Rain ... December ? ... Are We In Chiang Mai Now ...

[orang37]

Sawasdee Khrup, TV Friends,

< note : sanae : Thai word for magic; Phyanaak = Nagas : celestial Water Serpent "entities" who make rain, and for whom the Thai New Year festival, Songkraan, in April, is, in part, a ritual of propitiation by sympathetic magic. Of course Nagas are associated with rivers, and are probably very ancient animist themes now incorporated into "great tradition" Theravadan Buddhism, in which, on a more "cosmic level," as expressed in say the classic Theravadan Thai cosmogony found in the ancient manuscript the "Tribhumi," attributed to Phra Ruang, they (Nagas) loll in the cosmic oceans surrounding the seven concentric moats surrounding mount Meru, which is crowned by the Tavatimsa heaven on which Phra Buddha Jao (Lord Buddha) is, as you would expect, at the very "top." But, yes, these are the same Nagas we are talking about who put on the annual fireballs-out-of-the-Mekong show every year near Nongkhai.>

Got back from a bicycle ride from roughly the train station area out to Airport Plaza area and back, during which we felt like it was unusually hot for this month.

And, no doubt, whatsoever, that even though we we took "back roads," the pollution was tangible, bad.

And now, rain. We are trying to remember if we ever had rain in our Decembers here before.

This doesn't feel like December in Chiang Mai, and we are still having "flash backs" from last night on all the effervescently flourescent western-style Christmas decorations at the huge Christian church complex on Ratutit Soi 6 near the Gymkhana Club which, as we bicycled past, had a big brightly-lighted stage put up with "Jingle Bells" playing (in English, at high volume of course) : on that stage were many people : from our distant view from the road certainly dancing, and possibly lip-synching, or, who knows, perhaps even singing.

Are we in Chiang Mai now : is it actually still as warm as 73 degrees F (23 C) on December 19 near 9PM ?

What are the Nagas doing, and who put them up (down ?) to it ? You do know that Thais believe the most potent dark-side supernatural magic is Khmer (Cambodian) don't you ? Is this connected to the riot in the Thai bra factory in Tak ? We sense Hun Sen's presence in all this as a shadowy rippling darkness behind the scenes, but we are not afraid because we removed all mirrors from our house long ago.

Happy merry magic, ~o:37;

Edited December 19, 2009 by orang37

[RoastLamb]

I don't know much about magic, Orang, but I do know that this rain is threatening to put a dissapointing halt to my plans for a wild night on the town.

I hope it goes away soon.

[IanForbes]

Waiting for the rain to clear so I can visit my lady and the showers keep coming one after another. I might even have to put on a raincoat! I can have this back home on Vancouver Island. Of course the temperature would be 3 degrees instead of 15 degrees.

[RoastLamb]

Surely there can be no more. Tomorrow should be a nice and clear day for a ride in the mountains.

[IanForbes]

We must be here in Camelot...

They say it never rains till after sunset.

A 8 AM the morning fog must disappear.

In deed there's surely not

A more congenial spot

for happy ever aftering

Than here, in, Cam-e-lot.

[ChouDoufu]

more rain forecast for tomorrow....

We dine well here in Camelot.

We eat ham and jam and spam a lot.

[BlueSmurf]

Be grateful for the rain it may stop the burning of the fields! we nead the rain here in Chiang rai as its so dry and dusty and the burniong has started...The river KOk is as low as it normally is in March! Not good news and yes its too warm here.It should be as low as 6 to 12 degrees here in the early morning but it was 20 today..Global warming! Maybe its too late for us already..

[jackr]

We are trying to remember if we ever had rain in our Decembers here before.

It rained on Boxing Day last year.

[anonymouse]

We are trying to remember if we ever had rain in our Decembers here before.

It rained on Boxing Day last year.

That's right it bucketed down all day, I was pleased as me and the kids had the day to ourselves without the wifes family arriving and ruining my

festive spirit

[Ricardo]

IME it is normal to expect a little cloud, and the occasional short shower, roughly between Christmas and the New Year. I guess Christmas came early this year ?

Here near Mae-Jo we had an hour's heavy-rain on Friday night, and a short-ish shower on Saturday late-evening, should do wonders for the garden. Oh arrghhh ... us be peasants, we be !

By the way, Orang97, do you ride a single or a tandem, with your multiple-personality ?

[newbie001]

It isn't uncommon to rain in December a few times. There have been a few years where the rains were so bad in December that it flooded around the Ping. About 6 or so years ago the underpass at Mahidol and the ping was over 4 feet deep.

I for one am always grateful for when it rains. The ground water levels are usually so low, but with a little rain it helps some. But even a few nights of downpours the ground water levels are still really low right now. Not important for those with city water but if you own your own well, they can go dry if they weren't dug deep enough.

[IanForbes]

It has been dry in Chiang Mai city area. The little stream coming off Doi Suthep mountain is as low as it was last March. But, the rivers in the Mae Sariang area are still fairly high and dirty.