WinnieTheKhwai

It's HORRIFIC!!

Better options that are also somewhat older hotels (but actually recenlty refurbished) include the Khum Kaew Palace hotel and even the old Anodard hotel.

Khum Kaew is something like 700 baht, Anodard is cheap cheap.. 400 baht or whatever. Both are in the old town and predate all the fancy 'boutique' hotels that cost upwards of 3000 baht.

Montri hotel is I guess also in that group. Maybe 800 baht or so these days?

WTK

Big C or Carrefour and the Beer Girls!!

Cheap snacks, cold beer, hot girls.. Paradise.

Oh, no, no Millwall is quite right that it's not a ghetto in that sense; and besides it's two buildings, not a neighbourhood.

I meant ghetto more in the sense of an area where a particular social minority or sub-culture chooses to reside, thus stamping their influence on the area to change the characteristics away from the regular majority culture into those of that minority sub-culture, in this case the Farang Sexpat subculture. (Phew)

By all means check it out.

Seems today the Mae Rim area gets lucky first, followed quite possibly by Doi Saket..

I think you guys had it WAY too good with a lot of channels that were legally dodgy at best, and piracy at worst. In the end you may end up having to get a subscription with a company that actually has the rights to all the good stuff, which, unfortunately, is TrueVisions. Will cost a lot more.

There are PLENTY really visionary people who currenlty are more or less in the Red camp simply because there's not much else going on right now opposing the status quo. These are academics (and ex academics. ) and educated middle class people. That you don't see this probably means you're not on the right Facebook (etc) groups.

But they're there. Thank God.

Ah, Facebook, where all the intellectuals hang out. Playing Farmville no doubt.

"Insight" was arguing yesterday that the increase of subscriptions to Abhisit's page on Facebook was an indication of his increasing popularity.

I agreed.

However you guys can't have it both ways.

I am using EVA this time i had a great price (i thought) last week £460 direct from heathrow and Thai air were about £60 more so with the money i saved i can go mad and use Thai air internal flight to cm. i have just checked out the website for veerachi court and it looks fine but no prices for rooms so i have emailed them and see what they offer. Once again guys thanks for all your help its apprieciated

Keep in mind that Veerachai is a bit of a scene, a retired-(s)expat ghetto, if you will. There's nothing wrong with the place, but if you're looking for a more authentic Chiang Mai vibe then it may not be the place. If you don't care about such things (or even appreciate such things) then it's a great choice.

There a moat at Sripat?

A really violent storm maybe like a mini tornado lasting about 10 minutes. In my moo Baan about 20 trees were blown down, some up rooted. Along the road ,lots of trees down, roads blocked I and a mate spent 10 desperate minutes holding on to a roller blind in the garden after it had partly detached from the wall and was threatening to fly violently into the next house.

The storm arrived suddenly and finished just as quickly. This was the most violent storm I've experienced in 5 years here..

Yes. The weather here is just like the women.

U S A , aLL THE wAY!

Especially with current exchange rate, just about anything is a bargain overthere. (Unless people/service related. But anything that doesn't have a heartbeat is a bargain in the USA.)

P.S. The "I threw up on my GF during sex" post is also a brilliant read as well.

At least that one is quite obviously Thailand related. Can't have any comparisons of similarities between other countries historically and Thail... oh wait. Hm. You may have a point.

Facebook as an indicator? Good grief. First this site's members are obsessed with using Wiki as their source for info and now Facebook . . .

I find it to be irrelevant on how polished Abhisit looked on tv, it's not about looking and sounding good. It is about grassroots and feeling. Abhisit is a polished orator . . . so polished that he seems slippery.

As for the 'movement' consisting of a few thousand people . . . quite disingenuous, arrogant and completely false

Given that I already add a disclaimer to my original post, can you tell me what's wrong with Facebook as an indicator?

The registration system and way the site works does a reasonably good job of ensuring accounts are unique and can be attributed to actual people, and nobody is under any financial obligation to be a part of any group. So tell me, what's wrong with using it to roughly gauge somebody's popularity?

