Bedtime...............

[Steve GCC]

Just got to thinking if was only me when in the Booneys (Province) or does everyone hit the hay dead early in PI?

Took a while to acclimatise after last visit as whilst there we where in bed most nights between 8-9pm and up anytime from 5am.  Slept like a baby always and felt revitalised after our two week break.  Not even the Roosters from 4am woke us.

Downside was coming back to work and trying to get back into usual routine.

Is the early to bed thing and up early to maximise daylight hours and perhaps cooler timings or is it a throwback to lack of entertainment, save on lights bill or even times of candles and no lights in the provinces..............

Just got me thinking

[Dave Hounddriver]

When I lived in the deep province it irritated me that everything closed up by 7 pm with the exception of a couple bars, karaoke places, and a GRO cathouse.  It doesn't leave a guy who is trying to be "good" with a lot of options.

[Steve GCC]

We are so deep there are no bars, no karaoke joints and no GRO places close!!!!

[robert k]

I would stay up late to get the best internet speed possible sometimes. Living in a nipa house it often wasn't worth the trouble to stay up late and show lights because of the bugs. We had a light outside to draw the bugs AWAY from the house. If we did have lights on after dark, visitors or watching TV we would have a bag hanging from the light and a pan of water in front of the tv to catch the bugs which were fed to the chickens the next day. Waste not want not.

[Queenie O.]

We here too try to take advantage of the cooler mornings by getting up somewhere between 5 and 6AM, especially during the hotter dry season. We do still stay up later though, till 9 or ten. For some reason lately my body clock has been waking me up at 6:05 most days.

[Gary D]

When I first travelled to the Philippines 20+ years ago, no electricity so no TV and no lights apart from kerosene. Nothing to do after dark apart from going to bed and making babies, so early nights and big families.  

[JJReyes]

1 hour ago, Gary D said:

When I first travelled to the Philippines 20+ years ago, no electricity so no TV and no lights apart from kerosene. Nothing to do after dark apart from going to bed and making babies, so early nights and big families.  

Years ago, someone did a study on rural electrification in the Philippines. It was found that the arrival of television cut the birth rate. Most communities could not afford television, but the wealthy would place theirs next to a 2nd floor window facing out so their neighbors could watch at street level.

[Dave Hounddriver]

11 hours ago, Steve GCC said:

no bars, no karaoke joints

Sounds like a good business opportunity as I have not yet seen a place deep enough in the woods to have neither of these.

[Queenie O.]

Back when I was assigned in the town as a Peace Corps volunteer, there was no electricity for my whole two year assignment. We got to choose our placements from a limited list, and I chose Cebu, because I had friends already assigned in there in other areas. I chose my site even though it was rural and had no electricity, because I was told that it had clean running water, which was more of a priority for me. I lived with a host family the first year and the second year I rented a house in the town proper and lived alone there. Like Gary D. most of us used smoky kerosene lamps and some people had petromax lanterns. I had an old cassette player that ran by batteries, and I used to listen to the same Lou Rawls cassette over and over.   The funny thing was though, the famous town prostitute lived up the street from me. She was the only person in town that had a television, and it ran somehow on a car battery. Living without electricity wasn't so unbearable in those days it seemed. A lot of people played instruments and developed their singing skills because there was nothing much else to do. Children would come out to play at night during the full moon because it was so bright and fun. Almost every night there were groups of guys serenading me from the street below my bedroom. Mostly drunk to get up the courage, but It was kind of fun to hear them sing and play their guitars just for me. 

Edited February 16, 2017 by Queenie O.

[Jack Peterson]

 Talking about Bedtime