TheVicar

You broke the law and you got caught. From your original post, it seems the police were enforcing the law against everyone; including you. So why the complaining? It's a hoot to see someone do something stupid and then complain about "more laws won't prevent stupid people from doing dumb things." I bet that you will not make the same mistake you did which resulted in a fine. So the laws DO work.

Who is complaining? I'm certainly not. The police were just out there collecting their tax money. I even suspected that there might be a check point there before I went shopping at the market. It was just an easier route from my place to get there. I already stated that I had forgotten you are not SUPPOSED to make a turn on a red light, but it happens EVERYWHERE ALL THE TIME! It is easy enough to fall into the bad habits of the Thai riders.

If the police actually wanted to be of some service then they would ticket all the vehicles driving through red lights LONG after the light turned red. Of course, that might interfere with the natural flow of traffic that strangely enough, actually seems to work.

The police would say they were out there enforcing the law and you were one of the many who were stopped for breaking the law. As for the location of the police station, that is one of the oldest, earliest settled parts of Chiang Mai. So it is not surprising at all that there should be a police station there; I think it might even be one of the main ones.

Hope you learned your lesson! I for one find it refreshing that they are having these crackdowns. It would be really nice if they started rigidly enforcing the helmet laws too(especially by CMU). Drivers around that area are also the worst in town. Agree with you on the red lights. Another problem that is never enforced are the illegal u-turns at red lights; that can be very dangerous too.

The value of the topsa card is not the points but the access to the two for one items and the discount that is applied to most items automaticly. For example without card large singer water 34b with card 31. Over the bill this adds up..

Excellent point which I neglected. Does Rimping have anything similar with their card?

just think you helped the police fund for they new pickup or flat screen telly

That is probably true, but I've come to understand how things are done here in Thailand and it doesn't bother me. In Canada we pay a large portion of our income in taxes of all kinds, both hidden and obvious. The efficient Canadian police system is paid for through taxes. The police get paid a good wage but that comes out of my income whether I like it or not. In Thailand, the police get paid a pittance in wages which they have to supplement through bribes and those road stops. If you learn and follow the rules, and pay the least amount of attention, you won't get stuck paying the bribes very often. When it eventually happens all you can do is laugh and pay up.

There was a whole string of farangs laughing about the situation. Everyone was guilty of something. Most were ticketed for not wearing helmets. The rental bikes all supply helmets, If people choose not to wear them then paying the occasional fine is the result.

In Canada we are over regulated, and the law makers keep adding more regulations to try and prevent stupidity. I'm sorry, but more laws won't prevent stupid people from doing dumb things. I kind of enjoy the freedom that Thailand offers. If you do something really stupid then it might cost you your life. If you learn to expect the unexpected then you can be reasonably safe in Thai traffic.

You broke the law and you got caught. From your original post, it seems the police were enforcing the law against everyone; including you. So why the complaining? It's a hoot to see someone do something stupid and then complain about "more laws won't prevent stupid people from doing dumb things." I bet that you will not make the same mistake you did which resulted in a fine. So the laws DO work.

You have my sympathy if which supermarket reward card is a pressing issue in your life. You need to find hobbies and get out more, or procreate at random or even with wife your wife, offspring will keep at least keep you occupied. Focus, life is a learning experience, CM actually offers alot if you look around, try the new age stuff in town to ponder the meaning of life as it ain't reward cards.

I note you have more than 860 posts here; far more than me. Are you practicing what you preach?

On a lighter note, Dustin Hoffman once appeared for an interview on a talk show (I think it was with Larry King). King asked him how life had changed for him. Hoffman replied: "When I was a teenager, and in my 20's, 30's and 40's, all I thought about was sex. When I got to my 50's, I thought having a nice steak dinner was better than sex. Now that I'm in my 60's, I think having a good dump is even better."

Use them both as they have different products.

Both will accept telephone number instead of a card.

Points accrue at Rimping every time you buy and they have a list of items that may be redeemed as we have done on a few occasions.

Also use,Tesco,Big C Makro etc.

Thanks! But how exactly do the Rimping points accrue? Is it a point per a certain amount?

There are several places to buy organic products:

1) King's product (sponsor) in shopping area at CMU near intersection of Suthep and Canal Roads;

2) going South on the Canal Road; if you look to your left after about 2 kilometers from the Suthep road, you will see a bambo set up for produce sellers. But often no one is there.

