Since the last Phuket weather blog update, we have actually had a tiny bit of rain. Must have had more than a few mm yesterday at Karon beach where I was working, but my rain gauge at home (near Phuket Town) said 2mm. Saturday also had some scattered showers, but nothing much, and (see below) we drove around and found plenty of sun. This morning (Monday) - looks perfect as I write this at 7:30am.

What is the "situation" in Phuket? There is NO situation here. Weather is great, there is no flooding or bad weather. The nearest floods are around Bangkok, some 800km from here. Would you cancel a ski trip to the Alps because of floods in Paris? Same kind of distance. Also - TV images don't tell the whole story. There is flooding around Bangkok but not much in the center, and the airport is operating 100% normally. As far as a trip to Phuket is concerned, there is nothing to worry about. I had customers at our dive shop on Friday. They were staying in Hua Hin, they had to drive into Bangkok, get a flight to Phuket.. they were worried... and had absolutely no problems. It's high season now, weather is sweet, fish are jumpin' and cotton is high.

Here's a photo from last week, Thursday 27th in the morning at Karon Beach:



The great weather lasted the whole week. I normally take Saturday off work, and was concerned this Saturday. Just as we were getting ready to go out, the wind blew stronger, dark clouds gathered all around... what the? Might be enough to put off a timid soul, but we know the weather here is quite localised, and we planned to drive north, off Phuket over the bridge to Phang Nga province. Drove through some rain, but found the sun. We explored a side road just after the bridge that heads to Natai Beach, where you find some big houses and some hotels .. and a beach.



Photo above at the Hot Spring Resort which looks like a nice place to stay well away from the crowds.

We then had a huge lunch at Samchong Seafood in Phang Nga.. its about 20km from the bridge on the way to Phang Nga town. The restaurant is floating in a wide mangrove canal with a small muslim fishing village on the opposite shore. Longtail boats cross back and forth every few minutes. You can also hire boats here to get out into Phang Nga Bay.





And then? Despite a huge lunch, there's always room for coffee and a cake! Only a few km from Sarasin bridge on the east side of the road, up a small hill is 360 Degree Coffee. Nice place, very popular with locals at the weekend. And on Saturdays they have a huge crane in operation that lifts up a "viewpod" high above the cafe. Here's the view looking towards Phuket:



Let's see if I have a few spare minutes to take a photo today! But trust me, it's beautiful weather right now. Anyone worried about floods or weather - there is nothing to worry about. See you in Phuket!

I do apologise, did not realise it had been 10 days since updating the weather blog... although on this page you do have tools to check the live weather - such as the live webcam at Karon Beach and another live webcam at Surin Beach. You can also follow me on Twitter.

The last update said that the seasons seemed to have changed. It was really quite a sudden switch from wet (until 11th October), then a day on the 12th which was sunshine and showers and then suddenly the 13th was all blue skies, and it has continued the same way for the last 12 days! We've actually had 70mm rain since the 16th, but that has almost all been in the night, with a few big ol' thunderstorms rattling the windows and scaring the cats. The days have been almost totally hot and sunny. I have been back at work and working hard at our dive shop (Sunrise Divers) and somehow did not get my camera out and take any photos for more than 10 days!

Of course many people will have seen TV pictures of flooding in Thailand. Started looking bad a couple of weeks ago already in central Thailand, north of Bangkok, and seems the floods may continue for a few weeks - Bangkok is being affected now. This in turn is having some effect on the whole economy, transport and production of some goods. Hope it won't last too long. Some questions have been asked about supplies getting to Phuket. Well, I have not seen any shortages of anything, though in the coming weeks we may have to be slightly flexible. Phuket and the South of Thailand are unaffected by floods, and don't forget Phuket has an airport and is a port, so supplies are not such a worry here compared to a landlocked town in a flood zone! Weather her continues to be great, I am keeping an eye on the news in Bangkok.



(above) Got my camera out yesterday! This is Sri Sunthorn temple in the center of Phuket near the Heroines Monument. As you can see, was a sunny day. We went to say a prayer. I took Monday off work as it was the last day of the kids holidays - and we dragged them to a temple! Poor kids!



OK, later on we hit the beach too. Photo above taken at The Beach Bar, a favourite hangout of ours at Cape Panwa, south of Phuket Town. Kids like it there and I do like to watch the sunset while enjoying a cold beer. No crowds, no touts, no jet skis, no tailors, no beach chairs...

And now... back to work! Will try to remember to take a nice beachy sunny photo today at Karon Beach. High season is here, lots of work to do and only 59 shopping days until Christmas!

