answermeplease

Whoa, 10 years...you really held out. I've been here for half a year and already looking to leave. Thanks for your advice about the carbon mask -- didn't even know those exist. Your point about all the convenient locations having the problem is spot on.

I have lived in Silom for 10 years....I now have asthma (only in Thailand) and I get sinus headaches (despite 3 sinus operations here) and must take strong meds to get them to stop. One helpful precaution is to wear a carbon mask on the street, something I now do automatically. These are gray (vs green) and are sold at Wassons....far more effective than the cheaper masks but still not really expensive.

At the end of next month I will move back to the USA - will still visit Thailand once a year but can no longer live here full time because of the dirty air. I realize I could live in a better area but any convenient locations in the city all have a problem. One step the government could take is to get the old red buses off the road....I often see them spewing black smoke. Buses over 20 yr old should not be on the road.

Thanks for your input. I didn't know that Beijing is pushing ofr electric bikes. I think that's great and that Thailand should learn from it. While the new vehicles (anyone noticed how almost all BKK cars are quite new?) have better emissions control, the motorbikes and big busses are way out of control.

Well, if you are leaving Bangkok to escape the pollution don't come to Pattaya. Air quality here is very bad through the winter months. Not sure living high helps much. I am on the 20th floor and when I mop my balcony floor the white mop turns black--and this after only a couple of days. If you take a gander at your ceiling fans you will notice a black layer of gunk on the leading edges of the blades. It's dirty air that the blades are traveling thru as they rotate and it sticks to the blades. Unfortunately, its also what you are breathing. Thailand needs to get serious about air quality and a start would be banning outdoor burning everywhere--not just the North. A switch to electric motorcycles only in city areas would also help--as Beijing has done.

Cool, thanks for your input! Do you mind sharing what district/province you stay in?

I'm concerned about having access to a good market if living in the outskirts. Do you face challenges accessing basic resources like food, fuel, etc?

Quite a few people have recurrent sinus and other respiratory problems living in Bkk, as did I when I did (100% relieved now that I live in the countryside).

Asthmatics get much worse.

Not only farang but Thais also have this problem...you'll notice the face masks on the traffic police and also that every hospital has a large ENT department....

Definitely not a good place to live in terms of one's respiratory tract, though people vary in how much it seems to bother them. Personally I can't stand living somewhere that the air is not clean.

You do not have to go too far out of the city for the air quality to improve dramatically, though. I'm just 2 hours from the city limits but the air here is crystal clear (the stars at night are phenomenal). (Helps that I'm on the edge of a major National Park).

So depending on your lifestyle and needs, might consider moving to the outskirts a bit. But it will mean needing a car, and also having fewer other farang around.

Too damn cute. I think the haters on this forum are just expressing their envy to be treated with love and care like your dogs. Given a sense of humor, though, this thread is pretty hilarious.

This is a stupid as buying coats for dogs, Dogs body's regulate the thickness of there coat, Either making it thinner or thicker which ever weather is appropriate. But your dog your choice, Just my opinion.

Agree with you on the clothing, sorry it was the wifes doing

gross!

geez, thanks for sharing though

Pattaya is known for having frequent water shortages. Many hotels would hire private companies to fill their water tanks when the public water supply was insufficient.

One day while riding a motorbike around local backcountry, I observed a well marked water supply tank truck drop it's intake hose into a scummy little pond and fill up.

Never trusted Pattaya hotel tap water again, even for tooth brushing.

Can you please explain -- why is it bad that plastic bottles sit out in the sun?

I've also questioned the cleanliness of bottled water. After manufacturing the plastic bottle, I presume that they do not rinse it before filling it with water. How bad is that?

Edit: I've also noticed a bunch of bottled water brands popping up all over the place. Which one do you trust? The Singha brand is prolific but tastes horrible.

. Plus I see the plastic bottles sitting out in the sun all day,that's not good

For proponents of moobaans based on security, I just read an article on how one of the residences in the Nanthawan housing estate was robbed while the residents and maid were at home. The guy duct taped and threatened them with a knife. Just FYI

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/810010-kind-robber-cleans-house-too/

funny point...good one

SO if the house needed cleaning , what does the maid do all day ? Oh yeah I know sleep and watch TV and play facebook with the home owner .

