WinnieTheKhwai

Interesting discussion.. Pretty much nobody actually addressed the question posed, but if this allows a nice political discussion that doesn't get axed then all the better.

Still: It won't affect the South of Thailand because it's not primarily a religious conflict. It's an ethnic/territorial conflict.

Keep in mind most Muslims in other provinces in Thailand are perfectly upstanding citizens of Thailand, feel they're Thais, love the king and all that.

Even the OP, well meant as it is, reinforces that the Southern issue is a religious one related to 'Muslims'. It isn't. It's an ethnic conflict where *some* extremists in the Malay/Yawi speaking segment of the polulation don't want to be a part of Thailand. The conflict goes back for more than a century.

Please take a look at our website and any feedback you have would be much appreciated.

Ok!! First of all, I think the initial welcome page doesn't add much. The words near the top look like they could be links but aren't. The only place to click is to go to the actual home page ('main'). So I'd just get rid of that intro page. Also search engines would have more words to gobble up if you got rid of the intro page.

Also, this picture is weird:

I mean.. what! Looks like the Mrs. is miffed that her man can't get it up or died or something. The light of heaven shineth upon him to take his soul. They're in a lifeless medical cubicle that's exactly the sort of place where nobody would ever hope to end up.

So, quit the stock photo crap and go shoot some stuff involving cute Thai nurses smiling admiringly at some geezer while they take him to the bathroom.

Generally speaking it needs far more pictures of actual people. Some of the current pictures also are resized to a different aspect ratio, i.e. a rectangle forced into a square. But really it's better to go shoot loads more new pictures. It needs a picture gallery really, and some guest/customer accounts saying what a great and caring service it is.

Finally: "CARING FOR FOREIGNERS IN A FOREIGN LAND"

You don't want Thai customers? It's often key to being profitable. And besides, chances are that for most of your foreign customers, Thailand won't be very foreign at all. The phrase is actually more suited to appeal to people who are afraid of foreign countries, "where nobody cares".. (Or is that a pitch to family of people living in Western countries who might pay for care for their father living in Thailand?)

And a second reason why that phrase is bad: Services that are pitched ONLY at foreigners tend to be high priced scammy sort of things. Even if you will never have a Thai customer in your life, translating the page to Thai at the very least makes it seem that the service your offer is competitive in the local marketplace.

No talk of houses please

Darn.

That's exactly what I was going to rant about.

Buy a travel guide book?

With a post like this it's hard to know where to start. (Other than to say "Stop worrying so much".. Whatever you need in a place can usually be easily purchased in that place, and Chiang Mai is certainly no exception.

The above does not match my experiences in any way whatsoever.

I often go there for breakfast/brunch.

There's a fair amount of migrants from the North East in Chiang Mai.

Also note that the local language shares many words with Lao (as well as with Thai), and that of course all three are closely related.

Certain flavors of Issan-Lao would be understood reasonably well by a person from Chiang Mai who's good at languages and communication.

I think you'll pick up Thai in no-time whatsoever.

Err, I don't blame you for erring on the side of caution given some draconian examples in the past, but it SHOULD really be allowed to post a link or a name or an address if this answers the OP's question. That this particular operation is operated by a foreign national I think makes no difference; Thaivisa is not racist after all where you can only recommend Thai owned businesses.

Sounds like the bigger issue is actually FINDING labourers who can commit to doing the work for you, work properly and show up every day. If this ends up costing 200 or 250 baht a day I think is the lesser issue?

I know it's not hydrogenated.. It remains a liquid after all. Margarine would be an example of hydrogenated fats.

How bad it is though.. I don't know.

More information is here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_oil

Specifically:

Blood cholesterol controversy

Many health authorities state that palm oil promotes heart disease, citing research and metastudies that go back to 1970.[24] For many years now, it has been established that the primary cholesterol-elevating fatty acids are the saturated fatty acids with 12 (lauric acid), 14 (myristic acid) and 16 (palmitic acid) carbon atoms with a concomitant increase in the risk of coronary heart disease.[73] The World Health Organization (WHO) states there is convincing evidence that palmitic oil consumption contributes to an increased risk of developing cardiovascular diseases.[74] Research in the US and Europe support the WHO report.[75]

In a response to the WHO report, the Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council has argued that there is insufficient scientific evidence to produce general guidelines for worldwide consumption of palm oil and cited a research study in China comparing palm, soybean, peanut oils, and lard (all of which contain saturated fat) showing that palm oil increased the levels of good cholesterol and reduced the levels of bad cholesterol in the blood, and that palm is a better solid fat to use in products where trans fats would otherwise be chosen.[76]

These findings are supported by a previous study of various oils and cardiovascular health.[77] However a study by the Departments of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science and Medicine, University of Alberta showed that although palmitic acid had no hypercholesterolaemic effect if intake of linoleic acid was greater than 4.5% of energy, if the diet contained trans fatty acids, LDL cholesterol ("bad cholesterol") increases and HDL cholesterol ("good cholesterol") decreases.[78]

The studies supporting the Malaysian Palm Oil Promotion Council only addressed the issue of the effect of palm oil on blood cholesterol levels and not its total effect regarding cardiovascular diseases.[citation needed]

The palm oil industry emphasizes that palm oil contains large quantities of oleic acid, the healthful fatty acid also found in olive and canola oil, and claims that palmitic acid also affects cholesterol levels much like oleic acid. Monounsaturated fatty acids such as oleic acid are as effective in reducing serum total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels as polyunsaturated fatty acids such as alpha-linoleic acid.[79]

Strange question and logic.......... UG beat me to the obvious answer. What a treasure trove Chang Moi is - not to mention Warorot Market at the river end of it. I'm guessing that WTK has never set foot there?

