Robroy

On Jan 17 I celebrated one year off the fags, and not a single pang after the first week.

I had tried hypnosis (3 times), giving up drinking, Alan Carr, willpower, meditation and numerous other methods in the previous 30 years of on-off (mostly on) smoking.

What worked for me was the method developed by UK author and ex-smoker Gillian Riley in "How to stop smoking and stay stopped for good".

Basically she uses the more recent understanding of how the frontal cortex works to train you to face desire, experience it and work thru it. (Ther'e no ducking it.)

It also worked for the woman who put me onto it - she's several years off the fags now.

What impresses me is that now I've put myself thru the brief denial of desire thing, the desire is gone: no pangs to speak of any more. Wouldn't have thought it possible, but it is.

Of course you need to want to give up first - it's not like ordering a coffee.

Like many others, my Thai gf and I are fleeing Chiang Mai this week as air pollution has reached "critical" levels:

http://www.pcd.go.th/AirQuality/Regional/Default.cfm

Panang is the nicest island I've seen, so I thought we could hang there for a couple of months.

I realize last-minute beggars can't be choosers, but the ideal would be:

• We'll be there for a couple of months (to begin with), so an apartment or cottage rather than a hotel room.

• Wi-fi. (I work every day via Internet.)

• Walking distance to a nice beach.

Can anyone help?

(Then it's back to Chiang Mai when the burning season ends, to pack up and leave permanently. Might be looking for longer-term accommodation then.)

Thanks a lot.

Please can you give your source for that statistic.

The 'second-highest lung cancer rate in the world' quote is from Professor Sumittra Thongprasert in the Chiang Mai Mail:

"Prof Sumittra Thongprasert claims that the incidence of lung cancer in Chiang Mai is ranked second highest in the world."

http://www.chiangmai-mail.com/077/features.shtml

With diligence typical of Thai journalism, the CM Mail doesn't tell us who Prof Thongprasert is.

However a google search reveals s/he is from the Medical Ecology Department, Chiang Mai University.

Indeed at http://www.chiangmai-mail.com/063/news.shtml (a second CM Mail article), Prof Thongprasert "revealed that Chiang Mai had an incidence of lung cancer higher than every other region in Thailand. The number of patients with respiratory diseases was greater than 600,000 patients last year."

It just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?

The table saying CM has more lung cancer than Bangkok is at:

http://www.chiangmainews.com/indepth/details.php?id=625

tho like many of the very unprofessional Chiang Mai Mail's articles, it is unsourced.

Someone else asked:

"I'm supposed to be coming to Chiangmai for a few days break - this Sunday (18th March) - Wednesday. The haze seems to be bad there. Would you recommend that I cancel?"

I couldn't in good conscience recommend visiting anywhere in the north at the moment. In CM, the worst carcinogens, the <PM10s, are 2.5 times their maximum safe level today.

Because of the problem I am leaving CM for good this year. I'm currently checking out flights and apartments at Phuket and Hua Hin, and am thinking about decamping south as an interim measure too - i.e. for a couple of months till burning season ends. Both myself and my gf have been quite sick from the smoke.

Thanks everyone, and glad my post citing the science & the studies on this CM problem has been of some use.

In the light of the various studies I can only advise readers to minimise breathing.

No-one has been able to precisely answer my questions (on any solid grounding) because I don't think anyone knows the breakdowns of 'Where does the pollution come from?'

But obviously in broad terms it comes from regional Asian sources, northern Thailand sources (forest fires and deliberate burning in both cases), and Chiang Mai sources (to which add vehicle and industrial emissions, cookers, dust from building sites, etc etc). Obviously it's critical presently because of the forest fires and deliberate burning outside the city and beyond.

Looking at the much-cited satellite fire map...

http://maps.geog.umd.edu/activefire_html/c...nd_checkbox.htm

...you can see that the fires decrease dramatically the further south you go. Bangkok good, the South much, much better.

(My gf has just returned from the South and confirms there is very little smoke haze there. I, on the other hand, just returned from Luang Prabang, and can confirm that northern Laos is as bad as here, if not worse. I couldn't see the sun above Luang Prabang till about 90 minutes after sunrise, and then only faintly. Everyone I show my photos to thinks it's the Moon.)

