When you look at that graph, and, indeed, today's, you'll notice that the peak moments coincide with low wind speeds. Winds are very strong in spring afternoons and I believe they blow a lot of the pollution away. When the wind dies down at night, the air fills up with pollution again. From diesel trucks, certainly, but construction, too. And agricultural stalk burning.
What puzzles me is that the humidity, which reaches 100% at night, doesn't precipitate the pollution. I thought it should?
Anyway, high AQI rates are common for Kunming in spring. But that doesn't mean it isn't utterly disgusting. We should all be aware that we're slowly being killed here.
37% of Kunming university students consider plastic surgery
Posted byWas on a flight once, sitting next to a Taiwanese plastic surgeon. He said the demand in Yunnan was very high which was why he had spent a few weeks doing operations in Kunming.
Kunming airport site of winter weather chaos
Posted byStill, air-con should be on and left on. A plane quickly gets unbearable without it: it still is a small container with just short of 200 people in it! I've felt very uncomfortable a few times and I believe if I were someone with a little lower tolerance, with no announced prospect of the situation getting better, and denied exit, I would open the doors too.
Kunming airport site of winter weather chaos
Posted byIn fact, freaking out after 7 hours in a plane with 200 other passengers and without fresh air is not impatience in my book.
Kunming to Vietnam border by rail soon to be reality
Posted by@Tom69: the author does have his facts straight - the current railway does not stretch all the way to Hanoi in a way that would enhance tourism.
The reason being that 1) as you mentioned, you cannot continue after Hekou on the same rail because only the old railway crosses the border and of course no trains go across that border anymore.
2) the train on the VN side is narrow-gauge, meaning that it effectively takes 9 or more hours to get from Lao Cai to Hanoi, which is simply unacceptable. Most people who have limited time choose the bus.
Kunming to Vietnam border by rail soon to be reality
Posted byThe new expressway is open and buses are on it. Source: all Vietnamese I know confirm.