City To Become Greener?

[chivo]

In a recent ‘Good Governance’ contest, sponsored by the Ministry of the

Interior, Chiang Rai won first place and a prize of 10 million baht. Among the uses for the money will be an effort to ‘greenify’ the main city.

not sure when this money was won. but anybody seen any evidence yet?

would be amazing if all the money makes it to where its supoosed to go!

[sceadugenga]

Probably spent it all on cloud seeding which is why it hasn't stopped p!ssing down for the last six months.

[goski]

Well, they are doing something up at the police station but I'm not sure about the connection.

[toybits]

Why not establish a good mass transport system - like having more buses so we wouldn't need to take our cars (SUVs, Benz, BMs, Volvos etc.). If I could be assured that there would be a bus going down the road every 5 minutes, why I wouldn't mind leaving my bicycle at home.

Is the Song Teaw lobby that strong?

9 years ago when I just moved into Chiang Rai, parking was a breeze. Today, parking your car downtown is a _itch.

[sceadugenga]

I always pay the 20B and leave it at the Wang Come.

[brahmburgers]

C.Rai put in a childrens' play area across from Dusit Island resort, but that was a couple years ago.

There's actually a whole heck of a lot C.Rai city fathers could do to make C.Rai nicer/greener. Most projects would not entail much investment. Rather, it would need willingness and innovative thinking, and re-designating some fallow places as parks. There are many unde-rutilized places that are simply growing giant weeds and/or being used for parking or trash dumping. If C.Rai is exemplary (in the view of prize givers) I'd hate to see the also-rans.

Some projects that wouldn't cost much, but would greatly enhance the 'greeness' of C.Rai:

>>> bicycle paths. Except for the old airport, there are zero meters of bike paths that are effectively off limits to motorbikes.

Great potential are paths roughly parallel to our great Mae Kok river - either side. If the willingness and bureaucratic muscle were there, such bike paths would be the pride of nothern Thailand. I know of many Km of bike paths, though none are designated as such.

>>> Re; the beautiful strip of park across the river from Pattaya Noi: keep seasonal commercial bungalos off it. Indeed, the path that was started, could be built all the way around the long hill. Paint it yellow and call it 'Yellow Brick Road.' It would be better if it was a dirt path, but this is Thailand, so parks have to be smothered in cement.

>>> about a Km south of the NIght Bazaar, on the east side of the road, is a stunning area for a municiple park. It's got big trees and wouldn't take much at all to clear and put in benches and picnic tables. Alas, like all other parcels in town that aren't gov't, that one is privately owned by a Chinese family. Not surprisingly, the owner has put an unreasonable Bangkok-type price on it - so it will continue to be fallow. Oh, it's also got an unused old cremation chimney on it, so any self-respecting Thai would know it's infested by ghosts (i.e. off -limits).

Other things we don't have in C.Rai: miniature golf, no English-language movie theatre, skate board park, roller skating, baseball diamond, beach volleyball court, BMX bike park, more fun things for kids. If there's an outdoor amphitheater, I don't know about it. Has anyone ever seen a musical presentation here without amplification? ....didn't think so.

However, we have a little known zoo. It's south of town about 25 Km. Pass the turn off for the 70 M waterfall, keep going and just past Mae Suay, go straight where the road truns 90 degrees to the left. About 2 KM later there's a small turn off to the right which goes right tto the zoo. Small but nice place. A whole section is dedicated to birds. Altogether, lots of fun for kids (and dems that never stopped being kids).

BB

Edited September 7, 2008 by brahmburgers

[luvwork]

I think you will find that we do have minature golf in Chiang rai. It`s up by the old airport runway. And everything else you mention that CR doesn`t have, I`m glad. I don`t want it turned into a western style Theme park. This is CR. For the love of Buddah. Stop trying to westernise our nice Thai town.

The OP was about green issues. Get with the program Brahms.

[lannaman]

When they demolished the old Prison I reckoned they would stick houses or maybe offices there, and they created Suan Tong Park which is put to good use, aerobics, kid's playground and a museum in the remaining building. So, give the powers that be some credit.

