Thanh Thủy and Bích Ngọc pose for photos with children in Iraq - Photo: BÍCH NGỌC
A group of three Vietnamese women, Nguyen Thanh Thuy, Vu Phuong Thao (Ho Chi Minh City), and Phi Thi Bich Ngoc ( Hanoi ), were in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Autonomous Region (in Iraq), when they learned that the airspace of several countries, including Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, UAE, and Bahrain, had been declared no-fly zones due to the conflict.
Qatar Airways announced the cancellation of tickets and a one-week refund period. As a result, Thanh Thủy's group was forced to travel by car to the Duhok border crossing to enter Turkey by land, and then take a domestic flight to Istanbul on March 2-3. The group stated they would fly back to Vietnam on March 7.
"Fortunately, Turkish airlines were still operating amidst the crisis. In this unexpected situation, we received dedicated informational support from many travel partners in Iraq and Turkey, which reassured us," shared Thanh Thuy, who makes 1life quick medical first aid kits.
Meanwhile, Ms. Bich Ngoc from the travel agency N plus Adventure exclaimed: "Praying for the war to end quickly and for peace to return."
Nguyen Thu Huong, a digital nomad (people who work online and frequently travel to experience life in different places), said she was in Jordan and visited the Dead Sea, the border area between Jordan and Israel, on February 28th.
Thu Huong's phone, connected to an Israeli e-SIM, unexpectedly received an emergency alert telling her to seek shelter, and she continuously heard the sound of fighter jets whizzing overhead along with air raid sirens.
The only way for Thu Huong to leave the Middle East was to find a flight via Türkiye as soon as possible. She was lucky enough to buy a ticket on the only flight on the evening of March 1st with Royal Jordanian Airlines, perhaps because someone had just canceled their flight, as the air raid sirens still occasionally blared and fighter jets could be heard flying overhead.
"Even on the plane departing from Jordan, I wasn't completely at ease because the country's airspace was still within the trajectory of missiles launched back and forth between Israel and Iran," the Vietnamese tourist recounted.
Thu Huong recounted: "In reality, the situation in Jordan is stable, and people's lives are still normal. The main concern was the closure of the airspace and the possibility of the situation escalating, so I chose to leave as soon as possible."
There are still quite a few Vietnamese tourists stranded in Jordan and the Middle East. We hope you all find flights to leave soon, and we hope the situation in the Middle East will stabilize soon and everyone is safe."
The return date is unknown.
Vu Anh Duy (a former student of the Diplomatic Academy) said that he and a female friend began their wandering journey in the Middle East on the first day of the Lunar New Year of the Year of the Horse and "will spend the entire first month of the Year of the Horse and Ramadan of 1447 according to the Islamic calendar in this land."
On March 1st, Duy and his female companion crossed the border between Homs (Syria) and Baalbek (Lebanon) to enter Lebanon by land. Duy shared: "So our journey to explore Lebanon has begun, and we don't know when we'll be back."
Duy said that reading the news about the situation in Iran these days has left him feeling a mix of emotions.
"For me, the warm hospitality of the Iranian people is a precious resource, alongside the historical and cultural values left behind by Persia. I only hope that when I return to Iran, Israel, or Palestine, the wonderful things I received from these places will still be there and will last forever, no matter how turbulent and unpredictable this world may be," he shared.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/du-khach-viet-mong-hoa-binh-cho-trung-dong-20260303080421326.htm
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