October has dried up

Who'd be a weather forecaster? I mean, you should be able to see big storms coming, right Michael? But daily weather here in Phuket, especially in low season, you may as well pin the tail on a donkey or consult the cards. I mean, it's low season, so people do expect rain, and on average October is the wettest month of all. It was all going well for a while, lots of predictably rainy days, but the last week has been almost all sunshine, albeit still a little windy - still getting a few seasick divers here and there :)

The vegetarian festival ended a few days ago on the 17th, and I have been busy sorting out photos and writing some blog pages about this years festival. The last weather blog update a week ago was on the 15th October after I'd been to Kathu shrine in the early morning for the start of their procession to town. A grey morning and the participants in the procession would have got wet later on. Here's a quick photo from the morning as statues of the gods were carried through the streets of Kathu village:



On the 16th I was back at Kathu shrine, another slightly grey day but did not rain - if it had rained would have been a shame as it would have put the fire out. Did not get much in the way of great photos - it was very crowded at the shrine, and the best I can say is that I know where NOT to stand next time! Best of the bunch:



And then just as the festival ended, it seemed that the weather improved. This week has been very sunny, lots of blue skies, but still quite big waves at some of the beaches. A couple of people have drowned - I urge people to read this: Please Don't Drown in Phuket. It may be sunny and the sea may look inviting but please note that the sea is stronger than you, and please note that Thailand does not have the same amazing lifeguards that you find on Australian beaches, and David Hasselhoff certainly ain't here.

Sunny skies led to a few busy days in the dive shop this week. Sure you can dive on a cloudy day too and many divers are fairly pragmatic - rain? so what? you're going to get wet anyway! High season IS just about here, but after a sunny week I would not be surprised to get another burst of wet days next week. And the 'Windguru' forecast backs this up - see here. Also looks like the prevailing winds will start to shift next week - I am seeing a North East arrow for next Sunday. You often get very mixed weather while the winds sort themselves out. Once a NE wind starts, things get much drier.

This weekend - yesterday was sunny, we headed to the Big Buddha as my wife's cousin was visiting. Did not realise it was "Wan Ok Phansa" - the end of the Buddhist Lent. It was packed full of people up at the Buddha, and the road going up was busy, although seems we were late, as most of the traffic was going down. Wan Ok Phansa also marks the end of the rainy season. This day is obviously very important to Burmese people as many of those at the Buddha were Burmese.

Nevertheless I did get the camera out for a Buddha photo:





So, forecast: Unsettled - seasons change this week, winds all mixed up, gotta be some rain.