CMHomeboy78

Pardon my ignorance, but are the train tracks in Thailand considered to be what we used to call "narrow gauge"?

Yes, narrow gauge - 1 metre.

Some very interesting information about Thai railways can be found ai ThailandByTrain.com.

There are also photos of early steam locomotives including some very small ones like the little beauty that used to be at Chiang Mai Station until it disappeared mysteriously in the late '80s - early '90s.

Around that time a full-sized steam locomotive was found by investigative reporters to be in the gardens on the Chon Buri estate of a high-ranking Army officer.

So maybe a similar fate befell Chiang Mai's little locomotive.

Great video and so smooth flying. Interesting seeing all those railways sleepers dumped to one side. Some of them looked pretty old and beaten up....no wonder there have been derailments! But that aside I might get the missus to enquire about them as I could put them to use around our land. Good landscaping material. Hope I dont start a stampede to the pile

In the West they are used to make flower beds etc .I would not have those ones near my house though as they are probably infested with many types of insect .The new track looks really neat up close .Maybe now the train can go at a decent speed .

ps ,One poster above asks how they checked for compaction ,doubting that the Thais can build a railway .Thats typical Falang superior attitude ,which annoys me at times .

Thais excavated the Khun Tan Tunnel - the longest in Thailand - after the Germans who had contracted to do it returned to the Fatherland to fight WWI.

If Thais could do that, you would think they would be capable of laying track.

Try Pattrara Prepress near Chang Puak Gate. Tel. 053 210816.

They are about the best in town for hi-res fine art scans, colour-separations, and giclee prints.

Good luck with what you are working on.

I was surprised to learn from the biography The Ideal Man just how bitter Jim Thompson had become about Thailand by the time of his disappearance in 1967, having concluded that he was unwelcome. In fact jealous business rivals are among the leading suspects in that disappearance (aka death). This is brushed out of his contemporary image and the happy house tours.

Jim Thompson's life in Thailand is a fascinating subject; probably best documented by William Warren in his many books, beginning with Jim Thompson the Legendary American of Thailand, first published in 1983.

The Ideal Man, by Joshua Kurlantzick draws on earlier source material and offers nothing new except Kurlantzick's own contentious opinions.

Saying that Thompson "...concluded that he was unwelcome." is patently untrue. At the time of his disappearance he was professionally and socially at the top of his game.

The issue of his art collection and the Thai officials who were trying to confiscate some of it caused him to feel resentment and even rage against them, but his social and business circles were so vocally supportive that he was unlikely ever to have felt "unwelcome" in Thailand.

Thompson's mysterious disappearance has been the subject of endless debate. The SE Asian political context in which it happened - and his deep involvement in it - makes intelligence agencies, domestic and foreign, the prime suspects. Not "...jealous business rivals..." as Kurlantzick would have it.

Jim Thompson sincerely loved Thailand and made it his home. People like that seldom feel unwelcome here.

not sure if it happened already but there was a sign and grafic printing trade show at Impact in BKK ,

I went last year and it was very interesting , it was late November

there were a couple Digital to Garment [DTG] inkjet machines there and billboard printers etc

missed it this year as I am in the USA until December

Thanks for that information. I'll go if I possibly can next year.

The state-of-the-art DTG printer at present seems to be the Kornit Breeze DTG. It is to garment printing what the Iris inkjet printer was to Giclee prints for so long.

But the technology is developing so fast that a big trade show like the one you mentioned would be the place to check out the latest models and see what they're capable of doing.

Incidentally, I said there were no DTG printers in Chiang Mai. That's true, but there are a few small shops that print heat-transfer fabric stickers from digital files. The gray scale and color-resolution is very good, but they have a super-glossy look and feel that I don't like. Also, size is limited to A4.

Maybe you could go with that.

Choke dee.

Hi Homeboy, I am very much hoping that you can send me Chang Anand Contact details. I would like to get about 100 T-Shirts printed with the same design but it involves some intricate shading. If you can also possibly give me some idea of the cost that would be wonderful. Thanks for any help you are able to give me.

In reply to you and BKKdreaming, I must admit that I don't have a whole lot of information on this subject.

