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I close by predicting, sadly, that things aren't going to get better soon.  In that business, one better have very deep pockets and keep up quality.  That has not of late, generally, been my experience with Chiang Mai restaurants.  Sad.

If anyone asked me about buying/opening a bar, restaurant , guest house, resort, hotel or any other tourist-realated business in Chiang Mai for the next few years my advice would be simple.

Don't do it. There is too much uncertainty out there.

 

PS. As a restaurant owner, any particular reason you take your own instead of helping prop up the place you go to?

Because he can!! I would think most places don't have a decent selection.

Personally, I would expect to be charged and be pleasantly surprised if they don't. 

 Like yourself, I wouldn't  like to mess about asking for discounts on a night out. 

Okay, the last topic got closed because it mentioned the unmentionable, so let's have a little fun and make a list of the local characters that either used to post here and no longer do or people who were stalwarts that have become infrequent posters.

I'll get the ball rolling with a few that I know of...

Bigwheelman

Sassienie

Maejoman

Gonzo

Blinky

I have no idea what there reasons are for their disappearance or why they have become less visible, but if you do, or if you know of any others let us know. I'm sure there are loads more.

I imagine that most of the Fish Spas have closed already, as well as plenty of massage places. They are good examples of places closing just because they were never going to be viable - good economy or not. They close quicker during a down turn but they would eventually close anyway.

I don't know of any successful businesses up for sale do you? Nearly always, a business is selling because it ain't working..

We have recently taken a decision to take our business off the market and soldier on, but August has been exceptionally poor this year as a result of a combination of factors - the strong baht, the political situation, concerns about His Majesty's health, the general world economic outlook and the fact that we have had a normal monsoon in August whereas the last two Augusts have been very dry. Of these factors the most important is the value of the baht. We have dropped a number of prices and introduced a budget range of meals, but we have limited scope for price cuts as the price of foodstuffs including eggs, potatoes & fresh vegetables have soared and the price of many of the Farang speciality products have remained constant despite the greatly lowered cost of importing these products (Marmite, Branston Pickle, Brown Sauce, etc etc) Mr Rimping must be coining it in.

In short, trading conditions are pretty terrible - i accept that September is back to the low season but August is normally a chance for businesses to fill the coffers after June and July in order to stave off the bailiffs until November.- and who knows what sort of high season we are going to have!

You don't paint a rosy picture for anyone that might want to buy a business. I hope you don't reverse your decision because you just might have scared off any future buyers should you want to sell up!

I'm sure the strong baht doesn't help, but I'm not quite convinced as to the effect on business of the other factors you mention.

I noticed that the former Sports Bar in the Night bazaar that changed to Planet Rock now appears to be closed after having been open for about a month(?). Was it due to the sort of conditions you mentioned, or just a bad business plan, a poor location, or something else? I don't think that a lot of Chiang Mai's businesses fail just because of adverse conditions.It's more likely due to inexperienced people getting involved in businesses they know nothing about. Lots of businesses fail, but these businesses fail more quickly and in greater numbers under bad conditions.

Business has been slow but the rent, key & tea money just keep going up.

Several of these business are just places to keep the wife occupied and out of trouble, but it's becoming too expensive to keep subsidising the loss makers with the rising value of the Baht.

Just my opinion.

People open businesses to 'keep the wife out of trouble'? What kind of a guy would marry a trouble causer, let alone open a business to keep her from causing more trouble?

Ah.... here speaks someone who isn't/has never been married to a woman. Keeping a woman out of trouble

means keeping her too busy to notice what you're up to, not trouble she causes herself!

David

I am not only married, but have been for twenty years. I still can't believe it. Putting up with me for so long!! You could be right though, because my wife is still actively employed while I pretend to be working on the computer. As regards to her not knowing what I'm up to, I've got that off to a fine art.

Business has been slow but the rent, key & tea money just keep going up.

Several of these business are just places to keep the wife occupied and out of trouble, but it's becoming too expensive to keep subsidising the loss makers with the rising value of the Baht.

Just my opinion.

People open businesses to 'keep the wife out of trouble'? What kind of a guy would marry a trouble causer, let alone open a business to keep her from causing more trouble?

I can thank of four so called cornerstone establishments off the top of my head that are up for sell. Coincidence?

If you can fit four cornerstone establishments on the top of your head, then all I can say is "well done".

