Awk

No meter is my experience also, though my experience is that the price is fair also, relative to CM's red bus and tuk-tuks. Slightly more expensive than a red bus, depending on how much time you want to spend haggling for the cheapest fare with various red bus drivers. On the plus side, you get picked up at your door, sit in a normal car with AC, don't waste time haggling over the price with various drivers passing by, and no detours to pick up unknown passengers.

053 262 878 is the number I've used for going to the airport. I also have another number, used for going other places: 053 279 291 (Taxi Lanna I've written this down as). Possibly Taxi Lanna only operates during the day, which is why I have had to use the other number also. I might remember this wrong though.

In all cases a driver has turned up on time, or even 10-15m before. No complaints from me regarding CM's taxis.

Why don't Thai authorities LOOK at farang investigations instead of hiding their heads under the sheets..... .

Because Western scientific papers need first to be translated into words of one syllable that a child, or retarded adult, would be able to understand. Until that happens I doubt many people in Thailand will be able to understand.

Do you think the Thai Public Health Ministry, the Thai Industry Ministry, and the Thai Council of Work and Environment Related Patients Network of Thailand consists mainly of westerners? Or did the Thai Visa summary posted contain too many words for you? Any retarded adults around you can ask for help?

What is your point? Reread what I said, then think about it for a good long time...then, when the penny has finally dropped go and sit in the corner with your dunce hat on....dunce.

My point, should it not be obvious, is that the people wanting to ban it in Thailand are Thai. Presumably neither retarded, nor unable to understand words with more than one syllable.

Don't let the penny hit you on the head.

Why don't Thai authorities LOOK at farang investigations instead of hiding their heads under the sheets..... .

Because Western scientific papers need first to be translated into words of one syllable that a child, or retarded adult, would be able to understand. Until that happens I doubt many people in Thailand will be able to understand.

Do you think the Thai Public Health Ministry, the Thai Industry Ministry, and the Thai Council of Work and Environment Related Patients Network of Thailand consists mainly of westerners? Or did the Thai Visa summary posted contain too many words for you? Any retarded adults around you can ask for help?

Some keep missing the point others have made. It's not offensive in general (all by itself) but is offensive to many (including yourself, obviously, and even to me to some degree) who have at least a reasonable understanding of what Hitler and the Nazis preached and did;

And for the N'th time..

Ignorance is sort of fogiveable.. Tho preferable would be for them to get the education..

Ignorance on the part of educators.. Is far more of a problem.. Teachers, in an english language catholic school should know far better.

Indeed, teachers should obviously know better. How else can they teach? With teachers as ignorant as those at the Chiang Mai Sacred Heart school have shown themselves to be, I would not trust them to learn my child what two plus two equals. I can only wonder where they found such bums. A parade like they did is so far out there in "how stupid can you get?"-lalaland it is difficult to believe.

There is however not much point in being offended by the motorcycle sticker in OP I think. In all likelihood the motorcycle owners teachers were ignorant on the subject and did not teach it, so why should he as a student know any better, unless he had a special interest in history? I'm sure he just thought the sticker looked cool, and one can see his point. If one can ignore what the picture depicts, it does look cool.

If it was a friend of mine, I'd show him some videos and pictures, and educate him a little on the meaning of the symbols on the sticker. Any person of normal intelligence would then remove the sticker himself. Offending through ignorance is not a serious crime in my book, unless it is your job to not be ignorant, of course.

They also have a small outlet at Central Festival, by the entrance to the supermarket. Has tables and chairs, but not all that comfortable or well placed, which is a pity as the location is nice.

Somebody here recommended PPS on the Hang Dong road before: http://www.ppschiangmai.com/

Went there to have window film applied to the car and no complaints, though it was just a standard job, so not anything to gauge anybody by.

Salsa Kitchen changed their menu a bit. The chipotle chicken taco was pretty tasty as was the pork burritos. The combo is a lot of food! Good thing I was hungry. There is a duck carnitas (crispy duck confit carnitas) that sounded tempting, but I did not try that.

I also like Salsa kitchen. Had not eaten there in a long time, but the last 3-4 weeks I've been there a couple of times. Nice food, nicely presented and reasonably priced. Around 200-250B for most dishes I think.

It's located not far from Kad Suan Kaew. Just continue with KSK on your left till you come to the Shell gas station 100m further up the road, and

Salsa kitchen is on the other side of the road. Saw a sign at Salsa kitchen that you can park at the Shell station, so presumably they have some agreement.

