THE RAINS CAME

 To a rubber planter rain is money or lack of it. Like most farmers there are only 2 types of rain, too little or too much. To an Australian, even from the wetter state of Victoria, there is not enough rain. Here it is a different story.
      Thai new year, Song Kran, around mid April saw the first of the seasons rain. It was a good sign, the trees sprang to life and the rubber flowed. It rained most days for a few hours, not heavy, but good soaking rain, the trees loved it and out put rose. Rubber tappers bought new motorbikes and paid back money borrowed in the dry season. We paid back our fertilizer bill and started some more house improvements. A new front veranda and air conditioning for the kids bedroom. There was even hope of a new Chinese copy Harley for me. Alas this was not to happen.
     

      By August the rains became longer and tapping dropped off. You can not tap rubber in the rain. More and more  tapping days were lost and less and less money was made, but tapping continued. The tappers would tap and at the first sign of rain would run around collecting the latex.
      The start of September brought the monsoon rains. These are not wet days, but a down pour that stops you driving a car, the sound of thunder and the driving rain on the roof is constant. We have not tapped a tree in 11 days. You can not go out or you may not get back, as bridges and roads turn into rivers.
      Last years a tapper and his family ventured out to the plantation, in the hope they could do some tapping. Luckily for them , his mobile phone worked. We received a call. they were stuck in the workers stilt hut, surounded by water. They had no food or drinking water and a rescue mission had to be mounted. they had a one year old baby with them.


      To the Thais out here, this is a yearly occurrence, they know no other way. In our house the Mother, Father in-law, 2 brothers, their wives and children and 3 of the tappers whose family are not local, settle in. We are lucky as the house is a fair size and we have ducks, chickens and fish. Much food will be prepared and everyone will eat, talk and sleep. The men will drink some. Eating and talking will fill 10 hours of the day, sleeping the rest. That is not to say they eat and talk for 10 hours, no they will eat talk for a few hours, go to sleep for a few hours, then start again.
      For a soft white man this is a time that can drive you from a few beers at night into the bottle of whiskey a day. As I write this, I am sipping whiskey and drinking beer. You are stuck, for much of the time with nothing to do and no where to go, often without electricity. No matter how good your Thai or Lao is, you  can not have a conversation about world events etc  and mine is not good. There you are listening to the rain and thunder, day in day out, lost in your own thoughts.
      The brother in-law said one day. You are like a Buddha monk with beer, you can just sit and watch the rain fall on the jungle. Little did he know, that if it wasn't for the mind numbing effect of the booze, I would probably be standing out side screaming at the sky, STOP THE RAIN.