Thursday, April 24, 2008

It rained the other day...


...and how.

This was not your typical Pacific Northwest drizzle, nor was it even your not-as-typical Northwest downpour. This was Southeast Asia rain, and for a while it felt as if the entire South China Sea had been picked up and dumped on top of us.

We were in the middle of language lessons when it started, and the rain was falling so hard we were having a little trouble hearing each other talk inside our apartment. By the time it stopped a couple hours later we had a good five or six inches of water in our courtyard, and parts of the alleyway outside our house had perhaps a foot or so of water. I looked outside to see leaves, bits of styrofoam, garbage bags, etc. flowing out into the alley and on out of sight.

Except for putting on ponchos and grabbing umbrellas, people in the neighborhood more or less carried on as normal. From our roof, I saw that one of the ground-floor offices near our place had opened both their front and side sliding doors, apparently so that the waves that were being kicked up by passing motorbikes could flow through their place more easily. (Reason #75 why tile is a good idea and carpet a very bad idea in Vietnam.)

Our language teacher was stranded at our place for an extra hour or so, reluctant (with good reason) to venture out on her motorbike in all the water. Steven couldn't restrain himself and had to go out and take a few pictures. He made sure to wash his feet and soak his Chacos in bleach water when he returned.

We've put together a video for you to get at least a little taste of what a Vietnam rainstorm is like. And yes, we were assured by our other language teacher the following day that storms/mini-floods like that are a common occurrence here during the summer. Anyone got an extra couple pairs of hip waders they'd like to ship to Hanoi...?

Quick note about the video: You might want to turn your sound down a bit before you play it. For some reason the volume came out really loud.


1 comment:

Nancy said...

Bob Dylan??? I missed a concert of his in Guadalajara a couple of months ago. :(
You think that's rain ---you should be in North Dakota for a July thunderstorm - it knows how to RAIN here when it does. Haven't had any for a long time though. Love you guys - Nancy