Air Pollution Index

At times the air quality in Penang can be less healthy than we would like, largely caused by forest burning in Indonesia and elsewhere in the region. At times you can both see the haze and smell it, the air heavy with the smell of a rural village with countless log fires burning. Nothing that you can do about it of course, save avoiding walking around in it until the worst has cleared

From reading the MM2H forum I often recommend (albeit it has gone a bit quiet of late) I recently found the website for the Dept of the Environment for Malaysia which contains links to the Air Pollutant Index Management System (APIMS) showing whether the levels are green (low), amber (medium) or red (high). Useful site to check if you get that distinct smell of burning and are concerned about inhaling air less healthy than the norm, unless of course you are from the UK, miss Guy Fawkes night and long for the smell of of some wood burning, hell, in that case you can even head to a hawker and grab some chestnuts!!!