cm das

So far there are no signs of trouble (and no signs of police) but it's not exactly comforting knowing that these folks have adopted my neighborhood as their rallying point.

LOL! It's been announced for days. And they're at the 700 year Stadium, just like at many events before this one.

(You didn't move in just recently right? In which case it's more of a case of you adopting one of their rallying points as your neighborhood. )

No, it's at the convention center this time. I've been past many times throughout the day & seen the crowds with my own eyes. I wish they'd opted for the stadium as before.

I moved to this area before there was a convention center. Of course that doesn't make it "my" neighborhood but it's still a drag that this quiet part of town by the mountain has become an epicenter for local protests. This isn't the first time the reds have gathered at the convention center and I'm sure it won't be the last. Meanwhile, the voices from the stage are getting more strident as the evening wears on.

I haven't seen this reported anywhere so I thought I'd post a heads up for anyone interested: I live very close to the new convention center off the canal road & there's a very big red shirt rally going on right now. Pick up trucks full of red shirts started arriving early this afternoon and by around 7 o'clock this evening there were hundreds of vehicles and thousands of people gathered at the convention center. Traffic flow in the area has been relatively smooth considering the size of the crowd. For the last 2 hours, from inside my house about 200 meters away I've been hearing the voices of speaker after speaker addressing the crowd. I can't catch what they're saying but the tone is loud & urgent (no surprise there). There are posters, flags and stickers all over the place with a slogan that translates something like "mobilize the people for democracy". So far there are no signs of trouble (and no signs of police) but it's not exactly comforting knowing that these folks have adopted my neighborhood as their rallying point. I don't begrudge people of any stripe their right to gather peacefully. Let's just hope that this is nothing more than that.

Doesnt sound like you even went, sounds more like youre making things up, just to bash a business for the hell of it.

And it sounds to me like you've spent too long on ThaiVisa!

As terminator confirmed, the sizes on the menu as of yesterday were small and medium. Maybe I just got really unlucky with my dishes. I'm actually glad to hear that nobody seems to be coming out as disappointed as I was. Never understood the whole "bashing for fun" thing.

I took my wife and daughter to Shanghai Lo'ng for dinner tonight. We won't be going back. The place looked clean - that's about the best I can say about it. I ordered orange chicken and water. Somehow they got my order wrong on both counts. (I ordered a medium sized plate of the chicken & was brought a small plate. And I asked for my water with no ice & it was served with ice.) Anyway, it turns out that I was lucky they brought a small plate of the chicken. The meat was really low quality - more skin and gristle than flesh. On top of that it was over-fried and drizzled with cheap, artificial-tasting orange syrup. That's it. Not a hint of any other ingredient or flavoring. At first I thought the orange chicken was edible if disappointing, but despite being seriously hungry I just couldn't bring myself to finish it. We also ordered shrimp wonton soup. Now, I hardly expected freshly made wontons, but these tasted like they were frozen some time in the 80's or 90's. They weren't spoiled, they just had that old freezer taste. Again, barely edible. Luckily, at least the water was ok! As we left I said to my wife that I could only hope our experience there was really finally over (i.e. we wouldn't suffer Shanghai Lo'ng's revenge in the middle of the night). I'm glad others have had better experiences there. For me it was one of the worst dining experiences I've had in Chiang Mai.

Hello C D.

His meditation method sounds interesting.

Could you summarize it?

The rhythmic hand movements are the basic method in this lineage but LP Teean taught that any repetitive movement - opening and closing the fists, blinking or breathing - can be used instead. Personally, I like the hand movements. I find that this kind of "active" mindfulness practice really helps in the all-important aspect of carrying meditation off the cushion and back into daily life.

I also like LP Teean's straight and simple approach to the dhamma. I've studied Pali and Buddhist philosophy so I have nothing against elaborate conceptual structures per se, but when it comes to applying, as opposed to simply contemplating, the dhamma, I like things simple. LP Teean is far from technical in his approach. Basically he talks a lot about rupa-nama. The idea is that we build up our awareness of physical sensations (rupa) through the rhythmic method. The more we are aware in this way the more we can see mental phenomena (nama) as they arise. And as we strengthen our awareness, we can apply it to knowing the nature of rupa and nama, and their relation to suffering. Eventually, this brings both insight and peace - LP Teean emphasizes the simple point that so long as the mind is filled with awareness, the defilements cannot enter.

This is of course but my own imperfect and limited summary of LP Teean's teaching. I don't see it as fundamentally different from other approaches to vipassana, but I do think it's got a different feel. I'd suggest getting the ebook of "Normality" from the website that sabaijai listed above. It's very down-to-earth and refreshing, in my view. By the way, I contacted the temple and it looks like I'll be going for a short retreat in early April. Maybe I'll have more to report then.

Anyone out there have personal experience with Wat Sanamnai in Nonthaburi? It's the main temple in the lineage of Luang Por Teean. I really like his meditation method and his teachings and would like to get further into the practice. Thanks.

Yep, when I had a D-Tracker I always had good service at Kawasaki. But their service center looks overwhelmed these days. On my last visit there must have been 40 or 50 bikes parked there.

Big Wing Chiang Mai have put the above letter on their facebook page along with phone numbers to call to make an appointment if your bike needs checking.

https://www.facebook.com/HondaBigWingChiangmai?rf=315980408501620

I'll still go down there myself to make the appointment in person, and to buy more oil to add to my bike before I bring it in.

Just checked my oil for the first time in a long while and there's barely any there. According to the letter above mine is one of the bikes that needs to be checked, but I haven't received the letter or gotten a phone call. Gotta say I'm pretty pissed off. I plan to go down to Big Wing today and see what they have to say, but no matter what the result I have a feeling I'll be buying a new bike from another manufacturer before too long. I like the way my bike rides and I know Hondas generally have a good reputation but I've got no confidence in or patience with Chiang Mai Big Wing.

