Phuket Weather

Don't Rain on My Parade!

As was mentioned in the last Phuket weather blog update a week ago, we'd had an amazingly good start to July - over a week of sunny days, but then it got very wet and windy for a few days with heavy rain on Sunday 10th, and a very grey weather on the 11th and 12th, rain in the afternoon on the 13th... I was getting worried! The 3rd Kathu village festival was due to start on Friday evening with a big parade through the streets in Kathu. Where is Kathu?


View Kathu Village Phuket in a larger map

The old part of Kathu village where the procession and street fair was due to take place is between Patong and Phuket Town. I have been there the last 2 years for the festival and parade - see photos from 2010 and 2009. But the weather did not seem to be playing along .... Friday 15th was pretty wet all morning, but around 5pm when I headed home from Karon Beach, the sun was out... well, at least the sun was out at Karon... and 30 minutes later in Kathu dark clouds were heading from the west over the hills. The parade was getting ready to go and the heavens opened for about 20 minutes. Fancy costumes and painted faces scattered to find shelter in shops and houses. The sky was getting darker, but there was a break in the rain, and just after 6pm the parade started. Sunset at this time of year is about 6:45, so there was just enough time before dark for Kathu to start it's festival and for me to take photos!

Here's a few photos from Friday evening, you can find more on Flickr - Kathu Street Festival, and I will get round to blogging the event on Jamie's Phuket soon.

Update - now blogged: Kathu Street Festival 2011 on Jamie's Phuket

Kathu Village Festival 2011

Hi girls!

Muslim smile

Great local event, it was very busy... but like the last 2 years, and despite plenty of promotion in the local press, I saw very few foreigners there. I suppose the weather put people off, there was rain, but fortune favours the brave. A friend of mine who I used to cycle with back in England always said "it's never that bad when you're out in it". In other words - rain looks worse through the window. Rain should not stop people enjoying Phuket - for a start it's warm rain! Ever heard of an umbrella? My friend also used to say "Come on, you're not made of sugar, you won't dissolve in the rain!". So I enjoyed Friday evening despite the imperfect weather.

We went again on Saturday with the kids, and also took a walk in the afternoon at Sapan Hin which is a large recreational area in the south of Phuket Town. We visited the Chinese shrine there which I had never been inside before. It's wonderful - very well looked after. I have not sorted out all the photos yet, here's one for now :

Prayers at Sapan Hin shrine

Weather has got better again now. Saturday was still a bit grey but the last few days have been sunny and hot again with lots of blue sky. This is what you normally get in low season - a few days of grey and wet, then a few days of sun. And some days that just can't make up their mind. Today is one of those - started very grey and hazy. But around lunchtime, there was blue sky everywhere... and 2 hours later, cloudy again. Could rain later, or we could get a beautiful sunset.

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Don't Rain on My Parade!  |  The Phuket Weather Blog

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