Vietnamese beauty queen H’Hen Nie, who placed in the top five in the recent Miss Universe pageant won by the Philippines’ Catriona Gray, arrived in Manila on Friday and proceeded to sample local delicacies”•including the beloved “tuyo” or dried fish.
Miss Vietnam posted pictures to her Instagram account of her arrival at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport, where her Filipino coach Anjo Santos welcomed her with a bouquet of flowers.
“Mabuhay Philippines! Here we come. I’m so happy to see my coach again, Anjo Santos,” the 26-year-old H’Hen said on Instagram, as reported by CNN Philippines.
“Thank you so much for your warm welcome, Philippines,” added the Vietnamese beauty, sharing photos of Filipino fans taking photos with her.
Although the reason for her visit wasn’t revealed, H’Hen has earned local fans’ admiration for breaking typical beauty standards by wearing pants, embracing her golden tan skin, and rocking her pixie cut hair during the Miss Universe coronation.
She later gushed about eating her “tuyo” at a restaurant overlooking SM Mall of Asia’s ferris wheel in Pasay City, as shown in her Instagram post.
“This is ‘Cá Khô’, my hometown food and also ‘Tuyo’ in the Philippines. My favorite!! I can consume a whole bowl of rice with one of this fish,” H’Hen said.
The Vietnamese winner continued to win hearts across the globe after she donated all the prizes she received from Miss Universe to achieve her dream of building libraries and supporting school children in rural areas of her native country.
H’Hen also belongs to an ethnic minority called the Rade that only makes up 5 percent of Vietnam’s population, and her unique background story inspired various women around the world.
In her community, it is customary for girls 14 years of age to find a husband, but H’Hen refused.
“At 14 years old, my parents told me to find a husband. however I stated that I could not possibly get a husband at that point in time because I had to follow my dreams,” she said in her Miss Universe introductory video.
“I did not want to live a life where I had to marry early like many other kids had in my village,” she added.
Further breaking from tradition, she went to Saigon to make a living. She worked as a maid, tutor, leaflet deliverer, and model to help pay for her studies and her life in the city.
During her Miss Universe stint, H’Hen spoke up about the importance of education, which she struggled so hard to gain.