ollylama

I've also noticed remarkable hikes in prices everywhere lately. The burger at the irish went up from 80 to 110 baht - almost 40%!

And a lot of there regulars are drinking elsewhere, noticed a lot more Westerners frequenting the Thai places that do the buy two get one free offers.

seems to me their drinks haven't gone up much at the irish, though. cocktails and house wine are still a deal at 80 baht. not sure about the beer. and their food portions may have gotten bigger, so i don't really know. one problem must be all the increased competition - ten years ago there were few places like the irish in town. now there are tons. and there aren't that many more tourists. the place used to be full up every day and night.

off the topic, i miss the days when you could just drop in somewhere and the chances were you'd see lots of people you knew. with all the new venues chiang mai is getting like a big city in that you actually have to make plans with people.

The bacon cheesburger set at Mike's on Neimanheiman is still 135 baht, I still pay 10 baht to use the pool with a membership (okay, so I haven't gone for two months), fuel of course has skyrocketed, a bag of popcorn at Lotus is still ten baht, etc. But the partner who does most of the shopping says that food costs are much higher. Oh, and D-K sells EFL books for about 11% higher now, but maybe that's the first price hike in two years.

what pool is 10 baht with membership?

big difference between desktops and notebooks. also big difference between older, less powerful notebooks and newer ones.

an important thing that not many people realize is that if you're just doing simple things like email, word processing and internet surfing you really don't need a powerful machine. you haven't indicated your experience level but it would really behoove you to take a friend along shopping who really knows about computers.

questions:

1) do you want a desktop or a laptop?

2) what kinds of things will you use it for?

3) is price a big issue?

I've also noticed remarkable hikes in prices everywhere lately. The burger at the irish went up from 80 to 110 baht - almost 40%! smoothie blues on nimmanhaemin seems to jack up their prices every few months. And what happened to american breakfast sets for under 100 baht? they used to be everywhere.

in my experience it's mainly the tourist places that seem to be raising their prices much faster than normal inflationary dictates would mandate. i guess it's just that the type of foreigner who visits here now can afford to pay more and it's only natural that prices will keep up with what people are willing to shell out. a few years ago it was easy to find a passable guest house room for 150 baht. now even the low end of the scale starts at 300-400. yet rents and market products haven't gone up commensurately (7-11 has hardly touched their prices in ages). the only thing that's really gone through the roof is petrol, and that doesn't justify these sharp hikes.

alas, chiang mai is no longer cheap as chips, peaceful as pie, nor anyone's well-kept secret. i was out in chiang rai a few weeks ago and places in the backpacker area there (the street by wat jed yot) seem to have raised their prices dramatically as well.

interestingly, i was just down on ko phangan last week and there are still decent beachfront bungalows available in some areas for 200 baht,with attached bathroom! in high season, no less. that was a surprise.

speaking of petrol: how long ago was it that song taews were 5 baht a ride? last year it was 15, now it's 20, probably will be 25 soon. i fail to see how local thais making 175 baht a day afford to get around that way. let's bring back the grizzled old bicycle rickshaw guys with calves of steel!

I don't think any local English Language magazine for a medium-sized city in Thailand, or South East Asia for that matter comes close to Citylife for quality and enjoyment-of-reading. Compare apples with apples. The fact that I've written for them shouldn't be seen as a bias, but rather support for my opinion - I've written for lots of magazines both of higher and lower profile/circulation and I think Citylife is top notch in its category.

James is maturing greatly as a writer and a muckraking investigator; Cindy Tilney is superb at penning activist outrage; and Pim not only has insight into the city and both sides of the Farang-Thai divide that few others have, but writes with a very readable and entertaining style. And I totally enjoyed the new humor column which is obviously a thinly-disguised wedgie meant for the writer's club crowd. I needed a catheter myself after reading it.

I wish it were economically feasible for Citylife to print more copies and make the entire magazine full-colour (and pay freelance writers more!) but that's the way it is.

One of the problems with publishing in Thailand (and I know this first hand) is that publicity departments of most establishments generally have no idea what's going on and make their decisions at the last minute (witness this new World Festival that's supposed to happen all of a sudden in February); they don't give periodicals enough heads-up about events and information. Consequently, a totally reliable, comprehensive and accurate journal is virtually impossible to put out.

However, for getting up to the minute info, however, I think Thaivisa.com is unbeatable. I don't know how I lived without it for so many years.

Man, I haven't given out this many compliments since the time i worked in the porn industry. Good thing the year's almost over or I might have gone over my annual quota.

The rarely-heard-from TV-er Ollylama calls this the "Left Hand Turn From God" because it's as if there was a divine right to jut out into the street and turn into lanes of oncoming traffic with no regard as to who is coming and might need to swerve or slam on the brakes. I hate that this happens. In the land of Buddha it is odd that they don't get 'the flow' of things and force traffic to be reactive rather than proactive. The idea of right-of-way should be a mandatory part of mandatory driver's license applications. (Keep dreaming I know....)

