A little boy was born in Hanoi in 1990s and lived there for a couple of years before moving back to a small farming village in Nam Dinh which is 2 hours drive from Hanoi.
As a student in a rural area, I was crazy about learning English, especially how to speak English, but it was a big challenge since I didn’t have a good environment to practice spoken English. So my English was so poor.
At the age of 13, there was a big change in my family then I was sent back to Hanoi to study in a boarding school where I spent the whole month studying and living at the school and made it even hard to find the way to practice spoken English.
I used to dream of being an English teacher but how could I do with my BROKEN English, just spoke a few simple English sentences “Hello, How are you?, Where are you from?”. I knew that I couldn’t make it.
A couple of years later, I changed my mind to pursuing my dream of being an IT programmer since I loved learning about computers after visiting my cousin’s campus. He learnt how to be an IT programmer.
When I was at 11th Grade, one of my English teachers introduced me to working as a waiter in a restaurant to practice conversational English and earn more money.
So I took the chance. And the first day at work was the most memorable experience in my memory. Can you guess if it’s positive or negative? Well, it sounds positive, but the reality is the reverse. A bowl of dipping sauce poured into my uniform, and I had to change and take a shower of course. In Vietnam, we often say ” Van su Khoi dau nan” which literally means ” All things are difficult before they are easy“
Another time, after serving a meal to the guests, they told me that “A fish dish is still raw”. I thought it was fresh, which meant that no problem at all. They settled the bill and immediately walked away with angry faces. From that moment, I knew that my English skills was a nightmare. I promised myself that no matter what I do, I had to make it to end, I had to bring my English skills to the next level.
After work, I walked to Hoan Kiem Lake and looked for tourists to practice English. Imagine a skinny 37-kilogram boy carrying a 1.5 water bottle, what it looked like.
At the restaurants, I had chances to meet both Vietnamese and English-speaking tour guide so I was so impressed about the job : travelling across the nation, meeting new people, eating good food etc. This was what I thought about being a tour guide when I was a student, which is so a bit different from reality. I talked to myself, I had to be tour guide, so I changed my dream to be a tour guide.
At the first year at Hanoi Tourism College, majoring in tour guide, I applied for a Coordinator position and had a chance to practice spoken English much more often. After 3 months, my English went to the next level, I could speak English with foreigners with confidence. I was thankful and appreciated the time doing the volunteer work.
I tried to apply for 10 travel companies and with ZERO working experience, I failed all of them. I thought to myself ” I’ll never give up” so I found another way. Standing in the front of Temple of Literature to ask visitors if they wanted a free guiding. Even no, lots of them said “No”. I was a bit upset, I did try again and again and finally I got the first clients, a couples from England. I was SO SO happy with that. Of course, there were more clients for other days. You may asked me why I didn’t join a free walking volunteer club guide. At that time, Hanoi Kids were the one but I failed at their interview so I had to find another solution
I was so close to my dream job. What was next? At my second year at the college, I had two months to do an internship, so I applied as an English-speaking guide who operated the Halong Bay cruise. I was lucky that I passed the interview and became a REAL tour guide. That’s how I got into tourism.
Nam is a full time licensed English-speaking guide based in Hanoi and Northern Vietnam. He is also a tour leader for Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
In 2019, he offered the first overseas tours for a group of three Cezch entrepreneurs that cover North Vietnam and Laos. That’s how he got into the his new life career to become a tour leader for Indochina regions.
What Nam has done for the past 12 years
For those places that are not Hanoi, I usually travel there and guide you. I do it very often and I know the area well so count on me.
If you are looking for a dedicated, friendly, reliable to show you around Hanoi, Northern Vietnam and the entire country, I am happy to help.
Email me at namguidesmile@gmail.com
Or Whatsapp me at +84.974.313.104
Hope to welcome you to Vietnam soon and I’ll be your private tour guide in Hanoi !