Ajarn

get outta here georgie...the best taqueria in the Mission is on Valencia near 16th...can't remember what they were called, almost 25 years ago. I lived up 16th and around the corner on Albion Street.

Taqueria Loco is the best in that neighborhood, as I remember. On 16th, between Mish & Valencia... Best damned burritos and salsa in SF, in my experience

Nah best burritos are at Gordos on 15th Avenue Clement in SF!

Yes, best Tourist Burritos

And Clement street ain't in that neighborhood. Clement street is for Yuppies...and tourists

If you have a kitchen, any Mexican food can be made here in LOS, as all the ingredients are available in any Thai fresh market. Edible corn and flour tortillas are manufactured in Bangkok, too, along with corn chips,- though I much prefer mine, made from corn tortillas cut into eights and fried...

I have set aside 20,000 baht towards the cost of medicine for David's victim, the young man who has been living with David since he was 12...

Since I do not want to find myself in the position of illegaly aiding any illegal aliens, my money will not be used for anything except emergency humanitarian needs, in the form of anti-HIV medicine. I want no contact with the young man myself, so somebody else, a third party, will need to coordinate with me over dispersion of my funds for the purchase of the meds..

Whoever is going to take reins here can PM me, and I will give them my phone number for further contact.

get outta here georgie...the best taqueria in the Mission is on Valencia near 16th...can't remember what they were called, almost 25 years ago. I lived up 16th and around the corner on Albion Street.

Taqueria Loco is the best in that neighborhood, as I remember. On 16th, between Mish & Valencia... Best damned burritos and salsa in SF, in my experience

I mentioned yesterday that I would be willing to help pay for AIDS medication for the boy that was living with David, but someone who knows him needs to find him a new home, or take him in.

That medication is useless without a stable environment, and someone to make sure the drugs are taken properly.

Larry Lek and another member said that they might be able to help out with the cost of the medicine as well, but we will need more people to make it easy on everyone.

We have to get in contact with the boy as well.

Any volunteers, ideas?

I did receive a PM yesterday from someone in Mae Sot saying that he has personally seen the Thais drive the Burmerse(?) across the border. But he also added that it is common for them to come back, too, albeit often being robbed by the Burmese or Thai authorities at the border... My sense is that these kids have enough street smarts to find their way, but no one can be sure until they hear from them.

I was also sent a PM from Tomyken, offerring me the phone number of the kids...No way do I want my phone number showing up on his phone, it's just too risky for me to contact him or be a part of bringing him back here or finding a place for him to stay...

I can help financially with meds, as I earlier said.

But, as Georgie said, he needs to be in a more stable environment first, and this I can't help with.

What about David? He has money here, right? He should be doing all he can, even if locked-up, to help with this situation. After all, he caused the whole problem...

My Thai, who is Issan, says try Gen Jan restaurant opposite Siam T.V. appliance store and UBC office.  Don't know steet, but it is a main one.

I had somtam there this afternoon...Excellent.

I had the tai (southern) style....Interestingly, this is also known as Bangkok Style, but to CM people, anyone south of Sukothai is considered 'from the south'...

This style might be better referred to as, Wimp Style, as it is fairly sweet and missing the dangerous ingredients of plaa ra and pu chem.

Anyway, it was just the way I like it. Lots of malagaw, plenty of green beans, and lots of peanuts (tua lisong). They even left the already-squeezed lime pieces, which certainly did not detract from anything. Delicious.

Oh, after eating, I spent the next 1/2 hour on the toilet

Life is all about balance. Ya gotta except some bad with the good

In 10 years of driving in Chiang Mai I only received one ticket.. (This was while parking for 20 seconds outside the Kasem store.. a notorious spot. I'm sure I'm not the only one caught there.. Anyway.. 100 baht...

If they know you are shopping in Kasem Store, they shouldn't be bothering you. I often go there after 4 pm (boot time), and if the cop is there, he is always waved off by Mae Kasem or one of her kids. Mae Kasem provides food goodies to the cops year round for some consideration for her customers....

