Nobody likes it when it pours in KL. Gone are the time when it pours and you think to yourself… “great time to sleep”. Not anymore; for when it pours, the streets will be congested. This is most significant as it affects most protected habit… our driving. Scan around facebook and you can see quite a number of people complaining about the rain in their status update.Although the rain has indeed made me spent additional time behind the wheel, I prefer to have it keep pouring. Let me tell you why…
On my way to work everyday, I have to drive through this particular highway that gives me a rather good view of the KL skyline. I have noticed that for the last month (could be more than a month), the visibility of the KL skyline has been rather poor.
No, the haze is not back. The haze has always been here for the longest time, we are just too occupied with other things till we are not aware of it. And for the most part, the very one thing that has been cleaning our air on a daily basis is the one thing which many of us are complaining about… the rain.
Anyway, I am on leave today and it poured cats and dogs before I decided to go out and run some errands. Despite the heavy downpour, the visibility is still poor. And I am very sure it’s not because of mist. It is bad air quality.
One very simple way to see the air quality is to look at the sun. Normally, one cannot look directly to the sun, but if you manage to do so in a particular day, and that the sun looks beautifully orange, it is a sign of highly polluted air. I saw such sun yesterday.
I am inclined to think that when the dry season hits us, we will see the haze craze all over again.
I read in an article some time ago (sorry I couldn’t locate the article now) and it states that air qualified as “good” in Malaysia does not meet the minimum standard set by Japan. Considering that an average Japanese live the longest in the world compared to the rest, it does speaks something about the quality of their air.
Also, I have got many friends with sinus problem and their problem will miraculously disappear when they live in places like Australia or the suburb in England. The moment they return to KL, so does their sinus problem.
If you have been reading the kind of effect poor air quality has on the people of China, it can be quite scary. Industrial development is killing their people, literally.Anyway, let’s not talk about that today. For now, I thank God that he has been watering our land everyday and keeping the air quality at a considerably safe level. It is interesting to note that despite the daily heavy downpour, the Air Pollutant Index (“API”) in KL only manages borderline between good and moderate. That also includes the present of “serbuk halus” (fine dust). I wonder how safe is this “serbuk halus”.
Is the forest fire in Indonesia again to be blamed? Maybe… maybe not…
28 comments:
ditto to the points you made.
I could smell the difference whenever I disembark and step into the Malaysian airport! My nose and eyes would be irritated after a while (or a few days).
Yes. I know what you mean about the sinus problem when u go out of the country. Don't even need to go out of the country. I mean just getting out of KL to smaller towns easily makes the difference.
Well, with advancement we tend to be sacrificed air quality, just that we don't tend to realise that.
well... i always love the rain anyway... even if it is torrential downpour, my shoes soaked wet and my pants looked like i peed on myself....:P
yes...i still love the rain...:)
maybe not just sinus... pimples of all forms will disappear too.. tried and tested...
the transport ministry should really do something about it.. for example, vehicles that let out excess exhaust fumes should be reprimanded, and that's for the least they can do. i don't see anything being done at this point.
We need emission control! I was in Seoul recently, which is much more populated and have more cars than us, the air surprisingly feel more crisp and cleaner than KL! May be all the factories that used to pollute their environment are relocated to SEA and China.:-)
Yes, I just arrived here in US 3 weeks ago, and my allergy/sinus problem is miraculously stopped!
Thankfully being a student, i can still say "Great time to sleep"....zzzzzzz
Hey.. Miss Maud would be a good place to stay.. My parents stayed there when they came over and they loved it.. It's situated in the city itself so it's quite convenient.. you have to pre-book though as their rooms are limited..
here's the site.. http://www.missmaudhotel.com.au/
If you want to cater for say 4 people.. Seasons hotel would be good..
