Have you ever seen the rain?

Fishing in the flooded fields!

Well, it’s rained more or less solidly since Friday night. It’s now Monday night. For those of you that have never been to a tropical country in the rainy season, the kind of rain I am talking about is not your average shower. It is big fat rain drops that fall from the sky at an alarming rate. In mere seconds you are totally saturated. And there are no joy arches, or 'rainbows', where this rain is concerned. In most instances, when it rains like this (usually for about 15 minutes a couple of times a day), you simply take shelter inside. But when it’s been going on for three days, well, you have to leave the house at some point. And when you do, it’s a pretty soggy experience. On Saturday when I went to get dinner, there was surface flooding everywhere. People were sandbagging, and bailing water out of their stores and homes. I had to wade through the market, which was under a foot of water, black water. I was really hoping I didn’t have any cuts on my feet. The chain came off my bike, so I had to push it. I also didn’t really have a jacket, just a shitty, cheap plastic poncho and a broken umbrella. Once again, I have you conjuring up images of how stupid I looked. There really is just no way to keep clean and dry in this country. 

Anyway, I got a better, bright blue poncho yesterday, so things are looking up. The rain is apparently meant to keep going like this for a couple more days, I’ve heard that the road out of town is currently blocked as there has been a landslide. I really hope it’s sorted by Thursday, as I am taking the night bus to Bangkok, and going to Burma on Saturday with my friend Pip. It’s all very exciting. We’re flying into Yangon, and are in the country for a week. So next time you hear from me (in two weeks) I’m sure I’ll have some much more interesting things to talk about than the weather. Right now I’m off to the (black) market to sort some stuff for the trip.