Today's weather;
Samui is very clouded right now but still dry. Current temp 7am is 24.5C
In a few moments I will leave Koh Lanta and start to make my way back to Samui today, I hope for good road conditions!
The weather forecast for the weekend changed a bit for the better, still a bit of rain but the wind seems to have gone away.
Koh Lanta had some drizzle around 6.30am but is dry at the moment and the sun is breaking through! Current temp at 7am is 24.7C
Extreme conditions on Samui ask for extreme measures; extreme ironing on Chaweng streets
Yesterday saw a relatively nice day on Samui, no sunshine but also not that much rain and a lot of the previous days flooding went down again. Max temp reached 28.3C
Lanta on the other hand had a lovely day with some sunshine and no rain, the evening brought a very nice sky with loads of stars to gaze at. Max temp reached around 29C
Yesterday the PADI IE was completed successfully by my candidates so there's no reason to stay for the time being and I'm looking forward going home today.
Camille
10 comments:
Wow! I've just shown your flood posts an the video to my daughter-in-law who comes from Samui (but lives in Abu Dhabi now. She says much of it is because of house-building blocking the run-off routes fro rainwater.
She also says flights should be cheap right now. But I bet they are not.
Hi! I just stumbled on your site and found it to be a great research tool for planning my trip.
I'm flying into Samui on the 16th and am hoping to island hope between there, Koh Phangan, and Ko Tao. Unfortunately my schedule is a bit tight so I don't really have much freedom in choosing another place to visit.
I've been reading your blog intently over the past few days trying to get a feel for the weather. It looks like the forecast for the 16th onward starts to die down some (with some sites showing 30% chance of rain or less), but that could mean absolutely nothing.
I guess my question to you, with the current flooding, is how long does it typically take for flooding of that magnitude to come down? I've been reading that the monsoon season on the east coast typically happens in one big burst and is generally finished for the year after that. Do you think that is accurate?
On a side note, do you have any recommendations of neighborhoods or regions of the island to stay at to avoid flooding? Backpacker budget be damned, I dont want to stay another night on a flooded road! I do not need to be in the city proper, and would much prefer some place with nice beaches and maybe a dive shop. I can always taxi it back to the main city if need be.
Thanks for making a great site! I will be following closely in the coming days.
Jeremy
Hi Jeremy,
The forecast is indeed looking good and hopefully the worst is now over with.
I drove today from Nathon to Big Buddha and all roads were open on Samui and hardly any water at all, even at places that two days ago were flooded with a meter of water. The frainage systems can’t deal with the torrential rains immediately but within a few hours the water is gone, as long as the rain stops.
If you’re asking about Koh Phangan, I can recommend Haad Yao and Haad Yao divers.
Enjoy,
@ Lawrence,
Part of the problem is indeed that in certain areas construction blocks the natural flow of the water and it can't get 'away'. There's a good drainage system in place now, though and the Thai Government is about to spend another 840Million Baht on an even better system!
Cheap direct flights are unheard of with bangkok Air owning the airport on Samui and dictating the prices!
Hello Camille
I have just one more question. I'm just wondering if it's easy to get a bungalow/room on Samui if you come in december. I read that for example on phi phi it can be difficult, beacuse everything is booked in advance. I would like to sleep in hotel close to the beach or in bungalow on the beach. I live in the middle of Poland so I miss beaches ocean and sand :)
Daria
Hi Daria,
During the first half of December you should have no problems finding accommodation, possibly with a nice discount as well however, the closer you get to Christmas the busier it will be on Samui and you benefit from an advance booking around Christmas and New year.
Hi Camille,
My name is Paige I will be travelling to Ko Samui on the 20th and Im concerned about the living conditions. We are staying in Chaweng in a resort on the beach and were told the rain season was generally fine to travel in, from your blog and weather forecasts it doesnt seem to be the case. In your experience of living on the island is this normal weather condition?Have alot of businesses closed due to the floods?. Any help would be much appreciated as your blog has been a great help to get a real life pic of ko samui.
Thank you again.
Hi Paige,
Things are turning to ‘normal’ rainy season mode right now and the worst seems to be over. In general the rainy season is fine to travel, this was an exceptional and torrential amount of rain and rather unusual. Many places were closed temporarily but almost everything has opened again as far as I know.
Hope this helps for now.
Thank you it is a great help. Was concerned i would be bringing gum boots and raincoats instead of sunscreen.
Cheers,
Paige
Hi Paige,
Glad to be of help and I hope you will be able to use plenty of that sunscreen!
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