Having T-shirts printed from my own designs is a sideline. I'm a graphic artist, into a variety of things, but primarily easel paintings that are usually related to East Asian landscape, traditional life, and culture.

Last year I had several more contemporary designs that I thought would work as T-shirts; but looked all over Chiang Mai without finding a DTG printer.

There are several places in Bangkok. I could recommend Chang Anand Co. Ltd., 140/168, Moo 7, Gatumlon, Sampran. Tel. [66] 081 439 7260 - Ron.

Located near the Puttamonthon Park, across the river in Sampran. Excellent quality work at reasonable prices and good people to deal with.

Maybe in the not too distant future some DTG printer will open a branch in Chiang Mai. But until then, Its got to be Bangkok - along with the expense and aggravation that entails.

Good luck with your projects.

Crikey. You could cause a security alert with a question like that.

I think they went into the bunkers already... it seemed pretty quiet when I drove by this morning.

NancyL, you are making a well-deserved name for yourself with your social work in Chiang Mai.

You follow a tradition started by the missionaries in the 1860s when they introduced modern medical and educational practices that transformed Lanna Thai society. Their good works have continued to the present day. But they have always had something to sell - the huckster mentality motivates everything they do.

I see people like you as being completely different; with no agenda other than trying to help people, out of the goodness of your hearts.

Now that Chiang Mai is on the map as a retirement haven - or elephant's burial ground, depending on your point of view; new problems have arisen that call for humanitarian aid. We have unprecedented numbers of old farangs living here for whom traditional Thailand is foreign in every sense of the word. With few exceptions they show little or no interest in the history, culture, or religion of the Thai people.

Unable to communicate effectively; they haven't mastered the language and are functionally illiterate. They are essentially tourists who have overstayed their vacations.

The most serious thing is that they are here without long-term family relations to care for them in their old age. Family means everything here. Your position in the family defines who you are. Without one, you are nobody. Or, as they say, "farang tao-nahn eng."

Cultural isolation often leads to mental health problems, or the drinking and doping that make age-related illnesses even worse.

When serious problems arise, the best advice that could be given them is to return to their own countries where they can be cared for by family and friends in familiar surroundings. Or, failing that, by the comprehensive welfare systems that exist where they come from.

I understand that you are calling for volunteers, and I regret that family and work commitments prevent me from being able to oblige. Not to mention the fact that I am selfish and self-centered by nature. Born that way. However, the observations I have made are well-considered, and I hope you will take them in the spirit with which they were given.

There is no implicit criticism of your efforts to meet the needs of people in difficulty. My point is simply that it would be better for everybody concerned if they were given the encouragement and support to repatriate themselves before they become totally disabled and a burden on our hosts in this country whose guests we are.

Best wishes for continued success with your work.

Additional note:

A previous topic of mine, "The Elephant's Burial Ground", addressed the subject of the alarming rise in the number of retirees in Chiang Mai.

The reaction was a firestorm of protest and personal abuse that was almost comical in its intensity. It was the virtual equivalent of a mob of peasants armed with pitchforks and torches. A plea for civil discourse went unheeded - the only exception being the intelligent challenge from member Dru2, which I answered.

If this post provokes a similar response of petty nastiness I will be fully prepared. On the other hand, if there are those who disagree with any of the points I've raised, I will defend my position to the best of my ability.

Just wondering where this movie with a coup is supposed to be set?? Sounds obviously Thailand and with them using CM as a backdrop with all the Thai signage everywhere, they won't be able to fool many who have seen it and know the recent [and ongoing] coup history here in LOS. Any clues guys???

My bet is on it being the nation of South-East Asiana, that might as easily be Thailand as it would be Burma, Vietnam, Cambodia or the Philippines.

Sure if you're from Chiang Mai or Thailand you'll recognize it, but let's keep in mind this is an Owen Wilson movie; the target demographic doesn't own a passport.

And of course there will be some mild ripples in Thailand, more because hollywood movies are such an irresistable opportunity for some self-aggrandizing Thai journalist or politician to get his 5 minutes of fame, with maybe even an article in Salon.com written by an American travelling blogger-chick that nobody reads. (Cue: The Beach, The Hangover and all the others.)