Thanks to everyone who kindly replied. I went to Pantip and found a guy to help me.

Just curious, but who was that?

I posted a recommendation here some years ago for a guy in Pantip Plaza. He fixed a laptop for me, at the cost of 1000B or something. That same laptop I had brought with me to Beijing, China, where I at the time was working on rotation (in/out of Thailand every month) for a very large company. A manager at that company called up Lenovo and asked them about it, and they seemed happy to send somebody to my office to have a look. The Lenovo guy took the laptop with him, and returned a day or two later I think, saying it could not be fixed without an expensive motherboard replacement or something like that. But that guy at Pantip fixed it while I waited, explained what the problem was, and the laptop worked fine until some years later it developed a completely unrelated problem. I was more than a little impressed.

I've ordered tickets online departing from CNX before without problems. Perhaps it was a temporary error? I just tried CNX - SYD now on the Thai air website, leaving Dec 15, returning Jan 06. Routed via BKK and a total of 41,750 with taxes.

A tip may be that sometimes cheaper airlines have a codeshare with Thai air. Last time I flew away for work, I ordered on the website of an european airline that serves the country I was flying to. That european airline has the usual crappy service most european airlines have (not that I consider Thai to be great, but it is a step above most european carriers IMO), but from past experience I knew they only fly to Thailand some part of the year, while the rest they codeshare with Thai, so you end up flying Thai instead. Price was about 70% that of Thai. Guess the chance of this applying to a given destination is pretty small though.

Also remember to check out the promotions on their webpages. Usually the duration of the trip is too short for me, but now and then I luck out. Don't think you can order them and start in CNX though, so will have to order the CNX - BKK leg separately.

Referring to the recent post in the CM news forum regarding a new highway to Lampun possibly going through a residential area, where can one find information about such plans? I.e., before buying house/land, that's one of the things I'd like to check. Obviously things can change, but if already there are plans for a highway a stone throw away, then that is obviously a place one can cross of the list.

Many thanks to all for the helpful posts.

If my understanding is correct, cracks like these are not a serious problem as the walls are not intended to carry load. It is mostly expected here, but can to some extent be avoided if the house is built properly, perhaps particularly with regards to compacting the ground firmly before laying the foundation.

In my opinion compacting the soil has nothing to do with it, as a house in Thailand is built on footings,columns and beams that hold the construction, and can you imagine a compacted soil that doesn't drops even 1 cm over the years? So if the soil under your floor base drops 1 cm it has the same effect as a soil that drops 10 cm, e.g. there is empty space between.

Most important in a built in Thailand are the size, space, amount and depth of the footings.

Thank you, that also makes sense. I assume the factors you mention would depend on various things, including not only the house that is to be built on top, but also the soil the footings are placed in? If I assume that your opinion is that many of these problems are caused by errors in the factors you mention, then I guess many of the people who create the footings do it wrong. Any tips for how to find somebody who knows how to do it correct, especially in the north/Chiang Mai area? Or is it something we can not expect in our price class (e.g., for a house that costs 2-3M to build, excluding the price of land)?

Many thanks to all for the helpful posts.

If my understanding is correct, cracks like these are not a serious problem as the walls are not intended to carry load. It is mostly expected here, but can to some extent be avoided if the house is built properly, perhaps particularly with regards to compacting the ground firmly before laying the foundation.

Left my wallet on the counter at a food stall when there was a moslem food fair at the building next to Airport plaza. At least, I am pretty sure that's where I left it. Finished eating, and on my way out, noticed it was missing. Went back and asked about it, and though friendly enough, they had not seen the wallet, though the woman walked me to the logistics people and asked them to ask for it on the public speaker system. I was just "pretty sure" I had left it there, so assumed I was wrong, she being so helpful and all. Not bad looking either. Perhaps I had dropped it on the floor while eating instead.

Got the wallet back in the mail a week later, sans the money. Included a handwritten and signed note saying I had indeed left it at the counter, and "so sorry", but she had "very little money and my [contribution] was a big help", or something to that nature. I thought that's alright then, as I of course have "very much money".

"I am sure that you, like all other people here spouting the same, have no real knowledge about what part of the pollution is generated locally here in the north, and what blows in from other countries. "

​Follow the the season hear http://aqicn.org/city/thailand/chiangmai/city-hall/ and read this

http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/2014/03/26/transboundary-pollution-in-northern-thailand-causes-dangerous-levels-of-smog/

"Perhaps most critically, pollution sources extend beyond Thailand’s borders. GISTDA (Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency) satellite monitoring shows clusters of burning “hotspots” across peninsular Southeast Asia. Chiang Mai in particular experiences drastic effects because of its location in the Chiang Mai-Lamphun valley, where smoke from neighboring Myanmar and Laos is prone to settle.