I'm not quite sure what you mean by 'conerstone businesses', especially as regards to chiang Mai - businesses that have been here for more than a year, is that the rub of it? Probably nothing to do with coincidence either.

Why do you think they are for sale.

I know that September is one of the quietest months in Chiang Mai but it seems odd to see so many businesses closing down or up for grabs. Someone just mentioned that the poor service in a popular Chiang Mai restaurant was to be expected because 'this is Thailand". Is that the problem - badly run businesses with a never-mind attitude or is it something else? Surely, well run businesses should be able to survive the short down-turns in trade? In fact, whilst some businesses come and go, there are still a select few that have managed to survive the ups and downs and have been here for years. Why is that? Good locations, better management?

I wonder how long this thread will last also

If posters are no longer posting why should we not be able to discuss it?

I'm not sure that 'open' discussion is frowned upon, unless it contravenes what appears to be a very strict set of rules that the mods have to follow. There have over the years been vibrant discussions that were closed down too soon (IMO) and sometimes it would be nice to see where some of these discussions are actually going. Sometimes a person would post something and it might not be strictly Chiang Mai based, but nevertheless very interesting.....but out there, is someone who is watching 24/7 (not a mod) and has a flashing red light which alerts him or her to such cases. Personally, if something is of benefit to people in general it doesn't bother me one iota if it's not Chiang Mai based, this isn't the centre of the universe as some people think.

By 'open discussion' I mean talking about moderation. I understand that a conversation about a specific moderators action is not allowed but is a discussion about moderation in general allowed. I think not. You mentioned it - topics closed because someone decided it was not strictly about Chiang Mai. I've also seen topics closed because a mod decided that it had run it's course. If a topic has run it's course it will fall down the page and disappear by itself, but so long as some people are still interested, why close it? I personally think that too many posts are closed or over-regulated to the point that no-one posts anything interesting or amusing anymore because they know it will be closed.

I know a guy who said he used to spend his lunch-time being entertained by TVisa when he was back home working. He said that these days, it gives it a quick look then logs off because there is nothing of any interest. I tend to agree.

Is it because of over Moderation? I think so, and hopefully those at the top on TV want to know that.

Having seen a topic about the disappearance of a member called Naam in the General forum, It occurred to me that there are plenty of no-shows on the Chiang Mai forum lately. I've been following it for quite a time but now It seems very quiet, and boring. Not much banter or fun being had, just a few posts asking for the usual 'where can I buy a .......". At this moment 7 of the first 10 posts fall into this category

I'm told that the Chiang Mai forum on TV used to be one of the most popular but I doubt if that is the case nowadays.

If traffic is down, and people aren't posting as much, I would have thought that an open discussion as to why that is would be welcome, but somehow I get the impression that this topic will go nowhere because very quickly it will be closed. Most good businesses welcome customer feedback, but other than sending PM's to the Mods, open discussion here is frowned upon, right?

The forum in generally quite compared to what seemed like it's peak a couple of years ago. Some days there seems to be little traffic at all.

I wonder why that is?

Is there a sort feature to determine who the baddest TV poster is and a booby prize for baddest?

I suggest a booby prize for the most positive votes (obviously a slimey sychophantic, cheating toad) and the star prize to the baddest (like him or not, he's probably honest in his views and more entertaining).

Everyone loves the Baddie, no-one like the Goodie.

To give everyone else a chance, Moderators would have to be excluded from the count, of course.

If it's intended to be a bit of harmless fun it's okay, otherwise it's pointless. Who really gives a shit what most people on here think about you?

In a similar vein, I'm perplexed by the 'friends' function on a forum. What does it mean to be someone's friend? I understand the purpose of it on Facebook - allowing people access to your info or posts, but what is it's purpose on a public forum? It doesn't seem to serve any purpose, or am I missing something? I don't know about you, but I find "so-and-so wants to be your friend" really funny. It reminds me of being back at junior school - "Can I be your friend?". It was always the sad little <deleted> that said that wasn't it?

That's got to be worth at least 5 negative votes.

Based on what I have seen here at TV, theres alot of people that don't fill this information out correctly, including myself.

Does that make all that havent, transexuals?

No. You could be a closet gay (nothing wrong with that). Don't tell, and I won't ask.

How about a place to list our x partners.

