EL159

Ragu has always been over priced and over rated. As is The Dukes in the other building. Even compared with Dukes elsewhere, this one has been shoddy and lazy the two times I visited ( I gave it a second chance in view of all the adulation of Dukes that sometimes appears on this site!) Fuji is pretty similar to Fujis elsewhere, but the other Japanese/ Korean joints near Fuji seem to have either closed or have no customers. Sad to say that Promenada is a failure waiting to be confirmed by its inevitable closure.

The only good thing at Promenada is you can park easily at any time, and you can visit virtually empty movie theatres for "personal showings" as there are so few customers. I watched "Arrival" there a couple of months ago. I was literally the only person in the theatre!

Not sure if this is well known or not, but as I ve been told the same dodgy owners that had The Game were still involved in this new "enterprise".  Main problem for me was they couldnt make their minds up whether they were a sports bar or not. They thought it was OK to have the sport on but with no commentary, preferring instead it seems to have live or recorded music while the sport was showing. Sorry, but the expression about trying to kill two birds with one stone fits perfectly. Sports watchers want to hear the atmosphere and commentary as well.

Papa Rock? I drive by there literally every day, sometimes several times, and there are hardly ever any people inside or cars outside, suggesting sadly the inevitable demise of the place.  Yummy Pizza, on the other hand, busy every day, lunchtime and evening, and deservedly so in my opinion,  excellent quality of food, well cooked, big portions if thats what you need, and great value for money.....and no, I have no connection,  just live around the Hang Dong/ Nongkwai area and prefer to eat locally whenever possible these days.

Subtlety on the sign, "Farang Food".......can you imagine the reaction if you had a sign outside an Indian Restaurant in England or a Mexican Restaurant in USA which said "Foreign Food"....anyway, never mind, if its closed now anyway.

26 minutes ago, Greenside said:

 

Well, it only took you 67 posts to pick up the prevailing cynical attitude to almost everything around here 

 

I grant you that the locals do tend to value secondhand items above what many people expect (vehicles are a particular case in point) but there are still good buys to be made and, as far as photographic equipment goes, there are numerous shops around town where you can check out new and used prices and see what's available. 

 

Incidentally, if you decide to order a new camera from Amazon please post and let us know about the import duty, handling charges and any customs hassles you encountered.

Sorry, Greenside, youre unfortunately the recipient of my annoyance following a recent bad experience in the Chiang Mai second hand market.....good luck with the day, at least with this you can come along and check out if its working, etc etc. By the way, if I use Amazon I get stuff delivered to an address in my home Country then pick it up when I visit. Certainly wouldnt buy something like a camera and expect it to arrive here without a problem!

Theres a facebook group called "second hand chiang mai" which encourages individuals to sell past it unwanted junk for higher prices than the stuff is worth. This sounds like a live version of the same theme. If you think its old and past it, it probably is, buy new from Amazon or similar, then its guaranteed too!

Hi DVG,  Which Big C., please?  Do you mean the Big C extra that used to be Carrefour,  quite near Index and Festival?

If so, I can call by there, my Car is the Metallic  Grey/ Blue colour, so thanks for the offer,  I ll have to keep plugging away!

By the way to all, they dont stock the touch up paint sticks in either Airport Plaza or Kad Suan Kaew any more.....they used to have it in Festival,  will try there when its not Sunday ( too busy!)

Can anyone give me a steer on where to buy those little containers, usually with a tiny brush attached to the lid , of what we Brits call touch up paint for car bodywork, in the UK there are specialist car spares stores where they carry all the different colours for all the different makes of car. There used to be such a place in the lower floor of Airport Plaza near Tops, but thats long gone.

My car is a Mazda 2, and yet strangely, the Mazda dealership I use on Hangdong Road doesnt carry that type of thing.....they look at you a bit strange and say they can order it from Bangkok or Japan, or wherever, but they have no idea how long it will take !!

