ollylama

wat umong is the most entertaining i think - a pond with fish, caves to explore, trees with funny sayings on them, monk chat, a zoo, a field of broken off buddha heads, etc. etc.

the horse racing on saturday afternoons just north of the city off the canal road (close to city hall).

huay tung tao reservoir - to see how thais really let their hair down.

for extreme sports - the x centre, run by a cool kiwi and his thai wife. lotsafun

mae sa valley road - lots to do and see and a nice drive, especially on a motorbike - elephant camps, animal shows, firing ranges, the x centre (aforementioned), the four seasons (great for a meal and a wander around the lovely grounds).

doi pui - hill tribe villages, coffee plantations, all very close to the city, just past doi suthep.

ban tawai - good for shopping.

bike rides - get the chiang mai big map (www.cmfinder.com i think) and look for where it says "good biking" - great biking trails and roads.

live music - guitarman on saturday (open jam), northgate on tues (open jam), the riva, the brasserie, ana gracey at the gallery on friday.

okay, enough for now.

i defiantly agree.

by the way, a cheaper option than buying that 3g modem for your computer is to buy a 1400 baht 3G phone one phone it's the 3gm602+ and works brilliantly as a modem, and not a terrible little phone either. it charges from the usb port so you plug it in the same way as the usb 3g modem, plus you've got a phone as well and it's half the price.

i bought a little squeeze bottle at chiang mai plastic (in warorot). works fine. filled it up with warm salt water and gently squeezed water into one nostril over the sink. had a cold a few weeks ago and it really helped clear up the sinuses. i don't think you need a fancy neti pot. i could be wrong.

what about that place close to the airport/immigration? it's called suan pak (vegetable garden). i think they're all about salads but i don't know for certain.

as far as the shopping centres go, the absolute worst salad bar in town is at pizza hut. not that that should be a surprise. i'm just saying. it's a horror. and though sizzler seems fresh and okay i always feel a bit sick after.

best salad in town is one you make yourself, with ingredients from rimping supermarket. made one with spinach, bacon and haloumi cheese the other night and it was fab-tastic.

there's a shop on the electronics floor of airport plaza (3rd? 4th?) that does just that. it's close to the robinsons department store end, on the right side as you walk towards robinsons. there's an example of an old restored photo in the window so you can't miss it.

Does anyone know where to get thicker lamination pouches? The stores I've been to only have 100-125 micron pouches. I'd like something closer to 200 microns. In the States they measure them in "mil" (not mm) - so I need 10 mil. If anyone knows where to look, I'd appreciate the tip. Given the technical nature of this post I'm not expecting a flood of replies.

I've tried using two pouches at a time, which works pretty well, but is a bit clumsy.

perhaps it's just my own stupid line of thought but i can't help imagining that the police are just saying "you smashed our box and yelled at us to stay away from your rally and then burned down the traffic lights. som nam na. direct your own bloody traffic."

i have been known to let my imagination get the better of me.

i also like not waiting at the light. but i'll be surprised if someone doesn't get seriously injured soon. myself, i'm trying to use other cars for shields.

FOR SURE THIS WILL END UP LIKE THE SOUTH,,TIME TO LEAVE I THINK.

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun Chrisll,

Well, yes, with your mind in this all-capital state, it probably is a good time for you to leave. "Bon Voyage," and please do send us a postcard.

It fascinates our minds to consider the many levels on which a "perceived freedom to leave" might be such a powerful force ... a kind of "magnetism" as it were ... in shaping our perceptions (what we choose to perceive, the selective editing of sensory perceptions), and the mental reality we construct.

Last night our human form was riding his bicycle: the usual outing for soy-milk: saw armed soldiers around the railway station and the Kawila military barracks for the first time.

We watched a movie in our human's head as it temporarily played a video interview with someone dressed all in black ... a shapeless black bag not unlike the voluminous burqa recently outlawed by some European countries ... not sure if it was a man or a woman ... the person spoke through some kind of voice scrambler so their voice had a robotic saw-tooth wave tinge to it.

