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Pollution in South East Asia


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Just got home from the Golden Princess Sydney to Hong Kong cruise. It was wonderful but I was appalled at how bad the air pollution was in South East Asia.

 

We stopped at Bali, Singapore, Ko Samui, Laem Chabang (for Bangkok), Phu My (for Ho Chi Minh City), Nha Trang and, of course, Hong Kong.

 

Singapore and Nha Trang weren't too bad but the rest had really bad air pollution.

 

We didn't go ashore at Bali but spent most of the day up on deck. That night I had an irritated throat, next day it turned into a dry cough, and the following day I had a full-blown attack of bronchitis, which I'm prone to getting. I'm fairly sure the pollution caused it. I hadn't noticed anyone coughing on the cruise up until then so I don't think I picked up a virus, besides I had no other symptoms - fever, headache, etc. Luckily I had some serious antibiotics with me, and also found so amazing cough tablets in Singapore, so it didn't slow me down too much. I did notice that the cough got worse at the end of a port day and during our short stay in Hong Kong, but it seemed a bit better on sea days.

 

Bangkok was particularly bad, DH was coughing by the end of that day. We didn't go ashore at Phu My so I don't know what Ho Chi Minh City was like. By the end of the cruise quite a few people had coughs.

 

Anyone booked on or planning a cruise that includes SE Asia ports should be aware of this pollution issue, especially those with respiratory problems.

 

We'll be thinking twice about any SE Asia cruises in the future. Such a shame, it's a lovely part of the world apart from that.

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Try going to the inland parts of China, really bad. Why do we have to do so much to control pollution in Aus when the rest of the world do not care. Oh, it is our coal they are using to spew black smoke over the countryside.

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When we were on the long drive back to the ship from Ho Chi Minh City the air was full of smoke. Our guide cheerfully told us that the farmers all burn off the rice stubble so it will fertilise the fields. There was absolutely no thought of air pollution.

 

It's great that here in Australia we have been super-aware of air pollution for many years and measures have been taken to reduce it. BUT, we cause only a very small amount of the problem and I don't see the point of having us pay more taxes for carbon emission etc. when most of the world doesn't take any steps to reduce their pollution. (Sorry - I don't want to sound political.)

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When we were on the long drive back to the ship from Ho Chi Minh City the air was full of smoke. Our guide cheerfully told us that the farmers all burn off the rice stubble so it will fertilise the fields. There was absolutely no thought of air pollution.

 

It's great that here in Australia we have been super-aware of air pollution for many years and measures have been taken to reduce it. BUT, we cause only a very small amount of the problem and I don't see the point of having us pay more taxes for carbon emission etc. when most of the world doesn't take any steps to reduce their pollution. (Sorry - I don't want to sound political.)

 

Totally agree. If we were really serious about reducing pollution, we would stop sending our coal overseas. On Yangtze cruise barge after barge after barge .... full of coal heading to power stations.

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I didn't go to SE Asia on my Golden Princess cruise but I did manage to pick up that same cough off the ship and ended up very sick for 5 weeks after my cruise. 4 courses of antibiotics before I got better. We have travelled to Asia on several occasions (all those places you mention plus more) and I have never been as ill as I was after cruising on the Golden Princess.

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Thanks for the advice. I had a similar issue and was shocked by the state of it in Shanghai. You hear about it Beijing but it's elsewhere as well.

 

That said, I think it's a good incentive to pass on pollution costs to discourage harmful pollution. As seen, when it's just whatever's cheapest without control, you get issues like those elsewhere, and the environment and people suffer.

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I think it's a good incentive to pass on pollution costs to discourage harmful pollution

 

Dont worry if Shorten gets in next election you can pay as much carbon tax as you like. :)

 

The sewer systems in some of these countries in South East Asia will make you sicker than the rotten air pollution :eek:

pity you did not get off at each port Ozkiwijj.

 

Its nice to visit but there is nowhere like home.

Edited by 6666oz
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Well I suppose I am going to be the odd one out here. Maybe it has something to do with the time of the year, I don't know but we did Beijing to Sydney with all those ports mentioned about two years ago in Nov/Dec and the only place we felt there was a pollution problem was in Beijing and even that was certainly not unbearable. The heat, particularly in Bangkok was a bigger problem in our opinion.:)

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Try going to the inland parts of China, really bad. Why do we have to do so much to control pollution in Aus when the rest of the world do not care. Oh, it is our coal they are using to spew black smoke over the countryside.

 

Not just the inland parts of China, the coastal cities too. :( DH was in Shanghai a couple of years ago and you couldn't see the other side of the river from the Bund.

