Heavy rain in Saigon

Right now it’s raining as some would call it… like cats and dogs. This is the heaviest rain I have seen since I have been here. Very loud thunders follow by lightings.

When I was in Tra Vinh last night, my uncle echo optimism for this season of rice growing. Previous years, he said, due to not enough or irregular rain fall many have suffered lost. I heard a lot of people (including one of my uncles’) are abandoning rice farming altogether and leave their land empty heading to the city to work instead.

I was explained to why this is this case. First, they are either don’t have enough land to grow rice to the scale that’s profitable due to the cycle of land divisions among the children. Second, there isn’t enough labourer to do the work as majority of working adults (age 14+) go to the city to work, nobody is willing to stay and work in the farm for much less wage then it is paid in the city.

Right now the power is out at my office. The UPS will keep me online for another few minutes. I think this is due to the lightning strike. The power can go out any time here. Some day there is no power at all. Having a generator is way too expensive. Companies rather let their workers go home for a whole day because less costly than having a generator. I’m going home…