Khruumaiyai

I second the recommendation for Huay Tung Thao. You can run around the lake, some small dips and hills but basically flat. If you drive there it costs 20 Baht/person to get in - unless you're there before about 7am (which is the best time of day to run anyway). There's a 5 km track on the right on the access road to Huay Tung Thao, which is good too.

Lots of people also do laps of the 700 Year Stadium grounds in the evening - but it's only 2km around, so you'd need to do lots of laps for marathon distances - it is flat though. Hope you enjoy your running...

Even If the muslims here did start kicking off i somehow cant imagine the Thai police standing for it one iota, i think there is little sympathy for them here in Thailand

Think again and read the article. The Royal Thai Police warns about a muslim protest in Bangkok on Saturday

Er... and, VintageTQ, have you never looked at any news article about the Deep South? Not sure that the 'Thai police standing for it' is particularly relevant...

Hi,

Dr Siri (Dermatologist) - also has a clinic on Thursday afternoon, 2pm-4pm, clinic at Suan Dok - 12th Floor Sriphat building. No appointment needed, you can just show up. I saw him there last month, quite a big queue but I was happy to wait to get expert advice.

He can't do operations or freezing at the clinic at Moon Muang Road, so if you're needing that you'll need to go to Sriphat.

Great list, thanks!

Pete

Another #AmazingThailand story. Although, personally, I thought the one about the Bhumibhol Dam breaking on New Year's Eve was more believable than this one. Particularly funny that the Phuket Governor vowed to 'resign' if Phuket did sink into the sea today. You've got to like a politician of that quality.

The NuLabour machine hates the indigenous British people, partly because of the people's rich history of independence from and distrust of, authority.

That is why NuLabour:

* floods the country with immigrants and expects the locals to adapt, not the newcomers

* removes all meaningful educational standards

* eliminates history from the Museums to replace it with something 'relevant'

* orders the police to show much more tolerance and protection to ethnic and religious minorities than to the main population.

... on and on and on.

They have gutted the country in a scant 13 years, and the true tragedy is that the British people don't realise that this process cannot be reversed. If they did, they'd all be scrambling to enter LOS, no matter how dire the exchange rate.

Are you the BNP's Thailand rep? Nick Griffin was on the BBC last year, and attempted to justify almost the exact arguments mentioned above. There is always the chance you're just winding us all up, however, so maybe I'll just ask one question:

When you say "indigenous British people" - what do you mean? As I understood him, Nick Griffin means white people. Do you?

Apparently part of the issue is that the authorities responsible for enforcing the fire control are voted for by those in the local area. I presume these are tessabahn people.

If they enforce the ban, the local constituents (farmers) will vote them out. Now if ever there was a threat to the people that deserved intervention from the national government, air quality would be an important issue.

A friend told me that in Mae Hong Son Province, the burning situation is much better this year - apparently the Provincial Governer has been around to the biggest trouble spots, sitting down with the Kamnans and village heads and asking directly for their help to reduce the burning. The local pressure that's created has had a big impact. Not sure if that's true - anyone living up there could comment maybe?

I agree with some of the posts here - a certain amount of burning is vital for the rice farming - especially in areas where the villagers can't get tractors into the fields, they need a way to clear the remains of last year's crop. Also, lots of villagers have told me they're scared of uncontrolled fires if the forest floor isn't burned each year - so they continue to set the fires.

Actually I was wondering this morning cycling through Chiang Mai city centre whether there shouldn't be an equivalent effort at this time of year to reduce factory and vehicle emissions - surely they make a big contribution to the problem too?

What is the elevation at the bungalows?? high and cool, i hope?? and given the choice of 3 areas.....any that are better view and quiet wise??

It's a good climb from the bungalow site up to doi inthanon's peak - maybe ? 500 metres or so. But that still leaves you pretty high up, and even this time of year, cool at night.

I think we stayed in zone 1. Zone 3, I think, is at the national park HQ itself - that would be the busiest/loudest area, especially if there's a Thai school party/scout camp in. Zone 1 is a five minute drive back towards Chom Thong.

Hi, I stayed there with my wife and 1 yr old, plus 2 other friends, a couple of years ago. It was a lot of fun, but certainly basic - beds are low, hard mattresses and there's no mod cons. I think we took mossie nets, although there were screens on the windows.

We stayed in one of the bungalows off to the right before you get to the national park HQ on the road up from Chom Thong. Nice area, I'd recommend it.

<snip>

And, only a day or two after I wondered why people were STILL whiny even after the Bangkok rally was postponed, let me take a different stance and sincerely thank Mr. Abhisit for defusing the situation. Both parties give some and take some and I think this is good, especially in the days leading up to the national holiday. So a sincere 'Thank You' to Abhisit; credit where credit is due.

A sincere thank you?? You better stop posting in such hypocritical manner. Is CM already private property of the Reds or their beloved leader or some radio station? Became CM an autonomic region where a PM needs permission from the red brethren? Does CM belong to Thailand or not? I am speechless.

