Video | Nudism in Asia: Vietnam’s Hanoi naturists aren’t afraid to break taboos despite country’s strict social norms
On the banks of the Red River, naked locals say shedding their clothes is healthy and makes them feel uninhibited, offering a chance to stray from the pack in a one-party state where social compliance is taught from a young age
Butt cheeks bared, members of 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.
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“It’s important for us to come here because we want to be healthy, we call ourselves addicts,” says Nguyen Tuan Nghia, 43, a self-taught Buddhist who has been disrobing at the meeting spot for 18 years.
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 the nudists have strait-laced day jobs as civil servants, journalists or even state officials.
Many come every day; a temperature of 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit) did not keep a few dozen skinny dippers out of the water on a recent afternoon, though many warm up over hot tea by the fire.
