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Apr 30th, 2014 Comments: 3

Flashing in the shower

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For details of the places I visited in Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, with GPS Coordinates, see my book Vietnam Caves.

For details on motorbiking in Vietnam and Cambodia, from buying and selling a motorbike, to border crossing, see my book Motorbiking Cambodia & Vietnam.

So, I am taking a nice warm shower. Now in Vietnam (and Cambodia), they do not have warm water geysers. They have units that warm the water on the spot. A far better and cost effective way, plus you can adjust the temperature until it is just right.

Anyway, as I am showering, I hear this tzzzzz sound. I look up at the water heater, and see flashes coming from behind the unit. Wires arcing, electric shock, get out! Goes though my mind. As I will my tired body to get out of the warm shower without slipping, more tttzzzzz sounds and flashes come from above.
As I finally make it out if the shower (like in 1 million’s of a second) I see the power switch on the wall and hit it to off.

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Immediate the tttzzzzz sound and the flashes stop, so I step into the shower to get a towel. Just as I reach for the towel, TTTTZZZZZ. I jump out, and take stock of the situation.

It is then that I hear the familiar sound I have heard so many times as I helped my dad on the farm. And when I build my own roadside shop.

I fling the bedroom window open, and there he is, a guy welding outside.

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His welding flashes, reflected off the tinted glass of the open bathroom window, and showed on the opposite wall, above the water heater.

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What a relieve, okay, back to showering.

Comments

( 3 )
  1. MarkD60 Apr 30th, 2014 17:43

    That is quite the funny story!
    We have a tankless water that works the same way. Geckos sometimes go inside it and short thier bodies across the main power. (220 VAC). Nothing beats the smell of fried gecko!

    • Author Anton Swanepoel (Admin) Apr 30th, 2014 22:34

      Roasted Gecko while you shower. 🙂 I had a problem in Cayman that they would climb into the air conditioner. It has a drum with blades as a fan, and sometimes the Gecko would come out in pieces.

  2. Tino May 1st, 2014 21:54

    Well… Last live-aboard i was on in Egypt almost had me elektrocuted while P-ing due to some “creative” electric work in the bathroom…. So better be safe than sorry!

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