The smallest traveler in Vietnam

At the age of 29, Canh’s figure, face and voice are like a primary pupil. Born in 1986 in a middle class family on the island of Ly Son in the central province of Quang Ngai, Canh had a childhood that was not much different from other coastal kids.

However, when he was 8 years old, he stopped growing. His height and appearance remained the same as an 8 year old while his mind developed normally.

Canh’s parents brought him to many hospitals on the mainland, where doctors said that he was not ill, but just suffered from a pituitary hormone deficiency causing slow physical development. Since then Canh has had to gradually be accustomed to his small shape.

He still attended school, and in daily life, he sometimes needed the support of adults. In the photo of his 12th-grade class, it was very easy to recognize Canh because of his small figure.

Canh went to the mainland to take the university entrance exams. He was the smallest candidate at the entrance exams to the HCM City Economic University in 2004, with a height of 1m. After college graduation, he worked for a computer company on Cao Thang Street, District 3, HCM City.

After almost 10 years since leaving home, Canh joked: "My height still develops but slowly. Over time it has reached 1.2 m."

Canh said he was mistaken as a child who had lost his way on the bus or street. When he began to talk, people were surprised to see that he was mature.

Canh’s effervescence and humor give others inspiration. His disability did not prevent Canh from integrating into normal life or experiencing the hobby that not many normal people can do: travelling.

After organizing his own trips, he became a member of Phuot, an online forum for travelers. He began joining others to discover many new lands at home and abroad.

In the eyes of friends, Canh is a man who dares to speak and to do; a small man with respectable health and will who travels often. His Facebook page has become a useful "map" for people to refer to whenever they want to travel.

Canh has visited almost all famous tourist sites in Vietnam, including the most challenging ones such as Lung Cu (Ha Giang), Vietnam’s northernmost point; A Pa Chai (Dien Bien), Vietnam’s western-most point; Van Ninh (Khanh Hoa), Vietnam’s eastern-most point and Dat Mui (Ca Mau), the southernmost point and Fansipan – the tallest mountain in Indochina.

He has also visited many small, unnamed islands along the country’s coast.

The most memorable trip was one to the country’s easternmost point – Mui Doi in Ca Mau. To welcome the first sunrise of the Fatherland, Canh and his teammates went to Mui Doi at night. They waded through many streams, climbed through many sand dunes in darkness to reach Bai Na, where they camped to wait for the early boat to Mui Doi the next morning.

"If you are not touching the final point of the eastern-most – the iron landmark with the coordinates of Mui Doi – it means that you are not at the easternmost tip of Vietnam,” Canh said.

"After a very hard trip to arrive at Mui Doi I could not climb onto the top of the rock with the iron landmark. I almost cried. Thanks to the assistance of teammates, I tried to hold on edges of the rock to climb to the top in the cheer of others. Finally, I "crawled" on the “holy” easternmost point. My emotion broke out at that moment. Perhaps I’m the smallest person who has ever conquered the easternmost point," he said.

Because of his tiny figure, Canh cannot drive a motorcycle like other travelers. Normally, groups of travelers are divided in pairs. The man is the driver and the woman sits behind. Canh was usually paired with two others.

Canh’s journeys also included charity tours where they brought gifts for poor people in remote areas.

After nearly a dozen years in Saigon, Canh returned to Ly Son Island, his hometown, in mid-2015 to develop his own project. Every day he is busy with diving in the sea, picking up sea grass and discovering the islands around Ly Son.

He said he was about to open a restaurant for tourists in Ly Son.

"I travel to know that there are many wonderful places in our country that many of us have not known about. Vietnam is much more beautiful than people imagine!” Canh said.