Then Owen & Pierce will smile their prettiest pretty-boy smile and lavish some praise about the wonderful experience they had in Thailand, and people can go back to other things that also don't matter.

(Between you and me though I'm personally hoping Thailand comes off as a seriously dodgy place; people will then think I'm cool and adventurous again to live here. And maybe Thai people might realize that coups aren't necessarily happy bloodless events where Bangkokians stick flowers on tanks, but I'm really stretching it here of course.)

"...this is an Owen Wilson movie; the target demographic doesn't even own a passport."

Great line... let's hope it doesn't encourage them to get one.

Chiang Mai in 1967 must have been very active in the trade of wild animal skins.

I didn't get here until 1978, and by that time the tiger skins and other big pelts were not being sold openly. No doubt, with the right connections you could get whatever you wanted. At a price.

My only personal experience was on a trip up to Mae Sai. At that time, farangs couldn't enter Tachilek under any circumstances. The Thai girl I was with could have gone in on a one-day border pass if she had wanted to.

Mae Sai at that time was much smaller, with a lot less concrete and glass; but it had an extensive market with things being smuggled in from the Burmese Shan States and China. But it was mostly hilltribe goods, including animal skins of all kinds, and jewelery, some made from Queen Victoria rupees.

I bought a poorly tanned pelt [rather stiff] of a small jungle cat that looked just like a little leopard. Black spots on golden yellow. Really nice.

Mae Sai seemed like the kind of place where you could get anything, licit or illicit. There wasn't much of a police presence then.

Nowadays I just go to get my passport stamped. Times change.

My former wife and I visited Chiang Mai for a few days in May, 1977. We came up on the train, and it really seemed to be the end of the road. She was wild to buy some silk fabric, which seemed to be a much bigger deal back then than today. It was fifteen years before she ever made the fabric into a dress.

We were backpackers. All the way across Asia overland, we gathered with others of our kind and swapped books, and it seemed there was a lot of one-upping going on about who had visited the most remote places, and even more so, who had spent the least amount of money.

Calling home was financially out of the question. For mail we relied on "post restante", and it was so good to actually find mail waiting at General Delivery in the next town. I remember using American Express Travelers "Cheques" a lot. Haven't seen any of those for years, and would imagine that most merchants here would balk at accepting one today.

I remember suffering from the heat a lot, and all of the food seemed MUCH spicier than the "Thai food" we loved in Seattle. I don't remember any air conditioned public buildings, and our cheap rooms had maybe a beat up noisy old fan.

If you had told me that one day I would live in Chiang Mai, and love it, I would have had a good laugh in your face. This city has its irritating features, but I can't think of anywhere I would rather be. These are the good old days.

I did the Hippie Trail in 1976, but didn't get to Chiang Mai until 1978 on another trip.

Istanbul to Katmandu was a mind-blowing experience in more ways than one. I'm sure you'll agree from your own travels.

We all have our favorite places. For me it was, at the time I visited them, Istanbul, Tabriz, Ishfahan, Herat, Kabul, Peshawar, Delhi, and Katmandu.

But there were many, many, other places that I passed through in a daze - either from the hash, or sensory overload, or maybe it was the shits. The trip was just too much for a young guy in his twenties to take it all in.

When I first saw Chiang Mai it beat the other places that I had been to by a factor of ten.

Steve Merchant - whoever he is - has written an interesting short article on Chiang Mai.

A few points need correcting, however.

"Westerners couldn't own a car."... I had a Toyota pickup myself. and I knew a lot of other farangs who had cars and trucks. Maybe he means that the title couldn't be in the name of a farang. I think [almost sure] it was possible, but it involved a lot of redtape. So much easier to put it in your wife's name. That's what I did.

"Marriage to a Thai was rare."... Nonsense.

"It was a quiet drive through the countryside to get to the university or zoo."... That was true in the late '70s, but by the mid '80s, Huay Kaew had become a vast construction site. Mostly five-star hotels going up. There was an army of Burmese workers in Chiang Mai then, but they were very quiet and well-behaved people.

