Summer has arrived in Bangkok. This seems a little strange as it more or less seems like summer all year round to me as the temperature rarely drops below 20 degrees centigrade and that is at night! However, Summer in Thailand means remorseless heat with temperatures topping 40 degrees C and with humidity to match. The heat arrives with a vengeance in March and gets hotter into April before the onset of the rainy season.

The rainy season lasts until October during which time it can rain every day especially in the afternoons. On the other hand, it may not rain for a couple of months at all during this period. The chances are that there will be some spectacular thunderstorms and almost certainly flash floods during this time. The rains in the north of Thailand gradually swell Bangkok's main river the Chao Phraya until by November it is often the case that the river banks are being propped up by sandbags and parts of Chinatown are under water. Flood prevention measures such as damming the river have been put into place but this has only alleviated the problem and not cured it as the authorities eventually have to open the dam gates in any case.

This photo is, as you may have guessed, not Bangkok but is taken in Phuket during the rainy season. A heavy storm rolled in across the Andaman sea and dumped its load. As luck would have it, it was lunch time so we ate lunch, by which time the sun had reappeared and we were able to continue our stroll along the beach in beautiful sunshine.