Riding home from work today on my bike I decided that a little sunshine would be nice about now. Too many wet evenings for my liking. We have seen some rays of sun over the last couple of days, leading me to become all optimistic like Paul McCartney singing "It's Getting Better All The Time", but then the skies darken and I become John Lennon muttering "Couldn't Get Much Worse". Well, it COULD get worse, I mean, the winds are pretty light - though there was some heavy surf over the weekend and the Phuket Gazette reported a couple of people drowned off the beaches, it's mostly just a bit of rain, but things are a bit grey and depressing right now!

I didn't take any photos the last few days. Just imagine a dark grey sky and a feeling of damp. Can't last much longer. The dive season is up and running, and offshore the conditions are better. The rain tends to hang around the mainland and you can actually have a nice day out at sea.

The Windguru forecast looks better later in the week, but maybe getting windier and wetter again earlier next week. The latest satellite picture shows less cloud around. We shall see... I want to have a days diving this week, so please be sunny!

Just a few more days of this, surely... Today has been as wet as any day this week, and I saw minor flooding here and there (nothing serious, well more like large puddles really). The kind of day when you have plans for the beach, for driving up mountains, for a relaxing time by the pool maybe, but what do you get? Rain, rain and more rain. It has not stopped all day. So, naturally, we have been to Central Festival Mall, where we have eaten and done shopping and found some new shoes for my daughters rapidly growing feet.

Then we stopped home for a few minutes to drop off the shopping and found buffalo wandering around our village. There is a lot of green land around Kathu and a fair number of buffalo who we see from time to time here and there.



Our garden certainly looks very green. It starts to get out of control in this weather. We have orchids, palm trees, a coconut tree, papaya tree (a baby, no papayas yet), and much more! Things are very green at this time of year as the last of the rains fall.



As the sun starts to fall, the hills to the west are dark and grey. One gets the feeling that Sunday will see little in the way of sun.

Just flicking through the weather reports on the web - there was a landslide in Patong in the early hours of Friday morning - see report in the Phuket Gazette.

Meanwhile the Thai Meteorological Department issued this warning today : "A low pressure cell covers southern Thailand and the Gulf of Thailand. Abundant rain and heavy falls are likely in the area. People in the risky area of Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, Surat Thani, Phangnga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun provinces beware of flooding conditions. In addition, the moderate wind in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf with wave 2-3 meters. All ships should proceed with caution."

Yesterday was really, really wet in Phuket. Didn't really stop raining all day and there was some minor flooding in parts of the island. Today (Thursday) is much brighter and (almost) sunny, but the brown water at the beach gives away the amount of rain that has fallen recently.

The Phuket Gazette said "Heavy rains today has caused flooding and traffic jams in some areas, but thus far there have been no reports of landslides or serious damage.

A two-hour downpour starting about 10 am left Phra Phuket Kaew Rd near the Tesco-Lotus intersection under about half a meter of water, resulting in a tailback all the way to Kathu. Other parts of the intersection remained passable."

See Photo below from the Phuket Gazette:



Wiwat Intarapanich, Chief of Weather Forecasting at the Meteorological Department office near the airport, told the Gazette that rainfall this wet season has exceeded those in 2005 and 2006.... So at least nobody will be complaining of water shortages this high season! I must take a look at Bang Wad Reservoir and see how full it is.

And we had it lucky! The east coast is worse, with flooding in Surat Thani, Chumphon and Koh Samui being reported in the Bangkok Post. The Post reports that "Beachfront roads at Chawang Beach and nearby commercial areas have been submerged under one metre of water".

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.

Too wet to go out
And too cold to play ball.
So we sat in the house.
We did nothing at all.

I read a bit of The Cat in The Hat to my daughter yesterday :)

Well, yesterday was hazy, but today has turned out very wet indeed. There is a low pressure sytem ove SE Asia and it seems to be blotting out most of Thailand. As I write this (3:30pm) the rain is hammering down here at Karon Beach and I wouldn't be surprised to see some minor flooding here and there. It's also very dark. There is a weather waring in place for the east coast of Thailand, but not for here. Sea is not rough and we had divers out today who got no rain until they got back to Phuket.

The Thai Meteorological Department 7 day forecast is for "Widespread rain and isolated heavy rainfall".

