Monsoon

During the night following that beautiful sunny day, we had a thunderstorm like I've never experienced. I couldn't believe the damage that the water had done - the beach was all washed away, many stores were flooded and the street was running like a river. Bits of trees and garbage swirling everywhere. The power was off on the whole island for most of the morning. Things started getting back to normal around dinner time, when a second storm blew in, bigger than the first. The restaurant I was in had a stream flowing through it and I sat with my shoes off and water up to my ankles while I ate by candlelight due to another power failure.

I am feeling somewhat sorry for the travellers who came here expecting beautiful weather (although a little research should have informed them of the potential for rain). As for me, I am actually enjoying it. I realized at dinner last night that I had done pretty much nothing for about 10 days, and I don't feel bad about that. Rather, it's wonderful not to have deadlines or to put any pressure on myself to see or do so much in a certain amount of time. If there's something I want to do, I can wait until the weather turns, or come back and do it later. It's very freeing. I am also glad to have experienced a monsoon. I can't imagine living through months of this every year - although the Thais would probably say the same thing about our winter :-)

It's also really nice to be in one place for more than a few nights - it allows a sense of comfort and belonging. Usually when I travel I don't spend more than a couple of nights in the same place, as I'm always trying to see and do as much as possible in a limited time frame. This slow pace is fabulous.

Unfortunately the rain has wiped out the one internet cafe on the island from which I could send e-mail. I'm not sure why I could do it from there and not from anywhere else, but I have to assume they had a different version of Windows or something. They were in there with the shop-vac this morning but I don't know if they'll be up and running again before I head back to Bangkok on the 5th. I'm still receiving e-mail, just can't reply or compose new messages.