Aside from the (mostly) good weather, the food, the easy pace of life, the (cliché) smiles and so on, I am thankful for my family, my loving wife, my beatiful kids and am very happy to have "settled" here in Phuket. Must have been almost exactly 9 years ago that I met my wife. 9 years... make me a bit dizzy!

So, the weather... Friday was another "wish I was a rich b***ard and did not have to work" kind of day. Blue skies and office work do not mix! As I recall there was a slight sprinkling of rain during the day, but otherwise, lovely. Clear skies at night, starry starry night.

Saturday - a most superbly relaxing afternoon and evening sitting by the beach, cold beers, kids playing and playing, peace and quiet, beautiful sunset. Where? Well, in Phuket, of course. Our favourite place.





The panorama below was taken before sunset from where we sat. Click the picture to enlarge...



Looks like that rainy period is behind us and we can look forward to hot and sunny weather in Phuket for the next few weeks. Just 2 weeks until Songkran, and just over a month to go for our main diving season - April is a great time to dive here. See you soon!

At this time of year in Phuket, you should be quite certain that the weather will be either hot or REALLY hot. Tourists who are not used to the heat take to hanging around in 7-11, taking 20 minutes to choose what drink to buy. The 7-11 chain is well known for refrigerating the entire shop. Must be very environmentally unfriendly. Support your local corner store!

But the last few days has been just like Forrest Gumps box of chocolates. I wish I could say with certainty what tomorrow will bring, but over the last few days we have had probably the wettest and I would say one of the most perfect days of the year. It should be dry in March, but .. well I guess we can blame George W Bush, probably his fault.

Tuesday was W.E.T. Spells WET. A lot of rain, most unusual for the time of year. A little view of the restaurant outside our shop...



Meanwhile, my wife was on the road and stopped at the Ratchaprapha Reservoir which is part of Khao Sok National Park. Dark clouds all around....



And then Wednesday was sunny all day, blue skies, perfect day, feed animals in the zoo, drink sangria in the park... except I was at work all day and did not get any time to take a photo of the nice weather. So, you'll have to take Lou's word for it.



Today has seen some light rain, but largely very warm and humid. Hardly any wind, great weather for diving - calm seas and sunshine. I passed by Chalong Temple on the way to work...



Forecast: Undecided... Coffee Cream or the special Caramel with a Brazil Nut... actually, according to what I have just read on the web, the Coffee Cream is no longer a part of either Cadbury's Roses or Nestle Quality Street. I guess the Coffee Cream was just the butt of too many jokes. So, therefore the weather in Phuket tomorrow cannot be the Coffee Cream.. maybe the Milk Chocolate Hazelnut with caramel (the 'Purple One') - see Quality Street. :)

OK, so we have had some thundery days recently. I mean, this is not uncommon, but it still surprises a lot of visitors to Phuket. The guidebook and the travel agent said Phuket has 24 hour sunshine at this time of year. Ah yes, but Phuket is in a tropical climate zone, and how do you think everything looks so green? All that greenery, all those trees cannot live on sunlight alone!

However, as I said a couple of days ago, my bones predicted a sunny Sunday. Dem bones were right. Yesterday was hot and sunny, although I was working so had no chance to enjoy the sun. Only in the evening did I manage to escape for a little walk on Karon Beach. The horizon was a bit too cloudy for a spectacular sunset, but ...





More weather news.....

Thanks to Camille in Koh Samui - he writes a Koh Samui Weather Blog. He gave my blogs a nice plug today. Weather in Samui today (quote) "plenty of blue with the sun currently beaming down but there are loads of big and (some) dark clouds looming everywhere". I could write exactly the same for Phuket! Some sun, some dark clouds and plenty of heat!

Finally... I was reminded today of a great song which has a "weather related lyric". You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...



And then by the power of YouTube, the Weird Al version...

It has been very hot this week in Phuket, humid too, and with isolated thunderstorms almost every day. The temperature into the mid 30's Celsius... For Americans in the audience, I should explain... 35 degrees Celsius = 95 degrees Fahrenheit. For nerds in the audience, that's 308.15 degrees Kelvin.. but you know that already.

• Online Temperature Conversion

You should not be surprised to see a bit of rain in Phuket at this time of year. The air is hot and thick, and all that moisture in the air has to go somewhere... it goes up, it forms clouds and finally the clouds condense to form rain. Hey, this be tropical livin' - we like a bit of rain, and really it should not stop you from doing anything.. after all, the rain is warm!

