Aspaltso

It also could be a backlog of cases that weren't reported until now. There's been all kinds of testing going on within the last few days, and some of those results could just be getting posted now.

I'll be getting on board a flight back to the U.S at the end of the month, and need a negative covid test to do so. Which hospitals around Sri Racha, or Bangkok offer "cheap" covid tests? The reason I ask is because I read previously that hospitals like Bumrungrad are charging high fees for the test.

56 minutes ago, TC17 said:

It is not too far.  Just drive over and park at Bang Saen Beach.  Walk to the south 1/2 km and to the north 1/2 km.  There are plenty of choices.  I agree with you.  A nicer place to live.  

I know the areas your talking about. I'll just have to get out on foot, and ask around. Any place, or names that spring to mind?

I'm currently in Pattaya, and although it's lovely here, it's also pricier than other locations in Chonburi. I quite like Bang Darn, but would like to know about apartments; close to the beach that offer month to month payment, and in or around 5,000 baht a month. I know there's plenty of apartments for university students for cheap, but I don't like the crammed nature of those apartments. Any help would be welcome.

13 hours ago, michael888 said:

"if you live in an area of Thailand....."  It's the WHOLE country, for SIX months a year now.  Thsi place is ruined. 

Yes, its gotten worse every year, but it seems there's one region of Thailand that's free of the smoke unless there's lots of fires from Indonesia which usually happens in an El Nino year; which it's not this year. That area is from around Surat down to Songkla, and of course the 3 muslim provinces. I've been down that way, and its hot, and humid, but not much air pollution, and pleasant for aa few months. Very different region of Thailand, and good to experience if someone has never been down there.

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

Where is this air filter positioned, in the room you are in? Do you move it around. 

Tonsillitus is a virus infection like Covid, nothing to do with PM2.5 particles.

But if your filter works for you..............great.

I position it in my living room where I am most of the time. As I understand tonsillitis its a condition that can be caused from a virus, i.e cold, flu, or bacteria i.e air pollution that inflame, and infect the tonsils.

I am a chronic sufferer of tonsillitis, and I made a plan back in November to move to Southern Thailand to avoid another season of burning in central Thailand. The circumstances, i.e(job, income) didn't allow me to go through with my move to southern Thailand, and I bought an air filter to try and avoid the negative aspects of the burning. Well, it seems that I've done pretty well. 0 tonsil infections which is a first in the last two years. I think the air filter is directly responsible for this change as it cleans out the PM levels in my indoor environment, and I don't have the <deleted> that builds up at the back of my throat after being exposed to air pollution over a period of time. Advice: invest in an air filter if you live in an area of Thailand where the burning season, or air pollution outside are a risk to health.

14 minutes ago, Yorkshire Tea said:

Buy your own pm2.5 sensor. 

That is 1 solution.

2 hours ago, Moonlover said:

According to the IQair, website, there is currently a reading of 74 in Phetchabun, just as you said.

 

https://www.iqair.com/thailand/phetchabun

 

However, that's not the whole story. After the reading you will see an asterisk. This indicates that there is no sensor in that location, so the reading is derived by computer modeling. See the info panel on the left of the page.

 

I get the opposite where I live. The reading on IQair is always higher than I know it to be because the nearest sensors are in towns, whereas I'm living way out in the country.

 

 

 

 

Ok, thankyou for this. Indeed as you said; the info box on the left does explain how the aqi number is derived from modelling. What's interesting though is that when I google "aqi map of Thailand" it will have an actual reading from an actual location from the previous hour, or so, and those readings are much higher. 

https://aqicn.org/station/ศาลากลางจังหวัดเพชรบูรณ์-อาคาร-1-(กอ.รมน.-เพชรบูรณ์)

So this aqi from the link above is at 129, and it says it was updated 30 minutes ago. Perhaps these stations are just outside of Meaung District, and the models are deriving a lower number? 

