“This is the epitome of true hospitality”: An Indian visitor shares the kind gesture of the Vietnamese café owner

Vietnam has been one of the most well-liked travel destinations for Indians in recent years. Over 125,000 Indians are anticipated to have visited Vietnam in 2022, and over 250,000 between January and August of 2023, according to figures from the Indian Embassy in Hanoi. Vietnamese tourism is boosted by cost and an e-Visa-friendly visa system, but in the end, visitors are drawn by the warmth of the people there. An Indian guy recently recounted a touching act of kindness from a Vietnamese café owner. An X user using by the handle Skh27 posted recordings of a train traveling through Hannoi’s well-known rail street on Sunday along with a picture of him and his companion having dinner at the house of a Vietnamese family.

“This, in my opinion, embodies true hospitality,” he added. I went to a café for drinks in 2022 when I was in Hanoi. We spoke using Google Translate despite the linguistic barrier (my lack of Vietnamese and the owner’s lack of English comprehension). Unexpectedly, the proprietor invited the two of us to supper with his family!

Before long, this post had over 22,000 views. Many used the comments section to express their positive experiences traveling to Vietnam. “Been there, did that!” wrote a user on X. I found it fascinating that some street vendors were openly use smartphone applications to interpret the negotiating conversations. Another said, “Unlike people in other countries, Vietnamese people are very friendly and helpful and they don’t try to scam tourists.”

A similar post that featured the endearing action of a Japanese couple on the bullet train went viral recently. While traveling from Tokyo to Osaka, Abdullah Ghazanfar, a choreographer and video editor residing in Japan, attempted to snap a picture of Mount Fuji via the train’s window. Two Japanese people seated close to the window knelt down to provide Ghazanfar a clearer shot. Somehow, Ghazanfar was able to get a nice picture of them stooping to give her a chance to shoot a picture. This picture quickly gained popularity.

Ghazanfar said, “Just wanna clarify that what makes it extra wholesome is that I didn’t ask them to move,” adding further background to the widely shared image. They saw my feeble attempt to accept it from the other side of the aisle and my eventual surrender. They then took this action to give me a better perspective and to motivate me to give it another go.