Someone above said Phuket was covered in smoke a few years ago because of Malaysian fires - and of course the South abuts Malaysia, one of the worst fire culprits. As I'm headed for the South, I'll just have to deal with that when/if it happens; and maybe leave Asia and join CobraSnakeNecktie in Costa Rica if so.

But in the meantime it seems clear that this will be my last year in Chiang Mai, living under this toxic inversion layer. I thinks the stats quoted in my above post...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/index.php?sh...p;#entry1189093

...say it all:

• By 6 out of 7 measures, air pollution levels here higher than in Bangkok.

• Lung cancer rates in CM the second-highest in the world.

• More lung cancer here than in Bangkok.

• The really nasty particles (the potently carcinogenic <PM10s) here are presently double the safe maximum.

• Respiratory disease rates have doubled in 10 years, to the point where now half the province's population is treated annually.

• CM residents this week warned to stay indoors.

And the piece de resistance in my opinion:

Chiang Mai City Clerk Ken Santitham, states: “Our air problems are not that severe.”

This morning I went into a cafe near CMU and mentioned to the waitress that it was very smoky outside - I couldn't see Doi Suthep, after all, and I was standing right under it. She brought me an ashtray. Which I thought said a lot.

I doubt the Thais are going to do anything about this problem soon. Educating them will take several years, and my lungs won't last that long. I'm not going to start complaining about that (TIT), just up stumps.

I apologise if the above stats are proven wrong at some stage. Even I find it hard to believe that CM has more lung cancer than Bangkok, which has 20(?) times the population. But that's what the studies/experts say, so I have to treat that as our present level of knowledge.

Nevertheless, I don't need epidemiological data to tell me that living in a town with double the safe levels of <PM10s is dangerous. The discomfort from the present air quality is bad enough, but it's the long-term effects I really worry about.

Margaret Crane is currently in the Chiang Mai women's prison awaiting charges.

A small group of CM farang women (who had never met her before) are helping her out with food, supplies, etc. Much of the food is donated from cafes etc; some they pay for themselves.

I'm sure any help would be appreciated. PM me.

Here are two snaps of the lunar eclipse, taken in Luang Prabang last weekend.

The first is the early stages, the second in the late stages.

The place mentioned above by TA22 is in fact Goodspeed Computer (second floor of Icon) and it is indeed the best place I've found in CM. Neung, the boss there, is the best person to speak to.

In my experience Panthip Plaza up on Changklan has fallen asleep: I can never evoke a flicker of interest there from staff any more. It's like one of those medieval fairy tales where the entire town falls asleep for 100 years. I've given up on it.

If you have a Mac (as I do) you are in the wrong town unhappily. There is a Mac dealer here, but he is breathtakingly incompetent - and admits on the quiet to running a few scams to milk more money out of clients (overcharging, charging for non-existent problems, etc). The last time I left a laptop there it didn't come back "from Bangkok" for EIGHT WEEKS. And that was just to get a quote.

I now take my Mac to Australia for repairs.

I thought I’d summarise the studies I cited in the previous post, as they contain some relevant information for anyone living in Chiang Mai:

• The northwestern Suthep Range essentially blocks the air movement from the Northwesterly and Southeasterly winds – winds which would otherwise wash out air pollution - during the cool and rainy seasons respectively.

• Of the 7 categories of air pollution measured in both cities, Chiang Mai had higher concentrations than Bangkok – in most cases far higher concentrations.

• Lung cancer in Chiang Mai is 139 cases per 100,000, almost 6 times the world average.

• The small (<10 and <2.5 micron) dust particles in Chiang Mai’s air – the ones which embed in lungs and alveoli respectively, and thus cause the most damage - are generally double the ‘ambient air quality standard’ between January-April. (Another study said they’re worst in November-March.)

• 40-80% of the small <PM10 particles come from ‘outdoor fires’, and the rest from diesel vehicles, cooking fires and other sources.

• These fine particles may also carry other toxins into the body which cause infections and respiratory diseases, and/or are carcinogenic or mutagenic.

• The <PM10 particles carry a potent carcinogen (polycydic aromatic hydrocarbons – from burning dried grass and leaves, and cooking fires) which also causes more severe attacks in asthmatics and heart disease patients.