I agree no westernisation - keep the city Thai, but let's hope somebody has an amaginative green plan for the money.

[toybits]

Totally agree that this place should be kept as Thai as possible. If you go to Koh Loi, the government spent millions of baht developing that waterfront park. It's got tennis courts as well. The government has also been renovating the Sanam Kilah (Sports complex) - although rather at a snails pace.

If you haven't noticed, the highway looks a lot greener with all the cypress trees on the median islands. Traffic lights that run on solar power have been installed in many places.

What this place really needs is better public transport (buses - and lots of them).

I really like bicycling around town and not only for exercise but for commuting. After I have taken my kids to school, I park the pick-up truck and bicycle in the inner city. If I did not have to take the kids, I would be on the bicycle to and from work.

Unfortunately, it seems that only the Burmese are willing enough to get on their rusty stead and crunch away. The winter season is about to arrive - best bicycling time of the year - cool and dry.

I think you will find that we do have minature golf in Chiang rai. It`s up by the old airport runway. And everything else you mention that CR doesn`t have, I`m glad. I don`t want it turned into a western style Theme park. This is CR. For the love of Buddah. Stop trying to westernise our nice Thai town.

The OP was about green issues. Get with the program Brahms.

[goski]

There are 4 courts at Koh Loi. Two of them are not suitable to play on and the other two, that are spotless, are also locked until the afternoon. Good move for a public place! It is public isn't it?

Sanam gila glang changwat... the Chiang Rai sport stadium that is, is finished except for some tree cutting. It looks very nice and I use it 4 days a week for tennis. Even though management for the courts seems lost in space.

Regarding the buses, sure if they could move the bus station first I would agree but as a resident on Prasobsuk road I rather keep them at a minimum. The street is jammed from 4pm until 9 basically. Parking allowed everywhere and it's really neat with hundreds of tuktuks and the tiny blue city buses.

Interesting to see that other people also have realised that more or less only the Burmese ride a bikecycle.

[chivo]

i actually thought they did a real nice job of converting the old prison to a park... was really surprised. did i mention i was surprised. any open spaces welcome.

my ideal dream for chiang rai would be to convert the old airport into something of a huge park with trees, ponds, lawns, a running track etc.

would take a lot of money tho, to do it right...

[lannaman]

i actually thought they did a real nice job of converting the old prison to a park... was really surprised. did i mention i was surprised. any open spaces welcome.

my ideal dream for chiang rai would be to convert the old airport into something of a huge park with trees, ponds, lawns, a running track etc.

would take a lot of money tho, to do it right...

The Old Airport is still under the auspices of the Thai Airforce. It can be sealed off and used by the military if there is any sort of emergency in the north. A few years ago when there was some tension with Burma this happened. I managed to get half way down it by bike before I was ushered off the area by some friendly airmen. They had an unmanned drone flying from there so I was lucky not to lose my scalp!

So, I think there will never be any major improvements there if it affects the runway. There was talk of a go-cart track being established there too.

[brahmburgers]

Work has started on developing a rock climbing park NW of C.Rai. The property is 2 Km west of Ban Nam Lat. Though the rock is all there, it won't be ready for visitors until perhaps early 2010, but volunteers are welcome in the interim time - to assist with things. The facilities (water, lights, refrig, etc) will be solar powered - as there are no AC wires nearby. There are also plans for a 'zip line' (long wire for gravity powered ride) and some Andes-type rope walkways between large trees. Anyone interested can contact poster.

[klikster]

Work has started on developing a rock climbing park NW of C.Rai. The property is 2 Km west of Ban Nam Lat. Though the rock is all there, it won't be ready for visitors until perhaps early 2010, but volunteers are welcome in the interim time - to assist with things. The facilities (water, lights, refrig, etc) will be solar powered - as there are no AC wires nearby. There are also plans for a 'zip line' (long wire for gravity powered ride) and some Andes-type rope walkways between large trees. Anyone interested can contact poster.

So, this is going to be a public resource?

Who is going to provide structural engineering for the 'zip line'?