Lots of questions you pose there... my question to you is, aren't you overreacting somewhat? Abhisit has made a sensible decision to defuse tension, remove the reason for the protest and the protest will most likely peter out. Of course he could have come up with full security and 'banged some heads together', but would that really have moved things along?

Good decision not to go.

In north-west Thailand in rural communities, mothers will often stay indoors for a month - around a hot fire, as someone has mentioned elsewhere. The rooms get really smoky, so it surely can't be good for the lungs for mum & baby. It is very much still part of the traditional culture, and will be happening right now across hundreds of villages. Having said that, younger people who've been in the cities come back with different ideas - and that can spark conflicts with the older generation. There seems to be a real fear of getting cold and thus ill, I guess coming from historical hardships and lack of antibiotics etc.

What really freaked my wife out was that the women often don't wash for that whole month after giving birth either - again avoiding the cold. However, our experience was that people accepted Westerners do things differently, although we got some very funny looks taking a 1 week old baby out and about - with his mum!

I don't think there is any medical grounds at all for this confinement, but the new mum does get a nice rest from the usual household jobs and gets to focus on recovering and looking after the baby; it's also a lovely expression of the community rallying around a new family and helping out with all that (not just the dad!)

This is one point that I don't believe you have made any comment on - where are these restaurants that you have a problem with located?

I live in Pattaya. ............

That says it all, my friend. And I am wondering WHY?? I suggest, you make an extended tour (6 months) around Thailand.

Perhaps I need to remind people what this thread was supposed to be about:

Do you appreciate when Thai restaurants "farangatize" your food?

The concept is that some Thai restaurants are doing this with probably mostly good intentions. However, as the results show, at least in this sample, most of us do NOT appreciate the gesture. To me, it is an interesting human situation and an example of lack of understanding and sophistication on the part of the Thais doing this.

That's an interesting comment - my experience has been that almost all Thai restaurants do this with entirely good intentions. Whenever I've taken my young children into Thai restaurants, the staff generally fall over themselves to be helpful and cook food the kids can eat. Having just spent a few months in the UK, I'm realising that response is not universal - so I won't take it for granted.

Do I appreciate Thai restaurants farangatizing my food? I appreciate their concern.

I lived in a back-of-beyond Tambon in Mae Chaem for 2 years, and I was several times glad that there were no police around for miles. It meant the local village headman/Kamnan was effectively the law - and he was a really well respected and wise chap. We had a couple of occasions where things were sorted out locally without police involvement - and everyone local thought it best that way. Only if it was absolutely essential would the police be called up from the Amphur. Quite an indictment of the standing of the police force.

I've stayed at the Sathorn Villa (now 'Astera Sathorn') down by Saphan Taksin skytrain station. Clean place, refurbished a few years ago. It's a few minutes on the skytrain to Silom Road.

Alternately, if you want to be closer, I can recommend the Bangkok christian guesthouse on Saladaeng Soi 3 - fairly basic no-frills accomodation but it's cheap for the area, friendly enough and certainly not 'nasty'. 2 minute walk onto Silom Road.

the most reliable truck i had on samui was a Ford Ranger

I've driven a Ford Ranger around for a few years, excellent reliability - 9 years old and never had a problem there. Hard to get the right parts for it in the countryside though, and its fuel efficiency is awful. Which hurts when the diesel prices go up & up... The newer versions might do better on that front though.

Our kids (aged 2 and 4) love Chiang Mai Zoo - big enough for at least half a day, especially in the December cool. I wouldn't bother paying for the aquarium though - unless your 2 year old is particularly fascinated by fish!

In case you're looking for some indoor stuff, the Central Kad Suan Kaew has a big soft play on the second floor, always popular...

Hope you have a good weekend.

LaoPo

Also interesting to know, or maybe even the most interesting, the spending per day per tourist and the number of days staying in Thailand.

A tourist spending 5000 baht a day and staying for 15 days is a lot more as a tourist spending 2500 baht a day and staying for 5 days.

But like everywhere in the world, the number of tourists seem to be more important as the amount of money spent in the country by those tourists

From a UK perspective, rising student tuition fees and financial pressures mean there's no prospect of a return to the glory days of round-the-world gap years anytime soon. Bad news for places like Pai, I'd say. High-end tourism, though, may recover quicker?

Hi,

I've been up and down the 1095 Chiang Mai-Pai road quite a bit, and my advice would be to drive yourself, if you are going to drive. Hard to find a driver I'd want to trust my parents to.

Any decent car will be fine - the road surface is pretty new, though there are some steep climbs/descents. Just take it easy, especially going into the worst blind bends. I wouldn't recommend doing it after dark though.

However, bearing in mind your folks might not be used to that kind of road, I would actually recommend flying SGA - my parents did it, had a great experience, video-taped the whole thing and showed it to everyone who visited them for months afterwards! Not everyday you go on a prop plane with only 6-8 other passengers!

Some lovely hotels in Pai, too.

Hope you have fun.

I was in Hua Hin for Songkran a few years ago, it wasn't too bad. Definitely quieter than Chiang Mai - so Hua Hin/Chaam might be a good bet. Hope you have a good time whatever.

Praying for a quick and full recovery. Long live the King!