cnxmike

"persian food is not remotely related to the likes of arab, lebanese, israeli, etc cui"

When I was in Iran I thought it is. They also eat mostly this kebabs. The most popular dish in Iran is (I'm not sure about the spelling) Chelow Kebab. It is a ground meat skewer grilled over a charcoal fire. You get it everywhere and sometimes in simple places that's only food they have.

What was wrong with the buffet at Shangrila?

To begin with, we were very disappointed with the cold starters. I hoped und expected to find some cold cuts like ham or salami. Instead they had among other food items these Thai salads which are called yam ..., and there also was a potato salad with potatoes which were not boiled long enough. It was inedible. Also the main dishes didn't impress us. Not much choice and mostly Thai food. The desserts looked nice, but they run out of clean plates, so we had wait about 10 minutes before we were able to get something. We are talking about a five star hotel.

I saw the pizza station. But I don't go to the Shangrila to eat pizza.

I don't like much the buffet at the Empress Hotel, but there is more choice and the taste is even better.

I might be wrong, but as I understood it, all second hand book stores in Chiang Mai only buy paperbacks. So how can get I rid of my hard covers?

Last sunday we were at the Shangrila: What a disappointment. We thought since Shangrila has a very good reputation, this also would apply to their catering. How wrong we were.

From all the buffets I ever had in Thailand in an upscale restaurant, that was probably the worst.

"Their volunteers live in houses that have more bedrooms than people and employ 'servants' to clean, cook and wash - not very Christian"

Come on, don't tell us christianity is a form of communism or is asking for poverty. And even in communist countries the leaders have servants to clean, cook and wash. Do think Fidel Castro is cleaning his dishes.

What a rubbish and full of envy.

"For those who can make it past the entrance"

The problem was, the security guys on that particular day didn't speak any English. And I don't speak much Thai. So somehow I couldn't get what they actually asked for. So after a lot of misunderstandings I decided to try my luck somewhere else. Later my wife said, they probably asked for my id-card.

It might be a good idea to provide these guards with some English written papers which covers such situations.

The only real Doners you find in Berlin, Germany. The Doner capital of the world.

Cold in Chiang Mai? Is there somewhere another Chiang Mai? Tonight I put on the aircon in my bedroom, because it's so hot.

Lot of people I know, like the lunch buffet at the Empress Hotel. It's 165 Bath, if you have the member card. It's nothing really special. But the price compared to what you get is OK.

"have no idea though what is legal in Thailand and what is illegal. most of the thai lawyers don't know"

That' s I suppose the "This is Thailand" explaination.

I didn't want to discuss single or dual citizenships. I only was curious whether it's legal for a Thai who renounced his Thai citizenship and in the meantime is a citizen of another country, to buy land in Thailand?

A friend of mine has a Thai wife, who has 3 sisters and brothers, who are US citizens. All of them abandoned their Thai citizenship, and now have only an US passport and US Citizenship.

But all of them bought land and houses in Thailand afterwards.

So I wonder whether this is legal or not.

The point is before a foreign national is giving his new certificate of citizenship, he first must bring an official statement from his former country, that he is no more a citizen.

By the way that's not only scandinavian countries. I would think that's the case for most european countries

There are a few countries like Iran, which refuse to release their citizens. But this not the case for Thailand.

I suppose all who read and write here know, that foreigners can't buy property in Thailand. But I know a lot of cases, where (former Thai) wives of foreigners buy land using their old id-cards. But they gave up already their Thai citizienship to get the citizienship of their husband's country. That's mandatory in some countries.

Is this save and legal?

I once tried to eat at Sojos at their world club location. But the security at the gate made so much hassle, that I went somewhere else.

As someone wrote before the Thai army probably is better doing coup d'etats or shooting at unarmed civilians than fighting armed insurgents. Their generals rather prefer to sit in the board rooms of big companies than fighting in the forrests of the south.

But insurgery is nothing new in human history. In most cases with a determined policy it was possible to defeat them.

It has to be done not only with military means but also politically. As it was mentioned often before, this war also has a religous component.

