Category Archives: Weather

Bangkok Rains & Onam

May to September is the season when it rains in Bangkok. I love the rains. Reduces my stress levels so much. I love it so much, can’t stop gushing about it.

Bangkok Rains

The best part about rains here are the fact that 99% of the times, it happens at convenient times. It almost never rains

  1. 7:00 to 08:00 – When it’s time to go to school and office
  2. 12:00 to 13:00 – When it’s time to go for lunch
  3. 16:30 to 17:30 – When it’s time to go back home from office

Last year I remember getting stuck at office without transportation only a couple of times. This time, luckily it has happened only once, and I just walked home with an umbrella.

This is also the time to celebrate Onam. Looking around on Facebook, I found a restaurant (Jhol) which was serving Onam Sadya. We ordered some to eat home and it was so delicious, I still cannot believe it.

Onam Sadya
Onam Sadya

The quality of the food was incredible and the taste was amazing. There were total 32 dishes and even though the quantity was much more than I could normally eat, the taste more than made up for it.

Onam Sadya at Jhol
Onam Sadya at Jhol

First Rain of the Season

In Bangkok, it stops raining around September. October-February are completely dry months. That is why, it gave us immense joy when we experienced today, the first rain of the season.

First Rain of the Season

Although the rains do pose some inconveniences when it comes to commuting or walking the dog, overall, I have missed them.

These are the songs I listen to, when it rains

But where is the dog supposed to poop now?

Rains in Gurgaon

I love rains, and have written about it many times before. My favourite type of rain is one which goes on for hours & it makes me nostalgic & pensive. Unfortunately, in Gurgaon, such rain is rare; it almost never rains for more than an hour at stretch. (Which is good in a sense, because of the waterlogging that follows soon).

Rains

I love the sound of rain the background and I love how the rain drops stick to the windows.

Rains in Gurgaon
Rain Drops on Windows

Don’t you love the sight of raindrops clinging to leaves?

Even the Air Quality has improved drastically.

Air Quality

Unfortunately, the rain has already stopped by the time I finished writing this post and soon, it will be hot and humid.

Fog, what amazing fog!

I remember ranting about fog last year, around the same time of the year. Well, this year, the weather was clear till yesterday. Tonight however, was a different situation altogether. When I left office at 4 in the morning, it was one of the worst fogs I had ever seen. I could hardly see anything and couldn’t cross a speed of 20kmph. My only guides were the white markings in the middle of the road which I tried to focus on as I drove my car. Had to use a low beam as with a high beam the headlights reflected straight off the fog and blinded me.

Anyways it took me almost half an hour to get home, which is hardly 4km away. When I did reach and parked my car, it was an eerie sight. There were no street lights, and there was a power cut so there were no lights from nearby houses, but it was surprisingly brighter than usual. It was a full moon and that had a very strange and eerie effect. Everything around me was brightly bathed in moonlight, but even then there seemed to be no single source of the light and i could not even see the moon. The light seemed to be diffused through the fog and emanating from the fog itself. I spent atleast 5 minutes on the streets, mesmerised by the sight before the cold started to get to me and I went home. This reminded me of a scene from the story of the hound of baskervilles, where Sherlock Holmes and Watson lie waiting for the hound in the moorlands of dartmoor. As they say, really eerie.

Thrill!

Yesterday I discovered a new kind of thrill. I had just left office and was on my way home when it started raining. Not just a drizzle but a heavy downpour. Too lazy to go back or take shelter somewhere, I decided to go on. Upon reaching the long flyover on my way home, I decided to go really fast. So I twisted the throttle of my bike open and raced ahead. The thrill and excitement I experienced was beyond comparison. As the bike gained speed, the wet clothes suddenly stuck to my skin and it was a feeling as if someone had just sunk me in freezing water. Heartbeat increased fast as I went faster still. One reason I had never experienced this before was that I never used to wear a helmet before and it’s impossible to go at even moderate speeds in the rain as the rain drops try to kill my eyes. It was almost invisible up ahead as the helmet visor was completely wet. Add to that the headlights on high beams from oncoming vehicles. Above a speed of 100 kmph, the rain drops started to sting any exposed bit of skin(the throat and chest) like needles. Anyways, after driving like mad and thanking my stars that the cops did not see me, I stopped at the traffic signal ahead of me. There I noticed that everyone was staring at me. The reason being that the raindrops falling on the hot engine had made a cloud of vapor which had surrounded my bike. It was a sight worth seeing and a feeling worth experiencing.

How I was swept away

It’s 4.30 and there’s still one hour to gym. But as usual getting bored, I head out towards the hostel on my bike as the weather is very good. Little did I know that it was the calm before the storm. Halfway, the wind starts blowing so fast that one second, the wind behind me, I can’t feel a thing going at 70 kmph, the other second, it’s on my face and I have a hard time keeping my eyes open. I had a hard time keeping the bike straight(that too a bullet!!!) On top of that, all the dust on the road concentrated and blew straight at my face. It was like I was slapped hard or something. Spitting dust from my mouth and shielding my eyes with my hand from the storm, somehow reached the hostel just in time before the rain pours down heavily. Half an hour into the rain, it’s mayhem. Cannot see anything out of the window. The rain drops are moving almost horizontally. Rain blew halfway up the hostel corridor and drenched half of us. After the rain, it’s a scene of devastation. People riding on cylces lying on the road, trees fallen. As we ventured out, we could see roads blocked because of fallen trees. The ICICI atm was devastated from what I heard. Anyways, I hope that the fabulous weather continues and gives us relief from the 50 degrees scorching heat.