Ajarn

What about Mike's Tacos? You have to admit that it's much better than Mike's Burgers.

At least at at Mike's Tacos he is giving his own sweat. In my opinion Mike's Tacos is better than Mike's Burgers.

Talking to yourself?

I wasn't impressed by the noveau cuisine style portions.

The Fish n'Chip Shop was great if like your food fried. Last time I went by the door was shut.

The place near the Irish Pub? I've eaten there 3 times in the last few years, and each time was worse than the last. Mostly horrible chips, but the fish wasn't ever 'crispy' either.

Well, I'm American but I took a couple British friends to the FARANG CAFE in the new rimping shopping center on Maejo Road and they gave the breakfast two thumbs up on taste and price!

Went there when it first opened and wasn't impressed with it: cheap sweet white bread toast with that horrible thai-style margarine, 1 big chewy sausage that tasted of soap. Price OK, but I'd rather pay a little extra and get something a little closer to what I know as farang food.

Agreed. First time I went, it was okay, but all of the subsequent visits have been disappointing. Typical farang style food cooked by a Thai. Don't know why her husband doesn't step up and say or do something to improve the taste. Because it's the only place close to my house, I'd like to see them succeed.

She had some recent problems with cooks but now has new cook who also has Brit hubby. Will pass on your comments for improvements - the choice/taste/price of sausages available in CM is wide and personal tastes vary - she will listen I assure you - any suggestions on sausages available in CM which would satisfy the majority of 'tastes'/any other suggestions?

Hubby a.k.a "thebear^(is back)"

You might want to mention to them that their fish (in fish and chips) was tough and chewy (both batter and fish) the last couple of times I ate there... Also, Rimping (30 feet away) has good french bread, certainly better than what they're using for garlic bread.

Last time i was there, i had their cordon bleu.

That was quite good when I had it, too.

I'd eat at Mike's if there was a veggie burger option. I know some people think you have to have a separate grill & everything but I'm not that hardcore. Anyway, I had a couple of burgers there in my former, sinful, meat-eating days. They were good, but the best in my opinion are the onion rings.

Interesting comments - thank you - tell me the requirements to meet the needs of vegetarians who like yourself are not too hardcore - i have tried many products but as yet nothing which is more than bland.

To me, a decent vegie burger is more about texture. Firm on the inside, with an outer crust. Taste is secondary, but as long as it's not a horrible taste, I'll try it. I had a lentil burger 30 years ago which was quite tasty.

I'm only a fan of the workers there, having to put up with farangs all day

Personally, I think their hamburgers are too soft and mushy for my taste... good chili though

From my house off Hang Dong road near Tesco, I cannot even make out the mountains a short distance away today. I have gone from being very concerned to just being downright angry.

What should be a beautiful place to visit and live has been turned into one of the most polluted and unhealthy areas in the world. Even the fact that this is Thaksin's home town and officials have known about this serious problem a long time, nothing has been done about it. This is both insane and criminal.

Do some research on the internet and you will see just how much damage this filthy air is doing to your lungs and other vital organs. Remember, unlike other polluted cities in the world, all this crap in the air gets trapped and recirculated making it extremely dangerous. No one breathing it in is going to be immune to the health problems it can cause. It's just when and how the damage shows up and how life threatening it might be when it does.

And yes, like some others I am now making plans to move. I can buy another house, another car and a number of other things. The one and most important thing I can't buy is my health. Lose your health and you lose everything. Time to move on.

Wish you would stop talking about it and just move...

Or is this specifically American banks/cards that don't want to do business with Thai companies?

Never heard of such a thing. Any information about this?

Charal Travel

053-252-050-9

123 Chang Moi Rd.,

A. Muang,

Chiang Mai 50300 Fax: 232447

[email protected]

This place should be able to take care of your issues...

The combination of haze and a rising temperature is making living in the northern city quite uncomfortable, Apiwat said. Last year, an intensive campaign to prevent forest fires and outdoor burning succeeded in preventing the kind of air pollution seen this year, he said.

