Greetings from dull, cloudy, overcast and very wet Thailand.
It's what they call the Rainy Season here now and let me tell, rain here means REAL rain.
For example, yesterday at 11am it started to rain. Within 30 minutes the street where I live was flooded. An hour later, I'd measured 5 inches of rainfall.
At 3pm, it rained again (lasted about an hour): another 4 inches of water. Then at 10pm it started to rain and went on all night. Result: another 9 inches.
When I lived in the UK, conversations usually included a good old British-style moan about the weather. It either rained too much, or in a hot summer, it didn't rain enough. It was either too hot or too cold. Too wet or too dry.
Here, in Thailand, nobody cares! They accept things the way they are. It's hot here most of the year and the locals don't often complain about it, they just deal with it. If it rains, it's an accepted part of everyday life. No point in going on and on about it is there?
As I write this up, my windows are wide open, the door is open, the ceiling fans are whirring away and outside - it's raining. So what?
In north-east Thailand - the Isaan Plain - the nation's rice grows. There they get about 5 or 6 months of rain and then 5 or 6 months of drought. Nobody complains. They need rain for the rice crop. And during the "winter" months, they just put up with water shortages.
It's a way of life.
