Zephyr750C

I've stayed at the Wiang Inn hotel a couple of times. It's very centraly located in Chiang Rai. My experience is that it's a quiet and nice place to stay at and with friendly staff.

And it's a five minute walk to the Night Bazar. But as I remeber it a single room cost from B2300. Try to search for hotels at www.trivago.com or some other hotel search site, there are plenty. You can search for hotels in Chiang Rai and filter by cost.

I also stayed at the Diamond Park Inn and it was OK, no luxury. It was quiet most of the times except for when 15 Israeli tourists gather in a nearby room to have a party.

I hope you will find a nice hotel and enjoy your visit in Chaing Rai. It's my personal favourite place in Thailand and I love to spend time there. Cheers .

I forgot to mention that the cost for a single room at Diamod Park Inn is about B1000 and it's located on the Phahonyothin Road (and so is Wiang Inn too) about a 6 minutes walk away form the Night Bazar so it's near the city center and the clock tower. I must correct my previous post; the Wiang Inn is in about a 3 minute walk away from the Night Bazar and maybe 10 minutes to the clock tower. Please correct me anyone if my memory and my time estimates are wrong.

I've stayed at the Wiang Inn hotel a couple of times. It's very centraly located in Chiang Rai. My experience is that it's a quiet and nice place to stay at and with friendly staff.

And it's a five minute walk to the Night Bazar. But as I remeber it a single room cost from B2300. Try to search for hotels at www.trivago.com or some other hotel search site, there are plenty. You can search for hotels in Chiang Rai and filter by cost.

I also stayed at the Diamond Park Inn and it was OK, no luxury. It was quiet most of the times except for when 15 Israeli tourists gather in a nearby room to have a party.

I hope you will find a nice hotel and enjoy your visit in Chaing Rai. It's my personal favourite place in Thailand and I love to spend time there. Cheers .

That's good news for me pomchop! I'll arrive to CR 4 January. I always wanted to visit the Chiang Rai Flower Festival but my visits to CR have always happened at the wrong time for the festival. I hope to experience the Loy Krathong sometime too...

I've heard rumours that the Chiang Rai Flower Festival 2012-2013 will end January 4. Is this correct?

I would love to visit the festival but it seems I'll arrive in CR early on the January 4 so I'm not sure that I'll have time to visit the festival.

If someone have more information about the 2013 festival, time and location, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks .

Although it is nice to experience the crowds and excitement during the main dates you can still walk around the venue for sometime after the published dates. The flowers may not be at their peak but it is still a nice place to visit and it is much more peaceful after the crowds have gone.

Ok villagefarang, thak you so much for your reply. I'll try to find my way there and go for a walk. I think I'll have a lot of spare time during my visit to CR so I must find nice things to do so I don't get bored.

I've heard rumours that the Chiang Rai Flower Festival 2012-2013 will end January 4. Is this correct?

I would love to visit the festival but it seems I'll arrive in CR early on the January 4 so I'm not sure that I'll have time to visit the festival.

If someone have more information about the 2013 festival, time and location, it would be much appreciated.

Thanks .

Enjoy your visit.

I sure will, thank you. I love this corner of the planet .

Meter Taxi's 24/7 053773477 or 0819988918.

Thank you very much Woralak, I'll save those numbers .

Enjoy your visit.

I sure will, thank you. I love this corner of the planet .

There a couple of taxi booths there but I'm not sure what time they close.

I'm surprised to hear that not even one driver would have waited for a late plane.

There will definitely be something available at 9.30 am.

Thank you very much for your reply sceadugenga. Yeah, I guess it must be some transportation available at 9.30 am otherwise I would be very surprised. But on the other hand I've been very surprised before in the very nice and beautiful country Thailand. As I said, when we arrived at 11.30 pm there where no means of transportation at all, no taxis, no buses, no tuk-tuk's...I feel much calmer arriving early in the day. I don't fear a 10 kilometer walk but after travelling for about 20 hours I prefer to ride in style . I'm very much looking forward to visit Chiang Rai again, I love this place. Maybe I'll see you, who knows. Take care and have a good day.

A question:

When I arrive at Chiang Rai airport from BKK at 09:35 (am) will there be any taxis available? Or do I have to preorder transportation or ask the hotel about airport shuttle?

