Sunday, December 13, 2009

The Art of Extreme Sleeping

Sweet dreams are only part of the story

Like any extreme activity, it requires the nerves of steel, good choice of timing, location and the absence of suspicious cops. All this however is easier to achieve, because you are, well... asleep, so you can trust the unseen powers to take care of the rest. Long & restful sleep is by no means guaranteed, but perhaps somebody will take your picture and you'll wake up famous.






(original unknown)



Location, Location, Location

The best site to explore (or to learn this useful skill) is Sleeping Chinese. It's a constantly growing collection of impossible sleeping positions:


















(images credit: Sleeping Chinese)

Ignore the crowds

According to this site, Japan's Public Sleeping is a constantly evolving art:


(image credit: Jeff Tsai)













Schools are made for sleeping

Studying obviously leads to extreme mental and physical fatigue:








(original unknown)


Chinese Converted Bus - just for sleeping

Better than an RV, but not quite a dormitory yet.


(photo by Dima Chatrov)


Comrades in Dreams

Russians sleep skillfully, with a total abandon - in all kinds of public transport, but mostly in their subway, because the intervals between the stations are so long and, besides, you can always take the ring line and sleep any amount of hours without interruption.



Don't miss an extreme collection of Russian Subway Sleeping Faces here

The Russians even have a traditional saying:
"The Worker Sleeps, His Job Carries On"




(original unknown)




Sleeping in Airports

An indispensable source of sleeping wisdom for the tired and delayed travelers-in-transition, the site Sleeping in Airports lists and reviews 5147 best-and-worst airports from around the world. This way you can avoid the worst ones, such as the airport of Port Moresby (Papua New Guinea), and learn about the best: Singapore's Changi airport.



Need some privacy? Try sleeping under the chairs.



or come better prepared:




(photo by Martin Leprohon)

They have all manner of advice on the site, and they conclude with a commendable optimism:

"Sleeping in airports is an adventure. Enjoy it! Have fun. From someone who has done it to save money or as a result of a layover, let me tell you that it is fun and it adds an extra element of strangeness to your trip."

One word of caution: be careful while asleep, because you might get "stolen":


(image credit: Christopher)

The second part of untranslated writing allegedly reads: "No Adultery While Your Aunt is Asleep"... what?!


Learn from kids

Of course, children are "professional" sleepers:



They can fall asleep almost anywhere and they always look so cute while at it:


(image credit: Jeri Bailey)

Cats have no competition, though.

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