Showing posts with label climate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label climate. Show all posts

07 June 2010

Envy my view

I have no bones about making you jealous. Of many of my social circle, I can- and do- brag having the best view from my apartment.
So I see gorgeous sunsets pretty much daily, the rainy season yielding more dramatic colors with clouds.

Along with approaching storms:

Or really bad smog.

And most recently, where the fires are.

Posted by Jane at 14:54 0 comments
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03 April 2010

You know it's bloody hot when..

... you get on the elevator with a Thai fanning himself desperately complaining it's hot.
... you find out he is only one of a whole native population whining about the climate.
... your car door locks stick.
... the Skytrain is jam packed all day and night.
... Thais walk 1/4 of their already slow speed.
... it takes longer than usual to get service and no one cares.
... first thing you want is a cup of hot water.
... you see Thais sweating more than you do.
... Thais are even more fidgety than you about trains arriving late.
... the sweat stink has surpassed the garlic breath in crowds.

Summer is here and not a soul is happy about it in this region.
Posted by Jane at 16:25 0 comments
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04 November 2009

Cooler weather indeed

An email I sent to my family this morning:

It's very cold the past couple days... I think it is actually below 80, adding on a gusty wind(chill) of 10degrees off. So don't forget to pack your mittens and parkas when you come to Thailand in Dec.
My father replied with a flash of rare wit:

It's very cold the past couple days... I think it is actually below 40, adding on a gusty wind(chill) of 10degrees off. So don't forget to pack your mittens and parkas when you come home for Thanksgiving.
It is almost as if Koy Lathrong marked the end of humidity. The next day, the temperature dropped at least 15° Fahrenheit, compounded with strong gusty winds, cloudy skies, and a half the usual humidity due point. It didn't mark the end of the rainy season as it rained last night, although not thundering style as is the norm. I reveled in shivering and opting to walk the entire way home.

Ohh, I hope it will a be a long dry cold season!
Posted by Jane at 12:39 0 comments
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13 October 2009

Ondoy's wet welcome

I was stuck in Manila when the first of a recent series of major typhoons blew through. We know Storm Ondoy (pronounced "on-Do-Oi"), internationally known as Ketsana, was approaching but reporting had treated it like a heavy rain storm that will blow through without event. In reality, yes, it was just that. A long heavy shower. No one just realised how heavy it would be.

We attempted to go sightseeing even in the weather. Oh, we saw, heard the rain. But we figured if we did some museum hopping I would get my Philippine culture intake.

What a trip. The taxi driver, perhaps annoyed that we wouldn't play ball on the fare negotiation process, tried to drop us off in some obscure building near the hotel, insisting that it was the only museum in the city. Right. National Museum, which we requested? Manila Casa? San Augustin? Villa Escudero? Malacanang Palace? Nonetheless, we got kicked out in the middle of a flood.

We waded our way back. On a dry day, that walk may take us five minutes. Ten max with all the road crossings. That day? Over 45 minutes. First, fascinated, I took my time juggling my umbrella, backpack, and camera to take photos of sights and scenes. Then the rain weighed me down since my sweatshirt apparently collects water very well. Finally, we kept backtracking and zigzagging to avoid going anything more than knee-deep in the water.

The following morning, the local front page compared Ondoy to Hurricane Katrina. I was indignant. The winds in Ketsana, while strong, didn't compare the Katrina's 100mph+. In retrospect though, having seen the construction in some of the villages and outskirts, and having experienced the rain volume myself, I can understand that it needed to be brought up that the devastation is phenomenal and, given the poor infrastructure and questionable building standards, the damage is far greater than what an American city and county would have taken under the same circumstances.

Many more photos to come. In the meantime, for a bit more lighthearted view of our day:

Now just what was he trying to accomplish?
Posted by Jane at 19:31 0 comments
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24 July 2009

Er, is the world spinning around me?

I recently spent a week's holiday in New Zealand, primarily to ski.

