pomchop

Nice to see someone take the time to pay a compliment for good service when compliment due. I also find that i get really good service many times in Chiang Rai...not all the time of course but actually MOST of the time.

I attended the CR music festival, the CR flower festival and the CR New year's eve festival.

I would give the music festival a D- as i thought it was poorly organized, poorly laid out and just overall seemed to be all about cutting corners and squeezing every baht without providing proper bathrooms, proper seating, proper food court, proper lighting....overpriced one brand of beer(70 baht for small Tiger no other options) , lousy food selectioon. And the VIP section priced at 500 baht was a total rip off.

The CR flower festival I thought was much improved over last year. I went four times both day and night and overall was very impressed....very nice flower display, good food court, nice entertainment, free parking, free admission, dirt cheap prices on food/beverages and beautiful views along the river. Lots of pretty Thai gals taking pics of each other also was a nice scene. I would give it a B+

CR New year's eve where they blocked off the road near the clock tower was also very well done in my opinion. I generally don't like big NY eve crowds but have to say I really enjoyed the Thai crowd and the pretty lights,pretty girls, the lanterns, the fireworks and plenty of 25 baht beers and dirt cheap food. Even the bands played a lot of decent music and they had some sexy dancing gals to help entertain. The Thai crowd could not have been more friendly and sure seemed to me that everyone had a great time. Overall I would give it an A-

I would like to say thanks to whoever ran the flower and new years festivals. As for the music festival, no thanks.

Just my opinion. Yours' may vary.

I went on Sunday morning....fairly big crowd. Seems much more well organized than last year. Very beautiful flowers and some pretty gals as well. A special Chiang Rai event.

I was told it will be in the new central shopping center being built across from Big C. There will also be a new 5 screen Cineplex complex there.

50 baht per day.

Wow is that ever cheap compared to most airports...thanks for the info.

Does anyone know the per day cost if you want to leave your car at CR airport for about a week?

http://www.thailandguru.com/boats.html

all kinds of klong boat info here.

Thanks both. Very good info, especially the part about traveling one way by vechile, although thus far I am loosing that battle Being out voted. Nice guys get back aches.

Keep in mind that if you take the boat from CR to Tha Ton they are going against the current and what this generally means is that they have to give it more gas and therefore you get to listen to more roaring engine noise for about 5 hours....slower going upstream than downstream...seems to me coming down stream there are times when they cut the engine way back and go with the flow...for what it's worth..

I've done the Tha Ton trip several times. My advice would be to take the bus/songtaow up and then come back downstream to CR on the public boat which I think leaves about 12;30....going downstream just seems to make more sense and I think going roundtrip on the boat might be a little bit of overkill....if you like you can charter your own boat to bring you from Tha Ton to CR as you please. They will all stop at the elephant camp....when you come back to CR you can get out at CR beach or they will take you to the dock near the bridge over near Rim Kok.

There are a lot of nice little bunaglows in Tha Ton right on the river that are very pleasant for an overnight...one is Garden House but there are several along the river in the 400 baht or so price range.

Not much to do in Tha Ton other than climb the mountain to the temple which has a very nice view....and sit around at a guest house or riverfront restaurant and watch the water flow....very pretty place. Good Luck

I've stayed at the Nim See Seng.

A few minutes walk to the night market/bus station area.

Recently renovated, and the price is reasonable.

that looks like a really nice place at a good price....will check it out.

I have found an honest English speaking Thai mechanic that is very good. Not only did Narlung assist me in finding the right car to trade down from a large Toyota 4X4 truck to a more sensible car for diving around CR's tight streets he was very helpful in many ways beyond the norm.

Narlung does LPG conversions as well as all mechanical repairs and I have no problem referring him to anyone on this board. Narlung's shop with a lift that I find important for any good mechanic to have is just off the main Hwy 118 just south of the new bus station. Narlungs phones are 0817837673 0r 0819306033. Tell him Steve sent you. Good luck to you in this important hunt as there are many rolling wrecks out there for sale. Caveat emptor

so is his shop the large garage looking place just past the new bus station on same side of hwy or is it more of a one man operation down a sideroad but NOT on main highway?... would appreciate bit more detailed directions if possible...thank you...

