just_Elaine

Hmm it sounds like a Persian dish to me.

Do you have a name for it?

Only 12 days - May 5 to May 17 on Qatar Airways BKK-FRA-BKK 31,650 baht.

Get a pair of pants hemmed or a duffel bag fixed.

Years ago, I let a Russian woman borrow my steamer so she could make a lamb dish. I didn't ask her what it was called or for the recipe. Does anyone have any idea what that dish might have been? I am thinking about it because I just bought a lot of pomegranates.

Yes, Merry Christmas everyone.

I use tripadvisor quite a bit. Some posters are better than others just like many other sites. If someone gives me some information I like, then I look at their other posts to see if there are similar posts. If they only have one post then I kind of ignore that. Anyway, I find it helpful for trying new places, trying to figure out an itinerary and hotel selection, but I use other sites too. Also, they have a forum with locals that post that I have found helpful from time to time.

On Chang Phuak Road, one or two blocks south of Novotel hotel. The one we go to is not on the corner, but one or two shops down. He has a machine behind him that they use to clean the watch parts. I think the machine was green and there are 3 bottles of liquid and a metal cylinder. I used him last year for my Tag - crystal replacement, cleaning. I was with 3 other people who had work done on 4 watches - battery, crystal replacement on a Seiko, gasket replacements on a couple of the watches and one cleaning on a Tag. This was a few days ago. Everyone's watches seem to be working fine. Oh, and we use the guy that sits in front of that machine not the one in the adjacent area.

I would look at latestays.com to see availability. You might have to book one hotel for a night or two and then switch. Good luck. (oops... didn't see your last post until just now).

I keep sourdough culture at home, I make clam chowder to go with it, I make roast beef, chicken pasta, Indians etc...

I only use my homemade sourdough and homemade potato buns for my sandwich or burgers. However.. now a days I eat out almost everyday as I just hate cleaning up afterward. Further more I hate throwing away food as no one else eat them except me and sometimes my wife.

! I'll gladly take any of the food shown off your hands!!

Looks amazing!

+1. Oh, and times 5 about cleaning up afterwords!

Siam Reap #9?!?!?!? How can that be. God what a craphole.

Really. We haven't been there in awhile, but Angkor Wat is amazing. Is it all built up now?

Can't answer your question, but I was curious are you just eating it or are you using it in drinks or baking?

Thanks for the article. That's what is missing these days - the chimes and the charms of Buddhism in the air. Instead we have much more pollution and noise. I guess it is time for me to play tourist and visit some temples again to see if I can feel that again.

We are here 3 - 4 months out of the year.

For breakfast - we hardly eat out, but this year we are buying already prepped fruit. So on average 0%.

For lunch - almost always. We have a great noodle place close by, but I will cook depending on what groceries we have. Once a week, we buy gai yang, sticky rice and som tam from a great place. On average 90%.

For dinner - we order to pick up or cook or actually go out. I count pick up as going out. Lately, it's been more frequent 80%.

Back home, it's totally the opposite - close to 100% we cook. Of course, we have a dishwasher and not very many good food places nearby.

Does miss Nurse play around C.M. by any chance or is she based in Bangkok or an International artist?

Guess I answered my own question; Bangkok, Singapore, etc. Great voice!

Did you find out something about her? The first time I saw her was with Chai at Boy's one night. She blew us away.

My friends are asking how to find out about the various bands and where they are playing.

I think Bear Bar is the only place that bothers to let people know who's playing. They have a mix of stuff, but you can find out who's playing on their web site.

The new Brasserie is worth checking out. It's empty every night, which is sad because the music is great. Mai Blues plays there a few nights a week. And at Bear Bar, come to think of it.

I think one of the Brasserie's problems is the same as the one they had at the old place along the river. The good groups don't even START playing until almost 11:00 in the evening. Prior to that there was just some soloist playing for the dining crowd. Unless you are a real night owl the tourists just stop for a while and leave. Unless there is something HAPPENING, the tourists take a quick look and leave, and don' t come back.

I agree. The music should start earlier in the evening. I don't believe there is a dining crowd at the new place. I've been quite a few times and there has only been about 2 other people there each time having soft drinks. Of course I left as nothing was happening. Last Sunday was great though. I hope they have many more nights like that. I don't mind the cover charge for good music like that.

I think that Chai Blues is based out of Bangkok these days. It looks like they will be at the Saxophone Pub in Bangkok on the 23rd.

My guess is that a lot of people visited London this year due to the Olympics so more people might be voting for it.

Based on past years, I think Capetown (or daytrips from Capetown) should be higher on the list. On a daytrip drive along the southern coast of SA, I remember thinking that this is the most beautiful place on earth. Agree that Queenstown, New Zealand should be added to the list due to the wonderful scenery there. We must have missed the boat on Dublin as we would not have had it on the list, but we were only there a couple of days. We drove through Spain so didn’t get the gist of any city, but Barcelona’s atmosphere was very inviting. Prague is a wonderful old city – bridges, cobblestone-type streets, musicians and concerts, good duck and good beer. Of course, Florence deserves to be on the list for the art, museums and walking along the narrow streets you can hear choir rehearsals – don’t forget to have a gelato at least once a day.

As for travel the last couple of years, Istanbul deserves to be on the list although it seemed pretty expensive this time. We’ve been there twice now and there is still more to discover there. However, if I had to vote for a particular city based on travel in the last couple of years, I would have to say Luxor, Egypt because of the temples and the Valley of the Kings. Croatia is beautiful – great islands and Dubrovnik is something, but I really couldn’t decide which city I would vote for over another.

I think that you are assuming quite a bit with what you are saying in your post. Where are these dynamic (professional?) Thai bands playing country and rock music? Please share.

