Jose

Visibility down to about 2km this morning in Sansai. Nasty burning smell permeating the air - this is a March kind of CM air quality.

I also noticed the first pic seem Photochopped with more coconut trees air brushed in........

You're looking at 3D rendered CAD drawings - the two units haven't been built yet.

I would be interested, but did you see the artwork? No way I would want those paintings on my wall.

If you mean this one, it's "Maya Wind" - Acrylic abstract painting by Tiffany Chantel:

Got some pictures somewhere of a 6 bedroom fully staffed villa in Lipa Noi. It's on 6 rai of land and is stunning. Spa, gym you name it. US$35k a week and that's mates rates!

That's 60 million Baht per year... Even if this were to be true, I can't imagine too many "mates" lining up for it.

Not on Samui, but in Thailand... I'm not into owning things, but I'd like to live in something like this.

http://tinyurl.com/osznh9l

Seems like a very hobbitable home...

It'd be interesting to see the real pics of the completed villas for comparison.

Note that the house takes up 90% of the property area.

And the latest fashion trend for the coming smog season:

.. international American TV news station

"International American" is an oxymoron.

Since this problem is nothing special or unusual and as it is likely that other reader with the same concern will find this thread through google etc:

Good point.

Clueless advice such as "the dog for sure has rabies though" doesn't help anybody, so let's try and keep a level head on this matter.

Statistically it is unlikely that these dogs have rabies, but just for peace of mind alone it would be worth to get vaccinated with the usual non immuno globin based vaccine (ie, not human blood based shots).

true-facts-about-ocean-radiation-and-the-fukushima-disaster

Simpsons guide to radiation? Beware of any "true facts" that involve the use of ridicule as a rhetorical ploy in any serious scientific discussion.

In terms of human/animal health, damage from scattered background environmental radiation is usually considered trivial when compared to the potential health damage from ingested contaminated food. Most naysayers point to the low average concentration measurement of Cesium 137 monitored in the Pacific ocean, but they seem to avoid any debate on the concentration of toxins stored within marine fatty tissue, specially in the larger fish (eg Tuna) up the food chain.

Play it safe - for the lowest concentration of any potential toxins (mercury, PCBs, chemicals, radiation), stick to Spanish/Portuguese sardines in olive oil.

Beaut pics... remind me of time spent in Mae Haad and Koh Ma back in the 90's.

These beaches generally tend to attract a quieter (and usually more interesting than the FMP crowd) type of traveller.

AT, lots of lime and honey drinks will expedite recovery, specially important if you are coughing with a broken rib.

Get well soon!

Excellent pics!

Beijing Citizens, Shrouded In Pollution, Flock To Giant Screens To View Artificial Sunrise:

CM, coming soon, to a screen near you...

Mag 4 earthquake? There are 100,000 of these around the world each year...

Related:

To tell or not to tell

Related:

Beijing Shuts Down As Pollution Over Past 12 Hours Literally "Off The Chart"

The CM valley is often blanketed in dangerous/organic vapor pollution (eg, SOx, NOx), and the usual N95 particle masks do nothing to filter-out these nasties.

If you get a chance, please bring a box of these (with spare cartridges) and I'll be the first to buy back some from you.

Anyone know how common asbestos-cement usage is in CM?

Related: Myths and Facts about Asbestos-Cement

I've noticed how brittle some cement roads and kerbs seem around here, and how they tend to break up in rather sharp irregular edges. My theory is that any asbestos content in Thai cement is there to make up for the lack of normal strength or quality.

It was a major blackout due to a car crashing to a power line on canal road. Affected area include Nimmanhaemin, Hangdong, Sansri, Doi Saket, Mae Rim

Correct, except the crash was on the ring road. The one that connects with Promanda. Last night after watching a late movie there, driving towards canal road we drove by the scene. Lots of emergency response and what was left of a car after it crashed through a fence and into some poles.

The crash was on Canal Road. Possible there were two, but the one that caused the power outage on the Canal Road took place in between the Night Safari intersection, and the Samoeng Intersection.

Either way, looking at the pics it seems that it was a white BT50 that wrapped itself around the pole that took the power down.

About 30 mins before this happened, a lunatic on a white BT50 overtook us doing 160kph+ on the Super Hwy. This guy didn't just overtake - he pushed his truck at full speed between myself and a car I was overtaking at the time, forcing the other car to swerve to the inside lane and myself to break heavily to avoid the carnage. Caught up with him at the next red lights, and he didn't seem like he was intoxicated. He took off flat to the board again and was doing crazy speeds and splitting cars in no time. The wife and I are more than 50% certain that this was the very same guy that took the CM power down last night.

Took off 9:30 this morning heading to Bangkok, and when we cleared the fog at about 1500m it became evident that the whole region is blanketed by heavy brown/gray smog. Visibility down to about 3km in all directions. By comparison, Bangkok now looks much clearer than CM.