What is Going On With Thailand's Air Quality Right Now?

Lloyd & Mandy

Go to https://surfshark.com/lloydandmandy or use code LLOYDANDMANDY at checkout to get 4 extra months of Surfshark VPN!  In this video, we&#039;re taking a closer look at the alarming state of Thailand&#039;s air pollution crisis. From the bustling streets of Bangkok to the once-pristine beaches of Hua Hin, and even the cultural hub of Chiang Mai, we&#039;ll delve into the shocking reality of Thailand&#039;s air quality index. With pollution data revealing some of the worst numbers in the world, we&#039;ll explore the causes, effects, and potential solutions to this critical issue. Is it safe to breathe in Thailand? Find out the truth about the Thai pollution crisis and what it means for tourists, expats, and locals alike.  If you enjoyed this content, please subscribe for more 👇 https://www.youtube.com/@LloydandMandy  GET IN TOUCH: 🌏 Email: lloydandmandy@ruthlesstalent.com 📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lloydandmandy/ 💻 Our Website: https://www.lloydandmandy.com/  🎥 Join Our FREE Youtube Content Creator Community: https://creator-society-lloydandmandy.circle.so/join?invitation_token=9283dc35b4d3fcae4f7f35841827d168181a623c-eed8b995-090e-4cd2-a360-270cb62bd703  TRAVEL INSURANCE THAT WE USE AND

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00:00okay I don't know how well this camera is going to pick this up it's about 4

00:0430 in the afternoon so it's not sunset it is late afternoon and this is what the

00:09sky looks like pretty much all day you can see there's like a haze over the

00:15horizon and there's a smell in the air and employing cloud seeding techniques

00:20to enhance precipitation I thought that was like a conspiracy theory that the

00:24government created rain with cloud seeding I might my behind on this on

00:30March 25th 2025 the air quality index across Thailand was as following Bangkok

00:36AQI of 145 which is categorized as unhealthy for sensitive groups

00:52morning guys from Khoa here in Thailand I'm gonna attempt to do something I've never

00:56done before which is push the baby in the stroller while I'm walking Bear our dog

01:03and filming at the same time hopefully this goes all right because Bear is a very

01:09very smart dog very well trained very obedient very loyal but he hasn't quite

01:16figured out motorbikes and scooters yet he's fine with cars he'll never jump in

01:20front of a car wait Bear don't either there he goes proving that he's not an

01:26obedient dog he'll never jump in front of a car but he's had some close calls with

01:31some scooters and I would keep an eye on it but anyway the point of this video

01:36today is uh talking all about the air quality in Thailand especially Khoa

01:45in Bangkok Chiang Mai the northern parts of Thailand it's gotten really bad

01:50actually we were here the same time last year and honestly didn't notice it at all

01:56I don't know if that was just a good year and the air quality was fine or if we

02:03just didn't notice but this time last year Mandy was pregnant and I feel like

02:07we would have noticed if the air quality was bad and this year it just has this

02:12I don't know if you can tell this orangey sort of haze especially in the

02:21morning in the afternoons it looks smoky and you can definitely smell a burning

02:26smell but it doesn't smell like your typical like bushfire in Australia or

02:33forest fire in Canada smell it's got more of a polluted plasticky I guess sort of

02:38not good not a good smell and honestly I really didn't think it had any effect and

02:46I really didn't notice it until somebody left a comment on my most recent

02:49video talking about the air quality they said they've been here for three

02:52months and they've had a sore throat and a runny nose the whole time like how are

02:56we dealing with the air quality and I was like oh it's not that bad I haven't

03:00really noticed but the funny thing is I have had a sore throat and a runny nose

03:04for like over a week now I thought I was just run down because honestly me and

03:09Mandy haven't been sleeping much because of baby Lila she is five and a half

03:14months so she's growing some teeth she's waking up more in the night she's really

03:18keeping us on our toes like she's really really testing us but we're not

03:24complaining but yeah sometimes when I don't get a lot of sleep and I'm sort of

03:28burning a candle at both ends I get a little bit run down and I think it's my

03:32body's way of telling me to slow down so that's what I thought was happening but

03:35then I started actually taking notice of the air that we're breathing in and it's

03:39not the best so I have a feeling it could be that that's causing it now the good

03:43thing is Mandy's been fine and she's usually a bit more sensitive to this type of

03:48stuff she's been absolutely fine Lila's been fine so if it is the air quality

03:52that's causing me to be sick that's cool because at least Mandy and Lila are fine

03:56but I just wanted to make this video to give some more information about how bad

04:01it actually is because we do get asked this question a lot and if you're

04:06planning a trip to Thailand in the next month or so it's the end of March so this

