Maybe some of you at home (in Canada) have been reading about the toxic haze slowly creeping into Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. Just so y'all know... it's affecting me over here. What is the reason for this hazey grossness you ask? Sumatra is burning. Apparently some people believe that setting everything on fire is the cheap (and ideal?) method for clearing the crop fields so that they can grow crops again next year. The only (MAJOR) problem is that the smoke from the numerous forest fires is carried by the wind over to Singapore, up to KL and it's heading even further north, consuming and destroying all mucous membranes in it's path. I guess this is one of the problems with living on the side of the world that is still developing. Some countries just can't afford/use the technology/have the technology to do things in a clean way that doesn't make the air into one giant cigarette.
Sadly, Singapore had it even worse than KL. Their air quality was at a level that was so bad that it was dangerous to babies and the elderly to breathe. One area of Malaysia has been declared to be in a state of emergency where their air quality is at "750". This is more than double the number that is considered toxic to breath (300). When Singapore tried to complain to Indonesia to do something, Indonesia said that many of the owners of these companies conducting the mass burning were actually headed in Singapore and KL. Some people have a lot of SHIT to sort out.
I'm not kidding when I say it smells like fireplace/camp fire EVERYWHERE - inside, outside, on the 29th floor of my office, in the shopping malls. It. is. crazy. All the face masks are sold out in KL and even in different areas where there is no smog...yet. Yesterday, I traveled back from the Cameron Highlands where there was clear, beautiful blue skies and chilly weather only to enter this smog filled city. Before we left the Cameron Highlands, we stopped in a pharmacy to buy masks aaaaaaand they were already sold out. The Singapore government does not know how long this will last for. It could be anywhere from a few weeks to a few months - until the dry season is over in September or October.
Luckily for me, I'm escaping KL for 2 weeks on Saturday to travel further North in Thailand and Vietnam :)
Check out my "before and after" pics below and...
Here are some articles on what's going on:
 |
| This morning - "view" of my office building from my apt window |
 |
| Before - view of my building from apartment window |
.JPG) |
| This morning - view from the office |
 |
| The normal view from my office. |
All I can say is... bad news bears....
I am lucky that I came in July instead of June....
ReplyDelete