@James Oliver I've never been to Chiang Mai so I don't know. From what I hear it differs from year to year, but generally runs from about end of December to end of April. It's now May 2nd, and the air quality index is well over 100 all across Thailand. Chiang Mai is at 168, which is terrible. Anything over 50 is officially 'worrying.' The burning season might drag on till June or it could be over this time next week if the rains begin. For contrast, in Sydney, Australia, the AQ index is just 5 today.

@Adrian Ingram Nice one. Thanks for the update and advice 👍

Interesting to read about your positive experience. I spent some time in Da Nang in 2022 and found it too quiet and isolating after six months in Thailand. I felt invisible in Da Nang to be honest. Maybe it was the off season or something but for me it lacked the same warmth and friendliness as Thailand. A typhoon also hit Da Nang during my stay and no one thought to tell me it was coming. Apparently this sort of lack of communication is common in Asia. The locals either all know what's going on so they assume everyone else does, or they don't speak English and wouldn't think to try and tell you anything. A 4pm military curfew was in place and by a fluke I found out at about 3:40 pm. Most of the stores were already closed and boarded up when i went outside. I had no food in my hotel room, the staff had all gone home, and the restaurant had been closed since covid. The army were out on the streets when I went running down the road in the rain like a maniac looking for an open store and luckily found a 7/11 that was still open. They were taping cardboard to the windows and most of food had been stripped from the shelves, but I managed to get a few things. It was pretty frightening because I didn't know how long the curfew was going to last, and I could've easily been stuck in my room for a couple of days with no food or drinking water. The experience certainly showed me that it doesn't always pay to be so switched off and disconnected from what's going on around me in a foreign country. Ha. By the way, did you notice the complete absence of seagulls at the beach in Da Nang? I didn't see a single sea bird at Krabi either. Maybe it's an SEA thing 🤔

@Michael Hinchliffe Sad but true. It's probably even lower in Australia and lower still in the US.

@Patrick Harrison “If you're not paying for it, you're not the customer; you're the product being sold.” Well said. Personal data is the currency of the attention economy.

I've decided to bite the bullet and take a few months off to finally finish writing a novel once I'm back in Thailand and alone in a quiet room somewhere. It's an impossible task under my current living arrangements due to constant noise, interruptions and endless family problems and obligations.

Thanks for making the distinction 👍 I'd got licence and permit mixed up. The permit seems to covers motorbikes and well as cars, so should be good.

@Michael Connelley thanks for the tip 👍 I've looked into it a bit more and apparently travel insurance is generally hostile to motorbike riders. Insurance doesn't cover rental excess and riders are assumed to be at fault in an accident unless they have iron clad proof to the contrary. The chances of being able to produce such proof in a wild west type place such as South East Asia are effectively zero.