With its transboundary sources, Chiang Mai’s haze problem requires international cooperation. ASEAN member countries have made joint efforts in monitoring, preventing, and mitigating transboundary haze since 1997. In addition to a Regional Haze Action Plan, ASEAN member states adopted the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution in 2003. More recently, ASEAN has introduced simulation exercises, management strategies, and zero-burning best practices."

Thank you. I have read it, but don't see why you think that asiafoundation article validates your point in any way. The author states that "The pollution’s sources go beyond farming. Accidental forest and grass fires during this hot, dry season are among the primary sources of smoke." and only that "Perhaps most critically, pollution sources extend beyond Thailand’s borders."

I don't see anyone disputing that the sources of pollution are perhaps not local only. What there is, as far as I know, no reason to claim is that "the majority of the pollution you will have starting about February comes from outside Thailand", as you and others do. That is in my opinion a wholly unfounded claim to make about something which it would be quite hard to measure, and something only for people highly qualified in those fields.

Think about it. In the whole north of Thailand there will be an enormous amount of burning at that time. How would you know that even half of the pollution you breath in here at that time comes from abroad? How would you measure that? Surly that is not a trivial thing to measure.

So its just a list of excuses.

A bit like voting then.....my single vote wont make any difference.

Lame and weak.

The Govt need to grow some balls.

Not lame and not making an excuse for Thailand but everyone thinks that if Thailand stops their burning then Chiang Mai air will magically clear. Chiang Mai is in a geographically location thats has always attracted this pollution. This has been documented by man from the earliest settlers of Chiang Mai. As for as growing some cojones I could add another 100 items to the list which would all come out above the air pollution.

Are you saying that if all burning off could be stopped in the north west of Thailand there would be no improvement in air quality in Chiang Mai?

It would help but not to the degree that people would like as the majority of the pollution you will have starting about February comes from outside Thailand.

I am sure that you, like all other people here spouting the same, have no real knowledge about what part of the pollution is generated locally here in the north, and what blows in from other countries.

And in response to my request, and as part of my own due diligence inquiry into the “Fund”, Andy wrote for attribution ad quote: “This is Andy Hall. The fund is being managed properly ad all use of funds will be transparent. Regards, Andy. The TVA managers won’t allow me to post the website to make doations but all who are interested can find it with a quick Google or Face Book search. The website reports before my donation today that the fund stands at US$ 6,255 but Andy updates that amount to over US$ 9,000. “MWRN fundraiser Koh Tao case accused justice fund (website + bank AC donations) now exceeded 300,000 baht. Thanks! <website censored>”

When you find the website, you can see a list of supporters who agree to have their names published: <URL censored>

Please, find the web site and add your name to the growing list, even if only 33 THB (US$ 1.00) donated by a local ATM at the mall, or by credit card or Pay Pal. Please support this most worthwhile cause that can only help the 2 youths and this ailing if not failing State. Good luck to us all. chock-dee

-------------------

Andy Hall just responded to my question, “Can i assure my donors that their donations to the fund will be specifically and exclusively earmarked for the 2 boys? Or must the donors state that when they contribute?”

Andy’s good advice is: “<name>, the fund is for all costs relating to the boys access to justice. It's quite a mix of things we are using the money for now. 100% related to the case though, and their fight for justice. Andy Hall

Searching for this in google brings up the correct page as the first link: justice-koh-tao-murder-case site:youcaring.com

Not sure why the page displays in a non-English language when I use Google Chrome (but in English when using Firefox), but clicking on the button above the

"Share on Facebook" button brings you to a page where you can enter the amount you want to donate. Then click on the button down on the right (still non-English in Google Chrome). Then on the next page, fill in name and other details (will not be shown on the public donator page), and click the button down on the right.

If they should be guilty and judged so, one can hopefully have some faith in that verdict if they have been provided with competent lawyers and assistance, which should be in the interest of everybody. The mentioned fundraiser tries to do that, so hope both those who think they are guilty and those who think they are innocent provide a contribution.

Skip the beers for a couple of evenings and spend the money on something better.

I should have been more clearer.

