In Phnom Penh, our days were from about 7 in the morning to 11 or 12 at night but as soon as we got to Kampong Cham, that changed completely. By 7 pm it already felt like midnight... because of the sun.
The day shifted: people get up and go to bed with the sun. Meaning, when the sun rises so do the people in the village, when it sets, they head off back home and go to sleep. By 9 pm it is dead quiet (except for the occasional moo) because everyone is already asleep. Think about it: in a village that (for the most part) doesn't have electricity, (so as a result doesn't have the artificial lighting that people in cities use), as soon as their one source of light- which they need in order to do practically anything- is gone, there's nothing else they can really do except go to sleep. It's pitch black. I couldn't even see one metre in front of me. So, our days here will be from about 5 in the morning to 10 at night. The day consists of an almost even 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark.
It's a bit weird and our sleep schedules will be thrown off, but I prefer having my day structured this way. It feels more natural... almost as if you have a little sun inside of you that rises and sets at the same time the real sun does, but most people fight it and try to decide their own sleeping hours. Changing to this schedule also made me think about something I never really noticed before: it made me realise how much electricity we use to be able to do things after the sun has set: how is it we can see when we walk around the city at night? How is it that we can go to the movies, throw parties, even sit around a table and have dinner, after everyone's major source of light has gone away? How much electricity would we save if we just changed our day schedules to match the sun?
LM
The day shifted: people get up and go to bed with the sun. Meaning, when the sun rises so do the people in the village, when it sets, they head off back home and go to sleep. By 9 pm it is dead quiet (except for the occasional moo) because everyone is already asleep. Think about it: in a village that (for the most part) doesn't have electricity, (so as a result doesn't have the artificial lighting that people in cities use), as soon as their one source of light- which they need in order to do practically anything- is gone, there's nothing else they can really do except go to sleep. It's pitch black. I couldn't even see one metre in front of me. So, our days here will be from about 5 in the morning to 10 at night. The day consists of an almost even 12 hours of light and 12 hours of dark.
It's a bit weird and our sleep schedules will be thrown off, but I prefer having my day structured this way. It feels more natural... almost as if you have a little sun inside of you that rises and sets at the same time the real sun does, but most people fight it and try to decide their own sleeping hours. Changing to this schedule also made me think about something I never really noticed before: it made me realise how much electricity we use to be able to do things after the sun has set: how is it we can see when we walk around the city at night? How is it that we can go to the movies, throw parties, even sit around a table and have dinner, after everyone's major source of light has gone away? How much electricity would we save if we just changed our day schedules to match the sun?
LM
