I Spent 17 Months In Vietnam Due To The Pandemic, And Here Are 35 Photos Capturing The Experience

My name is Matija Babic, I'm a Croatian internet entrepreneur, founder of TasteAtlas.com - a world food atlas, traveler, a fan of photography but also a sloth who processes photos only with Google, and mostly enjoyer of the world. 

TasteAtlas.com is a world food atlas whose idea is to promote local food by cataloging all the dishes, ingredients, and beverages of the world, writing down authentic recipes, and listing traditional restaurants. And we are doing quite well in that. For now, we have cataloged more than 15,000 foods worldwide.

When I began my journey to Vietnam, I had a very one-dimensional idea of it. But when you spend two years anywhere, you understand countless nuances that cannot even be told in a short text.

I didn't really know much except that it was a country of exceptional natural beauty (which is great) and a communist country (which is horrible). But I didn't know that it was a country of extremely and sincerely warm people, a country that is developing super fast. Likewise, I realized the scale of the environmental disaster taking place in Vietnam. The Vietnam you see today may not exist in ten years.

As everywhere, places you will enjoy the most and remember the longest are those where you will have to step out of your comfort zone. The ones with the fewest tourists, where you will recognize the real life of Vietnam and the good people of Vietnam (the kindest in the world, in my experience), are not a show for tourists. There is no five-star resort worth as much as one dinner with the family and sleeping in the north of Vietnam in a peasant's house.

I travel constantly. But due to private and business circumstances, it will only be European countries in the near future. The last countries I dedicated weeks to were Norway and England, English countryside mostly. I fell in love with both. It is hard to understand why so few international tourists visit the English countryside, say Cumbria. It is one of the most beautiful parts of the world and I have a feeling it is still internationally undiscovered. Norway is crazy beautiful. Their Hurtigruten ferries, which transports people across fjords and remote places, is one of the most beautiful cruises in the world, although it is not a cruise ship at all. Or maybe exactly because of that.

And last but not least I would like to add, enjoy the world as much as you can, any way you can, while not hurting others. And start doing it now.