The Fog that Never Lifts

When we first came to our town we heard everywhere that it was the Land of the Three Mists. Boy does that sound romantical. Not when you consider the sources of each of the three mists. With each season, come a "fog." The real mists are associated with the winter, the rain with rainy season and smoke with the hot, dry season.

"Smoke is not a mist," you make be thinking to yourself. You are correct. While the first two phenomenon are made by nature and both deal with water, the third mist is a horrible, thick smoke, the result of excessive burning by God Knows Who. This mist rolled in about 3 days ago and hasn't lifted since. On the contrary, it has settled even more into the valleys, the skin and our clothes. The smell of burning brush is everpresent and makes one's nose hurt. The eyes burn and the throat feels raw. I can barely see the top of the hill across the street. This is not good.

I am reminded of the Indonesian fires, which happened not so long ago and induced the complaints of Malaysia and Singapore. While we were not in the midst of these (Thank Goodness) we heard how horrible the smoke made for travelling and living. I can't help wondering if we now among similar smokiness, or if the Indonesian fires were far worse, which is hard to imagine.

If there was one thing I could change about the practices I've seen in SE Asia it would be the ever-present fires. I really see no point. Households burn the leaves and rubbish around their house, when it would do them more good to let the nutrients soak up into the soil through the natural processes of decomposition. Farmers burn their fields thinking they are increasing nutrients in the soil, when all they are really doing is burning off most of the nutrients and increasing the chances of erosion on their field. People burn forests so they can plant more crops instead of learning techniques to plant in and around the forest.

Sometimes it seems like I'm the only one suffering from the awfulness, but I know that children and adults must also succumb to asthma and respiratory infections as a result of all of the smoke.

But, until they change their ways or at least until the fires run out of fuel, I will sit in the house and breathe the fresh air of the mist.

An interesting article on what the government is doing about the misting problem.