinott the vouchers for him to announce them on SLAPDish, and people comment, tag, share to take a chance to win.

Born in 2014, SLAPDish has so far run as a free-of-charge bridge for people to connect to each other, according to the founder.

As for other reasons that tie him to Viet Nam, Venoitt said he still has a lot of things to do here, including working, getting married and taking care of his dog.

(Source: Tuoitrenews)