U've been to the red dot. Surely u know the reason why. Lack of purpose tree-planting to absorb carbon dioxide. Can feel the temperature surging once we reach JB from down south. Trees along the road are with the aim to 'beautify' the city that give those tree a funny, queer shape exploiting its nature in shade giving. Where has all the branches gone?
bad waste and pollution management by the country, as usual.
did you know that brazil, which is a few times more populated than malaysia, but the air is much cleaner? that's 'cos the government regulated that ALL cars must run on at least 25% ethanol fuel...
for a third world country, they're pretty forward thinking, in this aspect anyway :P
I have sinus problem too! *sigh*
i love rain actually. but these days the rain just happens at not the right timing. I know, we can't control when the rain going to start and stop. but everyday seems to start during going to after working hrs. seriously, the patience will grow thin if every day like that.
anyway, i got ur point that rain is somehow blessing in disguise. not to mention our air is not of high quality. i wud noe, i'm one of those ppl who got sinus. hahaha..
yes..my sinus has been killing me in Malaysia..sigh now even can get headaches from my sinus problems..
another thing is, when u r overseas, u tend to use the air-con less..
here its aircon 24/7..
Yeah.. when I was in Australia, I don't even need to use facial wipes on my face as there is not much dirt at all.
It's a bit dry now in Australia. Imagine they hope for rain to overcome their drought crisis.
I think it all has to do with town planning. Here, they don't really consider the flow of the environment until it's too late.
what air pollution?
*read theStar*
MCAMCAMCAMCA
nope..nothing on air pollution!
"im singing in the rain..i'm dancing in the rain..i'm happy again"
I wish someone would do something about the flash floods though. It's pretty bad in some places.
Building an ark anytime soon, Noah?
whoalse - guess if you are used to the clean air in aussieland, you will not be used to the filthy air here.
seaqueen - yeah, when i went to pangkor for the offsite, my throat irritation disappeared too.
myop101 - hahaha... u sure it's not becos of the sleep?
drumsticks - i was going to mention that in perhaps my next entry. but i guess no matter what level of noise we make here, our authorities will not do anything.
Leah - definitely, we certainly need emission control. we all know it. but will our authorities here in malaysia do it? highly unlikely. a lot of interest of a lot of ppl needs to be looked after. thus, compromise on our health.
sabrina - bummer...
rach p - thanks. will check it out.
ummie - hi there. welcome to AZAIG. we need really good town planning, something which is seriously missing from this country. sigh...
pavlova - really? brazil? well well well... talk about 3rd world. but then again, how far are we from being 3rd world?
iamthewitch - sigh...
missironic - sinus is one thing, the long term effect could be devastating... sigh.
constant craver joe - another reason to head down south eh?
gina - i think they will be able to overcome the dry problem. after all, they have good concentrated effort to solve things. here... totally different.
huei - hahahaha... so damn true.
j or ji - dancing queen eh?
crankster - again, bad town planning. it's all just bad town planning.
taxy driver - when God calls... i shall...
lol..the air in JB is not tat good too..my sinnus problem came back n hasnt gone away since the day i came back..sux..
i am quite sure about the getting drenched part...:P
sleep as well of course...:)
another good thing is... motorcyclists would park at the side of the road under some shelter! i find they are getting more reckless these days...
if you think KL air is greatly polluted, try Chengdu and Beijing in China. It's like 10 times worse than what we have in KL.
Malaysia government always say this is fine, that is fine. Even they say our economy is not on downturn!
neno - well, just the whole of malaysia i guess. europe and aust has the best air i think.
myop101 - hahaha... no more motorcyclists... now, that didnt occur to me before. good one...
elizebeth DL - well, just becos KL air is better than chengdu or beijing doesnt mean KL air is good enough and is not killing us.
jam - they really think they are the tuan of the world.
zewt! i have a testimony! my sinus problems did miraculously disappeared when i was in Wales and now it's same old same old problem like what it was just before i left for UK. :(
jlshyang - that is why ENTs are making tonnnes nowadays...
I completely agree with everything you have printed here.
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