The showery weather has continued for the last few days, but it's not the weather everyone's been talking about. On Friday, protests in Bangkok against the government unexpectedly spread south. Protesters forced the closure of Phuket airport, as well as Krabi and Hat Yai. As light showers came and went, I started a bit of "live blogging"... well, at least trying to keep up with events. My Phuket blog has had double the normal number of visitors over the last couple of days, mostly people searching for Phuket airport information.

• Phuket Airport Closed by Protests

Phuket Airport is now open again with flights resuming this afternoon. I hope not too many people have had major problems because of this. I know at least a few of our diving customers have had to change plans as they were due to leave or arrive yesterday.

The weather here in Phuket yesterday was toasty. I got a bit of sunburn... no not lazing at the beach, but working in our garden. We took early dinner at Leelawadee restaurant and half planned to take a walk afterwards, but dark clouds popped up again. The clouds then vanished by the time we got home.

Today started with a completely clear blue sky when I awoke at 7am. By 9am there was some light rain falling as I arrived in Karon beach for work. Clouds and light rain have competed with sunshine all day. Sunshine is winning. Latest satellite picture looks quite clear, forecast for light winds and isolated very light rain. Could be a very nice week for a dive!

I think all the rain around here has been diverted to the gulf of Mexico, where Hurricane Gustav has splatted the Cayman Islands and Dominica, is churning up Cuba and may well hit somewhere close to New Orleans tomorrow. I don't reckon they deserve that. Katrina was just 3 years ago.

Today's weather shows just how localised the rain can be. This morning I could see dark clouds over the hills, but there was no sign of rain where we live just a few miles away. I rode my moped to work as normal. We had some rain in Karon for an hour or so, quite heavy in fact, but nothing unusual. Later it looked menacing again so I left the office a bit early and made a dash for it. The roads into Patong were muddy. You could see where rain had washed dirt over the road from the hills. So it must have rained a lot in Patong today.

And so it did!



The Phuket Gazette reports:

Heavy rain this morning flooded Patong’s busy streets.

An officer at the Patong Municpality office of the Department for Disaster Prevention and Mitigation told the Gazette that the flooding was at its worst about midday, as the rains continued to fall and the drains had yet to deal with the deluge that had already hit the resort town.

The water was deepest along the new, unfinished road behind the Jungceylon shopping complex, where people waded waist-deep through puddles, the officer said.

Nothing close to floods in Karon beach, though I must say the drains in Patong are pretty useless when it rains hard. My wife was at home just around the time when it was raining hard in Karon and flooding in Patong. Our house is 4 miles from Patong Beach as the crow flies. There was just light drizzle on our house at that time, she says. The heavy rain can be very isolated. Who knows, maybe it was sunny in Phuket Town!

Anyway, about time it rained, August has been mostly very sunny and hot. This is supposed to be the green season when you don't need a hosepipe to water the garden. So, come on with the rain, I've a smile on my face :)

We're heading into what is statistically the wettest time of year. Nearly September which is the wettest month. There are signs (I have been talking to some old hands) that the season may change early this year. Normally you'll expect northeast winds to start sometime in October. Could we get a very early high season? Hope so... the Phuket Vegetarian Festival starts on September 28th and would be a shame if that was a washout.

Anyway, last few days have been partly cloudy, partly sunny, partly rainy. No "bad" weather, but no perfect days like we had earlier in the month. Sea is quite calm, not much wind. The forecast on Windguru looks very good for the week ahead. I am hoping for a beautiful Saturday. I think the beach beckons. We like to meet friends at Paradise Beach. Kids can play, dads can have a few beers:)

This morning was typical of the week so far. There was rain over the hills. I saw wet roads on the way to Karon Beach. I avoided the rain. There was a big rainbow in the morning. This is the view from our house...

I make comments sometimes like - "I bet you're glad you came to Phuket in the low season!" - very true if you were here during the last 2 weeks. Great weather. Damn, better than high season and bargain hotels to boot! But of course there has to be some rain unless you want to holiday in the Atacama desert. My take is this - there is more rain in low season than high season, but it will not normally stop you enjoying a trip to Phuket.

So pity my friend who I have not seen for about 10 years... in Bangkok for work but had the weekend free, so flew down to Phuket yesterday afternoon. And landed in a white out. Wet Wet Wet. Yesterday was one of the wet ones. If you come for 2 weeks, no way you'll get rain for your whole trip. If you come for 2 days, you might be unlucky.

A couple of general weather articles I have written:

• Phuket in the Low Season
• Phuket Weather Overview

So today the weather has played games with us. We managed to get some sun, picked up my friend from the Amari Coral Beach Resort in Patong (we had to walk around for 15 minutes to find her - I have never had such a good look around this hotel before.. nice!), we drove through Karon and Kata and went for lunch at Kan Eang Seafood. Still sunny, and we fed ourselves very well!


