Spending sleepless nights with curious cameramen

To prove, or disprove Thai Ngoc's claim, camera crews from around the world have arrived at his doorstep to document his every move, 24 hours a day. The filmmakers had to trudge over to the remote district of Nong Son in Central Vietnam and would stay 3 to 5 days.

At night, Ngoc lit up the lamps and continued to do the farm work, i.e. harvesting rice, ploughing the soil, growing potatoes, tending soya bean plants, etc. When the farming work was over, he made baskets and other household utensils. Due to his sleeplessness, Ngoc's productivity is actually double compared to a normal person.

Surprisingly enough, Ngoc has a normal daily diet and rarely gets sick. People who are curious about his sleeplessness were not able to stay awake all the time while observing him. Ngoc confided: "Before 1975 I discovered I wasn't sleeping and it never crossed my mind if this condition had adverse affects on my health. To me, sleeping or being awake is the same, and I can work during the daytime or at night."

Needless to say, the film crews covering him were totally exhausted after their filming. The compensation paid to him for the filming was not much and Ngoc used it to invest in his farms.  

A few medical scientists invited Ngoc to go abroad for some research and treatment, but Ngoc refused. "If I got sick due to sleeplessness and could not be cured at home, then I would accept such invitations. But I am quite okay, feeling healthy and working without becoming tired. Thanks to this phenomenon, I have been able to convert an 8ha bare forest into a green productive area," Ngoc said.

Forests tended with a human love

Ngoc has divided his farms into different plots and on each plot he grows much needed trees,  such as the acacia which is used for making paper, trees to be used for making wood products, such as Do bau (Aquilaria Agallechea), Cho (Parashorea stellata Kury), Sao den (Hopea odorata Roxb), etc. His effort resulted in afforesting the land and protecting rare and valuable trees which are near extinction in Vietnam. Ngoc also built fish ponds during his sleepless nights. He said that on the cloudless, moonlit nights he can work without a lamp as compared to cloudy nights when a kerosene lamp is needed.

"I am so sad when there is no work to do at night," Ngoc confided. "I just lay down to rest my back and just bide my time smoking and drinking tea until sunrise.” Ngoc added that he has another farm, about 4km away from his house at the foot of Duong Lui Mountain, where he also grows timber.

Not far from his house lives a couple well into their 80's and for the past 30 years Ngoc has made regular visits to their home, watching over them and assisting with the farm work. Thanks to Ngoc's sleepless nights, not only his farms, but also this couple's fields have been protected from damage caused by wild boars.

Ngoc is one of a very few people in the world with this sleepless disorder. For almost half of his lifetime, Ngoc has been awake and it isn't known how long this can continue. One certain thing that has been acknowledged by many people, i.e., Ngoc has spent his sleepless time doing useful work for his community and co-villagers.

Ngoc's wife tends to chores around the house and their four children have all grown up and lead normal lives.

Ngoc said: "People from television corporations who came to document me thought that I am sleepless due to some mental illness. They brought me to the psychiatrist hospital in Da Nang for medical checks-up. The doctors said I had no signs of the mental disease. Some were still doubtful of the doctors' results, so they tried to test my memory. They marked things like a knife, a glass, a banana, etc. each with a number, and showed them to me to see for a while, then hided them away from my sight. Then, they asked me the number tag on each thing. To their surprise, I could tell them the correct thing and its number as well. Finally they believed that I had no impact from sleeplessness and filmed me. A television crew from Thailand, after filming me, paid me 30 million VND and asked for their exclusive filming for 18 months. I refused their request. I never think of trading my sleeplessness! Some others offered me an overseas trip which I denied. What will I do abroad on my sleepless nights? Otherwise, at home, I can do useful things for my farms, help my co-villagers, and guard against wild beasts destroying the fields and catching animals and poultry."

  By Vu Cong Dien