3) going further on Canal Road (southbound) , go through the first set of traffic lights and almost immediately on your left, you will come to the entrance of a very large covered market with hundreds of stalls. Lots of organic products of all kinds on sale. Veggies are roughly 3 times as much as normal ones. I don't know about organic eggs and meat but they have hundreds of sellers there.

4) there's an excellent vegetarian restaurant at Wat Suan Dok. The people who operate it also do organic farming, I believe. You might ask their advice. Good luck!

First off I have to acknowledge that I am being surrpetitiously paid by Rimping to respond to this posting. My commission is one standard Lindt chocolate bar per reply. So everyone should take what I say with a grain of cocoa.

That said, if you lose your Rimping card, all you have to do is tell the cashier the phone number you filled in on the form to get the card. So no need to repurchase. If you lose your Tops card, you can do the same.

This is NOT the information that Rimping posts on their web site. They say you have to pay for it again:

Q. What do I have to do if I lose my card?

A. "...We will provide you a new member card for a 90 baht fee."

Source: http://www.rimping.com/

But thanks for your input (maybe that was part of your payback?)

Perhaps you can tell us exactly how Rimping awards "bonus points" since you are a user? That would be something positive you can do.

Both Rimping, a locally owned and operated supermarket store, and Tops, which I believe has its headquarters in Hong Kong, own and operate several grocery stores in the Chiang Mai area. I buy things at both. In my opinion, and it is just my opinion, Rimping has excellent bakery sections (one store does not have its own bakery; most do) although Tops also has some excellent baked items (smaller section though), especially their breads. Rimping, again in my opinion, has the better wine sections with a much vaster supply of wines and allows one to select three bottles of wine for B1,000 from barrels of selected products. These might not be great wines but they are adequate for most purposes. Tops has, I think, a smaller selection of wines and spirits. Rimping also has a huge selection of cheeses, probably the best in Chiang Mai, but Tops also has quite a large variety. Stores in both companies tend to be large, well stocked, and comfortable to shop in with Rimping generally playing soft, classical music (on occasion jazz) in the background and having better service. Also in my opinion, Tops tends to be cheaper than Rimping with lots of items store wide on sale and these items change frequently.

Different people have different needs so it would be normal for different shoppers as to which store they use. As mentioned, I go to both but usually for different things or to compare items.

What I thought I would do here is start a discussion about the frequent user (reward) card that both companies use and compare them. Let's begin with Tops. Their card is free. It looks like a credit card with a magnetic strip on the back. The cashier swipes it before adding up your purchases. (Both systems up to this point are essentially the same with respect to the physical card). With the Spots Card you get 3 types of reward:

1) cash voucher (based on amount of your purchases) this can be used like cash at the store;

2) coupons for discounts on various items. These are similar to the coupons many of us cut out from newspapers back home. So for instance, you might get a coupon that allows you a 6 baht reduction if you buy 2 packs of Dutchie yoghurt and show the coupon. Generally, each mailing to you (every 3 months or so) gives you 12 or so coupons like this for a wide arrange of food and grooming needs.

3) In addition, Tops mails to you with the above about 5 "Discount" coupons. These are worth amounts varying from 25 baht to 75 baht based on your purchases. So if you purchase more than 1,150 baht at one time, you can use a coupon giving you a 75 baht reduction. Lower rebates come with lower amounts of purchases. For instance, 45 baht for any purchase of 800 baht or more and so on.

The cash voucher is based on this: you get a 20 baht cash voucher for every 200 spots you accumulate. Every 10 baht spent (when you purchae 200 baht or more) earns you 1 spot. Sometimes more (they will have a product on display, for instance, that says you earn double spots for purchasing this). They mail your vouchers and coupons to you roughly every 3 months.

My own estimate of this, and I am not a mathematician or put any time into this, is that you can get about 7% off of your total purchases if you faithfully use the card system. That's a pretty good deal. Obviously, it also ties you into their company because the more you shop, the more spots you get, the greater your voucher. But that is the purpose of all frequent user programs.

Let's turn now to Rimping. I know less about their system because although I buy from their stores and enjoy their stores and their service, they charge B 90 for their card. If you lose the card, you again pay B 90. You accumulate "bonus points" and these points can be used to purchase items that they have in a special catalog (also on display on their web site). How these points accumulate is unclear because as mentioned I don't have their card and they don't explain it on their web site. So, for instance, if you have 1,255 "bonus points" you can get a 14" Hatari fan (something that sells probably for about B 350). Or 2,350 bonus points gets you a Sharp Rice Cooker (I've seen these on sale for about B 400). Perhaps some frequent shoppers at Rimping can explain how precisely this system works so a better comparison can be made?

