When I travel, I try to take advantage of as many new weird experiences as I can. As I’ve gotten a bit older, things like bungee jumping and swimming with sharks has become less attractive to me, but, I’m always down to try strange spa treatments like Turkish bathhouse massages, fish in Thailand that eat the toe jam off of your feet and my most recent experiment in self-betterment, an ear cleaning in Vietnam.
I was staying in Hoi An, a historic small town near the city of Da Nang. I was walking down the street when I saw the following sign:
I actually had noticed how my ears had been a bit backed up, mostly due to the extremely humid climate. So, I convinced myself hearing was overrated and paid the little Vietnamese man $1.50 for an ear job.
I sat down in the barber chair and the he put on a headlamp that looked like something out of a miner’s toolkit. He then reached for a can with various pointy metal tools that looked like they had no place going into an ear hole, “oh well, too late now!” I thought to myself.
I took a deep breath and the “technician” started with a fluffy swab that he spun around in my ear hole to clear the initial gunk, it felt pretty good I’m not going to lie. The next step was a bit (a lot) more scary. He took out a little metal pick with a small blade on the end. He then started going around my ear hole and cutting away the small hairs. Supposedly these hairs are supposed to be there (who would have thought) as they protect crap from going further in towards the ear drum. After my ear holes had their version of a Brazilian wax, it was time to get down to business.
The little man picked up a third tool, and this time he began picking around my inner ear for crusty gold. When he found a piece of wax, he insisted on showing it to me and then wiping it onto my bare hand, WTF! He spent about 10 minutes on each ear, swabbed them both out, and I was ready to step back onto the street a new man.
I have to say, I could definitely hear more clearly, but, I was worried the next few days about scoring an ear infection…Thank god everything was straight. While having an ear cleaning in Vietnam was an experience, I would probably have to say you, should probably skip it…