Because of his love for “The Godfather”, Mr. Chuong flew to Sicily, Italy in the hope of having the opportunity to “make an offer he couldn’t refuse” to the mafia.
Mr. Luong Thanh Chuong, 47 years old, currently living in Vung Tau, is an avid reader and traveler. He believes that reading is one of the best ways for people to grow and expand their knowledge. On his travels, what he always brought with him were books. They help you kill time when sitting on a plane, train, bus, waiting for a train, or a delayed flight…
He read a lot of books and later, perfected his passion for reading by going to the lands mentioned in those books. These journeys were all made before 2020 when Covid-19 had not yet appeared.
Having read Journey to the West, he visited several places where Tang Tang went to seek sutras, mainly points in Xinjiang in June 2019 and October 2018. Also during this time, he traveled to the Silk Road following the pages of Marco Polo’s Travels and then Sangri-la in search of the Lost Horizon as narrated by writer James Hilton. He also visited the great Thien Son valley located at the foot of the mountain range of the same name in Xinjiang just because of Luong Vu Sinh’s Seven Swords Lowering Thien Son . He explored most of the places that appeared in Kim Dung’s series such as Hoa Son mountain, Wudang, Nga Mi, Quang Minh peak…
He then “chased” Sam and Frodo to explore the beautiful Mediterranean world for the Lord of the Rings. After reading Tolkien’s The Hobbit , it was time for him to go to New Zealand. After reading Che’s Story , he set foot in Argentina. In Europe, he went to France because he was in love with the Three Musketeers and visited Notre Dame Cathedral to find the “hunchback”. He also came to Athens because of a childhood dream associated with Greek Mythology.
He said the land of the gods was imprinted on his childhood memories. Greece to him is the laurels of glory, the story of the marathon history, the Olympic tournament, the Achilles and the Trojan horse… Greece today is facing an economic crisis, a golden age. Kim has gone back to the past. But he and many other tourists still rank this place as one of the must-visit spots when coming to Europe. “Not for the beauty of Santorini or ancient Athens with its ancient civilization, I came to the land of the gods for the stories of my childhood.” In 2016, he also went to Bali to Love, to Italy in 2013 to follow in the footsteps of female writer Elizabeth Gilbert when reading her Eat, Pray, and Love .
The most important milestone in his travels was in December 2013. That’s when he set foot in Italy in search of the “Holy Grail” as suggested by Dan Brown in The Da Vinci Code . He went to the convent of Santa Maria Della Grazie in Milan to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting of the Last Supper. The reason for coming to this place is because, in his famous work, Dan Brown hypothesized that the “Holy Grail” is the cup of wine that Jesus held in his hand to drink at that Last Supper. This is also the first trip of Mr. Chuong’s “10-year travel” plan, from 40 to 50 years old.
Before the age of 40, he also often went abroad, but he just went on a business trip to visit. From this trip, he has true tours: eat, play, explore and learn about cultures. After the age of 50, he will spend time on other things.
One of his most impressive journeys was visiting Sicily twice in 2015 and 2017, after reading Mario Puzo’s The Godfather and the Bloody Land of Sicily . The first destination of male tourists is Palermo, the capital of Sicily. Far from its infamous past, today Palermo is peaceful, rich and beautiful.
The second destination is the village of Corleone – the capital of the legendary mafia. Corleone is about an hour and a half from Palermo by car. Along the way are large lemon and olive farms. Corleone village is very peaceful, mainly old people live. Coming here, you do not need to buy a tour to follow the footsteps of the mafia as the people who do tourism here advertise. You can hire a self-drive car, or hire a local driver to take you around.
There is no beautiful scenery like other places in Sicily, but the village gives Chuong a feeling of euphoria mixed with a little shiver. That’s when he went to the houses of the famous mafia bosses before to take souvenir photos. Today, these places are all tourist destinations. He visited the museum, which helps visitors better understand the crimes of the mafia right at the mafia’s mecca. This place made him feel like he was immersed in the pages of The Godfather ‘s book . One of the things that excite him the most is going to Sicily to make “an offer he can’t refuse” to someone in Sicily. But unfortunately, here he did not have the opportunity to tell the “genuine” mafia that.
Also because of his passion for reading, Mr. Chuong visited 6 bookstores that were voted the most beautiful by many newspapers in the world, Shakespeare&Company (Paris, France) in December 2015; El Ateneo (Buenos Aires, Argentina) in September 2016; Eslite (Taipei, Taiwan Island, China) in May 2017. The next three bookstores are 10 Corso Como (Milan, Italy) in September 2017; Libreria Acqua Alta (Venice, Italy) in September 2017 and Bookworm (Beijing, China) in November 2018.
His last trip was to China in December 2019, climbing the Great Wall in Beijing. Since then, because of the epidemic situation, Mr. Chuong has not had any more trips abroad. When the epidemic is under control, the countries reopen their borders, he plans to return to New Zealand to go all the way mentioned in The Lord of the Rings , visit his daughter who lives here. He also wants to return to Italy to visit his favorite team – AC Milan. The next planned journey is to discover Kha Kha Tay Ly as Zhuo Moc Cuong Ba in the Tibetan Code .
What Mr. Chuong wishes to send to parents with young children is that instead of letting their children spend time with computers, playing games, etc., let them read books from a young age. Reading books helps children a lot, opens them up to a good heart, a better sense of the world, early independence, responsibility and more faith in life. And this is exactly what he taught his daughter. Follow vnexpress