Great post, Michaelaway!

Well, thanks a lot McG! But, now that you all have gotten us 3 guys to appreciate your Northern paradise/neck of the woods...

when are all you cool Chiang Rai dudes...

gonna come down East to the Pattaya/Jomtien area...

so we can show you...

how we have fun...?

PS- Sorry, not so many temples; potlucks; knitting groups or 80-year old free-lancers here... so be prepared for alternative pursuits (again, don't get me started...)!

All are (Hello,) Welcome!

-Michael(no longer)away

Hey mike...it's friday night which means the Peace Bar will be rocking....we'll have a cool one and a hot one in your honor....then kangaroo bar on sunday.....no rest for the weary...

I always use the place in the main street across from the Thai Airways office.

Traditional men's barber shop, 60B.

thanks...does this place have male or female barbers?...sounds like male if traditional men's barber shop? I generally prefer the gals do the cutting (of hair that is).....

Does anyone have a recommendation of a good place to get a haircut for a male? Unfortunately the gal that i used apparently moved to the big bang. Prefer somewhere in downtown CR area with directions. Suggestions?

Very often....every 30 minutes or so, at least during daytime.

Again asked the wife-she said every 15 min,during daytime.

I used to call it the refugee express...always some interesting looking characters on the bus...once when i was on it the cops boarded the front door only to check papers and the guy sitting next to me jumped up and ran out the back of the bus and out through the woods with a couple of cops in hot pursuit....Thailand, Endlessly Entertaining.....

Very often....every 30 minutes or so, at least during daytime.

Good post, as I'm interested in a remote auto-opening / closing gate for my place, as opposed to the manual sliding gate

If you go past big c..heading towards payao..a few kms then turn and head other way you will see a prety big place on your left ....they have auto gate openers...not cheap...about 10,000 baht....but maybe worth it?

immigration office is located in mae sai

Good job, pomchop.

Some of the best reading I have had in days and it brought lots of smiles and "uh, huh's".

What are you doing in the states? Being there only makes one more bitter about what used to be good there.

Come back to where you belong.

kandahar

back in september....i also have a nice time in usa a few months a year but for sure it is a VERY different experience than CR....

Wow, Don't hold back on us Pomchop

I've never seen female office workers drink whiskey with their lunch. Must be a stressful Job I Guess

And where exactly is this 'dancing shrimp' place , just out of curiosity

Like i said, bored in the usa and just doing some 'chiang rai dreaming"....dancing shrimp is on the lake over the hill past the old airport and buffalo resort hotel...no english sign....goong dten.....and that is also where you can see the gals drinking whiskey with lunch....

What programs are you looking for?

For just about any available commercial software, there is an open-source / freeware alternative.

These programs are usually available for free download from the web...they generally work very well (often better than their commercial equivalents).

looking for xsitepro2 web design software

Does anyoone know if there Is there a place similar to bangkok's pantip plaza in pattaya where you can buy cheap software programs?

Thanks in advance for any assistance.

I've bought dozens of air asia tickets...sometimes my chase visa will go through but usually not. Even after i call Chase in USA and go round and round I still often have problems. But for some reason about one out of every 3 tickets i buy online from air asia the card is approved. Same card, go figure.

I did learn that if you go online and try and book air asia and charge to your credit card and it gets declined that you can call air asia and tell them you want to pay for your ticket at a 7/11....they will give you some code number that you give to the 7/11 clerk (in Thailand only i am sure) and they do a barscan thing and give you a receipt (small service fee i think it was 30 baht)...they charged same price for getting ticket this way as the online rate ......a day or two later the confirmation of your flight shows up in your email.

Anyway, if all else fails, call air asia and go to 7/11. I did find the some of the 7/11 staff didn't know they could do air asia but then the manager or more experienced staff would pull a sheet of barscan codes out and sure enough there it is.