Essentially, the person was saying: they wanted the freedom to destroy the idea that other people had that they were "free to leave." This movie had a noire quality to it, and this statement seemed ominous. When the whoever in black said: "the ultimate freedom to leave is suicide:" we just bicycled out of the movie

We kept on bicycling, wondering if "freedom to leave" was emotional, mental, spiritual, or something else: or was all this mentation just a fantasy: with the only thing that mattered was whether you had the passport, and the money, to take the physical meat-package outside a country.

Then, like sudden heat-lightning illuminating far-away clouds: the thought that if a truly voluntary compromise of "freedom to leave" were made ... is such possible ? ... that "freedom to leave" could not be diluted: it would be like the the "purnagatha," the ever self-refreshing pot of flowers that was one of the symbols of the historical Gautama the Buddha (along with an empty "teaching chair," a conch shell, the dharma-chakra wheel, a deer, etc.) during the three hundred years or so following his physical death when visual representations of said historical Buddha as "person" were not made.[1]

Which led to the thought of how, then, of "how" to ... have ? ... attain ? ... surrender to ? ... such a freedom to make a purely voluntary choice to give-away some of your freedom, which led to a certain darkness that ached for more heat-lightning: because we know we are so far from that freedom.

It is good to keep on bicycling. The feeling of the hot soy-milk passing through the black back-pack, warming the spine.

best, ~o:37;

[1] The first major representations of the historical Gautama the Buddha (formerly Siddhartha, Prince of the Sakyas) "in human form" were made in what are now areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan, in what was, then, the Kingdom of Gandhara, by descendents of the conquering armies of Alexander the Great whose visual vocabulary was shaped by Hellenic culture: hence the first images of the Buddha often look like ancient Greeks, have long hair and mustachios, etc. Here, have an eyefull:

Gandharan Buddha Images

<deleted> !!!!!

Hey, let's use proper punctuation when cursing. You don't want people to think we're uncultured, do you? <deleted> should be followed by a string of question marks.

according to the (far less sensationalist) globe and mail article there's a mass rally planned for saturday with 20,000 people expected. they also suggest a guerrilla campaign against the government and the military is underway here.

that's a bummer, man. that's a bummer.

I was feeling a lot of sympathy for the loss of business due to the curfew here. My opinion quickly changed when we tried to call KFC for delivery about 7 p.m. last night. They were not answering their phones and had a recorded message in Thai . Translated by a Thai person, he said that due to the curfew, they were not making deliveries until 9"30 PM. Come on give me a break...how stupid can the Thais get ??

this is either the driest attempt at irony i've ever seen, or something else. i'm hoping it's the former.

I am an American, set to fly to Chiang Mai on Wednesday 26 May for wedding. How is the situation there? Have things calmed down? We are worried, but know news reports can be skewed. Input from people living in CM would be helpful to make a decision to come on 26 May, postpone trip, or cancel. Thank you!!

Dont miss that wedding, things are fine here. No need to listen to alarmists.

i agree. if it were in bangkok i'd say stay away but chiang mai will more than likely be okay. that's just my opinion, though. i could be wrong.

it's hard to imagine the red shirts running amok in chiang mai. even the little bit they did two days ago had all the markings of a cursory symbolic protest. there was little enthusiasm - seemed to be an easy way for a few hooligans to get paid a few hundred baht. once they did what was expected of them they all went home.

or am i being pollyannaish?

mr 3 posts? i wish that were MY nickname. if you catch my drift.

a few military helicopters just went overhead. sounds of a woman talking over a loudspeaker echoing from far away.

hopefully they won't burn down chiang mai the way they're now burning down bangkok. several shopping malls there are on fire.

decided to venture back out to the 711 by nawarat and everything seemed oddly quieter than fifteen minutes before. but that was because they closed off the river road (that runs behind good view and riverside, etc).

i drove up to the intersection and there were hardly any people around anymore but the lamp post was on fire and there were some small barricades set on fire. the police booth had had its windows smashed in. a few young lads were scuttling around with smashing utensils in their hands. there didn't seem to be much of a plan. i wonder where all the crowds went.

when i got to 7-11 the door had been newspapered up and a sign up that said "closed!!!" but i opened the door and they served me anyway. i guess my green shirt helped.