After one long day off from the slopes to go horse riding, sightseeing, jumping, and wine tasting, I settled back into my room for the night. Spread across the bed with brochures and reading materials, I thought I felt some rumbling. Looking up, I would have sworn the clothes and laundry bag hanging off hangers were swinging. Damn, that must have been some potent pinot noir I had.

Then I realise the rumbling wasn't my imagination. As it dawned on me, I glanced incredulously at the table where a gallon-jug partial filled with water sat. I just needed to make sure the water was swinging with everything else. Because I think I have found myself in one heck of an earthquake. A long one, too, over a minute.

Following news would announce it was a 7.8 earthquake off the coast of South Island. The magnitude of the earthquake prompted a tsunami warning.. An alarming 8-inch wave did occur, roughly around the same time worrisome Dad sent a panicky email saying "Watch out for the avalanche!!!"

I'm not surprised that there are earthquakes in New Zealand. I just didn't expect the first one I consciously experience to be there! As I looked up the details this evening, I'm stunned to realize the last thirty in New Zealand all occurred within the past two weeks.

As of 24 July 09:
Posted by Jane at 17:37 0 comments
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23 July 2009

You know it's summer when..

... you're surrounded by Taiwanese tourists on summer break.

We don't really have seasons in Thailand or many parts of Southeast Asia. The year in Thailand can be broken down into:
- Extremely hot: February through May
- Rainy: June through November
- Dry: December and January

To work with that, the Thai academic year runs from May through February.

So the sense of seasons, for those of us used to the seasonal changes, is lost. It's only a matter of whether keeping an umbrella on you is a daily thing or not.

The dry season is the peak tourist season. The students are on break in the extremely hot season. So we don't get the flux of people on summer break flocking everywhere like many American and European locales do.

Instead, we get the Taiwanese, Korean, and Japanese tourists, who get the same Northern Hemisphere summer vacations but are closer geographically.
Posted by Jane at 13:18 0 comments
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15 May 2009

Methinks the rainy season hath starteth


And I haven't seen the sun since.
Posted by Jane at 03:40 0 comments
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08 February 2009

Oh, god, it's Ant Season

Despite having the pest control spray my apartment on Friday, I'm finding it is apparently now Ant Season. Being in the tropical climate, I shouldn't be surprised but I was spoiled in not having to deal with it until now.

It seems that if I leave any food lying about for any extended period of time, I'll come back to find a swarm of ants around it. I found out the hard way when I dozed off on the couch, leaving a plate of pineapple in the coffee table. Awaken by the phone, loosing sense of where I last left my glasses, and fumbling for the phone, I happened to peer over and saw the edge of my table covered with blurry black dots.

Aaaahhhh! I still can't shake off the feeling that I might have a six-legged creature crawling in my ear.

So today, I bought an ant spray and sprayed the entire threshold of the balcony, gassing myself in the process. Let's hope that is sufficient. But I'm not testing the theory.

I'm most worried about my brother's visit this week. That kid has the tendency to ignore my specific household cleanliness habits and roll his eyes at me. I'm not in the mood to say "I told you so" if it means cleaning out the guest room of ants while he's occupying it.

I also have learned while the ants have a slight preference of my sweetened coffee, they don't give a damn about my gin and tonic.
Posted by Jane at 14:39 0 comments
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05 February 2009

Winter challenge

I froze my pretty tush off in my week in Taiwan. Before you groan and roll your eyes, do my weather challenge. Turn your thermostat to 50. Fahrenheit. Don't get cute on me.

And sleep in that for a whole week. No space heaters allowed. You can wear as many layers and double up as many comforters as you wish.

Once you made through 7 nights of that, you can snigger.

