It Was A Dark And Stormy Night...

Don Muang Airport (lit runways upper left) from the Asia Airport Hotel

Yesterday was the 4th of July - a day of picnics, over-indulgence and fireworks in the USA. The flashes in the sky reminded me of sitting in my room near the old Don Muang airport in Bangkok one night a few years ago. It had been a humid afternoon and evening - perfect for staying inside the mall attached to the Asia Airport Hotel and watching the rain farther away over the high rises of downtown in the distance.

I was already packed; that had been taken care of before I left my room in Silom hours before. Now all I had to do was relax and sleep before rising to catch a cab to the airport sometime shortly before dawn.

The sky overhead had been decorated with towering thunder clouds most of the afternoon, becoming a solid mass by dinnertime. Now near 9:00 the first flash of lightning lit the sky nearby, followed closely by a sharp crack of thunder I could feel in my fingertips as they touched the large window overlooking the wide area below, stretching off past the tollway. The traffic to and from "downtown" continued unabated, and I sat at the window and watched the light show for an hour or so before turning in for the night.