Not good for photography though. My old friend Kerry arrived on Tuesday night and he's a bit of a photo "semi pro". And he's got a new camera, so I have bought his old one, a very nice Canon EOS 20D, which 4 years ago was the top of the range model, so is a very nice camera indeed. Both of us were hoping for good weather on Thursday. I took a day off so we could head out in search of pictures. We drove up to Phang Nga and the famous monkey cave with a large reclining Buddha inside the cave - Wat Suwan Kuha - we just went a few weeks ago. The idea was to see the temple and then head to Bond, James Bond Island by boat. The weather decided to be wet. The photo below shows the wet weather outside the cave.



I was working again yesterday but we all met for dinner at The Beach Bar at Cape Panwa to the southeast of Phuket Town. Not too many places like this in Phuket. Keep it a secret, please. It was a dry evening, but there was thunder around us, and a little before we left the wind started to pick up, the air was fresher and I do believe it must have rained at Cape Panwa very soon after we headed home.



Today has also been rather cloudy. We planned an early morning drive up to the Big Buddha, but the higher hills were shrouded in cloud. Skies cleared later, and my bones feel that maybe tomorrow will be a blue sky day....

If you are coming from colder climates, arriving in Phuket at this time of year is quite a shock to the system. But surely, that's one of the reasons for coming! Yes, it IS hot here, yes you WILL get sunburn if you lie on the beach at midday. Even for us semi-locals, the heat is sometimes a bit too much, something best avoided. It's been hot today, and a bit hazy. Maybe was some rain somewhere in the evening - it got windy for 20 minutes and a few drops fell on our house.. somewhere else probably had a bit more rain and thunder.

This afternoon we decided to head to Cape Phromthep for sunset. I have been here for nearly 10 years and have seen sunsets all over Phuket from Ya Nui to Surin, from Ao Yon to Patong.. and have been to Phromthep countless times, but somehow have never seen a sunset at Cape Phromthep, which is touted by just about every website and tour agency as "THE" sunset viewpoint. Thus, I was not surprised to find hundreds of people there today! The Phromthep Sunset Experience will be blogged soon on Jamie's Phuket, but for now, a couple of sunset photos....

The whole week has been sunny. Was there some evening rain early in the week? Maybe, but it's nothing to write home about. After having a few rainy afternoons and nights last week (that's tropical livin'!), we're back into no-messing hot season, heading towards Songkran 1 month from now (see Songkran 2009). Always the hottest time of year.

People walk into our office and let out delighted sighs - Air Con! I do like to feel comfortable, you know! Not everyone likes aircon... A customer came in this week and appeared scared to enter, eyeing the aircon unit as if it would eat her. "If I come in I will get a cold, can you turn it off?"... I hope she doesn't go to buy a drink in 7-11. She'll get frostbite.

And now... I did not take any photos in the week, was sick for a day, busy for a couple of days and just have no time for going out to take nice photos. So I will add a few Phuket photos from other blogs :)

Not sure of the exact date of this one, but it's sometime in the last week and I found it on charlenediane.blogspot.com



And a picture of Phuket Town, old town, taken yesterday I think - hard to tell, I think this blog sets a record for number of posts per day (106 in the last week! I got dizzy reading it...), I wonder HOW he/she/they actually had time to go and take a photo! See : ktelontour.blogspot.com



Saturday tomorrow, no work, kids want to go to the crocodile farm, which I have only just heard about, not Phuket zoo, it's a different place in Phuket town. I want to sit in the garden, take some sun, drink a cold beer, sleep a few hours.. ah, well, it will be low season soon, I can rest then!

The hot humid days continue, with dark clouds growing over the hills of Phuket, sometimes disappearing, burned away by the sun; sometimes growing and becoming small isolated thunderstorms. Tonight as I drove home, the sky to the north was black as a ravens wing. Must have been some really heavy rain for a while somewhere nearby. I was rained on for about 10 minutes. Wish I had a camera with me for a photo of that sky... (Will be getting a Canon EOS 20D soon! A friend who is a keen photographer is visiting soon and has upgraded so I am buying his old one. Looking forward to it!)

The sky has many faces, the sea too...

Last night around 11pm the rain and wind battered our house for about half an hour, a nasty little squall. Thunder rolled around the hills, it was batten down the hatches (close the windows) time. And as suddenly as it started, it was over.

Out at sea last night, a liveaboard dive boat was returning to Phuket. Calm seas, no rain, no hint of a storm. So here's the sad news. We heard around lunchtime today the news that the boat had sunk, 6 people missing. Still missing as far as I know.

Quite a shock to all of us in the dive business. The boat that sank had only been operating for about 4 months. The operator one of the most experienced and well respected in Phuket, the captain had been running dive boats for 20 years. I don't want to speculate on any causes, this has to be investigated properly. My thoughts are with the missing and their families and friends.

