the beginning of the rainy season

Aptly enough we had our first real rain of the season on May 1st. It wasn't a brief and dainty shower but a bucketing, which shook up the earth, and sent rivers tumbling down the driveway. Thunder and lightening bounced off the hills shaking up the valley. This was a wakeup call for the sleeping termites which had been slumbering above us in Springwater Hill and in the evening swarms of them poured out into the night sky. After their long months buried under the earth during the dry season, they are desperate for the light and with a suicidal impulse, hurl themselves into any lights they can find and drop off their wings before wriggling away. Called "maleng mao" in Thai, some of them manage to find a nice piece of wood to nest in, but the majority end up as food for other creatures. That night there was a massive feast for the ants, bees, lizards, frogs, toads, birds etc that live at the resort. In Isaan where my husband comes from they rush around with frying pans to catch them and cook them up too.

Unfortunately some guests unaccustomed to the liveliness of the tropics invited them into their room by leaving the door open with the lights on. After the room was invaded by the insects they left hurriedly in the night back to the safety of their city condomonium.