Wow, that's a cool site...though I have come to be dubious "measurements" and "statistics" provided by authorities here

Bangkok provides real time reporting of water quality every 10 seconds on internet (how many other cities do that?) - and that includes the chlorine level at pumping stations throughout the city. Water does not have any strong chlorine smell that I have noticed in normal times (during flooding they did add extra to be sure but that was several years ago).

http://wqconline.mwa.co.th/wqc/OverviewMap.aspx?uiculture=en-US

I can literally say that you are a man with guts

Water quality has improved considerably over the years. There is a project to make water drinkable all over Thailand. They are adding one area at a time.
Here is a list of the cities, jangwats, and provinces, etc. where water is safe to drink. That is, not just potable, not just for brushing your teeth, but safe to drink right out of the tap without a filter. The list is in Thai.
http://www.pwa.co.th/contents/service/save

The water is safe to drink in Bangkok. Nobody drinks it, though. People have filters in their homes, or they purhcase filtered water (usually from the water filter vending machines you'll see in every soi).

People will tell you that the water isn't not safe. The foreigner concensus is, "This country is a mess, there is no way anyone should trust the water," and I think Thais with any money don't want to be associated with the economically down trodden, so they don't drink the tap water either. It is true that the water used to be dangerous to drink, but nowadays, it's fine.

I have been drinking the water in Bangkok straight out of the tap, and I have never gotten sick. It is not a case of being used to the water, because I have never gotten sick from it in the first place. I started drinking the water last August after reading more claims from the government that the water is safe. I thought, "I don't believe it, so I'll test it with my own gut." It's fine, and now I drink it.

Many people will argue that it just might be where I live, that pipes in other areas are something to worry about. I drink tap water all over the city, and it's fine. My 70 year old parents just visited, and they drank the tap water and never got sick. Note that we only drank tap water in areas listed as safe on the link that I sent you: Ayuthaya (safe since 2005), Nakhon Rachasima (safe since 2005), Nakhon Sawan (safe since 2008), Lopburi (safe since 2002), Sukhothai (safe since 2000) and Chiang Mai (safe since 2000).

I posted a silly video demonstrating that the water is safe, and that link is below.
I can't speak for metals in the water, or BP from the PVC piping, but as far as gut-threatening bacteria go, straight tap water is fine for you and your family.

If you want to continue fearing it and distrusting claims that it is safe, then I'm sure the bottle water companies are more than happy to sell you their products.

I don't think the question is simple. I asked several of my Thai friends (city folks), and none of them knew. Sure, I could have gone out there to the fields and interviewed 10 people actively burning their trash, but I would have needed a Thai translator. Therefore I opted to ask on TV first, hoping to find one of them here to answer my question in English. Don't despair, I will certainly ask an active trash burner next time I get the chance.

It's almost like a troll question. Apologies to you if you do not understand why I say this. The reason I say this is because you pose a relatively simple question without offering any due diligence as to why you have no other answer than.. what? That they burn trash for no other reason than... what?

I would relish the chance to pose some answers to your question, but like a responsible adult, I would like for you to return a post outlining the reasons you, first, have uncovered.

Don't you have people around you, in your immediate environment, who could better answer this than those who did?

It seems odd that you ask something that any semi-intelligent person would at least spend the time to clarify in order to justify something that those with eyes to see and ears to hear could arrive at conclusively.

With utmost respect at your slight oversight and possible lack of attention to detail.

Yes, re-examining my wishes what you suggest is on track

You mean you want a fortress with towers that are equipped with searchlights and machine guns?

Yes, interesting. Thais appear to be grouping and labelling Indians and middel eastern people both as "kaegs". Wonder why that is

In Thailand everybody is "FARANG". Except for Indians and middle eastern people are called "Kaeg", and Africans are called "Afrigan".

Okay, then I should be asking why we pay for both incoming and outgoing in the US.

Same as in the UK (assuming you meant paying only for outgoing calls/sms)

My favorite answer...

Asked my sister in law once,"give good feel',she replied,i presumed she was on the same subject as me,one can never be 100% sure though.

