Hazzy

 I am back in Klang Valley and the weather was a smokey choking since morning in Taman Sri Andalas. I could see the hills and building were smogy…. It was an alarming sign for me.

I'm sure everyone still remembers the bad haze that enveloped the valley nearly a month ago. It was so bad that I was like frantically searching for a cleaner and healthier place to hide.

It started about a few days after we flew home in KL from La Xara and I didn't take much notice of it. It was an annual kind of thing like almost 3-4 times a year we suffered the haze created by the Indonesian forest burning. Little did I knew that this time it would be ten times worst.

We obviously couldn't smell anything from inside the car except for the soothing sweet smell from the air fresher. But my eyes watery just by looking at the haze around me when in the open…. Zul started panicking as he was so worried about the kids.

We made full payment for a month stay in Oakleaf Bukit Antarabangsa, thinking why not just pay everything first. But after a week, we decided to cut the trip short and go back to Kuantan. KL was so bad that even I started coughing and the worst was we had to stay indoors the whole time. Since I promised Nell a birthday party by the poolside….all of them masked when partying that day.

With the air conditioning and all indoors, we could actually pretend like we were in London during winter time! but when we were out in the open the heat and the burnt smell somehow brought us back to reality! We were not in the UK and it was not winter either….. it was dirty air!

 I could actually feel like my immune system was getting weaker, I started coughing and the kids were full on flu and cough.

We abandoned Oakleaf and drove to Kuantan. Compared to other areas, Kuantan API  was at149 but it looked rather bad. Imagine if we were in Muar when the API was at 746! Where can we start running to breathe better air? Expectedly, Muar and Ledang districts were declared emergency with immediate effect after API readings surpassed the 750 marks.  

 (The highest API ever recorded in Malaysia was in Sarawak in 1997 with reading of 860.)

The closure of all schools was timely. While many wore masks when in the open but a huge majority were seen without one. Such a dangerous gamble indeed!

It was depressing and sad….to think about the living forest trees that do cry and the countless roaming jungle animals that got caught up in the raging fires…

We are annually forced to suffer and be considerately understanding to some brainless, selfish being who burns our precious clean air ….thoughtless being.

Will the haze be back ?