Ren Bo Lan - An Entertainment Place

[healthcaretaker]

Hi,

I am told this place has night entertainment that only or mostly sings Thai oldies, and not far from Warorot chinatown area.

I asked my hotel staffs but only one heard of the place and don't know where is it.

Anyone know where is this place and how is it like ?

[realthaideal]

What's the chance it's called reuan (or heuan) bolan ? That seems a more likely name. Would be the equivalent of 'Ancient House' but with a connotation more like 'Good Old (traditional) Home.' There are lots of Reuan n Heuan places serving up either classic Thai/ Lanna tunes or food that are old-style traditional in CM, not sure where yours is though. But having the name more exact might get you a good lead from a Thai.

Good luck.

[Ricardo]

Sunaree's restaurant used to be near there, although it moved a year or two ago, to a new site upstream of the SuperHighway bridge on the West bank of the river, she's an old-time chanteuse who often sings to her guests in the evenings.

[realthaideal]

And now he's talking about 'Heuan Soontharee,' a use of the Heuan for a Lanna Thai feel of 'Soontharee's Home'. I even forget the locale of the old one now, and that still doesn't help with the actual location for the thing he's looking for.

The Thai way of writing for what I think you're looking for is เรือน โบราณ which is written Reuan Boran, with r's each time, though likely in local pronunciation the first may or may not be an 'h' and the second one almost certainly will be as an 'l' giving you either Heuan Bolan or Reuan Bolan. Whether or not this was ever next to Soontharee's old locale I have no idea.

Here. I just tried googling for you but all I come up with is this old Teak house they have stood up real close to the metal bridge beside the river, where Loi Kroh ends. It's just a tourist photo op according to this blog post, and not a restaurant. As far as tourist things to make a pt to see here in CM, I"m not sure this would rank so high. That's all I've got for now. Off to bed. Maybe I'll try again later, but it's hard to sift thru Thai google findings, you know.

http://www.oknation.net/blog/lovecondo3/2009/09/08/entry-1

[realthaideal]

Alright. I regoogled and found it. It's along the Chiang Mai-Lamphun road on the E side of the river and pretty much across from the Kawila Military Barracks. There are a slew of places like this on that side of the river, from overpriced, to a real hipster scene, to real cozy or even kind of dive places. You get nice food and music in most of them, and usually that vibe of eating in a cool old wooden house along the river too. So what you want is 'Heuan Bolan.'

Have a savyy Falang (like myself! Sometimes you gotta pat yourself on the back, no ?) or a Thai friend decode the pg for you, and/or write instrux on a piece of paper to hand off to a taxi or tuktuk driver.

http://www.edtguide.com/HueanBoranBaanHimPing_9950

Let us know what you ate and how you liked it.

For local food btw, I'd say it's pretty much a requisite that you try either Gaeng Hanglay or Naam Prik Ong. And eat either with sticky rice, of course.

[Microwave]

Here are the directions:

1. On the Chiang Mai - Lamphun Road go straight to the Kawali military barracks. From there go 50 metres & you'll see Heuan Boran Hin Ping (the name of this place) on the right side of the road, along the Ping River.

- local Thai food but other dishes are offered (I'd go along with "realthaideal's" suggestions for local food)

- more than 61 tables

- lots of folksongs

- 100 - 300 baht range

- accept credit cards

- open from 5 pm - 1 am everyday

- no alcohol is served, therefore no open bottle fee.

This last point is interesting as the reply from "Meow" says that there's a fee for white (wine supposedly). I reckon it's byob.

Seems like a folksy place with a pleasant location. Let us know what you think of it.

[Microwave]

I've figured out the booze policy. They don't serve alcohol but you're free to bring your own bottle and they won't charge a corkage fee. With that being the policy as stated on their website, Khun Meow commented that she was charged a corkage fee for opening a bottle of white wine there.

Hope this helps!

Edited February 15, 2010 by Microwave

[healthcaretaker]

Thansk alot for your replies.

I will try to check it out if I can find some time tomorrow night. If not, next trip.

4 staffs at the S&P cafe next to the Computer Mall spent 10 mins and could not come out with a common answer to its direction

Anyway, someone told me they don't only perform the types of songs I am looking for and he burn me a mp3 of Com Pee & Bird's songs, which should be able to fulfill my music appetite for these 2 nights.

[Microwave]

Boeb en young khrap. Yin dee

[healthcaretaker]

Boeb en young khrap. Yin dee

Means ??

[realthaideal]

The young are burping ?

Actually he was trying to say Bo Pen Yang, the local (as well as Isaan) way of saying 'Mai Pen Rai,' 'Don't give it any measure,' or 'Don't worry about it,' 'No problem,' etc.

Thai Mai Pen Lai :ไม่เป็นไร (spelled 'Rai,' but almost always pronounced on the street 'Lai')

Local Bo Pen Yang: บ่เป็นหยัง (literally: [it] not be [a] thing)

I was thinking he went thru n translated all the web pg - an easy read actually, but I was crabby n sleepy n just gave the bare bones after doing the search in the first place. But then I think the Thai would have been transliterated better, as the mysterious version above breaks words up and joins them with others. Hmmmmm. Maybe wifey or google did it? (Yeah, sweating you a bit, but just a bit.) But either way, still nice of any TV members to help somebody get legit info for a legit question. TV is a great resource.