He Hasn’t Slept Since 1962 (Doctors Don’t Know Why)

about a year ago I heard about a man who claims that he hasn't slept since 1962. his name is Tai nope and he lived somewhere in South Vietnam many journalists have written about him in the past and for a while he was somewhat of a celebrity but then he went silent 10 years have gone by and nobody has heard from him since do you know him oh no no you don't know him right now I'm on a mission to track him down and see if it's actually true that he doesn't sleep foreign just arrived in Danang airport I am so excited to go meet the No Sleep guide where's Hui oh he's right there how you doing dude good to meet you this is Hui he's a friend of a friend who lives in nearby hoyan Vietnam's ancient Port Town he is kind enough to join me for the adventure to find Mr knob however there is a little problem what about on the road through the village I think it's just a little bit like this the four hour journey to get there was as epic as any can be and we have some pretty cool stops along the way we couldn't pass at the chance to see the Golden Hand bridge on the way to the No Sleep guy it's right on the way I've seen pictures of it on Google for years and that's pretty cool to be up here just a few hours away from the Epic hands Bridge was another really special place with a bunch of ancient temples that date back 1800 years we're here in the middle of nowhere there's nothing around we just came across this incredible fourth Century Hindu temple complex called my son somewhere in central Vietnam you know I came here to go find the sleepless man but this is absolutely outstanding the greatest challenge is that I am alone besides my guide and we don't know where to locate Mr nope but after translating some old newspaper articles we narrowed it down to one Village and started asking the local people there if they recognized him printed out this flyer with his name Tai NOK if I said it right and on the bottom it says the man who doesn't sleep I'm getting a lot of funny stairs in the street but it's all it's all friendly everybody's smiling fan covert need not calm she knows him I see now him but she actually don't know him where is the him house they kind of know they're like yeah so what was she say go straight and up I think we should buy some gift for him get some oranges yeah dragon fruit yeah look at all the fruit we got yes 10 best 10 bucks for watermelon and oranges and dragon fruit and lychee super cheap huh and with that we have some idea as to where he might be I spoke to another local person and he told me that he lives in a blue house just outside of town so I hopped in a motorbike and headed through the field to find him [Music] we made it we found the house the picture the picture yeah how are you okay I know we kind of showed up unexpectedly but I hope it's okay that we spend some time with him yeah he's like that at the moment the uh 80 years old heavy yeah he wants to sleep he wants to sleep when is the last time that you slept yeah yeah he's a uh it's a long time I didn't remember it's pretty wild that I found him yeah Mr nope nope I know here we are just smiling man the big search for Mr nope is finally over can you believe that it took me three total days of travel time from Arizona to Vietnam to find him now I am on a mission to learn all about his life and see if it's actually true that he hasn't slept in over 60 years you know the fact that he hasn't slept means he's almost twice his age because he's spent more time awake than anyone else's age so he might as well be 130. his wife was super friendly and started cutting up the fruit that we brought over and then I learned that they are very spiritual people foreign is the main religion of Vietnam the Buddhists believe that the human life is one of suffering and that meditation spiritual and physical labor and good behavior are the ways to achieve enlightenment or Nirvana many Buddhist people have these shrines in their house and pray to them several times a day it's a beautiful sight to witness like what do you do like most most people that you know 10 o'clock they sleep yeah what are you doing between 10 11 12 1. he also working in the night time making rice wine rice wine so he likes a drink before the war okay you slept at what point did you stop sleeping during the work and then one day he just stopped sleeping yeah do you know why you can't sleep I don't know actually he don't know yet he went before yeah and what did they say at the hospital they don't know Mr knob's wife is preparing lunch for us it's only like 10 o'clock right now so she's been cooking and it smells amazing this is the sun nice to meet you what do you think about him not sleeping he feels caught up no more now so you sleep breakfast lunch was served and I gotta say that Vietnamese food is one of the world's best it's healthy it's clean and it's plentiful nothing like a little shot before lunch she makes everything this morning thank you come on tell her that it looks amazing so what is this what this is chicken yeah chicken this is a soup box soup this is a plate of congealed cow blood and you just put it in the soup or eat it as is more chicken rice and this is always got to have some kind of dipping sauce here wow this is this is a this is a feast you're a lucky man because she's a very good cook he's like I know all right I'm gonna try the chunk of blood you dip it in the salted pepper yeah okay A little salt and pepper the textures kind of like rubber it tastes kind of like blood if you have a cut and you do this but it's um not as strong it's it's good you like it good for us as well you want it he's gonna finish my blood what do you think about him not sleeping is it true foreign do you sleep I'm having a shot of one of rice wine every 30 minutes every 20 minutes here comes another one yo yo that's the same strength as Vodka it's strong more than an hour went by and I was starting to get comfortable with Mr nope and his wife I will say though it was a bit strange that he only took three bites of food the drinking however never stopped I think Andre have to take it I don't think you have a choice all right here's where things start to get interesting Mr nope keeps inviting me to visit his house which I realize he's talking about another house the one that he lived in during the war in the 1960s when his sleepless nights began okay