Well, the vegetarian festival is all over (see Phuket Vegetarian Festival Photos) and the festival was mostly lucky with the weather. Only on Thursday night - I had thought of watching the "fire walking" at Sam Kong shrine, but the rain hammered down for an hour or so.

The weather right now is typical for the time of year in Phuket - the South West monsoon winds have stopped, but the North East winds have not picked up yet. Divers have reported flat calm seas, great conditions for scuba diving in Phuket and the Similan Islands.

There will be the occasional strong gusts. We went to Paradise Beach on Saturday for some food and beers and a play in the sea. In the late afternoon, the wind suddenly picked up and clouds appeared over the hills, threatening rain which never really came.

High season is certainly just about here. I can tell because I have been rushed off my feet the last few days in the dive shop! We can expect typical high season weather to take over soon - cool, clear mornings, hot days and balmy evenings. Today was very hazy and looks like rain on the way tonight.

Photos below showing Karon Beach and todays hazy weather...





• Hazy Weather - Article in the Phuket Gazette

This morning was a carbon copy of yesterday - clear sky, cool air (well, cool for here, so around 25°C), and a procession in Phuket Town for the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. This one actually started from Kathu Shrine, some 7km outside the town. Nice weather for a walk. I dashed around taking photos. The processions are a real buzz - see Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2007 Photos.





Around lunchtime, just like yesterday we had heavy rain for 1 hour and then the sunshine returned. Last Day of the vegetarian festival tomorrow, so I am planning a roast dinner at the Green Man Pub for Saturday :)

The Phuket Vegetarian Festival has been going on all week with street processions every morning in Phuket Town. I finally dragged myself out of bed early this morning to see the procession from Jui Tui shrine. Weather was hot and sunny, even at 7:30am. I took a LOT of photos which you can find on Jamie's Phuket - see Phuket Vegetarian Festival Photos. Some of them are quite graphic. I hope to be out tomorrow morning too and then spend some time sorting out photos.

The weather is settling into high season, with this time of year often being very calm and with clear blue skies in the mornings and some rain at lunchtime or in the afternoon. It's been that way this week - had some rain Sunday night, also Monday night and again today around lunchtime. But seas are calm, great conditions for diving and boat trips. The beaches are now swimmable again as the South West Monsoon disappears. It's HIGH SEASON!

Still some rain to come. The SouthWest monsoon has not given up completely yet. Winds are light, but we have had a bit of isolated heavy rain over the last few days.

Thursday last week (11th) was a sunny day with clear skies in the evening - the vegetarian festival started (Read more here: Phuket Vegetarian Festival Begins) and we took a walk to get some food in Kathu Village near our house.



Friday, by contrast, started grey and wet and continued that way all morning, only getting bright in the afternoon. Saturday was very similar - a wet start, but we were able to enjoy the afternoon at the pool with the kids. While we were enjoying the pool, I see from the news that flash floods may have killed several tourists in Khao Sok - see Bangkok Post.



The Windguru site shows the changing seasons very well. You can tell by the wind direction that things are a little mixed up right now. The wind forecast for today looks like this (from 07:00 - 14:00)



This morning was very bright, the beach at Karon is looking calm, might be OK for a beach dive later this week. I stopped on the way to Karon at Wat Ladthiwanaram, near Chalong - One of many smaller local temples in Phuket and certainly worth 15 minutes of your time of you happen to be passing...

Looks like High Season is here now. A little earlier than normal, though I was rather hoping for last week to be sunny for my holidays. Of course, wouldn't you know it, as soon as I get back to work, sunny skies, blue skies, no rain, perfect weather. The best day of my week off was Sunday - finally! A lovely day to go out. We took the kids and met some friends at Phuket Zoo. It's very cheap for us locals to get in, so we go often. We watched the monkey show and the crocodile show and fed the fish in a little garden. Weather was warm but with a breeze blowing - on a really hot day the zoo can be sweltering. ##Update 2013 - we don't recommend the zoo anymore.



Then we went to the pool at Land and Houses Park, which had a special reopening day - free food and free entry. Great! Well, the beer wasn't free, but the pool there is very nice, great for the kids and great for adults to relax with a drink and enjoy watching their kids have fun.