I don't go to the teen places, these are for Thai people in their 30s and over.

BigC at Hang Dong,

A jazz bar just before BigC on the Hang Dong road, if you want a table inside arrive before 7:30

another one, turn left after the lights, then a big long bar called 'Mae Sai' in the car park, best band starts 10pm, GangGeng and Carabao heavily featured.

Santhitham

Oxide two or three bands on each night, along Chang Puak road, 2nd left at the traffic lights just after Thanin Market, left at the 7-11, rigtht and there it is.

Loads more

Thanks for the recommendations. Regarding the Big C reference, there are 2 Big C stores on the same road and I think you mean the one further away from the moat area (the one that used to be Carrefour). Is that right?

My friends are asking how to find out about the various bands and where they are playing.

I think Bear Bar is the only place that bothers to let people know who's playing. They have a mix of stuff, but you can find out who's playing on their web site.

The new Brasserie is worth checking out. It's empty every night, which is sad because the music is great. Mai Blues plays there a few nights a week. And at Bear Bar, come to think of it.

Great to know that Mai Blues is still playing there. We'll try to check it out more often.

I go to Riverside, Good View, Warm Up, and Vision. I have not been to the new Vision.

We haven't been to Riverside in a long time, but it seems to be quite popular. We went to Good View 4-5 years ago with a Thai friend at their request. We were surprised to find the food was quite good and the music was pretty good. Have not tried Warm-up (I think that's on Nimmanhaemin?) and never heard of Vision. Do they play music similar to Good View and Riverside?

Chiang Mai is full of bars with live dynamic Thai bands playing Thai country and rock music, yet so many elderly foreigners insist on attending those same old places where amateurs play endless covers of 'The Eagles', etc.

Of course you might have to interact with real Thai people that don't speak English, which I do understand can be a bit scary for many. Quite sad really.

yes in santitham there are about 20 bands back to back in different venues i mean playing all styles of music

all young and all great rock musicians with the rock poses ...fantastic...we were all young once ..and some of still are hahaha

Thailand always was good for rock orientated music and still is

Saw a shit hot band down at yellow playing in amongst their own stuff blinding British indie covers .

thee was a bunch o young Thais mesmerised by the lead guitar player maybe about 14 year old

this girl farang was taking photoes of the drunk farang in the crowd and i told her to take photoes the the thai fans o the guitar player.

go past the ymca and you can hear drummers and guitar players practising

great stuff

pity and complete bull that they have clampded down on imprompto farang having a wee sing song

i would be right up there especially at this time o year

Thanks for posting about stuff for the younger crowd. I've been a bit curious about Yellow, but figure I'm too old to show my face there. And we've walked by some place at night at Santitham and I looked at the people... Too young for me, I think. Yes, I heard someone practicing drums near the Y last Saturday.

Chiang Mai is full of bars with live dynamic Thai bands playing Thai country and rock music, yet so many elderly foreigners insist on attending those same old places where amateurs play endless covers of 'The Eagles', etc.

Of course you might have to interact with real Thai people that don't speak English, which I do understand can be a bit scary for many. Quite sad really.

I think that you are assuming quite a bit with what you are saying in your post. Where are these dynamic (professional?) Thai bands playing country and rock music? Please share.

We have company from the states so we decided to check out the live music places since there are so many talented musicians here in Chiang Mai. I thought I would share with you all. (I am not affiliated with any of these business!)

1. Boy Blues Bar – last Saturday night. This is our preferred place for a night of live music. Boy’s band abandoned him this night to go to a concert in Chiang Dao so it turned out to be jam night. It was terrific. They had people playing on the drums, sax, bass guitar, trumpet and, of course, Boy on the guitar. Claire sang one song and another woman sang a couple of songs. Oh, and there was another person on guitar. Fun night. Note: On jam nights, you’ll get a lot of surprises. We’ve seen Chai’s band, Ped (Saxophone Pub – Bangkok), really good harmonica guys, etc.
   
2. North Gate – last Friday night. The jazz that is normally played at North Gate usually isn’t the style that we like, but our friends like that type of jazz. However, this night, we really liked most of set played.
   
3. Brasserie – last Sunday night. We used to go to the old Brasserie every so often. We miss Took and hope he is doing well. Last Sunday, Brasserie was really cooking. Terrific performances from Mai Blues (great to see him again) and outstanding performance from Chai Blues Band. When it was over, the audience called for more and Chai and his band were nice enough to do one more. It was really a good time. I hope someone posts some video.
   

It's not too far from Miguel's or across the street from "The House". We went there for the first time last Sunday. The first band (Mai Blues?) was really good. I recognize Mai as the guy playing with Took for years. They were really good. Then Chai and his band came on and they were fantastic. I really like Miss Nurse's voice. it was really packed out that night. It was nice to see.

Bloody hell! This thread has turned out even worse than the tipping at 7/11 thread!

I buy my coffee at Hilkoff, 500g bags of good stuff for under 300B, choose your bean. Thais like it dark roasted, I prefer it light roasted, so usually go for their 'City' brand, 100% Arabica. I'm sure there is better, but for the price I'm happy.

Yes, we were just there today. We like the French Roast and use a French press to make coffee. It's been a long time since we actually had a nice cup - I think maybe the last time was at, I can't remember the name, Liberand or something like that. Somewhere near Mike's burger on the east side of the moat.

Most of the dishes I would suggest is already here, but I just wanted to say that I used to not eat spicy food. However, the people I hung around with liked it so much that I was curious and tried it. I really ended up liking Thai food because it's not just hot, but there are some complex flavors in the food. So I guess I'm saying to encourage her to try some of the other stuff too.