This has been going on for a couple of years, but I always thought the source of my irritated face/neck/skin was mold, dust, dirt, inside my condo as I have always thought indoor air was dirtier than outdoor air, and I have severe allergies to mold. I've taken trips to Vietnam, Bali, South Korea, London and my problems usually went away immediately. I come back to Pattaya within a week it reappears.

Right now for the past week I've been relaxing in Koh Phangan. I've taken time to think deeply about my skin irritation problem. I Googled all sorts of related issues like breaking the skin barrier, how mold allergies affect the face, indoor pollution, outdoor pollution, etc. One light bulb moment came from when I rode my motorbike up to Suvarhbumi airport to pick up my lost tablet couple weeks ago. I had a brand new yellow shirt, and when I came back it was filthy. Aha, the outside air pollution is irritating the you know what out of my face!

Now I realize there's just too many tens of thousands of motorbikes, buses, cars, chugging all that pollution I wonder if I can live in Pattaya anymore. When I get back I'll try to take some steps to reduce exposure, wear a face mask, try different cleaning methods, but maybe it's time to move on. I guess it won't be too long before I find out either way.

Anyone else have this problem?

Move to Chiang Mai 😁