ollylama

Last sunday we were at the Shangrila: What a disappointment. We thought since Shangrila has a very good reputation, this also would apply to their catering. How wrong we were.

From all the buffets I ever had in Thailand in an upscale restaurant, that was probably the worst.

personally i thought it was great. they may not have had the insane variety of food at some other buffets but the quality was much higher, especially the sushi and sashimi. for 299 baht all you can eat top quality sushi is worth it by itself. but the custom made pizzas and pastas were great, the entrees were pretty good and the desserts were amazing. best of all, i didn't feel like throwing up afterwards, as i usually do at buffets with everything but the kitchen sink.

The local garage was handing out packets of crisps ( chip's if your an Aussie ) when you purchased Fuel.

It was a Thai brand with an English Translation which had the flavour down as CABAGGE'S & CONDOMS. Can't say if they were any good or not, just couldn't talk myself into trying them.

actually that's a real restaurant. they have outlets in chiang rai and bangkok. part of a charity to raise money for condom use. good food, and a good cause! the place is decorated with tons of condoms as well.

there's also a drinking water called "yellow surprise." here's the ice cube version. "exploited at chiengrai" - a "special brand of siamese ice cube." how special, exactly? hopefully not that special.

i believe there's a kind of wafer biscuit available at 7-11 called "tourist".

one thing i noticed the other day is that a very popular type of yogurt is called "0% fat free" which of course means it's 100% fat.

and let's not forget the popular line of janitorial supplies available here in thailand called "Blackman"

shangri la. cheap at the moment as well - 299 baht, but awesome quality. there's another thread on this which appeared today.

ah, it doesn't seem so long ago that there were tons of guest houses with shower included for 150 baht. moon muang soi 9 still has a few cheapies i believe.

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better hurry though. that price is just temporary until they get the hotel officially up and running. no such thing as a free lunch, or a nearly free lunch. or a nearly free lunch that stays nearly free for long. ah, i'm no good with aphorisms.

april = thai new year?

Since about a week ago, all the food cart noodle and soup vendors both day and night have been cleared under police orders from the road outside Somphet market opposite Spicy. Was told an interesting story about why that happened. Ask a local trader.

I wonder when or if they will be allowed back? I think both toursists and locals enjoyed eating there. It adds character to the tourist area.

so what was the story you heard?

jackie treehorn treats unidentified flying objects like women, man...

the sun also rises. or at least it used to, before the government imposed curfews on bars. hemingway's spain this ain't.

funny, i've never watched the sun set in chiang mai. probably because doi suthep is in the way. watching the sun set at 4pm doesn't really qualify, i guess.

grilled onion piled on top, then mixed in when ready to eat.

lots of butter in the mix. whip thoroughly with a fork for fluffiness.

must use flour-y Idaho-style potatoes, not the denser yellow ones (like "new" potatoes) that are more common here. - you can usually tell by the shape - they're longer than the yellowy ones.

garnish with steak.

Except for the fact that it cuts out a few times a day I think TOT is much better than Maxnet. For some reason TT&T phone lines are at a huge disadvantage (and always have been) to TOT phone lines when it comes to the internet. I get pretty good throughput. My torrents are often blazingly fast.

I'll keep an eye on both as the idea is great, but the execution of humor...still needs some work. Ton of potential in the news one. Maybe the dude w/ the gf is just using 'iz Bri'ish huma an' I don't qui ge' i'. But cheers to the Not Nation dude for taking the initiative and getting it going. Hope to see alot more. For now too snorts and a hmm, but no full laughs.

sometimes the chuckle is mightier than the guffaw.

In the immortal words of Lodney King: "Can't we all just get a lao dong?"

Shame on Chiang Mai Mail for their article this week on the death of that Canadian in Pai. Better not to say anything if that is the best they can do......

indeed. first of all, the entire article was plagiarized from the one in the nation, except for the error of course: they weren't husband and wife, but ex-lovers. time to get a new "staff reporter".

actually, i think swazibird is in fact the tuk tuk driver and he just wants everyone to know what a nice guy he is. hooray for swazibird!

this is one of the most brilliant things i've read in thailand. i wonder who's behind it. sounds like something old henry beauchamp would do.

Here's an article about coffee in Chiang Mai:

http://www.fahthaimagazine.com/features/20...e-oriental.html

go to the part called "the coffee crusaders" for some suggestions.

also, you can go up past doi suthep to doi pui where there's a royal project coffee plantation. you can enjoy freshly roasted coffee with a fantastic view over the plantation.

Let's to golfing Chiang Mai, sure it's fun and easily. Hit to ball with arm stick and watching sail over high. You can walking to ball with pretty girl or nice boy. No problem, up to you! Eat at the Duke's.

Where's my money?

you're killing me softly with your copywriting.

In Chiang Mai, they pull this every time gas goes up, but songteaws in Pattaya and Mai Sai have been 5 baht for the last 20 years. Sometimes, the drivers in CM will even make fake price lists and put them in the back to convince foolish farangs that there has been a price rise, however, when ALL of them have the same official notice posted in the back about new prices, it is time to start paying it.

I really feel sorry for the poor Thais when the price goes up so high, but that is why anyone who can, buys a motorcycle.

mae sai went up a couple of years ago to six or seven baht. i think it's officially 8 baht now. at least to and from the border to the bus station. they have signs announcing the official fare.

which leads me to wonder - why aren't songtaews in cm required to post their official fare? i mean aside from the fact that they're mostly evil conniving pigs. still, if they're going to purport to be the "public transport" of chiang mai and prevent proper buses for years, they should be required to act like proper public transport. a pipe dream, i know.

Anyone out there who knows all about the different golf opportunities in Chiang Mai? I'm editing a magazine and would love to hire someone to do a 500-word write up on all the different courses in and around town.

what's sonetworks?

My TOT internet here in Chiang Mai (Amphur Muang) used to work fine. Then a few months ago something strange started happening. Suddenly I would no longer have a connection. My router would say I was connected but in fact no data would go through. I'd disconnect manually and then try to reconnect but couldn't. After ten minutes or so I'd try again and I'd be reconnected. Invariably the same thing would happen again later.

Often, however, this happens multiple times in the same day. It's really frustrating.

I called up tech support at TOT and got a technician to come over to my house. He took a look at the telephone wires that led into my house and proclaimed them "dirty." After snipping away and screwing the whole system up and then repatching some lengths of cable to undo the damage he'd done the problem, of course, remained. I tried to explain to him that "dirty wires" wasn't the problem or the connection wouldn't work fine for ten hours at a time. The problem was with TOT, to which he replied "Oh no. TOT very good!"

This is the third technician I've had come out to the house. I'm at wits' end. Anybody have any idea what to do? Or what might be the problem? Anyone suffering the same situation?

hey i've got a great story. it's the most amazing story. boy you should hear it. you won't believe it, it's so amazing.

give me 25 baht and i'll tell it to you.

group discounts available.