A prison of water

[b]Swimmin’ with the fishies[/b]

It’s 2AM; I am sitting in the living room with my notebook in my lap, writing. It is raining – as it did all day yesterday, and the previous day, and the day before – you get the picture. Welcome to the Rainy Season. Thai people celebrate the beginning of the Rains Retreat (or Khaao Pan Saa) by a long, colorful parade and lots of music. This year I was also part of this celebration up in Isaan, but that’s a story for another day.

The continuous rainfall made me have a feeling similar to what Noah must have had when he built the Ark. Streets are flooded, the wheels of cars get fully submerged in water, sometimes homes in the lower areas get a good soak too. Yesterday the situation was so bad that my sister’s school was closed. People couldn’t get into the building due to the deep water that accumulated at the doors!

To be honest, the amount of water falling down is just one of the many factors responsible for the chaos. A poorly developed infrastructure, inadequate planning of streets and houses, inefficient drainage system are all part of the problem. Luckily, my area is one of the better places around here, so I don’t have to take a scuba gear to go grocery shopping – yet. But the season of water is not over yet: who knows what surprises are waiting for me down the road?

[b]A walk through time[/b]

I may have felt like Noah, but I am pretty bad at shipbuilding, so I spent these days inside… until yesterday evening. My sister and I got so bored, we braved the downpour and went for a shopping trip at Seacon Square. We had a lot of fun, though we didn’t do anything spectacular; walking, window-shopping, eating, and just having fun in the company of each other, that’s all.

The nice thing about these giant department store conglomerations is that there is always something going on: usually exhibitions, musical or theatrical performances. The main event of today was an exhibition titled “Yesterday once more”, and like its name suggest, it was a tribute to Thailand’s past. Don’t think ancient times though – more like, Elvis’ time. We looked through toys, postcards, automobiles, letters of famous people of the era, foods, even a functional barbershop of that time! It was truly a walk in recent past. Those of you who live nearby and want to experience Siamese time travel, visit Seaon before Sep. 5. You can even own a piece of Thai history!

Getting late now, gotta sleep. I just hope the roof is watertight.

See you again soon!