I made my mind up to move before my daughter was 3, as that's when they say asthma set's in. We'll be gone by August.

Adios!

On the bright side: on your public holidays the weather is always nice and sunny...can not have anything to do with offices/factories closed in HKG today can it?????

Coast, sorry to rain on your parade but the REALLY sad thing is that when everyone is looking out saying " oh, what a beautiful Hong Kong day " for example, yesterday ( 24/4/11 ), the pollution is still double the WHO maximum. Yesterday the sulphur dioxide, PM10 and nitrogen dioxide where all double or more and at no stage did they get below the maximum WHO level, of course the muppet government reported yesterday as green ( 2nd best level according to HKs BS out of date system )

And there in lies the rub, I hear people say " when I see the first sign of pollution damaging my kids, I'm outta here " , well I'm sorry to tell you at that point it could be too late.


and Vibes, I'm with you :ok:

Ofcourse it is still the most ****ty and polluted air you will ever encounter coming from the western world..or from the island(s) down south.. But I was just trying to look at it on the positive side...But still nice sunny days over eastern.

Clearly all the pollution comes from the mainland.. I mean they close the factories for Eastern as well or any other HKG public holiday......

OR MAYBE (and this is just an assumption) lots of this pollution we breathe is actually from HKG but it's easier to blame the mainland factories (which most are owned by hkg people anyway) Cos the commies are only interested in money not in health or environment except their personal ones ofcourse

The daily pollution levels here would make front page news in most countries and all but a small minority don't seem to give a damn. One thing I have learn't about Hong Kong is that the only thing that matters is $$$. People here, expats and locals seem to be willing to sacrifice their kids for the almighty dollar. Well, you all have 3 choices;

1. Leave and never come back
2. Commute from somewhere nice if you are able
3. Get a base, once again if you are able and when/if they open

Take your pick. I made my choice and it was the best thing I ever did.

A nice day in Europe will see pollution levels of 5k-20k particles/l. EU guidelines recommend not exercising outdoors if levels reach 105k particles/l.

A company in Eastern HK (the supposedly cleaner side), on an average day, measured 800k particles/l, indoors and outdoors. Air-conditioning on/off had no effect whatsoever.

These are micro-particles that enter the bloodstream and can cause chronic diseases.

Explain to your kids when they get lung cancer at 40 that you thought it was worth it for the money.

Coast, even the most die hard pollution fighters agree that around 50% is local and 50% from the mainland, HK has a power station that burns coal as dirty as possible to make more money ( even heard that the shutters are only used for EPA visits, theres a ton of vehicle pollution and don't forget about the ships.

Yep, a nice day here on Fantasy Island is 250K/L, faark knows what it is in central. An IQ air agent sent an email telling them that the pollution reached 1,200,000/L late last year, IQ air thought he was taking the pi55.

Sadly the minority that give a damn wont hang around and damage their families health, even if they did wan't to try and fight it. But why would you bother, nobody honestly believes our northern brothers will do anything about it anytime soon, and when the average HKer puts education and sporting prowess above health for their children, well what hope have they got ?

I wonder how long it will be before China is unable to sustain life ? Think I'm joking.................

Coastrider 26,

sorry to disappoint, but Easter is not a public holiday in Shenzhen, so whilst the 7 million people in HKG are all 'havin a barbie' the 9 million people in Shenzhen are working like stink producing rubber-dogsh!t.

Regards,

N1 Vibes

Just Go and Enjoy
 

HKG Fooey etc.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious - not sure how much you got involved to bring about change or protest except here on Prune, but

Just go. Thanks for your time, but do something constructive or don't press return.

I think it is quite important to raise an awareness of how bad it really is.
For example, today. Almost blue skies and you can see Central from your balcony in DB... Must be a healthy clear air day then, right?
Nope. Far off the mark.
The fine particle pollution is still above the WHO "short time exeedance" 24h limit and approx. 2.5 times the annual limit, above which negative health effects can be expected.
Just to make it more clear what that means
If you were exposed only 24h to pollution levels like today the doctors would consider this a health risk.
If every day of the year was as beautiful as today you would exceed the healthy limits by a factor of 2.5

if that was "obvious" to you then you have done your homework well. Most people haven't ...