That's what it's like over there. They have no heating system. And the buildings are made of concrete and stone which retains coolness very well. No insulation or drywall or such. Just cold hard materials.
Posted by Jane at 14:35 2 comments
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03 October 2008

Thunder alarm

The rains have increased in both frequency and intensity lately. The one overnight last night was probably the worst so far... it was enough to jolt me awake and make me feel like I was back on the shores of a Wisconsin lake, on the camping trip where we lost all but one of our canoes. Albeit without the tent tipping over and getting completely drenched.

If it was able to wake me up when the police couldn't, that's saying something.

The worst was the humidity that followed. People like to say the rain "washes away the heat." Not necessarily. Depending on the time of the day, the storms make the ensuing humidity more oppressive. Especially if the sun is coming out strong after. When the morning commute had tons of Thai locals carrying hand towels to wipe their sweat as they wait for the Skytrain... *cringe*
Posted by Jane at 18:24 0 comments
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21 September 2008

Rainy Season

Oh, it's rainy season, alright.

Reminds me of the one afternoon I made the mistake of leaving the house without my umbrella in my bag. I got caught in the downpour, on my way home, just about 20 yards from the gate to my apartment compound.

When I got into the lobby, I didn't have a single dry stitch on me. I smiled blindly the direction of the front desk, which I couldn't see through my blurry glasses, waddled my way to the elevators.

I heard shuffling behind me and turned around. A maid was following my heels, with a mop.

By the time I reach my apartment, the rain had stopped.
Posted by Jane at 13:24 0 comments
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27 July 2008

Humidity, post-script

I spent most of this past week in Singapore for work. Which I enjoyed immensely. More on that in another post. Within the first day of arriving, I read in the local paper that the Australian athletes are arriving into town, to start acclimating themselves to the weather, the climate, and the time zone... and that the Americans amongst other teams are expected to show up by the week's end.

Folks, Singapore isn't humid. Not after living in Bangkok for almost a month. In fact, I didn't break a sweat until half-way into my trip. The teams have it all wrong. They should have sent their athletes to the extreme, to Bangkok, made them suffer in misery, irritation, so that by the time they got to Beijing, it's cakewalk.

Which brings to mind the one city I should have included in my comparison:
Beijing 72%

Well, I guess Singapore is pretty comparable. There is logic.. I'm sure Singapore has better facilities, better air quality, better understanding of how to cater to the athletes' needs. But, wimps!
Posted by Jane at 04:10 0 comments
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20 July 2008

Sweat

Bangkok really doesn't get that hot in absolute heat. Someone once commented that Washington DC hits over 100F in the month of August more often than Bangkok does in the entire monsoon season (depending on the year can be a whooping mid-May through November).

The worst is the humidity. The folks who have been here longer than me pretty much all say that one never really gets used to it. One may learn to tolerate it but never completely get comfortable. That's not a cheery thought given that the humidity stays pretty much the entire year.

To give you an idea, here's a comparison of average July humidity levels in several cities, courtesy of BBC Weather:

Bangkok
66-91%
Calcutta
80-86%
Dakar
66-84%
Dallas
48-76%
Hong Kong
77-87%
Honolulu
63-70%
Lagos
80-87%
Lima
77-94%
London
59-71%
Manila
68-91%
Nairobi
58-86%
New Orleans
63-84%
Paris
57-83%
Penang
67-77%
Riyadh
19-33%
San Jose (CR)
74-89%
Singapore
72-79%
Washington
53-79%


On top of all that, July is actually a cooler month for Bangkok, thanks to the downpours.

The first two weeks, any physical exertion, even just a block's walk, results with my being drenched with sweat. Which is pretty gross considering that that is how I start my day and I have to deal with it for the entire day.

By the third week, my body recognises a mere five percent drop in humidity... and appreciates it. I was cheered considerably when I noticed, one afternoon on the Skytrain, that some of the Thais are also sweating. Well, it's not a good sign when even the locals can't handle the weather. But it makes me feel less out of my element and less of a wimp.

I have now gone through two days without my shirt showing rather unbecoming sweat marks on my back. I have to feel quite pleased with myself.
Posted by Jane at 15:58 0 comments
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