Last time I visited Chaing Rai me and my (ex) Thai girlfriend arrived with a delayed Air Asia flight at 23:30 (11:30 pm) and there was no transportation available.

Luckily there was an expat lady at the airport to pickup her daughter who arrived with the same flight as us. My (OK, ex) girl friend happened to know this lady and her daughter and they where kind to give us a ride downtown Chaing Rai to the Wiang Inn hotel. The girl in the reception was kind enough to give us an Executive Suite for half the price. We had no booking since we arrived to Chiang Rai one day early from our original plan (we had booked a honeymone suite at the Phu Chai Sai resort...OK, that's another story... ).

The Thai Pavillion in Utanede is a really nice place with beautiful surroundings. I've been there twice. It was built by Thai construction workers. The opening ceremony was performed by Thai Buddhist monks.

The King Chulalongkorn, who was a very foresighted King, wanted to study the swedish railroads and saw mills. But there is an other story about why he wanted to visit Utanede which is situated about 600 kilometers north of Stockholm, the swedish capital.

I don't know if this story is true or not, but it's a nice story and it goes like this: One of King Chulalongkorns daugthers (I'm sorry but I don't remember Her name) accidently fell into the water in Bangkok's harbour and she was near drowning. A swedish deckhand on a swedish merchant ship saw the accident and he dived into the water and managed to save the Princess life. He was from the small village Utanede in northern Sweden. It's told that when King Chulalongkorn visited Sweden he not just wanted to study the railroads and saw mills, he also wanted to visit the small village that was the home of the swedish deckhand who had saved the life of His daughter, the Princess, and thank him in person. Well, as I said, I don't know if this story is true or not but it's a nice story. And it could all have happen this way, who knows?

Take care all .

My first post here, hi!

I am a swede and in Sweden there is a law prohibiting paying for sexual services. Its been around for about 10-15 years and norway just got the same law. Maximum punishment is 6 months. Note that selling is legal.

Before the law came into place there were a street in stockholm where the prosititues walked every night. Now they have all disappeared and instead it have moved to apartments and hotel visits. What have also been more common is sex slaves. This is almost always eastern european women that are locked up in some appartment and its totally controlled by the mafia that also comes from eastern europe. The law created a new market for organized crime and all the suffering that follows with that.

I have no idea about these thai massage places with happy ending never seen one never heard of one but i guess the women that work there are not being forced but they just keep doing what they were doing in thailand.

There are alot of young thai women out partying in stockholm, malmö and göteborg most of these girls have been picked up by a swede in a bar in phuket, pattaya or any other tourist destination. Most of them want to have a job in sweden because its paying very well. They meet some other thai women and get a job offer in massage with happy ending they take the job and tell their husband/boyfriend its just ordinary massage. I doubt there are many swedish men that are trafficing thai women and forcing them to work as sex slaves.

I partly agree with you, the most of the sex business in Sweden is controlled by the Eastern European maffia and I would not call them Swedish men. But ofcourse there are a bunch of routhless Swedish men too. And the law that forbids buying sex only made the prostitution move from the streets to a lot of appartments in the suburbs and made it much more difficult for the police to control.

I think that most of the girls in this business are from Eastern Europe but there are quite a lot of Thai girls too. They are promised well payed jobs somewhere in Europe and end up in some brothel in Sweden, Denmark, Germany or some other country. I watched a documentary on TV about a Thai girl that met some Thai guy in Thailand and he said he could get her a well payed secretary job in Europe. She was so very happy because she got the opportunity to go abroad and make big money and she would be able to help her family. When she sat in the Boeing 747 (the Thai guy paid the ticket) on her way to Europe she was so very happy and she almost thought she was dreaming. When she arrived in Denmark she was driven to a house where a Thai lady met her and took her passport. Then she was forced to work as a prostitute. It was a big chock to her. She was locked up for a year or two and had no chance to call her family. Then the police made a razzia at the house and she was deported to Thailand as an illegal imigrant together with an other girl. I was very touched by her story. Yes, there are some girls entering the business with open eyes but I believe the majority are tricked with false promisses about good work and big money. I feel so very sorry for all these girls.

Wow, There is a lot of dribble to get through on the forum the last two days, its going to take me a while.