"Beer was a choice between Singha or Amarit."... There were many others as well, but you weren't spoiled for choice the way you are now.

"Foreigners didn't have proper jobs [finance, insurance, real estate]."...Farangs were employed in a lot of different kinds of work in those days, some proper, some improper.

"The main source of decent western food was the Bierstube..."...There were others. The Pub, Coq de Or, Babylon, to name a few other restaurants. Also the "supermarket" in the basement of Tantrapan in addition to the Kasem Store which he did mention.

But all in all it's a nice little stroll down Memory Lane.

Thanks for posting.

Haven't read the whole thread but borax isn't too expensive in pharmaceutical supply shops - and worth every penny when it comes to ants. My nan used to use it in the days before they invented various sprays, and I've always used it.

Lovely for a soak in the bath too.....

If you're in Chiang Mai, you can get borax at Northern Chemical - as mentioned by pizzachang - for 240 baht per 500 g., imported from Germany.

Like you say, it isn't too expensive, and 500 g. will probably last a long time.

Hello Mita, welcome to the forum.

Dante99 was being facetious .

Chiang Mai isn't "busting" with olympic weightlifters.

The availability of gyms isn't all that good either. In the past there have been the overpriced "California Wow" type fitness places. How many are still operating, I don't know. But I doubt that's what you are looking for anyway.

There are probably many Thais who lift weights. But they would do it alone or in small groups. I don't think they would pay gym fees.

One possibility is Chiang Mai University [CMU].

My daughter's fiance recently graduated and was active in sports. I'll ask him about weight training facilities there, and get back to you if anything is available.

Good Luck.

OP,

In relating the travels of Schomburgk and Thomas Samuel, you mentioned the trade route from Chiang Mai to Moulmein. Do you know the route? It looks as though it might have been Chiangmai - Lampang (or Lamphun) - Tak - Mae Sot - Thaton (Myanmar) - Moulmein as roads go now.

"...According to Reginald LeMay [An Asian Arcady. Cambridge, 1926], Schomburgk "...left only a meagre account of his journey. He went as far as Raheng [Tak] by boat, and then continued the journey on elephants. He passed through Lamphun and reached Chiengmai on 11 February 1860, the whole trip occupying just under two months. From Chiengmai he went by the trade route to Moulmein. Thus becoming one of the earliest, if not the first, European to reach the Gulf of Bengal from the Gulf of Siam via Chiengmai since the ill-fated Thomas Samuel at the beginning of the 17th century."

To the best of my knowledge the two main trade routes between Chiang Mai and Moulmein were as follows:

Chiang Mai; down the Ping River to Muang Haut, then overland to the Salween River via Mae Sariang [Maing Lon Gyi], then downriver to Moulmein.

And the longer, but possibly less arduous route of:

Chiang Mai: down the Ping River to Tak [Raheng], then overland to Moulmein via Mae Sot.

Thomas Samuel was taken to Pegu [near Rangoon/Yangon] as a war captive from Chiang Mai by the Burmese in 1613. I don't know what route the army took on their return. There were several well-travelled invasion routes that they could have taken.

Sir Robert Schomburgk travelled to Moulmein in 1860 with a large military escort provided by the Chiang Mai Chaos. But again, I don't know the route. It would be safe to assume that it was one of the two main trade routes.

Thanks for your interest.

I like Dr Cheek.

So do I.

Considering the many things he built in Chiang Mai, and the high-profile role he played in events, it's surprising there is not more biographical information about him.

The missionaries didn't like him, but just about everybody else who wrote about him did.

G.J.Younghusband, the British spy who was on an intelligence gathering mission to Keng Tung was helped greatly by Dr Cheek.

In Younghusband's own words: "My further progress northwards was discouraged in every way; and if it had not been for the great kindness and energy of Dr Cheek, I should have remained months at Zimme [Chiang Mai]. The crowning blow came when I found that the whole of the saddlery down to a watering bridle had been stolen in the night. Here again Dr Cheek came to our assistance, and, fitting us out afresh, started us off on our journey."

He sounds like a good dude.

Chiang Mai Farangs - In Perspective.