so that's his home yeah and he's still working in the The Horizon over there where he worked he and him son woke you know that yeah absolutely beautiful here it's like a little pocket of Green Mountains rice fields Terraces and a house and that's where he lives we're gonna go there right now thank you this is so surreal just walking through this swamp it's all wet because of the storm so you have many jobs you're you're rice wine and you're a farmer like you're working 24 7. he's a superhuman yes he's like yeah I know yeah so I have a question about your sleep when you're working do you feel tired not too much like a normal people what's your secret like is it the tea that you drink or what's there's some secret that you have oh yeah he normally during the tea green tea and rice wine how much how much wine do you drink in one day yeah he's like yes one bottle if you could sleep do you want to sleep or you prefer to stay up all night yeah can I ask him about his hand uh what happened here I'm sorry I'm sorry it's a long time ago you see it's okay I mean yeah I think okay yeah with the left hand even though Mr knob dismissed my concern about his hand I still have a feeling that there's a reason he won't open up about the Vietnam War or as I call it out here the American war to summarize this era of heartbreak is near impossible but what you should know is that the war was fought between the communist government of North Vietnam and the anti-communist South the allies of the north were primarily the Soviet Union in China whereas South Vietnam was supported by the United States I'm sure that you've seen the footage and listened to the music from the 1960s a large portion of Americans took to the streets and protests against the U.S involvement in the war in the end around 4 million Vietnamese civilians were killed in this bloody conflict I can't even begin to imagine what life was like for Mr nope not just to live through the war in his adulthood but also to fight in it it really makes me wonder could PTSD have something to do with his conditions if I was awake 24 7 I would need a place to hide out like this just absolutely surreal to be here and this is the house right here during the war he kind of hit out in this place and we've basically been awake since he moved into this house and look how old it is so I don't have a place to sleep tonight I haven't booked any places and I assume that there were hotels around here or something he offered that we could crash here like in this house so I'm gonna take him up on it it's gonna be pretty interesting tell me about this house like when did you did you build this house with your hands or when did you move here um before some he come here around yeah 1945 45 you have two houses so why do you come to this one at the moment still live here with no wife yeah and he and himson come here and die a little bit and walk in here nighttime he grew up in-house I want to stay awake with you in the night and just talk and eat and I don't know watch TV like whatever you do at night I wanna I wanna be there with you rice wine tonight the Vietnamese wine yeah yeah yeah if you could say any message to people in the world what would you what would you tell them if the government some funds have some money for him to to match him better and he can sleep because at the moment he's going to sleep so he wants help okay yeah maybe I can I can send him to the hospital if he wants to go I'll pay for his hospital so here's here's another house this is just one of his houses where he works and he sometimes stays but he has another house if he stays at he actually has another house he has three houses I'm confused he keeps telling me about houses houses this is his working house and he has a new house where I met him built three months ago and then he has another house that he stays at I really want to know what he does in the night time like daytime he seems normal he's hanging out but like when everybody's sleeping what has he been doing for the last six years what's your favorite restaurant here I will take you tonight my treat have you drink coffee only rice wine never coffee yeah I have a coffee maybe if he drinks a lot of rice wine he will sleep a lot of wine yeah yeah right when he win a lot like Juanita or something his lips sleep a little bit one hour or two hours okay so I just uncovered one clue he does sleep if he drinks a lot of wine like one liter yeah but it kind of stop thinking into the head and he's sleeping one hour or two hours then back at the normal does he know if there's any more people in the world that don't sleep yeah he don't know actually but he did not on no one Mr nope and I motorbike back into town to his favorite restaurant have I mentioned that the countryside here is absolutely Epic [Music] we arrived at dinner and immediately entered into a wild scene my name what's your name yeah ask them if it's if it's true that he doesn't sleep if they know about it yeah yeah it's true no sleep yes sleeping no sleep yeah no no no no no you don't like beer no beer only he wants a rice wine the word of the day is Yo which means cheers yo yo hey yo yo yo yeah I hope I'm doing that at 80 years old it's just Downing beers hey tell me about him what do you know about him do you guys the men have a house over there and check fires around five six years ago walking in the garage sale at the midnight yeah we're sitting here eating a communal food and he's only had like one bite so I'm starting to get worried that he also doesn't eat it we have arrived to house number three it's quite different than the other two a little more open blue very blue and this is where he makes and drinks his rice wine it tastes like a really bad version of Soju so natural the smell is so so strong ah as the night progressed so did the making of rice wine oh we found the look at this concoction over here this is where he cooks it every night yeah wow the water inside oh he puts the bottle there yeah and then the rice is going to come out is he going to be here tonight making the rice wine around 2 A.M okay yeah yeah I would love to come yeah I just need something to drink you know take a drink with me I want to see you in the night time and make sure that it is smells like pigs whoa there's pigs bro this is wild yo there's pigs just out of nowhere so he has pigs here for for food to eat yeah to see out in the