My observation and assessment is that Tops has a better system AT LEAST FOR MY NEEDS than does Rimping. You pay nothing for their card, whereas Rimping charges a not so nominal B 90 and if you lose their card, you pay it again. I also prefer the cash back vouchers and the discounts and coupons to a system that basically limits your redemption choices to those in a small catalog (admittedly, they present quite a few options for different people). Lastly, the kind of set up that Tops uses encourages lots of items on sale in the store (often with higher spots awards). Rimping, in my humble opinion, has very little on sale ever.

I hope this comparison of reward systems will stimulate some discussion, and perhaps even lead to some improvements for customers!

The70-85% Lindt dark chocolate bars are normally 118 baht at Rimping. Are they cheaper elsewhere?

two for 70bht in Makro

The bars being referred to here are 35 grams each - not the standard size of 100 grams. I've seen standard LIndt milk chocolate bars there for 148 grams for 2 but never the 100 gram standard dark chocolate - much less the 70 or 85 percent Lindt dark chocolate bars. Or any other brand, for that matter.

Well, that's as clear as mud. And who says that 100 grams is the standard size? 100 grams is the 100 gram size, that's all.

To Butterisbetter:

You accuse me of cherry picking on prices and then go on to name one item (local cold cuts by Germans) as if that is dispositive of the issue. Can't you see how illogical your position is? You're happy to get the knives and the pots and pans at Rimping through their frequent buyer card? Fine. Wonderful. Kudos for you.

I prefer cash (and suspect most people do) and meaningful discount prices. Tops actually gives you money back based on your amounts of purchases and they give you not only coupons for reduced prices on lots of items, they give you a general discount like 5% or 10% on purchases over 600 baht. I prefer that to whatever is behind "door number one".

You need to study the difference between costs and very effective marketing. Rimping is excellent at marketing in the farang community. I think no one here would question that Makro has significantly lower prices than either Tops or Rimping, yet they probably have fewer customers. Get the drift? Many of the people who shop at Rimping simply do not care about costs. They'd rather shop in a clean, attractive store that plays Mozart and that has highly trained staff and pay more for it than shop elsewhere where prices are cheaper.

On local products, Dacheso products are horrible: nearly the same price you pay for much better imported cheeses and dairy products. They are not cheap and they are not good. And this is not just my opinion but that of other posters here too (it came up on another thread; check it out if you don't believe me). Despite your assertions, I find that most of the markets (Tesco; Big C; Rimping; Makro; and Tops) all pretty much stock the same things with minor variations (face it, they all buy from the same huge wholesalers/producers). If you want local things, go to a local market where you will find hundreds and hundreds more local products than those you've listed.

Tops stocks Yolanda brand yoghurt and it is much better than Dacheso's product line of yoghurt. It is also made in Thailand. And they ROUTINELY charge less for this exact same product than Rimping, and when it is on sale (as it has been twice in the last 3 months) it is even cheaper than the same thing at Makro.

If you read my above statements, you'd realize that I like Rimping for their bakery and cheese and wine sections. They have a horribly overpriced produce section, much more expensive than Makro and Makro has such fresh produce, it's got to be local. Rimping has very, very few items on sale store-wide ever; Tops has hundreds of products on sale that change weekly or so and it has a card for frequent buyers that gives back cash or a nice discount. Rimping doesn't. Rimping has excellent service but of course the customer is paying for that. I can speak enough Thai to get along with the very friendly Thais over at Makro so I don't need to show a picture of a product to someone and ask in English if they have it. If you need that kind of service, and many farangs here do, then go to Rimping but don't ever doubt you are paying for that service. So, there are pros and cons to all these stores; it depends on the customer and his/her needs and budget.

I've got nothing to gain financially or business wise by saying that Makro is my go to store where I spend most of my money and that I split the other business between Tops and Rimping. Can you say the same?

Thanks for the suggestions. I live near Huay Kaew Road and have been avoiding travel because the heavy CMU graduation traffic but that's over now. I'll check out the recommended places next week.

My recipe for Limeade: (all measurements are approximate)

5 cups of boiled water, juice of 6 fat limes, 1/2 carton of coconut sugar purchased at Tesco Express, and 1 Earl Grey teabag.

