Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2009, or 2552 as we say in Thailand. Oh yes, we're way ahead of you over here :). I am sure I would have written something yesterday, but it is the habit of January 1sts to be rather hazy. Not a day for cerebral activity.

So, a late Happy New Year to Phuket Weather Blog readers, if you have not come to Phuket yet... see you soon. I hope to find some interesting things to blog on "the" Phuket Blog this year. I hope to see my friend again and shake his hand, I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope.

Sorry, excuse the rambling, but if you have the time, do watch The Shawshank Redemption - one of my favourite movies.

New Years Eve - a clear night, quite windy, not really warm on top of Buddha Mountain! Yes, after a couple of hours at a friends place, where some people had started on the Vodka a couple of hours before we arrived... we then headed off to somewhere quieter. The owner of the Nakkerd Seaview restaurant, which is near the top of the hill where you find the Big Buddha, had mentioned to my wife that they'd be open for New Year. So about 11pm we were driving up the mountain in the dark (very dark), found the restaurant all but devoid of people, and ordered a few drinks to wait for midnight.

Around midnight, from the perch above Karon Beach, we got a birds eye view of the fireworks...



Then yesterday, January 1st, the weather in Phuket decided to be wet. Rather breezy too. I'd wanted a nice lunch by the beach, but there were grey skies all around. We headed north, where things looked brighter.. had lunch at the Chumchon floating restaurant at Bang Rong pier in the NE of Phuket. And while we ate, the rain didst hammer down for a while...





When the rain stopped the catch came in... You shall have a fishy on a little dishy...





And today? Back to work. Busy - well, sure, it's peak season! Mostly sunny with some light rain today, rather hot and humid, overall nice weather.

So, it's 2009, please do keep reading the Phuket Weather blog for weather reports, photos and news. Another year. We've passed 4 years since the tsunami.. my son will be 4 years old very soon, I will be 10 times his age not long after that, and by the end of 2009, I will have been 10 years in Phuket. I can't quite grasp that number for now. Need a cold beer. Will sit down and watch The Shawshank Redemption. I hope you have a good year. I hope.