CHIANG MAI, 7 Nov 2008 – Twice a year, Thailand manages to amaze me.  It’s the same event every year and that it still manages to grab my attention, in my tenth year of living here, is testimony to how dramatic it is.

Those events are what I call the “winter switch” nights.  Let me explain …

For the last week or so, we’ve had daily rain here in Chiang Mai.  Some days it was just a light drizzle for an hour or so, other days it was “waterfall rain” for 20 to 30 minutes – all great fun and good for dropping the ambient temperature, as well as sluicing out the sewers and gutters, leaving a fresher and more pleasant air about the place.

Then, yesterday was a clear day with a balmy 32 degrees Celsius daytime temperature and I thought to myself that we’d probably seen the last of the rains for the year, especially with Loy Kratong (or the Yee Peng Festival as it’s called in the North) due next week.  For the previous nine Loy Kratong festivals I’d enjoyed here, the rains usually stopped either at the start of celebrations or during them, so this year I was thinking to myself that they were stopping early.  Great news as the main festival is on a Wednesday this year, and it would mean the celebrations would probably start on the preceding Friday (i.e. tonight) …

This morning I woke up to a near-clear blue sky with around a 25% cloud covering – clearly defined clumpy clouds and a clear sign that “winter” had officially arrived – you only ever see any blue sky in Chiang Mai during the official winter season.  The rest of the year it varies from a grey overcast to dirty great black thunderheads.

I poked my head out of the front gate and looked west at Doi Suthep, and yup, there it was.  Crystal clear and visible all the way to the peak, the mountain looked a lot closer than it had for the previous 10 months.  Three quarters of the way up, the golden temple of Wat Phrathet Doi Suthep stood out in a Hollywood special effect manner, like a beacon from the top of the mountain-side hillock where that elephant apparently lay down to die centuries ago.

“Ahhh, winter.” thought I, “It’ll be wooly socks and a thicker polo shirt when I’m working at the computer tonight then.” The seasons here really do change overnight, and for a Brit used to the long drawn-out transitions in Blighty, that’s a truly amazing event each time it happens.

Winter is predicted to be switched off around mid-January, immediately after the “Mango Rains”, a week-long period of 5-minute cloud bursts each afternoon with strong winds immediately before and after them.  Meteorologists would no doubt explain these as weather fronts passing through, but I like the local explanation of the Gods blowing away the winter.  Then like now, the temperatures (day and night) will shift by around 10-12 degrees, and the humidity will shift by up to 50%.

I love the winter in Chiang Mai, it’s my favourite time of the year here, and of course, it’s heralded by the Loy Kratong Festival – my absolute favourite of all Thai Festivals.

Gaz