Noah Nguyen, better known as Lai Ngua Chan, a YouTuber from Hai Phong City in northern Vietnam, is currently the only Vietnamese person to travel to 178 nations and territories worldwide.

Early this month, he departed for another country with an aim to become the first Vietnamese to reach all 195 countries and territories recognized by the United Nations.

He told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that his first destination for this year is a South American country.

After coming to 195 countries, he will return to countries that he loves and destinations that he wants to explore more, he planned.

Lai Ngua Chan is a popular YouTuber among travel lovers with his channel featuring nearly 400 videos and attracting more than 670,000 subscribers.

Explaining his nickname of Lai Ngua Chan, he said he used to study linguistics and philosophy in Germany. 

“Ngua Chan” comes from the phrase “itchy feet” in English indicating those who love traveling. “Lai”, literally translated as again, meaning that he has repeatedly gone on trips.

Lai Ngua Chan loves learning the culture of countries. Photo: Supplied

He shared that he did not like traveling when he was young.

“After his first trip abroad to China in 2006 with some friends, I still did not manage to travel around the world. Since studying in Europe, I realized that traveling around the world is definitely possible if I work hard to save money,” he added.

After nearly 20 years of traveling, Lai Ngua Chan said he is now addicted to traveling.

Trips help broaden his horizons, real-life experience, and knowledge while changing his perception and improving himself, Lai Ngua Chan said.

“I love Danish writer Christian Hans Andersen’s saying – At rejse er at leve, meaning that traveling is a reason for living, you are traveling means you are living”.

While studying in Germany, Lai Ngua Chan easily visited most European countries. He later reached many other regions, including dangerous areas and those with political instability, even those with riots and wars.

He used to set foot in Haiti, Somalia, and Yemen.

He shared that he came to these regions with local tour guides, learned experience from those who had previously traveled to these regions and used his intuition to adapt to and deal with all situations.

He said his greatest strength is his sense of venturesomeness.

Lai Ngua Chan poses for a photo with children in Angola. Photo: Supplied

In 2023 alone, he visited 32 countries and territories.

“I was most touched when witnessing the life of Cuban people, most impressed by the life with unique customs of near-primitive tribes in South Sudan and Angola, and scared and sad when coming to military conflict zones in Ukraine,” he retold.

Traveling is costly. Everyone loves traveling but not all people can afford their trips.

Lai Ngua Chan said he did part-time jobs since he was still a student to earn money to cover his trips.

After graduation, he was lucky to get a high-income job so that he could pursue his passion of traveling.

After creating his YouTube channel and uploaded videos of his trips to the channel since 2021, his income from YouTube has helped cover about half of the costs of his trips.

“My greatest joy is to provide Vietnamese people with images of remote and new lands. I’m not a professional filmmaker, so I always try to record real-life scenes,” Lai Ngua Chan shared.

He added that his most valuable lesson from trips to the 178 countries and territories is being more patient and looking at life positively. Each trip is a journey full of experiences. 

“I’m probably introverted and love keeping memories so that I can remember when I am old, which is the motivation for me to get itchy feet and go on trips again.”

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