So it will be necessary to deport all foreigners from muslim countries to remove agitators. As well no outsider should be allowed to travel to this part of Thailand, unless one has a special permit.

Undercover agents have to listen to the friday sermons in all mosques. Every cleric who has radical opinions must be arrested und put indefinitly into a closed camp.

Stop all cell phone operations and prevent all internet access to make communications more difficult.

Erect a wall along the border to Malaysia to prevent smuggling of weapons and fighters.

Every inhabitant of this area must have a computer readable id-card. Install many check points. At every check point all passers must put their id-cards into a scanner. So after a while the security agency gets an idea, who is travelling where and when. With a sophisticated software it should be possible to filter out those persons, who were always near a place, when an incident happened. It might be a good idea to have a closer look at them.

All suspects must be put into a closed camp indefinitly.

Finally a method which used to be very helpful in the past:

Each village has a couple of respected and influential families. Just take from all these families and from every muslim cleric's family some hostages, at best the sons. And whenever a fatal incident happens in or in an area close to the village, shoot or hang ten of the hostages in public for each dead victim. That always worked so far.

This might sound a little bit radical, but it's completly legal according to the war convention of Geneva.

Whether Chiang Mai lost it's charm I can't tell. Although I was in Chiang Mai many times. The first time was in 1973. But I always was a tourist and never staid longer than a few days. I used to like it.

But now I'm living here for almost 2 years. It's a very different situation being a tourist or living here.

But now I would say Chiang Mai doesn't have much charm at all. It's a hot and dusty place with a lot of absolutly irresponsible and inept drivers.

There are advantages. Living especially housing is still quite cheap. Most people are friendly. But I'm making up my mind whether that's enough for remaining here.

For real charming places you'd better look to Europe.

cmsally

I think you are right. I spend much time at the airport plaza. At weekends and national holidays this place is crowed. But that doesn't mean people spend money there. They probably enjoy walking in an air-conditioned environment without traffic. To be honest, where in any major Thai city can you do a pleasant walk? There are usually no sidewalks or they are used to park a bike. The traffic is exhausting and it's very hot.

That's why they come to the big shopping malls. You are right, they might eat a bite or have a drink or have ice cream at Svennsens, but they don't buy. I always wonder how the shop keepers survive considering the high rental costs.

Concerning IT City: A few months ago I intented to buy a cableless mouse at their branch in the airport plaza. I brought this mouse to the cashier and at very moment after he had scanned the price tag, I noticed it wasn't cableless. They didn't take the mouse back. They said only if I would spend the same amount of money for some other items, they would take it back.

Customer service and Thailand: This twain shall never meet.

Today I heard a very strange story. As you all probably know: To obtain a Thai driving license you need to bring a statement that you have an adress in Thailand, in our case in Chiang Mai. Usually those with a visa from the Thai immigration get it from there.

Now somebody told me, who tried to get this statement, that he was told, that he first has to pass a test that he is able to speak some Thai. This guy is now living in Chiang Mai since almost 2 years on a retirement visa and planned to change his international driving license into a Thai driving license.

I just can't believe it. He must be kidding. Or are there any changes?

As I could read today in the Bangkok Post, last sunday in Pai a Thai policeman shot fatally a canadian tourist and shot his girlfriend, as well. The surviving female was brought to a hospital in Chiang Mai.

According to the Bangkok Post the police officer involved said it was an accident, and is still doing his duty.

Does anybody know any details?

This might surprise a lot a people, but for a heavy drinker Germany is probably one of the cheapest countries:

"Wine: (Drinkable!) 500 bht up; UK 300 bht up", in Germany 100 bht up. One pint of beer (500 cl) at Aldi or Penny is about 20 bht.

In my opinion the local news are rather unsufficient. If I want to know about national or international politics I buy the Bangkok Post or IHT. I'm also missing unbiased critics about places to eat and drink. And the page called "brain teasers" is actually an insult. Or do they think all their readers are first graders?

I'm surprised pleasantly, that among the Thai authorities a kind of common sense has survived. The new N.P. prices are are the most sensible thing they ever could do.

@dustoff

I couldn't agree more. 62 years after the end of WW2, we should have other things to worry about.