Around 500 people visit Hue city Phuoc pagoda in Ben Tre province daily to see the elderly woman whose hair is over 5 meters long.

Miss Tu and her 5m hair.

VietNamNet reporters arrived at the pagoda around 9am on a hot day in late March 2010.

When they came, several dozens of visitors had already entered to burn incense and pray. They also hoped to see an old woman named Miss Tu, famous for her long hair.

Residents explained that while this pagoda is new, it attracts a lot of visitors even from the northern and central region because of Miss Tu.

Miss Tu is a 73-year-old woman who always sits on a camp-bed, with her hair splayed out for visitors to see, but she doesn’t allow anyone to take her photo or to film her.

Senior monk Thich Chuc Tue, who manages the pagoda, told VietNamNet that, at the beginning, this was a private pagoda named Chua La. Miss Tu and the monk asked the pagoda owner’s permission to live here in 1986. At that time, the monk was a hermit and Miss Tu was a Buddhist nun with very long hair.

Hue Phuoc pagoda, Miss Tu’s home.

He recalled: “In 1987, I led a religious life and attended classes on Buddhism. In 1990 I was appointed to manage Chua La pagoda. Many people knew about Miss Tu’s special hair, so they visited the pagoda to meet her. As the pagoda was very unstable, pilgrims also donated money to rebuild it. In 1997, Chua La collapsed in a storm and Hue Phuoc pagoda was built.”

The monk said that the pagoda attracts many people, sometimes thousands, but on average, they welcome around 500 visitors a day.

Miss Tu doesn’t have a family and she has been a vegan for 54 years. She takes only one meal at 12am and for the last 17 years she has only eaten fruit.

The woman looks very healthy, but she cannot walk or move her left hand. She has not cut her hair since she was 19, nor has she washed her hair in 54 years.

Herbalist Tran Van Hay, the man with longest locks (6.8m) in Vietnam, died of natural causes at his home in Kien Giang Province last month. Perhaps Miss Tu is now the one with longest hair in Vietnam.

Tran Chanh Nghia