Starting with the good news. In my opinion, low season is finished. There is no more rain in the sky, it's all down here on earth. The last 3 days have been hot and sunny with no rain, and the winds have stopped too. Pretty much perfect weather. Also, please note, THERE ARE NO FLOODS IN PHUKET or anywhere near here. There is major flooding north of Bangkok especially around Ayutthaya, Pathum Thani and other central provinces. Bangkok seems to be OK, though a flood threat remains. The sun is out in Bangkok too now. For regular weather updates, follow me on Twitter or check one of the webcams - see links on the left of this page.

OK, so the weather now is great.. and now for a summary of the previous week, which was not so great! Last update on this blog was the 8th October, when I said "bloody raining again! But not too much and we're heading out to lunch soon". And we did head out for lunch.. drove into heavy rain, so just kept heading north hoping for a break in the clouds. Decided to check out a restaurant called Kin Dee which had been recommended. It's way up in the north of Phuket near the police checkpoint. And it's nice - a bit expensive for us, but what the hell, we're on holiday! And the rain did stop for a while, as it always does - don't let rain stop you heading out to explore, it can't rain everywhere at the same time!



On Sunday 9th the weather was much better. We lunched at Kruvit floating restaurant at Coconut island close to Laem Hin - holiday was a good time for trying new restaurants which will all be blogged on Jamie's Phuket sometime in the next weeks. The whole family enjoyed the little longtail boat ride over to the restaurant. We'll go there again sometime soon.



Monday 10th started very nice actually, and I was cursing being back at work! The rest of the family went for lunch at The Beach Bar. Look how nice it was!



And just when you thought the weather was getting better... It hammered down later on Monday and then Tuesday was incredibly wet. My home rain gauge recorded nearly 200mm of rain (8 inches) in about 36 hours! Still, only minor floods on a few roads in Phuket, nothing serious. Mum took this picture on the 11th near Phuket Town:



Wednesday - very changeable weather. The last spits of the rainy season? Anyway, quite a bit of rain, but with bursts of sunshine. I took a drive with Mum and Dad to Rawai beach and Yanui beach. Here's the folks at Rawai, we took a walk through the fishing village...



We could see black clouds to the west but the rain mostly missed us. We drove over to Yanui beach which I had not stopped at for a long time. Will go back again soon. Nice place. There's one small restaurant and we had a drink while the rain poured. Weather changed fast, the wind was still blowing strong on Wednesday. Nice and sunny in the photo below but the rain was hammering down 30 minutes later!



And now? It's all sunny, the weather does seem to be changing to "high season" mode. This does not mean 24 hour sun and no rain - you DO get rain in high season, but my feeling is that it's been so wet recently that we are surely in for a spell of very very nice weather now. I might even be tempted to go diving next week!

It's not that often that I get depressed with the weather in Phuket. During the "rainy season" you get rain, sure. You can get rain in the high season too, rain does not bother me, as we normally get short, hard tropical downpours and then it's sunny again. Occasionally you get periods of a few days with hardly a glimpse of sun, but I have written before that the low season is generally a nice time to visit Phuket if your plans are flexible and you are not counting on sunning yourself on the beach. My parents have visited from England many times and normally in the low season. They were here in October 2010 and weather was OK, they have been in July with mostly good weather.. but this time, it really has been wet. We already changed plans due to a few wet days at the end of September, but things seemed to be getting better. The last blog update on 2nd October was positive - Sunday 2nd had been a hot sunny day and we'd been out in Phuket town for a vegetarian festival procession. We planned a trip to Khao Sok National Park for the next few days, but heard a weather warning on the Thai TV and the forecast did look wet and windy. I hate to change plans, but since Khao Sok was likely to be wetter than Phuket, we decided not to go.

Good plan! The night of 2nd October was VERY Wet and so was most of the 3rd. A stay at home kind of day. Never mind, we thought.. won't last more than a day or 2.



(above) Rainy day at home, 3rd October.

It did clear in the evening, enough for us to take a walk at the nearby Bang Wad reservoir and we decided to check out an evening event at Sam Kong shrine in the north of Phuket Town - something called "Bladed Ladder Climbing", part of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. I did not take a camera along, but it was less crowded than I thought it would be - will go again next year.

October 4th - started dry, sky cleared, and it was hot already at about 7am. Yes, we were up that early - earlier in fact ... We went to Kathu shrine just after 6am for the start of their Vegetarian Festival street procession. The sun was rising as the Ma Song got pierced in the shrine and as the procession left Kathu for the walk to Phuket Town. Well worth getting up early sometimes!