The Rev. Daniel McGilvary and the establishment of the first Christian mission in Northern Thailand.

McGilvary's arrival in Chiang Mai with his wife and two young children on April 3rd 1867 marked the beginning of many changes, some for the better, some for the worse. On the positive side, probably the most significant was the introduction of modern medical practices.

Before the arrival of the missionaries, Lanna people were dependent upon traditional folk medicine. This was essentially a mixture of common sense remedies, based on accumulated experience, combined with inherited lore about the healing properties of plants and minerals. But it also included certain types of ritual healing, in which prayers, charms or spells accompanied the medicine, or even formed the sole means of treatment. Magic, obviously, cannot counter infection and is no substitute for hygiene, but it may have provided as effective a therapy for psychosomatic ailments and some mental disorders as anything available today. Nevertheless, McGilvary and the medical missionaries who followed him revolutionized medical treatment in Chiang Mai.

McGilvary never had - as far as I know - any formal training as a physician, but he had served an apprenticeship of sorts with his father-in-law Dr Dan Beach Bradley, the foremost missionary doctor in Bangkok before coming to Chiang Mai.

He was also in possession of several of the latest medical textbooks of the period, quinine to treat malaria, and smallpox vaccine. He seems to have been a natural born healer of a type not uncommon in the 19th century; even though he lacked academic credentials.

McGilvary was followed by other Presbyterian missionaries who were qualified doctors. The first three being Dr C.W.Vrooman, Dr M.A.Cheek, and Dr A.M.Cary, in that order. Dr Vrooman and Dr Cary stayed only a few years.

Dr Marion Alphonso Cheek [1852-95], who arrived in 1875, was the most colorful and controversial missionary doctor in Chiang Mai's history.

McGilvary recruited Dr Cheek from his home state of North Carolina and obviously had high hopes for him. The two became brothers-in-law when Dr Cheek married one of Dr Bradley's other daughters.

After establishing his practice, Dr Cheek raised a pledge of $10,000 from the USA to build a hospital in Chiang Mai, but the mission board would not allow it. He was greatly disappointed and embittered. Meanwhile, the mission was disturbed by his business activities and attempts to have a private clinic. He quit the mission in 1885.

Cheek became a notorious cocksman, with what some described as "several wives", and others as a "harem". Subsequently, his wife left him and took their five children to live in the USA.

In addition to his medical practice he became a teak wallah, working forest concessions which he obtained through his influence with the Chiang Mai Chaos. One missionary complained in 1891 that Dr Cheek had the only steam-powered sawmill in Chiang Mai and had repeatedly directed his foreman not to saw any lumber for the mission hospital then being built. But before that he had designed and built the Sapahn Kula, the first modern bridge on the Ping River, located at the site of what was until recently the walking bridge to Wororot Market. He also built the First Presbyterian Church that still stands and is now the Chiang Mai Christian School.

He eventually ran afoul of some government officials and was barred from the logging trade.

When Dr Cheek died in 1895 the Siamese Government, acting through their Chiang Mai Resident Commissioner, confiscated his property and other assets. Damages were sought by the family under international law and eventually $250,000 was awarded Mrs.Cheek. The case was of such magnitude that it was discussed in the US Senate, and established several principals of international law.

The Rev J.J.Thomas wrote of his death, "No man has done more in a few years for our mission here, and no man has been so - I was about to say hated - but I will say pitied and discarded by his former friends and loved ones because of what they deemed a misspent and bad life, as Dr Cheek."

A definitive biography of this interesting man would be a welcome addition to Chiang Mai studies and a fascinating read.

A less flamboyant figure was Dr James W.McKean [1860-1949] who joined the Chiang Mai mission in 1888 to live and work here for the next fourty-two years.

Dr McKean is most famous for the leper hospital he founded on an island in the Ping River four miles south of the city. It grew to become one of the best known institutions of its kind in the world, where new methods of treatment were developed and a community was created to provide a home for people who had been outcast.

From treating people in wayside salas the missionaries went on to set up small clinics, and in 1877 McGilvary built the six-room Chiang Mai Hospital that eventually grew and became McCormick Hospital - named after Cyrus McCormick the philanthropist, whose wife, along with Princess Dara Rasami were among the early benefactors.