Mix all together and refrigerate. Refreshing in hot weather and healthy with high vitamin C content. Also good with vodka.

Sounds good but what is "coconut sugar"? Same as coconut milk? Could you use honey instead?

Also known as Garbanzo beans and available in tins in most places, so does away with the need to soak them (if dried of course).

1. Problem is that you don't know what ingredients the canning companies packed the beans in. You actually should wash them once out of the can.

2. How hard is it to soak dry beans? Here's how you do it: pour dry beans into big pot, cover amply with water (beans will absorb water and swell). Wait overnight. If you do this at night time (and it takes like 15 seconds) you're ready to go the next day. Alternatively, if you do not soak overnight, just boil in water for an hour or two extra. Is this difficult? Oh, and buying the beans dry is much cheaper than buying them in cans.

Alot of info posted here. All I wanted to do is to see if anyone wanted the V.Root that I have, guess I'll just be throwing it away.

Maybe you should have been more upfront about your needs in your original post.

Main reason I'm not even considering Tops is that they're located in big malls, where getting in and out takes as much time as the actual shopping.

In addition to being freshest and best price, Makro is also fastest to get in and out of. (Rim Ping not too bad in that respect either, except when they're organizing bullshit events in their parking lot.)

1. One of the biggest Tops, near the Novotel just off Chang Puak, is pretty much a stand alone and easy to get in and out of. Big parking lot too. It used to be a Rimping. Agree with you on the getting in and out of the big shopping centers. They're very crowded.

2. Agree with you on Makro: I find it the best overall store for my shopping needs. But a lousy bakery and sometimes when you want to buy one thing, you have to buy 6 so that's why I also use Rimping and Tops. Went to Big C Extra yesterday and found it horrid; very poorly organized. Prices much higher than Makro. And very difficult to get in and out of because of its location.

Maybe I'm lucky, but I've been getting mail from the USA about 7-9 days after it is mailed. If it is taking more than 2 weeks, your correspondent is likely sending at peak holiday times (or not using 1st class).

My doctor did recommend a drug STUGEROM for another illness but i found this one knocked me out for a long sleep very quick and have some CRAZY dreams...which i never do.

And strange because normally sleeping pills dont work so good for me.

You can buy over the counter, but because the old chinese guy put them in a plastic bag i am still not really sure what i did get or what its supposed to be for...amazing Thailand

The active substance in Stugeron is called Cinnarizine, it's an antihistamine and calcium channel blocker. It is mainly used to treat nausea. It also reduces the uptake of serotonin and dopamine. Sounds like something you would not want to take unless absolutely necessary, especially if you have had symptoms of depression or reduced motor function.

Seeing a doctor is the best idea so far.

Otherwise, for sleep issues I'd recommend physical exercise early in the day (but not in the evening) as a first resort. Depending on what type of sleep issues, I'd also look into relaxation practices of some sort (meditation, yoga, qi gong etc.). Milk and bananas are mildly sedative, too.

Melatonin works, it's what the body produces naturally to set your circadian rhythm to rest mode, but when taking it as a supplement, you want to experiment with dosage. If you take too much, you'll wake up still feeling drowsy and disoriented, also, some people get extremely vivid dreams on melatonin - this may or may not be pleasant depending on the nature of the dreams. One whole pill is not necessarily the best amount.

1. Some good ideas here. Also, any natural yoghurt with lactobacillus rhamnosus is helpful for sleep (not the yoghurts with various kinds of fruit added). This bacteria is an antidepressant and helps bring about sleep.

2. Chamomile tea is another natural product that is safe to take and delicious (especially with a little honey) before going to bed.

3. I've also found a small amount of aspirin with some milk induces a deep sleep especially when taken with a warm bath before bedtime.

4. Valerian can be a bit dodgy. It's often at the root (bad pun) of murder mysteries in S. Holmes and A. Christie type stories.

5. Good post by Meadish above on the dangers of taking medications, even over the counter ones.

Just did the sums, and I reckon you are deffo better off ordering direct from Amazon.com (Mine arrived in about 3 days when I ordered mine a year or two ago)

Total from Amazon.com including P&P and Duty Deposit of $45(Some may even be refunded!)

= $175.62 or roughly 5440Baht.

Amazon UK price delivered TO UK

=4400baht (89GBP)

+ Postage to Thailand

+ Possibly getting duty fee's - even if you put sample/gift or whatever.

