41C in #Hanoi today. Heat index pushing 50C. Many vacated the city for the seaside and higher elevations. Those who remain have abandoned the streets. I wish I could get out and enjoy the spookiness of it being so empty, but it is dangerously hot out there.
I went out for #gin and ice. It required a pair of ten minute motorbike trips and they hurt. It is in moments like this when I am thankful Hanoi doesn't have near the frequency of power outages it once had. People would die from one today.
@conradcole I don't think I've ever been in that kind of heat before. Not sure what I would do.
@SlowRain If you're much like the rest of Hanoi's expats, then you'd stay inside and moan about it on the Internet.
The search for new ways to express just how hot it is has become a full time gig.
@conradcole I don't mind the summers in #Taiwan, but 41°C is basement & beer weather. Problem is, I don't have a basement. So, ya, probably stay at home with the a/c on full blast. (Our electricity bill in the summer is crazy expensive.)
Mountain tops may be the best option, but not many ESL jobs there. 😞
@SlowRain I hunkered down with #gin and fans in an air conditioned room and was still sweating. Vietnamese houses aren't renowned for their insulation. I'd curse the air con, open the door to blast furnace, and immediately scurry back inside apologizing to that noisy, aging appliance in the wall keeping me alive.
Some cooler air is supposed to roll in tonight around midnight. Expecting massive thuderstorms if so.
@SlowRain It didn't rain (yet) but was a blustery 36C today. Never enjoyed 36C so much.
@conradcole Yeah, Hell would be a walk in the park after 41C.
@SlowRain What a week. Heat topped out at 42.5C. Fires. Floods. Uprooted trees. Glad I got put after that 41C day.
Biblical.
@conradcole That's scary. Any damage near you?
@SlowRain It looks like some trees came down in neighborhoods I routinely drive through, but hard to say if the area right around my apartment got much of it. I left when the heat got crazy and drove to the coast hoping to hit it as all the weekend travelers were going back to the city. I haven't been back yet.
I'm sure many Hanoians scoffed at the idea of a #Hanoi forest fire. There are no forests in Hanoi. That is 30km away, but was officially annexed a few years back for money reasons.
@conradcole #Taichung is like that now. The city & county amalgamated a few years ago, so, technically, there are forests & mountains in Taichung "City".
So far, we're having a cooler than average spring. Hopefully, you get some semblance of normality.
@conradcole Let it rain. Oh, let it rain.