Reader question: Quality of living in Chiangmai and air pollution?
Dear readers,
Who informs me about the quality of living in Chiangmai given the high level of air pollution?
A while ago I asked the question here on this blog about buying a house or apartment in Bangkok. My husband prefers Bangkok. But I am very concerned about the high level of air pollution. I have been comparing the air quality of several cities in Thailand for a long time, and Bangkok steals the show all year round. www.thailandblog.nl/tag/air quality/
So I want to orient myself a little further and I would really like to know more about the quality of living in Chiangmai. I know that Chiangmai also suffers from air pollution, but that this is especially the case in spring when surrounding farmlands are burned down. The Air Quality app provides a lot of clarity about this.
What I would like to know now is how people who live in or near Chiangmai deal with that air pollution. In Thai newspapers and on social media you can read about irritations of the eyes and respiratory tract. People have to go to the hospital because of breathing problems. A solution seems to stay indoors and air conditioning on all day.
How long does such a period of burning down agricultural land last, how bad is the impact on daily life, do health problems occur, in short: what is the effect on living in Chiangmai?
Please no comments that it is cleaner or healthier elsewhere. I'm talking about Chiangmai.
Many thanks and best regards,
Eline
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I have lived near CM for 10 years, bad air and sore throat for 10 years. 6, 7 months of fun and then off!
I have a friend who lives there, every year he goes to Pattaya for 2/3 months because he can't stand the smoke.
In recent years, there has been a relatively high level of air pollution in Thailand and not only in Chiang Mai. Take a look at the app airvisual.
Last year air pollution started to get pretty bad from the end of January. This lasted until mid-April. At the moment the situation is exceptionally good. Relatively low values in Chiang Mai. In general you can say that especially March and April are bad months where it sometimes gets bad earlier. This differs per year.
I therefore do not agree with those who say that Chiang Mai has a lot of air pollution for 5 to 6 months.
Dear Elin,
I think you can summarize the answer to all your questions about Chiang Mai: Get out of Chiang Mai as soon as the burning starts ie from March/April until the rainy season really starts July/August. In addition, the hot season starts in April (also not recommended) until July.
The problem for the region is that in addition to burning in Thailand, Burma, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. are also taking place. Real flights are no longer possible and if you are sensitive to the quality of the air, visit where things are better organized (the Netherlands, for example) or an island in the region where the sea breeze sweeps things clean.
The effects of the smog are very serious and that it is still happening is an indirect result of the sad level of local awareness of how serious it really is.
Freek
March and April is correct. Not the rest. From the middle to the end of April, the worst air pollution is really over. There may well be a lesser day, but no longer periods.
What is very important to begin with, how is your own health. If you have problems with the airways, it is definitely not recommended to live here in the months of February-March-April. If this is not the case, it is generally not a problem. Assuming that you are no longer the youngest, the lungs will be able to take a beating, with young children I would certainly not want to live here in the months mentioned above, as the lungs are still developing.
But of course you can also take some precautions yourself during these months, such as placing so-called purifiers in the house and wearing masks outside.
Have been living here for over three years now and used to go on holiday to Chiang Mai during the smog months.
Ben, so far, healthy and last year had some problems with my eyes for the first time, but that was certainly not every day.
Of course, every person is different and will then react differently, physically, to the smog.
Good luck making your decision.
I'd get an air mentor if I were you. This is an indoor sniffer that continuously measures particulate matter and volatile substances, as well as the co2 content. It displays the results in color, or possibly in hard numbers on your smartphone. This creates a lot of peace, as soon as the measurements fall below the actually dangerous amounts. This is well indicated by the air mentor, and also stored for a long time, so that you can use it to show time graphs. convenient to view in your smartphone. It does have a price tag though.
I try to go on holiday to another region in March because then the air quality is indeed very bad. In April I will return to Belgium for 6 months (this is how I stay in line with my social security) and I have the best of 2 worlds. An air purifier is not a superfluous luxury (costs you 3000 bht). The months of March and April are indeed usually the worst months. but then you automatically stay inside a little more or go to the coast for a month. Bkk is worse anyway so I would definitely consider it.
i have been living in chiangmai for 21 years.
yes we have air pollution during the dry and burning season March-April but we live with it as we enjoy the cool nights from November to the end of February (around 15 degrees Celsius) and the rainy season (May to October) when everything is growing and blooming .
How do we survive the fire season?
1. Switch on two water sprinklers on the roof for 2 minutes 3 to 5 times a day, which cools the roof and causes the fabric to settle (PM2.5). Self installed. Costs almost nothing.