Sven, those Bike rules seem pretty sensible to me. I certainly wouldn't have thought of them.

Our friend from Sweden, I think there was some Tax issues with motorbikes over 200cc and also the bigger bikes had to be imported at crazy prices, So maybe thats why there arn't many bigger bikes here. Things are changing fast though.

I cant make the 25th Guys, but you all enjoy yourselves.

I was thinking maybe a meet on sunday, the day after the Hash. I'm planning on staying over saturday night, So even Saturday night would be fine with me. But if you cant make it , don't worry about poor old lonesone me. I always find some guys or Gals to dribble over

Oh, and I think I've found a perfect location for a CR Bikers Club House, Its in Chiang Khong, maybe a bit out the way. I spotted several buildings on a nice landscaped plot just down the road from Woralak . I'm almost certain I spotted a big BMW in that compound, but maybe I imagined it .

Thank you for the answer Jubby, just as I suspected about the taxes and import prices...

And Chiang Khong is a nice place for CR Bikers Club House. It's my fiancees hometown, hope to see you guys around sometime. I would love to hear the sound from a V-twin, an in-line four, a boxer or a parallell twin as a change for the sounds from all these one cylinder four stroke scooters that are echoing allover Asia...

Snow in Chiang Rai

Wow, snow in Chiang Rai! I guess this not happens very often. Sceadugenga, do you know which year this happened? My Thai is not good enough (yet) to read your newspaper clips.

I can imagine it snows sometimes in the mountains and it must make life very difficult for the hilltribe peoples but I never thought it snowed in Chiang Rai. In my country Sweden we are very used to snow, it can be -45°C in the winter and +35°C in the summer. But cold weather and snow must be very difficult for Thai people. In Sweden the houses are insulated and equipped with good heating sources but I don't think that's the case in Thailand.

I didn't take the poll because I don't live in Chiang Rai, I live some 8600 kilomteres away in Sweden . But I really love Thailand and especially CR and I visit this place as often as I can (not often enough I'm sorry to say). I drive a Kawasaki Zephyr 750 (Zr750C) as you can guess from my username . I have a question for you guys who work and live in this fantastic country of Thailand (with all its ups and downs): how come you almost never see a motorbike with more than 400cc engines in Thailand? Is it because of vehicle taxes or is it because a Honda Dream is dangerous enough in this traffic or what? I saw a Harley 1200cc driven by a farang in CR but beside of that the biggest bike I saw was a Honda 400cc driven by what I think was a duth guy.

In BKK on Khao San Road I saw a bunch of Thai guys riding some old classics as BMW 650, Triumph and someother nice bikes (I'll try to attach a picture). And to the left in the front of the photo you can see why women sholdn't wear thin black tops when people takes photos with a flash; you can see right through the clothes . An advice to all the ladies...

Take care all...

I think it's more a case of people eating at home if they're not on holiday.

We rarely eat out unless we have visitors, then we go to a local Thai place. If I eat in a Chiang Rai restaurant it's usually for lunch, which is of course a different meal to dinner. I usually have a burger or fish and chips or if I feel like a drive out to Doi Hang, something Mexican. Subsequently I'd rarely spend more than 200 baht, including a Coke, which is not what the restaurant trade is looking for.

It's not that we're Cheap Charlie's; Chiang Rai just doesn't have the local Farang population for specialty international restaurants, and lets face it, most tourist want to sample local food.

I agree with you, when I'm visiting a foreign country as a tourist I want to experience the local culture and food. Othervise I should save the time and money and stay home.

When I visit Thailand I want to meet Thai people (they are very nice), eat Thai food (I love it) and enjoy Thai culture and nature (very beautiful). I prefere Chiang Rai before Phuket or Pattaya.

If I want to eat Swedish food (yes, I'm a Swede), see foreigners, drunken swedes and beautiful nature I should stay home and save the 75000 Bath that the flight ticket cost (ok, in May or September flight ticket cost about 24500 Baht). In Thailand the majority of the restaurants serve Thai food (of course) and a few serve international food. In Sweden the majority of restaurants serve swedish food and a few restaurants serve Thai or international food. That's no rocket science ;-) .