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When we were on the long drive back to the ship from Ho Chi Minh City the air was full of smoke. Our guide cheerfully told us that the farmers all burn off the rice stubble so it will fertilise the fields. There was absolutely no thought of air pollution.

 

 

Our Bangkok tour guide said exactly the same thing. But realistically I suspect that only accounts for a small amount of the pollution - after all each farmer probably only burns off their rice paddies twice a year. The huge number of motor vehicles, power generation from coal, factories belching smoke, all contribute as well, but a lot of it in Indonesia, Malaysia and North Thailand is coming from the burning of forests so that palm trees can be planted for palm oil. We were having a quiet chat to our Bangkok guide and he admitted that was a major problem in Thailand.

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Our Bangkok tour guide said exactly the same thing. But realistically I suspect that only accounts for a small amount of the pollution - after all each farmer probably only burns off their rice paddies twice a year. The huge number of motor vehicles, power generation from coal, factories belching smoke, all contribute as well, but a lot of it in Indonesia, Malaysia and North Thailand is coming from the burning of forests so that palm trees can be planted for palm oil. We were having a quiet chat to our Bangkok guide and he admitted that was a major problem in Thailand.

Agreed. My point was that there seemed to be no environmental awareness. Our guide was quite was puzzled when I mentioned why burning off their rice fields was not good for the environment.

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I didn't go to SE Asia on my Golden Princess cruise but I did manage to pick up that same cough off the ship and ended up very sick for 5 weeks after my cruise. 4 courses of antibiotics before I got better. We have travelled to Asia on several occasions (all those places you mention plus more) and I have never been as ill as I was after cruising on the Golden Princess.

 

The ship is not to blame for illnesses brought on board by other passengers. I think you were just unlucky on your cruise, perhaps you unwittingly came in contact with someone carrying a virus. The crew were meticulous in sanitising the ship. I noticed buckets labeled "Virex" on every station at the Horizon Court and that solution was used to wipe tables down. The MDR has tablecloths but I did notice the waiters sanitising the menus at the end of each evening. Handrails etc were also wiped down on a regular basis by crew toting the "Virex" solution.

 

On my cruise there was absolutely no sign of sickness for the first ten days - and that is more than enough time for any virus brought onboard by embarking passengers to spread throughout the ship had there been no stringent sanitisation procedures in place. The coughs only started after the ship reached SE Asia.

Edited by OzKiwiJJ
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The sewer systems in some of these countries in South East Asia will make you sicker than the rotten air pollution :eek:

pity you did not get off at each port Ozkiwijj.

 

 

Been there! Smelt that!

 

The only ports we didn't get off at were places we'd been to before. We have done a reasonable amount of travel in SE Asia over the past 20 years or so. I have never seen the pollution so bad as on this trip. For example this was the fifth time I've been to Hong Kong, admittedly the previous trip was nine years ago, but I'd never seen pollution like that there before.

 

A Singaporean friend, whom we had lunch with on our Singapore stop, said the pollution has become noticeably worse there in the last couple of years. On some days the "haze", as they call it, is so bad that people are advised not to go outside. Most of the air pollution in Singapore comes from the forest burnoffs in Indonesia and Malaysia. As soon as the wet season is over the burning begins.

Edited by OzKiwiJJ
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Dont worry if Shorten gets in next election you can pay as much carbon tax as you like. :)

 

Better that someone does something about it than it just gets ignored (or worse, us taxpayers pay even more anyway, by the government giving our money to businesses under the guise of "direct action"!)

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Well I suppose I am going to be the odd one out here. Maybe it has something to do with the time of the year, I don't know but we did Beijing to Sydney with all those ports mentioned about two years ago in Nov/Dec and the only place we felt there was a pollution problem was in Beijing and even that was certainly not unbearable. The heat, particularly in Bangkok was a bigger problem in our opinion.:)

 

Sometimes you just get lucky. I went to Beijing and Shanghai some years ago and had relatively clean air during my week there - luckily for me there had been some serious rain just prior to my arrival in Beijing which washed out a lot of the pollution.

 

It is something you have to be prepared for unfortunately. We did a Top End cruise last August which stopped at Lombok. I didn't particularly notice pollution there that day but did notice it one evening watching the sun set so I was aware that it could be an issue. However I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was on our recent cruise.

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Agreed. My point was that there seemed to be no environmental awareness. Our guide was quite was puzzled when I mentioned why burning off their rice fields was not good for the environment.

 

Our guide seemed to be using the farmers as an excuse. Of course the farmers need to ensure they have good crops as that is their livelihood. No doubt they have been burning off the rice stubble for centuries as that is one way of ensuring the nutrients are returned to the soil. If there were no other sources of pollution the burn-offs would not be an issue but these days it just compounds the problem. Very sad!

