just_Elaine

Sawadee Khaa! Thank you for your replies.

getgoin -- We think we went to the shop you mentioned that is on the way to Bo Sang. As we parked, we could see the sales staff getting ready to help us. Hubby said, "This looks like the kind of place I hate". We got out of the car and went in anyway. We went straight away to the rain drums and the first one I looked at was priced in U.S. Dollars - $2,100. We were ready to walk. The sales lady said, "how much do you want to pay". There was so much difference between what we would be willing to pay and how much the thing was priced that we just left.

geovalin and orang37 - We wanted to do some homework first to see if the rain drums would even be in our budget. So we went to the place mentioned above and to Baan Tawaii. We found three places at Baan Tawaii.

• The first shop had several - the small ones for 10,000 baht and the medium/large (I think 22" or 23") for 20,000 baht. I think we only asked about the frog style ones at that shop.
  

• The second shop had two, both about the same size, but the condition was not acceptable to us. The price was 20,000 baht.
  

• The third shop had the small Thai style ones for 7,500 baht and a Khmer style one that was about 18". I can't really remember the prices here because they said that they were looking at the old price list so the 18" one changed from 11,875 baht to 14,000 baht, I think. Or maybe they were talking about the 24" one that could be ordered, but would take a month.
  

We had seen rain drums a few years ago and kind of liked them. We are staying in a place without a coffee table and thought this might be a great opportunity to get both a table and something we liked.

geovalin - Are you in Chiang Mai?

orang37 - Thanks for the offer. We may PM you next week.

Sorry for the long post, but thought others might be interested. By the way, we did not try to bargain since we were just doing research.

Where is this Fujian place?

Thanks.

It was mentioned that it was at 'Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi' hotel.

Does anyone know where to find a bronze rain drum?

Thanks,

Elaine

I really like the red curry with duck. It has roast duck, pineapple and eggplant (little round pea type and the slightly larger round ones cut in a wedge). Oh, and some basil. It is the coconut type of curry.

I've only been to the Palaad Tawanron restaurant once, but it was during the day. I get the impression that Thais like this place. It it up on the mountain. It may be a little on the romantic side. Maybe others who have Thai spouses can chime in on this?

Nancy Chandler's info on the restaurant

Top 20 CM Restaurants per 1stopCM

Near Rim Ping (near Central Airport Plaza) or at the Maehia Market would be convenient for me. I like chicken, beef and lamb shawarma's. In Istanbul, I had a very nice sauce with a doner kebab.

Moo is pork. Gai is chicken. Pla is fish. Gung is shrimp. Nuea is beef. Pla Muek is squid.

Gaeng is a curry preparation.

Tom Yum is a soup preparation.

Yam is a salad preparation.

Phat, I think, is stir-fried.

So say the preparation method and then the meat, then maybe they'll say something back to you. Try to catch it and just say okay.

Other than that, we went with other people and we went to places that did have English menus. Then we learned the names of stuff that we liked. Good luck.

Nampeung -- Thanks for mentioning this. I've only just recently seen the orange ones at Rimping Market here in Chiang Mai.

Been a while since this thread was last added to.

Any updates we should be aware of or new places to eat?

I personally would love to know a good place to eat Tom Yam Gai and Pad Keap Pow Moo ;-) Not sure if some of the older suggestions in this thread still hold true.

If you like stir fried rice noodles (gwaatio), the food court in Kad Suan Kaew has a very spicy version that has similarity to pad keap pow moo. They have pictures, it's #4. If you are facing away from the massage place next to the food court, I think it is the 2nd food vendor on your right. After I tried that, whenever I'm there at meal time, I order that.

Elaine can i come and live at your house please? the food and drinks sound lovely.

Ha, ha... I guess I got carried away.

We went there last Wednesday afternoon at about 2:30 or 3:00 PM and did not have to wait at all. We were amazed. We also did our car registration in the morning (10am) at the drive-up in the same area (Nong Hoi), again, no wait.

Here's a link to some information about museums: http://www.chiangmainews.com/sightseeing/details.php?id=8. There are other things that you may be interested on that site too.

Elaine

I like CM because it has big city conveniences, but it doesn’t feel so much like a big city.