2. hanging waterfoggers (which use much less water) around the roof to set dust (70 Bt per set)
3. let everything grow in the garden, no weeding (with or without chemicals). So not a beautiful lawn but green.
4. planted many trees and shrubs, especially fast-growing Bougainvillas, Katin, Bamboo and Bitter Leaves
5. we do not have a cement fence, but we do have a living bamboo fence of 420m long. Very cooling and beautiful. Received 800 plants from the Forest dpt for free.
6. built a small fountain 1m50 high with an aquarium pump in front of the house that we use daily for several hours during the dry season. Construction cost 5000 Bt. We have invested in solar panels on the roof, so there is no shortage of electricity.
7. We have a fairly large pond in front of the house to collect water during the rainy season. We are 95% selfsufficient for water. So we can water the 1Ha of land so that everything grows well and stays green.
8. We collect the water from all roofs in 8 meter high water tanks (half in the ground because cooler and half above)
9. The temperature on our bio farm is 4 degrees lower than Hangdong city and 5 degrees lower than Chiangmai city
10. We adjust our diet : cooling food during the dry season, and warming during the cool season. We eat and drink a lot of organic Aloe Vera that we steam distill into a hydrosol that we can easily add to our drinks to keep us cool “inside” during the hot season with daytime temperatures above 40C
11. we adapt our clothing by wearing only natural fibers (usually cotton, but also woolen socks during the cold season)
12. we built the 2 houses with very high ceilings (2m40) with lots of windows for good air circulation and ceiling fans in every room (I learned that in Malaysia where I worked for 8 years). So no wall fans.
13. All windows and doors have mosquito nets. So they can stay open day and night if we want.
14. We go to sleep early (around 9am) and get up early (around 5 or 6am) to enjoy the best daytime temperatures.
15. Between 12 and 1 o'clock we rest like the Thai workers. This way we are nice and fresh in the afternoon.
16. we start work at 8am and finish at 5pm. There is no work on Sundays.
17 we make a lot of compost (with the pyramid method) from all land waste that we naturally give back to the land… This keeps our trees and other plants strong to seek water in the ground through a good root system.
Your current health will certainly have something to do with whether you will experience much or less of this air pollution, but it is certainly not healthy in the long run.
I stay away from the whole north during the winter period, and was shocked to discover that winter 2020 in Chonburi / Pattaya was not much better either.
Where people normally expect to enjoy sunshine on the beach, it disappeared every afternoon behind a thick smog.
Before you buy a house in Thailand, be aware of this bad air, where exactly you are going to buy this house.
You may need to monitor the app "Air 4 Thai" or others for a while before taking this step.
Well,
I don't understand that Thai, they set the field on fire after the harvest, but it gets less, because other (and a Thai always looks at others and then do the same) take straw bales from the land and catch 80 Baht per bale. So how stupid can you be to set your country on fire. This is starting to sink in now. But private individuals also set fire to leaves. Totally unnecessary. But the government has said that it is no longer allowed and there is a fine of 5.000 Bhat. But yes “This is Thailand” not a single policeman who fines.
stupid? Or the most practical solution for poor farmers? Burning it down saves the farmers the necessary costs (labour, machines) and the bottom line is that more is harvested. Most farmers don't have it that easy: several small fields, having to fulfill contracts with the factories they supply to, etc. The ban on burning alone therefore does not help. Give the farmers perspective: reparcelling, promote cooperatives, make farmers stronger in their shoes vis-à-vis the companies they supply to (perhaps a large farmers' cooperative can set up its own processing plant? Etc.
With the current state of affairs, people in Chiang Mai - and elsewhere - will periodically be in heavy smog for many years to come. Spraying water cannons before the show isn't going to help.
“But I am very concerned about the high level of air pollution.”
In that case I would ignore Bangkok and Chiang Mai, these cities are notorious for their (very) mediocre air quality. I expect that things are not much better in the rest of Thailand.
My tip: don't buy an apartment, but first rent a house or condo. First 6-12 months in BKK, then 6-12 months in Chiang Mai. This way you can experience the difference between the two cities for yourself.
If you have problems with your respiratory system, I would indeed consider the phenomenon of air pollution, but the question is also whether you can rule out everything that is bad. Thailand also has dramatic numbers regarding “road safety” (many road fatalities, reckless driving) and PHONG SHU RODT (MSG) is used in many dishes, which I would not recommend. It's part of it, you can't always avoid it.
Air pollution/smog will certainly not be healthy, but in all my years in Bangkok I have actually had little trouble with it. Ultimately, it will also differ per person. Experience it yourself is my advice.