Winter In Thailand

The official version of weather in Thailand is that there are three seasons: the hot season; the rainy season; and the cool season (sometimes called "Winter").  In reality, there are indeed three seasons, but they are: the hot season; the very, very hot season; and the hot-with-rain season. 

To be fair, there are four or five weeks a year when the overnights come down a bit, down into the mid- to high seventies.  It's a nice change, great sleeping weather.   We can all give the air-conditioners a rest.  During the day the temperatures may moderate a little bit, some days it will only get up to the low eighties.  During this couple of weeks Thais often let their enthusiasm get the best of them.

We who live here are all so acclimated to extreme heat that the low eighties feel a little on the cool side.  Myself, I like it, and I'm still comfortable in shirtsleeves.  Some Thais go a little nuts though, piling on the clothes and turning up the heat. 

Like my taxi driver today.  It was nice out, maybe eighty-two or so.  Lots of people walking around wearing jackets, you know, because it was so cold.  A little strange already, but I understand, eighty-two is a cool breeze when you spend your life in the mid- to high nineties.  This driver not only had a coat on, but he was also running the heater in the cab!  It must have been ninety-five in there, the sweat was running off of me. 

This is all very strange.  When the weather is hot, Thais will run the air-conditioning in a car at such a furious level that the interior of the car gets down into the sixties.  They seem perfectly comfortable while I'm clutching my shirt around my neck and shivering, goose bumps all over.  Let the outside temperature go down a few degrees though and they're in a panic.  After a week of it they're all walking around wearing scarves complaining about having a cold.

But it's fun though.  I happen to like the heat, my joints feel like butter, and the rest of it is interesting.