Yes, the rainy season is here!

It's the rainy season, aka monsoon season, aka (more friendly) Green Season, or Summer Season! I really don't know what to call it. For our business (scuba diving) it's certainly low season although dive trips run year round they are more limited from May - October. I have written before that low season an be a great time to visit Phuket, so long as you are lucky with the weather. In fact it's rarely too bad, but the beaches can be too rough to swim.. to compensate, hotel prices are low low low!

The very start of the rainy season is always an "event". This year especially - it has been very dry and very hot. We've had the driest May for more than 10 years. Rain was needed, and it has come! There were signs on the 1st and 2nd of June - dark clouds but no more than a drip fell. Then on Thursday 3rd we had a decent downpour which naturally helped to cause at least one pile up on the roads. Friday was wetter, and the Phuket Gazette mentioned that people should be on the look out for landslides - a bit of a problem on building sites in the hills.

Saturday - wetter still, more than 40mm of rain.. Not the best day to have a day off :( But on the bright side, while wandering in the Central Mall, I found a DVD of the movie "Kung Pow!" - seen it on TV 2 times, not the whole movie either time, cracked up laughing both times, and cracked up again with the whole family Saturday evening as the rain lashed down outside.

Sunday 6th - Very wet, more than 60mm rain recorded at my house. The Phuket Gazette article from just a couple of days earlier proved to be prophetic. 2 workers were killed by a landslide at a building site. See report on Phuket Gazette.

Today has been much drier - some heavy morning rain but plenty of sun later in the day, and I'd say the week will be decent. Hope for a few dry days to dry out the ground at Sapan Hin, a large recreation area in the south of Phuket town, where the "prison products fair" is being held until the 13th.

Glad to get some rain finally! :)