WinnieTheKhwai

Yes, I think Chiang Mai is a foodie's heaven. Not necessarily for Farang food, though there are many decent valye/quality options available.

What I noticed was:

Al Hussain (Anusarn market) points at the Mae Ping Hotel beer garden/restaurant, not Anusarn Market.

King's bacon - best : Not sure to be honest, but it looks like it's in the middle of nowhere on the mountain near the Khru Srivichai shrine?

(Ok so to be honest that may just be only one that's off. )

Cue: Songkran water wasting reference by someone too bitter to see the fun in Thai festivals.

Let's hope for some moisture soon, then also the rain-making efforts can bring some relief until the dry season ends.

dopt a dog and have some bbqs, something that i've missed living in condos. Can anyone comment on air quality, I've been reading grim things. Surely it can't be as bad as BKK!!!

Most of the year it's much better. In March, it's MUCH worse, and that applies to the entire North. Plus it's just dry, hot and nasty. Pattaya makes a lot of sense in March.

..But 19 years is fine? I'm 39, got to find myself a 20 year old then.

I just looked at the PCD site and the values for Chiang Rai (and Mae Sai) are completely off the scale. Are you guys still breathing up there?

Is it truly that bad at the moment? I'm asking because some of that crap will make its way to Chiang Mai no doubt, would be good to get some advance warning.

(If the values for Chiang Mai were even half that then the Chiang Mai forum wouldn't talk about anything else! )

Once in Krabi it's nicest to stay on one of the islands. Lanta perhaps. There are boats from Phuket, or you can take a bus from Phuket town to Krabi and then connect. (That's more hassle obviously). I'm betting there are minivans run by travel agents as well.

( Who needs friends when you have Google? )

To be fair, this is a opinion piece, and, especially by The Nation's standards, one of the most sensible I've seen posted in quite a while. At least it doesn't go about calling red shirts all sorts of names or attributing all sorts of evil intentions. That's progress.

It even links the upcoming protest directly with past heroic efforts to bring about democracy in Thailand. That's a pretty stunning thing for The Nation to say.

The thing really does boil down to what kind of person you were BEFORE Thailand I think.

Agreed. Though I also get the feeling that Thailand sends some who are pre-disposed off the deep end. Largely because they CAN get away with so much crap here.

Over the last few days there has been a lot of flying around Udon airport. Namely A10 "Tankbusters" and large troop aircraft.

Perhaps the Government are going to use that sledge hammer after all !

Thailand doesn't have any A-10s.

They have those OV-10 Bronco turbo-prop ground attack planes though that look a bit similar, and are used for the same sort of tasks. I'd say they're equally effective against civillian protesters in terms of intimidation or otherwise.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/comm...haiAF_1987.JPEG

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OV-10_Bronco

Sad. ISA is essentialy "martial law in a particular area." Guess they don't have much faith in the police to deal with protests, like police manages to do in almost any other country in the world.

The police force is a para-military organisation with a more significant percentage of Thaksin oriented personnel and a command structure that identifies less rigidly with the national docrine. From the perspective of the elites it is unreliable, unpredictable and unaccountable. (As we all know )

The military by contrast has well delineated allegiances whilst encouraging "healthy" competition and rivalries and has a pretty good idea who can be relied upon and who can't. Personnel are shuffled accordingly. In my opinion it was Thaksins meddling in this preserve is what bought on the 2006 coup.

I agree. In a democratic country however, it would be the governments job to manage (meddle) with the military. In Thailand, the jockey don't own that horse.. Thaksin may have mistaken Thailand for a democtratic country.

That's a GREAT picture of His Majesty!! Thanks for posting. (and to the Nation, for printing it)

The Thais love their King, there is no question about that. Why doesn't someone with a brain come out and say all this fighting is putting a strain on HM's health? You know it is stressing him out, how could you be in his position and not worry about this? Stress causes ill health, that is a fact. Maybe, just maybe, if the Thais had that drilled into their heads, that their actions were causing him harm, maybe they would tone it down. Or maybe not, but there is no doubt, this is not good for his mental state of being and general health.

Most would agree with you. Sadly a growing minority do not.

Well, that line of thought assumes that people are protesting to cause trouble and aggravation. The protesters themselves see it as making their voices heard, and bring about a more democratic and fair society. They would contend that almost everyone would agree with those goals. If you don't make your voice heard then nothing will ever change for the better.

Well, it's somewhat useful. They come up with weirder stuff in America. Even more useful of course is of course to just not use a blanket or even a bed sheet, but hey.

1. I have no Problem if somebody point at me and say "He is Drunk" if its in a funny way.

2. She did it in a not polite way. She don't have the rights to thread a customer like that.

3. She did it when i was not that much drunk in the first 2 hours.

4. I dind't yell at her at all. I would never do something like that.

I want to ask you if she didn't do anything wrong, why she didn't continues serving my drinks? Why she didn't come and collect the 100 Baht tip i had provided for her????

I ask you, why? why? why?

Because she has lost her Face! Thats Why! And don't try to tell something else.

To be honest, when you get visibly angry at someone like a waitress over something trivial, then you're losing quite a bit of face yourself. Again though, we weren't there so can't judge the situation very well. My initial impression was too that it's not really that bad to say that someone is getting on a bit in the alcohol department. And I'm assuming that you understood her correctly.