04:10is like peak peak summer this smoky season sort of runs until around the end of

04:16April I believe and then it starts to rain a little bit it starts to back off

04:20and get a little bit better now speaking with locals I've heard that some years

04:27are really good some reason really bad a lot of people seem to think that it's

04:32getting worse and they want the government to take some measures to do

04:35something about it but it's not just Thailand this is the whole Southeast Asia

04:40area Thailand Cambodia Laos Vietnam Myanmar it just gets so so hot and dry

04:47obviously there's fires breaking out everywhere and then you add on top of

04:51that burning off garbage and pollution and then the fact that Bangkok is such a

04:57big city and there's so many cars and scooters just pollution in the air like

05:03it's honestly it's not the ideal time to visit Thailand especially the northern

05:09part part of Thailand but having said that as I mentioned last year we didn't

05:13notice it at all but anyway I'll get some footage of the actual smoke in the

05:16skies and I'll go through some actual numbers to see just how polluted the air

05:21actually is as you can see I'm not wearing a mask but you do see a lot of

05:25people wearing masks out I don't know how effective they are I honestly when I first

05:31saw it thought people were doing it because of COVID but I've come to

05:35realize that I mean maybe some people are but I think majority of people are

05:40actually doing it because of the pollution especially people that are

05:44riding motorbikes around you see them with masks on and you think what are they

05:48doing but it does make sense especially if you're in Bangkok fortunately we have

05:54really good aircon in our house and we have a really really nice

06:00we try and get out early in the mornings like this we go to the beach or we go

06:04for a walk we go to the gym onsen and then we spend the hot middle part of the

06:09day inside anyway and maybe in the late afternoon we'll go for another walk or the

06:12beach or jumping out pool or something so we're not outside that much anyway

06:19because it's too hot so even if it wasn't smoky we probably unfortunately would

06:23be spending a lot of time inside just during this time of year so it hasn't

06:27really affected our lifestyle too much but I can imagine if you're coming here

06:30for a holiday and you're expecting to lay by the beach outside get some sun and

06:35you're breathing in this toxic fumes it's not ideal and we did have a family

06:40member just come and visit and they actually developed like a bit of a cough and

06:46was thinking it was from the air conditioning in the hotel which it well could

06:50have been but now that I'm thinking about it it could have been because of the

06:53air quality guys I just want to give a quick shout out to surf shark for

06:56sponsoring this video one thing that we don't really show a lot of on this channel

07:00is all the behind-the-scenes stuff that we do like editing videos uploading

07:05content and of course planning all of our trips now up until about 10 months ago we

07:11actually didn't have access to our own Wi-Fi because we were pretty much

07:15traveling full-time which meant going to places like cafes or co-working places to

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07:26don't know public Wi-Fi is an absolute goldmine for hackers which is why for

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08:33VPN unfortunately around where we live there's a lot of street dogs and they

08:37get into the rubbish like there's garbage bins at the front of all the condos and

08:43stuff and the dogs just get into them and pull the food out so whenever I'm

08:47walking bear I gotta make sure he's not eating days old food that's gonna give him

08:52gut issues like he did in Mexico so if we look at some actual numbers here on

09:01March 25th 2025 the air quality index across Thailand was as following Bangkok

09:07AQI of 145 which is categorized as unhealthy for sensitive groups so I'm

09:13guessing anyone with asthma or probably elderly people and stuff like that very

09:18unhealthy Chiang Mai AQI of 115 also unhealthy for sensitive groups and

09:24Hua Hin is got an AQI of just 88 which is considered moderate so that's kind of

09:29what I thought like it's not too bad in Hua Hin we're right on the beach so you

09:32get a lot of breeze although you can notice the smoke and you can smell it on

09:37certain days it's nowhere near as bad as up north it says here these figures

09:41translate to tangible health hazards PM 2.5 particles minuscule enough to

09:46infiltrate deep into our lungs are a primary concern key contributors to the

09:50pollution in Thailand encompass vehicle emissions industrial operations and

09:55seasonal agricultural burning which is what I thought they do a lot of burning

09:59especially up north we actually were thinking of going up to Pai because we

10:02went there last year and we really loved it and there's some cool Airbnbs up

10:06there but we messaged a friend and told her we're thinking about coming and

10:09bringing Wyla and she said honestly probably don't probably wait until June or July

10:15because like they leave they live there in Pai and they leave for these months

10:19every year they head down south or they head somewhere else just to escape the

10:22bad air quality it's really hot and it's really bad air quality up there she said

