February in Phuket: Hot and Dry

Happy Valentines Day - 14th February today, the date is another excuse to make people feel guilty and spend money on cards and presents. Come on, we just had Christmas! Yes they do Valentines Day here too, but sorry honey, I am working all day and shan't be stopping on the way home to buy presents. I'll stop at the shop and buy some tasty Oishi green tea.

The last week has been typical of February in Phuket - hot but with a cooling breeze much of the time, and dry - no rain except for a few drops I heard falling last night, and a strange heavy afternoon downpour on Wednesday 9th - I was at Karon Beach and saw no rain. At home my rain gauge said 23mm (nearly a whole inch). I thought there must be an error, but my wife confirmed it pi**ed down for half an hour and flooded the garden (not a serious flood, but I mean the water fell faster than it could drain). It was all dry again by the time I got home!

Perfect weather for diving right now, come on folks! You can contact me at Sunrise Divers at Karon Beach in Phuket for day trip diving, or PADI courses or liveaboards to the Similan Islands or as far north as Burma.

On the way home one evening last week, I took advantage of the great weather, knowing there would be a great Phuket sunset.. I drove out of Kata on the road towards Nai Harn, passing the cluster of sunset bars on the way that hang over the hillside.. and on to the viewpoint. Most people know it as "the" viewpoint, though of course Phuket has plenty of hills and views.

And there was a great sunset, and the view was as nice as always.





At the weekend, on my one and only day off, we did the usual lazy day including a spot of gardening, taking the car to the car care (200 Baht for full wash, vacuum inside and wax), and a breakfast at a friend's little shop on the edge of Phuket Town - her menu has 4 items - chicken and rice, red pork and rice, crispy pork and rice or pork leg and rice, or you can mix up the meats if you want - a busy little place - see Moo Grob Khun Yai, you gotta try these little places!



As you can see, it was another lovely sunny day. Later in the afternoon I enjoyed a beer while sitting in the garden and turning myself into BBQ pork - got a good bit of red colour in about 20 minutes - that sun is nasty!

In the late afternoon we headed to Phuket Town to find Stuart, who is the creator of the excellent Travelfish website - a backpackers guide to SE Asia. Stuart has lived in Thailand, Cambodia and now lives in Bali. He'd not been to Phuket for about 6 years. We arranged to meet up, and my wife and I decided to take him to our favourite place - The Beach Bar, with a quick trip up to the Khao Khad viewpoint first.



Great weather right now, get to Phuket!