From:http://www.hackwriters.com/saveMathewMcDaniel.htm

American Activist Jailed in Bangkok Awaiting Deportation

• Antonio Graceffo

To those of us who knew, and worked with the American, Matthew McDaniel, the question had always been "when" not "if" he would be declared persona non-grata in Thailand. So, it came as no surprise last week, when an anonymous email reached my inbox, informing me that Matthew was being held in Suan Phlu prison, awaiting deportation.

Akha Hill Tribe folk

For the last thirteen years, Matthew had been living in a remote village, among the Akha Hill Tribe, serving as their councilor, friend, and teacher.

He spoke the language fluently, married an Akha woman, and fathered five Akha children. In his work as activist and friend of the Akha he composed an Akha dictionary, helped villages build roads, and wrote a book, entitled The Akha Journal, a chronicle of allegations of corruption, misconduct, false arrest and imprisonment, murder, and abuse of the Akha people.

In addition to being a thorn in the side of police and army units in Northern Thailand, Matthew took what he called his "fight for human rights" to government and non-government agencies, all the way up to the UNHCR.

Although there are numerous reasons why any number of people would prefer for Matthew McDaniel to just disappear, it is rumored that his involvement, in a class-action lawsuit against the Thai government was the nail in his coffin. Most people feel that after living in Thailand on a 30 day tourist visa for thirteen years, Matthew's luck had just run out. He was arrested when he attempted to renew his visa in Mae Sai.

Issues of human rights and allegations of "genocide" (Matthew's words) are sensitive subjects in the best of contexts. On the one hand, any reasonable, thinking, feeling human being would like to champion the cause of human rights, and see an end to human suffering. On the other hand, full time activists, no matter how noble their cause, often suffer from tunnel-vision, which blinds them to greater issues, or concessions and advances made on the part of a benevolent government. In the time I spent living in the village, I often found Mathew's worldview to be unsound. Among the Akha, he lived in a world where he was the only person with a western education, the only one with knowledge of the outside world, and the only one with access to news, information, and learning. He was the authority on every subject, from farming to medicine. And no one in his world had the intellectual capacity to challenge him.

In short, after a long reign of being the authority, it is my belief that he had become Joseph Conrad's character, Colonel Kurz, from his novel "Heart of Darkness" (Apocalypse Now) about a westerner who makes himself a god among the hill tribes of Lao. He was given to delusions of grandeur and megalomania. He suffered from paranoia, and subscribed to conspiracy theories. Among the people he professed to hate were the government, the police, the army, the DEA, the missionaries, other NGOs, the CIA, journalists, researchers, photographers, The Shan State Army, Americans, backpackers, tourists, Thais, and any person, connected with any project involved with the Akha, other than his own. He even hated the volunteers who came to help him in the village, calling them hippies with cameras and free loaders. Over half of the volunteers who worked with Matthew, during my time in the village, either left, or were kicked out, after a heated argument. My intent is not to kick a man when he is down, but to demonstrate that some of Matthew's methods may have become unsound, causing needless tension with the Thai government, and leading to Matthew's inevitable expulsion from the Kingdom. Although many of Matthew's allegations of abuse are verifiable, the best way to get anything done in Thailand is to work with, not against the government. His Majesty, The King is one of the most responsive and most popular leaders in the world.

If Matthew is deported, his wife and children will not be able to accompany him, as they are stateless persons. This fact at once demonstrates the impact on his family, as well as one of the legitimate issues facing the majority of Thailand's hill tribes. Denied Thai citizenship, it is virtually impossible for hill tribe people to immigrate to other countries. Matthew had often said that if he were deported, he would become stronger, furthering the Akha cause from the US. This remains to be seen. But what is certain is that with Mathew gone, his hands-on work in the villages will end. Many of the villages are in dire need of assistance. One village in particular, Hoo Yo village, is facing starvation, as their land has been seized, and the villagers only have enough rice to last until September. On a micro level, Matthew was doing good work for a number of needy people. He was personally subsidizing the food budget of a family of fifteen, who were existing on less than $150 Baht ($5.00) per day. In another village he was supporting a widowed healer woman, her grandson, and her blind daughter.

Recently, Matthew had asked me to find an artificial leg for a man, whose inability to work, after an amputation, will result in his death by starvation. Now, even if I secured the leg from a donor, I wouldn't know how to find the man. So much of Matthew's work, the names and locations of villages and individuals, was kept inside of his head. Even if there were a second, waiting on the sidelines, to step up and continue his work, it would be impossible.