The last 3 days - back at work and busy. And of course the sun is out, the weather is great. Mother Nature you sly dog. Karon Beach started looking busy again this week and teams of workers were cleaning up ready for high season. Dive trips to the Similan Islands have started, the weather forecast is good, and everyone in Phuket is hoping for a good high season.



The Phuket Vegetarian Festival is due to start on the 11th, well actually on the night of the 10th. From the 11th to the 19th, I will try my best to eat the Jae food (vegetarian) and refrain from intoxicating substances. Hope to get out and take lots of photos which will appear on My Phuket Blog...

I had rather hoped for some sunny days this week, but it seems the "rainy season" is hanging on by its fingernails and refuses to give up. This morning (Saturday) has started with rain and grey skies. The last couple of days have been like this... but there is hope. The winds are light and the WindGuru forecast suggests the winds are starting to switch to the North East, a sure sign of the coming high season - by next week things could look a whole lot better.

Yesterday we tried to get out and about. Weather was mostly agreeable. We drove round the North of Phuket, I wanted to try and find Manik Waterfall, but will have to try again. We found a small cascade up a very narrow steep road with great views, but I don't think this was the right place. We tried another road which led to Manik Temple and then led us round in a big circle through open land. There is a lot of very lush scenery in this area of Phuket. This area is between Surin Beach and the Heroines Monument. Another temple (Cherng Talay) is nearby.

Normally we avoid the touristy side of Phuket, which is obvious from the majority of articles on my Phuket Blog (see Jamie's Phuket). We live here, we are not tourists! I guess as time goes by we might try a few more of the "tourist attractions". Yesterday, with the sun high in the sky, light winds and the beaches looking calmer than of late, we took the kids to the Dino Park Mini Golf in Kata. Actually they had been before with my wife and my mother when she was here in February.

Anyway it was a hot day. The Mini Golf is very lush and green and very humid! We all got rather sweaty and dashed round the corner to the nearest 7-11 for drinks right after completing the 18 holes of dinosaurs and caves.



Today started sunny, but our son was sick last night (probably as a result of the rapid change in weather - I have a chesty cough too) so plans for a full day out were abandoned. Mid afternoon it suddenly clouded over and the rain fell in sheets for a few minutes.

I think we could use a little sun tomorrow. I am on holiday! Hey! Mother Nature! Sort it out! Well, half of today was taken up with working on emails, waiting for the men from Home Pro to come with our new furniture and assemble it, cleaning up after them and rearranging the entire contents of several wardrobes and cupboards. Hanging around at home didn't really matter since it was raining most of the time.

In order to ease rain soaked depression, one can turn to Robert Frost...

My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane.

Later we ventured out for a little drive around the Kathu area.



(above) Chinese shrine in Kathu Village - a predominantly Chinese-Thai community and an important center for the upcoming Vegetarian Festival (11 - 19 October)



(above) Just 2km from Kathu Village is Loch Palm Golf Club. I don't play golf, but Phuket is full of golf courses (see Golf in Phuket).



(above) Along the back road between Loch Palm and the British International School (a very nice scenic road) is the new Kathu Mining Museum, due to open in December, though I asked somebody there and they said "next year". Tin Mining was very important in the history of Phuket and I hope the museum will be worth the 50 million Baht spent on it. Website : www.kathutin.com

The wind has died down this evening, PLEASE be sunny tomorrow, I want to take my kids to the beach.

Sometimes you just gotta hate the weather! I'm on holiday, but the rain Gods don't seem to care. The last 2 days have been mostly wet and on Sunday in particular, most of the people of Phuket responded to the weather by partaking in a tradition as old as the stars...shopping. We joined them. As the rain pounded on the rooftops, we strolled around Index and HomePro looking for some shelves and cupboards. Sorry kids, a bit dull for you.

We promised swimming pools and beaches for Monday - oh dear, rain again. So, another good day to "get jobs done". We have invested 10,990 Baht (plus it will be 790 Baht per month) in a wireless internet set up from the C.A.T. Works very well. Finally! A decent internet connection!

Monday evening - skies are still cloudy and grey...but you know - when skies are cloudy and grey, they're only grey for a day. So wrap your troubles in dreams and dream your troubles away.

Here's a lotus flower in our garden to cheer up anyone under grey skies...