Why Do Thais Wake Up At 5:00Am...

[woelke]

In my village in Indonesia, we are all asleep by 8:00 pm and all awake at 5:00 am. There is something magical about rising so early, watching the mist rise off the rice fields, the red dawn, sipping hot coffee and watching old women selling fresh, hot balo-balo (potato fritters) and pisang goreng (fried bananas). We have our house in the mountain area, so the mornings are quite cool. My word, what a life!

[Dap]

Wife gets up every morning at 5 AM and goes to work as do the other 100 Thais that work in her steel mill. I get up and cook breakfast for all of us and take the dog for a walk. The rest of the neighbors are also up cooking and walking dogs.

I really hope they are not cooking them after walking them.

This is getting funnier each post. Thanks for the comic relief.

[Dap]

Testosterone levels are highest in the morning, making the natural time for coupling.

If that's the case, why is there such a mad frenzy on Bangla when the bars are closing?

They all want an early start on the morning?

[stoli]

Eesat, on 01 Jun 2013 - 09:04, said:

rct99q, on 01 Jun 2013 - 09:00, said:

In my area the Monks begin the daily Alms rounds early. In my area we begin our house hold work early to avoid the heat of the day. In our area we work up until 10pm most nights (again to avoid the heat) which means bedtime around 11 or midnight. In my area we do not sit in a bar drinking until 3am, sleeping in until 2 in the afternoon. But these are just some of the reason why normal people get up early, get work done, sleep during the hottest time of the day and then start again.

Sometimes I truly miss my bar hopping days as a tourist.....

I'm sorry but I really don't know which country you are from but in the West,normal people don't get up at 5:00am!

Normal people in Western countries work from 9:00am-5:00pm,they don't get up when it's still dark and fall asleep on their feet for the rest of the day!

I'm sorry too, but only to say I disagree. My corporate job in the states had me working from 8:00am to 7:00pm for 20 years, and I always was up no later than 5:00am. That is the nicest time of the day, you can read your paper in quiet, think, enjoy, and get ready for the day at hand. Wouldn't have changed it for anything in the world. I can't believe that I was the only one, although I never called anyone else to see if they were awake. This was my time. Still do it in retirement.

[PoodMaiDai]

In my village in Indonesia, we are all asleep by 8:00 pm and all awake at 5:00 am. There is something magical about rising so early, watching the mist rise off the rice fields, the red dawn, sipping hot coffee and watching old women selling fresh, hot balo-balo (potato fritters) and pisang goreng (fried bananas). We have our house in the mountain area, so the mornings are quite cool. My word, what a life!

That sounds wonderful.

How is the overall day time heat where you live there? I spent a month in Ubud and to be honest could have just as easily spent the rest of my life there if I had the financial means to do so. Can't remember a time I've felt so relaxed in all of my life.

[somtampet]

Gsxrnz, on 02 Jun 2013 - 07:50, said:

Tomtomtom69, on 01 Jun 2013 - 11:58, said:

Given that most households in Thailand have air-conditioning these days, "avoiding the heat" is not a valid reason for getting up early. I would never get up at 5am unless I've got an early flight to catch - I'd rather get enough sleep and then there's no need to sleep during the day (indeed, except at my last workplace there wouldn't be any possibility of doing so these days). If I need to be at work at 9am, getting up around 7am is sufficient and I'll be on my feet all day sometimes entertaining my girlfriend and friends at a restaurant in the evening and not going back home until like 10pm or later.

In my opinion most Thais don't actually rise at 5am, it's more like 6am or 6.30am (unlike their Vietnamese counterparts that do indeed rise at 5am). A lot of it has to do with when the sun rises, in Thailand it generally rises not much earlier than 5.45am, but in Vietnam it rises as early as 5am. On the other hand in Vietnam it rarely gets dark later than 6pm, whereas in Thailand this time of year it's almost 7pm.