Thinking about myself I can't remember the last time I got angry at a waitress while drinking.. Not all are angels but I'm out to have fun and getting upset at someone, especially someone fairly insignificant like a waitress, is un-fun, un-cool and unnecessarily lowers my face & standing with any other staff. If ever a waitress is truly impolite then other staff will most definitely recognize that as well, so you can make a mention of it to others in a good spirited way. If it was truly something unacceptable then I'd leave as well, so then the waitress has to deal with the issue that her unacceptable behavior caused the departure of a customer. (To be honest, I CAN remember leaving a bar due to the unacceptable behavior of a customer, that happens a lot more often.)

Overall though, to take the effort to get angry at someone also implies that this person is important/worthy enough to get angry at. That's just not the case with someone like a waitress, or any general riff-raff you might encounter around Sukhumvit Soi 11, which very much includes foreign tourists/residents as well. Raising an eyebrow and a wry smile is about as much effort as I'm willing to put in. Let me hasten to add though, it's of course different if it's a person (waitress or otherwise) that I actually know and like. It's not the profession (waitress or otherwise) that makes someone insignificant. If someone who I like as a person (any profession or relationship) does something impolite or otherwise improper then it may very well be worth investing some words to address her behavior, BECAUSE you care. I'm pushing 40 myself so I can strike that fatherly vibe of stern disappointment at someone's behavior quite well now. Such a measured, polite but stern response may actually gain you some face and respect. (Now people are going to reply why anyone would bother wanting to gain respect, just wait for it.. )

^ Oh oh.. that may have done it.

Anyway, I think we got a lot of votes, enough for some interesting results. Thanks everyone for contributing!!

Whoa, look at at this:

That's 278 for Mae Sai.. That's.. unimaginable..

As you said (the OP), you did leave out the gay options. What happens if your children are gay?

Then the poll options still apply: just change 'boyfriend' (and girlfriend) to 'partner'.

Sad. ISA is essentialy "martial law in a particular area." Guess they don't have much faith in the police to deal with protests, like police manages to do in almost any other country in the world.

EDIT: Agreed

(Sorry, was stuck on the previous page in this topic.)

I did find it an odd sign to hear Abhisit wasn't going to be here during the protest times. It sounded like a hint that a coup was coming.

Who cares if there is a coup or not. I have my car here. Can easy sell it and leave if things get to bad. I just feel sorry for all them farangs who brought .. oppps sorry i mean rented a house for 30 years . Stuck here for 30 years. Then i would be very worried. This place makes Zimbawae look like a good place to live at the moment.

Not sure why you think a coup is the end of the world.. A coup = direct government by the military-bureaucratic establishment, compared to these guys merely guiding the elected government. It's a minor difference, all things considered. Also, a Democrat/military leaning government works pretty well for most retired foreigner's lifestyles. ( It works less well for the majority of poorer Thais, of course. )

Songkran is pretty much at the end of the dry season. The whole purpose is a water/fertility/cleaning/rebirth rite to bring on the rains (at it's origins, never mind the Buddhist significance). I don't think it's too significant in terms of water conservation other than a very short term impact on city water demand in some places. ( I kind of look forward to Songkran.. party time. )

Anyway let's hope some serious thunderstorms take place soon, both to clear the air, reduce risk of forest fires and to fill up the reservoirs, even by just a bit.

Throwing grenades around is not acceptable on any level. Ordinary citizen's and legitimate business has the right to live & work without the fear of violent attacks. The perpetrators should be punished.

I think that goes without saying.

You got the stupid part right. T.V. is like a super dense black hole universe sucking nuclear magnet for attracting the retards.

When I mentioned wind I was more referring to the issue that the CM valley tends to have inversion air circulation pattern which holds and intensifies the air issues. Often times when the wind is blowing it can blow in cleaner air in and bad air out. This time of year wind might just be blowing in more smokey air from as far as Myanmar. So I would not count on wind to always make conditions safer.

Maybe Priceless has a theory on that.

While its true the air feels fresher when the wind is blowing it does not mean the levels of particulate matter are lower.

If I am deciding to exercise I use a smell and visibility test to decide if its a good idea.

If this is true, maybe you have a theory as to why the Chiang Mai valley regularly has less air pollution than the provinces outside the valley, i.e. on the other side of the mountain ranges?

Possibly because the polluted air from Burma etc. has more trouble to cross the mountain ranges and into our valley? This may explain why other areas experience higher pollution levels before we do. On the same token, this may mean it sticks around longer once here, unless of course rain enters the equation and rains all the crap into the ground.

How much better was the situation under Thaksin. Although the army and the Abhisit government could both not care less about human rights , anti drugs squads and drugs searches along the border were abandoned because it was not in the interest of Thailand. fact is of course that the police is involved till over their ears in these kinds of businesses and the bangkok elite too. They have to ship the ingredients from Bangkok to other places.

I diagree. Typically the Bangkok middle and upper classes DO start to care when it's about their own kids. As long as they can perceive drugs to be an issue for truck drivers, laborers and general slum-scum it's not very high on the agenda. Same applied to prostitution by the way; as soon as there were reports of UNIVERSITY girls working as hostesses or paid mistresses it suddenly got their attention.

Other than that I echo the sentiment that any kind of statistic in a newspaper leaves more opportunity for head-scratching than getting informed.

Another mainstream English language daily newspaper had a report on the same thing that was different in a couple crucial areas. The Nation just seems to again be instigating hatred of the entire Red movement. News at 11.