PeterUK
February 18th, 2008, 14:03
Someone in a recent post said he preferred Pattaya to Bangkok because of, among other things, 'the good clean air'. Well, I suppose the air almost anywhere seems better after Bangkok's, but it's certainly not my impression, living in Pattaya, that I breathe clean air. Anyway, out of curiosity, I've done a quick comparison of the AQI (air quality index) in a few Thai cities, using Thai government agency figures, as of today, February 18, and here they are. An AQI of 1-50 represents good air, 51-100 moderate air, and over 100 unhealthy air.
Bangkok 81 (average of figures ranging from 63 to 97)
Chiang Mai 61
Chon Buri 61
Rayong 57
Phuket 43
Maehongson 27
No surprise to find Bangkok's air to be the worst, hovering dangerously close to the 'unhealthy' range. Unfortunately, Pattaya is not listed, so I have included the figures for nearby Chon Buri and Rayong which are probably not all that different (Pattaya's air perhaps worse, due to heavy traffic). An improvement on Bangkok's air, but still leaving a lot to be desired. Only two places out of about 20 listed were in the 'good air' range, Phuket and Maehongson (the latter by some margin the best). Sorry, Smiles, but no figures for Hua Hin or anywhere near it, so I cannot confirm your belief that the air is good there.
(Incidentally, one of the sites I got the above information from, www.classifiedthailand.com (http://www.classifiedthailand.com), has a very distracting 'Did you know...?' section on its home page. Did you know that if you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb? Did you know that a pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes? Did you know that a cockroach will live 9 days without its head before it starves to death? Did you know...? Ah, enough already).
Bangkok 81 (average of figures ranging from 63 to 97)
Chiang Mai 61
Chon Buri 61
Rayong 57
Phuket 43
Maehongson 27
No surprise to find Bangkok's air to be the worst, hovering dangerously close to the 'unhealthy' range. Unfortunately, Pattaya is not listed, so I have included the figures for nearby Chon Buri and Rayong which are probably not all that different (Pattaya's air perhaps worse, due to heavy traffic). An improvement on Bangkok's air, but still leaving a lot to be desired. Only two places out of about 20 listed were in the 'good air' range, Phuket and Maehongson (the latter by some margin the best). Sorry, Smiles, but no figures for Hua Hin or anywhere near it, so I cannot confirm your belief that the air is good there.
(Incidentally, one of the sites I got the above information from, www.classifiedthailand.com (http://www.classifiedthailand.com), has a very distracting 'Did you know...?' section on its home page. Did you know that if you farted consistently for 6 years and 9 months enough gas is produced to create the energy of an atomic bomb? Did you know that a pig's orgasm lasts 30 minutes? Did you know that a cockroach will live 9 days without its head before it starves to death? Did you know...? Ah, enough already).