LOOK OUT Rio, here comes Phuket. It's a long way from Thailand's favorite holiday island to Brazil, but last night the 2009 Phuket Carnival at Patong parade showed that the distance is shortening.

If Phuket has seen a bigger, better parade, we'd be surprised. For once it held the attention of bystanders along the beach road route . . . and the floats and the bands and the smiles kept on coming.

With the injection of 40 million baht from Chang, this year's festival is likely to prove a winner all week between now and December 21. There's a second parade, too, on December 21.

At Loma Park will be booths for one-village-one-product sales, with the main stages in Loma Park and the football park opposite.

A third zone is in Soi Bangla, with dancing shows from Isarn, Bangkok, northern and southern Thailand.

Patong Mayor Pian Keesin told Phuketwan that the carnival has come later this year to avoid the rainy season.

''About 20 Patong groups, including the jet-ski group and the tuk-tuk group, will join in the events,'' he said. He expects about 100,000 people to attend over the five days.

A few days later, on December 26, a more solemn tone will be taken as Phuket and the Andaman region mark the fifth anniversary of the 2004 tsunami.

Then on December 27, Phuket City celebrates the lead-up to New Year with a Thalang Road walking street fair, by which time the unsightly wiring that has dangled from poles in front of the attractive Sino-Portuguese row houses should be underground.