SDH

I have a private plane that can take you, contact me

Aha, are you serious about this private plane, if so PM me.....

So there I was driving past the monstrosity of the MAYA shopping mall and was thinking? (had plenty of time to think, because the traffic was grid locked) What other word rhymes with MAYA, then it came to me, the extinct MAYAN's and their own monstrosities..... Yes they built them as well, but did the people come? Or did they go?

So here's the question: How will this place ever turn a profit?

leaving drink = leaving chiang mai for the foreseeable future, just wanna be able to say good bye to friends Ive made.

Whats that place called? I recognise it, good idea!

Oh come on, go out with a Bang! Spicy it is!!! WoooHooooooo 555555

Illegal or not, I still see children used for begging. Whenever I see it, I run to the nearest store where I can buy an ice cream treat. I buy it and run out to give it to the kid. Always get a giant smile. I know the money is not for the kid, but the ice cream is. tTe beauty of it is that, unlike say, candy, it cannot be taken by the kid's handler for resale. If not consumed within 5-10 minutes it disappears into a puddle on the sidewalk.

Right on! I used to buy the brats (around 10-13) some food but they had to sit down and eat it before their pimps came back, I never gave to the small ones before (obvious reasons, the pimps would just take it), but I really like your ice cream idea, very crafty!!! Ice cream for all!!!

to all those with real or imaginary "friends" who think Chinese customers are troublesome, problematic, cheap etc etc etc. please tell us the name of these businesses for the public record. I will gladly arrange it to be translated and posted on weibo our some other Chinese site so the Chinese customers know which businesses to avoid thus saving a lot of hassles for these businesses. It's a win win situation isn't it ?

Yes I think that's the answer, let them post the list, then when my Chinese friends come they can avoid the places that consider them to be filthy and stingy!

Would you like them to have to wear a badge or get a permanent tattoo for expressing their opinion as well?

This isn't China and it's world class level of speech suppression.

It's totally free and acceptable for anyone to express unadulterated contempt for their customer. Conversely, it is equally fair to have customers choose and vote with their Yuans on a fully informed basis. By all means wear a badge if you want to express your low opinion of some customers...just be ready for the consequences. I don't like businesses and people who don't put their money where their mouths are.

Maybe I missed it, but I'm awaiting the list of Anti-Chinese establishments, surely with all the hate mongering going on here there must be one of the mongers willing to post the list (or they can be the first on it)....

Yes, I left mine there for 24 days once, no problem!

Don't sweat the Songteaw or the ripoff no meter taxi...

I thought I saw a sign on the Amari Hotel saying it was being remodeled which makes more sense to me than anything else. It is a good location for a hotel, specially with the new mall under construction.

If they made a pedestrian crossover to the mall it would be awesome. The Amari Rincome intersection is the worst in Chiang Mai. I avoid it like the plague.

Yup it suck's, I live around there, it's so bad that during rush hour you need to take the scooter, otherwise the wait can be up to 1 hour, which I guess is still better than Bkk, but .....

Looks like a good pet trainer.

Is that in Bangkok?

This Cat is from Bangkok, he lives in Silom.

Duty free is officially only 1 liter of alcohol.

Really, wow I'm a law breaker, I've always brought 2....

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun SDH,

The thought just came to me this morning, that if you wanted to be in a place with "hotels and power," and get to see a wonderful festival, where many of the diverse ethnic groups in Yunnan, as well as groups from other countries like Brazil, Latvia, etc., will parade, dance, and so on:

Well, tomorrow's your day: hop on a plane to Kunming, for the Kunming Carnival, which runs from April 29 to May 1.

Here are pictures from last year's Carnival: http://en.kunming.cn/subject/node_35980.htm

Here are the international troupes that will come for this year's Carnival: http://en.kunming.cn/index/content/2013-04/19/content_3268991.htm

Here's a schedule for this year's Carnival: http://​http://en.kunming.cn/index/content/2013-04/26/content_3277336.htm

I had been planning a trip to Kunming in May, and if I had realized earlier when the Festival was happening, I would have tried to get there for it.

yours, ~o:37;

Just my luck, I'm in India right now, won't be back until the 1st to CM....

Looks like so much fun, kind of amazing to see the Brazilian like atmosphere there!

In the old photo, the cat was photoshopped in later, the guy needing a ticket back to Burma must have finally gotten home after collecting for 5 years..... the wooden frogs annoyed me until I experienced my first CM rain and realized it sounds just like the real frogs ....clever.

Right you are, that Frog is very close to the real deal, before there were many sellers, now they're moved to pattaya, I spotted them and their frogs last month!

Young Chinese toursits are here because they watch the movie 'Lost in Thailand' or something like that. Otherwise they would've headed to Japan

Yep. Talked to a Thai ajarn friend at the university and that is his take on it also. He also said that they steal everything as souvenirs even toothpicks and some places are charging for 'missing' items.