I would think you should be checking your oil when you do your basic safety inspection before every ride. Can you see oil leaking out of your engine or on the floor?

Yes, I should check my oil more often. No, I don't see evidence of a leak anywhere on the engine or on the floor. I should be clear, it's not the particular recall issue that's put me off Honda. It's the level of service. The few times I've been in there just for regular service or to ask a question I've gotten poor service. Not rudeness, just either ignored or made to feel like I'm inconveniencing them. I speak Thai and I'm always polite, as I will be today. Reports from others on the forum and in person confirm that poor service is a pattern at Chiang Mai Big Wing, at least for foreign customers. I never had this experience from the Kawasaki dealer. I think the CB500F is a great bike for Chiang Mai & the surrounding area but I don't like doing business with a company like this. The recall issue is just the last straw for me. And to be honest, I kind of want a bigger bike anyway!

Just checked my oil for the first time in a long while and there's barely any there. According to the letter above mine is one of the bikes that needs to be checked, but I haven't received the letter or gotten a phone call. Gotta say I'm pretty pissed off. I plan to go down to Big Wing today and see what they have to say, but no matter what the result I have a feeling I'll be buying a new bike from another manufacturer before too long. I like the way my bike rides and I know Hondas generally have a good reputation but I've got no confidence in or patience with Chiang Mai Big Wing.

Has anyone in Chiang Mai contacted the local Big Wing about this problem?

The teargas was fired after the police were attacked. Yes, assailants who were initially protestors were injured. The reporters you allude to, at least the reporters who are not employed by pseudo news organizations aligned with the PDRC are reporting that the PDRC supporters initiated the violence. You may wish to check the unbiased news feeds before you engage in more revision.

Which unbiased news feeds are you referring to? The BBC website reports that the police fired teargas first and then people amongst the protesters opened fire. Reuters quotes National Security Council Chief Paradorn Pattanathabutr as stating that the police had no teargas with them and were armed only with batons, and therefore the teargas must have come from the protesters. Images on television clearly show police firing at protesters. So what source of information do you trust?

I brought a good sized survival knife to Chiang Mai from the US in checked baggage. No problems anywhere along the way.

The footage is nice to watch but I gotta say - I was enjoying a quiet morning on my farm in Chiang Dao a couple weeks ago when someone began flying one of these things over the valley, including a few passes over my land. The noise was pretty annoying, even from a distance, and I really didn't like the thought that someone was possibly filming me on my own property. I understand the attraction of this hobby but I think in public it can come across as selfish and intrusive. Please keep that in mind.

Nice choice of soundtrack, though

At the Suan Dok temple. They take the donations to poor people in Burma.

Where at the temple can you bring things to donate?

I dropped into Yamaha Square next to Kad Suan Kaew (Chiang Mai) today to see the Bolt in person. There were 3 of us drooling over checking out one bike while it was still being set up. Very nice looking. According to the sales guy they should have a test drive model in the shop next month.

I'm not sure whether this's a buddha quote...

but of cause, this is a good quote.

with some beautiful translation could be..

"ศัตรูที่เลวร้ายที่สุดของคุณ ยังไม่สามารถทำร้ายคุณได้มากเท่ากับความคิดของคุณเอง"

Thanks for this. I think I'll use it with my Thai in-laws! Often times when it comes to readily expressing Buddhist sentiments in Thai my language skills come up a bit short. The concepts are clear enough to me but I learned them through other languages and don't know the simple, tried and true Thai expressions that really bring the point across. Can you or anyone else recommend any collections of simple Buddhist aphorisms in Thai that I could use to improve my communication in this area & also practice my reading skills?

I second the recommendation for Dr. Chanakarn.

A red shirt rally with no noise,.........................chok dee.

Stepping outside I can hear the speeches now. That and music don't bother me. The roar of a fire-up red shirt crowd just down the road though... that's another thing.

I just did a quick loop around the 700 Year Stadium on my bike & can confirm that there are lots of red shirts gathered there and a steady stream of more still arriving. An estimate in the thousands sounds right to me. I live nearby and during big events like football matches and concerts I can usually hear the crowd noise from my house. I kind of hope it doesn't get to that point tonight.

If you were going to spend billions of Baht on a development project, wouldn't you want to get the promotional materials just right? Wouldn't you think to have English text & narration checked by a native speaker before sending them out into the world? Or would that mean a loss of face for someone in the marketing team? The mall itself looks ok to me as far as malls go, but I'm always surprised to see such tortured & error-strewn English being used to promote big money housing developments, condos and shopping centers in Thailand.

Yeah, the drive belt guard is pretty ugly but it's far from a deal-breaker for me.

I prefer the style of the Sportster/Bolt to the Vulcan. Still, a couple years ago I was considering getting a Vulcan but I was seriously turned off by the dealer in Chiang Mai. The sales girl told me that under no circumstances would I be able to test ride one - the fact that my bike at the time was a D-Tracker 250 I'd bought from the same dealer didn't matter at all. There's no way I'll drop nearly half a million baht on a bike without being able to ride it. I don't know for sure about Yamaha these days but a few years ago a friend of mine was able to take an FZ6 out for a test ride. That gives me more hope for the Bolt.

Masa is made from field corn, not sweet corn, isn't it? If anyone wants to start from scratch, I mean all the way from scratch, I've got about 2 rai of organic field corn growing up in Chiang Dao & I'd be happy to donate some or all of it for the benefit of my fellow tamale & tortilla lovers.