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Our guide seemed to be using the farmers as an excuse. Of course the farmers need to ensure they have good crops as that is their livelihood. No doubt they have been burning off the rice stubble for centuries as that is one way of ensuring the nutrients are returned to the soil. If there were no other sources of pollution the burn-offs would not be an issue but these days it just compounds the problem. Very sad!

 

As the population grows, so do the issues.

 

Like many things, that activity can be fine in small doses, but as feed and production increase, so too do the harmful waste by-products.

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Our Bangkok tour guide said exactly the same thing. But realistically I suspect that only accounts for a small amount of the pollution - after all each farmer probably only burns off their rice paddies twice a year. The huge number of motor vehicles, power generation from coal, factories belching smoke, all contribute as well, but a lot of it in Indonesia, Malaysia and North Thailand is coming from the burning of forests so that palm trees can be planted for palm oil. We were having a quiet chat to our Bangkok guide and he admitted that was a major problem in Thailand.

 

And that is fact,between may and november the burn off for palm plantations is horrific

Edited by mrs and mrs
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I was also on this cruise on the Golden Princess. I slowly developed a classical cold as the cruise continued and I missed going ashore in Nha Trang (first time I have ever missed a port).

 

we really noticed the air pollution while we were in Hong Kong. At first we thought it was a fog of some sort, but I checked on Google and Hong Kong does indeed have an air pollution problem.

 

Singapore seemed better. Apparently, you have to purchase an expensive permit to buy a new car. AND, there is a 100% import duty on new cars. The permits for new car purchases are released each month at exactly the same number of cars that have been retired in the previous month. They also have eTag things that monitor your travels in to congested areas by time spent and time of day - and charge you for those trips.

 

I can only imagine the outcry if these measures were put in to place in Australia. But, it has really made a difference in Singapore compared to Bangkok.

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That's a shame, Blue Elephant. Hope you're feeling better now.

 

Nha Trang was the nicest of the SE Asian ports, I thought, but with the tendering, then the shuttle bus, combined with the early departure there really wasn't much time to have a good look around the place unless you went on a tour. I'd like to go back there again someday.

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Been there! Smelt that!

 

The only ports we didn't get off at were places we'd been to before. We have done a reasonable amount of travel in SE Asia over the past 20 years or so. I have never seen the pollution so bad as on this trip. For example this was the fifth time I've been to Hong Kong, admittedly the previous trip was nine years ago, but I'd never seen pollution like that there before.

 

A Singaporean friend, whom we had lunch with on our Singapore stop, said the pollution has become noticeably worse there in the last couple of years. On some days the "haze", as they call it, is so bad that people are advised not to go outside. Most of the air pollution in Singapore comes from the forest burnoffs in Indonesia and Malaysia. As soon as the wet season is over the burning begins.

 

Singapore and Malaysia are really bad in September fir smoke haze.

The smoke comes from burn offs in Indonesia, not Malaysia. The smoke is carried by the trade winds coming from the south west.

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Sorry to be the one to disagree ... but IMO the Golden Princess is a seriously sick ship.

 

I was on this cruise (out of Melbourne to HK - arrived home this morning) and we Melbourne embarkers experienced the delayed boarding (due to a gastro breakout) and onward to Sydney where the "real" cruise began ... and that was according to Tim (the Toyman?) our Cruise Director.

 

No gastro during the cruise that I was aware of.

 

There was a serious outbreak of bronchitis (quite early on, while still in Australian waters) on this cruise with an accompanying 'kennel' cough from the more tougher of the cruisers. A fellow cruiser (first cruise) and after his 2nd visit to the medical clinic (standing room only in the waiting room) was chatting with the Doc (off the record of course) who said that this was the worst case of chronic bronchitis he's ever seen on a cruise ship.

 

Yes I know, this was "hear-say". But it was a bit of a general concensus amongst many fellow cruisers that it was all due to the aircon on the ship. Have to say when out on deck (yep, amongst the burn offs and the pollution and stuff) it was much easier to breathe than it was in the zero environment indoors).

 

But honestly, S.E. Asia is seriously polluted and has been for quite a few years.

 

I was aware of this - it's par for the course up there, along with the accompanying stinks, etc. Trust me, it was far worse 40-odd years ago.

 

DH is still not well but I only have a persistent cough so we count ourselves lucky.

 

The joys of travel. If you're going to complain about stinks, sanitisation and all that jazz - stay home. Underdeveloped countries are not pristine environments. OK?

Edited by LC1950
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The Golden Princess a seriously sick ship - really! 18 months ago we were on her for 31 days and there was not one single problem. It is interesting that it is always the ship that is the problem, never the passengers.:)

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