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