Stealing toothpicks? OMG, what next?

In Hong Kong the Japanese package tourists used to steal the pictures off the hotel room walls, the TV sets, and anything smaller.

I welcome the Chinese, always well-behaved( apart from this unfortunate yen for toothpicks), and a reminder of my 19 happy years with a Chinese partner.

I don't mind the Chinese tourists so much (when I have had interactions with them), but one of my Thai friends who owns/operates a guesthouse (at the very low end of the price scale) has nothing nice to say at all about the Chinese tourists she encounters on a daily basis... invariably if I ask how her day has been I will get a tale of a rude/ignorant/troublesome Chinese tourist. And its not just a case of them now making up more of her business, as when her place is full of westerners she definitely has far fewer problems.

My goal isnt to agitate by going against the general positive tone of the thread, but the influx of Chinese tourists/travelers is definitely not all roses like some seem to think.

to all those with real or imaginary "friends" who think Chinese customers are troublesome, problematic, cheap etc etc etc. please tell us the name of these businesses for the public record. I will gladly arrange it to be translated and posted on weibo our some other Chinese site so the Chinese customers know which businesses to avoid thus saving a lot of hassles for these businesses. It's a win win situation isn't it ?

Yes I think that's the answer, let them post the list, then when my Chinese friends come they can avoid the places that consider them to be filthy and stingy!

I'm not sure where it is...

What about the Frog, I think they're Hmong and walk up to you with the Frog!

55555 I hate that frog, Kermit it's not!

I thought I saw a sign on the Amari Hotel saying it was being remodeled which makes more sense to me than anything else. It is a good location for a hotel, specially with the new mall under construction.

If it is in fact being remodeled and they have parking (ahhh parking what a concept) they would more than likely not need to worry about the occupancy rate....

Tai Yai land is more commonly referred to as the Shan State in northeast Burma. Politically, it is in shambles now, as is the Karen State. It is not a region that is easily accessible other than the larger garrison towns. But there are many local Shan villages in the Lanna region. Perhaps the most accessible is Baan Mok Cham above Thaton situated along the Kok River. It was founded in the early 1960s by, amongst others, the son of Sao Shwe Thaik, the first president of modern independent Burma. There are lots of Shan villages in the Pai and Mae Hong Son areas. There are a few good Shan restaurants in Chiang Mai, search the forum. There is the woman operating a food stall in the market in MHS who all Burmese and Shans make a morning pilgrimage to when visiting MHS for her amazing tofu dishes. But traveling through the Shan State is really not an option apart form a very small number of NGOs or your first name is Bertril.

On a visit over the loop Tak, Mae Sot, Mai Hon Son, CM, Tak just a week ago we found many Shan in the northern towns and a very unhappy group of Burmese Immigration Officers when we suggested an unescorted trip into the north! Why don't you check out the huge refugee camp out Mai Hon Son way?

Thanks for your help!

Now that the BIB have stopped the use of children for begging some ingenious Beggars have recruited other family members with less rights.... 555555

Parents are allowed to do Corpral Punishment in Thailand. Just like the western world 40 + years ago.

Police won't do anything about Domestic matters as long as there are no serious injuries.

The Prosecuters and Police should hold the Parents accountable to Pay for the thefts and injuries.

Sure just like in Farangland, unbelievable....

And they didn't listen to their parents!

Such Naughty little children!

MHS it is, and can drive my car, easy and without hassle, will be sure to check out the food stall as well!

Sawasdee Khrup, Khun SDH,

I am curious what you are expecting to see, or do, once you have found a place with "hotels and power" in Shan, or Tai Yai, territory.

fyi: while many of the Tai speaking ethnic groups scattered over what is now Thailand, Burma, Yunnan, even Assam, are often lumped together as Shan, the Shan Tai Yai are perhaps the largest "distinct" group, with discrete large territories (Shan States, capital Taunggyi). Tai Yai are different culturally from the Tai Lue of Yunnan, but the Tai Lue often get categorized as "Shan." And, it gets really mixed-up when you consider that Shan territory also has migrant ethnic groups who came down from the Tibet area, whose language stock is Tibetan-Burmese. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shan_people#Tai_groups

Tachilek, across from Mae Sai, is "Tai Yai," if you can forge your way through the skanky Bangladeshis selling fake Viagra, and the market crowds, to connect with the native culture. The ancient Tai/Thai kingdom of Chieng Rung that once stretched from near Fang in Thailand up into what is Keng Tung in Myanmar now, was kind of a Lanna city-state, but, trapped on the strategic route-to-war between the great Burmese empires and the Kingdom of Chiang Mai's polity, and the warring empire of Ayutthya, it oscillated between being a vassal state of the Burmese, or Lanna. In the area of Keng Tung now, which you can travel to from Tachilek, are the Tai Khuen people.

