It finally rained late that night, accompanied by thunder and lighting. But it was a pathetic rain, nothing befitting the prelude. It happened again Friday afternoon. But this time when the rain came, it came pouring down. We'd had dinner and had walked up the street to buy some things when the first drops came, here and there, dotting the ground. There were flashes in the sky. The street market folks went into a flurry of pulling things down, packing things up, and heading out before it started for real. We made it back to our bikes, the locks off, when the floodwaters came pouring down. So we slipped back into the restaurant we'd eaten in 20 minutes before and waited for things to settle down a bit.
Twenty minutes later, with the pounding on the overhead covering lessened, we got our bikes and rode home in the rain. It was cool and refreshing and not so heavy that we were soaked. But even with all that cleansing, Saturday morning's view of the mountains was still not particularly clear.
I do remember forty years ago in Kamphaengphet at the end of the dry season that the sun went down fiery red behind a grey haze. Farmers burning rice fields in anticipation of the rainy season were probably part of the issue. In recent years hill tribes and Thai farmers have been blamed for burning the fields. But I can't help wondering how much factories and auto and motorcycle emissions are part of the problem.
And what blows in from Burma and Laos where there is much less control over burning?
Here's Doi Inthanon, Thailand's highest mountain, yesterday, the day after Friday's heavy rains.
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