But I understand the problem if some people can't handle the spicy Thai food and need some food that is gentle to their stomach. But not all Thai food is very spicy and in general I think Thai food is very healthy and very good. I don't know if all of this make some sence, I've been working overtime for 12 days in a row and now I've 2 days off from work. And yes, I've had a few beers ;-)

Take care, all of you

A third death on Phi Phi Islands are also reported in Norwegian and Swedish newspapers:

A 46 year old Norwegian man who died a month ago. What's happening...

Translation from Swedish newspaper "Aftonbladet":

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article5084656.ab

Google translation:

"Poisoned in the tourist paradise had cyanide in the stomach.

In the time of one day two female tourists died after they suddenly become ill on the Phi Phi Islands in Thailand.

In one of them cyanide has been found in the stomach.

A 22-year-old Norwegian died on Monday, just a few hours after a 26-year-old American suddenly became ill and died on the way to hospital. The Norwegian woman's friend also fell ill and was sent to hospital on the mainland, but she recovered.

Police and doctors suspect that they become food poisoned.

New examination

An initial forensic examination has been made of the deceased's body.

"- To our great surprise we found cyanide in her stomach, "says Nopadon Klom Thong, Police on the Phi Phi Islands, to the Norwegian Nettavisen.

The woman's remains are now sent to Bangkok for a full autopsy. Even the American woman is to undergo autopsy in Bangkok.

The Thai police, who examine the deaths, say that they "have no reason to believe that a crime has been committed, but police 'rule out nothing. "

The two Norwegian women had studied in Australia and was only on a short visit to Thailand before returning to Norway.

Became ill

The American woman who lived with her boyfriend, in the same hotel as the Norwegian women, suddenly became ill, writes the Thai Andaman Times newspaper. All those who fell ill had trouble with their stomach - not with the lungs, allowing the exclusion of things that can be spread through inhalation.

According to VG (Norwegian newspaper) a 46-year-old Norwegian man died on the Phi Phi Islands for a month ago. He was on honeymoon when he became ill, probably suffering from food poisoning."

What's happening on the Phi Phi Islands...?

I feel sorry for the victims and their relatives whatever the death causes are.

It could be cyanide.

Andaman Times has this article today:

http://www.andamantimes.com/krabi/phi-phi/...-cyanide-found/

"Cyanide found – water treatment plant may be cause

Traces of cyanide has been found in the stomach of the Norwegian victim who died at Phi Phi over the weekend. The fiancée of the American woman suspect she was poisoned from chemicals of a nearby water treatment plant.

Published by Andaman News Team - 06/05/2009 - Modified 07/05/2009 A Norwegian newspaper reports tonight that traces of cyanide was found during the preliminary autopsy of 22 year old Julie Michelle Bergheim in Phuket. The fiancée of the American woman suspect she was poisoned from chemicals from a nearby water treatment plant.

Andaman Times has NOT confirmed this information independently.

- We were surprised to find traces of cyanide in her stomach. We decided to send the body for a new autopsy in Bangkok. We do not have any reason to suspect anything at this time, but we can not rule out anything or anyone, said head of police at Phi Phi Islands, Khun Nopadon Klomthong to Nettavisen.

The fiancée of Jill Sheree St. Onge (27) believe she was poisoned from chemicals of a nearby water treatment plant.

- I found out later that there is a water treatment plant right behind the guesthouse. I feel that Jill was poisoned by a chemical from that plant. She spent about 5 more hours in the room than I did. She was just breathing in the fumes for so long. The only reason I did not get deathly ill, is that I kept getting these short breaks from the air in the room, writes Ryan Kells on a family blog."

Hope the police solve this case quickly...Bad publicity for Phi Phi Islands and Thailand. They don't need this.

Within CR booksellers and many other shops do sell quite good maps in Thai & English. I had to buy one when I 'lost' the shop that I needed to return to - we found it with the map as the configuration of the roads was quite unique as easy to see on the map. If you are in Pattaya/Bangkok many book shops and some 7-11s will carry maps, although I do not know the quaility. If you are outside Thailand I suggest Amazon or similar.

HTH

Hi, thanks for the hint, I saw a bookstore in CR and I'll check it out next time I'm in CR. Meanwhile I'll have a look on Amazon. Best regards.

