Thai City May Celebrate Water Festival Early To Reduce Haze

[p1p]

Item from Yahoo News

Thai city may celebrate water festival early to reduce haze

Thu Mar 15, 3:38 PM ET

BANGKOK (AFP) - The mayor of Chiang Mai in northern Thailand on Thursday proposed bringing the city's water festival celebrations forward to help reduce the choking haze from forest fires that has enveloped the north of the country.

Thais celebrate Buddhist New Year by throwing water at each other from April 13 to 15, but Mayor Boonlert Buranupakorn said that he would like Chiang Mai to start the Songkran festivities on April 1.

"My idea is that we can have the water festival at the beginning of April, so that when people throw water it creates moisture and absorbs the haze," Boonlert told AFP.

"If my proposal is positively received by Chiang Mai residents, then we will go ahead," he added.

The haze blanketing many parts Thailand's usually scenic north eased Thursday, pollution officials said, but remained above levels considered safe to human health.

"The haze improved in Chiang Mai this morning due to the reduction in high pressure from China, which allowed hot air to dissipate," said Duangjai Duangthip from the northern pollution office.

She said strict controls on the burning of forest and farm materials also helped reduce the haze, but warned that there were still 834 fires burning across the northern region.

Paiboon Wattanasiritham, minister for social development, said that there had been a 20 percent increase in patients with respiratory problems at hospitals since the haze hit.

"Although the situation is better, we cannot be complacent and we will monitor the situation on a daily basis," he said.

Air quality is measured in micrograms of particles of matter per cubic metre, with 120 considered unhealthy, and 300 considered dangerous.

Chiang Mai province, one of Thailand's most popular tourist destinations, reported levels of 382.7 Wednesday, but these had dropped to between 260.5 and 229.5 by Thursday, a pollution control office report said.

The Chiang Mai weather bureau said visibility had improved to 1,800 metres (just over one mile) from 800 metres on Wednesday.

In Lamphun province, which borders Chiang Mai, the air quality reading dropped from 218.7 on Wednesday to 152.6 on Thursday.

There were no comparable readings for the two other worst-hit provinces of Chiang Rai, which has declared a province-wide disaster zone, and Mae Hong Son.

A total of eight northern provinces -- encompassing about five million people -- have been hit by the haze caused by forest fires and agricultural burning in northern Thailand and neighbouring Myanmar and Laos.

The haze was exacerbated by northeasterly winds and high pressure from China.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont is expected to tour the region later Thursday

[Ulysses G.]

Number one, it won't work.

Number two, how about all of tourists from overseas who have planned their holidays during the normal dates?

Are these people trying to ruin the tourist industry on purpose?

[The Dan Sai Kid]

I know that Songkhran is the festival to call the rain, but I think they are grasping at straws now!

Edited March 16, 2007 by The Dan Sai Kid

[terrymor66]

Wow ! They have really got some rocket scientist working overtime down at City Hall eh ? Maybe if all the residents in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai jumped up and down in unison we could bounce the haze out !

[The Dan Sai Kid]

No, we all buy one of those big painted fans from the Night Bazaar and we all go outside and wave it into the air - hey presto -instant clear skies!

[Rasseru]

Number one, it won't work.

Number two, how about all of tourists from overseas who have planned their holidays during the normal dates?

Are these people trying to ruin the tourist industry on purpose?

Number three, it then will not happen on the full moon, as it should.

Number four, how about all those residents -- me included -- who have specifically planned a holiday away to avoid the d@mned thing ?

[tigerbeer]

"My idea is that we can have the water festival at the beginning of April, so that when people throw water it creates moisture and absorbs the haze," Boonlert told AFP.

more like the amount of beer, whiskey drank and pee'd might do the trick !

[PeaceBlondie]

Nah, they can just announce a new boondoggle of public works, like 44,789 fountains all over town, which with graft and corruption will cost 4 times what they should, and be ready the year after they finish those three superhighway underpasses.

Make everybody pee outdoors (women can wear long skirts and no panties, and squat). It's been scientifically proven that if you throw somtam in the moat, little green men from Mars will jump out and eat the smoke.

