cnxmike

"Shangri-La at 350 BT ? wow that sounds very cheap..... but for lunch only, I assume..... "

When we were at the Shangri-La a couple of weeks ago, the lunch buffet was only 299 Bt. But we were very disappointed. Nothing to write home about.

In my opinion one of the best buffet lunches you get in Chiang Mai you find at the Amari Hotel. I think it's 350 Bt weekdays and 450 Bt sundays.

"3 square meter bedroom"

you probably don't know what you are talking about. Or you don't know about the metric system.

A 3 square meter room has about the size of 2,0m x 1,4m. That's more or less the size of a small bed or a closet. But certainly never the space of a bedroom.

"I am in urgent need to get a small book safely to Mandalay by May 22"

You probably could bring your book to the Mae Sai / Tachileck border, and some local guy could take a domestic flight from either Tachileck or Kengtung to Mandalay and deliver your book there.

It had the big advantage that no outsider would be involved, if things go wrong.

"Bobby's Arms"

To read about Bobby's Arms makes me feel very nostalgic. I was there a couple of times in the 80s.

But to write about today. Me and my wife were having roastbeef at "The Pub". Afterwards I told her: The worst thing that can happen to a man, is an american wife and an english cook.

Maybe we should split this forum into three forums:

1. Good places in Chiang Mai to eat Hamburgers

2. Good places in Chiang Mai to eat Mexican Food

3. Good places in Chiang Mai to eat anything else

Doing so would save a lot of us much time. So we would not have to scroll through all this Hamburger and Mexican Food postings.

@Blinky Bill

your link http://www.chiangmai-thai.com/flight_schedule.htm is extremly dated: Effective from : 27 October 2002 - 29 March 2003

In the meantime, there were a lot of changes. The only way getting to Laos directly by air is the daily Lao Airlines flight to Vientiane via Luang Pabang. Another cheaper option would be Nok Air to Udorn Thani about 70 Km from Vientiane.

@nai greg

why are you trying to wake up sleeping dogs?

Instead being happy to get your stuff, you make it public, which might finally have the result, that they won't do it anymore in the future.

I was once at St-Germain-de-Pres. In my opinion the food was fine, but the wine was just horrible. It was probably the cheapest they could buy.

For a french restaurant that's a shame.

@UG

A few days ago I wrote about this place in the "Good places to eat in Chiang Mai" section:

"Last week I was twice at "Chez Marco" a small inexpansive french restaurant at Loy Kroh. The first time I had a bacon salad with warm goat cheese. The second time it was a plate with two types of raw ham, two types of french pate, some smoked sausages and pickles plus bread and butter.

Both dishes were quite tasty. "

"When I got my Thai driver's license in Phayao the WP was enough, they didn't need the residence certificate (which I had anyway). Of course, that was Phayao. CM could be totally different. "

In Chiang Mai it is same.

Last week I was twice at "Chez Marco" a small inexpansive french restaurant at Loy Kroh. The first time I had a bacon salad with warm goat cheese. The second time it was a plate with two types of raw ham, two types of french pate, some smoked sausages and pickles plus bread and butter.

Both dishes were quite tasty.

"But Chiang Mai it seems... dead. Or comatose at the very least. "

Normally I don't go out often at night time. but since my wife spent the weekend with her family in Bangkok and I felt bored at home alone. I ventured friday and saturday night into the nightlife of Chiang Mai. Now I must admit the quote above is absolutly true.

I checked out the the Peak area, almost no customers. I checked out the beer bars next to this Thai boxing place in a soi attached to Loy Kroh again very few customers. Then I looked at the girlie bars along Loy Kroh, again very few if at all any customers.

Also Moon Muang, Soi 2 was dead.

The only places which had a lot of customers were the bars directly at the night baazar, like Hofbrauhaus and Red Lion and John's Place at Moon Muang. Also Spotlight was doing quite fine.

Since I don't like karaoke and too old for discos I went home earlier as I had intented.

@Austhaied

I'm little bit astonished about your enthusiasm for Miguels Cafe. Are you involved in this business or is your best friend running it?

@Austhaied

"I guess they just didn't like the look of you."

Maybe you are right. But it's a very unprofessional behaviour. In Moon Muang Soi 2, just around the corner there are a couple of bars, where a lot expats meet. Like "The Half Moon Pub", "Happy Bar" or the "Jai Yen Bar" most customers coming there share my point of view about the "Mad Dog".

And to greet a customer with a "Savadee Kha" not only happens at the the girlie bars in Loy Kroh. It's the standard all over Chiang Mai. In this way it's only the "Mad Dog", which is outstanding.

The staff at Mad Dog is efficient and they are doing their job. No doubt about that. But for Chiang Mai standards they are not friendly. Never seen a smile in their faces. They probably never heard about this expression, which you hear everywhere , when a customer enters a place: "Savadee Kha". Instead they settled to "What do you want?" or "Menu?".

Dreamcatcher is located in Saraphi in the south of Chiang Mai. Whenever I bring my daughter to her school. Before I turn to the right I see a sign 1,2 km to Dreamcatcher. I cannot judge about the quality of the rooms, the service, the food, since I've never been there. I only can tell about the location. It's in the middle of nowhere. It's a very flat area, most probably surrounded by rice fields. There is no place to go in a walking distance. You need your own car. And depending on the traffic it takes about 20 - 30 minutes by car to get to the center of Chiang Mai.

If someone does not want to stay in the city. I'd rather would recommand to go to the north of Chiang Mai. There are the mountains, the forrests, the elephant camps etc.

"do they sing, "Wooly Bully"

No that was Sam the Sham.

"All alcoholic beverages taste terrible to me "

you probably never had a "Riesling Schorle".

Riesling is a dry white wine and mixed 50/50 with mineral water makes it a Schorle . I don't mean this liquid sold as soda water in Thailand. I think more of "Perrier".

On a hot day there is no better drink.

Well, I live now for almost two years in Chiang Mai. In the meantime I got to know a lot of bars and restaurants, which don't have much customers, if any at all. But they are still open. The only explaination I have is as UG wrote: They are probably run by farangs with a good pension, who want to please their thai partner, or do it as a pasttime.

Economy wise it makes no sense.

When I was in Kentung about 6 months ago. There was only power between 6 pm and 10 pm. It was a very hot day. No air-con, no fan and no cool drinks.

I don't know where you are going to for a drink. Thursday I was in the city and in the all the places I usually visit I had no problem getting a beer. The same was true yesterday und this afternoon.

Today I was in Chiang Mai. Business was slow. Few customers everywhere. But beer was pouring in most places.

I don't know whether it's a muslim school or not. But it's certainly a school run by Turks, considering the names of the people who occupy the leading positions.

URL removed as per TV rules

In the latest edition of the "Chiang Mai Mail" in the "Living in Chiang Mai" column they write about Tawan Daeng. Read it yourself.

A lot of people tell me about the legendary bar called "The Thirsty Beaver" . I haven't been there yet.

Concerning the hash house carriers, there is a place, which says they are a the official h.h.c place. It's at the corner Moon Muang Soi 2.

No one called it Arab food. I think all middle eastern food is somehow related. Finally it's the same culture. Of course there are local specialities.

When I was young I travelled all the countries between Istanbul and Kabul except Iraq, and I found a lot of similarities concerning food. OK, I travelled on a budget and had no chance to eat in high class restaurants.

The big change came after I crossed the Kyber pass into Pakistan.