eyecatcher

Still going.....................but has anyone got a Chieftain or a Panzer I can borrow?

hmm, got me worried now....i can see the logic of those drivers wanting to get back to bkk asap to collect another busload.

i will be going tuesday night, but my priority will be to check out the escape window, maybe wear my bike helmet on the coach...and make sure i dont see any whisky near the drivers seat...haha

I decided quite spontaneously to find a less "full on" place to spend the Songran Period and went up to the bus station to get a ticket to Bkk, then I will go onto one of the islands.

We were fortunate to get a ticket.... but coming from Bkk to CM you can forget it, Nakornchaiair had a notice up...every bus from there from the 7th april to the 16th april was booked up.

lets assume most of the other bus companies are also booked up bringing people to CM, that means its going to get rather busy...to say the least

will you be joining the smaller exodus of people wishing to escape C.M this time.?

why would they want to paint the tree??

I was referring to the ugly stained concrete in the second picture. They could use the fallen tree as scaffolding.

i was just being flippant with a dash of dry humour-

why would they want to paint the tree??

my boss always told me not to get rooted to my desk

i will pass on this advice

AThai Visa cooking forum would be a fantastic idea, having just drooled over the above photos; whereby we show our favourite dishesor ones prepared professionally...............

...........back to the Easter topic.. just had a week in the UK, staying with my mother; as I left I asked her who the chocolate Easter egg was for..."its for you"......"mum its 35 degrees and rising in Thailand; everything in my bag will be covered in chocolate before i even get out of the airport"

"oh! well what am I going to do with it??" derrrrrrrrrrrr,

mothers...glad i still have mine.

hmm I cant understand why anyone needs to be cleverer than a Phd; but if there is a Higher National Diploma supplement then i may try some.

Did you consider just filling in the "niche" which is....lets be honest 70s design!!!

and then buying a nice stainless steel condiment hanger for your shampoo and hair dye.

no cuts at all

sometimes a facetious answer is whats needed.

45 deg angles almost impossible with tiling- use the plastic tile trim and stop messing about,....

and always cut on the besat side to avoid chipping.

this is why they sell tile trim; it makes the job easier and more professional. (not being cynical..honest!)

If youre leaning towards ally/pressed steel gutters and fallpipes, theres a place in santitham.

at the small 5lane ends roundabut take the one with the polce box towards the grandview hotel. its just on the leftopposite the plastics shop.

they will fabricate what you need and deliver if you dont have appropriate transport..

powder coating though, not sure here, its rather specialised and i think a spray gun is the favoured tool here?

For a personal tax number; i agree you probably need a work permit but if you have your own business as part of a company or partnership then the business will be issued with the tax ID number.

I think i was issued one at the city hall, at a similar time as registering the business name.

but who can earn enough here to pay tax....certainly not me

there is a bkk bank on Nimmehaemin road along with every other bank (except krung thai)

the campus is spreadout everywhere but as other posters highlight there are maybe 6 within a small radius.

what puzzles me is WHY do they always go around in pairs, literally one behind the other.

and then you see them parked up..together

if i was paying for 2 cars to go around the city with my advert, i would want them going in opposite directions to cover more "ears" seems like the advertsier is being ripped off.

but some accasionally have good tunes to "swing yer pants" to and some if youre lucky have 3 or 4 hot and sexy young ladies on....now they are worth watching

I dont have any experience of cooking schools; but I do go regularly to a lovely massage spa.

SPAromdee massage on Sirimangklajarn Road (opposite Oasis) has only been open a few months but already its up there with the best (IMHO)

The standards and service far outstrips many of the city shops I have visited and after 3 visits they allow you to come for free massage. the therapists are all top notch unlike 90% of the cheap city places. thats my recommendation.

Infact I might just get across there now, if only to talk to the most charming receptionist around.

yes, my staff's blouses are made from bamboo which is a really durable material....but white is a sod to clean

Just been reading that Andrex a Western producer of loo rolls, will be supplying their Eco brand to shops next month, made from bamboo and other recycled fibres- claiming its the first sustainable loo roll

so its totally green...(but comes in other colours too)

surely bamboo must be one of the most versatile/useful products the world produces? how many uses did you guys find whilst lving here.?

Jing Looooooooooore !!!!!

how fantastic ....so does she have "ash blonde" or "raven black" teeth at the moment?

how do the prices compare with the other "riverside" restaurants?

have to admit i try to keep away from western food wherever possible so this sounds like another one to put on my list to try.

did they offer you a job there..or what?

what a depressing read, yet again negativity from a farang!

tourists dont come to Chiang Mai to go to Loi Kroh, neither do they change their plans due to smog. i would guess most long haul tourists will not be aware of the small detail of smog in february when booking their trip.,

Thailand has a great draw, and far greater than the adjoining countries; it always will.

It is still great value for salaried tourists, only relatively expensive for us expats.

we just need a little patience with the world economies and then we will have our day., in the meantime stop dissing this city and this country and think yourself dam_n lucky you are able to live here.

This is only my first"high" season so i dont have anything to compare against, but i have to say it did seem to end (if it has done) a little sooner than i expected. maybe as previously suggested this smog weather has created a 4 week blip and we still have another month left.

I heeded advice previosuly not to invest in the city tourist areas relying on westerners coming.

The recession suggested many feared for their jobs and holidays are usually the first luxuries to be curtailed.

I opted for a different market, in the Nimmen area, well to do Thais with money, tourists mainly Japs, chinese, korean (the big spenders) and of course a good concentration of retired expats.

the floods in Bkk in oct/nov brought me 80% of my customers for several weeks in what i thought was still low season, so business wise, it s fair to say that those floods really boosted the economy in Chiang Mai.

similarly the Royal Flora tourists who came to the city were another welcome bonus.

But of course those tourists will not be here next year, so i am just hoping that we made sufficient impression to get those customers to return should they decide to visit chiang mai again.

i think while the economies in the West are still suffering, the city centre toursit areas will suffer likewise and yes the demography is shifting to the more more affluent parts of the city where backpacker type tourists dont go.

for me I am more than happy with my location in Nimmen.

I had mine done in Phuket about 3yr ago when the blue light technique first came out.

I paid 10k then and its pretty much similar now i think but i remember telling myself never again.

They can only offer 2 shades better than your exisitng teeth are....so black teeth may get a brown result, yellow may improve to cream.

you will not get the brilliant white hollywood smile no matter how many times you go.

but the proceedure involved rubbing a protecting gel on the gums and then putting a powerful light in your mouth, which reacts with another substance they coat onto your teeth.

BUT...if there is any slight reactive substance inadvertantly on your gum, it burns...may as well put a burning torch in your eyes.

my gums were only slightly burned but it was 5 days and lot of tablets and salt water for the pain to recede.

in hindsight, and certainly next time it will be "veneers" or something similar.

my lady makes her own, but not grilled.

with the bunches of bananas that have been on the top shelf for a week, she then peels each one, cuts it in half and flattens them and then a light coating of honey and hangs them out in a flat basket to dry them.

after about 4 days and assuming the squirrels didnt find them, they are hard and crisp just like the ones you buy in the packets...so she eats them like biscuits.

as for me, i wont touch them, on the basis that it sounds disgusting!

Ooops, my reply maybe only half right! forgot night bazaar every day; hmm dont know!