Oh, I almost forgot: this is a government pronouncement to simplistically solve a complex problem, and they won't do it. Disregard.

Maybe the folks back home can start celebrating Christmas in August so there won't be any of that snow and ice.

April 1 to celebrate Songkran. Perfect. Fool's day.

[chanchao]

> Number three, it then will not happen on the full moon, as it should.

BUUUUUUUUZzzzzzzzzzzzz! Incorrect. Songkran is not a lunar thing like Loi Kratong is. Songkran is ALWAYS on (around) the 13th of April, no matter what the moon does.

[cmsally]

After increasing their yearly environmental tax for businesses such as hotels, apartments etc; threefold this year (yes x3), maybe they might like to use the money to actually do something to help the environment!

[Crow Boy]

> Number three, it then will not happen on the full moon, as it should.

BUUUUUUUUZzzzzzzzzzzzz! Incorrect. Songkran is not a lunar thing like Loi Kratong is. Songkran is ALWAYS on (around) the 13th of April, no matter what the moon does.

That is correct but it is still an astologically based event for when the sun moves out of Pisces into Aries.

[Rasseru]

> Number three, it then will not happen on the full moon, as it should.

BUUUUUUUUZzzzzzzzzzzzz! Incorrect. Songkran is not a lunar thing like Loi Kratong is. Songkran is ALWAYS on (around) the 13th of April, no matter what the moon does.

That is correct but it is still an astologically based event for when the sun moves out of Pisces into Aries.

Thanks for the correction and recorrection. I was half-right anyway, so my overall average is unchanged.

[JuniorExPat]

To think it's a good idea is nuts . . .

To voice the opinion beggars belief . . . .

To allow it to be published . . . . . . . .

Silly season must be upon us.

JxP

[realthaideal]

"No, we all buy one of those big painted fans from the Night Bazaar and we all go outside and wave it into the air - hey presto -instant clear skies!"

Now you're thinking ! Tomorrow at 12 noon, let's all open our refrigerators at 12 pm to 12:10 pm to help lower the city's temperature too. This could really work. I mean REALLY. I haven't done any calculations, but I have a really good feeling for 'common sense.'

And to the other point....I'm fine with the Songkran madness, I go out n enjoy it a day or two, stay in home the other days. But I do need to know when it starts. I cannot be driving around unprepared on a scooter with camera or laptop computer on me and risk them. No way. This is introducing a degree of extra hazards to the city that could really upset myself or tourists who are not prepared for what and when may happen. Same for messing up traffic and causing accidents. Hmmmm.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

So if they do celebrate Songkhran on April 1,2,3, does that mean that on the 13th, 14th, 15th that no-one will be out and the moat won't be blocked.

These people should think before they open their mouths!

[realthaideal]

"Make everybody pee outdoors (women can wear long skirts and no panties, and squat). It's been scientifically proven that if you throw somtam in the moat, little green men from Mars will jump out and eat the smoke."

Dat's funny stuff Blondie. I'm all for women with no undies, so have at it. Anything beats the giant Granny-style drawers most Thai ladies like to wear anyway.

And as for somtam and green men eating smoke, you must be smokin' some good sh*# at your house. I'm jealous.

[Foggy Bottom]

BIG Clue -

Item from Yahoo News

Mayor Boonlert Buranupakorn said that he would like Chiang Mai to start the Songkran festivities on April 1.

Mayor Boonlert has a very capable personal assistant with near-native speaker English, who is fully aware of western customs. I have met him a couple of times.

HOWEVER

If this were to happen = "Oh grat, the 10-day SONGKRAM now gets extended to 21 days - I suppose it's one way to make population growth controls pleasurable - NOT!!!"

[The Dan Sai Kid]

BIG Clue -

Item from Yahoo News

Mayor Boonlert Buranupakorn said that he would like Chiang Mai to start the Songkran festivities on April 1.

Mayor Boonlert has a very capable personal assistant with near-native speaker English, who is fully aware of western customs. I have met him a couple of times.

