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THE RAINY SEASON – (June – October) – especially heavy June through August – heaviest in July.
We are finally getting to the end of “The Rainy Season” here in Chiang Mai. This has been a real adjustment for me.
I have a condo I love with large picture windows letting lots of light in and providing a spectacular view. Unfortunately, they also leak. The hard rains have moved me to form my ‘bucket and towel brigade’ with a membership of one, to be ready at a moment’s notice, day or night, to put rolled up towels on all the window sills, watching them carefully and wringing them out into a bucket at intervals until the rain has passed, and then trying to get the towels dry to be armed for the next rain..
I have also learned to always carry an umbrella and a “rain suit” that is an ingenious invention made from a plastic bag, with sleeves and a hood with a drawstring. Just the thing when it’s really blowing and pouring.
Happily, our condo building will be doing exterior repairs and repainting once the rainy season is completely over. One of the things on the list is doing outside resealing of windows – hopefully making it so the bucket brigade won’t be necessary next time.
The rain here is very different from what I was used to in the States. In Arkansas, if it rained, it rained most of the day. We postponed activities until it dried out. Here, it can absolutely POUR for several minutes and then stop, as if a faucet was turned off, the sun coming out and the rest of the day beautiful – or pour again, just as soon as you get your rain suit or umbrella put away. As long as you learn to be prepared to pull out your umbrella or don your rain suit, you get used to dealing with it, not postponing any activities. (I also carry a trash bag to put my wet umbrella in until I can open it up and dry it at home.)
My rain suit is actually purple, though it shows pink here.
Trying to get laundry done during the rainy season is quite laborious. I try to get my laundry out on my little balcony early in the morning to catch the good sun. Many times a sudden rain storm will drench your clothes, so you have to keep an alert eye on the skies, rather than depending on the weather app, ready to drag your drying rack inside very quickly to rescue your clothes. Then the sun will come out, and you reverse the process – sometimes several times – until the task is done.
Typhoons come from the direction of Vietnam. It’s a bit scary with weather alerts on your phone. (The alerts are in Thai – pretty useless to a non-Thai speaker like me)- but I’ve learned what it is and look for the dates that it will hit Chiang Mai. We’re up high, so we don’t have to worry about flooding, but we DO have to get serious about the bucket brigade at times like this…
The Rainy Season is coming to an end here. My son Brian says Thai ‘winter’ is next with a bit cooler temperatures (only 85 or so in the afternoons) and a LOT less rain! I’m ready!!!!!
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