• Whilst the <PM10s come mostly from vegetation burning, 90% of Chiang Mai’s carbon monoxide pollution comes from vehicle emissions during rush hours.

• The CO tends to concentrate in valleys.

• ‘Total suspended particles’ (TSP) varies from area to area – e.g. one busy commerical area had double the concentration of a residential area. In rural and residential areas they remain fairly constant through the day; in commercial and industrial areas they tend to peak in the morning rush hour, gradually decrease thereafter, then rise again toward evening.

• In 2003 there were 704,800 hospital cases of respiratory disease recorded – roughly double that of 10 years earlier.

• Respiratory disease rates have risen every year since then.

• A UN study has identified a two-mile-thick toxic cloud comprised of ash, acids, aerosols, etc covering southern Asia – the result of forest fires, the burning of agricultural wastes, industry, vehicle emissions, power stations, and inefficient cookers.

• The UN has dubbed the cloud, which is cutting solar radiation reaching the Earth by up to 15%, and is affecting rainfall patterns, the “Asian Brown Cloud”.

• One of the 200 scientists involved in the study noted that two million people die annually in India from atmospheric pollution.

• Chiang Mai’s average TSP (total suspended particulate) concentration in 2004 was 149 µg/m. Average TSP concentrations in Seoul, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City and Karachi were 153, 78, 127, 211, 74 and 668 µg/m, respectively.

Whilst the general drift is clear, there is a certain amount of vagueness or contradiction in the various studies and media reports, e.g. as to whether the TSPs come mainly from soil dust/road dust/industry/vehicles, or from vegetation burning; and whether levels in the peak seasons are ‘generally’ above safe levels or just ‘spike’ over them in (for example) morning rush hour; whether Chiang Mai city’s population is 250,000 or 400,000; and why in either case Chiang Mai city would have had 550,000 vehicles in 2000.

In addition to the above-cited articles, I found a few more:

The Nation today, Mar 10:

[http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30027187]

• “Chiang Mai Public Health Office is warning residents, especially the elderly and those with respiratory diseases, to avoid prolonged outdoor activities as the air pollution in the city is reaching critical levels.

“The Department of Pollution Control showed dust particles, smaller than 10 microns, are rising to a harmful level.

“Medics report that the number of people suffering from respiratory diseases in Chiang Mai is rising dramatically, with an increase of 20 per cent expected this year.”

From http://www.chiangmainews.com/indepth/details.php?id=625 :

• Chiang Mai has a higher number of lung cancer patients than Bangkok in absolute (not per capita) terms.

• Dr Duangchan Apawatcharut Jaroenmuang, head of the Chiang Mai-Lamphun Air Pollution Control Project, revealed that patients with general respiratory diseases in Chiang Mai also outnumber those in Bangkok.

• Dr Charoenmuang, who has spent a number of years studying air pollution in Chiang Mai, and who has discussed the problem with the Mayor among other civic leaders, believes the city authorities have no intention of doing anything about the problem.

• Chiang Mai City Clerk Ken Santitham, comments: “Our air problems are not that severe.”

Thanks CobraSnakeNecktie. And well I remember John Hammond's blistering version of the song in which that line occurs. A song which is called.......? Oh well, it has been nearly 40 years.

Thanks for the Costa Rica information. I shall check it out too, as I'm not wedded to Thailand - especially as the rule of law doesn't always seem to operate here for farang; and no-one's doing much about corruption; and TT&T are hopeless; and the beaches are full of garbage.

Internet is vital to me too, as I'm a share/futures trader.

Is there any good science on the detox agents you cite? (I'll check out the sites, ta..)

I've put together a precis of the articles I've quoted - see my next post.

PS: Got it: "Who do you love?"

The gf and I are exiting Chiang Mai in about June (air pollution here has become intolerable; traffic jams are getting larger; etc).

Krabi town is the nicest place we found in a tour of southern beaches late 2006. (All of the actual beaches had too much garbage on them, even in the remoter islands, disappointingly.)

Can anyone help with the basics:

• How easy/hard/expensive is it to rent a house in or around Krabi town?