= Buy direct from Amazon.com!

You can buy from that Kindle Thailand website, but the saving is negligable (considering you are likely to get a small refund of duty as I did, and others), and perhaps tricky to sort out issues with Amazon directly if something goes wrong.

On the other hand, if you buy it in Thailand you can claim any Thai tax back as a rebate at the airport when you leave. You have to have the item with you but since this is portable that should be no problem.

Only thing I've found with their deals is they tend to be near (or perhaps beyond) sell-by date and don't taste great; yep, Rimping even. One of those Mcvities' lines had suspicious-looking stickers with what looked like reprinted dates and really tasted old.

Ever noticed how little is 'given away' or genuinely knocked down in this part of the world?

Rimping, in my opinion, has very, very few items on sale.

Tops, on the other hand, has some excellent sales and they rotate the items on sale. I bought some Yolanda yoghurt there yesterday for B 49 (B 6 cheaper than at Rimping), and also some milk (B 41 vs. B 44 at Rimping). If you use their Tops card, you save even more because they send you discount coupons and money back coupons every couple of months. Rimping is nice but very, very expensive.

My "go to" store is Makro: great selection, great prices.

I'm sure you can always find a few items cheaper at Tops, but overwhelmingly Rim Ping has better prices. I think the objective evidence for this is really clear: Tops does much less business in areas where its and Rim Ping's customer bases overlap.

In addition, Rim PIng offer a much better selection of locally produced stuff, which isn't difficult, since Tops offers almost nothing local. Also, when it comes to service, Rim Ping is great. Not only is the staff really helpful, but the checkout lines tend to go quickly, too. Despite the fact that it has so few customers, checkout at Tops is usually surprisingly slow. Tops seems reluctant to actually assign staff to the checkout lines on the rare occasions when it's busy.. And, for what it's worth, if you have a Rim Ping Card, you also accumulate points to exchange for items in Rim Ping's catalog. All in all, I think it's a far superior store in every important respect.

Agree, overall my vote is for Rimping for service and overall I believe their prices are no higher than any other super market. Many times, when i'm in one of their stores, I've asked a staff member to talk to my Thai daughter in law on the phone because she wants a Thai product which I've nerver heard of. Always totally cooperative and go out of their way to search for whatever it is. A couple times, the shop staff still not sure and have asked if she already has it at home. Yes, so please send a photo.

One example, Danish (I think) organic baby cookies. When the shop lady saw the photo, 'ahhh', and straight to the right shelf, then said 'I thnk we have more variety of these same brand cookies in the stock room, let me look'. I left the store with three different cookies

About two months back I was in the Rimping store shop at NIM centre, a farang lady customer had a photo of a food product from UK on her phone, she asked me if i'de ever seen the product in Thailand, I said 'no', so she showed the picture to one the the shelf stacker staff who very quickly brought a supervisor who spoke good English, she checked their computer stock records to be sure they didn't have it. She then asked the farang lady whether there would be other farang wanting this product. Answer was yes, so the supervisor said she would recommend it to her boss, and gave the farang lady her own mobile no., and asked farang lady to please send more close up photos to show the manufacturers name etc.

Last week I ran across the same farang lady at NIM centre, and she said 'please come with me', sure enough fhe item was on the shelf, and the farang lady had 4 or 5 jars in her cart.

Can't imagine this service at Tops or Lotus.

Agree that their service is excellent and that their stores are very clean and have a nice atmosphere. But you pay for it. They also have by far the highest prices of any chain store in town. They have consciously gone for the 'upmarket', farang shopper and it has worked for them.

Makro doesn't play Mozart, their workers don't speak much of any English (although I've found them to be extremely friendly), but the store is very well organized and has much better prices than Rimping. Also, they have a surprisingly good cheese/deli section and much better (and cheaper produce) than most open markets in town, let alone Rimping. Rimping does have the best bakery sections in town.

Only thing I've found with their deals is they tend to be near (or perhaps beyond) sell-by date and don't taste great; yep, Rimping even. One of those Mcvities' lines had suspicious-looking stickers with what looked like reprinted dates and really tasted old.

Ever noticed how little is 'given away' or genuinely knocked down in this part of the world?

Rimping, in my opinion, has very, very few items on sale.