I like Thai food. If you cook, the local markets are terrific for vegetables and fruit. Also, you can pick up prepared food at your local market. The Miahia market has the best sausage!

If you cook and want non-Thai food, it is possible to get a variety of food here. For instance, we like confit and duck is reasonably priced. So we decided to try to make confit. It came out okay. We decided to try to make cassoulet ala Chiang Mai. However, we will usually have duck breasts with a wine, shallot, brandy, reduced stock sauce with purple rice, mushrooms and a vegetable (sautéed baby bok choy or asparagus). For fun, we bought 3 different aged steaks from 3 different countries from Rim Ping market and had a steak tasting.

If you like to experiment with cocktails, the fruit here is fantastic. The House restaurant has a “House Martini” that we like to try to duplicate. It uses fresh passion fruit and pineapple.

There are several types of restaurants here so there is variety in this as well. Northern Thai food is delicious so we actually mostly eat Thai food, but MiCasa is great when we want to switch to a European flavor.

As we only come to CM during the winters now, the first things we do here are go to the dentist (we like them here better than the U.S. and it's much cheaper), get a haircut (we love to get our head massaged while getting a shampoo), get a foot massage (I like this a lot) and get some good Thai food.

As nightlife activities are a bit more affordable here, we will go listen to live music. Brasserie Pub and Restaurant is where we go every year at least twice. We’ve been there more this year because the warm-up band is pretty good and we saw Took and his band have a couple of hot nights. We visited Northgate Jazz Co-op a couple of times and they were pretty good. Normally, we also go to the Chang Jazz Club at the Gallery restaurant, but they are closed for renovations and I’ve received answers like “next week” and “next month” when I ask the staff there. Anyway, live music is available.

You can get pretty good bread here and I'm not sure this is the case in other areas of Thailand.

Availability of dsl internet access is probable. I say it this way because I saw a post where some people cannot get it right now. For us, it is important and we ask for this up front for houses that we rent.

There is a nice movie theatre at Airport Plaza.

That's all I can think of for now! Hope this helps.

Elaine

In the Sankampaeng area near Borsarng, there is with colorful pottery. It is on Sankampaeng, just past the Borsarng turn if you are going East. They have some large pieces. Also, on the road to Ban Tawai, just before the turn to Ban Tawai, there are a few large pottery places there, but I don't remember them being particularly colorful. Also, in Ban Tawai on the road towards the upstairs restaurant, there is a store with lots of pots. The lady there told me that she has a factory in Chiang Rai.

Just thought I would mention this if anyone needs a hem near Miahia market. Yes, there was someone at the Miahia market. We actually walked around twice and did not see her (she has a racks of clothing covering her area) and per our housekeeper, she does not open until late - after 2pm. She did an okay job on two pairs of jeans for my husband.

Hi. I did a search on miele thailand and found this document:

http://www.miele.sg/sg/13363.htm

It has addresses in Bangkok. It might be worth giving them a call to see if they carry vacuum cleaners.

Does anyone know when the Chang Jazz Club is scheduled to re-open?

Thanks.

Tomahawk - just saw an ad http://www.chiangmainews.com/classifieds_j...ew.php?id=15417 - don't know if it is available or not as it was posted on Jan 25th, but it f you are still looking, it may be a good deal.

Elaine

Try searching on 'serviced apartment bangkok'. I think you may have to pay more for a 2 bedroom. Here are urls to 3 places that we've used in the past.

http://www.the-ascott.com/en/propertylisting.html

http://www.presidentpark.com/z984/plans/accommodations.html

http://www.centrepoint.com/

Thanks for the help i have looked at several sites that do longtime lease and found many fine apartments from 50k and up. However those sites dont do 1 month leases. The sites you link to are all located in the wrong part of town. My Wife has family not to far from the Zoo and last time we stayed near Sathorn we some days spend 1 hour traveling to them.

So we would like to stay at arround Petchaburi road (and yes i know that Centrepoint have a property there but they done have anything larger than the studio room)

Sorry about that. A little over a year ago, we used a 2-bedroom property from "The Ascott Group" that was right near Central World. It seems they don't have that property any longer.

