barefootbeach

Hi,
Just heard recently that April in Luang Prabang is likely to be very smoky from the slash & burn practices, and I have asthma that smoke would aggravate. Also, given that it's at the end of the dry season and will be dusty and brown....and extremely hot....I've come to the conclusion that I should substitute a Thai beach instead, as Crellston did several years ago. But, I'd rather do it ahead of time rather than find a bad situation there. We're supposed to be there from April 5-9th. Is this the right decision?
The cons are: I'll miss the culture, food and people of Laos, and the charm of Luang Prabang...not to mention some additional costs in flight cancellations, etc.

The plus is we'll spend sweltering heat at a beach resort instead of a dry, smoky hot city. I'm thinking of going to Koh Samui and staying at Zazen. My other choice is Phuket and staying at the Chedi Resort or Mom Tri's Villa Royale.

Any thoughts about which you think would be better? The other plus is that here I'd have to drive to a city a couple of hours away to get additional passport pages inserted if we go to Laos.

To help with your comments, we're also visiting Bangkok, Siem Reap, Hanoi, Hue, Ho-An, Saigon and Bali, mostly Ubud and 2 nights in Seminyak.

Thanks for your help...I need to make a decision shortly.

Vientianeboy

Bfb, no one can make this decision apart from yourself. You MAY well be ok. However, if your asthma really is as bad as you say it is, I would not take the risk, (as much as i like encouraging people to come to my adopted country). It is smoky there now.
You might want to look at this link, even though it is in Chiang Rai
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home...-30123349.html
The other thing to bear in mind, is that this is the driest summer for 50 years. The Mekong level is down due to the Chinese dams. All of this contributes to dust in the air.
Hope this helps.

barefootbeach

Thank you, Vientianeboy. I appreciate your honesty as I'm sure you do want people to visit your beautiful country. I just hate to take the risk, especially as this is the beginning of our monthlong trip.

If anyone else has any comments about which option is better for a Thailand beach, I'd love to hear it.

rhkkmk

for thailand this is the most hot month of the year... so a beach might be a good idea, but only if there is plenty of shade.... and plenty of a/c... a place with a balcony might be a good idea for mid day lazing around out of the direct sun...or a pool with tons of trees...

Hanuman

IMO I would wait and see. I've visited the North of Thailand during mid April several times and I would say that only on one occasion that the haze/smoke was too much and can cause respiratory problem.

offwego

Is it gone by the end of May?

Vientianeboy

"Is it gone by the end of May?"

Its gone by the middle of April.