Guess What’s Missing

There seems to be something missing these days in Chiang Mai…the odd thing is…you’d never know to even look for it if you didn’t already know it existed. It’s the mountains! Now I know that these mountains aren’t all that impressive after having been to the top of Pikes’ Peak or even hiking in the Smokey Mountains or riding the gondola at Mt. Buller and for some who’ve had the pleasure and thrill of being in the Himalayas or the Alps…but never the less there are mountains that surround Chiang Mai. I have seen them and the bottom of one in particular, Doi Suthep, is just a five minute drive from our front gate.

Check out a couple recent newspaper articles here:

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/03/12/thailand.haze.reut/index.html
http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=117386
http://etna.mcot.net/query.php?nid=28386

We haven’t had rain since October and most likely we won’t see it again before we leave for Indiana at the end of May unless the rainy season comes early. It isn’t only the lack of rain that prohibits us from see the mountains…it’s mainly the pollution. Pollution comes from farmers burning off their crops, from the build up of the putrid black exhaust that billows and spurts out of at least half of all the vehicles we pass and from the little and big fires that people set every day and night to burn their rubbish and leaves. I have heard on the Chiang Mai grapevine that it is actually illegal to burn off, and that people have been taught what to do instead of burning off. Yet the peoples’ response is…”this is how we have always done it.” Recently, while taking the required tests to obtain my motorbike license, I discovered that it is illegal to drive vehicles that emit certain levels of toxic exhaust, yet there are so many on the roads that even police officers use face masks.

I have also heard that it hasn’t always been this bad. I can tell a difference in just one year. Everyday for the past week and a half while the nights have actually been surprisingly pleasant and cool, we have had to keep the house closed up and the air conditioning on just so we can breathe without knowing how much smoke we are inhaling all night.

Because of the sin of mankind we are unable to see fully the Glory of God. We catch occasional glimpses so we know it must exist. In Chiang Mai, I long for clean air. In Australia, they long for water. Around the world…peace…and the longing continues wherever we are because this land is not our home and our longings reach for a higher place. That thought alone stills my anxious heart!