Water World

Noon

4 p.m.

Evening

Tropical Storm 11W DIANMU continues to slide to the west parallel to the southern coast of China. The system will make landfall over northern Vietnam later tonight, bringing heavy rainfall, gusty winds, and a risk of flooding and landslides, especially in the higher terrain of northern Vietnam and southern China. The remainder of the region will also see widespread unsettled weather, as deep tropical moisture gets a lift from the very warm afternoon sun.

Tropical Storm/Tropical depression 11W DIANMU is maintaining strength as it traverses the Gulf of Tonkin, with the coast of northern Vietnam in its sights. The system should make landfall later tonight, bringing typical tropical weather hazards to the region.

The heat spreads across parts of central and eastern China as a weak frontal boundary stalls out to the north. The warm air is piling on as it butts up against a fairly strong shot of cool air that has brought autumn temperatures to Mongolia, northern China. Dangerous heat indices will once again be in place across interior central China, peaking near 44C (111F), as the heat and humidity combine for an oppressive afternoon. The frontal system will bring some scattered showers, and some scattered thundershowers, along a line from Mongolia, eastward to Japan.

It has been a fickle day in Hanoi. At 11:15 a.m. I felt the first sprinkles of rain. Gradually the heavens broke forth and I ducked from awning to awning trying to find a better garment than the gossamer plastic shroud that clung to my skin, wrapping me in my own sauna. Using sign language and broken English I managed to learn from a little girl in a shop where I might find better rain gear. And finally a man at another shop used a word we both understood: "Raincoat." It wasn't really a rain coat, it was a plastic tarp with snaps. They have all kinds in Hanoi. For example, the Madonna and Child version shown below: (Yes, it's a single garment.)

With my gossamer rain fabric stuffed and protected by my new raincoat, I sloshed my way back to the May de Ville Legend, stripped off the wet clothes and napped. Then I pulled back the curtain at 4 p.m. and saw nothing but sun. I went to dinner, came back, edited some photos and fell asleep. When I awoke, I heard thunder, walked down stairs, and found this at the doorway to the hotel:

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. It turns out that my Flip camera, made obsolete by cell phones that take photos, sometimes produces much sharper night shots. The picture of the smiling lady materializing like Botticelli's Venus from the inlet that used to be our alley, was shot with a Flip. The other alley shots were taken with my Verizon LG Droid. Bring back the Flip!

The preferred footwear

By the way, allow me to recommend what to bring with you to Hanoi during monsoon season:

Yes, that is a Croc shoe. It doesn't retain water, and it's nice and cushy for those days when you have to stick your precious feet into murky water without knowing quite what's at the bottom -- nails, broken glass? These were worn by a Korean guest of the May de Ville Legend.

But wait--there's more!

This is how our alley looked at 1 a.m. Who'da thot?

The flood had covered the first black step only a couple hours earlier.

All right, there's more photos to share, and you being intelligent readers, you won't need comment or captions for some of them. They kind of speak for themselves. Here they are:

Is the little girl excited about her new bike? Will it get home in one piece?

Is this overhead wiring some sort of street art metaphor for Hanoi traffic?

The nine bottles he is strapping to his bike weigh 40 pounds each.

Are these mannequins intentionally Caucasian to help tourists buy for their grandchildren?

A merchant's eye view of the street from beneath the very essential awnings.

And here's  photo of me in the early afternoon. I could't find my sweat band, so I used the belt from the bathroom provided by the May de Ville. Kind of fashionable, doncha think?



Love,

Robert, and Jean Baptiste