People seeking treatment came on foot from all over Lanna Thai, the Burmese Shan States, and even as far away as Yunnan. They saw Chiang Mai as a place where good medical care was available; and that reputation has continued to the present day.

In my next post I will take a look at the social and political turmoil that was provoked by the missionaries and the British teak wallahs who followed soon after them.

To be continued.....

Good thing the OP did not live in my neighborhood 50+ years ago. A few rolls of toilet paper in the trees and maybe a paper bag 1/2 full of dog shit lit on fire on his door step as we rang the door bell.

Nice to know there's someone else on the forum who remembers those fun times.

If the "Treats" weren't forthcoming, the "Tricks" could be tough-love lessons in how to live in harmony with the local kids.

Stepping in that bag of dogshit as you came out your door to see that your windows had been soaped with graffiti messages, and shaving cream had been sprayed all over your new car; and then maybe to be hit in the ass with a water-balloon as you retreated back inside your house.

Maybe the new guy never had a childhood.

http://www.tcdc.or.th

is a wonderful design library for anything visual. there 'might' be people there in the know. if you're interested in visuals on a serious level you'll love this place.

- jerry

That's an excellent resource for graphic design information.

Probably better than the ones I gave rcpilot for finding 3D printers here.

If I had known about it earlier this year it would have saved me a lot of running around when I was in a similar situation.

I wanted to have T-shirts printed from my original designs, but couldn't do it by silk screen. The originals had halftones and shading that could only be done on a Digital to Garment [DTG] inkjet machine. Nowhere to be found in Chiang Mai. I had to have them done in Bangkok [at Chang Anand] with all the extra expense and hassle.

I think 3D printing will require a trip to the Big Mango as well. But I'm not sure.

This Is Thailand.

Don't be suprised by anything.

That's why I love it.

Chiang Mai might not have what you are looking for.

Within Design Co. Ltd.

9 Charoenpratet Rd., Soi 9

A. Muang, Chiang Mai

Tel. 05327 2111

Is a good place for all kinds of graphic design, and they might know if there is a 3D print service in Chiang Mai.

Another possibility is Pattrara Prepress near Chang Puak Gate. Tel. 05321 0816. They're about the best in town for hi-res fine art scans, colour-separations, etc. Most of the printers and graphic designers use them.

Good luck with what you are working on.

We get that two boxes of bottled water every week from a local company, cost 35B for 20x1l bottles. They come every Friday morning for delivery. Tastes much better than any water you can get in Bangkok, even without testing I'm sure I'm way better off with the drinking water here now. For everything else an 80m deep pump, no water from the city here.

Yes, the 1 litre bottles would be more convenient than the 5 gallon bottles.

But years ago we got a locally made contraption that you put the big plastic bottle in, and by means of a handle you tip it to pour.

Works for us.

Municipal water in Chiang Mai comes from the Ping, Mae Taeng, and Mae Kuang rivers. Also the Ban Umong reservoir at the base of Doi Suthep.

Supposedly the water is regularly tested by the local authorities to meet WHO standards. But having little trust in any government, anywhere, I've always felt safer drinking bottled water.

If you buy it from a reputable company in 5 gallon bottles it doesn't cost that much, and is worth the peace of mind.

A few posters have placed too much emphasis on the drains.

Water welling-up through the drains occurs only after the system has been flooded by high water levels.

The Ping River breaching its banks is the problem that flood-control measures have to address. Dredging and floodwalls seem to be the obvious solutions

Nong Hoi had floods when Siriwattana was a ricefield, and the drainage system in the Talad area was shallow ditches covered with boards.

Drains don't cause the flooding, the river does.

Didn't people use to talk about Nong Hoi getting flooded through the drains? River wall wont help if land is lower & pressure from river forces water up through the pipes. Any truth in that or just rumour?

The flooding in Nong Hoi over the years has been caused by the Ping River overflowing its banks; not by water coming up from the drains.

If that's the excuse the government is giving for not building a floodwall, then it's a lame one.