Burning Season

In Pai there is an annual farming tradition where they spend roughly the month of March burning the fields and dried jungle.
The point is two fold.
Firstly the controlled burns of the wild bush reduces wild fires.
Secondly it is believed the ash created by the burns fertilises the soil for the next planting season.

I don't know if the science backs up the tradition but it seems to make sense to me.

The downside however is also two fold.
Firstly the Thai people who are not farmers use the opportunity to burn their trash and garden waste which often smells very bad and adds to the ash cloud above the city which traps in heat causing very hot days.
Secondly the ash, pollen and other pollutants in the air get everywhere and you can see it in the air. The once blue sky now has a grey mask over it all day. When doing exercise you can really feel it. 3 rounds of pads and you get a burning in the centre of your chest and you can't catch your breath. I know a few of the fighters from the gym have had to stop running on a morning because they are just breathing in too much crap and it's making them ill.

The period only lasts 4 - 6 weeks so we should be past the worst of it by the beginning of April.

I have bought one of those surgeon breathing masks for when I'm on the scooter. The combination of that and sunglasses keeping the dust out of my eyes seems to help but it also shows how much stuff is being breathed in. A short scooter ride and the mask noticeably turns grey.

The one benefit (aside from for the farmers) has been some amazing sights. At night the wild bush burns look like fire snakes making their way across the mountain sides. I can't capture it with a photo but amongst the low contrast grey view of the silhouettes of the mountain ranges you just have these glowing lines of fire highlighting the shape of the land as it is consumed by fire.

After spending the day at the river when riding home after the sun had set I ended up quite close to one of the burns. It was beautiful. Like something straight out of a National Geographic volcano special. The soft orange glow of the fire with flames jumping up behind the trees spitting burning ash into the air which glows then cools as it falls. It looked like lava bursting up over the hills with a sunset backdrop. If I had seen such a large wild fire like this in England it would have been the source of huge panic and there would be firefighters everywhere keeping you hundred of feet back. But here its just left to do its thing and your able to stumble upon these amazing views. A really unique sight.