Irrespective of personality flaws, over-zealous behavior, and indelicate treatment of our Thai hosts, Mathew's cause, helping the Akha people was a just one. And now, there is no one to take up the baton.

If you want to help Mathew or know more - contact the author at: [email protected]

Paddling the Maekok River

Antonio Graceffo in Thailand

there was a place up the top of one of the hills in SF where you could get a good beer and a feed called Tommy's Joynt

Tommy's Joynt was a great place in the 50's and 60's, but for the last 30 years or so, it's simply been a tourist trap, with few regulars anymore. My cousin has been a bartender there for 25 years, and my father was one of the regulars for more than 20 years.

They do have an extensive selection of beers and spirits, and the food is okay. Buffalo Stew is what the tourists flock in to try. The prices were pretty good, as I remember.

Oh, and it only looks like it's at the top of a hill if you're standing on your head. Actually, it's at the base of a hill.

That probably why it was so hard to walk back to hotel!!

No kidding, there are some streets in that area that, if you are walking up the street, some sections are so steep that, without bending, you can reach straight out and touch the street in front of you....

For San Francisco, it is good but nothing special, however, if you moved Tommy's Joint to Bangkok, it would be the best restaurant in the country, without exemption!

Yeah, that's for sure! The buffaloes in Thailand don't quite compare

I'd almost forgotten about San Fran restaurants, and one favorite in Oakland, Flynts BBQ on San Pablo. Their links, brisket, chicken and potato pies and incredible sauce are things I do miss.

And San Francisco Sourdough, of course

Mission Street Burritos, chocolate truffles from Fisherman's Wharf, Chinese food from Clement street, or Chinatown, or just about anywhere, Double Rainbow Ice cream, any desert from Just Deserts, hamburgers from Clown Alley, and on and on and on...

sheet man, you're making me hungry!

For a couple of years while in school, I drove SF Yellow Cab at night. The most jam-packed two years of life experience yet

And the best way to eat your way around The City at night.

Still, this Joynt continues to win out for me

For San Francisco, it is good but nothing special, however, if you moved Tommy's Joint to Bangkok, it would be the best restaurant in the country, without exemption!

Yeah, that's for sure! The buffaloes in Thailand don't quite compare

I'd almost forgotten about San Fran restaurants, and one favorite in Oakland, Flynts BBQ on San Pablo. Their links, brisket, chicken and potato pies and incredible sauce are things I do miss.

And San Francisco Sourdough, of course

Where are the normal cooling rain showers this year? I remember very few years this hot, or without at least a few decent showers in the first half of April.

Everyday I was downtown during the water tossing, there was also rain in mid-afternoon, as I remember most every year. I got the idea that possibly the water-tossing was the cause of the rain...At my house, I had a few drops on the 13th, but nothing since then...My friend in Fang has reported that it's rained a few times, including one real bluster that did quite a bit if wind damage in town

This year, we had some rain in the beginning of April, which seemed unusual to me...Maybe this was the 'mid-month' rains you're referring to, p1p?

And p1p, if you want to escape the heat- in any form, you KNOW there's only one place to be, right?

proper fish and chips, digestive biscuits,rowntrees fruit pastilles.

Have you ever tried the fish and chips place across from the Irish Pub? I've eaten there 3 times, and each time it was the worst crap I've ever had in a farang-owned restautrant. Terribly dry and overcooked fish on two occasions, and chips which were clearly fried (not just blanched) at some earlier time (maybe leftovers from an earlier customer?), stored, then fried again... Cold 'hot' food, soggy tortillas...terrible!

3 times is enough of a chance for the food to match the hyperbole printed in their ads. I'll not return again.

there was a place up the top of one of the hills in SF where you could get a good beer and a feed called Tommy's Joynt

Tommy's Joynt was a great place in the 50's and 60's, but for the last 30 years or so, it's simply been a tourist trap, with few regulars anymore. My cousin has been a bartender there for 25 years, and my father was one of the regulars for more than 20 years.

