That deep breath you take when you arrive back home

[DonniePeverley]

Arrived back in the UK. Took a deep breath with clean fresh air. That first breath really feels good after a year in Thailand unable to properly breathe. 

 

For nearly a year now whenever i have been outside in Bangkok, walking the 'sidewalks', surrounded by some of the worst vehicle pollution i have ever known in the history of any country, black diesel emissions in your face, stationary traffic just blowing weird emissions out, red busses with smoke coming out of them like they on fire - clearly Thailand doesn't enforce emissions on their cars (something even India is very strict about). As a result i have developed a pattern of a bizarre slow breathing so i am not fully inhaling the emissions. 

 

Honestly, arrived back in the UK yesterday and felt i could finally breath again. The air is beautiful. Crisp. Clean. Amazing. 

[CharlieH]

Happy for you, but don't judge an entire country just on one location. Thailand has some lovely areas.

 

A bit like judging the UK just on Scunthorpe!

[Harrisfan]

Bangkok has horrible air year round. Amazing food but it's a giant racetrack.

[JamesPhuket10]

49 minutes ago, DonniePeverley said:

Arrived back in the UK. Took a deep breath with clean fresh air. That first breath really feels good after a year in Thailand unable to properly breathe. 

 

For nearly a year now whenever i have been outside in Bangkok, walking the 'sidewalks', surrounded by some of the worst vehicle pollution i have ever known in the history of any country, black diesel emissions in your face, stationary traffic just blowing weird emissions out, red busses with smoke coming out of them like they on fire - clearly Thailand doesn't enforce emissions on their cars (something even India is very strict about). As a result i have developed a pattern of a bizarre slow breathing so i am not fully inhaling the emissions. 

 

Honestly, arrived back in the UK yesterday and felt i could finally breath again. The air is beautiful. Crisp. Clean. Amazing. 

 

I have a PM2.5 monitor in my house in Phuket, I live a few hundred meters away from the main road, and the roads in my area are private so barely any traffic, the measurement on the monitor in my room is never above 10, normally around 6. 

 

The problem with big cities here is as you say the cars and pollution.

 

In the UK a car MOT takes 1.5 hours normally, important tests are regarding the car's emissions.

 

I take my car for an "MOT" test here every year, the front wheels are put on a set of rollers, the front brake is applied, and the same thing is done to the rear wheels, total mot time is four minutes, passed, OK for the next year.

 

I have my car serviced every year by Toyota and it is good for emissions etc but I wonder how many millions of cars on the roads do not have such service levels. 

[ukrules]

For brisk fresh air you need to go inside and make sure you set the AC low a few hours before, especially if it's a large room.

You get used to it after a decade or so, I don't even notice the humidity any more. I mean I know it's hot when walking around but the humidity used to feel like breathing steam or something like being in a sauna, the one with water  - not any more though, that sensation disappeared long ago.

[FritsSikkink]

Because the air is so good in London: 

[garygooner]

All that rain in the UK certainly helps. 

[Trakk]

I am young but i felt physically sick in Pattaya this January on a couple of occasions due to the air quality index being in the red.  I could see smog clouds only 50 meters in front of me.  I'd go out for brunch and have to head back to my hotel till AQI lowered in the evening.  It gave a slight headache and nauseating feel.  

[PETERTHEEATER]

15 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Happy for you, but don't judge an entire country just on one location. Thailand has some lovely areas.

 

A bit like judging the UK just on Scunthorpe!

 

[Kinok Farang]

3 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Because the air is so good in London: 

The new Londoners must have brought the pollution with them.

And people say they only ever take.

[RasiMike]

Having just recently arrived back 'home' in Thailand, I agree totally with the first breath feeling. 

[Purdey]

London is so cold, that first breath is like walking into a freezer. Hot good. Cold bad.

[FritsSikkink]

15 minutes ago, RasiMike said:

Having just recently arrived back 'home' in Thailand, I agree totally with the first breath feeling. 

Which is nonsense as it is better than London in most parts of the country at the moment: 

[bbbbooboo]

hmm … pity about all

the muslims in Uk but?

[trainman34014]

18 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Happy for you, but don't judge an entire country just on one location. Thailand has some lovely areas.

 

A bit like judging the UK just on Scunthorpe!

Ah yes; who was it who put the C++t in Scunthorpe ?