IMHO: Nothing.

Only thing to keep in mind is the slice fo the population who is on Facebook. (Or on the Internet at all, for that matter).

WTK

Can take up to an hour to clear immigration and pick up your bags, even though I'm usually through in 20-25 minutes. For a budget flight you need to check in 45 minutes prior, and if you're late you lose your ticket.. So don't cut it too close and leave 2 hours and pray your flight isn't late. (Again, this is one more reason to just fly Thai Air when connecting from/to an international flight.)

Well PM Abhisiit was quite strong about constitution amendments before an election, so here's my suggestions for the amendments:

- Increase the penalties for vote buying to two years jail, 50 million Baht fine and banned for life from any form of direct or indirect political activity, plus the person(s) involved must, by law, be investigated to see whether there's any indication of unusual wealth. p

That would be a GREAT improvement; anything is better than banning whole parties over a local infraction, and then do it selectively. A possible concern with the above is however that it becomes far too easy to incriminate one's opponent by spreading some money around pretending to be buying votes for the opponent, and then 'get caught'.

- People must wait 2 years before they can jump to another party.

Hear hear.

- As part of all elections mandatory for all candiates to engage in at least two public debates and with a process whereby anybody can send in anonymous questions and all questions must be answered in depth.

Also a great idea. I think having the negotiations broadcast live on all channels was awesome; should be doing that between the major political parties come election time.

- PM cannot stay in the drivers seat for more than 3 years, and cannot ever have second term as PM.

Why not? 3 years is short, and when someone is successful and gets re-elected, then why not? This doesn't sound very democratic to me.

Small fire, pretty typical. Think tomorrow will be just fine.

There are PLENTY really visionary people who currenlty are more or less in the Red camp simply because there's not much else going on right now opposing the status quo. These are academics (and ex academics. ) and educated middle class people. That you don't see this probably means you're not on the right Facebook (etc) groups.

But they're there. Thank God.

wtk.

no offence but re ....my comment ... more worrying to me is more tyres are still arriving at red shirt hq in chiang mai. is a statement of what i saw at red shirts hq yesterday .... nothing more and nothing less !

Thanks!

(And as a separate issue I would agree that it would be very nice if the municipal waste collection department would clear those out.)

And... HAIL!!

(Sorry, for being off topic.

Grenades around various banks, especialy bangkok bank, has been linked to red shirts in bangkok

By who exactly? And for argument's sake, if there's a couple nut jobs out loose then are all people who wear red guilty? I think the focus should be on brining the culprits to justice, not some witch hunt against a particular groups of people or political idiology.

only the phone bang might be to do with some business dispute

Even for a business dispute it doesn't make much sense. Unless it's a dispute with TOT. Random vandalism isn't really common in Thailand either though, so who knows..

We're gonna get rain today!!

You heard it here first.

> thanks for the advice guys, so you reckon to book in advace for my intenal flight then?

YES. If going with a budget airline like Air Asia then it's cheaper the further you book ahead, or when you book with Thai Airways then there's the added convenience of having your luggage go all the way through to Chiang Mai.

> Now then just a matter of what area to stay in and what guesthouse?

Old Town area is central, quiet and with lots of local atmosphere. Budget? Other requirements?

I commend the government for allowing this circus to continue. I wouldn't think many other countries would allow this to go on for so long?

How many governments do you know who violently crack down on a peaceful protest? Oh wait: China, Burma, North Korea, Zimbabwe.. right, quite as lot actually, but none that Thailand would aspire to imitate. The Ukrainian Orange Revolution, while probably not really a revolution, took quite a while too.

Wait, what? You are the one living there, but are asking others about a place next door to you?

Where is Chiang Mai Gardenland by the way? If the nightlife is any good then I'll go.

EDIT: Found it: http://www.chiangmaigardenland.com/ It's pretty far away.. but if the nightlife is REALLY good then I'll still go.

how come most end up with girls from Isan then while living in Chiang Mai?

Cause those are the ones in the bars, and possibly the hospitality industry. (Not sure about 'most', though.)