What's this about, I wonder... First they say that the pollution is worse this year, then they tell us how successful their campaign to prevent forest fires and outdoor burning was "in preventing the kind of air pollution seen this year'

You don't expect a govt official to admit he'd failed? Burning continues as usual on the valley floor. Don't know about the hills, I can't see them.

That's the point. First they say they failed, then they say they didn't.

The combination of haze and a rising temperature is making living in the northern city quite uncomfortable, Apiwat said. Last year, an intensive campaign to prevent forest fires and outdoor burning succeeded in preventing the kind of air pollution seen this year, he said.

What's this about, I wonder... First they say that the pollution is worse this year, then they tell us how successful their campaign to prevent forest fires and outdoor burning was "in preventing the kind of air pollution seen this year'

Nothing to worry about.... ask Ajarn , just kidding Ajarn

Please don't try to misrepresent me. It's simply that I don't get hysterical about the air pollution.

Well, I'm American but I took a couple British friends to the FARANG CAFE in the new rimping shopping center on Maejo Road and they gave the breakfast two thumbs up on taste and price!

Went there when it first opened and wasn't impressed with it: cheap sweet white bread toast with that horrible thai-style margarine, 1 big chewy sausage that tasted of soap. Price OK, but I'd rather pay a little extra and get something a little closer to what I know as farang food.

Agreed. First time I went, it was okay, but all of the subsequent visits have been disappointing. Typical farang style food cooked by a Thai. Don't know why her husband doesn't step up and say or do something to improve the taste. Because it's the only place close to my house, I'd like to see them succeed.

I am led to believe that the type of food you eat is more important than excercise for strictly weight loss goals.

Gotta disagree with you on that point....

I lost my 50+ kilos based mostly on a Mcdonalds/Pizza Hut/KFC/Dukes diet, interspersed with some fruits and vegetables.

I've come to realize that, for me anyway, it's not what I eat, but how I balance that with time, amount, and excericse. I can eat whatever I want as long as I balance it out And, being a non-perfect human being, I can mess things up occasionaly and still get away with it

Hi All

Most of my garden implements are now pretty blunt, my shears won't cut throgh butter.

Anybody know where I can get them sharpened?

When I lived in BK a guy used to come round on a bike with a grinding machine attatched to it, but I have never seen anything like this up here.

Thanks in advance, I am sure someone will know

TP

Paul, you can sharpen them yourself using a whetstone, or you can take them to the shop on the SE corner of Chotana/Super hiway. They sell mostly these tools, and are very helpfull.

Also, the shops along the northside of the moat (after crossing Chotana) might be able to help.

Good luck

No reason to think that, but every reason to think that it was caused by, 1. my Diabetes 2. My irregular heartbeat 3. my heavy weight (now 50 kgs lighter) 4. My sedentary lifestyle

Ajarn,

Sorry to hear you have diabetes along with an irregular heartbeat, but it's good to see you've lost all that weight. But after reading you have these conditions I would think moving to a healthier climate, especially in your case, might be worth thinking about. There is a possibility the air pollution could have contributed to your stroke. This was on the American Heart Associations website:

"Until May of 2004, the American Heart Association had not issued any expert reviewed statement about the short-term and long-term effects of chronic exposure to different pollutants. This was due to flaws in research design and methodology of many pollution studies. During the last decade, however, epidemiological studies conducted worldwide have shown a consistent, increased risk for cardiovascular events, including heart and stroke deaths, in relation to short- and long-term exposure to present-day concentrations of pollution, especially particulate matter."

In any case, good luck.

Thanks for your concern about my health... But, we live a life in a world of 'increased risks' for one thing, or another. Caution is good, but that's as far as it goes for me.

my heavy weight (now 50 kgs lighter)

Wow - Many, Many congratulations. I'm truly proud of you.

Now, if I could only do the same! (12 Kilos so far!)

Thanks, but still 50 to go

Couldn't have done it without my pool

Congrats on your 24+ pounds so far!

March and April look like this, or worse. The other 10 months of the year the air pollution is not so obvious. Unfortunately, it's like this all-over the plateau, and you can not escape it.

