Pattaya had it's own little sea tornado last week. The Jomtien beach, where Sutiya and I often go, played host to one on the evening of September 11th.
Part of me is well peeved we weren't in the apartment, where we would have had a first class seat, although I know Sutiya is glad we were not in the vicinity. Thai's are, understandably, very jumpy about the weather after what happened at Christmas in 2004.
Whilst searching for a picture of the Pattaya storm, I came across a tragic story about an unfortunate Brit who had been electrocuted in Pattaya whilst walking through the knee high water one evening.
Having also been in Thailand during quite serious flooding, I too have had to wade through knee high deep water to get from A to B. I'm generally quite blasé about such things, but this story really brings you down with a bump. This is by no means meant to scare people away from Thailand, I think it's important to be aware of such events, in order to ensure similar accidents don't occur. I myself feel I am more aware for having read it. You can read the full story here.
When we were in Pattaya just over a week ago, although it was nice weather where we were, over the bay there was a big storm with accompanying thunder claps and lightening. The picture below shows the contrast clearly in the clouds. At the time, I did wonder if the area circled in red was the beginning of a small sea tornado, as it stood out so starkly and appeared to be over the water. A week later, Pattaya did have a tornado, near enough at this exact location.
It's no surprise really; the Pattaya Bay seems to be the perfect melting pot for baby tornados, where you sometimes get extreme hot and cold air colliding.
And with such an open bay, you could get quite a spectacular view as well!
















