Southeast Asian beds aren't exactly -- what's the word, what's the word -- soft. Lets say the worldwide mattress scale of cushie-ness ranges from 1-10.Cushie 1: The bare hard floor.
Cushie 2: Huyen's bed. This "bed" is a bamboo mat laid on top of wood strips.
Cushie 3: A blanket laid on top of a bamboo mat laid on top of wood strips.
Cushie 4: A 1-inch hard piece of foam on top of wood strips.
Cushie 5: An egg-crate mattress put on nothing but the hard floor.
Cushie 6: Your below average pull-out couch with springs protruding out.
Cushie 7: Your fully blown up air mattress.
Cushie 8: My brother's childhood bed. AKA, a nice sturdy American mattress.
Cushie 9: My childhood bed. AKA, a nice American mattress with a bunch of bounce to it.
Cushie 10: One of those space-age foam mattresses that contort to your body.
My Hanoi bed is a solid 4. Literally it's a SOLID four. My bed is rock hard. If you were in the military and dropped a quarter on it you wouldn't have to worry about it bouncing. Change dies upon contact. If your forget where you're sleeping and sprawl onto the bed, well, you're going to have some bruises and possible a broken chin if you don't hit the pillows exactly right.
That said, I love my bed. Never before in my life have I slept as well, or as much, as I have on my Vietnamese bed. This discovery will:
a) Help my back in the long run since I believe hard beds are supposedly better for you.
b) Save me a bunch of money since I'll eventually need a new bed (I sold mine when leaving in LA). Instead of purchasing a $1,000 mattress I can just steal the cardboard container for someone else's mattress, wrap it in a sheet, and call it a night.
Anyway, leaving this house has its ups and downs. However, one of the biggest downs is that I absolutely will miss my bed.
