Breathing in Taiwan
A writer named Joshua Hartshorne submitted a new story to GoNOMAD. Here is a page from his blog.
"Taipei is not as smoggy as some places (Beijing comes to mind), but it's pretty nasty. I though St. Petersburg was bad, but there it's more particulate matter floating in the air, more localized. In much of the city, you don't notice anything, but walk certain parts for a few hours and you find a film of dust or dirt or something along your teeth and in you mouth and, no doubt, filling your lungs.
Here it's more like a dry fog. It makes taking pictures difficult, as everything is washed out. It makes eyes red and throats scratchy. My allergies were so bad the other day that I woke up to find the room spinning. I tried sleeping it off, but hours later the room still spun.
Helen and I cleaned the apartment thoroughly to try to improve our home air as best as possible, but there's nothing to be done about the street. Last weekend we went to Singapore. Within hours we felt better. Upon rearriving in Taipei, both our throats began to hurt again.
It's a shame. Otherwise, Taipei's a great town. But it could use an air transplant.
Things may be getting better. Scooters a main source, are switching to 4 stroke, cleaner, (they're giving people time to get their scooters fixed). posted at 3/27/2005 8:54:49 PM by ardalin : link : 0 responses "
"Taipei is not as smoggy as some places (Beijing comes to mind), but it's pretty nasty. I though St. Petersburg was bad, but there it's more particulate matter floating in the air, more localized. In much of the city, you don't notice anything, but walk certain parts for a few hours and you find a film of dust or dirt or something along your teeth and in you mouth and, no doubt, filling your lungs.
Here it's more like a dry fog. It makes taking pictures difficult, as everything is washed out. It makes eyes red and throats scratchy. My allergies were so bad the other day that I woke up to find the room spinning. I tried sleeping it off, but hours later the room still spun.
Helen and I cleaned the apartment thoroughly to try to improve our home air as best as possible, but there's nothing to be done about the street. Last weekend we went to Singapore. Within hours we felt better. Upon rearriving in Taipei, both our throats began to hurt again.
It's a shame. Otherwise, Taipei's a great town. But it could use an air transplant.
Things may be getting better. Scooters a main source, are switching to 4 stroke, cleaner, (they're giving people time to get their scooters fixed). posted at 3/27/2005 8:54:49 PM by ardalin : link : 0 responses "
posted by Max Hartshorne at 1:47 PM
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