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Zhongguó

Sleepless in China

As I mentioned in an earlier post, it was difficult to sleep on the hard beds in China (I didn’t like that a third of the trip was spent in rooms with two separate single beds either. I had David push them together one night). But there were other factors that disturbed sleep just about every night while there.

  • Cars honking. They honk all day and all night in Beijing. I think it’s part of the requirement for driving there. Even out in the peaceful countryside of Huangshan, we would hear cars blast their horn as they went rip-roaring the through curves in the road to warn everybody they’re coming. Our room had a great view of the bend in the road our hotel sat on.
  • A construction site right outside the window.
  • Someone buzz-sawing in the morning.
  • Strong wafts of cigarette smoke coming from the windows or hallways.
  • Someone ringing the doorbell (they have doorbells for each room) or calling your telephone at midnight or 6am.
  • Tourists getting up at 4am and talking shouting in the hallway.

But now that I’m home, and thoroughly enjoying my soft bed, and I am even tired enough to sleep through the construction next door to our own apartment.