They do have an extensive selection of beers and spirits, and the food is okay. Buffalo Stew is what the tourists flock in to try. The prices were pretty good, as I remember.

Oh, and it only looks like it's at the top of a hill if you're standing on your head. Actually, it's at the base of a hill.

Montfort is the best Thai boys school in town. Better reputation than Prince. Montfort has a secondary (Upper) school on the airport road. Regina Coeli is is not that well known, so I'm not sure about this. Main drawback is the traffic on Charoenprathet Road. If you don't drop the kids off by 7 am then you'll be stuck in traffic for an hour.

One Thai family I've known for awhile has their two boys at Montfort, and their two girls at Regina. The parents love the schools, and so do their kids.... I tutored all of them for awhile, and I was impressed with their general knowledge, and especially their English programs at both schools. Native speakers, qualified to teach, and not using standard Thai-produced materials...

Try www.chiangmaionestop.com

Still developing but I have seen some of the properties and they are quite reasonable.

It looks to be a website with nothing except a main page. Every link gave me a 404....Curious how you were to see some of their properties. Some other way to see them?

you can get it all here

Yeah? Where do you get good Mexican food like the kind that you can find everywhere in LA and San Francisco?

that's easy. Make it at home from fresh ingredients. Everything is available, even most of the peppers...Tortillas in any super market or Kasem's. Corn meal, too, if you want to make your own tortillas from scratch.

Here's a recipe for the Salsa Mexicana that I make every week and use as a dip, or in cooking- like a western stirfry with hamburger, potatoes and salsa...Yum

Larry's Salsa Mexicana Bap Chiang Mai

Half cup of tomatoes, diced very small ( but not pulverized)

Half cup of onions (or, optional, 1/4 cup onions, 1/4 cup of spring onions)

6 table spoons of white vinegar (this gives any hot sauce the 'bite', but overdone, makes it taste like vinegar..) If you don't have vinegar, the salsa still tastes great.

Fair amount of salt....It helps to tweak the flavors, and is the main reason for it tasting better the next day....

A bit of chopped cilantro (coriander) for color and taste.

2 prik kii nuu's (or, to taste), pounded into paste ( no chunks) and mixed in well..

Mix together. Store in fridge. Lasts a week.

I missed Turkey Breast till I was going through rimping and found a whole cooked jeni-o turkey breast- wow was i lucky or maybe unlucky only 1750 baht!!

Thats a lot of deli turkey sandwiches-

Yum!!

I remember my mom in California telling me a couple of years ago that turkey was as low as 25 cents a pound.

It was 190 baht per kilo here, that year. Now it's over 200 baht....For frozen American turkeys

I'm just happy I can finally afford to buy cranberry sauce here @ 145 baht per can..

Can anyone give an idea of the cost of a house on the river, not too far from town, about 200 Sq Wah. Western style house, not fancy, single story OK.

What does a house as decribed above rent for?

1-20 million to buy

5,000 to 120,000+ pm to rent

You'll just have to physically go out and see what's there, for a truer picture. There are lots of places that fit your basic description...Check out CityLine or one of the other CM tourist mags for numbers of housing agents.

And keep in mind that most any house is for sale here. If you see something you like, make an offer.

My own advice is to move VERY slowly if considering buying a house here...Renting is recommended for the newbies or the clue-disadvantaged

I spent 5 hours cruising the moat by car today, observing the water-tossing...Some observations....

Far fewer Super-blasters (pressurized vs squirt gun) among Thais, most farangs had them.

Traffic around the inside of the moat from Pratu Suan Dawk, past Pratu CM, until past Sompet market was smooth with very little congestion (1-2pm). Around the outside of the moat is was all stop and go, mostly stop...

I didn't see any overt rude behaviour- except that every person with a super blaster was only aiming for faces, it seemed. And the farangs seemed particularly aggressive...

Oh, and the two farangs who opened up a passing car's doors on the left side and lobbed in two big buckets of water. The lone driver couldn't reach over far enough to lock the door before the farangs got the two doors open...I was behind that car, thankful that my doors were locked, but remembering that the back door to the carryboy was not locked....

My final three hours were spent sitting in gridlock, waiting for the parade passing through Taphae to finish....