HOWEVER

If this were to happen = "Oh grat, the 10-day SONGKRAM now gets extended to 21 days - I suppose it's one way to make population growth controls pleasurable - NOT!!!"

Well, the Mayor's assistant should be aware that April the first is the day that the jokes are played. It's not called March 15 fools day!

[chanchao]

Well actually, I think I'd rather like a 21 day Songkran party..

If it doesn't get rid of the haze in the sky then at least my head will be hazy for the duration.

[Bananaman]

Knowing the average Thai's rampant enthusiasm for the water festivities, surely this will just be treated as an opportunity to enjoy the festival TWICE? I mean come the middle of the month when the rest of the country are all chucking water left right and centre, you're telling me that it will be business as usual in CM? It'd only take a few revellers to get the buckets and the water guns out again and the rest of the city would rapidly follow suit!

Edited March 16, 2007 by Bananaman

[WaiWai]

Boondoggle for P.M. !!!

Age-old traditions like Buddhist New Year cannot stand in his way.

The ancient practice of burning-off is paramount !

Never, never must it ... simply ... er ...

ahem .. stop, and the mountains return to view.

P.S.

the giant Granny-style drawers most Thai ladies like to wear anyway

Cite your sources ! Edited March 16, 2007 by WaiWai

[chanchao]

> It'd only take a few revellers to get the buckets and the water guns

> out again and the rest of the city would rapidly follow suit!

Absolutely, especially as the official holidays (days off) don't change.

If it's April 13, water MUST be thrown.

[faranggl]

Even if this is a joke, it is one of the more lucid thaidizs illuminated by TV.com.

IMHO.

GL

[Crow Boy]

"No, we all buy one of those big painted fans from the Night Bazaar and we all go outside and wave it into the air - hey presto -instant clear skies!"

Now you're thinking ! Tomorrow at 12 noon, let's all open our refrigerators at 12 pm to 12:10 pm to help lower the city's temperature too. This could really work. I mean REALLY. I haven't done any calculations, but I have a really good feeling for 'common sense.'

And to the other point....I'm fine with the Songkran madness, I go out n enjoy it a day or two, stay in home the other days. But I do need to know when it starts. I cannot be driving around unprepared on a scooter with camera or laptop computer on me and risk them. No way. This is introducing a degree of extra hazards to the city that could really upset myself or tourists who are not prepared for what and when may happen. Same for messing up traffic and causing accidents. Hmmmm.

This reminds me on the time when k. Taksin was still el supremo and he was trying to reduce the fuel and electricity consumption so we had the TV special with him standing in TV land with the screen behind showing all the city building with their lights being turned off. Curously the AIS tower seemed to get a lot of exposure on state sponsored tv time.

I was living in a house with four generations of Thais and they were all fixated as they watched this enthralling piece of Thai TV unfold before their eyes.

Then it was three cheers and a salute with Lao Koa to the pictures of Taksin in his (semi) royal regalia nailed up on the wall

It made almost as much sense as this latest idiot response from the otherwise normally intelligent and sensible CM Governer - must be the dust clogging his brain causing the synapses to missfire

[WaiWai]

> It'd only take a few revellers to get the buckets and the water guns

> out again and the rest of the city would rapidly follow suit!

Absolutely, especially as the official holidays (days off) don't change.

If it's April 13, water MUST be thrown

.

I am sure you're right.

Not going to help all the drought-affected areas.

[lannarebirth]

I often wonder when I read rediculous proclamations such as this; is the person voicing the opinion really that stupid, or are they aware how silly the idea is but believe the people they tell it too are really that stupid. That said, saw a brush fire today near my village. 200-300 rai, totally out of control, but it petered out when it hit the forest, which had already been burned.

[WaiWai]

I often wonder when I read rediculous proclamations such as this; is the person voicing the opinion really that stupid, or are they aware how silly the idea is but believe the people they tell it too are really that stupid.

Same same here.

It all makes me think of, and compare against, Mao and China. The sheer capacity for "willing suspension of disbelief" plus lack of education and combined with an encouragement of unquestioning reverence is a potent opiate. (Everyday Chinese folk are in an entirely different frame of mind these days.)