The air in Meaung district has to be bad, because I cannot see the mountain ranges to the west or east. I want to know exactly what the AQI reading is since I want to conduct some outdoor activities. Unfortunately the reading for Petchabun is 175 when I google the "AQI map of Thailand", but only 74 when I ask for the "AQI for Petchabun". Does anyone have any clarity on this topic? Does anyone have the true AQI level for Meaung district, or Lom Sak?

4 hours ago, ukrules said:

The farmers are idiots, they farm whatever's currently getting a high price - all of them.

 

When it comes time to harvest there's an oversupply and that of course reduces prices massively

 

They then look for what's selling at a premium and grow that next season instead ????

 

Repeating the same mistake year after year.....it's an endless loop of idiocy

It's really quite sad, and a result of lack of education, and possibly independent thinking. If these farmers did indeed have a better idea of how supply, and demand works then many problems if debt could be avoided. I don't have any solutions.

3 hours ago, Blumpie said:

This is where things may get out of control.  I'm sorry to say but this thing is far more virulent now and spreads like crazy.  

 

Yes, and this drier weather, and dirty sir returning to northern Thailand you could see a regional outbreak soon.

Locking down those camps is the right thing to do, and Thailand might not want to let anyone from Myanmar enter the country as cases there are high. No doubt in my mind there are cases of covid floating around Thailand due to Burmese, or others crossing in from that country.

On 11/13/2020 at 12:11 PM, redpill17 said:

I think it's carried all the way from Vietnam and China. Just look at this pic - not a lot of burning in Cambodia

I think you're right in this instance. However once Cambodia's burning season gets started it affects Chonburi, and Prachuap strongly. Sling with all the <deleted> making its way from China, and Vietnam.

This happens a lot in Cambodia, and I can't help myself from thinking that the idiocy involved is enormous.

13 hours ago, BusyB said:

 

That smog is why I decided that CM was not a potential place to settle. I remember seeing locals howking their lungs out on street corners. And after a trek in the mountains, coming back down the road in the jeep, as we hit the cauldron, literally from one breath to the next a transition between fresh air and smoke and fumes. That wasn't burning season by the way, that was the normal state of affairs December 2003. Never been back since which is such a shame because it's a lovely city in a lovely setting.

 

I smoked for 30 years, haven't for the last 20-odd. I didn't give it up to do that to myself.

 

But now Hua Hin? That was my seaside convalescence resort for retirement.????

 

 

I was in Prachuap Khiri Khan in November 2019, and air was quite smokey. I'm convinced some of it is due to local farmers, but more importantly the air that's being brought in from the east. Most of that dirty air actually originates in Cambodia, and Chantaburi, then blows across Chonburi( which has very unhealthy air in dry season), and then on over to His Hin.

22 minutes ago, rumak said:

I have an area down that way that I went to last year....... and will again this year .  I would not say that it is stunning,  but it was really nice and quiet and we sometimes had the beach almost all to ourselves.     

I might take a side trip over Ranong way and south a bit .   Maybe Yinn will show me her worms   ????

 

For me,  i like to be away from tourists...... so peaceful is what i head to.   A little bit different than my younger days

 

 

I've heard Ranong is very nice. Beach pic nice!

9 minutes ago, Bangyai said:

Lower Petchabun air is still ok.

 

 

 

I don't think the lower part of the province has mountains on either side of the valley, but I could be wrong.

15 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Decent choice. It is a spectacularly beautiful province, you will have easy access to Samui, Krabi, Phangha, some incredible nearby national parks, etc. And the weather is nice. It can get hot, but you have good breezes, more rain, and way better air quality. Smart move. Keep us informed. The riverfront area is nice for dining, the central market is good, and the highways in the province are some of the best in the country. Otherwise, it is a fairly non descriptive town. If it were me, I would find something just outside of town, as the surrounding areas are very scenic. The air quality around large parts of the country stink, between now and April. The authorities should be holding their heads in shame, if only they had any pride, or concern for the masses. So much could be done to improve this situation. I have a simple solution, since so much of the pollution can be traced to the burning of the crops. It has been made illegal, but as usual, nothing is being enforced. So, it continues.

