CheGuava

Grab them from other places and pay more.

Especially coffee shops or restaurants that aren't doing well, making people worry about their job.  Plenty of those.

The Royal Flora and Night Safari have really big parking lots. Mid morning onwards on a weekday they should be nearly empty.   Same for the 700 Year Stadium, and the Convention Center when nothing is on.

8 minutes ago, canthai55 said:

Buy a nice condo - talking 5 million plus - in a prime location - and it will be a lot better investment than a 25-30-40 sq M box in a big box full of these smaller boxes.

Yes.. or two or three adjacent small ones and renovate nicely, in an average building that is however in an excellent location.

over 5 million though.. is a little high for Thailand / Chiang Mai..  Not really a problem if you live there yourself and it's a nice place, but on the topic of 'investment' I'm not sure it's a great deal, compared to other things you might invest in.

14 minutes ago, toughlove said:

Huh? Pick the most desirable area in the best location and the condos are cheap?

Good luck with that

No, I mean that you can find a cheap condo  (older building) that is however in a much better location than a very fancy and expensive one, that for some reason has been built WAY up the canal road instead of in town where I want it to be.

2 hours ago, toughlove said:

Location location.

Cheap Condos are never in a good location.

That's not actually true.   And the other way around is definitely not true, that expensive condominiums are reliably in a good location..

(Unless you mean the absolute lowest of the low:  shitty building AND in a shitty location.. )

With the Uber app allowing you to put the location marker exactly where you are for pick-up, and exactly where you want to go, how do you guys and/or Uber drivers manage to mess that up?     And if Google Maps comes up with something odd then just tell the driver where to go?

And best not to be picked up at a place where there's a whole pack of taxi/tuktuk/Songthaew mafia but that goes without saying.  I've made that mistake myself but at that time the driver just called me and asked if I could walk just a bit up the street and into a parking lot, and then all was fine.

I don't think this is an issue so much of 'where to complain' but rather 'how to get better / get best results using Uber'. 

On 1/3/2018 at 12:00 PM, mikey88 said:

Designated parking is like gold....whereas in the west it would be taken for granted.

Maybe some part of the West, like Texas.  But in Western Europe I can assure you it's not just gold it's borderline holy grail territory. 

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Coming  back to your codo with groceries and finding that there is no place to put the car is not fun.

So....for me....I wouldn’t even dream of anything near Maya or Huay Kaew Road...or Nimenn...or Chang Klang.....or Thae Phae....or Airport Central...or Hang Dong Road...or the Super Highway....

Or just right downtown, around the corner from Rim Ping supermarket at the river?  Really it's not that bad in Chiang Mai.  But yes, older condominiums were built without today's vehicle needs in mind.  On the other hand in a condo downtown you might not actually need a car.  Or with a basic little townhouse downtown you do get to park something there and use it only when going a longer distance. (Or hauling groceries at Rim Ping)

I'm not even sure it's worth 1 night.

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Drink driving: Potentially one year in prison, 20,000 baht fine and six month loss of license.

Drink driving causing an accident: One to 5 years jail, 100,000 fine and one year suspension.

Drink driving resulting in a death: 3-10 years, 60-200,000 fine and permanent removal of license.

Huh.. he was just stopped right?   Or maybe...: 

* Drink driving resulting in loss of face of the deputy police chief: having an unfortunate accident in a holding cell.

Next time don't forget to take your halberd to work.  Slacker.

17 hours ago, sfokevin said:

Royal Flora Ratchaphruek has a fireworks display 

Yeah, one of my new year resolutions is reduce exposure to government sponsored brainwashing events. 

Thapae Gate area is fun.

And on New Year's Eve many bars stay open longer. 

Have fun!

Didn't Canada pass legislation finally to ban telco's from locking devices to their own service?   So very likely you can just ask your Canadian ISP to unlock it.  (You'd have to be there though of course..)

Staying in or near the old town area, or riverside area is great.  Especially for the first year or two.

11 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

Times are a charging in Chiang Mai, unfortunately for the worse.

 

Since the tightening up of rules by immigration regarding Farlangs renting whereas landlords are now required to fill in TM30 forms and report Farlang tenants to immigration, including where Farlangs have had to leave the city and cut their tenancies short plus other complications with renting to Farlangs, landlords are becoming reluctant to rent out to them. Many are targeting the Chinese because their immigration procedures are less complicated and it`s believed Chinese tenants create less problems and are more reliable. 

Well, yes, Chinese tenants are absolutely more reliable and a lot less likely to be certified nutcases. 

However immigration requirements are of course exactly the same, it makes no difference at all renting to any (non Thai) nationality.   So that landlord you talked to was either confused, or something went wrong in translation.

I recently came back to Chiang Mai and it's changed a lot.. for the better!  Lots more options for absolutely everything.

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"Thailand ranked 4th as Muslim-friendly destination"

LOL. Please stay tuned while the ThaiVisa membership attempts to adjust that impression. 

Pretty nasty walk on the side of the highway, crossing the bridge.

I'd find a bicycle or something.

If it's an ATM in front of a convenience store then it's worth going back, going inside and ask if someone left the card there. (Check on the machine, then ask inside).

They all have a nice collection of forgotten cards. So if it's any consolation, it happens to everyone.

I get the point, but I do agree with OriginalPoster. I didn't come to Thailand to live in generic suburban hell.

This topic although a spoof, addresses an important point.

Simply put, there are just too many farangs coming to Chiang Mai.

Immigration when it becomes massive tends to destroy the very things the immigrants came for in the first place.

It has been true in the US and Europe.

It will be true in Chiang Mai.

Wait and see.

Agreed. But what to do about it? Farangs are still flocking here like flies to a steaming heap.

CONs:

Run out of money and you`re sunk. Suddenly paradise turns into a living hell.

As opposed to running out of money.. where? I'd like to know.

One thing Thailand is not short of and that's pro's.

Yes, but should the pros be mentioned under the cons?

Any of these Christmas buffets according to past years include smoked salmon and other seafood?

La Meridian

Le Méridien. It's masculine, so "Le". Either way that's not a diner. The original post asks for a diner, as per the topic title.

The Dukes I suppose could be considered a diner.

To me it seems not typical to find smoked salmon and seafood at a diner, but I will defer to folks more experienced than I.

This time of year, I think your best option is the Sankampaeng hot spring pool, 40baht entence fee, 50 baht to use the pool.

Agreed; can't swim this time of the year because it's too cold.

The fascination (obsession?) of straight men about ladyboys never fails to amaze.

They may be less straight than you might think. (Or that they might claim)

Which washroom will they use? Is this a cut/no cut thing?

It may have been a while since you were on an airplane, but they typically do not practise gender-apartheid in the lavs.