Hot and hotter

Just at the beginning of March the hot season stopped and the new season started: very hot. Since the month of November it has rarely rained and the luscious vegetation has gotten pretty dry. The grass does not roll like a thick carpet on the ground now, and the loose dirt shows thorough the charred blades.

                                             Yoga at Kaho Rang Hill

Chiang Mai does get cooler in the “winter” months. Two years ago, when I lived there for the Thai massage training, the mornings were slightly chilly. Massimo and I used to stand in a small patch of sun which warmed us up while we waited for the bus to school. In December I asked a Thai woman who was waiting at the Immigration Department with her farang husband when it would get cooler in Phuket. She laughed “It is never cool here”. She was right. I believe that I forgot how it feels to be cold.

We are all bearing the high temperatures but certainly not looking forward to the rainy season. When it rains, it rains lots. Considering that a lot of us move around in motorcycles, torrential rains are not something to look forward to. One needs to wear a plastic raincoat that looks like a big trash bag. The trash bag- raincoats do not do a lot to avoid the water to get everywhere, make you sweat, and indeed are not an icon of fashion.

There is one great thing about rain: the frogs. I love to hear them from my bed. They are spectacularly loud. The geckos are also happy when it rains and they all together produce a hilarious concert.

Another positive aspect of rain is that everything looks beautiful and the air is cleaner. And, because the rain is warm, you can go for a walk in it and get soaked as if you were taking a sky shower.