Tropical Depressions

Vietnam is in the path of the latest round of typhoons or tropical depressions that are devastating The Phillipines, crossing the East Seas, (formally known in Vietnam as the Sth China sea) before moving inland to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
Wednesday evening we battened down the hatches and experienced very heavy rain, although there was no wind what so ever. During the early part of the week we had experienced heavy rain, however this weather pattern delivered extremely heavy rain. The torrential rain caused severe flooding through the city, with the streets knee deep in water, sewerage and rubbish. Teachers coming to school had to get off and push their motorbikes through the racing torrents of debris. SUV's ploughed through, sending cascading waves out and into the route of oncoming motorists, houses and shops. Of course the network of rivers, channels and other waterways that Ho Chi Minh is built around, over and beside were overflowing.  I travel to and from work by bus with our driver very ably delivering us to school. By Thursday afternoon the rain had stopped, the road was dry and the sodden mess very viewable and extremely odor-ess. Tonight we have been warned another typhoon is fast approaching.

I live on the 6th floor of my apartment building, so consider I may well be above water level. I notice on my balcony are  huge flakes of paint, chips of bricks, and lumps of plaster and concrete, no doubt off my building surround. This is a worry especially when you see the rapid rate with which buildings are constructed and the construction of some of these buildings  Concrete  on the floors and subsequent floors never ages. 24 hours and the next layer is being poured. The other concern is the health risk of walking in the puddles or wading through the water. One can only surmise on the risk of hepatitis for the population walking, wading through contaminated water or having that pass through the bottom floor of your house.

In the last 4 weeks we have already had 2 typhoons make landfall in Vietnam and tonight may well be number 3. However the people here appear to be very robust. They take precautions by moving bikes and belongings to higher ground,  and they continue their daily lives. Everyone fronts up to work, all be it somewhat late. The children walk or cycle to school.  They bring a change of clothes, they walk their bikes so they don't ride into any underwater obstacles, they walk their bikes so they don't stall in the water. They catch the local buses. It really doesn't take long before the sun shines again, and so do the personalities of the local people

The expats on the other hand, especially from other Asian countries...... Those wrapped in cotton wool, stay home.