Burning Season Officially Opened

[chiangmaiexpat]

I think we can mark today as the official opening of the annual burning season. Although there had been temporary layers of smog over Chiang Mai last week, I feel the air has now gotten thick enough to actually smell the dust permanently. A tell-tale sign is that the ever-present mountain view has completely disappeared as the gray-brown soup becomes visually noticeable. Time to stock up on protective masks, get your aircon filters serviced, or best book a south-bound flight. Otherwise get ready for more coughs, burning eyes, and headaches.

Cheers, CMX

[neverdie]

queue in the whinging component of the northern regions of Thailand

Edited February 7, 2010 by neverdie

[gotlost]

Pick a number and stand in line for whinging. Clear as a bell out hear in Doi Saket.

[Ulysses G.]

queue in the whinging component of the northern regions of Thailand

[KevinHunt]

As you quite rightly said, here we go again.

[jombom]

Suppose the rains must be on the way.

[tigerbeer]

something burning near town atm? can see quite a bit of smoke from the superhighway and a couple fire engines just passed by.

[KevinHunt]

something burning near town atm? can see quite a bit of smoke from the superhighway and a couple fire engines just passed by.

It looks like he tempted fate! I just posted photos. Video following soon.

[chiang mai]

Down here in Phuket there's a faint smell of burning that seems to be coming from the North, I wonder!

[realthaideal]

CMX I pray for you good health and strength in these trying times in this awful city. I don't know how some of us go on ! I hope that in your continued struggle you manage to pack yourself up as quickly as possible and move to a better place far away from here and all of the problems. The sooner you go, the better for your health and less you have to suffer. Godspeed.

[Rinrada]

Down here in Phuket there's a faint smell of burning that seems to be coming from the North, I wonder!

yea ...I can smell it as well.. ...or it might be that bit of toast I burnt earlier.

We were talking to our Head Man (Pu Yai ban) yesterday and offically nobody will do any more burning..and thats it.

Spent 2 nights up in the hills at Mae Takrai a couple of years ago with a shovel banging away against walls of flames ...really knackering ..but we got them out but must admit that we had to ...shush ...mai phut ....do a couple of flame reversals...John Wayne style.....Ko Jai...

Since then we have cleared fire breaks around the back of the park and over our wee "plots"..so with a bit of Chok dee....Koff Koff...

[chiangmaiexpat]

I don't think that Chiang Mai is awful, but the smog most definitely is. Meanwhile, the air has cleared a bit. Yet from the experience of recent years it's safe to say that more is coming. Thankfully, we have been trained to respond to crisis situations such as this proactively: brew a cup of tea and wait for the April rains.

Cheers, CMX

Edited February 8, 2010 by chiangmaiexpat

[tigerbeer]

it always a nice thought to live out of town for a bit. we stay in san kampheng and now living there is just getting on our nerves. day in and day out all we smell is burning. smoke, ashes everywhere on the compound. how much can these people burn? time to move back into the city area in some mooban. at least the fields are not burning 10 metres away. i dread the thought of march and april coming by. lucky i got a good deal on some supply of CLarinase yesterday.

[Ulysses G.]

i dread the thought of march and april coming by.

Me too, but it is the heat that bothers me. You don't need to spend money for taking a sauna though!

[Chicog]

yes, well the Bangkok Post has started to notice, too, albeit only in the Letters Page. But it's all a myth, right?

Scenic Pai on fire

I would like to both extol and regret the virtues of my current visit to Thailand. First, the good. I would like to thank all involved for a wonderful time on Samui, in Bangkok and then Ayutthaya. Along the way I heard many times, ''You must go to Pai.''

Wonderful scenery and great people. So I arrived in Pai late and had an early night with anticipated excitement for the week ahead.

Now to the bad. I awoke not to the beautiful scenery but no scenery at all! The entire valley was blanketed in smoke. Enquiring where it came from, I was told that it is slash and burn that is still used by the stupid people who know no better. It is a yearly event and that the mountains will be invisible until May when the rains arrive.

From what I saw of the town it certainly looks a fascinating place. Sadly, I am now back in Chiang Mai, as yet undecided where to go next.

So, as a welcome guest in your country, I can only ask why is this so. Slash and burn was outdated a millennium ago and with today's global warming, how can anybody say it isn't man-made when they see this acrid smoke all over the North?

JAMES

Burning season is here

It seems my letters of the previous two years have gone unnoticed by both the men in suits and uniform.

I refer, of course, to the usual burning season in the North. Usually starting in mid-March, it seems that these criminals are determined to take my precious holiday-time in Chiang Mai and Pai away from me, even though I now arrive in mid-January and intended to stay until mid-March.

Alas, I awake this morning in Pai to see all the spectacular mountain scenery is totally covered in poisonous and illegal smoke.

The entire community, whether it be babies or the elderly, are forced to breathe this poison and then flood the hospitals for medical help.

So, once again I will vote with my feet and head to Malaysia to complete my vacation. I feel so sorry that the potential of this region is destroyed by the afore-mentioned people in suits and uniforms. Years ago Thaksin promised to put an end to it, but he lied, and it seems today's suits are no better.

NIK ANDERSON

[stumiller]

stop moaning or foxtrot oscar somewhere else

[amexpat]

If you don't like to read about it .............

"stop moaning or foxtrot oscar somewhere else"

OK?

[apetley]

stop moaning or foxtrot oscar somewhere else

Perhaps you could say that to all the local Thai residents who will be suffering respiratory ailments at this time of year and whose complaints to those in power have gone unheeded for many years.