 

There is a very simple solution to this problem. If the authorities were interested in solutions. The burning has to stop. There are alternatives, to this 19th century technique of burning after the sugar cane harvest. Either the government starts to encourage farmers to switch to more environmentally friendly crops, or they start to penalize farmers for burning. This heinous burning, is leading to a tremendous degree of environmental degradation, and alot of lung disease. So here is what I propose-

1. Fine the farmers 5,000 baht for a first offense, and give them a stern warning, that burning is now prohibited, and the second fine will be very harsh.
2. For a second offense, fine the farmer 100,000 baht, and warn them that if the burning continues, their land will be confiscated.
3. On the 3rd offense, confiscate their land. Period. No questions. No legal proceeding or appeals on the part of the farmers. Allow others to come in and purchase the land at a fair price, with the caveat that sugar is prohibited as a crop to be grown on that land.
The news would travel faster than the toxic smoke, and farmers would change their ways overnight, and move into the 21st century.

Then they can move on to tackle the sale of diesel vehicles, and the government's enthusiastic support of such. It is inane in this day and age. Most nations are moving away from diesel for good reasons. When they are not well maintained, they foul the air, with large, nasty particles. And who properly maintains their vehicle here?

 

 

Thankyou for the informative info regarding Surat. In fact I did spend about 3 months down that way in 2015, and I know what you mean about Surat Thani town being a bit non-descriptive. I thought it was quite boring for being a provincial town, however like you alluded to the surrounding area can be quite nice. Perhaps I'll be able to explore the surrounding area a bit, and find a decent place to reside. I thought Kao Sok National Park was incredible, and the beachside town of Kanom, Nakhon Si Thimmarat was also quite nice. If you have any locations; please share.

After the last 3 years of agony for my tonsils, and throat during the dry seasons I've decided to move to Surat Thani for at least the next four months to avoid the plague of bad air that is already settling in Petchabun, and everywhere else in Thailand for that matter anywhere north of Hua Hin. My tonsillitis was so bad last year it took four courses of anti-biotics over 4 months just to get rid of the infections. I considered a tonsillectomy,but with covid it was difficult finding a hospital that'd do it for cheap, and some declined surgeries altogether. I figure by getting down south where the air is humid, and warm year round I can potentially avoid another round of tonsil problems, but my fingers are crossed. I do know that Surat gets fires that come over from Indonesia, but last I read it is a "La Nina" year which is good for rainfall in Indonesia, so fires shouldn't be an issue. That being said; does anyone have any experience on the air quality situation in Southern Thailand? It can't be anywhere worse than what we've got going on in central Thailand right now. Petchabun has had an AQI over 100 for the last week, and the next week looks even worse. Everywhere else I've lived in Thailand (Khon Kaen, Bangkok) are going to be awful in about another month, so I can't imagine anyone has a better suggestion for a place to live. Maybe Songkla, or Yala.

On 10/31/2020 at 10:17 AM, Surelynot said:

Good point....but how come Hua Hin air quality is equally bad?

It's equally as bad in Huan Hin because in the dry season the air is blowing from the east and picking up all of Cambodia's burning and blows it directly into Prachuap Kiri khan. It gets real bad around December, and January. You have to go clear to Surat Thani to avoid bad air in the dry season.

5 hours ago, Pattaya Spotter said:

Had a huge deluge in Pattaya early this morning (Tuesday).

It's cause the climate is all out of whack. These storms coming from the South China Sea are an abnormality, however we've had several the last few years. Rainy season is starting so much later than it's supposed now than before. It doesn't look good for the future farmer in Thailand.

There was so much hope for Myanmar around 2012 when I visited there, and much of that hope seems to have vanished. Very sad situation.

6 hours ago, Grumpy John said:

"Thailand is in talks with China to establish a quarantine-free travel corridor by January to rescue its ailing tourism industry"  

 

This maybe a risky move!  I have been following a Vlogger called serpentza on Youtube for a few years who lived in China for 13 years and has a lot of contacts there and he is saying the Wuhan China virus is still a huge problem in China.  The CCP are not telling the truth about it!

Serpentza indeed was there for 13 years, however he makes his money bashing China. Don't take everything he says seriously.