I use the totobobo face mask strictly when I riding my bicycle or motorcycle

so I want to find out if the 3M Filtrete sheets are at least N92 or greater.

If they are, I can easily cut them to size for my current face mask at a much reduced cost.

I am not sure either, but this looks like an attempt at summarising the effect of some of the 3M Filtrete products:

http://www.iallergy.com/filtrete-air-filter-comparison.php

Not sure where they got their data from, but looks reasonable to me.

3M has a large range of Filtrete products as you see, ranging quite a lot in efficiency. I think the one for sale at HomePro and etc. here in Thailand is the red one rated 11 MERV, which as you see has a lower filtration efficiency than your N95-like mask. I.e., the equivalent of N80 (80% efficient at filtrating the specified range of air particles), if that rating even exists, versus N95 (95% efficient).

My posts were not based on facts just common sense. Could be one in three and 1/2years is indeed some thing to get excited about. Me I took it to be part and parcel of living here or any of the other places I have lived. Of this size.

Each has their own experience and belief of what common sense is all about and they are welcome to it. It is nice to see a thread like this where we can see the experiences and common sense of others.

Had to read the first sentence several times before I realised he used the word "just", and not "or" as I thought the first few times.

I've been looking at some houses for sale here in Chiang Mai during the last few months, most of them less than five years old, and one or two new and never lived in. One thing that has puzzled me is that all the houses have several cracks in the walls. These cracks mostly range from 50cm to a metre, going in diagonal lines. I'm not sure how to gauge the depth of the cracks, but they do not look purely superficial to me.

From what I can gather, this may be caused by the ground not having settled firmly before the foundation was laid, or just bad work?

I wouldn't think this was expected, but all the houses I've looked at so far have had them. I thus wonder if this this a normal and mostly cosmetic issue here in Thailand, or as I suspect, a bad sign, and something a home of decent quality should not have?

For reference, the house/land combinations I've been looking at have been in the 3-5M Baht range, which I guess is around midrange here in Chiang Mai.

Yes generally there is some other nasty crap added to make it sweeter. Most if not all sugar free jams that I've tried are horrible. It's a bit like the butter vs margarine debate. I prefer butter and sugar but in moderation.

This one (many different flavours) tastes fine IMO. Not sure if it's available here however. Think I've seen glasses that look like it when walking through the isles at Rimping, but have not paid enough attention to say for sure if it's this or not.

Let me confirm that at least Tops is selling it.

I've just seen they have it on a 4DX screen or an Imax screen (plus standard digital). I am guessing 4DX means gimmicky extras like moving seats (never tried 4DX) and Imax is the way it was intended to be watched? Both cost the same.

There is an article on No Film School called "Christopher Nolan wants you to see Interstellar in 70mm, here is why you should", which convinced me to consider going back for the Imax experience. The picture quality of indoors earth scenes was pretty bad in Maya, lots of noise/grain.

I am going to assume that Central Festival only has a digital Imax projector as digital projection is the only type mentioned on their website, so will probably resist going back, unless they keep it on for longer. There is a big space themed picture and information gallery outside the cinemas, so this feels like a big event and the type of film they might let run longer.

I've seen a handful of movies at the IMAX at Central Festival. Most have been "nice enough", but Interstellar was amazing.

They also have something called Ultra screen at CF. Not sure what that is. Once I was forced to see Maleficent there, since all the other theatres were sold out. Paid 1200B for two tickets I think, though that did include complimentary popcorn and something to drink. Still not sure what Ultra screen is though.

Hey AoA, why belittle the dreams and abilities of others, esp youngsters? Negative comments to kids are very counter productive. If you think growing up female in Thailand is easy these days, i suggest you open your eyes to see the pressures kids live under every day.

Well, the preface did make it sound like the girl was destined for something more than asking "tea or coffee, sir?" high up in the air, so I'd have to admit I was kind of thinking something similar myself.

I bought a manual single auger juicer at the pharmacy near the supermarket in bottom floor Central Airport, i juice carrot, apple, beetroot and greens with no probs, its only 1450baht. i have a twin gear green power $600+ juicer back home and this does the same job

farang kee nok. Why he buy this for me? All my friends have electric one. Very easy to use. I have to turn this around and around for a very long time and only a little juice comes out. Every morning I feel very tired, but my husband, he just ask me, "why so little juice today?"

Sorry, I could hear my wife thinking in the background. Central Airport, near the supermarket, eh? Perhaps for the upcoming wedding anniversary I'm thinking.