“Wherever I go, people help me.” So says Sunny, a 26-year-old painter from the Philippines. He'd initially planned to stay in Vietnam for four or five months and then travel around Southeast Asia. Before he knew it, he'd spent nearly ten months in the country and extended his visa three times. His account of his stay, reported by Dân Trí on July 22, conveys to those weighing relocation or a long stay the texture of a choice—“living somewhere for a long time”—that guidebooks don't carry.
Not a city but Sapa in the northern mountains, living with residents in an ethnic-minority village
Where Sunny settled wasn't Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City but Sa Pa, in the northern mountains—specifically in ethnic-minority villages like Y Linh Ho and Ta Van, living under the same roof as residents. Sa Pa is a destination a few hours northwest of Hanoi by car or sleeper bus, high in altitude and cool even in summer, its terraced fields wrapped in mist in the rainy season. The Mong and Dao create a distinctive landscape with their indigo-dyed dress and stepped rice terraces. Most travelers tour the sights over a night or two and leave, but he settled into a village a step off the tourist track and matched himself to residents' rhythm of life. That choice is what sustains a stay as long as 10 months.
Held a solo exhibition against a backdrop of terraced rice fields -- at a homestay-cum-cafe
His works fall broadly into two lines. One is landscape painting of mountains and terraced fields. The other is a series titled "Life in Sa Pa," capturing Hmong women carrying back-baskets and everyday village scenes. What's notable is where he shows them. Not a city gallery but a homestay-cum-café in Ta Van, where he held a solo show lining up paintings against a backdrop of terraced fields. Showing the work right in the midst of the land where it was born reflects a choice only a painter who moves as he paints would make. He isn't in the village only to sell paintings; he teaches English, goes to the fields with local families to help with farm work, and serves as a trekking guide. Because he paints people he stood in the fields with and shared a table with, even a single canvas of a woman carrying a back-basket carries a closeness a passing tourist could never photograph.
The reason he stays isn't the scenery or the prices, but “the kindness of Vietnamese people”
Why stay this long? The first thing Sunny cites is neither scenery nor prices but people. 'When I'm asked about Vietnam, I always talk about how good Vietnamese people are. Wherever you go, someone helps you.' Scenes of strangers extending a hand to foreigners have been told all over. In Saigon,The story of a Canadian customer handing 500,000 dong to a crying banh mi studentwas widely shared. The direction is reversed, but the pattern of a passing kindness moving someone is the same. Sunny's 10 months were also a time of continually receiving that 'kindness.'
Slow travel that sinks into one place changed his relationship with the village
“Stay in one place a long time and you come to understand people more deeply.” These words point to a territory a short trip can't reach. On a journey that moves to the next town in a few days, you don't see the village's morning smell, the fieldwork of each season, or residents' reserve and true feelings. As you stay in the same village, help with the farm work, and exchange words, the scenery changes from “object of tourism” to “place of life.” He teaches English, goes out to the fields, and guides because he's offering the locals his own role in order to stay. This kind of involvement carries meaning for the village side too. If people only pass through short-term, all that's left is souvenir sales, but with someone who lives in and gets involved, a circuit is born—children who learn English, and paintings that carry village life outward. A solo exhibition set against terraced fields is also one example of a new way to show the tourist area of Sapa. If you're traveling the north in the same spirit,Food spots you grow into by visiting again and againis close in spirit.
What decides a long stay isn't the number of sights but ties with locals and the visa
Sunny's stay overlaps with Japanese considering living or moving abroad. What decides satisfaction on a long stay isn't the number of tourist sights but the depth of involvement with locals. By turning to the "giving" side—teaching English, helping in the fields, guiding—he earns a place in the village. The other is residence status. He extended his visa three times to lengthen his stay, but the system is changing, and options for longer residence are coming together. If you plan to live there long-term,Eligibility for the new 'UQ1' visa of up to five yearsyou'll want to check early. Sunny says he wants to stay in Vietnam for about two more years, and what supports that is not just income from selling paintings but a way of engaging that puts down roots in the village—teaching, helping, guiding. Cut down destinations, stay in one place, give something back to the locals. On top of that, secure the real footing of a visa. Turning longing into a life is the product of these two.