A few years ago I bought "Map of CHIANG RAI" published by PN MAP for 90 baht at the book store on the first level of Big C. By far the best one I own, it's got the city on one side and the province on the other. I'm pretty sure it's still for sale.

Hi! Thank you a lot, I'll have a look at Big C next time I'm in Chiang Rai (July). Sounds very interesting. Have a nice day, take care.

Try the ThinkNet CD-ROM map for Chiang Mai (it also covers Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son, Lamphun, and Lampang provinces). Detail down to the soi level for the entire province.

Thank you very much, I'll have a look at the ThinkNet CD-ROM. Sounds like a good hint. Take care.

I've had several tries at finding decent local maps but there's not really much around.

A search of the stationers and news agents around the market area may be productive. Of course most of those will be printed in Thai.

Could be a possible project for a group of bored local expats. Mapping Chiang Rai!

Thanks, I'll have a look around the market area next time I'm in Chiang Rai.

And mapping Chiang Rai sounds like a great project for bored local expats as an alternative to just sit and sipping beer at the Old Dutch ...

My wife and I are hoping to be living in the area shortly and was wondering where locals get local wine as opposed to the imported stuff. I have not seen, in my sporadic travels up north, any vineyards. I am an Australian and of course spoilt for good ,well priced,wine back in my country.On my last trip I was able to buy "Cleanskins" that is bulk wine pooled and bottled by the varous wine producers in plain label bottles for about 120 baht.Quite acceptable drop.

Have tried a few Thai wines ,purchased in Bangkok,ranging from quite reasonable to stuff that would be better suited to clearing blocked drains but nothing from the C RAI area. Exception is Saktong , a rather sweet fruity wine, which I bought for only 40 baht a bottle at an OTOP shop in Prae.Its not exactly wine as I know it but ok if you are desperate,which i usually am ! Any experiences anybody

Well, you can always stop at one of the roadside market stands on the road to Mae Sai north of Chiang Rai city. First you pass the pineapple district and then you enter the strawberry district...They sell local strawberry and fruit wines...Maybe not exactly what you're looking for ...If you not just only want to get drunk . (Excuse me for the silly answer.) Good wine is quite expensive in Thailand, imported whiskey and wine cost almost the same. I haven't heard of any high quality local wine but Thailand is an amazing country so you might get surprised...Good luck, best regards,

Hey guys,

Does anyone know where to find a detailed city map for Mueang Chiang Rai? (If that fenomena exist, detailed maps doesn't seems to be the no. 1 priority in Thailand ...)

Thank you very much, I've already tried Google Maps , but I'm looking for more details like "Soi 6" (side street no. 6?) and not just Highway 1211...

Looking forward to some seriuos answers (Hey you "funny" guys, there must be some other topics that you can waste yours and others time with silly comments ...)

Just kidding, any answer will be recieved with great gratitude...But the serious ones with will be treated with more respect ...

Take care and have a nice day you all.

I am a 47 years young Swedish native Mechanical Engineer with 27 years experience from aerospace structures manufacturing, especially in composite part manufacturing, for aircrafts, spacecrafts and automobiles.

I also have experience from building lean production lines, Toyota-style with "Best Practice" work instructions and VSM (Value Stream Mapping). In addition to my technical education I have also studied production economy and business economy. I have some capability in 3D-design with Catia V4 and Catia V5. I have good skills in computer systems, networks etc.

I also work as a "Local System Administrator" with user support to computer and network users.

Languages spoken; Fluent: Swedish, English, some: French, still learning: Thai. Understanding some but not speaking: German, Dutch.

I am open minded, hard working, intelligent, kind, honest and I am looking for work in Thailand, any kind of work for which my skills would be considered usefull.

Interested? PM me.

Best regards,

Bo

I can recomend Suwannee's Thai cooking class. She is a very nice Thai lady and as mentioned in some other posts she speaks really good english...and fluent dutch.

You can also try her tourist tours in and around Chiangrai. She will sure take very good care of you. Ok, I'm a good friend of hers but I promise you that you not will be disappointed. Maybe I'll post some pictures from her cooking class later if it's Ok with her...She might be a little busy at the moment since she is opening her own café near the Night Market in april...

I also have her phone number if you are interested.