BUT whadaya know... not long afterwards, the rain started up again. We did not head into Phuket Town, were home by about 7:30am. And it turned into a very wet day. We did head into old Phuket Town for lunch.. in the rain.. dodging under the archways on Thalang Road, darting out into the rain before landing at the Kopitiam restaurant for tasty vegetarian food. Even on a wet day you can wander in the old town, just take an umbrella!



(above) Wet day on Thalang Road, old Phuket (4th October)

Thought about doing our Khao Sok trip on the 5th, having had 250mm of rain in the previous 3 days.. but the rain continued into a 4th wet day. Some minor floods here and there in Phuket though I did not see any myself. Certainly flooding in some parts of Thailand, especially the north. A friend in Khao Lak said it was wetter than Phuket, so we decided again to forget Khao Sok. A mostly hiding-from-the-rain day, except in the evening, despite a light drizzle falling we headed to Kathu village for a ceremony called "Bridge Crossing for Purification". Basically the whole population was there, dressed in white, queuing for a quarter mile to enter the shrine and cross a ceremonial wooden bridge and be blessed by the Ma Song.



(above) Waiting in the rain for purification

The last 2 days have been almost dry! Even got a red face from the sun yesterday enjoying an hour in the pool with my kids (not our pool. we're not that rich!). We have been out lunching around the island - a huge lunch at Laem Hin Seafood on Thursday 6th.

Yesterday also nice and sunny for a lunch at Cape Phromthep restaurant which we had never tried before. Great views and we'll be back.. it will be "blogged" sometime soon. In the evening I took Mum and Dad for a stroll in Phuket Town, along Thalang Road. I want to go again and get more evening photos, it's a very nice place for a walk.



(above) Cape Promthep Restaurant



(above) Old Phuket Town in the evening (7th October)

Today (8th) - bloody raining again! But not too much and we're heading out to lunch soon. Can't stop the rain, and the rain can't stop us!!

The weather always seems to change just when I update this weather blog! Last week I said "The weather this week has been mostly very good. Hardly any rain except for some afternoon showers here and there. Hoping this weather continues!" - that was on September 25th (Sunday). The Phuket Vegetarian Festival started on Monday 26th. The weather did not continue! Just as I started my holidays on the 26th, the rain came again. Well, started on the 25th in the night, more than 50mm of rain, then showers on the 26th. So, what to do on a rainy day? We visited the Phuket Tin Mining Museum, which is very good. The photo below was taken from the car on the way home...



And then in the afternoon was the opening ceremony of the Phuket Vegetarian Festival. We went to Kathu shrine, our local - Kathu is between Patong Beach and Phuket Town. The weather? Well not perfect, it did rain, but we sheltered in the shrine and I took lots of photos.

Weather on 26th:



In the shrine:



More about the opening day of the festival on the Phuket Blog: Phuket Vegetarian Festival 2011, Part 1.

27th was wet and the 28th was also rather wet - and we visited yet another museum! The Thai Hua School Museum which has been expanded since my last visit and is well worth a look.



(above) at Thai Hua School Museum - my Mum is teaching my kids :)

And then on the 28th in the evening - a walk in Phuket Town along the market street to Jui Tui shrine. Lots of people, no rain, streets packed with vegetarian food stalls. Took lots of photos that should become a blog page ...



29th - weather getting better and a nice afternoon out walking across the new bridge between Phuket and Phang Nga, with lunch at Thanoon Seafood, which is a restaurant just over the bridge on the Phang Nga side. Here's me and my Dad on the bridge:



(above) Nice weather on the 29th September!

In the evening we were in Kathu village for a street procession from the shrine around the village to pay respects to the birth and death gods.



(above) in Kathu village 29th September. More photos here.

Early morning on the last morning of the month of September... I was at Sam Kong shrine in the north of Phuket Town not long after 6am for some vegetarian festival fun! If you can call this fun!



Sorry, should have warned you! Will make a blog page with lots of festival photos on Jamie's Phuket later. Weather was good and has been good the first couple of days of October too. And this morning (2nd October) was a good one! Hot and sunny - maybe too hot! I was in Phuket Town for a street procession, part of the Phuket vegetarian festival. The processions were on every day 28th September and end 5th October. Today's procession was around town from Bang Neow shrine. Hot morning.



But some rain has come again this evening and the forecast is not good for the next 2 days. We had planned a trip to Khao Sok tomorrow but will delay a couple of days. See what the weather decides to do.... hard to tell at this time of year - it helps to be a bit flexible! Let's see what happens! Anyway, rain or shine, we'll be happy!