Supermoon

Five American cousins are in town, visiting from Beijing, where they’ve been living six months and where the temperature hasn’t been above sweater weather the entire time. Before they arrived, we had corresponded about their visit to Thailand, particularly about what to pack. I advised bringing only short sleeves, flip-flops, the minimum. March is traditionally one of the hottest, driest months of the year here, so no need for jackets or umbrellas.

You’ve already guessed that I’m now backpedaling wildly, trying to explain Southeast Asia’s weird cold and wet streak. The least lame of the many lame excuses I’ve come up with is the SUPERMOON! Maybe you also read about this last Saturday, when the full moon cozied up about as close as it ever gets to the Earth, leading naturally to all kinds of predictions of weirdness to come.

Sure enough, two days ago here a quick but drenching downpour flooded Bangkok in record time, making everyone I know at least two hours late to work. Last night an earthquake in upper Myanmar led the bosses at work to activate the call tree to make sure everyone was OK. We’re all wondering what today will bring.

No need to worry about the cousins. They pretty much ignored my packing suggestions. Not that we didn’t believe you, they said. Bodies that are used to wearing fleece just need a little confirmation before they make the big leap to the tank top, and vice versa.