10:30so hazardous air quality has been detected in 58 out of 77 provinces across

10:36Thailand prolonged exposure to this type of air quality can lead to respiratory

10:40issues cardiovascular disease and exasperate existing health conditions so

10:46yeah I mean I guess all we can do for now is um unfortunately stay indoors a

10:51little bit more during the day pick our times when we go outside some days are

10:56worse than others yeah it's okay it's all good we'll get through it but if you

10:59come into Thailand just know that this time of year it can get very bad it can get

11:04worse than this actually a lot worse keep an eye out I'll leave a link below for any of the

11:09websites that track the air quality around different provinces in Thailand

11:13because it does change from province to province depending on where you are

11:23that dog was super nice to us when we got here before bear came and then as soon as

11:28bear showed up started being a real dickhead so we're kind of off him at the

11:31moment the street dogs here are funny they they bark and they yell and they run up

11:38towards bear but as soon as they get like close to him they shit themselves

11:43because he's twice their size and he doesn't he doesn't even take any notice

11:47he's like oblivious to it just keeps walking along he ignores them he doesn't

11:52care

11:53good boy bear

11:56take him for a swim in the pool after this that'll keep him happy

12:02okay so I just googled Thailand air quality to see what news articles come

12:08up and this one's from yesterday and it says here I'll share it on the screen but

12:13it says Chiang Mai and Bangkok among world's worst for air quality as

12:17wildfires rage across Thailand with both cities listed among the ten worst in air

12:24quality worldwide worldwide two cities in Thailand are listed as the worst

12:30worldwide and it says here Chiang Mai is struggling with poor air quality due to

12:35ongoing wildfires in the surrounding areas according to the international air

12:39monitoring platform the city was ranked among the ten worst locations worldwide

12:44for air quality as of Wednesday today's Friday the governor of Chiang Mai City

12:49attributed the decline in air quality to local wildfires and blazes in

12:53neighboring Myanmar in the past 24 hours Chiang Mai province recorded an

12:59average PM 2.5 level of 57.7 micrograms per cubic meter which if you're like me

13:07probably have no idea what that means since January 1st the province has

13:11experienced more than 30 days when PM 2.5 levels exceeded the government set

13:17safety threshold of 37.5 so it's almost double and it says here Chiang Rai

13:23is even worse that there's apparently 260 fire hot spots across Chiang Mai province alone the

13:30Thai authorities responsible for rain making what let me read that again the

13:35Thai authorities responsible for rain making announced plans to implement

13:40multiple measures to reduce pollution in the area including using water sprays

13:44to settle dust and employing cloud seeding techniques to enhance precipitation I

13:50thought that was like a conspiracy theory that the government created rain with

13:55cloud seeding I might my behind on this I remember Dubai last year got by crazy

14:01floods because they were creating their own rain and I thought that was kind of

14:05crazy but I guess they do it here too so they do that everywhere so why do we

14:09have places in Australia that are always having droughts and the farmers are

14:13like really struggling if they can just go and create rain whenever they want how is

14:18there water shortages all the time in Australia especially and Thailand if they can just go and

14:24make their own rain anyway that might be another subject for another day but it

14:28says here the pub the provinces public hospitals were also preparing to handle

14:32patient uptake and the governor vowed to enhance the efficiency of patient

14:38transfers between different hospitals in Bangkok the Prime Minister said the

14:43issue should be discussed with Asian partners noting that some

14:46pollutants had originated from other countries so I guess they're kind of

14:50saying like this isn't just a Thailand problem this is like there's so many

14:55countries in this little area and some of their pollution is spilling over into

15:00Thailand funnily enough I was just on the phone with a friend who's living in

15:04Vietnam and he said the weather's been amazing it's been like blue skies not too hot

15:09he's in Da Nang so yeah I think it feels like a Thailand problem I actually just got an

15:14email today from a guy I'm setting up a meeting with who's living in Chiang Mai but

15:18he just had to flee down to Phuket because he said it's like unbearable so I

15:24think it changes from year to year but obviously judging by this news article this

15:28is a very bad year very bad for air pollution okay I don't know how well this

15:36camera is going to pick this up but it's about 4 30 in the afternoon so it's not

15:42sunset but it is late afternoon and this is what the sky looks like pretty much all

15:53day it definitely looks a lot worse in the morning in the afternoon but you can

15:58see there's like a haze over the horizon it looks like there's blue sky but it's

16:08really hazy and there's a smell in the air it's been like this for probably 10 days now

16:22if you found this video helpful at all hit that like button and hit subscribe if you want to see

16:29more content about Thailand digital nomad lifestyle and also raising a family here in Thailand

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