Have car, can travel.....so any information greatly appreciated!

Just spoke to Trues so called "customer service" department. I pay 2600 a month ( platinum with 2 boxes). As compensation, they offered me 1000 points on some "black card" that I dont have! When I said thats meaningless, I want a compensatory discount, he said that he doesnt have authority to offer discounts. As soon as I said well, I know you ve been offering discounts of 30% and 50% to other customers, he immediately said how about 15% for 6 months.....so not only are they removing channels, not only are they incompetent, theyre liars as well!!! When I said 15% nowhere near enough, he said the would call me back. Am not holding my breath, otherwise I might die by the time they get back to me.

What a useless incompetent company they are.....the total opposite in fact to Sky in the UK. Sky in the UK actually PURCHASE programmes, both sport and general stuff, because by offering a more attractive package, they then attract more customers! I thought that would be obvious even to an idiot! Truevisions track record with the purchase of programme product is that , well, they dont....they seem to try to get everything on the cheap or for free, thats why when events such as major world events like Olympics and World Cups are on, the coverage is often not on, or scanty at best. The recent Ryder Cup wasnt on at all, the Olympics was far from adequately covered, and now arguably the most popular TV series in the world, mostly on HBO, like Game Of Thrones are going because True wont pay a fair price for them.

Small Singha is 175++, making it close to 200. Not reasonable price in my view, but I guess thats globalisation for you! Starbucks coffee most expensive around and worst flavour too, but I guess thats globalisation for you!  Get the picture?!

We havent used CNX, but we have a very good company called Global who come out with a very high rating for us. They always call in advance for the quarterly visits, always prompt, spend a lot of time carrying out their duties both inside the house, and also treating trees etc ( we were told that one of the easiest ways to get termites is in the roots of trees you buy from places like Kamtien Market,  you get the tree, and often the added "bonus" of termites already happily esconced in the roots of the tree!). They also come out quickly and for no extra charge if you have a problem between quarterly visits, as we did recently. A bread roll fell down and got hidden, and we ended up with those microscopic flour mite insects, not harmful, but a nuisance, long gone now.

So, Global for us, but thats not in any way to talk down CNX. Looks like there are at least two reliable outfits!

12 hours ago, Chicog said:

Shame Pedr's disappeared, I always liked it there.

 

 

Pedr hasnt disappeared, hes back in CM alive and well and in good form! Obviously his pub went, and he went to teach in BKK for a while, but definitely back here now!

However anybody tries to deny it, every alternative to Truevisions is streamed and therefore watchability relies on the speed of the internet, over which we have no control. If your internet goes down, you cant watch anything. At least True, despite its higher cost delivers consistently 24 hours a day. The only time True goes down is sometimes when theres very heavy rain when the satellite signal is interrupted. All the other options are cheaper, but none of them is totally reliable.

"Donger", I sent you a private message which you might find useful regarding what you are looking for.

For a virtually empty mall the rents there are high. Traders not only pay rent, they also have to pay a quite significant percentage of their takings over to the mall owners as well! Thats fact by the way should anyone dispute. A good friend was a shop sponsor for his partner and they had to close as the total fees were literally untenable.

16 minutes ago, pgthompson said:

Well, I do need to try Yummy then, Papa Rock Friday Special on F&C are 125 /150 ? Baht and I found the chips were very good, not sure if they're  frozen as they have the skin on and tasted good, the mushy peas and tartar sauce were good as well.

Agreed, friday special 125 instead of 250....but you basically only get half the amount of fish, hence the half price!

Sorry to say, Papa Rock not a patch on Yummy. Everythings always slipshod at Papa Rock cos Nickys in the kitchen cooking, bless his heart, while that dippy (drugged up?) ex of his is out front not seeming to know what the heck is going on!

Papa Rock charges 250 for fish n chips, including mushy peas. Yummy charges 220 but no mushy peas. Last time I went to Papa I got no mushy peas "dont have today..." but I still got charged 250!