Tops, on the other hand, has some excellent sales and they rotate the items on sale. I bought some Yolanda yoghurt there yesterday for B 49 (B 6 cheaper than at Rimping), and also some milk (B 41 vs. B 44 at Rimping). If you use their Tops card, you save even more because they send you discount coupons and money back coupons every couple of months. Rimping is nice but very, very expensive.

My "go to" store is Makro: great selection, great prices.

I'm sure you can always find a few items cheaper at Tops, but overwhelmingly Rim Ping has better prices. I think the objective evidence for this is really clear: Tops does much less business in areas where its and Rim Ping's customer bases overlap.

In addition, Rim PIng offer a much better selection of locally produced stuff, which isn't difficult, since Tops offers almost nothing local. Also, when it comes to service, Rim Ping is great. Not only is the staff really helpful, but the checkout lines tend to go quickly, too. Despite the fact that it has so few customers, checkout at Tops is usually surprisingly slow. Tops seems reluctant to actually assign staff to the checkout lines on the rare occasions when it's busy.. And, for what it's worth, if you have a Rim Ping Card, you also accumulate points to exchange for items in Rim Ping's catalog. All in all, I think it's a far superior store in every important respect.

1. Sorry, but I disagree. I like Rimping but it is far more expensive than Tops. I cited some examples above. There are hundreds of others. Rimping really doesn't have much of anything on sale, ever; and at Tops you can get money back, and discounts with their card (which you cannot do at Rimping which gives you meaningless points towards things you don't want).

2. Number of people in stores has nothing to do with cost. You are confusing marketing with sales. Rimping consciously has gone after the most upmarket people (and that includes most farangs who know very little about prices and many, don't care; most want the most modern and comfortable shopping experience and that is Rimping but it has nothing to do with cost, quite the contrary).

3. Local products? They both sell pretty much the same stuff; if anything, there is more European/American/Australian stuff in Rimping than in Tops which is out of Hong Kong. Especially in the wine and cheese departments. Neither store really has that much in the way of local products. If you want local products, go to an open air local market. There are plenty.

4. I agree with you that Rimping's staff is better trained; but then, they're charging a lot more and probably some of that goes for training too. I also like the classical music in the background (but they need to buy more than one Mozart CD). The friendlier staff at Rimping and the atmosphere are likely the two main reasons their stores are far busier than Tops; it has nothing to do with cost.

5. Most Tops have a cashier in their bakery section that is not usually too busy. Try it; it's fast. They also have excellent breads (and again, sometimes they are on sale which I have never seen for that product at Rimping). But if you want really slow service when checking out, shop at Big C. Awful!

6. I'm not endorsing one store over another. I shop for most of my things at Makro which is significantly cheaper than either store and also cheaper than Big C (and much better organized). Makro has a good cheese/deli section and maybe the best produce in town at the best prices (including the local markets). After that, I go to Rimping for their breads and wines usually and also check out what is on sale at Tops. Try it. They do have some excellent sales and there are hundreds of items store wide. Yolinda yoghurt for 49 baht (large size) is by far the cheapest in town, B 6 cheaper than at Rimping which is a 12% saving. It pays to check out several stores and not be tied to one.

Only thing I've found with their deals is they tend to be near (or perhaps beyond) sell-by date and don't taste great; yep, Rimping even. One of those Mcvities' lines had suspicious-looking stickers with what looked like reprinted dates and really tasted old.

Ever noticed how little is 'given away' or genuinely knocked down in this part of the world?

Rimping, unfortunately, has very, very few items on sale ever.

Tops, on the other hand, has some excellent sales and they rotate the items on sale and there are lots of items on sale. I bought some Yolanda yoghurt there yesterday for B 49 (B 6 cheaper than at Rimping), and also some milk (B 41 vs. B 44 at Rimping). If you use their Tops card, you save even more because they send you discount coupons and money back coupons every couple of months. Rimping is nice but very, very expensive.

My "go to" store is Makro: great selection, great prices.

If you like chocolate, they frequently have Van Houten chocolate on sale there (high quality and tastes good and is definitely NOT old). Cadbury's has too much sugar in it.

Only thing I've found with their deals is they tend to be near (or perhaps beyond) sell-by date and don't taste great; yep, Rimping even. One of those Mcvities' lines had suspicious-looking stickers with what looked like reprinted dates and really tasted old.

Ever noticed how little is 'given away' or genuinely knocked down in this part of the world?

Rimping, in my opinion, has very, very few items on sale.

