Haze comes, haze goes

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One year ago, I posted an entry about the heavy fog in Vancouver ("Fog comes, fog goes"). Now, I'm in Singapore, and I'm experiencing some form of "deja vu". For the past few weeks Singapore is shrouded in a haze, all thanks to the numerous forest fires in Indonesia. The haze is really an eye-sore. Not only visibility is affected, the smoke particles in the air also make one's eyes dry and irritated... (That's why I say the haze is an "eye-sore".) Last Saturday, the PSI (Pollutant Standards Index) shot up to 150. (A PSI level of 0-50 = good range. 51-100 = moderate range. 101-200 = unhealthy.) The air was so bad that I had a runny nose for 3 days... The air improved during the weekdays, but yesterday the air quality is deteriorating again, with the PSI rising to 115 at 9pm... The haze reminded me of the fog that I experienced in Vancouver exactly one year ago. Visibility was limited during the Vancouver fog, but at least the air quality was not affected. Beside my runny nose, the haze also makes my health deteriorates by preventing me from exercising. After not exercising for more than 5 weeks, I'm growing fatter and weaker, but now I can't exercise for the past few weeks anyway due to the haze... Sad... (One friend went to have a jog despite the heavy haze, and he ended up wheezing and panting badly after the jog... He commented that he felt like smoking 5 cigarettes after the jog...)

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Photos

View of the city skyline from Marina Square
Normally, the view of the city skyline is very clear, but yesterday the haze was rather bad.

View of ITE College East from Expo
Normally the sky in Singapore is very bright, but thanks to the haze, the sky was rather dark and hazy, and one can even look at the sun directly with the naked eye without being hurt...

A photo taken from Channel NewsAsia website
The photo was taken last Saturday, when the PSI was at 150 (the highest since 1998...)