leininger

I have bronchitis anyway so I was short of breath so figure thats why but remember about smog so check on interent AQI. Now I see it is not there like before. Used to be very easy and helpful from PCD but now is in Thai only and only PM10 not AQI. Are they trying to keep the farang from knowing about pollution or did they just fire everyone in govt. that writes in English.

Thank you also fishenough. I will try Doi Pui first and if it is full now I have other options to check as time for trip is getting close. Thank you both once again.

Thank you very much Steve.

I promised to take kids from orphanage camping in Doi Saket this month but today I find out it is full. Does anyone know of place close to Chiang Mai besides Doi Inthanon where they have campground. I do not care so much about cost only that it is fairly close to Chiang Mai and has a good road to get there if possible. Thank you.

Hello everyone. Do you know where they will show super bowl. They show it at Chiang mai saloon before but are other places showing it also. Thank you.

One of first things I was told by expats who have been overseas a long time is never get involved in disputes between native people, and I believe this is a good rule to follow.

Greeting fredob and mario. Back from Mae Sot and good trip thanks to your assistance. You are for sure correct about keeping to the left. On road from Tak to Mae Sot they just don't cross yellow line, they drive completely on wrong side of the road. Just missed a head-on crash at same spot where they had not cleaned up from the last had on crash. Wife drove from Chiang Mai to Tak as I have been sick with bronchitis and tried to sleep while she drove. Then I drove from Tak to Mae Sot. Good news was I just had to deliver to Karen HQ, not all the way to TSY, as they sent 4-wheel drive vehicles to bring stuff to flood victims.

We stayed at DK Hotel, which is pretty decent place with air-con and satellite tv for only 400 baht. Also a very good restaurant run by Chinese guy right next to hotel. Very good food for cheap price. They have a beautiful vintage Harley 1200 inside on display.

Only regret I have is I never got to see the bathroom you told me about. I was still sick and wife in a hurry to get back home quick so I didn't have time to check it out, but will for sure on next trip. Thanks again for the road advice.

Fredob and also Mario, just want to say finally leaving for Mae Sot in 30 minutes. Right after I last wrote I took sick with bronchitis and high fever. I am not much better but cannot wait any longer so finally on the way. Good news is wife driving to Tak, and after that I will take over as she is not too good on mountain roads. Problem is I am somewhat overloaded. About 480 kilos total. So slow and steady is the name of the game. Meeting the contact guy at parkinglot of centara hotel, by the way, and after that I deliver to destination so no problem with worrying about load overnight. Unfortunately I am somewhat limited in hotel as foundation is picking up the tab and only have about 600 bht to spend, so planning to stay at DK hotel. But definitely I will check out that bathroom. Thanks again and will report back tomorrow after return to CM.

Thank you Fredob , I will give you the debriefing when I get back. I am glad you told me about locking the vehicle. Missionary lady tells me that you can leave truck anywhere on Burma border no problem, no one will bother it. I did not really believe this but I am glad you confirm this as you are from there and so know the situation. I think she just has an optimistic view but sometimes it just pays to be careful.

Thanks Fredob . Very nice of you to send such fine details and information. I think I will go just to see this toilet. Many people think I am strange of how much I appreciate good toilets, but is one of the finer things in life if you ask me. NGO pays my gas but I usually pay my own room and board, so I go for the good deals. Not exactly backpacker rooms but not the A-1 either. Mostly I like it to be clean and if it has air-con and cable tv so much the better but this is not mandatory as sometimes thuis is not available, as you know I am sure. After this trip I wills end you report of the whole situation and maybe this will be useful to others also. Thanks again.

Thanks Fredob . Very nice of you to send such fine details and information. I think I will go just to see this toilet. Many people think I am strange of how much I appreciate good toilets, but is one of the finer things in life if you ask me. NGO pays my gas but I usually pay my own room and board, so I go for the good deals. Not exactly backpacker rooms but not the A-1 either. Mostly I like it to be clean and if it has air-con and cable tv so much the better but this is not mandatory as sometimes thuis is not available, as you know I am sure. After this trip I wills end you report of the whole situation and maybe this will be useful to others also. Thanks again.

Thanks again fredob you certainly know your way around. Am planning to leave Monday and if it is too late probably stay in Mae Sot before going on to TSY. Do you know any good places to stay in Mae Sot?

Thank you very much Mario and Fredob. I drive Mitsubishi triton diesel but no 4-wheel drive. Came back from last shipment through Mae Sariang and luckily made through before landslides. It is funny you say about keep left fredob because my wife who is Thai keeps complaing because I do keep way left and she thinks like most Thais you have to cross yellow line coming arounfd the turns. I will show her this email and maybe she will understand that I am not only one who believes this.

Thank you very very much fredob. I will give the police a call as you say.

I was planning to bring truckload of supplies from Chiang Mai to refugees ar border south of Mae Sariang but now road closed due to floods. Do any of you guys who are local to this area know if it is possible to go through Tak to Mae Sot and then travel north from there to Burma border area near Mae Salit ? . Any help you can give is greatly appreciated as there is a bad shortage of food and medicine. Thank you.

