Saturday, August 28, 2010

5 August 2010

A few minutes ago, clouds slowly took over a sunny sky, and an incredible
>>> storm blew up. I can't judge wind speed,  but I'll just guess and say it
>>> was over 30 mph.  A few minutes later, the rain started coming down in
>>> buckets. After a few minutes, it morphed into a windless light shower,
>>> and
>>> that's how it is now.
>>> On my yahoo home page, I have monitored the weather of a bunch of cities
>>> that interest me, including BKK. But for at least the past few days,
>>> aside
>>> from slight variations in the highs and lows (90 F-ish and 76 F-ish), it
>>> always says "scattered thunderstorms". I guess they figure that it will
>>> always rain somewhere during the rainy season, so they play the
>>> percentages. For me, there have been fewer rainy than clear days.
>>> Yesterday we were on a bus heading from BKK back to Bangsai when it
>>> really
>>> started pouring (no wind tho). It was remarkable, and we had visions of
>>> getting our umbrella-less selves drenched when we got off the bus.
>>> However, the rain seemed to be moving in the opposite direction of the
>>> bus, and in fact it had stopped by the time we got within about 15-20 km
>>> of home.  It had cooled off enough to where I actually felt chilly on the
>>> ride in the golf cart (our "public transportation" inside the community)
>>> to our house. I have NEVER felt chilly in Bangkok.
>>> While on the same broad flat expanse as Bangkok, we have a little kinder
>>> weather. The frequent breeze cools you off (if you are not in direct
>>> sun),
>>> and it feels quite comfortable without AC, just open windows, in the
>>> morning and later in the evening.
>>> On another note, we went to Banphaen market in Sena, our closest real
>>> "town" of any kind, since "downtown" Bangsai, which is about 10km SE of
>>> here, is basically a city hall and a few houses. Sena is about 10 km N of
>>> here. Maybe 80 or 85 km from Bangkok, it might as well be 800 km or 8000
>>> even.  It seems to have little to recommend it. The market, which on
>>> Thursdays adds a fresh market to the usual shops -- a kind of flea market
>>> w lots of food -- was jam packed. Gigantic tour buses, motorcycles, and
>>> pedestrians jostled for space on the narrow winding streets.  I've been
>>> known to say that it's hard to find two parallel streets in Boston; well,
>>> compared to Sena, Boston is a model of city planning!
>>> The merchants were pleasant enough, but less friendly than you typically
>>> find in Bangkok.  I didn't make any great discoveries in the market, but
>>> I
>>> did get to look closely at a wide variety of models of small motorcyles.
>>> I did not see a single Westerner there. I suppose I'll have to give Sena
>>> another chance. We'll see.

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