A Perfect Storm

I hadnt planned on writing a blog tonight, but after what I have witnessed in the last half an hour I feel I have to write it down before I have forgotten how incredible it was.

I was sitting eating my dinner in our little kitchen, having a chat with my housemate, when we were all shook (house and all) by a fairly sizeable clap of thunder. Thunder in this part of the world is not unusual, and we both had an idea this was on its way, as in Thailand you can feel the humidity build over a number of hours before a rain storm. But this was something we could never have imagined.

We decided to head up to balcony on our second story to see if there was any lightening, and what we were greeted with can only be described as a magnificent display of the sheer force of nature. The rain started light as it usually is this time of year, but suddenly the heavens opened and we were being completely lashed on, the little roof above the balcony providing little shelter from what can only be described at torrents of water. But we simply couldnt care, as the lightening that was filling the black sky in front and over us with the most magnificent light was something we couldnt take our eyes off. It started off as sheet lightening, but we soon saw that as the storm moved across the sky that it was in fact fork lightening just hidden behind the clouds. Accompanied by rolls of thunder that you could feel through the soles of your feet as it rattled the ground you stood on, the lightening lit up the entire sky, so bright and clear you could see colours such as pink and yellow in the light. The flashes of light gave us momentary picture-like images of the drops of rain that fell from the roof over us, with a backdrop of the tall coconut and mango trees in the fields at the back of our house.

All I kept thinking was how perfect it seemed. The air was light and clear, the rain was slightly warm and refreshing, and there were no buildings or anything of human making between us and the show of light in the sky. And as quickly as it arrived, it was over. The clouds quietly rolled on over us, leaving behind the clearest sky filled with stars and a nearly full illuminating moon. Everything has now resumed to its usual peaceful self, with only a cool breeze and damp grass as a sign that anything out of the ordinary occurred.  It was, without a doubt, one of the greatest things I have ever witnessed.