Thunder bolts and lightning, very very frighting!

An unusual few days here in Chiang Mai. There has been a Hot-Air Balloon festival at the Gymkhana Club (1/2 mile down the road). We awoke on Saturday to see half a dozen balloons flying over our site. It was strange to see the BT logo floating overhead so far from home!

We had an early start because we were having a Board Meeting with the Thai Trustees and the Staff from the Dolphin Bay Juniper Tree. Before that, though, we were meeting early out on the "New Land" to dedicate the site for 2 new houses that we are starting soon.

L/R: Muriel, John, Tim, Simon,Gill, Casper, Ajaan Kapaan (pastor)
Paul,Dr Kressenai, Melanie, Joan, Liz, Khun Pythun (Builder) Joan!

The Chairman of the Trustees is Dr Kresseni, a Surgeon and University Teacher who also chairs the Covenant Foundation. It is the foundation that enables us volunteers to work here in Thailand and they have many projects. One new project, of interest to us is a school, that will aim at providing academic rigour for students who haven't access to good schools.
The meeting went on all day, but there was lots to discuss considering the size of the two Juniper Tree operations now, and the number of staff involved.
The photos show a beautiful, sunny day however, this was to change very quickly! As the fireworks started at the balloon festival that evening, lightening soon upstaged the whole show. A tropical storm swept in and torrential rain, violent winds and thunder made the most amazing noise! 
In the morning one of the gardeners took me down the land to see a very sorry sight. The winds had brought down one of our beautiful rain trees. 

As you can see, the tree fell the right way! The only damage was a small concrete chess table. One thing about Thailand is that instead of paying someone to take the tree away; someone pays for the privilege!
Our little tree was nothing to the next tree related surprise.
Just down the road is a Monastery and next to it is their Holy Tree. The wind sent this monster crashing down onto their water tower, toilet and shower block. As if that wasn't enough, it also took out a string of six or seven electricity pylons and dozens of cables. This meant all the electricity in a mile or so radius went off. The roads around us were all blocked and of course with no electric pumps; we had no water from the taps.
We spend Sunday morning running around buying buckets for water, torches and a generator to power the water pumps. One of the stranger interludes in the generator saga was when we ran out of cash for the extra plugs and wires the lady who runs the best tool shop in Chiang Mai brought round one of her many young helper's to take me to the nearest ATM! This meant getting on the back of his 

motorbike, no helmet, just sandals on my feet and clinging on as we wriggled our way through the cars on the Super Highway and then a short-cut back to the shop, going down back alleys that make a Lancashire Ginnel look like an "A" road! The weight involved was probably like this Thai rider's payload!


We were just congratulating ourselves about getting every thing sorted out, when the Electricity Board stunned everyone by getting the power back on by the end of the afternoon.

The monk's expressive gesture says it all. Another thing is that no one is bothered about stepping around the cables, branches and rubble.
Pleased to say, by the following day things were right back to normal. Bright sunshine, no wind and the only noises being the many fireworks that are starting to go off in anticipation of the festival starting tomorrow. Perhaps we will have a quieter few days for the rest of the week?