After a nice, long, juicy Sunday morning sleep, the 4 of us who were sharing the double bed awoke in a state of molasses covered movements. Of course I hate to be lazy (ki ki et) but I felt I deserved a healthy dose of sleep as it was a 3 day weekend. Sleep culture in Thailand is an interesting topic to broach. On on hand there is a need to be early risers for most Bangkokians due to the constant battle with traffic. Students some times need to plan 4-5 hours a day for traffic related preparations. In addition the entrance examination and school pressures keep Thai students out of their beds. The only time to give alms to the Monks is between 4 and 8, so if there are not an adequate number of people up to give food, the saffron rob wearing crowd would get awfully skinny. Then there is the food vendors, who usually get their food fresh everyday from the market, which involves waking up before their customers do in order to be competitive. On the other hand ask most Thais what their favorite activities are and you most likely hear "sleeping" among the top choices. To be fair, other top noble pursuits are "reading comic books" and "watching TV". Finding a student who's repertoire extends past these basic staples becomes quite a surprise worthy of a double take, "Wow, are you serious, you are interested in mountain biking and climbing? That's incredible. How do you find the motivation?" I remember hearing the extent of TV watching while I was in the States and how we are becoming a nation of morons, while every other country is out studying 10 hours a day. I think TV has it's grasp on any society. Pass any corrugated metal shanty town and you will see the warm fluorescent glow of the TV emanating from the cracks of the shacks--and the inhabitants scattered around on the hard wooden floor--entranced.