I have also had problem with same guy at Home Fitness. I have elliptical machine in my home and have done 45-60 minutes on this machine in maximum settings almost every day for over 3 years. Now I go to Home Fitness to lift weights but also do elliptical machine there. The guy insists on setting machine for me though I say I can do it myself. He says how long do I want to work out and I say 45 minutes and he says no, that is too long. Even after I tell him I do at least this every day he insists on setting it for 30 minutes at low setting. So after he goes away I reset machine as I figure I am paying for this anyway and if I drop dead it is my problem.

Another friend of mine only walks slowly on treadmill and guy will not let him walk for more than 25 minutes. This is not a Thai thing because I have gone to gyms all over Thailand and never had anything such as this happen anywhere else.

Thank you Paagai, I will check these places out first thing tomorrow.

Thank you Paagai, I will check these places out first thing tomorrow.

If anyone on forum is looking to sell electric guitar, please send me PM. Guitar is for stepson for school band. I am not looking for top quality, guitar, as only have around 2,000 baht to spend for guitar. Thank you.

I have ventricular tachycardia and I am now on beta blocker pills and so heartbeat very slow but before this my heart rate was often over 100, although usually it was 86-90 bpm. However I did not get nauseaus or dizzy.

If your gf has tachycardia it is not necessarily dangerous and many people have this. However I would be careful about hospital here as doctor wanted me ot get ablation surgery right away and when I went back to US doctor there told me this was only in extreme cases and would have to do many more extensive tests before surgery. I suspect hospitals here are very quick to operate, probably to get money. So I would take gf to more than one doctor or at least highly rated hospital before doing anything drastic. Perhaps she only has anxiety or temporary condition.

Does anybody know of good place to get oil change near Maejo Road? Thank you.

Irish friend of mine got back-to-back double entry visas from Vientiane despite having 4 tourist visas in passport.

I own dvd of this movie and have watched it more times than I can count It is one of my favorite movies. I think it is fairly realistic. I thought James Caan gave very good performance in this film.

Thank you all for kind words, and I will try to answer your questions. Khun Orang, in fact we live at Ornsirin muban, which if you know area is also on Maejo Road and very close to Maripaun, and we hope to someday open massage again. We now have Maripaun Beauty Salon at home, but it is very small and Marisa works alone. We still have massage equipment and could technically do massage at home, but Marisa's plan is to go to massage school herself and also when financially able to afford it, to fix up the grounds to make it a beautiful and relaxing area for customers. I will also be honest here. While she did good business at massage, in the end it was just too expensive. The rent was 9,000 baht a month, and we also paid the masseuses both a salary and percentage of the massage fees and also provided room and board. If you add all this to other expenses, such as electricity and water, it was just too expensive. Also, the success of the business was based on masseuses, who are now in business for themselves and best of luck to them. They are lovely people and excellent masseuses, and I will still remain a friend and also a customer. If and when we do go back into massage business, I will post an announcement on forum.

Rumcabal, the shop is located in same row of buildings as Maripaun. I will leave sign out front of maripaun for now to help people find new place. New massage is 7 buildings down from Maripaun, heading towards Mae Jo. Maripaun was 6.5 kms from Meechok Plaza, on opposite side of Mae Jo Road. Go to second stop light from Meechok Plaza and Rimping Supermarket, then make u-turn at second light and head back towards Chiang Mai. Maripaun located just past Wawee Coffee and Ornsirin muban. New shop will be open in about 3 days. Phone number is 0852849118. However I must be honest that masseuses do not speak English all that well, but they do speal nit noi. If you call for appointment and have a problem, feel free to call me at 0848832469 and I will relay the message. Also, new shop will be closed mondays, same as Maripaun was.

Khun Ullyses, thank you also and I am in fact a very frequent customer at all your shops, and I always received kind and excellent service at all of them.

My wife owned the Maripaun Beauty Salon and Traditional Thai Massage on Maejo Road. Due to an act of fraud by the owner of building, we will no longer be involved with massage, and salon has been moved to our home. However, the reason I am writing is to point out to people that despite the many instances I have witnessed myself, and read reports on forum, of people receiving uncaring and unprofessional treatment from Thai businesses, this is not always the case. The other day, wife Marisa was crying often throughout the day,as was her mother. I thought they were just sad about losing business, but when I asked her about this, she said it was because she was sad that customers would not have place to go for massage, especially customers with pain which was helped by the massage at Maripaun. She said, "I hope customers don't think I close shop because I don't care about them." She also cried because she worried about masseuses and if they could find work. The next day, she was very happy, and she tells me because masseuses who worked for us, Newt and Allie, rented their own shop near same building of Maripaun, and are going into business for themselves.

Marisa nd I are no longer connected to this massage shop, and receive nothing from it, so I feel it is okay to promote this business. My point is that marisa is business owner who really cares about farang customers, and I am sure she cannot be the only Thai business owner who feels this way. I thought I should write this to make a fair picture of business in Thailand and show that while there are many cases of uncaring businesspeople in Thailand, they are not all that way.

Also, Tomahawk, I know you were a loyal customer to Maripaun and have said many good things about us on forum, so if you send me PM will send you information about new shop.

And also Marisa and I thank all the kind and wonderful customers, both Thai and farang, who used our service, and hope you will continue to patronize Newt and Allie's shop.