Maybe I'm just new, but it appears to me that Thais are way more into reusing and recycling than the West is. I therefore would guess that they know how to value compost.

"Why do locals burn trash?"

It's due to a lack of education. Most Thais don't know the value of compost.

Can't really compost metal, plastic.. otherwise agree. .

Where I'm from, we pay regardless of whether we initiated the call/SMS. While the Thai system saves me money, I am wondering why it is so. For such a commodity service, I would expect that the business practices are monolithic throughout the world.

How did this manner of telecommunication charges come to be? Are the neighboring countries all like this?

I have search all over the Internet and Wikipedia to no avail. Please help alleviate my curiosity.

I don't want to risk dealing with crony committees in moo bahns, possibly collecting maintenance fees but leaving the place in disrepair. I also want a perimeter of my own, so that I don't have to deal with neighbors. It looks like I want to buy a stand alone house.

Advantages/disadvantages of each?

Does anyone have insight or experience to share?

Seems like a transportation/service issue then. I guess burning condenses the trash, even though it doesn't get rid of it entirely.

In many places there is NO service available for garbage disposal. We can sell plastic, ฿1.0/Kg, glass, metal, paper and carton, but have to keep it here until the guy comes to collect. I know of two Farangs that also burn plastic without shame. We bundle our stuff into garbage bags and take it to town once a week, plenty of bins that get emptied on Tuesdays that are always half empty. Now doing this for three families. If you don't have a car or are to lazy to sell your stuff, you burn it.

They drag the trash into the bushes (their property?) and then burn it. The trash is still there, exept charred and blackened. What did they dispose of exactly?

Also, aren't there sanitation services (green trucks) driving around to collect trash?

I think this is a separate issue from cremation/tilling/replanting.

Always have and always will....has been practical for them for centuries including getting the fields ready for tilling and replanting....also cremation is an honored way to treat the departed.....

Now we've got more complex chemicals thrown into the mix with bags and packaging.....but the disposal method remains the same...

Time tested and takes care of the immediate need....

sure, but I'm not going spend my entire day hiding in the small soi. Eventually, I want to go outside and into the city. I'm just wondering what negative consequences I should expect due to the air pollution.

Perhaps living in a quiet area, down a smal soi with no traffic? Surely that must be better than staying in a condo next to some big road.

Now you've got me worried, as I can't stand living in a condo or high rise.

Interesting topic. I once read somewhere that the risk of dying of a lungdisease was 40% greater among residents who lived on the ground floor compared to those livning on 8 floor and above. But there where also a greater risk of sucid jumps for those living on high floors.

I wonder how a study in Bangkok would turn out....?

On many occasions I've noticed the locals burn trash in the fields. Why?

It disgusts and perplexes me at the same time.

I've also questioned the cleanliness of bottled water. After manufacturing the plastic bottle, I presume that they do not rinse it before filling it with water. How bad is that?

Edit: I've also noticed a bunch of bottled water brands popping up all over the place. Which one do you trust? The Singha brand is prolific but tastes horrible.

Totally agree. I miss Ace hardware....tears

One of my favorite hardware stores in the US is Ace hardware. When I go to the electrical section there is a licensed electrician staffed there ready to help. When I go to to the plumbing section, there is a licensed plumber staffed there ready to help. When I go to the lumber section there is a helpful guy with a radial saw ready to prep boards just how you want with perfectly square cuts. And so on and so forth. A lot of these guys are around 70 years old and they give good advice and know exactly what you need.

At stores in Thailand the staff are very young, 20 somethings, and have no experience with products they sell. They smile, greet, and try to be helpful. Demonstrating an on/off switch is their proudest moment. But they know nothing about the products and most cannot compare or contrast anything to help you make a decision. They may say "this (cheapest one) sells well" as their expert advice. They don't look at what the brochures say or the boxes. They often recommend things that are incompatible with each other and won't work. They sometimes give point blank bad advice. If you ask if they have a certain item they say no only for you to find later it is right behind where they were standing. What I do is ask to see any brochures, catalogs, product boxes, URLs, or displays of what I am looking at, thank them, tell them to go away, then figure out what I need. Thai shoppers don't seem to care about any of this so I guess this situation is just the way everyone here likes it.