It has been almost three weeks since the haze started in Kuching. The air quality has been mostly unhealthy. However, over the past week, the API (Air Pollutant Index) rose above 190, which is close to the very unhealthy category. Even some schools in Sarawak were closed for a couple of days, and main events have been canceled, or moved inside.
My body feels different; I sometimes have difficulty breathing, I feel sluggish and occasionally nauseous. It’s best to stay inside as much as possible. It’s ironic that usually I don’t wish for rain, but now it’s the main thing I’m hoping for.
In the past few days, I went out mostly to show my friend around from Kuala Lumpur (KL), who came to visit Kuching for the first time. We initially planned to go hiking; however, due to the bad air quality, I decided to cancel the plan and stick mostly to indoor activities, which is a pity as my friend likes to hike.
The haze originates from West Kalimantan, Indonesia, where thousands of active fire hotspots are concentrated mostly in the southern and eastern areas of west Kalimantan. Since Kuching is relatively close to Kalimantan, it was one of the most heavily impacted cities in Sarawak. The root cause stems from deliberate open burning for agricultural land preparation and plantation clearing.
This is made worse by regional weather patterns influenced by El Niño, which has brought a prolonged, severe dry spell and unusually high temperatures. It definitely feels much hotter than usual. In addition, the timing coincides with the seasonal monsoon winds blowing from the south and south-west.
Having lived in Southeast Asia for over 14 years, I have experienced the haze quite a number of times. I remember when I first moved to KL, the haze was even inside our office building and that many people had trouble breathing. Like a fire inside a building, and nobody is running. A mask alone was definitely not enough protection.
We explored local food, such as Kolo Mee, Ayam Pansuh, and Sarawak laksa, and enjoyed local drinks like tuak and Langkau at local bars. We danced and drank until I noticed my friend couldn’t sit straight anymore, and the guy with the dark eyes started to act funny; even though everyone wanted to keep going and more drinks were ordered, calling it a night was the better choice if we still wanted to do anything the next day. Although I woke up relatively early the next day, by the evening, I felt that the only thing I needed was my bed.
Although the haze clouds the horizon, and I haven’t been able to see Mount Serapi for a while, these past couple of days also brought clarity and brightness through open conversations, including an eye-opening truth or dare game, a 3a.m.heart-to-heart about gratitude, fears, and life challenges, and how I wish that memory would have served me better and an honest reflection on a fourteen-year friendship with a turbulent history.