Corgie

Hello!
We are heading on a 2nd SE Asia trip in about a week or so. We are not at all planned (like we were last time). Quite a liberating feeling, really. I think that we will need some beach time while in Thailand. We are doing Bali later in the trip but might want a jaunt to a thailand island for a few days. Having been to koh samui we want to look into phuket (maybe karon) as a possibility. I have been monitering the weather and it is always the exact same...thunderstorms, humid, 70% chance of rain. I am hoping for some clarification.... JamesA? How bad is it? Is the water swimable? Other options are to do samui again or ko chang but we really wanted to avoid the malaria meds this trip. Another possibility is to add a few extra days on to bali and do Lombok where the weather is likely to be a bit better. Or to Tioman Island from Singapore. Where ever we go, we want to fly or ferry to our destination....No overland road trips greater than an hour. Any advice is welcome.

Kathie

If you opt for Lombok, I thought the beaches there were lovely. We stayed at Qunci Villas and loved it.

The best info on weather is really from the databases of historical weather patterns. www.weatherbase.com will give you the info. You are right that this is the (very) rainy season in Phuket and the surrounding areas.

JamesA

I was down there last weekend ( 9 days back ) and it was raining a lot, you certainly could not swim, unfortunately one several ignored the red flags and sadly one drowned, but the waves were huge, crazy and sad at the same time people ignoring the obvious warnings.
If you are not booking ahead monitor the weather, most places were close to empty so getting a room cheap no problems whatsoever, where we stayed maybe 4 rooms out of 50 occupied.

rhkkmk

how about hua hin for a couple of days with its easy access from bkk??

Corgie

Thank you everyone for your replies. We have decided that phuket might not work due to weather so we are now exploring koh chang and hua hin....or possibly back to koh samui. We are looking for a nice beach...What is the beach like at hua hin...swimable with Surfing or Snorkelling?

We are somwhat active considering the heat in Thailand walking, trekking etc.) but we don't golf.

Koh chang looks nice too but I fear it might be too quiet. We aren't party animals but like to have a drink and shop in the evenings.

Can someone who has been to both Koh Chang and hua hin compare/contrast the two?

thanks again for all the great advice. I don't post often, but I read the posts almost daily. What a great community!

C.

JamesA

Forget surfing anywhere that time. Snorkeling should be 'ok' off Koh Chang but better off Koh Tao island.
Koh Chang although developing is much quieter still than Samui, there 'are' some beach restaurants but shopping is local village style, no large scale shopping. But it is relaxing.
Hua hin is a coastal resort town that is busy with night markets, lots of shopping, restaurants and 'tame' bars, Thai dance shows etc.
very different.
The beach at Hua Hin is not as great but there are lots of top beachfront properties as there is no beach road.
As it is relatively quiet time and weather can change what you 'could do' is say go down the few hours to Hua hin for a couple of nights and monitor the weather, from there it is 3 hours by road to get the Jet catamaran to Koh Tao Island ( it island hops then to Koh Phngan and Samui ).
From HH as it's on the main south dual highway you can get by express bus to anywhere in the south, krabi, Phuket etc, if you are not on a budget a local car and driver can get you resort to resort from HH to Krabi or Phuket inside 8 hours including lunch stop and not excessive speeds(!) It is actually only 620 km ( 400 miles ) all the way from HH to Phuket island itself, that nice car + driver would cost including fuel about USD 150.
You can then choose Koh Tao for diving, Samui or if the weather has a clear spell you can still do Phuket, hotels will certainly not be a problem to book as you go.
You can then just fly back from wherever you are.
You can do Kraechen National park or Sam Roi Yot from Hua Hin easily, both about 30-40 minutes away.

What's you hotel/resort budget?

Kathie

Something you might want to consider, both Lombok and Koh Chang are malaaial risk areas. None of the other places you've mentioned are.

lalachoa

It is the rainy season in Asia although each country will have varying degrees of wetness. I just got back from 5 days of beach time from Boracay, Phils. It was perfect beach weather. No rains at all. Maybe you want to check it out.

Kathie

lalachoa, Asia is a big continent. It makes no sense to say that it is rainy season in Asia. There are lots of places in Asia where it is not rainy season right now.

Corgie

Thanks again. Has Bangkok or Phuket or even hua hin seen ANY sun lately? Weather forcast always says the same thing... overcast and very humid, cloudy and very humid...crazy. I am not crazy about hours of overland travel. I think we might try hua hin for a couple of nights. We are looking for about $100 US /night...a splurge is not out of the question. Somewhere on the beach. Near resturants and such. Can one swim in the ocean at Hua Hin?

JamesA

The Gulf area has had a bad run of rain but it seems to have past, it's a long holiday weekend. For about 110/120 you can get the HH Hyatt Regency !!

JamesA

Hyatt is actually about USD 111 including, tax, service, breakfast, you can find plenty cheaper but it's a good place right on the beach, beach isn't fantastic, there's nothing 'wrong' with the ocean it's just not a tropical white sand sort of beach, but huge pools ! Just a few minutes to the new mall, close to 'Let's Sea' and other good restaurants, Sasi Thai show on the dorrstep, local Songthaew pick up costs 10 baht to and from the night market.

http://www.r24.org/huahin.20m.com/hu...gency/details/

rhkkmk

hyatt is an excellent choice....the marriott might be slightly cheaper, but the rooms are not as nice--older...it is closer to town however...

i am staying at hyatt in november and looking forward to it..

JamesA

I know I'm duplicating this but here are the average monthly rainfall stats, July here though:

Bangkok: 6.2
Chiang Mai: 6.6

Pattaya: 4.6
includes Eastern seaboard down to samet and koh Chang roughly

Hua Hin: 3.1
includes Cha Am and Pranburi resorts

Koh Samui: 5.7
Covers Koh tao and Koh Phangan also

Phuket: 10.4
inc krabi, Koh lanta, Phi Phi, Khao lak

dkerr99

It certainly seems like a crap shoot in august in general - although I have been to Florida many times for vacations in August - they average 8-10 inches per month in summer and it rarely interfered with our fun - I suppose it depends if "rainy" tends to be overcast and steady drizzle, or shorter duration thunderstorms (which is what Florida tends to be). We plan to be in Phuket Aug 8-15 and really hope its OK. What worries me a bit is that we'd like to do some sea Kayaking and snorkeling - I wonder if the ocean in general is too rough or are the target locations for those activities calmer?

Kathie

No question, this is not the time of the year for snorkling and kayaking in the Phuket area.