It's October in Phuket and it's been a bit wet!

Well, hello again! It's October and the Phuket Vegetarian Festival is happening right now until the 14th. I have not updated the weather blog for quite a while, since I was not in Phuket from September 19th until October 3rd. The last update on the blog was on September 17th just before we went on holiday. So for a couple of weeks I am sure Phuket had some weather, but I was elsewhere ... not far away, we went up the east coast of Thailand to Chumphon and Hua Hin. And the weather there was a mixed bag of sun and rain, so I guess Phuket had the same! I know it was not all sun from looking at friends Facebook updates, and my rain gauge showed 168mm of rain had fallen in those 2 weeks.

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Oh, go on then, I know you want to see a few photos from our holidays ...



(above) Fisherman at the beach near Pak Nam Chumphon



(above) Wat Huay Mongkol near Hua Hin



(above) View over Hua Hin from Khao Hin Lek Fai viewpoint

Enough of that, nothing to do with Phuket weather!

Well, we drove back to Phuket on October 3rd and it was lovely and sunny in Chumphon, but we hit rain as we approached the west coast ... it was wet in Phuket and it's been quite wet ever since then! I mean, not constant rain, but some rain every day and several of the days in the last week have been wet, grey, drizzly and yukky! Occasional heavy showers, a few bursts of sun.

For a couple of days, a bit of rain is OK actually (yeh, not if you are on a nice beach holiday) ... it's quite a few degrees cooler, and it was just the right weather for my wife and I to spend 2 days painting the living room and having a big clean up. Also nice to be sleeping at night without the need for aircon. I normally love aircon, but once the temperature is down to 25 degrees, it's chilly! Cold enough that I have to wear a t-shirt in the house :)

Well, OK, a couple of days rain is fine, but once the painting was done I wanted to attend some of the vegetarian festival ceremonies. However on the 4th it was very wet "It's raining cats and dogs over my house!" is what I Tweeted so I skipped the opening ceremonies - I normally like to visit our nearest Chinese shrine for the pole raising ceremony at the start of the festival.

Then on the 5th ... my wife and I started eating the vegetarian diet that many people stick to during the festival, but the weather ... a Tweet said "Raining pretty much all day here in #Phuket". We headed to Phuket Town in the evening for food and drinks at 2 different restaurants - both worth a look : Kopitiam by Wilai and Naowarat. Phuket Town is the place to be for the festival.

On the 6th, sun please? No. The morning Tweet said "Woke up to rain, rain and more rain this morning ... about 160mm in the last 2 days. #Phuket". In the evening we headed into Kathu village for some food ...





(above) in Kathu village - the shrine and fresh spring rolls being prepared.

Well, on the 7th .. back to work at Sunrise Divers Phuket! Yes, high season is not too far off though you'd not believe it from the weather, so plenty of work to be done and lots of people wanting to dive this coming season, so lots of emails to answer. Too busy working to notice the weather, but I seem to recall it was wet and grey. And in the evening ... a frustrated Tweet "Darn weather ! Went to Kathu village for evening procession, but it p1$$ed down"

And on the 8th, well I thought about waking up at 5:30 to visit Sam Kong shrine to watch some face piercing, but ... too tired and I just knew it would rain. And it did rain! Took me 1 hour to drive 20km to work due to slow traffic in the rain and getting stuck behind a small festival parade at Karon Beach. The guys below were loading up a god statue into a pickup truck a I passed in the rain.



And driving home, things looked like this ::



(above) early evening weather near Phuket Town, 8th October.

No sign of a let up, that's 6 pretty wet days in a row! And I want to get to some vegetarian festival events! If I'm not too lazy!

OK so after all the wet days, it was rather a surprise to wake up this morning to sunshine and blue sky. And no rain! I stopped at Karon beach at 9am right before work ...



(above) at Karon beach this very morning (9th October)

And it stayed sunny all day. Looking good! BUT .. on the way home suddenly heavy rain, maybe not everywhere, but certainly around Phuket Town and Kathu ... lots of water on the roads. A light drizzle continued with a few gaps for the next few hours.



(above) A bit wet on the way home today!

Well, light drizzle be damned! I ate some noodles in Kathu village this evening and took a few photos in the shrine ... and the rain came down a bit heavier while I was in there! Stopped again later ... really hoping for some more sun the next few days.





(above) At Kathu shrine this evening 9th October.

Still 4 days of the vegetarian festival to go! There are street processions in Phuket Town on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th.

And let's hope the weather gets nicer, please, thank you!