• How long does one wait to get a phone connected?

• Internet service okay? (Have had huge problems with TT&T in Chiang Mai, as does everyone.)

Make it public so all can benefit.

Thanks a lot.

Can anyone bring some clarity to the question: what causes Chiang Mai’s bad air quality?

This study

http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:CH-r4z...p;client=safari

hints that it is vehicle emissions.

However stories last week in the B Post and Nation suggest it is mainly rural burning.

(Tho Thai journalistic standards are low, and it was hard to tell exactly *what* these stories were saying.)

This study:

http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:bJ_nDB...p;client=safari

finds that the air is so bad in CM Jan-Mar because

1 There is less wind

2 There is no rain to settle pollutants

3 There is a lot of burning from paddy fields and forest fires

Its conclusions are that CO and NOx come from traffic; PM10s (small particulate matter) comes from 'vegetation fires'; forest fires are a 'likely contributor' to PM10s too.

In other words the carbon monoxide that is poisoning us comes from vehicles, and the PM10s (particulate matter less than 10 microns) that is killing us is coming from rural burning.

I'd assume that the PM10s are the greater threat, both quantitively and qualitively.

Anyway, this comprehensive study of CM’s air in urban, industrial, residential and rural areas suggests that the PM10s don't come from buring after all…

http://72.14.235.104/search?q=cache:aRkwMU...p;client=safari

It says “…TSP [total suspended particulate matter] sources were crustal matter from soil and road dust (Fe, Ca, Al and K) as well as vehicular and industrial emissions (Pb, Zn and Cr).”

However The Nation last week

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/03/02...al_30028253.php

says it’s mostly outdoor fires.

All of which means I’m confused.

So question 1 is, "Is it rural burning, or is it industrial/traffic emissions?"

Question 2 is: "Assuming that burning plays a role - where is the burning?"

I had assumed it was all round the north, but my flight yesterday from Luang Prabang gave me about 15-20 minutes’ aerial viewing of the Chiang Mai region – and I only saw one (not especially big) fire.

Maybe that’s because all the media exposure has caused the authorities to act?

Finally, this story

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines02/0811-06.htm

speaks about the “Asian Brown Cloud”, which supports the idea that our air pollution is not local - implying that burning in northern Thailand won't much affect CM air quality - it's a whole-of-Asia-generated problem.

The 2 news story links immediately above are easy reading BTW – and summarise things prety well (and very alarmingly). The others being academic studies are more of a slog.

Today the ‘direct’ sunlight in CM is yellow-orange, it’s hard to see the mountains, my gf has been coughing for a week, and I have a sore throat which wasn't there yesterday in Laos.

So my three questions are:

1. Is CM's air pollution smoke from rural burning, or industrial/vehicle emissions?

2. If mainly the former, is that burning forest fires or crops?

3. And if the former, are those fires over the whole Asian region - or are they northern Thai ones?

BTW this problem probably won’t be fixed any time soon, and I’ve made plans to leave my beloved Chiang Mai. Heading to Krabi in June. Not as much fun, but I will live longer.

The Writers Club in Ratchadamnern is my favourite watering hole. It's a bar and restaurant - tho not a bargirl type bar. More for intelligent conversation than crumpet.

The Number 1 Club is too crowded thesedays, after their advertising campaign, plus toward the end of my period there (2005-6) the girls were really piling the pressure on to buy more drinks - obviously a management policy.

One place to avoid IMO is the Siam Cafe in Loi Kroh, where I spent 2 days eating, bringing guests (hundreds of baht spent) and wi-fi-ing recently. At the end of the second day my bill was 360 baht; they refused to give me any change from my 1000! On enquiring the girl (Wa) said it was her birthday.

I took this to be a typical Thai joke - until several minutes went by and still no change.

I then grabbed 500 baht off the till, and asked for the rest, please.

They sent me next door to talk to their 'manager'. The 'manager' said he had nothing to do with the Siam Cafe. Back I went and asked why they'd lied. No reply - their English became very bad at this point.

In the end they KEPT my remaining 140 baht as a (previously unmentioned) 'electricity charge' for my laptop.

I have been going to the Siam Cafe for 2 years and have always tipped generously. But no more.