Just as elsewhere, the energy and talent of some of the top graffiti artists has attracted buyers and patrons and has moved the art from the street into art galleries. One such exhibition has just opened at Gallery 346 in Phuket Town, showcasing work by d.e.a., aka Kitja Yamunsabedin, and TG, aka TorLarb Intararuensorn.

Gallery 346 is at the intersection of Phuket Road and Kra Road in Phuket Town, not far from the Robinson department store. Apart from the gallery, the building also contains a café and three basic but cheerfully comfortable guest rooms. The exhibition continues until mid-June and is open to all.

There was a time when Phuket had two international regattas. One was the Phuket King’s Cup, in early December, and the other was the picturesque Phang Nga Bay Regatta, usually in February.

The problem with both of these regattas was the wind – all too often there wasn’t any, and crews sat around in the blazing sun with sails flapping dismally, rather wishing they were onshore in the shade with a nice frosty beer.

Everyone knows about coral reefs in the waters around Phuket, and the gorgeously coloured fish, starfish, crabs, prawns and anemones – even worms – that make a living in or on the coral. Certainly, anyone who has not dived or at least snorkeled around the reefs is missing a great deal of the wonder of Phuket.

But far fewer people know about the mangrove forests that are inextricably connected to the reefs, and which are just as important to the marine ecology as the coral.

Organised every year to coincide with Songkran is Phuket Bike Week, which runs from April 9 to 12. This year is the 15th Bike Week, and hundreds of bikers with their machines are expected to descend on Phuket from all over Asia and further afield.

Formal events will include a bike exhibition at Jungceylon in Patong, which will feature some truly amazing custom machines, and a formal dinner for bikers (black leather tie, no doubt) on April 11 at Tainaan restaurant opposite Central Festival.

Think coffee. If you’re American, that’s probably Starbucks (they’re here on Phuket). If you’re European, then you’ll probably be looking for the Illy logo. What you may not realise is that Thailand has been growing coffee for ages. In Southeast Asia, only Vietnam and Indonesia produce more.

For the baristas among you, Arabica beans are grown in the highlands of northern Thailand while farmers in the hotter lowlands of the coastal provinces along the western edge of the Gulf of Siam produce Robusta beans.

From April 13 to 15, Phuket – along with the rest of the country – descends into soggy anarchy, known officially as Songkran, or the Thai New Year.

Songkran was originally an Indian festival to celebrate the coming of the rainy season. In Thailand it starts off gently, with people going to the nearest Buddhist temple to pay their respects to the monks and to older people by gently pouring scented water over their hands and, sometimes, gently daubing water mixed with prickly heat powder on other’s cheeks. It’s all very decorous.

Former international players Trevor Chappell of Australia and Kenny Jackson of South Africa have confirmed they will take part in the sixth Phuket International Cricket Sixes, to be played at Karon Stadium from April 15 to 19.

Other former top-level cricketers are expected to confirm in the coming weeks that they, too, will play in Phuket.

You would think that with all the gorgeous scenery around Phuket, air charter services would be a no-brainer. But the record is, shall we say, spotty, particularly when it comes to fixed-wing aircraft.

Way back in history (okay, about 15 years ago) a float plane service called Yellow Bird ran joyrides from Patong. It didn’t have any of the right paperwork, so it disappeared almost as soon as it landed.

Go back 300 hundred years or so, and most of the people living on Phuket were Muslims of Malay extraction. Even today, about 30 percent of the island’s population are Sunni Muslim, and preserve Islamic traditions.

These traditions are celebrated annually in the Hilal Town Halal Food Festival, this year at Saphan Hin (on the southeast edge of Phuket Town) from April 30 to May 3.

Yes, you can go snorkeling around Phuket, or diving, or canoeing. But there’s only one place where you can go Powersnorkeling: Banana Beach on Koh Hei, or Coral Island.

Powersnorkeling is a sort of cross between snorkeling and diving, and requires about 30 seconds training. Swimmers on mask, fins and a weight belt, and are then tethered to a floating, battery-driven air pump with a ten-foot hose and a mouthpiece.