You guessed wrong..

There was a time when all there was in chiang mai were those stores and the big market. What a blessing the hypermarkets (and home improvement stores) are, who understand the concept of customer service.

*These days* I don't set foot there, unless perhaps I'm showing tourists around; the big market is kinda scenic at any hour of the day and night.

I know at least one CM property agent that cites distance from Tesco Lotus/Carrefour etc in their ads - but that detail has never struck me as a prime reason to choose my location.

No, but it does give a rough indication on how far away from town you are. 'Town' these days is a big place, at least if you give a distance to a hypermarket then that's a pretty well defined location. I'm 5 minutes from Makro and Big C, depending on traffic light cooperation.

For myself, I have an innate aversion to the gated community style of moobaan - but I'm happy for those who are happy with it. I also value my privacy so most village plots (where many houses tend to be cheek-by-jowl) don't do it for me. Very happy in my second year in a rented house with walled garden in a quiet and leafy soi behind Lanna Hospital - and meet many of my assorted (and interesting) neighbours one way and another........as well as local shopkeepers and stallholders.Where I am also works as a community in its own way.

Believe it or not, I used to feel pretty much the same way. But youknow, kids, etc.. And it's not like you're completely segregated from 'the real Thailand' in a development.. The real Thailand starts right outside the gate, as others have mentioned.

200 baht / day?

I really enjoyed it, but, all in all, I much rather live in the Pratu Farang area (Thapae Gate) where I can get whatever I want easily.

Seriously? In the Thapae Area? How easy is it to find Rice Bran Oil and a fire extinguisher in that area? (As an example).. You're far away from Makro and Global House (etc) there.

Note: Can anyone please indicate if by 'moo ban' they mean a 'regular Thai village/community' or a gated commercial housing development?

Sometimes it's obvious from context such as in the original post, but sometimes it isn't.

I live in a gated development but was lucky that there's plenty friendly people around; easy to meet people indeeed often early morning or late afternoon. So many of those commercial developments are just nasty, with 'new' middle class people or migrants living who stick to themselves with zero sense of community.

Thanks for an extremely informative post. Do you know which are the healthiest cooking oils available in Thailand? I really like olive oil but it's a little pricey here.

See post #2.

There's ways around that though. On days that you plan to drink alcohol, just don't eat anything that's high energy. I'm talking cucumber and an egg, with the yolk removed. Then drink, which means your body can't burn anything else but the alcohol, and perhaps finish up with another egg-white to fight he munchies afterwards. Keep drinking a lot of water as well, before, during and after. Then go to bed.

If the amount of alcohol wasn't completely insane that should result waking up a little slimmer than before, and without a hangover. (Any weight loss is mostly due to dehydration though, so don't think this is a way to lose weight. It's a way to not get fat while still having a life.)

Indeed, though you can (and Number 1 bar does) serve croquette balls with it. Croquette balls are basically bits of beef in a starchy ragout that contains butter and flour, which are then battered and deep fried. Add some glasses of beer and we may have a winner!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitterballen + http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leffe

Would they have long sleeved office shirts? Sleeves on the regular shirts tend to be too short for me. (Yes my knuckles drag on the floor when I walk )

American style breakfast biscuits & gravy might work. Anyone doing that? Or a deep fried spam-donut with cornstarch based cheese-replacement product?

Please, I'm desperate.

Another one for the foodies: Where in Chiang Mai is the best place for empty carbs and fat? The bagel & cream cheese came close, but the carbs aren't quite empty enough for my liking, and cheese has some protein in it. Duke's pizza was dissappointing too; sure there was enough oil floating on it to put in my car and drive home on, but due to the excessive tomato on it the vitamin count just went off the charts.

So let's have it... Any recommendations? Money is no object as long as the fat is hydrogenated or otherwise solid, and carbs are so empty they draw a vacuum.

No, my question was on massage therapists. Everything else you talk about happened between your ears.

I'm not sure about you but I don't like men touching me for massage or otherwise. However a good strong massage cannot be had from your average 40 kg Akha girl in any massage shop.

So there you go.

the selection is limited to salad, a few kinds of pasta with choices of sauce, very good thai noodles, small brick-oven pizzas, and dessert.

But at 199B or whatever per person, it's a good value

Umm... At 199 baht? For what you just mentioned??

I did a buffet once that included salad 'very good Thai noodles', loads more Thai food and desert. It was 50 or 60 baht IIRC.

At 199 baht I would expect some fancy things.. as in some nice cheeses, salmon, decent cold cuts, etc.

Rice Bran Oil. Not quite as cheap as the cheap stuff, but a lot cheaper than imported olive oil, etc.

Makro has it.

The one that's gone AWOL is Koolpunt Ville 13 actually.

Older doesn't necessarily mean more space. In fact, most housing developments seem to want to build houses so close that the roofs touch.. There are a few exceptions of course.

You're welcome.