It’s Beginning to Feel a lot Like Christmas!

While strolling through Union Square I couldn’t help but get into the holiday spirit.  It seems like the city of San Francisco goes all out when celebrating winter festivals.  The shops are all playing holiday music, and they have decorated both the inside and outside of their buildings.  Take a look at the pictures below and check out the wreathes that Macy’s have put up in their windows.  Can you use your skip counting skills to find out how many wreathes there are altogether?

Also getting people excited about winter is the skating rink that has been setup in Union Square.  Families and friends were having fun skating around the ice while looking up at all the decorated trees and shops today.  Have you gone skating at an outdoor rink?

Enjoying the some outdoor activity, these people are skating around Union Square.

Sometimes cities take traditions and change them up a bit to fit in with what they have to offer.  Look at the picture below.  How is this tree different from a traditional Christmas tree?

There is something a little strange about this Christmas tree?

Monsoon Season Continues

Another grey day in Bangkok.

Unlike our four Canadian seasons, there are really just two seasons in Bangkok, dry season and rainy season.  You see, from November to June Bangkok is a pretty dry place.  The sun shines brightly, the breezes are warm and the people are out and about enjoying the beautiful weather.  As the sun is out so much during this time it warms the land and the air above it, so this air rises.  When this air goes up colder air from over the sea comes in and replaces it, this creates a wind called a ‘monsoon’.  The word monsoon is an Arabic word, mausim, which means season.  So it is really the ‘monsoon’ that brings about the change in season.



Shoppers trying to stay dry at Chatucuk Weekend Market.

This wind brings with it moisture from the sea, and when the moisture collects over the land, you’ve guessed it, you get rain (do you remember how the water cycle works?)...and a lot of it.  Usually it will rain heavily for 30 minutes and then stop, but the sky will be grey all day, and you never know when it might start raining again.  Luckily, this rainy season doesn’t last long and things start to change around the middle of October with less rain falling each day.   I just hope that the dry season starts real soon because exploring the beaches of Thailand in the rain will be no fun.

Travellers trying to find somewhere dry to wait out the rain.  Most shops have large awnings in front of their stores to help keep their customers dry.