A good sleep is an important precondition for the wellbeing of human people. Any normal person spends about one third of his life in sleep. But for the Farang some conditions to sleep have to be existent, like the right time of day, darkness, silence, a horizontal body position and obviously sufficient fatigue. Thais however, are able to sleep in any situation and place, on a table, under a table, or sitting in a chair with their head on the table. But also on the loading platform of pickups, or even on top of full-loaded trucks, as one can watch again and again, when being underway on Thailand's roads. Noise and heat are irrelevant and cannot disturb their nap.

 

Also in the hot countries in Europe, people know the siesta, where with a little nap will bridge the hot part of the day. Thais don’t know such convenient time of the day for a nap; they are feeling that every hour of the day is convenient. They have the enviable ability, to take a nap at any time of day and to seize any opportunity to close their eyes. If there would be an Olympic competition in sleeping, with different grades of difficulty, depending on body position, disturbing environmental influences, etc, Thais would get all the medals.

 

On the bus and the train one is surrounded by heads, ticking up and down like a metronome. And it also happens that the neighbor places his tired head on your shoulder and takes a nap. If this is a nice young girl, it can sometimes not be unpleasant. It is another thing, however, if it is an old woman and then for the next few hours, garlic smells are gently leaving her toothless mouth.

           

It also may happen, that the driver of the Tuk-Tuk, to whom one has entrusted one's life in the hellish traffic in the capital, uses the often incredibly long red-light time of traffic lights at the Bangkok street crossings, to take a small nap. And you need to give a friendly nudge to wake him up, only to repeat the procedure a few hundred yards further at the next traffic light.           

 

When entering the great hall of the main railway station Hua Lamphon in Bangkok, one has the impression to be in a night asylum. Everywhere on the floor of the hall and the station platforms, individuals or family groups are laying around, using the waiting time until the departure of their train for a nap.

 

Also at the countless street shops you can often see the personnel softly dozed off, with the entire upper body over the sale table on the outspread products, and completely undisturbed by the noisy traffic. The interested customer must then by a gentle tap bring the sleeper back into the harsh reality and back to business.

 

In the restaurant or in the hotel- coffeshop, the personal moves often with a speed that you do not know whether he or she is awake or sleepwalking. I do not know if the reason for this is to save energy and not to perspire, or whether the staff will show to the hectic Farang that in Thailand the clocks just ticking a bit slower.

 

Upcountry there is only work to do in the few days when plowing and sowing, and after the start of the rice harvest work. The rest of the time - and it's at least half of the year - at any time of day one can just sleep. At night, of course, mosquito swarms are rising from the ever water flooded rice fields. Then there is only one safe place to sleep, which is under the mosquito net, expanded over the bed. Or with a fan blowing all night over the bed, which will not only cool, but hold the mosquitoes away.