Vietnam is the most unique country in the world (prove me wrong)

A few weeks ago I filmed a video where I drove about two hours into the countryside looking for a waterfall. I found the waterfall by the way. But on the way back I discovered something way more interesting. I've lived in Vietnam seven years now and I'm still discovering things about this country that completely blow my mind. Like a cave so big you could fly an airplane through it. Or how Vietnam became a powerhouse in the coffee industry because of a deal with a country that no longer exists. But the wildest thing I discovered recently, I found it completely by accident. So I was cruising in the countryside. I stopped on the side of the road to film me riding my motorbike. And I hear what sounds like drumming and live music. At first I thought it was a wedding or some big party, but I had to check it out. Turns out this is a religious ceremony known as Ho Dong. This is a uniquely Vietnamese tradition that dates back more than five centuries. And I stumbled upon it by accident in the middle of nowhere on a Tuesday afternoon. But here's the wild part. This isn't just a fun cultural performance it's a spiritual ceremony where they believe a spirit medium can channel multiple incarnations of the Vietnamese mother goddess. I had no idea what was happening and this is just one example of a unique cultural experience in Vietnam that's completely foreign to westerners like me. But if you really want to understand what makes Vietnam so fascinating you have to look at its history. It's a miracle that modern day Vietnam even exists. Most Westerners will know about the war with America in the 1960s and 70s. A lot of people are surprised to hear that an American like me can live peacefully in Vietnam and be welcomed here today. You would think the Vietnamese people might be a little bitter, right? It's a fair question, but actually the American war was just a small chapter in a long story of Vietnam fighting for freedom against other countries. For more than a thousand years, different Vietnamese kingdoms and dynasties fought against powerful Chinese empires to the north. Then comes the Mongols. In the 1200s, the Mongolians launched multiple invasions into northern Vietnam. This was one of the most powerful armies the world had ever seen, and Vietnam was one of the only kingdoms able to resist them. Centuries later comes European colonialism. France gradually took over Vietnam in the 1940s. During World War II, the Japanese occupied Vietnam for a while, but France was still hanging around. This led to another brutal war, and Vietnam was able to defeat France at Dien Bien Phu in 1954. Now at this point, Vietnam is still divided into North and South, and this would set the stage for what's known here as the American War. And we all know how that turned out. The Americans left and Vietnam was reunified in 1975, but even that wouldn't mean Vietnam was finished fighting. There was more conflicts with Cambodia and China through the 1970s. So when you look at the big picture, you start to realize something. Vietnamese history isn't defined by one war with America. It's a much longer story of a relatively small country repeatedly defending itself against much larger powers. And somehow, after all of that, thousands of years of fighting, Vietnam is still here, independent. Pretty badass, if you ask me. It's honestly been a lot of fun living, exploring in Vietnam. Even after years, I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. And if you ever decide to visit, one thing that's going to make exploring Vietnam a whole lot easier is access to reliable phone data. Best option is always going to be an eSIM from Airalo. They're a top-rated eSIM company worldwide, super easy to set up. Download the Airalo app, choose a data plan, you're good to go in a few minutes. eSIMs are 100% digital, so you don't need a physical SIM card. You'll automatically connect the moment you land in a new country. Airalo has data plans in more than 200 destinations, so whatever country you're traveling to, you'll be good to go. I've used Airalo for years. They're not going to let you down. I've only ever recommended brands that I use and trust. Prices are very affordable, and I've got a discount code. You can enter the code TravisT3. You're going to get $3 off your first eSIM. The link and the code are going to be down in the description, or you can scan the QR code over here. Download Airalo today. Get $3 off your first eSIM with the code TravisT3. Okay, so right after all those wars finished, something amazing happened in Vietnam in the 1980s. You might have heard that Vietnam is famous for producing coffee. They're the second largest exporter in the world. But the story of how they became that way is almost hard to believe. Let me break it down. After World War II, Germany was divided into two separate countries. East Germany was desperate for coffee. A lot of countries didn't want to do trade with them. Their currency wasn't worth ----. So they nearly ran out of coffee. It got so bad, they were mixing what little coffee they had with roasted grains and pea flour to try to make it last longer. The Germans hated it. So East Germany decided to take a big gamble and make a deal with Vietnam. Europe doesn't have the right climate to grow coffee, need a tropical environment. Vietnam had the perfect climate and terrain for coffee. So East Germany provided the machinery, technology, and resources to set up massive coffee plantations in Vietnam. Basically, they paid for everything. And Vietnam would repay them by exporting half of the coffee grown back to East Germany for free. It was a pretty good deal for both sides. This is just after the war with America. Vietnam's still in pretty rough shape. They didn't really have anything to lose. But there was one problem. Coffee trees take years to mature. They were expected to produce the first coffee in around 1990, but East Germany collapsed in 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall before the first harvest was ever ready. So Vietnam never had to repay anything, and they were just left with one of the biggest coffee industries on the planet. That still exists today. Thank you, East Germany. There's something else I had never realized. Vietnam is more than 75% mountainous terrain. But for a relatively small country, Vietnam has a mind-blowing variety of landscapes. You've got beautiful green rice terraces in the northern mountains. Then there's Ha Long Bay, thousands of limestone islands jutting out of the water. Of course, you've got beautiful beaches like where I live in Da Nang. Maybe the most surprising is a place called Mui Ne. They've got massive sand dunes. You can ride ATVs. You'll feel like you're in a desert somewhere. But the most epic and impressive, Vietnam has the largest cave in the entire world. It's called Son Doong and it's hard to imagine the scale of this cave. National Geographic famously described it as being able to fit a city block of New York City skyscrapers. A 757 jet could comfortably fly through it. There's an underground river. The cave has its own ecosystem and weather. There's literally clouds to form inside the cave. But maybe the craziest part about it is how the cave was discovered. A local Vietnamese guy stumbled upon the entrance of the cave in 1990. He was walking through the jungle when a big storm hit, and he took shelter in what just happened to be the entrance to the biggest cave in the world. He could tell it was a huge cave. He could feel wind coming out of the entrance, and he could hear an underground river. But it was too dangerous to get inside the cave without any equipment. So he left planning on coming back. But the jungle is so thick in this area that he couldn't find his way back. He told people about it, there were multiple expeditions for years and no one could ever find the cave. It wasn't until 18 years later that they found the entrance to the cave. They didn't start fully exploring until 2009. You can actually see this cave for yourself, but it's going to cost you about $3,000 And there's a two year wait list. There's only one trekking company authorized to show the cave and it's limited to about a thousand people a year. I'm going to get on that list eventually. Please help me out. Subscribe to the channel so you can catch that video when I explore Son Doong Cave in about three years. And if you want to find out how I ended up in Vietnam in the first place, you can check out this video over here. See you over there. Peace.