Haze in Asia - how it affects daily life, business, tourism

Weather and circumstances can change overnight. It's good to have flexible plans. Last week, brilliant weather in Singapore. Now there's a haze. I'm glad I gook lots of photographs when the sun was out. A friend of mine who has a business in Singapore says she needs to stay in Singapore to look after her business. However, if the haze gets any worse, she will fly off to Australia.

Here's sunlight and blue sky and a colourful skyscraper, taken in Singapore, the way I would like to remember it.


From the tourist's point of view, it's not just a question of not getting the best photos in the haze. Even sitting indoors, you wake in the morning to the smell of smoke. Your eyes prickle. Your nose and throat fill with mucus to try to combat the incoming bad air. You keep clearing your throat.

You run around checking all the windows are shut: check the bathroom or shower room windows; the bedroom windows and sliding doors, the living room sliding doors, the kitchen windows.

What a disappointment. This window and door shutting exercise came the day after I thought one should open windows to allow in a refreshing cool breeze to combat the stickiness of a humid day.

A white grey sky is depressing. Instead of blue clouds, just white. Instead of green trees, ash grey. Distant skyscrapers seen through a mist, out of focus. Everything looks slightly dirty instead of bright. White buildings are ash grey. Only one person in the swimming pool.

Wait for what happened in previous years, reading haze reports, schools closed, sporting events closed. Outdoor events cancelled.

If you have a kitchen with grilles instead of windows, each time you go out to your washing machine or hanging rack in the scullery area you are breathing in smoke and have to keep the door shut.

Clothes hanging on washing lines smell smoky.

Businesses
Businesses are suffering. Nobody is going out shopping. Parents stay home to look after children who stay home instead of going out to play or to sports activities.

Restaurants
Fewer people are out and about. Restaurants with outdoor seating are not thriving.

Travel
Take the underground railway rather than sitting at bus stops breathing the smoky air.

Time to check flights out of Asia.

Planning Future Trips
In theory you could check each year's haze and plan to travel outside both the spring monsoon rains and floods and the hot summer heatwave and haze. However, this year late rains prevented fires in Indonesia from starting spontaneously or being started deliberately to clear the land for palm oil trees. So the haze season started later.

I am now editing photos I took in early August in good weather and brilliant sun which I took for granted.

For keen photographers, the moral is, take your photos while the sun is out. Never put off until tomorrow, a photograph you can take today.

For daily updates see:
http://www.haze.gov.sg
I have posts from previous years on the causes of the haze and its effects and prevention.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.