No Monsoon Under the Moon

You may know that I made the decision to come to Asia rather recently, and in the two weeks leading up to my vacation, I tried to convince quite a few people to join me, at least for the first part. I almost succeeded in toting along my friend Claire, but an email a few days before stated her distain for the fact that October is considered the tail end of monsoon season. Well, I’ve spent weeks and weeks in tents in rainforests, so I ordered a new raincoat and was ready for the rainy challenge. Rain shouldn’t phase me, I made sure to waterproof my skin before I headed over the ocean.

So what is the weather like here? Hot. And sweaty. It’s like the first football game of the season at Williams Bryce Stadium in the armpit of the world, Columbia, SC. I never thought I would find a sweatier place than the tailgate of a lifted F 150, chugging my 4th beer of the morning.

I must say that it is not as rainy as promised. It rained my first morning in Bangkok, and then we’ve had one other rainstorm since, and that’s it! I’ve been here almost a week and it has been delightful. In Bangkok I had the pleasure of getting my first hour-long Thai massage next to an open window, letting in the sounds of the calm rainfall. Ahhh peace.

The storm I witnessed the other day was a classic one for a rainy season, it comes through, lasts about 45 minutes, then tapers away. This one, however, had the magic of occurring in the small backpacking town of Pai, in the late afternoon. Just as my French friends and I settled down on the traditional cushions of our favorite German bar, the clouds darkened and the skies rumbled above.

From our raised platform we listened to the sounds of Pink Floyd in concert, played Jenga, and watched as people were drenched. Night started to fall, and just as the first lightning struck, the power went out. Of the entire town. We sat in silence with our drinks, laying out on the mats, trying to keep a candle alive, then enjoyed the moat around the bar grow beyond its capacity. No music, no French or English, just the sounds of nature and the light from cigarettes being puffed. Considering the conditions back in the Tetons (freezing, wet, icy), I couldn’t be more pleased with the weather here.