(above) View from Kan Eang Seafood


(above) My son scared by huge lobster - we did not eat him. The lobster I mean. We did not eat my son either.

BUT, as we left, clouds appeared as if from nowhere. The western sky darkened and the rain didst fall. I started on the road up to the Big Buddha, but going up there in the rain would be no fun, so we headed home. And of course an hour later it was sunny again. Weather playing games with us. We'll go out again later for some nosh, probably at the Big Chicken near our house. It is now a lovely afternoon and I am going out to drink a cold beer in the sun :)

A dive instructor said to me on Wednesday after a trip to Racha Yai island (about 20km south of Phuket) "You should have come - it was perfect, flat seas, blue skies...". Yeh, maybe. I was considering a day's diving but somehow manage to stay busy with the office, emails, fiddling and correcting little things on the new website. But for sure it was just perfect weather this week. Great for doing a PADI Open Water Diver course :)

After our quite active weekend, it's been all work this week. Bit of a blur really. But a blue blur, with nice clear skies. Today was HOT. And wouldn't you know it, we had a power cut in our area. No electricity from 10am to 2pm, trying to sit in the slight breeze coming through the door. We did have some cooling rain at last in the late afternoon, and Windguru (one of the forecasts I almost trust) reckons tomorrow might be a bit soggy too, but still looks good for the weekend. Hope so. A friend who I have not seen since, oh, about 1998 maybe, is in Phuket for the weekend. We'll be out Friday night and then a bit of a Tour de Phuket on Saturday. Where to go...? Any ideas...? I know, I'll check Jamie's Phuket for inspiration :)

The weather does not get better than this. And yes, this is low season, monsoon season, the "wet" or "rainy" season. The last 10 days have been pretty much all sun, light winds, perfect weather. The last 10 days show why I started blogging the weather. Nobody seems to believe that the weather in Phuket can be like this during the scary monsoon. Surely it's all rain and thunderstorms? Ha! The weather blog tells the truth, paints the real picture. Do you believe it now, Trinity?

Yesterday I took a ride to Kata Noi beach at lunchtime. Kata Noi is a dead end road. Drive past Kata and keep going.. over a hill, past some luxury appartments, past the Mom Tri's Villa Royale and down to the beach. Weather was hot. The sand was almost too hot to walk on! Read more about Kata Noi on Jamie's Phuket.

 

Today has been another beautiful sunny day. I do pray for sun when I have a day off work. The kids wanted to visit the Phuket Butterfly Garden. I have been once before about 4 years ago. My daughter has been twice on school field trips. They recently studied the lifecycle of the butterfly. It's worth a visit for sure, especially with kids.



Later we drove up to the Big Buddha, which is slowly nearing completion. Don't hold your breath. We first drove up the hill in 2002, when work had just started on the base. 6 years later... Well, eventually it will be finished. The Buddha is looking impressive now. The marble covering is nearly there. Slowly.

The views from up on the hill are great. As we drove down close to sunset, the sky was beautiful. Wind had picked up in the afternoon. At least on top of the hill it was windy. Great spot for views and fresh air.

The last 2 days in Phuket have been so warm, so sunny, so blue-skied-y... you might think it was the peak of high season.. except in Karon beach there are but a few tourists around, there's 3km of beach for seemingly a handful of people. Weather is perfect, spell it P.E.R.F.E.C.T. Right. Why, oh why, oh WHYYYYYY does Patong stay busy in low season? Why are there loads of tourists staying in yukky Patong (OK, OK, it's not all yukky)? If you're not here yet, but planning to come soon... try looking at Kata or Karon beaches.

• Karon Beach Hotels at Agoda.com
• Kata Beach Hotels at Agoda.com

Blue skies - great if you are on holiday, out diving, sunning yourself by the pool. Poor me has to work. I stare at the blue skies from behind my desk. The blue sky stares back. Unblinking.

This evening, I though a photo was needed to show just how darn lovely the weather is in Phuket right now. I stopped at Chalong Bay for a few minutes on the way home.

In Thailand 12th August is a public holiday, being the birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit. This year is her 76th Birthday - Happy Birthday, and Happy Mothers Day.

Weather today has been mostly cloudy, some sun tried to shine in the afternoon. Light winds. Compared to the previous few days it was a bit grey, but I was surprised to get a phone call from a customer at 7am today saying he did not like the look of the weather. Just a bit cloudy, dude! As I predicted the day was dry, hardly any wind and I hope they all had a nice day at Phi Phi. Public holiday does not apply to a dive center, but I hope my wife and kids have had a nice day off!

The weather has been very changeable in Phuket over the last few weeks, some rain, some sun, some calm days, some windy days, but there have not really been any perfect blue sky days recently. Yes, OK it's the low season, but I do feel I've been lacking the sun lately.