How about dick size? (Sorry.)

I hope their 'drop down' box for that includes options for fractions of inches . Its important to be accurate

A mate said his was twelve inches, but he didn't use it as a rule.

I was checking out somebody's profile and I noticed his gender was set as 'not telling'. That led me to believe(quite rightly I think) that he was obviously a Trans-gender but didn't want to own up to it. Fair enough, I might do the same if I was that way inclined. Then I thought , 'maybe they don't have that option for input', which is unfair and possibly discriminatory (Ha!) in these enlightened times. Coincidentally, the guy I was checking out happened to be questioning the gender of his friends girlfriend (takes one to know one, I thought) so I assumed he was the shy type.Fair enough.

Anyway, I was thinking that whatever he does in the privacy of his own house doesn't concern me and if he wants to keep it a secret that's up to him , but then when I went to go and set up my personal details imagine my surprise that I was also marked as 'not telling'!!! My age is "unknown", as is my birthday, but my sex is set as "not telling". If that is the default setting then whoever set it up either has a good sense of humour , or perhaps was a former member of the US Navy who took advantage of the 'don't ask' policy. Either way, an interesting way to do it, as opposed to the 'unknown' option.

In case you're wondering about me - I'm leaving the default setting as it is, and just to annoy the 33 people who have already viewed my profile, I think I'll leave the rest as they are. My my, you're a nosy bunch.

It will be interesting to see the Reputation of the Mods after a while.

I've already got a negative rep so I'm doing well considering that I only signed up a few days ago.

Thanks Thaimiller. Can you buy their jersey at the ground? How much?

Shirts are for sale at the entrance to the stadium, 399baht, I think. T-shirt 199.

Pre-match banter and drinks at Red Lion, night bazaar, 4pm onwards. A seat in someones car usually available.

I saw a gal wearing one that said "No Money, No Honey" at least she was honest LOL

The oddest one I saw was "fuc_k you, Nazi wanke_rs" , worn by a nice young 11-12 y.o holding her mothers hand.!!

Where can I buy this one?

      

Funnier is all the posters saying they don't 'get it'...... Denial is a wonderful thing.

It's quite clear that some people, including myself don't get the message but for some strange reason you interpret that as being in denial. How did you come to that conclusion?

You also say ...

"I have no doubt whatsoever that everyone knows exactly what the tee shirt is implying, despite protestations to the contrary."

As well as admitting, condescendingly, that not everyone will 'get it' ...

"Those that have lived here for a while will 'get' it, those that have no idea of reality here won't.... but you'll 'get' it after you've been here a while"

So, for someone that has lived here for a while, isn't in denial, does have an idea of reality but still doesn't know exactly what the tee shirt means, could you explain it to me - without further insults if possible.

Nothing says 'true friend' more than outing someone on a public forum.

Maybe you could post a picture of yourself and we could all vote on whether you were gay or not? Damian does sound a bit that way.

Maybe you wouldn't like that.

This is a public forum, is it not?

I'm hearing there's been a fair number of cases lately in the NE with health workers now being vaccinated.

Some earlier news reports dated 8th and 10th August.

http://www.nationmul...-%28H1N1%29-flu

http://www.nationmul...e-30135445.html

And another dated 10th August from the public health minister saying the spread is normal.

http://thainews.prd....id=255308100007

That means that I had the latest info! " from the public health minister saying the spread is normal " ; that means, together with my current experience that they have to enlarge the Bangkok hospitals fast!!

I thought that after all the fuss and panic last time, it was finally concluded that H1N1 was a pretty tame flu, as flus go. Thousands of people die every  year from flu and millions get ill, so why should we be alarmed to know that this relatively mild flu is back? Your two healthy friends got the flu, felt rough, stayed off work and went to the doctors (which is normal with the flu) and providing it is H1N1 they will get over it. No need to panic.

Mayve we could start a forum about guys who buy things in their lover's name and either think its the way to go or not.

Would not be a dull forum.

Maybe a "Lonely hearts" forum for all the guys that can't figure their own lives out, and want total strangers to do it for them. The usual questions of course, "Do you think she loves me", "Do you think she's telling me the truth", "Can I trust her", "Is he really her brother?".  

It could be a shoulder to cry on for the lovestruck, a place for the caring members to offer their advice, and a good source of amusement for the rest of us.