Out of curiousity on an SO roster, per 30 day period, how many days will you be in HK as opposed to all over the world? I think i read somewhere SO's do 2 trips per month, how many days would each trip be?

Roxy Chick
The SOs do about 3 to 4 trips a month, each pattern being 3-4 days on average. There are off course exceptions to this rule. 777 guys may only get a couple of New Yorks and an airbus guy might get a long layover in Paris. Swings and roundabouts in the end really. Overall, lots of time off.

However...given the title of this thread and reading between the lines (dangerous I know) I get the feeling you are thinking about commuting. The problem there is not lack of time, but lack of money. Without the expat housing allowance or somewhere to stay for free in Hong Kong ie family, rich dad or whatever, you will be hardpressed to afford commuting from anywhere.

IQair Health Pro 250;
 

Is there anyone here who has an IQ air purifier installed in their flat who might care to advise on a couple of simple questions?

(1) If the IQ is run 24 hours continuously is the air noticeable sweeter than the air outside?

(2) Is the quality of sleep improved in so much as you wake up more refreshed?

(3) If you run an airconditioner in the same room as the IQ is the IQ cleansed air downgraded by the incoming airconditioned cooler air?

(4) If the IQ is placed in say the 3rd bedroom can it handle the rest of the flat if all doors are left open?

I'm thinking of getting an IQair Health Pro 250 model ( the larger of the two available ) and at $HK14,000 I'm really not knowledgeable enough to assess if it's worth it. Any comments much appreciated.

Prince of Dzun

I have 2 IQ 150s, and they do make a noticeable difference. The main problem you encounter here is the terrible workmanship in flats, and the fact that nothing is even close to being air-tight. My kids sleep with one in their bedroom, but hopefully in a few months we'll be gone and I can sell you mine!! I wouldn't live in this city without at least two.

box

That was my whole point N1...But even on the HKG days pollution levels are general lower than on normal working days...And like you say when Shenzen factories do operate we still have pollution however not as much as when the ones in HKG are operating as well

In the paper last week it said a study carried out for 3 months last year the pollution was over the WHO safe limit for 99.1% of the time, there are bad days and there are shocking days. Have a month off somewhere where it really is good and you'll see that so called good days in HK still are bad.

Thanks Coastrider.

Carl Baker, for you:

Oh! Carl, I am but a fool,
Darling I love you tho' you treat me cruel,
You hurt me and you made me cry
But if I don't leave HKG I will surely die.

Darling there will never be another (blue sky)
Cause I love you so,
don't ever leave me,
Say you'll never go
I will always want you for my sweetheart
No matter what you do
Oh! Carl, I'm so in love with you.

You're so manly you're so bristley
Are you the son of Capt Toss?
Oh you're so deeply
Intelligent and cool
Your grey matter it intrigues me
In everything you say
Oh Carl, get a grip boy!


Best Regards,

Somebody Slightly Older and Wiser than Yourself :p

IQ AIR;
 

boxjockey;

Thanks for the info. The IQ air assessors are coming next week to check out the flat and give a report on the suitability of installing a purifier. They have asked that on the day of the check ensure all doors and windows are closed from early morning and the air conditioners are off. However if it's a hot day the air conditioners may be switched on. This seems a bit contradictory but no doubt the test makes some allowance for whatever, or does it!! I may be interested in your 150s. Regards,

Prince of Dzun.

Prince, 1 x IQ no matter how big will not do an entire flat, unless your flat is 500sqft. It will definitely improve the air quality, but on a day like yesterday when the PMs exceeded 1,000,000 ( no not a typo ), the air inside your flat will still be above the WHO limit of 60,000, you really need one in every room.
As for A/Cs, most, if not all of them recirculate the inside air so should not be an issue.
When the IQ guy comes around what will knock your socks off ( well it did me ) is how the pollution is just as bad inside your unfiltered flat as it is outside which makes a joke of the government telling us to stay inside on really bad days.
As an aside to that, I have noticed no government warnings recently inspite of readings exceeding 500,000 and yesterday which was over 1,000,000.:yuk:

hongkongfooey,

Appreciate your comments, every little bit helps in understanding how best to handle this pollution problem. I'll post here what the IQ assessor's (being done on 9th May) have to say along with the numbers they come up with.
Regards

Prince of Dzun