Tag: Rainy Season

  • Notes on Yangon (which is also Rangoon)

    Notes on Yangon (which is also Rangoon)

    1. Burmese script initially reminded me of the patterns woodbugs make when tunnelling into a two-by-four, then I decided it looked like binary code without the 1s, as seen through a wonky dot matrix printer, and now I’ve finally reconciled myself to the idea that it’s really just a series of counterfeiters’ adaptations of the…

  • Compare and Contrast

    I’ve been stupidly busy this week, between finishing up my year’s marking (done!), trying to find brand new, unmarked, unfolded American dollars for our trip to Myanmar on Friday (the junta is fussy about money and they don’t have ATM machines or take credit cards anywhere), and trying to assemble a first aid kit in…

  • (101 Things About Shanghai) Plum Rains

    (101 Things About Shanghai) Plum Rains

    Last night around 10, my immune system decided it felt like inviting a cold around for a visit. Just as I was readying myself for what ought to have been a full night’s sleep, my nose went awry and my eyeballs hummed. This alone would have been fine, except that when I finally dozed off…

  • (101 Things about Shanghai) Umbrellas

      Shanghai has about three distinct rainy seasons: the freezing, bitterly sharp and spiky winter rains; the lackadaisical early spring rains which come and go and often leave you without an umbrella because the blue skies had misled you; the sweltering and humid summer rains, which are heavy and drenching, like a bucket poured over…