Mr. Chuong traveled to more than 170 destinations around the world to take pictures with symbols printed on souvenir cups.
Mr. Luong Thanh Chuong, 47 years old, currently living in Vung Tau, is an avid reader and traveler. In 2013, he planned to “Travel 10 years” in a row to explore the world. Instead of going on a regular tour, he wants to turn all his journeys into a challenge. Therefore, he went to the places printed on souvenir cups and took pictures. For example, on a cup with the shape of the Eiffel Tower of Paris, he will go to that exact location and take photos according to the “I’ve been here” trend applied by many tourists around the world.
In the two years from 2015 to 2017, he collected 430 souvenir mugs. In addition to printing the name of the city, country, and territory, on the cup, there are 2 most typical symbols of the mentioned destination. The motifs can be monuments, famous works, mountains, castles… or simply a flower, a typical animal of that country. For example, a cup printed with Swiss letters will have two symbols, the Eidelweiss flower, and the Matterhorn mountain, the Austrian cup is the Tyrolean Hat, and the Alps, the Bulgarian cup is the rose and the Oslekov house…
When looking at the pictures on the cup, Mr. Chuong will ask the question: what are these pictures? After that, he researched and looked up to find the correct results and then prepared for the trip to check in there. With 430 cups already owned, Mr. Chuong set a goal to visit 860 destinations corresponding to the locations in the picture (each cup is two destinations). Currently, he has made 172 photos, corresponding to 86 checked-in cups, and took 5 years to complete.
The cups printed with the symbol of Vietnam that he owns are the image of a girl wearing a long dress and a conical hat; Ha Long Bay; the gate to the Temple of Literature in Hanoi; lotus flower; cyclo and Ben Thanh market of Ho Chi Minh City.
Many people often choose the logos of famous works printed on cups and go to that place to take pictures. Mr. Chuong likes to challenge himself, so finding symbols is more difficult such as going to mountains, remote areas … “It is easy to capture famous icons in cities. For example, a cup with the symbols of Sabah state, Malaysia is an orangutan, and Mount Kinabalu, I had to enter the Sabah sanctuary to watch and photograph that animal, as well as climb more than 4,000 meters of the mountain. mountains to take pictures,” he said. This journey takes 2 days and 1 night. He started climbing at 8 am, reached an altitude of 1,800 m, then rested. At 15:00, he reached an altitude of 3,200 m, then continued to have dinner. At 2 o’clock the next day, he set off to the top at an altitude of 4,000 m.
He said the photoshoot that made him tremble the most was taking pictures of orangutans in a reserve in Sabah state. He had to ask the staff of the sanctuary to “lure” an orangutan to come close so he could check in with the cup. He just took a picture and trembled because he was afraid that the animal would “get” to snatch the phone or cup and disappear into the forest.
One of the most memorable photoshoots for him was at the top of Changbai Mountain, Jilin, China. When he arrived, he encountered a blizzard, the temperature was -20 degrees Celsius, it was so cold that it felt like the whole hand froze. But this is not the coldest shooting spot he has experienced. The coldest spot for him is Vu Tung Island, also in Jilin, with a temperature of minus 28 degrees Celsius to capture the ice tree, the symbol printed on the cup of China.
The most fun shooting spot for him was with pandas, in Chengdu, China. The logo printed on the cup that he thought could never be captured was the image of the sun with birds flying by. This is the image printed on the back of the Spanish cup. Another symbol that also makes him “give up” is the image of 5 animals on the cup of South Africa.
The journey he had to go the farthest to check-in with a cup was from Ho Chi Minh City, connecting in Auckland and then going to Santiago, Chile. Next, he flew to Easter Island to photograph the Moai statues – the symbol on the Chilean cup.
The check-in photo with the most elaborate cup is the symbol of dancing dancers. This is the image printed on the Cambodian cup. He had to buy tickets to Angkor Wat, find a dancer, and discuss his intentions with them. The same thing applies to him when taking pictures of dancers performing traditional Thai dances, or tango dances on the streets of Buenos Aires… These trips were all done by him before translation. Covid-19 appeared. It is expected that after the epidemic is over, he will go to Sevilla to find a Flamenco dancer for the logo printed on the cup of Spain.
The destination he most wanted to photograph was Mount Everest. Many times he had planned to go to Base Camp but could not go. He said, from the age of 40 to 50, he will capture all the difficult symbols on the cup. Then he will save the easier places to start his journey after the age of 50.
Mr. Chuong said that there is a community in the world that likes to collect cups and glasses like him. Those communities are most numerous in the Philippines, the US, Europe, and China. It was not until December 2014 that he knew about this community and joined. And also by participating in this community, he has met many members of the group, from all countries. Thanks to that, his foreign language ability has also improved significantly, enough for him to use when traveling alone to parts of the world.
One of the benefits of participating in the souvenir cup collecting community is that every time you visit a country or city, you just need to post an announcement on the group. On the right day and time to go there, people who have a hobby like him will organize a reception, take him out to eat, and go out. They even help him solve problems on the way, teach him how to call a taxi and even give him gifts that are local specialties. Even many members of the group who live in nearby cities are willing to catch the train, drive hundreds of kilometers to meet him, engage in endless conversations.