Birds eye view from the editor
The Month of April really came alive with the Songkran holiday celebration, definitely another spectacular year to remember. For most living outside of Thailand it could be more easily summed up as a national water fight, but in proper terms it’s a holiday to rid of any bad luck (water cleansing) and welcome the new year blessing. It’s really 3 days of smiles, laughs and utter happiness by all.
The smokey season cast a dark shadow over the city with air quality numbers hitting 400-500AQI; patiently awaiting for any kind of rain or any sign of a gust of wind to clear it all away. To understand Chiang Mai it is not an industrial area contributing to poor air quality, but more of a victim of burning corn fields and forest areas during early parts of the year from outside areas including Laos and Burma, and just a temporary condition that eventually passes. Once the smoke clears from the rain and/or wind the city resumes back to its treasured blue sky and fresh air. The burning of the fields is an inexpensive way farmers clear their fields preparing the soil for the next years crop but at an astronomical expense in terms of health and economic impacts. Many remedies are often discussed every year, but with budget and terrain constraints the problem continues to unfortunately live on.
With Covid thankfully behind us now it’s very apparent of the new construction and business development thankfully going on once again. It seems a new business practically pops everyday with many trying their hand in the food industry; however, I was shocked to also see in the evening time in China town the mass rows of nail shops charging as little as 100b for a complete manicure. Competition at its best.
Another welcomed sign of recovery these past months is seeing the motorbike and car dealerships resume back to strong inventory levels once again. Because of the chip shortage it pretty much wiped out any related electronic device inventory, and in many cases sadly for months. Happy for the turnaround business as usual now.
Looking to next month it is election time for the country and also celebration to England for their much anticipated coronation on May 6th and locally celebrated here too (Consul’s Garden event day starting at 11:00). SUUAI news hopes to again capture more exciting news and events next month and appreciates all your support.
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