Of course I would, and I do. Chiang Mai is my home. It's so much more than simply bad air, or a day like today, with added visible humidity to make it seem worse than it is, or maybe to show it for its truth? I don't know, but after 20 years living here full-time, I still have never had any breathing or lung problems, so outside of 2-3 months per year like this, I can easily handle it.

Much better than some folks, for sure. Bye

Ajarn,

Didn't I recently read somewhere in the forum that you had a stroke? If you did, I wouldn't discount out that the air pollution didn't have something to do with it. Air pollution can have a detrimental effect on more than just your lungs and breathing.

No reason to think that, but every reason to think that it was caused by, 1. my Diabetes 2. My irregular heartbeat 3. my heavy weight (now 50 kgs lighter) 4. My sedentary lifestyle

There were a couple of bars

There were definately more than a couple of bars

Short Term: Separate if poss. don't store in plastic bag (they sweat and rot).

Medium Term: Fridge

Long Term: Freeze, Pickle, Dry, make paste and put in fridge (don't know why but lasts forever as a paste)

Like the idea about keep on the tree

Do they continue getting bigger if you keep them on the tree? And if so, do they lose their 'hotness'?

I'd recommend picking when green. Yes, they will turn red, but with no size difference, and no gain in hotness or flavour, in my experience

Or will they, in the long term, just fall off and rot?

Yes, for sure.

I That’s not me, that’s you -- just up the road from where we released the fish is an international school where I know they have a “Roots & Shoots” club, which is an organization started by Jane Goodall when she was in Kenya. They grow things, study and intend to be environmentally aware. On adjacent land, locals are burning plastic bags. That kind of says it all.

How about starting close to home cleaning up Chiang Mai?

If the international school you are referring to is to the East of Chiangmai their series of washing machines, adjacent the school's Environmental show room, (used to) empty directly into the adjacent stream, and the garbage containers neatly labeled for ease in separating dorm garbage into 'plastics', 'glass', 'paper', etc while, too, very environmental in theory; nonetheless, when collected (used to) be emptied together into a common trash collector. Hmmm. Possibly someone would confirm there is no longer an environmental disconnect; that, they now do more than proverbially 'talk the talk'.

Why not name names, and make it a real issue, instead of throwing barbs aimed nowhere, designed to do nothing...

I'm talking Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, etc., raised in the west, English-speaking, and settled in Chiang Mai. Just curious....

Asia does include many other countries. Many of them English speaking, while not being raised in the West. Would they be very different from "Westernised Asians"? Language seems to be the same.

If someone speaks English, I would consider them 'Westernized', to a degree.

Simplistic, huh?

I think it improved loads too.

Of course the feeling has changed. Think back about how you felt the first couple of weeks after meeting your current wife/girlfriend/partner/etc, compared to today. Chances are you felt more excitement the first couple of weeks, but more love now.

It's a change alright, but especially a change within yourself. The excitement isn't coming back, though.

Cheers,

Chanchao

I think you've hit it on the head for me.

Mostly, it's me that has changed, not Chiang Mai.

But, I don't agree about the excitement never coming back.

Honestly, I stiill feel that excitement whenever I'm out exploring around here. Always a new place to go or a new experience to have

Yea, thanks Larry for straghtning my location out.....seemed obvious when i posted on CM forum and mentioned bo sang/ doi saket.....or maybe i should have said 'bor sang /doy saket'

Yeah, I'm sure that's why he missed it...

Would I be right in assuming that you are in Chiangmai?

Not that I can help,(sorry) but it will save time for anyone that can.

Can you confirm the general area that your friends live in?

if there is anyone in the Borsang/Doi Saket area that can help them

This is it.

I know I'm not adding anything valuable to the thread, but I just want you all to look out of your window today and ask yourself " would I live here if I had no string attach?".

Of course I would, and I do. Chiang Mai is my home. It's so much more than simply bad air, or a day like today, with added visible humidity to make it seem worse than it is, or maybe to show it for its truth? I don't know, but after 20 years living here full-time, I still have never had any breathing or lung problems, so outside of 2-3 months per year like this, I can easily handle it.

Much better than some folks, for sure. Bye