The wet season

Late most afternoons the thunderheads roll in, everything gets quite dark, and then the rain starts falling. Very quickly the rain goes from light rain to heavy persistent vertical rain. Along with the rain there is usually thunder and lightening, quite large flashes visible right across the city. Almost as quickly as it comes the rain stops, the sun shines and the humidity rises yet again.
Life in Ho Chi Minh continues in spite of the rain. The motorcyclists don't appear to lessen in number. Instead the riders adorn very light poncho type rain covers and continue their journeys. Pedestrians carry an umbrella, so the footpaths are dotted with colourful umbrellas. The street drainage is very adapt at catering with a large body of water so quickly. Or the soil is very porous. I haven't seen any major flooding. There may be a few puddles, but of course these quickly evaporate.
The area out of the CBD into the suburbs where our huge campus is located is a relatively new area, built on a paddy field. This area is very close to the river and is known to flood. They say when the river is high and there is a torrential rain storm the water on the streets can rise to midcalf. While the streets haven't flooded, the electrical storms are fantastic to watch. There are benefits to being on the fifth floor!