Those individuals in Thailand that do rise as early as 5am tend to be either 1) village dwellers often working menial jobs; 2) poorer inhabitants of Bangkok that work blue collar jobs; 3) people that work shifts and have to work the early shift starting at say 7am (including factory workers); 4) Bangkok residents that live 45km from their workplace and have kids to send to school (although these people will only rise this early when the kids have school, certainly never on weekends).

From my experience in the region, the Vietnamese rise the earliest, about 5am. The Thais rise around 6am or 6.30am while the Chinese rise the latest, usually not before 7am and often as late as 8am.

Um....I think you'll find that the sunrise is determined by the latitude. As Thailand and Vietnam share much of the same latitude range I think your conclusion is a little strange. Granted, the Vietnamese latitude does extend slightly more north than Thailand's, but not much.

So therefore the sunrise, length of day, and sunset are determined by latitude and season. At any point in Thailand that shares the same latitude as a point in Vietnam, sunrise and sunset will be at identical times.

Umm I think you need to get a map...firstly, Vietnam is further east than Thailand and in the same time zone, so the sun comes up earlier and goes down earlier too. Secondly, Vietnam extends further north than Thailand so that means in summer, days are slightly longer in northern Vietnam than in Thailand while in winter they are slightly shorter. In any case, the sun always goes down earlier in Vietnam than in Thailand due to it's more easterly longitude.

Most households in Thailand have air con,now thats funny hehehehehehehehe

[bifftastic]

I also had to chuckle at the phrase 'normal people'

Often used instead of the, more accurate, 'people like me' in situations where someone can't understand why everyone else isn't living their lives in the way that they do.

Personally, I find this phrase quite useful

Enjoy your life without comparing it with that of another.

Edited June 2, 2013 by bifftastic

[masuk]

I'm retired and have no real need to rise 'n shine at 0500, though it is a lovely time of the day.

However, that's when my beloved neighbour runs her electric coffee grinder, which is about 3metres from my bedroom window. Then she lets her dogs out. SIGH!

[isawasnake]

Gsxrnz, on 02 Jun 2013 - 07:50, said:

Tomtomtom69, on 01 Jun 2013 - 11:58, said:

Given that most households in Thailand have air-conditioning these days, "avoiding the heat" is not a valid reason for getting up early. I would never get up at 5am unless I've got an early flight to catch - I'd rather get enough sleep and then there's no need to sleep during the day (indeed, except at my last workplace there wouldn't be any possibility of doing so these days). If I need to be at work at 9am, getting up around 7am is sufficient and I'll be on my feet all day sometimes entertaining my girlfriend and friends at a restaurant in the evening and not going back home until like 10pm or later.

In my opinion most Thais don't actually rise at 5am, it's more like 6am or 6.30am (unlike their Vietnamese counterparts that do indeed rise at 5am). A lot of it has to do with when the sun rises, in Thailand it generally rises not much earlier than 5.45am, but in Vietnam it rises as early as 5am. On the other hand in Vietnam it rarely gets dark later than 6pm, whereas in Thailand this time of year it's almost 7pm.

Those individuals in Thailand that do rise as early as 5am tend to be either 1) village dwellers often working menial jobs; 2) poorer inhabitants of Bangkok that work blue collar jobs; 3) people that work shifts and have to work the early shift starting at say 7am (including factory workers); 4) Bangkok residents that live 45km from their workplace and have kids to send to school (although these people will only rise this early when the kids have school, certainly never on weekends).

From my experience in the region, the Vietnamese rise the earliest, about 5am. The Thais rise around 6am or 6.30am while the Chinese rise the latest, usually not before 7am and often as late as 8am.

Um....I think you'll find that the sunrise is determined by the latitude. As Thailand and Vietnam share much of the same latitude range I think your conclusion is a little strange. Granted, the Vietnamese latitude does extend slightly more north than Thailand's, but not much.

So therefore the sunrise, length of day, and sunset are determined by latitude and season. At any point in Thailand that shares the same latitude as a point in Vietnam, sunrise and sunset will be at identical times.

Umm I think you need to get a map...firstly, Vietnam is further east than Thailand and in the same time zone, so the sun comes up earlier and goes down earlier too. Secondly, Vietnam extends further north than Thailand so that means in summer, days are slightly longer in northern Vietnam than in Thailand while in winter they are slightly shorter. In any case, the sun always goes down earlier in Vietnam than in Thailand due to it's more easterly longitude.

Most households in Thailand have air con,now thats funny hehehehehehehehe

It is very easy to think that. I bet if you actually counted all the "households", there would be more without ac. Just a guess based on the number of poor here.

[mrfill]

Gsxrnz, on 02 Jun 2013 - 07:50, said:

Tomtomtom69, on 01 Jun 2013 - 11:58, said:

Given that most households in Thailand have air-conditioning these days, "avoiding the heat" is not a valid reason for getting up early. I would never get up at 5am unless I've got an early flight to catch - I'd rather get enough sleep and then there's no need to sleep during the day (indeed, except at my last workplace there wouldn't be any possibility of doing so these days). If I need to be at work at 9am, getting up around 7am is sufficient and I'll be on my feet all day sometimes entertaining my girlfriend and friends at a restaurant in the evening and not going back home until like 10pm or later.

In my opinion most Thais don't actually rise at 5am, it's more like 6am or 6.30am (unlike their Vietnamese counterparts that do indeed rise at 5am). A lot of it has to do with when the sun rises, in Thailand it generally rises not much earlier than 5.45am, but in Vietnam it rises as early as 5am. On the other hand in Vietnam it rarely gets dark later than 6pm, whereas in Thailand this time of year it's almost 7pm.

Those individuals in Thailand that do rise as early as 5am tend to be either 1) village dwellers often working menial jobs; 2) poorer inhabitants of Bangkok that work blue collar jobs; 3) people that work shifts and have to work the early shift starting at say 7am (including factory workers); 4) Bangkok residents that live 45km from their workplace and have kids to send to school (although these people will only rise this early when the kids have school, certainly never on weekends).

From my experience in the region, the Vietnamese rise the earliest, about 5am. The Thais rise around 6am or 6.30am while the Chinese rise the latest, usually not before 7am and often as late as 8am.

Um....I think you'll find that the sunrise is determined by the latitude. As Thailand and Vietnam share much of the same latitude range I think your conclusion is a little strange. Granted, the Vietnamese latitude does extend slightly more north than Thailand's, but not much.

So therefore the sunrise, length of day, and sunset are determined by latitude and season. At any point in Thailand that shares the same latitude as a point in Vietnam, sunrise and sunset will be at identical times.

Umm I think you need to get a map...firstly, Vietnam is further east than Thailand and in the same time zone, so the sun comes up earlier and goes down earlier too. Secondly, Vietnam extends further north than Thailand so that means in summer, days are slightly longer in northern Vietnam than in Thailand while in winter they are slightly shorter. In any case, the sun always goes down earlier in Vietnam than in Thailand due to it's more easterly longitude.

Nonsense. If what you say is true, then how come on the same longitude you get different sunrise times?

Remember, the North Pole is on the same longitude as Thailand and at the moment it has no sunrise or sunset as it daylight 24hours a day.

Incidentally, Vietnam is GMT+8 and Thailand is GMT+7, so they are not in the same time zone either!

Vietnam does indeed extend further north than Thailand and in Hanoi the sun rises earlier and sets later than in Saigon (same country, same longitude, different latitude).

If you want to learn more about longitude, read up on John Harrison.

[mrfill]

and further, Thais get up early to feed the monks, to get to the markets early and to avoid the heat.

And if you believe people in the west don't get up very early then who is driving all the cars that fill the M25 from 6am?

[seajae]

In Australia we would start early in the morning and finish just after lunch time during summer, much better in the heat(building trade).

[StreetCowboy]

Gsxrnz, on 02 Jun 2013 - 07:50, said:

Tomtomtom69, on 01 Jun 2013 - 11:58, said:

Given that most households in Thailand have air-conditioning these days, "avoiding the heat" is not a valid reason for getting up early. I would never get up at 5am unless I've got an early flight to catch - I'd rather get enough sleep and then there's no need to sleep during the day (indeed, except at my last workplace there wouldn't be any possibility of doing so these days). If I need to be at work at 9am, getting up around 7am is sufficient and I'll be on my feet all day sometimes entertaining my girlfriend and friends at a restaurant in the evening and not going back home until like 10pm or later.

In my opinion most Thais don't actually rise at 5am, it's more like 6am or 6.30am (unlike their Vietnamese counterparts that do indeed rise at 5am). A lot of it has to do with when the sun rises, in Thailand it generally rises not much earlier than 5.45am, but in Vietnam it rises as early as 5am. On the other hand in Vietnam it rarely gets dark later than 6pm, whereas in Thailand this time of year it's almost 7pm.

Those individuals in Thailand that do rise as early as 5am tend to be either 1) village dwellers often working menial jobs; 2) poorer inhabitants of Bangkok that work blue collar jobs; 3) people that work shifts and have to work the early shift starting at say 7am (including factory workers); 4) Bangkok residents that live 45km from their workplace and have kids to send to school (although these people will only rise this early when the kids have school, certainly never on weekends).

From my experience in the region, the Vietnamese rise the earliest, about 5am. The Thais rise around 6am or 6.30am while the Chinese rise the latest, usually not before 7am and often as late as 8am.

Um....I think you'll find that the sunrise is determined by the latitude. As Thailand and Vietnam share much of the same latitude range I think your conclusion is a little strange. Granted, the Vietnamese latitude does extend slightly more north than Thailand's, but not much.

So therefore the sunrise, length of day, and sunset are determined by latitude and season. At any point in Thailand that shares the same latitude as a point in Vietnam, sunrise and sunset will be at identical times.

Umm I think you need to get a map...firstly, Vietnam is further east than Thailand and in the same time zone, so the sun comes up earlier and goes down earlier too. Secondly, Vietnam extends further north than Thailand so that means in summer, days are slightly longer in northern Vietnam than in Thailand while in winter they are slightly shorter. In any case, the sun always goes down earlier in Vietnam than in Thailand due to it's more easterly longitude.

Nonsense. If what you say is true, then how come on the same longitude you get different sunrise times?

Remember, the North Pole is on the same longitude as Thailand and at the moment it has no sunrise or sunset as it daylight 24hours a day.

Incidentally, Vietnam is GMT+8 and Thailand is GMT+7, so they are not in the same time zone either!

Vietnam does indeed extend further north than Thailand and in Hanoi the sun rises earlier and sets later than in Saigon (same country, same longitude, different latitude).

If you want to learn more about longitude, read up on John Harrison.

You must be talking about the other Vietnam. The one I know is GMT +7.

In the summer, the sun rises earlier in Hanoi than in Ho Chi Minh City, and in winter, vice versa. Ho Chi Minh is a little bit East, so around the equinox, the sun will rise earlier there.

For those of you that enjoy a bicycle ride before work, sunrise just now is 5.03 am in Taipei, compared to 7.02 in KL, in the same time zone. An hour later, it's 5.29 in Ho Chi Minh and 5.49 in Bangkok.

SC

Edited June 2, 2013 by StreetCowboy

[Thaddeus]

Wife gets up every morning at 5 AM and goes to work as do the other 100 Thais that work in her steel mill. I get up and cook breakfast for all of us and take the dog for a walk. The rest of the neighbors are also up cooking and walking dogs.

I really hope they are not cooking them after walking them.

This is getting funnier each post. Thanks for the comic relief.

We 'ave to get up at 3am and lick t'road clean with us tongues..

[StreetCowboy]

Wife gets up every morning at 5 AM and goes to work as do the other 100 Thais that work in her steel mill. I get up and cook breakfast for all of us and take the dog for a walk. The rest of the neighbors are also up cooking and walking dogs.

I really hope they are not cooking them after walking them.

This is getting funnier each post. Thanks for the comic relief.

We 'ave to get up at 3am and lick t'road clean with us tongues..

You do know that people from that side of the Pennines only sound like that in Monty Python sketches, don't tha?

Oh, parochialism, we wouldn't know where we weur, without it.

A friend of mine went to Newcastle, forty miles from his home. He came home after his first year, having blended in rather well, and three blokes piled out of his local and gave him a good kicking "Piss off back to NewCassell, ye Geordiebastartye"

I'm guessing, they get up early to avoid the idiots who have been drinking the night before....

Edited June 2, 2013 by StreetCowboy

[joeaverage]

A member of the cuckoo family the Greater Coucal wakes me up with 10 koos at a time every morning. There are a lot of cuckoos in Thailand around 20 different species I think. I never liked cuckoo clocks but the family of birds have a nice sound. They don't fly very well and landings are loud as the crash into the trees. Sometimes called a crow pheasant.

ah sir thank you for the bird trivia, most relevant, you have a knack.

[Eesat]

I have land in Andalucia and its bloody cold in winter sometimes with snow, also they dont have the humidity present here, yeah it can get hot but its not 100000000000% humidity......ok I exaggerated slightly

I get up between 5-6 water do some work and pack it in around 10am max, then will do some more maybe at 5-7pm depending if cloudy or not, cloudy can work all day.

If you think that it snows in Andalusia,unless you're talking about up in the Sierra Nevada I can only surmise that you have never,ever been there before!

[rene123]

I think a lot of getting up early (or late) is a matter of habit. The rural Thai villages I stayed at did not have electricity other than what was supplied by vehicle batteries. Lights went out at 9 PM and everyone went to bed. Naturally you are going to get up early if you go to bed early. It's the same with people in the bar scene. They go to bed late and get up late. The only thing I object to is the horrible sounds coming from speakers placed in all the villages, or pumped out at maximum volume from the temples starting at 6 AM.

[lapd]

Morning is the best time of day, a lot cooler and plus mom goes to the market to get the freshest veggies, fruits and meats. The early bird always catches the worm.

In Pattaya it's more like the early worm catches the bird. Wink wink nudge nudge know what I mean know what I mean.

Edited June 2, 2013 by lapd

[smokie36]

Gsxrnz, on 02 Jun 2013 - 07:50, said:

So therefore the sunrise, length of day, and sunset are determined by latitude and season. At any point in Thailand that shares the same latitude as a point in Vietnam, sunrise and sunset will be at identical times.

Umm I think you need to get a map...firstly, Vietnam is further east than Thailand and in the same time zone, so the sun comes up earlier and goes down earlier too. Secondly, Vietnam extends further north than Thailand so that means in summer, days are slightly longer in northern Vietnam than in Thailand while in winter they are slightly shorter. In any case, the sun always goes down earlier in Vietnam than in Thailand due to it's more easterly longitude.

Nonsense. If what you say is true, then how come on the same longitude you get different sunrise times?

Remember, the North Pole is on the same longitude as Thailand and at the moment it has no sunrise or sunset as it daylight 24hours a day.

Incidentally, Vietnam is GMT+8 and Thailand is GMT+7, so they are not in the same time zone either!

Vietnam does indeed extend further north than Thailand and in Hanoi the sun rises earlier and sets later than in Saigon (same country, same longitude, different latitude).

If you want to learn more about longitude, read up on John Harrison.

You must be talking about the other Vietnam. The one I know is GMT +7.

In the summer, the sun rises earlier in Hanoi than in Ho Chi Minh City, and in winter, vice versa. Ho Chi Minh is a little bit East, so around the equinox, the sun will rise earlier there.

For those of you that enjoy a bicycle ride before work, sunrise just now is 5.03 am in Taipei, compared to 7.02 in KL, in the same time zone. An hour later, it's 5.29 in Ho Chi Minh and 5.49 in Bangkok.

SC

How dare you presume to decide what is summer or winter.

Such things are best kept under the brolly.....

[GottaGo]

Morning is the best time of day, a lot cooler and plus mom goes to the market to get the freshest veggies, fruits and meats. The early bird always catches the worm.

In Pattaya it's more like the early worm catches the bird. Wink wink nudge nudge know what I mean know what I mean.

Pretty nasty worms making their way home from work that time of the morning (very late night as far as they're concerned).

But the ones that are freshly up out of bed going about their business are definitely worth pursuing IMO, take a different approach than the former but in the long run the end results are much more positive.

And of course this applies even more so to other more wholesome locations.

Edited June 2, 2013 by GottaGo

[crazygreg44]

Morning is the best time of day, a lot cooler and plus mom goes to the market to get the freshest veggies, fruits and meats. The early bird always catches the worm.

TRUE, BUT THE BIRD CATCHES THE EARLY WORM"!

Let's agree on "the early birds get the earliest worms" or this discussion will never end . .

[balo]

I think its because of all the noise in Thailand.

In my condo in soi watboon the roosters wake me up at 4.30 AM every day !

If its not the roosters then its the soi dogs barking from 3 AM. If I'm lucky I can sleep until 7 and then the music are turned on because Thais loves to make noise.

No you have no choice, I have started sleeping after noon instead,

[David48]

.

Sunrise at the Farm ... a great time of the morning to be awake ...

The air seems clearer, the water still ... life is great!

.

[theblether]

If you go sit at Chiang Mai Gate at 5.00am and watch the market spring into life, you'll start to appreciate how hard working and industrious many Thais are, and how short sighted and plain stupid many of the comments we read on Thaivisa are.

Out of her bed at 4.00am every day to prepare the breakfast curry.......This Is Thailand.

Elderly vendors with the monks at 5.00am.............This Is Thailand

Working through the night for a living, the honest way..............This Is Thailand

Maybe if some of you would lay off the booze some nights and get out of your bed early you would see the real Thailand.

[MA1]

I have lived in the U.S. all my life, most of the time I wake up at 5:00 a.m. Maybe it was working for my father on the race track.

Living in Thailand, yes getting up when it is cooler is worth it, resting at the peak of the day (heat) is a healthy way to deal with it.

Then again I am working class and not the elite that sleep all day and party all night.

[GeorgeO]

I also consider myself to be a normal person, and even though I don't have to travel to work, I am very happy to get up at 5:00-5:30 every day.

Judging by the responses that we have seen thus far, this seems to be quite 'normal' behaviour...!

[pgs]

I'm sorry but I really don't know which country you are from but in the West,normal people don't get up at 5:00am!

Normal people in Western countries work from 9:00am-5:00pm,they don't get up when it's still dark and fall asleep on their feet for the rest of the day!

'Normal'? Hmmm. Could you define that?

My 'normal' day starts about 3am. TW might be at 7. She needs at least 8 hours sleep - closer to 20 if possible, I do quite ok on 4-5 hours & have done for more decades than I remember.

If you are living in Thailand or other hot countries, 'normal' there won't necessarily fit your idea of it. Altering your sleep pattern to suit the climate isn't such a bad move. You may find it difficult to start with, but after a while it becomes... Normal

[kannot]

I live out in the sticks and seriously OP try getting up at 7 and working from 9-12 then 1 -5pm you will die of heat exhaustion, even walking down the road will leave you with a sodden ( I mean sodden) T shirt, I f I do this I can drink maybe 6-8 litres of water in a day and still not pee!

Many days here on the land its 42c in the shade and humidity is very high, you're best of staying indoors form 10-30 to at least 3pm so getting up at 5 starting work at 5.30 just as the sun comes up IS the only way.

Now it does vary and later in the year when its cloudy I can do different hours but its still most comfortable early and late.

The Thais might not be asleep just indoors being sensible, I look at the com then most days and/or have a kip.

What is abnormal is the bloody row the Thais make with boom boom music!

Edited June 3, 2013 by kannot

[newermonkey]

My son is up most nights either on his computer, on his BB, with his girlfriend, or just getting into trouble with his motor bike then from 5 am he sleeps all day!