Waking up in Venice

Is this Downtown Hua Hin, or Venice?

I’m guessing that the rainy season might have arrived in Hua Hin.  Mind you, since it’s only the end of April, it has come quite early this year. Now, I say the rains have arrived early because I was woken in the middle of Wednesday night by the sound of thunderous rain pounding on my bedroom windows, and I could hear it hammering on the roof of the front yard of my house.  I supposed it could have just been an isolated storm.  Either way, the heavens had opened and the rain was torrential by the sound of it.  Little did I know as I lay in bed, that downtown Hua Hin was now looking like the new Venice.    

                                  

As I slowly woke up and my mind came into sharper focus, I remembered the load of laundry I had left hanging outside the night before.  But, since I had no idea how long it had been raining with such gusto, I decided that the laundry was probably already well and truly soaking wet, and I decided to leave it where it was.  So, rather than make a mad, heroic dash to rescue the laundry from the huge downpour, I chose instead to remain where I was and to listen to the soothing sound of rain drumming on the window.

Later, as I was eating breakfast after a little morning yoga, I had a visit from my good friend Robbert who lives up the street.  He came to me with a sad tale of terrible flooding over at his house. Apparently he had gone downstairs to discover a worrying drip coming from the ceiling in his downstairs bathroom and a growing puddle of water on the floor.  He said he was somewhat relieved that the only real damage from the rains appeared to be a soggy twelve pack of toilet tissues he had bought the day before and that was now sitting in the puddle on the bathroom floor.  

                                                                      

However, when Robbert went back upstairs, he saw water trickling from under the door of his spare bedroom.  Since he had rented out his spare bedroom to two backpacking girls, that he didn’t know very well, he called one of the girls on the telephone and asked her if there were any problems with water leaking into the bedroom through the window.  The telephone went quiet for a minute and when the girl came back she reported that there was actually water all over the bedroom floor. 

Unlike my own house, there is a very large outside balcony off the spare bedroom at Robbert’s house and, in a moment that I can only imagine looked hilariously like the ones you see in cartoons and movies, when Robbert opened the door from the bedroom out onto the balcony, a huge wave of water poured into the bedroom, gushed past him, and surged out of the bedroom door onto the landing.

To Robbert’s horror, when he sploshed back out onto the landing, he saw that water was now cascading like a giant waterfall down his stairs and was pouring into his living room below. 

HMS Flip Flop

When he finally made it downstairs and was standing in the living room, Robbert found that he was now standing in a small indoor lake. A moment later one of his flip flops floated by his feet as it drifted on the current towards the front door.   

                                   

Now I know its terrible to laugh at someone else’s misfortune, but the image of Robbert standing in a lake in the middle of his living room, while a flip flop sailed casually by, was just too much for me to handle and I just had to giggle. 

So yes, I suppose the rainy season has well and truly arrived in Hua Hin.  If you don't believe me, just ask my friend Robbert!