Nguyen Huu Quyen, 33, who is passionate about travelling and exploring the world has visited 28 countries/ territories around the world. Quyen said that he wants to explore many places to test himself. He stressed the need for young people to travel around the world as travelling will push young people to their limits and get them outside their comfort zone. Exploring another place will give young people a fresh appreciation for their hometown, country and “real life.” Once they’re back, they’ll feel lucky to live where they do. They’ll see that there really is no place like home and how beautiful their country is.

Nguyen Huu Quyen riding a bicycle to explore Queenstown, New Zealand.

Nguyen Huu Quyen is currently a programmer at Zenrin Corporate, a Japanese mapping company, and he has lived and worked in Japan for 7 years.

Letting the kites fly high, getting the kite up as high as the clouds

In 2007, Quyen obtained the highest marks in entrance examination to study in the major in International Trade at the Da Nang University of Economics but he chose to study Software Engineering at the Ha Noi-based FPT University as he received a full scholarship from this school. While studying in this university, he continued to win Student Exchange Scholarships granted by Japan’s ShinShu University. This scholarship program is specifically designed for final year students at FPT Unversity. This scholarship program provides the opportunity for its recipients to explore Japanese culture. Hence, Quyen spent most of his time joining international students in the Land of Cherry Blossoms to participate in cultural exchanges and explore the tea ceremony which is the Unique Japanese Tradition of Sharing Tea.

After completing his studies in Japan, Quyen returned to Da Nang to work at the FPT Corporation for 3 years. He then realized that his programmer job was uncomfortable and boring so he has decided to regularly participate in experiential programs such as planting flowers in Moc Chau, gardening in Ba Vi, going backpacking, and doing voluntary work in mountainous areas like Tay Giang District, Quang Nam Province.

Traveling across Viet Nam has given Quyen a chance to make friends and meet people with similar interests that helped motivate and inspire hime to pursue his dreams of traveling around the world in the hope of leaving his footprints in many countries worldwide and remembering the name of the capital city and its geographical location of the country where he visits.

When Quyen was 25, he decided to work abroad to have the opportunity to travel around the world. He is an information technology (IT) engineer as well as is fluent in both English and Japanese, he hence was easily recruited into Japan-based Zenrin Corporate.

“Passion for travel likes flying a kite. The kite must be tied to a strong string on the ground in order to fly up into the clouds. I really admire young people for giving up everything to travel but I pursue my dreams of traveling the world in a safe way. I find a suitable job to earn money to travel the world while taking my vaccations in a bid to let my kite fly high and get it up as high as the clouds," Quyen said.

Travelling the world alone

All employees in Japan are entitled to go on vacation three times per year with 2 weeks of each vacation. Therefore, Quyen has frequently taken advantage of his vaccations to travel the world and he has set a goal of visiting all the countries listed in the Vietnamese alphabets. Quyen said that he had the opportunity to watch the sunset in Santorini that stands out for its neat white houses with blue roofs, and to visit the Meteora Monasteries in Greece. He witnessed the first ray of sunlight in Japan’s Mount Fuji, discovered Antelope Canyon which is underground caves with a thousand colours in Arizona, visited Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona, USA, explored the beauty of the Italian city of Venice, and Russia’s Saint Petersburg that is famous for its spectacular palaces and grand old parks, as well as saw windmills with beautiful tulip fields in the Netherlands.

Till date, Quyen has left footprints in 28 countries/territories around the world, and fully explored 47 provinces and cities of Japan. His visited places include Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong (China), South Korea, Japan, Austria, Turkey, Russia, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Vatican, USA, Mexico, Cuba, Australia, New Zealand, and Egypt. Recently, he has attended the PADI Instructor Development Course to be a PADI certified Diving Instructor in an attempt to realise his goal of exploring the 4 oceans around the world.

Reporting by HUYNH TUONG VY – Translating by H.L