heading back...

above is a resent satelite picture of Northern Thailand.
from space, you see large grey areas... where the land continues to be burned.
we've heard all kinds of interesting reasons why this happens... everything from spiritual beliefs that it causes prosperity for the next crop, to animal poachers, to people growing mushrooms that only thrive on a burnt forest floor. not to mention that the common way of getting rid of trash (everything from leaves to rubber tires) is to put it in a big pile & burn it.

though air quality levels in Chiang Mai are still not ideal, they have tapered off a bit... so we are leaving our little haven at The Pines for Bangkok tomorrow & heading back to Chiang Mai by the end of the week... we will reclaim our dog (the Haleys are getting out of town for vacation), pay our bills, and pray that the air quality will continue to prove.

here's a bit of encouraging news...
Chiang Mai exits disaster zone
Chiang Mai Governor Wichai Srikwan Friday removed the "disaster-zone" label from his province in a move that looks set to revive local tourism and relieve local people's worry. The move was now possible given the fact that the haze already stopped hovering over this northern province. In the face of smog crisis, Chiang Mai was among the northern provinces being declared "disaster zone" earlier this month. "We hope to relieve the worry of Chiang Mai residents and boost tourism in the run up to Songkran Festival," Wichai said. The festival will begin on April 13.

The Nation http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/read.php?newsid=30030090

still waiting...

we are still down south waiting to see if the improvement in air quality over the last couple of days will last... particulate count (amount of bad stuff in the air) has already risen since a sharp dip that followed unseasonal rain 2 days ago. authorities say burning (and the bad air it brings) could begin again at any time. we just spoke to a pollution-sensitive friend in CM who said it was great yesterday, but woke up this morning with a sore throat & runny nose again.

we continue to hear interesting reports of how they are trying to clean the air... the latest & greatest was to load a fire truck (in its entirety) onto a large military airplane from which it sprayed water onto the city.

in the meantime, we are working from a WI-FIed beach near Hua Hin, catching up on Veggie Tales (Sumos of the Opera gets 2 enthusiastic thumbs up), eating lots of good food, reading, & feeling baby B poke around a bit... very fun!

some people have enquired as to how Ginger is getting on without us... our friends, the Haleys (well mostly their son, Gabe, pictured), have stepped in to care for her in our absence... Mike was a little sad to see this pic -- whenever he tries to lay on Ginger this way, she looks very sad & makes a strange noise.
by the way, one of her puppies, Cebu, just had 9 puppies (3 months after running away from her owner & finding a home among the strays of a Thai park for a week or so)... maybe we'll have pictures later.

temporary home

over the weekend air quality in the North improved slightly, only to deteriorate again as officials are unable to control the burning. http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/19Mar2007_news04.php


we've found a missionary guesthouse (out of the smog) to stay at until the air goes back to a less unhealthy quality... it's a bit rustic (no flushing toilets), but very peaceful & we can work from here (there IS internet)... we're just thankful for something affordable & available!
here's where we are until it's safe to breathe in chiang mai:
http://www.thailandhavens.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&Itemid=29

in case you are interested, below is an excerpt from the latest message from the US Embassy regarding the air quality crisis:

Warden Message

March 15, 2007

This message alerts American citizens living in or visiting northern Thailand to the need to take appropriate health-related precautions due to the unhealthful air quality northern Thailand is currently experiencing. Air quality experts report that excessive trash burning, brush clearing, forest fires and other factors have resulted in severe air contamination in the areas surrounding Chiang Mai. According to the Pollution Control Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, air pollution levels in Chiang Mai have exceeded the maximum acceptable level since the beginning of March. On March 14, the level of particulate matter in the air exceeded the “emergency” level. Measurements at or near the “emergency” level are expected for at least the next several days.

Day-by-day particulate matter (PM 10) and air quality statistics are available in English on the Pollution Control Department website at http://www.pcd.go.th/AirQuality/Regional/Default.cfm and at the consulate’s website, http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/consulcm/index.htm.

American Citizen Services (ACS)
U.S. Embassy Bangkok
95 Wireless Road, Bangkok 10330, Thailand

clearing the air

i was shocked to see a story on chiang mai air quality on cnn this morning, so this might not be news to you, but all of the north of thailand is going through a smog "crisis" brought on by a number of factors... making it unhealthy to breathe there. people are being advised to stay indoors & wear masks. levels of harmful particulates in the air are anywhere up to or well above 300 (160 is considered dangerous by most standards), depending on the source.

thankfully (i guess, for us) we returned to bangkok this week, after being out of the country for work, to reports of the deteriorating air quality & the interesting attempts to improve the situation -- anything from blowing water into the air to increase humidity & seeding the clouds for rain to telling the outdoor bbq-ers to stop cooking for a while. the government has actually called for people to start the thai water-throwing festival, sonkran, 2 weeks early in order to help. there has been little improvement, as chiang mai is in a valley (where pollution settles, accumulates, and worsens) & nothing but lots of good, constant rain (not usually predicted until may or june) will clear things out.

in my delicate situation, mike has decided to keep me in bangkok & out of the "garbage air" up north, while he goes back to get some work stuff done & gather a few things so we can work from down south until things hopefully clear (can you imagine going to bangkok for "fresh" air???). he'll be back in a day, and we'll travel to a guesthouse and pray for rain.

for more info, here's couple of articles...
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/page.news.php?clid=2&id=30029266
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/search/page.news.php?clid=3&id=30029309
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070313/sc_afp/thailandenvironment_070313105934

Some U.S. based Air Quality listings….
http://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.fcsummary
Thailand's...
http://www.pcd.go.th/AirQuality/Regional/Default.cfm