Mikes was open, I was hungry, and I was parked almost in front of the place....Unfortunately, I could only order by opening my window or getting out of my car- a suicidal action, to be sure....And that chilli just steps away!

an other way, anyone tried with green mango?

Yep, my favorite style.

I can recommend AUA, particularly Ajarn Oranute. AUA will be open after Songkran. The teachers also teach privately at your home. It used to be 290 baht per hour, but not sure if it's still the same.

Make sure to get a real teacher to teach you Thai, not just someone who is Thai. One really needs a teacher who can lay the proper groundwork for your future learning. Ajarn Oranute at AUA is the best and most experienced Thai Language teacher in Chiang Mai, in my experience.

P1P, as you're driving round in a mercedes, just keep the windows rolled up. 

And also keep your doors locked....I remember, in my youth , being very focused on vehicles with windows cracked, as well as any cop going by. If only I'd had the super-soakers and such then....

And farangs in tuk-tuks have always been a crowd favorite

Though I can't partake of the water-throwing much anymore, I will drive down Thapae rd once, safely encased in airconditioned comfort. Quite a good platform to watch the surrounding madness for an hour or so, yet not be the focus of the madness myself

If anyone was living here before all the expressways and overheads in Bkk, then you'll remember what 'Real' traffic was like...One hour per block was not uncommon at all...The first overpasses built on Rama 4 were a godsend

Traffic in Bkk is much improved, and the city has been serious about rapid transit systems for a few years, and they are beginning to pay off, in my estimation.

All the ring roads and super-hiway additions around CM are paying off, too. The main idea is to route through traffic away from being forced to travel downtown, as we had to do in the past....The traffic downtown started to be really problematic in the 80's, and most main roads became one-way to better accomodate the increasing traffic. This worked okay, except for all the driving in circles we must do now...Now that Thapae road has reached the saturation point (mostly because of Pratu Thapae blocking traffic) along with many other downtown roads, we must hope that our new outer roadways will take most of the load off downtown traffic, which still leaves all the traffic that still needs to enter the downtown area...

Of course cars are going to increase. We must continue to plan for that by building better and safer roads, and.....we must plan for more mass transit. No city has yet been able to completely replace cars, but many cities have been able to control traffic travelling downtown through the use of mass transit and road controls. Singapore is a good example of that. Controls are based on money...More expensive cars, more expensive tickets, and an automatic billing system for using particular roads, at particular times... And, of course, they are strict about their laws, unlike the authorities here.

As anyone living here knows, living here means no limitations to anyone with money. ANYTHING is possible here, and there are sleazy folks everywhere in Thailand, and certainly Chiang Mai has more than its share, in my experience.

Pedophiles are often the people one would least suspect. Many pedophiles are quite good at manipulating not only children, but adults, too. In Chiang Mai, it's very easy for pedophiles to live a quiet life, going unnoticed by most...Only their neighbor might have some clue, but only might....

Frankly, odds are, there are even pedophiles in this group.....

WANTED: An Aussie Style* 4 or 5 burner LPG BBQ with stand - in my 2 or so years in CNX I'm yet to find one - there's plenty of 44 gallon drums cut in half (everywhere) and a couple of small Webbers (HomePro), but what I'm after is something like this:

Well, assuming those 669 dollars are Oz dollars and not the real ones

I'd sure like one, too. Been dying to try to make some bbq like the stuff I remember from San Francisco...

As for framing, I've used the place near Pratu Chiang Mai on the road going past Suang Prung hospital....The frame shop is near the intersection, left side, about 200 meters before Suan Prung. They've been there for ages, and they're nice to me. I've had around 20 items framed there this year and last. Fine quality, but forget the archival-quality handling. Huge difference in mat/paper price between the two, and very difficult to know by sight even by 'experts'. As such, an easy scam to pull, with a high profit potential...In other words, I wouldn't trust anyone around here selling 'archival' mat or papers....Then there are the chemicals saturated in every frame made here to consider.

I gave up those 'everlasting-life' standards long ago....If my stuff lasts longer than me, it's because of a design error.

Of course, CM is still a great place to learn how to make your own Sa paper (mulberry). With a proper press, you can quite easily create proper archival-quality paper, and possibly even mats...