Butt cheeks bared, Hanoi’s ragtag nudist club ignore the chilly weather to do their daily exercises — some swim, some jog, one performs military drills — stripping off and defying norms in the conservative communist nation.
Tucked behind banana trees on the banks of the city’s Red River, the men meet to shed their clothes, and modesty, for a cheeky dip, a game of chess, or yoga headstands in the buff — which they believe comes with health benefits.
“It’s important for us to come here, because we want to be healthy, we call ourselves addicts,” said Nguyen Tuan Nghia, a 43-year-old self-taught Buddhist who has been disrobing at the meeting spot for 18 years.
Photo: AFP
For Nghia, who recently embraced Protestantism, getting naked is his way to return to infancy, making him feel like he was just “given birth [to] by Jesus or Buddha.”
Most of them have straightlaced day jobs as civil servants, journalists, or even state officials. Many come every day — a temperature of 18°C did not keep a few dozen skinny-dippers out of the water on a recent afternoon, although many warm up over hot tea by the fire.
They say shedding their clothes makes them feel uninhibited, a rare chance to stray from the pack in the one-party state where social compliance and strict norms are taught from a young age.
“I feel relaxed ... and it’s fun. I feel at ease when I come here; I exercise and it makes me feel better when I return to my day job,” 23-year-old vendor Nguyen Hoang Duong told reporters, wearing nothing but an army green cap.
Although public nudity remains taboo in much of Asia, nudist swimming clubs have popped up in conservative China, and tourist-haven Thailand boasts several “naturalist” retreats mostly for foreigners, while public bathhouses have long been popular across Japan and South Korea.
However, nudist bathing and beach-going is rare in Vietnam, where porn is banned and communist propaganda posters are ubiquitous. Nudity in art, photography, film and dance is subject to strict censorship by eagle-eyed authorities, although some exhibitions featuring nudes have been given the green light in recent months.
None of this phases the men at Hanoi’s nudist enclave, who also brush aside concerns that the Red River might not be clean enough for swimming. They are not worried by rising levels of trash on the river’s edge, nor do they pay much attention to reports about polluted runoff from nearby factories.
“We’ve never had any skin disease or feel itchy at all, we think it’s quite clean here,” 67-year-old Le Duc Lam said, adding that his own health has improved after swimming in the river, which flows from southern China to the South China Sea east of Hanoi.
For Lam, the skinny dipping sessions under the 115-year-old Long Bien Bridge, today buzzing with motorbikes, are also a chance to escape the commotion of the fast-growing capital and have a bit of fun with friends.
His group is one of a handful that meet in different spots along the waterway, including one for women to swim in the buff.
Some hope the trend will catch on.
“Vietnamese people should be more open when they talk about nudist bathing. We shouldn’t be so modest about it like in the past,” naked bather Nguyen Thi Thuy said, wearing nothing but the hair on her head.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS