Everyday, from some time around 12:30 to 2:00pm you can find people sleeping all over the city, since right after eating lunch many people take a nap. You can even find people sleeping on their motorbikes! I still haven't figured out how they can curl up on their seat, balance and sleep with the bike parked on the sidewalk of a loud & busy major street.
My first encounter with the seriousness of the siesta was when the door of our conference room at the office was marked "occupied", though I was sure there was no one inside as not a sound could be heard coming from the room. Since I needed to set up for a presentation, I opened the door and much to my surprise found a colleague sleeping, sprawled across about 5 chairs he had lined up in a row to make a bed! It suddenly clicked why so many of my colleagues had little pillows at their desks- they were somewhere hiding in the office taking a nap after lunch :)
Some of my newer colleagues aren't as discreet about their siestas. (
see second photo) When I walked back to my desk several weeks ago the lights were off in the room, where I sit, and I saw a mat on the floor under a desk with 2 sets of little feet sticking out! I couldn't help but laugh at how cute it was so I took a photo... We've also seen construction workers sleeping on piles of rubble from demolished buildings (
see top photo) and hammocks set up on our sidewalk, which, if you've read from other posts, is on a main street. Whenever I walk by the hammock on our block I sometimes think, "This would be like setting up a hammock to sleep on 23rd St. in Manhattan!" But they do it and I am glad they do because that's just who they are. A couple of reasons for the siesta are the heat in the mid-afternoon, when it's nearly unbearable to work outside during that time of day and also due to the fact that many Vietnamese wake up very early like 4:30/5:00am ungodly early, so about mid-day they need a nap. Some days I've wanted to try taking a nap at my desk like some of my colleagues, but I just never seem to be able to do it...
Hammock set up on a main street in Saigon