I don't think the speaker believes it, most of the time. Not sure if that makes me a cynic or an optimist (the latter, so far as their cognitive faculties are concerned). However, the patent absurdity and flagrant disregard for others' welfare is disturbing.

Edited March 16, 2007 by WaiWai

[Loom]

Well, where I grew up, we used to burn the leaves every fall until the police came by and fined us for breaking the law. After that everything was bagged and trucked off to the landfill. There are landfills and garbage trucks in north Thailand aren't there?

[WaiWai]

quote]I often wonder when I read rediculous proclamations such as this; is the person voicing the opinion really that stupid, or are they aware how silly the idea is but believe the people they tell it too are really that stupid.

Same same here.

It all makes me think of, and compare against, Mao and China. The sheer capacity for "willing suspension of disbelief" plus lack of education and combined with an encouragement of unquestioning reverence is a potent opiate. (Everyday Chinese folk are in an entirely different frame of mind these days.)

I don't think the speaker believes it, most of the time. Not sure if that makes me a cynic or an optimist (the latter, so far as their cognitive faculties are concerned). However, the patent absurdity and flagrant disregard for others' welfare is disturbing.

A few related thoughts :

1. UyssesG : good for you, passing on skills and knowledge (and viable businesses). These are precisely what is needed, and precisely what the power group is not interested in sharing. This is something all of us can contribute.

2. I am wondering if this city is approaching something akin to a state of lawlessness. Yes, of course, that word is too strong, but it conveys my feeling. One day last week, at about 10.30 a.m., I heard some odd noises. No odder than all the other odd noises I hear, but it persisted so I moved a metre to look. What ? ? There was a guy at the window, trying to break in. Shouted at him and he fled, scaling a fence twice his height with ease.

If any reconnaisance had been done, it was sloppy work. I have thought alot since (too mak!), and realised that taking a chance like that is not too many steps short of armed robbery. That may sound dramatic, but nothing like that has never happened to me in any of the other places I have lived. I am not going to becdome fearful, but I am certainly going to take more precautions.

I'd feel better if it were just a random druggie. But I have since heard that the restaurant at the end of the soi was robbed 10 days ago (took the police 10 days to visit them. Our landlady has some "pull", I believe, and we were visited next day. They took photos of the screwdriver-marks in the window frames and vanished). Today, a woman pulled her car up outside and began looking around. A 6 or 7 year old daughter was in the car. I asked her if she was OK, and she told me that a few days ago she had been robbed and hit in that place, in the late evening. She showed me a deep slash on her arm. She was visibly upset as she told me. She wanted her bag and I.D. back; the money was not important. She told me she works in the restaurant/bar down at the end of the soi, and that she had lived in many places around Europe, and nothing like this had ever happened before. She said that her boyfriend was foreign, and that may have caused an assumption of wealth. (I has presumed the same mentality in my own case.) She said, "My own country. I can't believe it," shaking and telling me to take care.

Later in the afternoon, a 60-ish Thai woman came to the gate, warning us of some brazen house thieves on motorbikes. She's wise : putting the word around and getting together as a community are crucial defences.

And that's just the stories the farang heard.

A Thai who had lived in the U.S. told us about calling the policeabout an oven fire and being amazed how quickly they arrived. It quickly becomes clear you need to fend for yourself here. The guy next door (brother of landlady) materialised with a gun as soon as he heard of the intruder.

This desperation is a direct result of economic conditions and lack of other skills.

In some ways the Thais keep close ranks, but under threat, community wisdom prevails. Any of you familiar with "Neighbourhood Watch" ? It works. Perhaps this will bring us "farangs" more closely into the neighbourhood.

(Tried to add this to an earlier post as an edit but rambled on too long and have to make a separate post.)

[cmsally]

Heard on the local grapevine of a big upsurge in crime in Doi Saket, Sansai/Mae Jo and Sankamphaeng areas within the last few weeks. It seems a lot of people are desperate for quick cash and don't care how they get it.