bucket um I'm back at house number one it's 8 57 p.m and I'm gonna attempt to stay awake all night see if it's true if he actually doesn't sleep all night I'm tired this is gonna be a wild night foreign but I woke up and he was gone so we think that he's at the his other house making rice wine the motorbikes were locked up in the house we couldn't find the key so we have to walk 30 minute walk in the rain we found ponchos at someone's house so we jacked him and we're gonna go bring him back they're on the porch as you can see nobody is awake everybody's sleeping we made it after a 30 minute walk in the rain are you okay he doesn't sleep yo we found him he thought that we are so good to find this house are you tired no no no no no everybody is sleeping we just walked here nobody is awake except for you so his rice wine Factory is pretty damn impressive and he cares a lot about it the entire thing is handmade and he's able to produce gallons and gallons of it every single night for both personal consumption and selling it in the market is this his secret sauce to being able to stay awake forever copious amounts of rice wine and cigarettes how much does he sell for one time yeah with parallel is 100 000 and 10 is 200 000 how do you feel that everybody's sleeping but you're awake yeah okay now because it's really long time but it's kind of fun for me or for you or something like I'm tired man 332. I'm tired uh he brought shots yes sir yo yo yo don't do it he changed his clothes it looks like he's got pajamas on you ready for sleep ah sleepy time so sometimes he lays down but he just doesn't sleep he already tried try too much but because he wants to sleep like a normal people guy and close the eyes but wouldn't say still thinking in the inner brand I'm tired you're tired yeah I'm tired bro I'm tired man maybe we can get some breakfast what time do people eat breakfast here six but depends on the weather if whether it rains maybe seven or eight [Music] thank you keep giving me more wine [Music] it's really really bad for real I don't know why you keep trying to get me to sleep but trying to stay awake with him I just witnessed him lay down and I thought he was gonna close his eyes they just remained open and then after five minutes he sat back up again and then he's just sitting here on the side of the bed guy doesn't sleep [Applause] update it is 4 41 now my friend Hui has fallen asleep and it's just me and Mr nope I don't know what he's doing now he's making a fire still raining outside this guy doesn't stop doing the Asian squat we're just chilling can't talk to each other but as I always say everybody Smiles in the same language somehow we can just sit here and look at each other and uh get along it's pretty cool [Applause] update it is 5 39 in the morning the sun is coming out and uh I made it clearly he made it I actually barely made it ah I'm so tired that I might have lost her words he came inside and I wonder what he was doing sneakily taking more shots you know my life is always so go go go and so it's really kind of nice to hit the brakes and just sit here and do nothing literally I keep thinking to myself my head like what are we gonna do next the sunrise just came out 6 15 in the morning but the answer is nothing we're just gonna sit here and look around wait what's up bro I think he's talking to me about getting coffee but I don't understand ask him if he wants to go to breakfast with us too early for him too early he doesn't sleep bye-bye in the blink of an eye he just left to go feed his chickens at one of his other houses so I might go get some breakfast and uh take a nap I'm tired bye-bye and back into the rain we go the Poncho game is strong in Vietnam this is always raining and they're always on motorbikes it's amazing how early everybody wakes up and eats breakfast in Vietnam it's like 6 10 A.M and there's a giant bowl of pho being prepared wow look at this bowl man [Music] oh man oh that is so tasty it's not very often that I meet superhumans one of them was Wim Hoff for his ability to withstand Sub-Zero temperatures another was Dan Meyer the guy who can swallow multiple swords at once and then there's Sultan kosan the tallest man on Earth but something is extra unique about the sleepless man I came here to investigate and see if it's actually true does he sleep or not and my conclusion is both yes and no he says he doesn't sleep but I believe that he does lay down sometimes but his body turns off but his brain doesn't turn off I think his brain is always going and that is just absolutely surreal it seemed pretty clear to me that the war has had a major impact on Mr nope's Sleepless condition but I wonder if we will find out if this is the truth I also think that he just doesn't need as much sleep as we do to function normally he's out here living life working two jobs and he's super busy it is obvious that two secret ingredients help keep him going and that is rice wine and cigarettes and a lot of both after spending two days with him I'm going to assume that he smoked 70 cigarettes a day and drinks half a liter of rice wine per day all in all I am so happy I came out here to meet him and this is really a story about Vietnamese Hospitality I showed up at their doorstep unannounced with nothing planned and he and his wife welcomed me in with open arms cooked me food gave me a place to crash and to show my appreciation I gave Mr note 500 bucks that he can hopefully use to go to a hospital to get healthy in any regard thank you for being here and watching this story I think it's one of the most special ones I've ever told and my stories are just getting more and more epic so subscribe if you want to join me on my Adventures around every country and I will see you in the next video [Laughter] foreign

Channel: Drew Binsky

Views: 13,346,103

Keywords: drew binsky, drew binsky vlog, drew binsky travel, travel, Sleepless Man, south vietnam, Thai Ngoc, person who never slept, Vietnam man sleepless, vietnamese food, never slept, meeting with thai ngoc, Thai Ngoc family, vietnamese wine, vietnamese rice wine, Thai Ngoc daily life, rice wine, sleepless man, the man who doesn't sleep, no sleep, ptsd, drew binsky vietnam, vietnam drew binsky, vietnam vlog, vietnamese culture, thai ngoc, extreme humans, bizarre

Id: EDx1JvPEtxs

Length: 25min 4sec (1504 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 01 2023