Where can they, as you so eloquently put it, eff off too?

[Mapguy]

With appreciation for OP's genuine concern but with the concern that yet another thread on Chiang Mai's air pollution problems is not at all useful on TV Chiang Mai except to vent, I hope that this thread will be closed. PLEASE!!

Thanks to a few people, Priceless for one, there is a lot of information on all this on threads over the past couple of years or so. I hope people will have the patience to find them.

I must say OP has immediately perked the interest of certain natives of TV CM. I am quite aware of the meaning of the verb "to whinge." But the problem of air pollution in this area is not just something to quit talking about, get on with it, get a life, and so on.

Cheers!

Edited February 8, 2010 by Mapguy

[swain]

Yes, yes a life is exactly what I want to have. That would be the problem. I do live here and do have my life here. When I was a child... once in a while someone would be burning leaves in my neighborhood.. This was a pleasant smell and one I fondly remember as a smell I associate with fall. This burning in Chiang Mai is nothing like this. Lately its been constant and choking. If your thinking about coming to Chiang Mai during the next three months you should seriously consider this before coming. Chiang Mai is a very nice place for the most part but I suggest you seriously consider someplace else if you have a heart condition or are asthmatic. If your eyes are sensitive to smoke and or you are sensitive to the smell of burning agricultural waste.

We had a very nice winter here and this is really the best time to come.

[Starrysky]

Yes, yes a life is exactly what I want to have. That would be the problem. I do live here and do have my life here. When I was a child... once in a while someone would be burning leaves in my neighborhood.. This was a pleasant smell and one I fondly remember as a smell I associate with fall. This burning in Chiang Mai is nothing like this. Lately its been constant and choking. If your thinking about coming to Chiang Mai during the next three months you should seriously consider this before coming. Chiang Mai is a very nice place for the most part but I suggest you seriously consider someplace else if you have a heart condition or are asthmatic. If your eyes are sensitive to smoke and or you are sensitive to the smell of burning agricultural waste.

We had a very nice winter here and this is really the best time to come.

Not only the smell of burning agricultural waste, but also what must be very toxic fumes from burning plastic. 2 days ago I took a motorbike trip in the area of San Kampeng and it was a nasty shock to see the constant line of plastic bags and other non biodegradable rubbish along the sides of the 1317. I thought the 121 was the main dumping ground for Thais to discard their rubbish, but perhaps it's full now and they've had to extend the area. Along the 121 they are now gathering all the plastic rubbish - and SO much of it - to burn. I certainly wouldn't advise anyone wanting to come to CM to admire the scenic countryside to plan a trip for this time. The roadside rubbish is bad enough, but as someone else said the hills are simply a blur of pollution. Oh, and for a month or so we finally had a rubbish collection scheme in our village (close to the 121), but it suddenly stopped so the neighbours are back to burning all their rubbish.

[chiang mai]

Suppose the rains must be on the way.

The rains would normally come around April, but I read that this year the El Nino effect in the North/East is going to have a dramatic effect on rice production and that rains may not come until July, not good - the water trucks have been out in Sukhothai for the past six weeks and the wells are already dry.

[Ulysses G.]

The government has been seeding the clouds every year recently and it has rained earlier and more often. It seems to work.

[swain]

I like the the feel of Thailand. I like that I am not constantly aware of the government intruding on my life. When I was in Los Angeles I would see police constantly. Got a tickets for jay walking, for speeding, for parking, for smoking ( not me but friends ), for not having a helmet on (not 200 baht but close to 200 dollars) and on and on. They were constantly hammering you down.. Got to a point you may have forgotten tickets that you needed to pay so warrents would be out for your arrest if you got pulled over. You lived in fear of the police..

Not so here... This is nice... and not so nice.. I like it this way.. but its universal if I want the police to ticket the idiots that are doing the burning as it is against the law and enforce liter laws. I have to say I want all the intrusions like the USA, which I don't. Someone told me its the difference of paying 400 baht for burning and 550 baht for the disposal of the waste after a crop of rice comes in with out burning.. I don't know if this was a day or in total.

I dont know what the solution is... seems like everyone has to breath.. so it should be everyones concern.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Chiang Mai:

Lampang:

[flying]

Was there last year at this time for a few months.

Yes a bit smoggy but not really a problem.

The only thing I would say I missed were the views of the obscured hills.

But also glad that our trip this year is running a few months behind so in out months there I will see the

hillsides this year.

[Thailand]

Drove back from the other side of San Patong to Chiang Mai around 11 to 11-45am, stopped counting when i got to 12 different fires burning on route. (Yes I know I should have been watching the road).

Make of it what you will.

[gotlost]

I counted 12 fires on the ridges east of Doi Saket lastnight. Its that time of year.

[Soulwy]

All the smoke and smog is really a pain... a year ago I was in Chiang Rai and had to flee to the South because of the unbearable smoke. Friends living there were taking pills because of this... I understand it will be needing a huge effort to change local customs, but I think for the sake of health the government should take action on this (as in many other things)

[MESmith]

I like the title of this topic.  Maybe TAT could jump on board & have an "Official start of burning season festival".  They could organize a parade starting out in the countryside with a couple of trucks of rice straw & lamyai leaves, continue through the suburbs picking up some garbage, then head into town with some old tyres & other garbage, parade up Thapae Rd & finish off at the Gate, with a big bonfire.  High end big spending tourists could watch from the comfort of airconditioned penthouse suites in the bigger hotels.   Of course only the oldest, badly maintained sangteaws would be allowed to take part in the parade, so as to "add to the atmosphere"