MESmith

It's winding road through villages I think. Drove it about 10 years ago. Definitely not a short cut.

You can hear the duh-dum dum duuuum from 4 km away rather than the usual 2km

When I put shirt on around the house in the mornings,

regards Worgeordie

Not a true Geordie, eh?

Need to design your house with an inner sanctum. A safe room with no windows, surrounded on all sides by outer rooms & a concrete ceiling. Kit it out with a spare TV & a mattress on the floor for sleeping. But, be warned, you may never want to venture out once you've entered

Went on a nice 4 hrs bike trip with mixed jungle single trail / double trail / country road last weekend. Great weather and great views. Anyone else interested in joining?

Cheers, CMX

Can you post google earth pics? Please.

Cheers.

It is probably a combination of the mentioned factors.

In the long run this is worrying, though, because Chiang Mai is on its way to regular gridlocks. All the ingredients are present: fast urban sprawl, growing number of people and cars, poorly planned road network with overburdened main arteries, non-existing or dismal public transportation. Not exactly a new situation in Thailand (and in Asia).

Cheers, CMX

At least we have the ring roads

Driving back from Lampang at lunchtime, very heavy traffic, & slow going, heading south towards Kun Tan pass south of Lamphun. So at least a lot of the holiday traffic will be gone tomorrow, but I agree that generally, traffic is a lot more nowadays.

The cold weather might not be helping. Sound travels further on cold nights. Certainly noticed it out in the sticks where we live. Getting the 'duh-duh duh duuuuuh', but nothing going on for a few kilometers.

It's even sadder when lovely countryside like the paths up to Doi Suthep are spoiled: there really is no need for it.

The paths up to Doi Suthep are pristine and litter free.

Not 100% true, but pretty close. Always find the occasional red bull bottle or snack wrapper. Far too heavy to carry down. Mainly because not many locals venture up there, I guess.

It might also have something to do with the dozen or so groundskeepers Wat Doi Suthep (and the subsidiary Wat Palaat) employ to keep the trail neat and clean.

I'm talking about trails higher up near the top of Doi Pui, and Doi Pa Kha. When I refer to Doi Suthep, I refer to the mountain, not the temple. I guess we're talking different trails.

It's even sadder when lovely countryside like the paths up to Doi Suthep are spoiled: there really is no need for it.

The paths up to Doi Suthep are pristine and litter free.

Not 100% true, but pretty close. Always find the occasional red bull bottle or snack wrapper. Far too heavy to carry down. Mainly because not many locals venture up there, I guess.

When I was a youngster in UK, there were public information films on TV to get people to pick up their litter. I guess that means the UK was full of litter back then. As in most aspects, Thailand is simply 40 years behind the developed world, & insists on reinventing the wheel with regards to most things.

Public executions of corrupt public officials is the answer. It wont happen,

Shouldn't we separate the burning that represents people trying to stay warm from the rest?

They should be supplied with electric blankets

I plan to make a journey to pai!

How was the situation of the smoke this year in march and now?

Does the smog come also to the hill tribe village on a higher sea level ?

Pai is worse than Chiang Mai. (The further you get towards the North / Burma, the worse it gets). Right now it's brilliant weather, but in March it's potentially very nasty.

The Pai area is very beautiful when green. ie during the rains & just after, like now. By March it'll be dry & brown And probably very smokey

After two months... My misery has ended.

The speakers are gone.

I'll have a looooong moment of silence for this

Now some dumb a$$hole will probably start flying his paramotor around your house everyday. I wouldn't wish that noise on anyone

Look out BMW........ MG Mini which could be a lot cheaper, looks like 2015 for that one.

MGB GT. Wish they would make them again

Like this ?

Like this

My first car was a 17 year old MGB GT. Wish they would make them again, but with steel that doesn't rot......

The section from Den Chai to Chiang Mai is going to be a challenge for HST.

The car just need to have been ordered before 31st december, but you need to do the application before this date to the relevant office.

Whats the application that needs to be made? We ordered a car in August but haven't done anything re: the rebate.

My wife tried to submit papers soon after we took delivery of our truck. They sent her away & told her to come back once we had copies of the blue book.

Just rode the bus yesterday from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai. Spotted several fires that looked like the farmer was simply burning off the rice stubble/residue.

Question for those that know more about rice farming here; Why don't they just plow the crop residue back into the soil? I'm not a farmer but I always understood that when you plow the crop residue back into the soil it improves the soil. Is it the cost or effort of plowing again?

It is cost. Ploughing costs money either by contracting the job out to somebody else or using your own equipment will incur a fuel cost. Just leaving it means a bigger job when the field is to be resown.

Thanks, Briggsy!

They plough with the same tractor whether they burn or not. I doubt it makes the slightest difference. There are a few balers around, baling the straw for cattle, but most farmers just burn.

Great road trip. Thanks for sharing.

Yup.. they are confusing a regional pollution & climate problem with their neighbor burning some leavesm or his field: Local temporary issue vs regional issue across 3-4 countries.

Yesterdays PM-10 figure..... : 24.1 ; could see Doi Inthanon from downtown.

Anyway, can't hurt to have the topic ready for when we do hit February/March. I too plan to take a holiday in March, it's a sh*t month.

No confusion, whatsoever. The topic title refers to air pollution, not just smog. Yes, the skies are clear at the moment, but pollution, whether from burning, vehicle exhausts, or dust is a problem locally, once the rains finish. I'm not talking about the smog, which will come later. Yesterday, late afternoon, I made a rare trip into town, up on the 9th floor. Terrific view of the distant hills. However, in the middle distance you could see the smoke from burning in residential areas just south of the city, near the river. It wasn't going anywhere - no wind. Just hanging around the local area. This happens most days. AQI readings at a measuring station don't mean much to people getting smoked.

Burning in full swing out in the rice fields around our place. Always starts around now.

they will have a LIVE DJ

Fat Boy Slim?