If Sleeping Were an Olympic Sport Surely Thailand Would Win the Gold

Why Thais can sleep at a moments notice, if sleeping were an Olympic sport surely Thailand would win the gold.

Nighttimes brings a chorus of barking and howling from numerous pet and soi dogs, they seem to alert each other via some furious din, in turn like runners at an athletics circuit passing on the baton they relay the message all the way through the whole commune.

A 'lie-in' on most mornings is impossible in a Thai Village. I cannot think of one house within a kilometre radius, which doesn't have cockerels and at least half a dozen hens running around. The first cock to detect the dawn seems to feel honour bound to inform his neighbours the sun is due to rise.

5.30am brings out the Thai workers on their way to wherever they go, those on motorbikes and the big tuk-tuks seem oblivious to the fact they have a broken or no silencer on there engines. Perhaps their eardrums have not had time to wake up because they have worked excessively throughout the night or are they leaving the village before the awful racket that is going to sound dead on 6am when the poo-yai baan blasts them half to death with muffled decibels enough to wake the dead.

7.00am brings the school bus through the village blasting it hooters at 100mtr intervals to beckon the kids as they amble along still yawning and with sleepy dust still fresh in their eyes. 7.30 brings the local bus on route to town, again you can hear it coming from at least 2kms away, the locals who gather at the bus stop prattle away with voices raised so as they can hear each other talking. Between the hours of 8am & 4pm you can guarantee there will be at least 10 pick-ups driving by at about 10km per hour blasting his wares from a home made speaker strapped to the cab roof. There will be plentiful blasts from hand held horns and bells ringing from the vendors pushing those food carts all throughout the day.

By 4.30pm the school kids are back in the village and with them they bring vibrancy and the joys of childhood racket, by 6pm all the TV sets in the village are at full volume along with a countless HI-FI units blasting out all sorts of tunes. As daylight gives way to dusk the soi dogs seem to take the stance that anything that moves must be barked at. Then dusk slips into night and the whole cycle starts again.

This is my take on why Thais can drop off to sleep at a moment’s notice, in fact maybe, just maybe I am becoming Thai because forty winks in the afternoon I cannot resist whenever the chance is there.

Going for a Snooze now, so catch you later CF