Anyone have any tips of where that place might be. Doesn’t matter where. Severe asthma is the reason for the possible relocation. The AQI map for all Thailand this morning was not promising. Most everywhere looked not that good….even the south.

Any tips most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

If you find that place please tell me. Air quality where I am (rural Pakthong Chai, Korat) is terrible at the moment. Farmers are burning off their rice and cane fields after the recent harvests, due to the cool season all the locals are lighting fires, burning trash, making charcoal. I have a constant dust/ash taste in my mouth and my eyes feel itchy. Normally I miss this terrible time of year as I head down to Australia for Xmas/NYE/Summer but this time didn't make it. I'm going to make sure next Dec/Jan/Feb I'm well away.

The coastal area around Prachuap Khiri Khan, Pranbury, Chumpon usually has the lowest pollution scores but that doesn't mean they don't also have their bad days when the winds carry it.

Northeast Lamphun province.  Yesterday's walk was beautiful and clear with excellent visibility.

However...

From past experience I know this will end within the next 3 to 4 weeks.  Then I'll spend the next three months using my indoor treadmill and running indoor air filters.

31 minutes ago, dddave said:

The coastal area around Prachuap Khiri Khan, Pranbury, Chumpon usually has the lowest pollution scores but that doesn't mean they don't also have their bad days when the winds carry it.

Pran Buri, Sam Roi Yot and Pak Nam Pran covered by Smog since weeks and have high scores of PM 2.5 . Worst Air pollution since I'm in Thailand.

We live 20 kms to the east of Sakon Nakhon where there is no sugar cane (thank goodness) and very little agricultural burning. The air quality generally swings between 'excellent' and 'satisfactory', only rarely does it go higher than that. 

 

I walk out in the the countryside in clean, fresh air just about every day of the year.

 

I suppose if someone wants year round fresh clean air then Barrow Alaska is the place to be.

I think a mountain top like Khao Yai or Pukadung is probably alright.

pitch your tent in a Mall?

Never seen poor air quality around the islands but maybe I just missed it.

I have lived in many parts of Thailand, the most notable for the worst air quality were Chiang Mai, Bangkok and then Issan.

 

Hua Hin though a great place to live and on the coast, suffered from bad pollution at times.

Rural Ranong between Ranong and Chumphon, on the Isthmus of Kra, and Phuket were both very good and comparable.

Maybe being in the hills of Ranong with the highest rainfall in Thailand and on the coast in Phuket, certainly would have helped.

Though, Phuket did suffer on rare occasions for a few days when Indonesia was burning off to plant oil palm.

 

Ranong probably one of, if not best provinces for fresh air.  Reason being, it's also one of the wettest, and less populated.   With much of it land along the main roads, being a bit hilly and not farming friendly, for fields of crops anyway.  More so for orchard type, larger plants needing more individual space.  Perennials fruits instead of annuals, requiring yearly replanting crops.

 

Trat is pretty good also, or so I read, and for the same reason.  One of the wettest and least populated.   Was quite nice recently, when the rest of the areas north of us at PKK, were just starting smog season.

9 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

Ranong probably one of, if not best provinces for fresh air.  Reason being, it's also one of the wettest, and less populated.   With much of it land along the main roads, being a bit hilly and not farming friendly, for fields of crops anyway.  More so for orchard type, larger plants needing more individual space.  Perennials fruits instead of annuals, requiring yearly replanting crops.

I lived 15km from a main road, on a remote rural road, on a mountain, equidistant between Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman, the only air pollution came the ripe durian plantation.

 

Go on windy.com go to air quality tap pm 2.5 and no2 the map shows everywhere move the map to Thailand monitor it for a week, month then you can decide best place to live I'm in jometin and I'm thinking the same about moving I have copd 

Centran Plazan.

19 minutes ago, Havefunme said:

...  then you can decide best place to live I'm in jometin and I'm thinking the same about moving I have copd 

We compromised a couple months of mediocre (AQI ~100+/-), for one of the prettiest areas to live, and more importantly, only 3+ hours from daughter @ Krung Thep.

 

Or else we may have went further south.  Surat Thani or Phang-nga (not Samui or Khao Lak) would be in the top 5 list.  Maybe Ranong, NST, Krabi (non touristy) rounding out the others.  That seems to be where we go most times to relax ... from relaxing at PKK  

 

Chumphon definitely gets an honorable mention.  Really can't think of any where else that would interest us.

Samui is usually pretty good.

I have COPD and always have doors and windows open every day. I have no trouble with breathing there.

At the moment, it is a bit higher than usual but still OK.

A friend living nearby is a chronic asthma sufferer and she is usually OK here is well.

 

https://www.iqair.com/thailand/surat-thani/ko-samui

On 1/20/2024 at 12:19 PM, novacova said:

I suppose if someone wants year round fresh clean air then Barrow Alaska is the place to be.