Chiang Mai: shooting at Narawat Bridge just near the Night Bazaar in the last 15 mins - red shirts trying to block the bridge and burning tyres etc. STAY RIGHT AWAY.

Source: ThaiVisa News

yes, saw it myself. no shooting i don't think - just firecrackers. but a big pile of burning tyres in front of the governor's mansion. i commented in another thread.

sorry, i could be wrong. other threads say that has been some shooting. of what i can't imagine. into the air?

Chiang Mai: shooting at Narawat Bridge just near the Night Bazaar in the last 15 mins - red shirts trying to block the bridge and burning tyres etc. STAY RIGHT AWAY.

Source: ThaiVisa News

yes, saw it myself. no shooting i don't think - just firecrackers. but a big pile of burning tyres in front of the governor's mansion. i commented in another thread.

yes, i was just heading into town from my home by nawarat bridge and had to turn back. they've blocked off the bridge and it looks like they've set fire to the governor's mansion - or at least to some tyres in front of it. big fire with thick black smoke so it must be tyres.

the scene is either portentous with danger or fraught with pointlessness. i couldn't tell. one man kindly advised me to step away from an electrical box that seemed to have had its wires cut - maybe to the traffic lights.

a police truck went by and everyone started screaming at them to get out of there and they sped away as if frightened. lots of guys with handkerchiefs covering their faces. lots of lookie-loos just hanging around. kids, old ladies. a "festive" atmosphere.

just got home and the sound of firecrackers and small explosives can still be heard.

no idea what they plan to do, but i'm staying in.

given that chiang mai is red shirt friendly what can they hope to accomplish by screwing up their stomping grounds? is it all a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing, or is there something to be gained?

nice location next to huay tung tao. but the houses are too close together in my opinion, just as they are in many of the new developments. they're a few inches away from being townhouses!

you're not alone. i've been barricading myself in the air con most days. but it makes me stir crazy and so i try to go into other rooms or go outside but it's like being cooked over a fire. i feel for those who don't have AC. my bill is going to be gigantic this month.

i say it every year, but i'm sure this year is the hottest i've ever experienced in chiang mai. and i love the heat. but this is too much.

Your gaydar probably just works better here. This might be easily explained.

When you see two guys walking down the street in your own country, you don't know if they're friends or brothers or partners. Here you see an older foreign man and a young Thai guy and of course many are prone to assume that the relationship is romantic.

Likewise, if you see an older man and a young woman in the West most might normally assume they're father and daughter. Of course, they might be wrong, but here it's much easier to tell if a pair is related by blood.

I agree that it would have been better not to use the word "mincing." I have plenty of gay friends and none of them mince. Unless they're cooking, maybe.

It's too hot to funk!

Too Hot to Funk

If anyone remembers the band The Funkin Donuts (based in Chiang Mai a few years ago), you'll remember this song.

"fans of the big lebowski will understand why these are cooler than they look at first glance."

Ok, I'm a confessed fan of the Big lebowski [one of my top ten favorite movies], but I still don't understand.....duuh

please explain....

The Dude wears them in the movie. Actually they were Jeff Bridges own shoes - he kept them after wearing them in White Squall. Most of the clothes were his own duds.

does anyone know if transparent men's jelly sandals are available anywhere in chiang mai? or elsewhere in thailand?

like these:

fans of the big lebowski will understand why these are cooler than they look at first glance.

Bad taste? You decide:

http://looneyplanet.org/thaksin-about-a-revolution.htm