For me both the way the fish is fried, and the chips better at Yummy. Papa Rock uses those horrible big fat chips from a freezer bag which are quite unsuitable for fish n chips.

21 minutes ago, jobin said:

I too miss Dee as he came around my corner for years, across from the Corner Bistro.  Now some overpriced burrito cart is there, once a week.  

Best F&C, IMO, considering taste, quantity, cost, = total experience is: Gekko Garden on Friday night.  A good feed for 115 baht, which cannot be beaten by any shop in north T'land.

Lets correct a few of the usual inaccuracies ( so many on here!)

1. Dee has not gone out of business, but he has moved to one of the holiday islands. Sadly missed his food was good and well cooked.

2. Unless there are two, and I doubt that, the mobile burrito van will be "Border Run". If its them they charge 100 baht for an excellent and big sized burrito. Definitely not over priced, in fact good value.

3. Best fish n chips in Chiang Mai right now? (OK this is the subjective bit), Yummy Pizza, 220 baht but you get two pieces of proper cod, not that horrible tillapia fish that the cheapskates serve.

Why are people asked to avoid roads which are nowhere near the venue?! Canal Road, OK, but the other two are miles away!

And I was always told that "Carabao", the rock band, who I think are this drinks Companys owners, were "the band for the people", with Socialistic attitudes! Perhaps next we ll have "The Rolling Stones F.A. Cup" !!!

Anyone reading this thread should also please see the other thread notifying Nicks sad passing as there has been a development in the past few hours which you will see almost at the end of the thread. 

8 hours ago, Jay pyatt said:

Hi everybody. This has come to a massive shock to me . Nick pyatt was my 'dad'. And only just discovering this news is more than heart breaking. If people could be so kind to give me every bit of information they hd on my dad when he came to the uk?? Who he was with (friends) ??? A phone number possibly? 

As a few of you have stated nick was a legend , and very proud to of called him my dad. Where ever we went in life whether it be london , california ,whereever -  the spotlight found him and people were drawn to him with his crazy hair and his outstanding sence of humour . I never got to go to thailand to meet his most recent friends and his bar but by sounds of it you all were amazing people . Im glad he found such an inspiring place to spend his final days . I wish you all the best for the future and i will visit 'dr nicks' my dads bar in the near future. 

Any info on his last days would be massively appreciated. Thanks everyone. 

Jay pyatt . 

Hi Jay, As the starter of this thread, and having known Nick, or "your Dad" as we can now call him, for over ten years, even before he opened the bar, I feel some responsibility here. Right now I , and I suspect others here feel like we dont have "closure" regarding Nicks sad departure. For me, every time I go out in Chiang Mai, I m expecting to bump into him, or get a cheery wave from his motor bike as he speeds by me!  Today there is a "wake" for Nick from people who knew Nick here, so if you would like to send me a "private message" on here ( go to my profile, at top right) and leave me a phone number I will call you, I promise you that. I also have some photos of your Dad which I took on our travels and which are both funny and typical of him, I will gladly post these on to you.

1 hour ago, Dante99 said:

a free drink is enough for some 

Fuel would cost more than the free drink!

There you go. evenstevens finally comes out as either owner or best friend of owner of hangout. Eulogising the place all the time, and why the heck would anyone without a connection to the place drive all the way from Maerim to Kad Falang for what is, at best, a fairly average bar with OK beer but less than decent quality food. In fact, I ll go further, compared to quite a few other places in the Maehia/ Hangdong area the food is pretty much bang average. 

I thought theres still supposed to be no "entertainment" anywhere. Yummy Pizza wednesday sessions still cancelled, UN Irish pub thursday quiz still cancelled, so how come this place can have frivolity etc ? ( not saying I m against it, just curious as to how some can and some cant?)

Kellys at Meechok Plaza, and Yummy Pizza both have good fish.....and chips!