Or 

Bodø, Norway

You need to be mobile . Except some islands as Samui maybe, far from everything, smoke/dust are moving with the wind. And it depends also from one year to another. I would say, a windy place near the beach, as Phuket or Samui. Smoke can come from Indonesia also in Phuket, which does not affect Samui. But find a good compromise, and be ready to  move 2 months during the year if necessary. But yes, humidity and quite clean air is better than dry and polluted air for asthma. So ... islands it is !

Phil.

I spent a year in Nonthaburi and then moved to the south end of Phuket two years ago.  Once in a great while the air quality nudges up above good but I have never seen it like around Nonthaburi/Bangkok.  I'd say it's ok here.  I'm from the Pacific Northwest originally and the air during fire season was sliceable and stackable and getting worse.  

North Phuket and Khao Lak as well as Khao Sok at national Park HQ area where there is nice junge 

On 1/19/2024 at 11:24 PM, KhunLA said:

We compromised a couple months of mediocre (AQI ~100+/-), for one of the prettiest areas to live, and more importantly, only 3+ hours from daughter @ Krung Thep.

 

Or else we may have went further south.  Surat Thani or Phang-nga (not Samui or Khao Lak) would be in the top 5 list.  Maybe Ranong, NST, Krabi (non touristy) rounding out the others.  That seems to be where we go most times to relax ... from relaxing at PKK  

 

Chumphon definitely gets an honorable mention.  Really can't think of any where else that would interest us.

Yeah I think Chumporn  generally does have good air quality, but it is such an uninteresting town, there's really nothing about the town that has any character and I find the area quite dull. There are a few nice beaches but other than that to me there's just no appeal. And it is isolated. 

Am I missing something?  Just go to a beach somewhere, anywhere, the air coming off the ocean is (fairly) clean!

Koh Chang, although quite overcast the last few days, could be from Cambodia, no wind or breeze, stiller than a pair of nun's knickers.

23 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

Yeah I think Chumporn  generally does have good air quality, but it is such an uninteresting town, there's really nothing about the town that has any character and I find the area quite dull. There are a few nice beaches but other than that to me there's just no appeal. And it is isolated. 

The city is good for food options & shopping, but same as most metros (small), not much more.  Better than Surat Thani (city).   ST having better countryside landscape, limestone karsts, vs rolling hills of Chumphon.

 

Plus of both, having an airport, if we wanted to pop up to Bangkok to see daughter.  But add time to drive to airport, check in & flight, along with airport time at DMK, not really much saved over simply driving from PKK.   Along with, dog makes both impractical for air travel.

 

But for others, worth checking out, along with others south of us/PKK.   Lifestyle dependent of course.

On 1/20/2024 at 11:01 AM, mikey88 said:

Anyone have any tips of where that place might be. Doesn’t matter where. Severe asthma is the reason for the possible relocation. The AQI map for all Thailand this morning was not promising. Most everywhere looked not that good….even the south.

Any tips most welcome.

Thanks in advance.

What part of Thailand has the best air quality?

As of November 2023, Nakhon Ratchasima, the capital of Nakhon Ratchasima province in Thailand ranked first as the city with the cleanest air quality in the country, with an air quality index of 17 points. In comparison, Bang Khun Thian in Bangkok was the most polluted city in terms of air quality in the country.Nov 8, 2566 BE. 

 

 https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/10-least-polluted-cities-in-thailand-2023-rankings/

20 minutes ago, brianthainess said:

Koh Chang, although quite overcast the last few days, could be from Cambodia, no wind or breeze, stiller than a pair of nun's knickers.

I'm just across the water on Koh Mak. We're very low lying. It's not been great these last few days. I think more down to allergies. Dust maybe, or pollen?

19 minutes ago, digger70 said:

What part of Thailand has the best air quality?

As of November 2023, Nakhon Ratchasima, the capital of Nakhon Ratchasima province in Thailand ranked first as the city with the cleanest air quality in the country, with an air quality index of 17 points. In comparison, Bang Khun Thian in Bangkok was the most polluted city in terms of air quality in the country.Nov 8, 2566 BE. 

 

 https://smartairfilters.com/en/blog/10-least-polluted-cities-in-thailand-2023-rankings/

not so good today 😮 

 

 

PKK province, AQIs 90+/-

 

Better where we are:

 

Just now, bradiston said:

I'm just across the water on Koh Mak. We're very low lying. It's not been great these last few days. I think more down to allergies. Dust maybe, or pollen?

Could be pollen, Mango and Durian are flowering, everything is tinder dry. Air quality is Good.

On 1/20/2024 at 12:19 PM, novacova said:

I suppose if someone wants year round fresh clean air then Barrow Alaska is the place to be.

Cape Grim, western Tasmania is the baseline for clean air.