Thru The Fog, if you would, please keep us informed of the proceedings with the police or the recovery of the accident victims if you have any info. I once witnessed an accident and was first on scene and called the paramedics. When I went to visit the victim in hospital I had a nice opportunity to meet his worried family and learn about him. It was a nice chance to make a connection and distract them from their crying temporarily while we chatted. He eventually recovered.

Actually I called it the the Left Hand Turn Of God, a snarky reference to the "Hand of God" play that Pele pulled off (or someone, I'm not a big football aficionado). Basically implying that even though a major transgression has transpired, it's really all in the hands of the fates as to what the referee's call will be and the guilty party may get away with it despite the truth or morality of the event. Regardless, it's one of the most utterly idiotic and selfish things I've ever seen anywhere. It basically assumes that "some one will make room for me." Infantility in its extreme form, and certainly the cause of a large portion of traffic accidents here. If it happened only sometime, I wouldn't care as much, but the behavior has been practically institutionalized. No one EVER looks to see if someone is coming. Boggles the mind.

I stopped by that Pink Place across the street from Wat Gate today. They have quite an amazing selection of tea, but it seemed quite expensive to me. On the order of 500 baht for 50 grams. Looks like a good place for high tea, right on the river. Probably nothing compared with the Chedi but not too shabby and probably more affordable.

I really want to get my hands on some of that jasmine green tea which comes rolled in little balls (sometimes called dragon pearls or gunpowder tea i think). You can get it at Doi Mae Salong but I haven't seen it in stores either in Chiang Mai nor Chiang Rai. Has anyone seen any for sale anywhere?

sorry, my bad. the way in which you stated your case sounded to my eyes like something else. big apologies. just curious - where did you see americans drinking tea with milk? in my experience they tend to be surprised by the very idea of putting milk in tea, and see it as an exotic british thing to do. but i haven't traveled very much in the states so i could be biased.

Tea houses won't take off here because Americans who are the main consumers of these coffee places, can't stand tea or understand how to drink various teas.

Many Americans enjoy tea, but most prefer coffee. I used to like tea better as a child, but, as an adult, I need the extra boost provided by coffee.

I bow to your knowledge as an American. However, I have been there many times and can't say I've come across many American friends that actually drink it or restaurants that can make it properly. It's usually a source of merryment ("time for tea old chap") with the people I know. I have taken various teas with me for my friends, but usually they insist on having it with cream and sugar.

I fully understand your need for a 'boost'

It's true that most Americans prefer coffee over tea, however that's true of most continental Europeans as well. And when Americans drink tea they almost never add milk, and rarely sugar either.

Not sure where you get your ideas about Americans uptheos. Is it just me or do you seem to harbor a certain disdain for those of yank persuasion? And your comment "Tea houses won't take off here because Americans who are the main consumers of these coffee places, can't stand tea or understand how to drink various teas" seems a bit wide of the mark. The coffee houses in Chiang Mai that sell expensive coffee are packed to the gills with young Thais. And aside from Starbucks, they're all domestic Thai brands. I fail to see how this is the fault of Americans. But then, I guess nowadays everything is the fault of Americans, innit?

I've been accused of being American, by the way, and I'm the one who started this thread. I love tea and could make you a mean cup of pu-erh if you like.

Cheers (literally! my cuppa is raised.)

Chiang Mai is awash with coffeehouses, but what about places that specialize in tea? There used to be a great place over on Nimmanhaemin but it went out of business. I think most people have no problem paying 60 baht for a coffee but balk at paying more than 20 baht for tea. But are there any sit down places which specialize in exotic teas? Or even shops that sell exotic (japanese roasted rice tea, chinese pu-erh, jiaogulan, etc) teas?

The family and i use the one behind Hillside four. By the way, you refered to it as "Thai fondue" , id always thought it was a Korean thing.I might be wrong, usually am We once went to one on Nimmanhamin that was very good. They have the really big prawns there and good value for money but, sorry, cant remember the name

can you remember approximately where on nimmanhaemin? i live off nimman now and i've not noticed any moo kata around. is it on a soi?

Where are the best moo kata places in town?

For those who don't know what I'm talking about I mean the places where you sit at a table with other people and put meats and seafoods on a big inverted metal grilling bowl with a rim around it that's filled with broth. most of them are really huge and crowded, but are there any that stand out as being especially delicious or atmospheric?

Does anyone have any favorites? I'm especially interested in places in town, not too far out.

Has anyone tried the big new place just outside the northeastern corner of the moat?

thanks for all the help so far, fellas. keep it coming! much obliged.

Hi, I'm working on an article about coffee in and around Chiang Mai, both its cultivation and the growth of cafe culture. Does anyone know of any interesting coffee plantations not too far out of town? Also, if anyone can recommend any interesting coffeehouses or anything special to do with coffee in town, that would also be greatly appreciated.

Hi,

I'm working on an article about coffee in Chiang Mai and I'd like to visit a plantation as close as possible to the city. Doi Tung and the like are too far away. Can anyone suggest a place I might visit? I'd prefer it to be arabica (which grows at high elevation), but robusta would be okay too. Any help you can provide would be appreciated.

Thanks