If you are going to Mae Hong Son, I hope you like extreme hot weather; it's often the hottest place in Thailand:

http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=mae+hong+son

http://www.tmd.go.th/en/province.php?id=3

And the air-pollution levels in Mae Hong Son, during our "foul months," is often among the highest levels in Thailand. AQM-PM10 levels are way under 100 now, but, as recently as April 9, spiked near 300, which is emergency level.

http://aqmthai.servehttp.com/public_report.php

Select the entry for: Environment and Natural Resources Office 58t Mae (Natural Resources and Environment Office, Mae Hongson).

Or, try this: http://aqicn.org/?city=Thailand/%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B3%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%99%E0%B8%97%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%9E%E0%B8%A2%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%81%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%98%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%8A%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%95%E0%B8%B4%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%A5%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%B4%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%87%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%94%E0%B8%A5%E0%B9%89%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%A1%E0%B8%88%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%AB%E0%B8%A7%E0%B8%B1%E0%B8%94%E0%B9%81%E0%B8%A1%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%AE%E0%B9%88%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%87%E0%B8%AA%E0%B8%AD%E0%B8%99

~o:37;

Thanks for taking the time to reply!

I just wanted to travel to somewhere that hadn't changed so much in the last 100 years, I will go to Inle Lake, for sure to Mandalay and maybe Taunggyi. I can drive to MHS and check it out easily enough, so...

Who knows.

When the adjacent Maya mall was planned it looked to be only 3 or 4 stories in the promotional rendering...

It's at least 10 stories and still growing.

They are probably working out the uh payments before getting to work on the Amari site

Exactly, <deleted> if you look at the proposal the MAYA was about 5-6 stories, I live by there and it grows daily.....

I wonder how long it will take to get through the intersection from 16:30 to 19:30 hours?

Does anyone know the deal with this place?

I've heard;

• MBK mall? (I hope not)
• Parking lot? (I wish).

http://www.chiangmaicitynews.com/news.php?id=322

The 12 rai of land of the Nimmanhaeminda family is hugely valuable with current estimates at 50 million baht a rai. Not yet willing to sell their land, they have recently signed an agreement with MBK (Ma Boon Krong) shopping mall in Bangkok to build a retail shopping mall and construction will commence in January 2013. The city will reclaim some of the land of the property and the spirit house will be no more.

I just got back from a one month vacation in the US. Most of it spent in CA/TX. Most of the food eaten was Mexican. My favorite are street tacos.

Today I'm going to eat at Miguel's. All you haters can keep on hating because frankly I'd rather have less people vying for tables.

Right on!

You go get some Miguels I hope you have time for some pitchers of margaritas as well!!

Those Chihuahua are damn scary

2267289_370.jpg

Oh that's a Nasty Little Chihuahua, watch out for the Ninja Chihuahua as well!

Now you know why I believe all wild dogs should be eaten like cows pigs and chickens To many dog just running the street.

Start a movement to eat them

I won't join your movement...

However there are many cultures that like to snack and feast on dogs , Thai, Tai Yai, Burmese, Vietnam is a multi-ethnic country with over fifty distinct groups (54 are recognized by the Vietnamese government), Cambodian, Filipino, Chinese etc. (who all prefer the black color dog, not sure why)....

I was in Issan not long ago and some guys grabbed the next door farmers dog and BBQ him right then and there, it was not pretty to watch, but they sure enjoyed doing it (killing and skinning) and eating it up.

Before you eat them, I think you would want to feed them some clean food for a while!

Seriously, there is a technique that seems to work (it worked the few times I needed it)

I read somewhere that dogs (being domesticated) have a 'built in' genetic reflex, that if a human (one of us!) bends over to pick up a rock, that will disarm them. Even if there is no rock!!! Just the movement of leaning over seems to do it...

I was on Koh Tao, and a rather aggressive German Shepherd style dog started barking really nastily at me as I walked along the beach. I bent over and picked up a long reedy leaf that was laying there (it was about 40cm) and just kept walking, holding the reed by my side.

The dog shut up at once, and just 'disarmed'. The tourists tanning there didn't know how I had done it. All I had done was pick up a piece of grass...

I want to try this, next time I see a barking, overly aggressive, nasty, frothing at the mouth rabid dog, I will stop and pick up anything.... I really hope it will work though, could be a bit intense if the Soi Mutt ran over and gave me a good biting!!

Speaking of feeding the dogs clean food and water prior to eating - In Vietnam they make the dog go hungry, then feed and water it so much (until it's stuffed) then they kill it, skin it, BBQ the meat and boil the stomach, I guess they are like the Scottish (Haggis) of Asia, but in Scotland I think the stuff the stomach after....

Is there an update, have the farmers seen the "Evasive White Elephant"...?