Not only does Vo Nguyen speak English well, his delivery has a pronounced western flair. I had a hunch he’d spent time in the USA…

    “Actually,” he conceded, “I spent a year as an exchange student at Iowa’s Cornell College. I think I picked up a lot of the nuances of the language.”

    Nguyen is thirty-five years old. He was born and raised in Vinh City (the capital of the Nghe An province), just 14-kilometers from Cua Lo Beach.

    “I’ve been coming to Cua Lo since I was a kid—weekends, vacations. To people from Vinh, Cua Lo is like a backyard-getaway. Everyone comes here to escape the city.” Mai and I nodded. I signaled the waitress for another round of beers. Nguyen continued.

    “Cua Lo is really the heart-and-soul of our province. If you mention Nghe An to any Vietnamese, they’re likely to say: Uncle Ho and Cua Lo beach in the same breath,” (Ho Chi Minh was born in Nghe An). “To most Vietnamese, Nghe An is defined by Cua Lo Beach.”

    Mai wanted to know how Nguyen got into the tourism business. He laughed.

    “Like most young people in Vietnam, when I graduated from University in Hanoi, I came home to help out in the family business. The problem was, I had zero interest in the family business. My parents had a thriving wholesale company, warehousing product and delivering it to stores and restaurants etc. The money was good, but it wasn’t for me.

    “So, I took some time to find myself and, in the process, I discovered the richness of my province. You see, I pretty much set out on a road trip. Hopped on my motorbike, gathered some friends from my college days and off we went. It was an enlightening experience.

    “I discovered the diversity of Nghe An. We’ve got everything from national parks, to waterfalls, rivers, mountains, caves, green tea plantations—Nghe An’s got it all—including, of course, Uncle Ho’s hometown. Which is something of a shrine to Vietnam’s most beloved figure.”

    I was sold, but Nguyen continued…

    “But there’s something that truly sets Nghe An apart from all the other provinces in Vietnam. Something truly unique to our province. And that is the richness and blend of our ethnic minorities. The Thai and Hmong people for instance. Their languages and cultures are still very much alive and well—and accessible.”

    “So this awakening, that’s what gave you the idea to start your company?” Mai asked. Nguyen smiled.

    “Not exactly. You see, I was providing tours for friends and foreigners I’d meet, but I wasn’t charging a fee. You might say, it was a labor of love. But the Nghe An Tourist Bureau didn’t quite see it that way. They explained that I needed to become “official.” And so I did.”

    Vinh Guru Tours was born…

    “Like I said, Cua Lo Beach is the heart-and-soul of Nghe An. But travelers always want more. The wonderful thing about our province, is that we’ve got it all. I’ve even taken people on tri-country tours. Nghe An boarders Laos, which borders Thailand—I’ve made that trek frequently. You can actually do it in a day, if you push it.

    “That’s the great thing about Cua Lo, it’s the best of both worlds—it’s got the beach, with its old school charm, and easy access to all the wonders of our province and beyond.”