But the last few days have been glorious. Thursday was sunny but still quite windy. We had customers out on a speedboat charter to Phi Phi and the ride back was a bit bouncy for them. After Thursday things calmed right down. Friday had a cool date (8/8/08), was a sunny day and also the start of the Olympics... I planned a day off for Saturday and hoped the sun would last.

YES! A sunny Saturday. I even got a touch of mild sunburn while cleaning the windows and mosquito screens. We had a late lunch/early dinner at the "Big Chicken" restaurant in Kathu. It's only a few minutes drive from our house, but somehow we only ate there for the first time a couple of months ago. Now its a current favourite!

 

The sky stayed clear in the night and there were some beautiful clouds illuminated by moonlight which I'd love to share, but despite my best efforts, my camera did not manage to catch the scene. Need to invest in a new camera!

Today has also been hot, as good as any day in the high season, and well done to Prapawadee Jaroenrattanatarakoon for a gold medal in Olympic weightlifting. And Nicole Cooke has just won the womens cycling road race! Go!

Somehow, after nearly 9 years in Thailand, I have never been for a real Thai massage. I'm not really into the idea of massage, don't feel the need for stress relief, do not have knotty muscles and if I need to relax, an hour in front of the telly with a cold beer works wonders! (OMG! What a slob!)

Well, my wife recently paid a years membership at the Royal Spa in Phuket town. I think it was 2600 Baht which allows certain things free, some at a discount and she got a 5000 Baht voucher along with the membership. Yesterday we spent a morning at the spa taking a sauna, and then a 90 minute Thai massage. We got our own private aircon room with 2 massage tables, relaxing music playing, herby smells in the air. At times I started falling asleep and then was woken by sharp fingers digging into muscles not used to such attention! I reckon I'll try another massage sometime soon.

Weather yesterday was OK, bit cloudy, bit windy, a few drops of rain, some sun... Today has been mostly very sunny, but windy too. A few light patches of rain in the afternoon. I wandered down to Karon Beach at about 9am to snap some pictures of the waves and the blue skies. Phuket's main beaches all face west and at this time of year we can get some strong winds from time to time - yes, this is the southwest monsoon season, and monsoon refers to the wind. So although, like today, you may have blue skies, please don't try and swim in the sea if it looks rough.

 

It was a fine morning, but as I have noted before (See weather report on 19th June) at this time of year the beaches do sometimes look a bit messy due to marine debris being swept in by the wind and waves - bits of wood, plastic, nets, old shoes, bottles... there's a lot of cr*p out there in the ocean and it gets blown over here by them SW winds.

As I was taking photos of waves, hundreds of people suddenly appeared on the beach armed with big black bin bags. They advanced along the beach leaving the sand all but spotless. If you sunbathed on Karon beach this afternoon it would have looked perfect! The clean up was organised by the Karon hotels association and Karon municipality. Well done.



It was like magic.. a wave of people picking up all the rubbish leaving golden sand in their wake...

Saturday's grey and hazy afternoon became a wet and windy night, which became a wet and windy Sunday morning. This did not please me, as Sunday was my day off. Ah well, with myself and the kids all having been feeling a bit unwell during the week, an easy day at home was probably called for. We had some cheap lunch at the new food court in Tesco Lotus - much nicer than before.

We also bought some bits and bobs for the house. I must fix up a piece of wood under the back door where there's a gap big enough for things to slither in.. and during the last few months we've killed 3 snakes and 2 scorpions in our garden, so a bit of paranoia is justified. The joys of tropical living :)

Rain eased on Sunday afternoon and we went to a kids party in Patong at a house overlooking the concrete jungle.. I mean, a house with seaview... Here's a panorama with the grey skies...



Of course the last 2 days have been nicer now I am back at the desk. It did rain again Sunday night, but the sun was out again yesterday. This morning as I rode to Phuket town to get my 1 year work permit renewal, dark clouds menaced to the south, but did not come too close to me. Tomorrow I would like to take a day off, but will depend on the weather. If it looks nice, my wife and I plan to visit the Royal Spa for a few hours of much deserved pampering!

Actually the last 3 days can just be summed up with the title. Spectacularly unexciting weather. Mostly a bit grey, some sunshine, no rain, hardly any wind. Pretty decent if you're out diving, pretty good if you've come for a cheap low season break and were praying for a dry week. This morning did start very nicely with blue skies, though its all got a bit grey and hazy since.

Poor me has been a bit "under the weather" this week, feeling a bit grey and partly cloudy myself with a cough, headaches and backpains and taking Tiffy tablets. My daughter just got better and went to school on Wednesday. My son had a fever last night. Its always a worry with the kids.. dengue fever is a possibility, I know a couple of people who've had it, indeed I had it once about 6 years ago (a mild case but still knocked me out for the best part of a week). The Bangkok post reported that cases are up 72% on last year.

Day off work tomorrow.. much needed. This week has been early nights, no beers and lots of hard work. We uploaded the new website on Thursday and I hope its all debugged now! - See here: Sunrise Divers Phuket Thailand. Come and dive!