I ran across this place in one of my searches, but it is not someplace that I used. http://www.sabaai.com/apartments_descripti...mp;sleep_child=

Chiang Mai is full of ladies who sit at their sewing machines, at the side of a road, doing mending and minor alterations. There is one who sets up most days on Ratchaphuek Rd. just off Huey Kaew. It's the road opposite the Shell station just west of Central KSK. We've used her a few times to replace lost buttons and repair torn clothing.

Our laundry lady also does minor repairs. She has a sewing machine in her shop -- that was our first clue that she did minor alterations.

Of course, neither of these ladies could help if you expect someone to have the facilities for you to try on your pants and have them mark them for heming. You probably should visit a tailor shop for that. I can think of at least four or five near KSK Central.

All you have to do is walk around for five minutes during normal business hours and you should be able to find someone to do the work.

Nancy -

Thanks for the information. In Bangkok, we did use our laundry lady, but here we have a washing machine and do our own laundry. We have seen people on the road with sewing machines, but not near us. We'll try the person on Ratchaphuek. It's just for shortening some jeans so we weren't looking for a tailor.

Thanks again,

Elaine

Try searching on 'serviced apartment bangkok'. I think you may have to pay more for a 2 bedroom. Here are urls to 3 places that we've used in the past.

http://www.the-ascott.com/en/propertylisting.html

http://www.presidentpark.com/z984/plans/accommodations.html

http://www.centrepoint.com/

We're looking for someone who can shorten the legs on a couple of pair of pants. Someone located West of the moat in the Kad Suan Kaew, Central Airport Plaza or Lotus Hang Dong areas would be good for us.

Thanks in advance.

Elaine

The message sounded a bit off so I went to look it up. It said this:

Warden Message: Holiday Celebrations

In the past, there have at times been bombings in Thailand, and Bangkok specifically, during the New Year holiday period. With that in mind and considering the changing political environment in Thailand over the last several months, we advise American citizens to exercise good judgment and common sense in deciding how and where to enjoy their New Year’s celebrations.

We remind American citizens to pay attention to their surroundings, be aware, and as always, avoid large crowds in public when possible.

For the latest security information, Americans living and traveling abroad should regularly monitor the Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs Internet web site at http://travel.state.gov, where the current Worldwide Caution, Travel Alerts, Travel Warnings, and health-information resources can be found. Up-to-date information on security can also be obtained by calling 1-888-407-4747 toll free in the U.S. and Canada or, for callers in other areas by calling a regular toll line at 1-202-501-4444. These numbers are available from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).

American citizens traveling or residing in Thailand are encouraged to register with the Department of State or the U.S. Embassy. The Embassy is located at 95 Wireless Road in Bangkok. The American Citizen Services Unit of the U.S. Embassy can be reached by calling 66-2-205-4049 and by e-mail at [email protected]. The after hours emergency telephone number is 66-2-205-4000.

There is a good dealer in fresh wet fish very close to Lotus Kham Tieng.

If you come to Lotus on the Super Highway, drive past and take the first left. Turn left at the lights and turn right at the T junction ahead.

Turn immediately right into the car park in front of a large godown on your left. They get fresh fish in from Bangkok constantly and supply many catering and retail outlets around town. You need to be willing to purchase whole fish and clean/fillet etc yourself.

(They have a sad looking but beautiful cockatoo in a big cage out front.)

Hi. Is this fish place still there? Also, is there a fresh fish place on the South part of Chiang Mai?

Thanks,

Elaine

I also think Chinese food would be a good option in the SF Bay Area. Sam Wo's was a place we used to go for stuff like jook (congee). Chow fun is good. For dim sum, I think that the East Bay (Emeryville and Oakland) may be better than SF these days. However, for dinner, steamed fish, stir fried clams in hot black bean sauce and some fresh vegies might be nice. Or if you want to eat in, buy take out - roast duck, soy sauce chicken ant other things are easily taken out in Chinatown, the Richmond district or even San Bruno. Oh, I forgot, the wonton is much better in SF than Thailand. Also, noodles in soup can be really good for lunch (Chinese or Vietnamese).

There were delicious burritos in the SF bay area that I really miss that might be enjoyable.

I don't know how good North Beach Italian is these days, but it used to be good.

Check out chowhound.com for some places to try...