Tops, on the other hand, has some excellent sales and they rotate the items on sale. I bought some Yolanda yoghurt there yesterday for B 49 (B 6 cheaper than at Rimping), and also some milk (B 41 vs. B 44 at Rimping). If you use their Tops card, you save even more because they send you discount coupons and money back coupons every couple of months. Rimping is nice but very, very expensive.

My "go to" store is Makro: great selection, great prices.

I have just been stopped on my bike (at a road block in town)....the reason being I turned left on a red light!? Anyone had that excuse before? Given a ticket and he kept my licence, so no way out of the fine.

Got a ticket for not having my turn signal on while turning left (on a red light) the other day. Cop didn't say anything about turning on the red light; only not having the lights on. Happend while turning left on to Thapae from Chang Klan. The cop said there was a sign posted. I've never seen it before. Yup, took my license too. Doesn't say how much the ticket is but I never pay more than 100 THB for any ticket.

Well it is illegal to turn left on a red light unless there's one of those blue signs saying it's OK. And illegal to make any turn without signalling. But whether the bib is only enforcing these laws on foreigners is an open question...they certainly don't hesitate to nick the locals for no helmets or seat belts. In the States the cops are looking to do anyone for the slightest infraction...

I'm sorry but don't agree with you at all about the police not hesitating "to nick the locals for no helmets".

Just drive by Chiang Mai university and if 5% of the students are wearing helmets, that's a good day for helmet use. A week or so ago I saw near the Suthep intersection on the Canal Road, where there is a police box, a young motorcycle policeman walk by at least 6 motorcyclists who had no helmets on and he did NOTHING! CM is really horrible about helmet law use.

I think you will find there is some sort of "crackdown" through Thailand happening.I was stopped at a check point just outside Hua Hin last week, asked very pleasantly for my licence which I had ,(obtained in Chiang mai) and my passport (it was clearly a rental car). I asked the officer what was this all about and he replied "too many falangs on long term visas not having a Thai licence" He indicated I might get stopped in CM too when he saw my address. He chatted away mainly about CM women beautiful etc etc... and I forget to ask him what was the punishment if you continued driving here,long term, without a Thai licence.I'm sure we all know people who havent bothered to get one.If true,I think their expectations are quite reasonable. First time for me in 12 years to be stopped at a check point they just usually wave me through.

I was also stopped while driving a nice new car from CM to Bangkok at a checkpoint. The policeman obviously wanted money. First he asked me for my driving license. When I gave him my Thai driving license he looked surprised and disappointed. He THEN asked me for my passport which I also gave him. He looked very disappointed then and reluctantly let me go on my way.

My suggestion, Sante, is to go to Homepro (which has several branches in Chiang Mai). They have the biggest selection of such appliances and the best prices. Why limit yourself to a citrus juicer, though? They're easy to juice. Carrots and apples are also very healthy and of course more difficult because they are harder.

I bought a Philips juicer and it's fantastic; Homepro also has Electrolux products and a cheaper knock off version of the Philips made in China. You get what you pay for.

Be sure to check your passport when you re-enter to insure they did indeed give you 60 days. Much easier to correct errors at the border, rather than return to Chiang Mai and later realize they stamped your passport with just a 15-day visa exempt permission.

When I first came to Thailand I had the double reentry. The first one I went out at Mai Sot and they only gave me 30 days coming back I went over to immigration and they said there was nothing they could do I would have to go back to Mai Sai which I did and they fixed in a jiffy.

So as Nancy says when they give you your passport back check t6he date. Mai Sai is the quickest way and not that expensive Check up at the bus station for prices They do have some cheap buses I think the others are about 600 baht return. Been awhile since I did it, If you have a nice American $10 bill that will do it for the Burmese other wise you have to give them 500 baht.

Wrong info. The Burmese are not stupid. They want the B 500 and do not accept dollars. Was there just a month or so ago so I know.

The Burmese immigration people are really nice and very friendly, the Thais? The usual suspects. Also, you will need to spend at least an hour or so across the border whilst the Burmese officials do the paperwork (they will keep your passport and give you a 2 week pass). There's a nice coffee shop that also sells food where you can take a nice break and wait; carry straight on from Burmese immigration until you come to a large road/roundabout, turn right, it is about 25 meters from the intersection on the same side of the road. Friendly workers who speak some English and the food is good and cheap (I paid B 30 for a good coffee and a plate of food). Then turn back your pass for your passport and proceed into Thailand.