My child asked a tough question. "Daddy, have you ever slept with a truck driver?"

Good parents always answer difficult queries truthfully without hesitation. I replied: "Of course, darling. Many, many times."

She continued: "Who else have you slept with? Anyone really really weird?"

I thought for a moment before replying. "Well, about a month ago, I slept with two Buddhist nuns, and before that, a cricket team."

We were talking, of course, about the people we end up snoring with on journeys in Asia.

The biggest single difference between East and West is that people on this side of the planet sleep in public.

We nod off into deep comatose states as soon as we step onto a bus, train or tram.

We snore on the shoulders of people sleeping next to us. Sometimes we slouch over onto their laps. Often we slide right off the seat onto the floor or even out the door. Nobody minds.

I was on a train once which was so crowded. I had one of the longest, deepest sleeps of my life standing up.

To the western mind, this is weird, dangerous or potentially rather fun.

In Europe or North America, people have to go through a time-consuming process involving courtship, dating, and often marriage, before they can experience the thrill of having another person snore in their ear or drool on their shoulder.

But on any normal work week in Asia, the average commuter ends up sleeping with more people than Westerners do in a lifetime or Madonna does in an hour.

Of course, the sad truth is that sleeping with strangers is not as exciting as it may sound.

Reviewing the past few months of commuting, I had only one case in which an exceptionally beautiful female stranger went to sleep on my shoulder.

For 10 seconds I enjoyed her nearness and her expensive perfume and felt like a small, Asian, penniless Hugh Hefner. But then, I too fell asleep.

Three stops later, I woke up as she leapt to her feet and disappeared without a backward glance. That's modern love for you.

Only once has the experience of being slept on been terrifying.

About a year ago, a small child in school uniform sat next to me. I didn't notice her at all - until she suddenly keeled over and fell fast asleep on my thigh.

The daddy part of me said: "Ahhh, poor little thing! I wanted to pat her head and put my jacket over her body."

But a woman sitting on the other side of the aisle glared at me as if to say: "You move one muscle or even breathe and I will call the police and have you arrested and locked up forever, you potential evil child molester."

I froze like a statue, held my breath and stopped my heart beating for 10 minutes until the girl woke up and jumped off the bus. Phew! Talk about a narrow escape.

I mentioned the whole sleeping-on-buses phenomenon to a traveler from Italy and his face broke into a smile. "I always wondered why you see people in Asia going shopping in their pyjamas. Now I know."

Now if you'll excuse me, it's time for me to have a nap at my desk.