So hot! I really should buy a thermometer for the garden so I can be a proper weather nerd and say it was 35.2 degrees Celcius today... as it is, I don't know exactly how hot it was, suffice to say that today was HOT! When local people say it's hot, you know it's HOT!

The day started quite cloudy, with dark clouds over the hills. No rain on me, but I will wager it was raining in Patong, maybe Karon beach too. The dark clouds all but disappeared later, and the afternoon was scorching hot.

Later we headed to Bang Wad reservoir, took a picnic with us and watched as thunderclouds once again built up to the north. There were some fantstic streaks of lightening and the thunderhead spread quickly. Some light rain as we headed home, but no big thunderstorm or heavy rain materialized.



I have just turned 40, am aware of the spreading waistline, am aware of not getting enough exercise, am aware my eating (and drinking!) habits are not the best... So. Went shopping today and got myself some new Reeboks. I used to run a lot, used to be in the town team and was even the University Athletic team captain! But it's been years since I really went for a run, or a jog even. Today was the start. A little run on the dam in my new Reeboks. Lungs burning after a quarter mile. Ouch! Legs will hurt tomorrow. I hope to regain some fitness and lose some kilos. Here's the jogger Jamie today at the reservoir...

Quick Phuket report first - last few days here have been muggy, hot, partly sunny, partly cloudy, light or no wind and some rain. Big ol' thunderstorm last night, some light drizzle today, though divers out on the ocean had sun all day - this is normal as any clouds will form, and then let loose their load on land.

So, what's the weather like in Koh Samui?

I am happy to report that over on "the other side", in Koh Samui, you can also find a weather blogger. Camille started the Samui Weather blog in February 2007, and along with the regular weather reports he often adds stories, Samui news, restaurant reviews, temples, markets and local life.

I have been to Samui. It seems very different to Phuket. For one, it is a "real" island - no bridges to the mainland! Like Phuket, it has the touristy beaches, but Chaweng and Lamai are nowhere near as crazy as Patong. Like Phuket, if you get off the main tourist beaches, you find a bit of real Thailand. Like myself, Camille likes to show a bit of this in his blog.

Camille also works in the dive business, only he is a top dog "Course Director", meaning he trains new dive instructors. And somehow finds time to blog pretty much daily on the state of the weather in Koh Samui.

Here it is: The Koh Samui Weather Blog

A word on the Phuket vs. Samui weather debate... It is way too simple to say that Phuket is best from November - April and Samui for the other 6 months. That is often what is written in guidebooks and what people believe. Mostly rubbish. I mean, right now for example, in March, it's good all over. May can be wet and windy on both sides of the peninsular at times, July can be nice in Phuket, November can be nice in Samui. Best places to look for the REAL weather are - right here on the Phuket Weather Blog and the Koh Samui Weather Blog.



Cheers Camille and hope we actually meet one day!

Oh, and there's also a pretty good webcam for Samui here : Koh Samui Webcam - so you can check the latest weather as it happens, just as you can check the Phuket (Karon Beach) Webcam... which seems to be kind of back online but having a client overload, I have emailed them again!

At this time of year, whether you may be in Phuket or Koh Samui, it's probably going to be hot. This is the hot season, or the "aircon" season. I reckon I might crack soon and install aircon in the living room.

Enjoy the heat! Cheers from Phuket and Samui :)

As I said a few days ago... "there might be a chance of an evening thunderstorm"... And so, falleth the rain. Actually last night I did not see any rain, but I was told there was some in the north of the island in the early evening, and later in Karon Beach too. These showers and thunderstorms are normally very isolated, so I missed the rain. Today has been cooler, sunny most of the morning, getting cloudier and rained on cue just before 7pm, which is when I leave work... which used to be an issue as I was riding my trusty Honda Wave to work every day. But today I said "HA!" to Mother Nature and drove home in my Toyota Vigo, which has been nicknamed Optimus Prime. It's a much cooler evening tonight. Maybe a no aircon night? (I admit to being an aircon lover, as my electric bill can testify).

Tomorrow might be a tad wet too, according to a) my experience of the weather in Phuket, and b) the excellent Windguru forecast. After that, back to toasting on the beach, who-opened-the-oven-door weather.

I hear the drizzle of the rain
Like a memory it falls

I used to play this song on the guitar pretty well. Must get me a guitar again sometime. I gaze beyond the rain drenched streets to England where my heart lies.



There's a local fair going on in Kathu village near our house. But they always have these fairs on rainy days. You need a good pair of wellies to visit this evening! No rain now, but the ground is certainly heavy under foot! I hope to get to the fair sometime this week, so I am hoping for dry days after tomorrow... If you just got to Phuket today, don't worry, you will get a sunburn by weeks end.