Smoke SMoke and more Smoke

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At the moment I am in Pai which is a small village about 4 hours from Chiang Mai and now a well known backpacker spot and has a reputation as a hippy town. There isn't much to do here except chill and relax which is just what I need after Bangkok and Chiang Mai ( the two biggest cities in Thailand). There isn't even any tuk tuk drivers every one just rents there own bike which I am considering doing. Been here 3 days but not sure how long I will stay. The place has a habit of making people stay longer than originally planened. A lot of the people I have spoken to have been out here months rather than days. With the place being small it is a great way to meet people and you tend to bump into the same people more than once. The night life is pretty good and there is a typical route of pubs and bars which every one goes to each night and they all full up with similar faces to the night before so there is always some one about you know. The other good thing about Pai is that it is cheap I am currently paying 100Baht (about 1.50 pounds) for a room for the night, which is in fact just a tiny hut on the river but it is clean and has electricity.

Now to the bad news, which is currenlty making me reconsider my planned route through South East Asia. At the moment in all of Northern Thailand there is a smoke that hangs permanently in the sky due to slash and burn farming in Northern Burma, Thailand and Laos. It means you can never see blue skies or even stars at night which is shite. But the biggest problem of all is that you cant properly see the scenery cause visibility is bad over long distances, and i cant help but to think that it is ruining the whole experience. This is something I wasn't aware of before coming out here but it happens every year but this year is the worst they have had. The smoke will not clear for another 6-8 weeks when the rain begins.
I originally planned to head into Northern Laos to do some trekking and the Gibbon Experience but I am considering changing my plans because this smoke could ruin it, plus April is the hottest month.
So now I am considering heading down to Cambodia and then up through Vietnam and into Northern Laos which is the opposite route to what I originally planned.
But I am still really split over what to do since trekking in the rainy season might not be too good either.

Sorry about the lack of photos but the internet is slow out here so i cant be bothered to wait around.

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