Near the end of the Ha Giang leg, the itinerary was changed because the group did not have enough passengers. The two of them had to return to Hanoi and wait overnight to join another group heading to Cao Bang. “At that point I was exhausted from motion sickness and was thinking of giving up,” Ly says.
The family of Thanh Dat, 27, of Ho Chi Minh City, was added to her tour group after completing a trip to Sa Pa. “My family normally travels independently, but my mother wanted to do a guided tour, and so we changed our plans,” Dat recalls.
On the morning of departure, the group was delayed by 30 minutes because Dat checked out of his room late. And, though Ly had asked the driver to hold a seat for her, it had been taken by Dat’s family.
Ly was left with no choice but to move to the back row. She was irritated at seeing Dat board last.
|
Truc Ly and Thanh Dat during a trip to Cao Bang in 2021 and at their engagement ceremony in 2025. Photo courtesy of the couple |
As the only two single members in a group of over 20, the two were constantly paired together, from rowing on Ba Be Lake to sitting at the same table for meals.
On the final night of the trip, Dat got drunk. His parents asked Ly to keep an eye on him while they went for a walk. She watched over him and helped him back to his room.
After returning home, both families kept in touch. The two mothers, being around the same age, quickly grew close. Dat’s father in particular was impressed by Ly’s attentiveness and care for older members of the group throughout the trip.
He regularly checked in on her studies and would tell her: “Whenever you come to Saigon, make sure you let Dat know so that he can pick you up.”
At the end of 2021, when Covid social distancing restrictions ended, Ly moved to HCMC for work. A mutual acquaintance from the Cao Bang trip invited her to play baseball and asked Dat to give her a lift.
In his role as driver, Dat had the chance to speak with her. Her thoughtfulness when the roads flooded and her outgoing personality on the baseball field changed the way he saw her.
Dat used the excuse of driving her to and from work every day to get closer to her. A month later, he asked her out and she said yes.
However, after letting everyone know they had taken an instant dislike to each other during the 2021 tour, they kept their relationship secret out of embarrassment.
During the 2022 Lunar New Year, Dat secretly bought a plane ticket to Gia Lai to visit his girlfriend, telling his family he was going to Da Lat.
When the relationship was eventually discovered, Dat’s parents were supportive and constantly urged their son to bring his girlfriend home. “Every time I asked my mum for a favour, she would make it a condition that I bring Ly over first,” he says.
|
Truc Ly and Thanh Dat in a pre-wedding photo taken in Japan in 2025. Photo courtesy of the couple |
In 2023, his parents traveled to Gia Lai to visit her family, and the families went together on a trip to Phan Thiet.
A day after returning, Ly’s father suddenly passed away. It was nearly five in the afternoon, HCMC was being battered by rain, there were seats on flights, and buses were almost full too. She was in despair.
Dat and his mother made dozens of phone calls to bus companies across the city and managed to secure two last-minute seats. He rushed Ly to the bus station without even having time to grab rain jackets.
Back in Gia Lai, Dat stayed by her side and helped manage everything throughout the three days of funeral rites.
His parents flew in by the earliest available flight and rented a hotel near Ly’s home so that they could be there from morning to late at night to help the family receive visitors.
Her father’s passing took a psychological toll on Ly. “He used to tell me Ly was the youngest child, someone he sheltered and protected,” Dat says. “The day he passed, I told myself that from now on I had to be that pillar of support for her in his place.”
His steadfast support gradually helped Ly find peace againand realize he was not exactly a pampered only son. He worked hard and managed his spending carefully.
In November 2024, Dat secretly planned a proposal in Japan, timed to coincide with Mount Fuji blanketed in snow and the maple leaves turning red. A year later, he brought her back to the same spot for their wedding photos.
At the wedding reception, Ly designed a space along the aisle to honor her late father. There, the organizers placed a letter written as if from her father to the couple, alongside a letter Dat had written to his father-in-law.
That, and the love story that grew from two people who could not stand each other at first, moved many guests to tears.
If the tour had never been split that day, if Ly had quit halfway from motion sickness, or if Dat had not arrived late and accidentally taken her seat, the two of them possibly might have passed through each other’s lives without a second glance.
As she says: “Fate truly is extraordinary. The person I disliked most on that trip ended up becoming my husband.”
