The man in the clip is Nguyen Thanh Son, 45, who lives in Ngu Hiep Commune in the southern province of Dong Thap.
Son filmed the video around noon on March 6 after meeting a foreign man, believed to be in his 50s, who was cycling past his house. Son greeted the visitor in Vietnamese, while the traveller replied in English.
Unable to speak English, Son relied on Vietnamese and body language to invite the man to visit his home. The traveller happily accepted.
“I do not know English and I do not know his name or where he comes from,” Son said. “At that moment I just wanted to invite him in to see my garden, the fish pond and enjoy some food.”
Using gestures, Son guided the visitor into the house. His wife later brought out rice paper and banh tet, a traditional Vietnamese sticky rice cake, for the guest to try.
Son and the man in the viral TikTok clip
The meeting lasted about 45 minutes before the traveller said goodbye. Before he left, Son gave him a small bag of rice paper as a gift.
The man curiously explores items in the house
Son said he recorded a few short clips while showing the visitor around and later posted them on his personal social media page for fun. He did not expect the videos to attract such widespread attention.
One clip has gained more than 7 million views along with thousands of comments. Most responses praised Son’s friendliness and hospitality.
In the video, Son asks the traveller simple, friendly questions in Vietnamese such as whether he is travelling alone and invites him to come inside for a meal.
Although the visitor could not understand the words, he responded in English with a warm smile, creating a light-hearted exchange that many viewers found touching.
