High Season?

[sierra01]

I was in Chiang Rai on Thursday evening, walking round the night bazaar, there didn't seem to be many tourists. Is it still the low season or what? Every other time I've been there I've seen lots of tourists, maybe it was always high season then!

Also, I saw that the Lotus pub and restuarant has closed, when I don't know. Every time I've walked past it when it was open there were never any customers, or at best a couple of them, so I'm not surprised. Was the place any good, or is it connected to the lack of tourists on Thursday? Maybe I just went on a bad night!

[mumbojumbo]

Bird flu keeping them away i think. Lotus closed for long time now-no business and bad location.

[chownah]

I think they're all out of town harvesting rice.....if you're in town you don't know what your missing!!!!!!

[zzap]

The RICE HARVEST is finished by now, dude.

Time to post dates and locations where one may join the GARLIC PLANTING celebrations...

[mumbojumbo]

The RICE HARVEST is finished by now, dude.

Time to post dates and locations where one may join the GARLIC PLANTING celebrations...  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Go to Fang for that

[Limbo]

Also Phuket Air is to blame for less tourists.

Many touroperators (in Holland and probably elsewhere) had abandoned their contracts with China Air and Eva Air and decided to fly with a much cheaper Phuket Air (Amsterdam - Bangkok four or five times a week).

Then this airline did not meet the international standards for safety and lost its landing-rights in Europe.

It proved not easy to switch back to the Taiwanese airlines and the touroperators offered their customers i many cases other destinations.

Some of the bigger touroperators had Chiang Rai on their program.

One might expect the Thai Aviation Authorities to be more careful in the future when they license new airlines for international flights.

It was not good for the image of Thailand. And it was a very expensive matter for tourism business in Thailand which ultimately has to foot the bill.

The more new destinations explored by tourists, the less people might decide for Thailand in the future.

A tsunami or bird flue is not under controle of the authorities, the problems in the South are to a certain extent, but the Phuket Air disaster might have been prevented.

Limbo.

Limbo.

[chownah]

The RICE HARVEST is finished by now, dude.

Time to post dates and locations where one may join the GARLIC PLANTING celebrations...  

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The rice harvest lives on!!!....but it won't last long so get it while you can!

[sierra01]

Also Phuket Air is to blame for less tourists.

Many touroperators (in Holland and probably elsewhere) had abandoned their contracts with China Air and Eva Air and decided to fly with a much cheaper Phuket Air (Amsterdam - Bangkok four or five times a week).

Then this airline did not meet the international standards for safety and lost its landing-rights in Europe.

It proved not easy to switch back to the Taiwanese airlines and the touroperators  offered their customers i many cases other destinations.

Some of the bigger touroperators had Chiang Rai on their program.

One might expect  the Thai Aviation Authorities to be more careful in the future when they license new airlines for international flights.

It was not good for the image of Thailand. And it was a very expensive matter for tourism business in Thailand which ultimately has to foot the bill.

The more new destinations explored by tourists, the less people might decide for Thailand in the future.

A tsunami or bird flue is not under controle of the authorities, the problems in the South are to a certain extent, but the Phuket Air disaster might have been prevented.

Limbo.

Limbo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Do you think the Govt gave Phuket Air a licence out of the goodness of their hearts, or did a few baht change hands? OK Phuket Air was/is a disaster but if they manage to get their sh*t together again can you see the Govt refusing them another licence?

The tsunami and bird flu weren't of the Govt's making but their handling of the situations have done little, if nothing, to reassure the tourist. The same with the South, it's not of the present Govt's making but their handling of it so far is not much short of a joke. It's not an easy problem to solve, and I for one have no answers but there must be a better way.

[Limbo]

Do you think the Govt gave Phuket Air a licence out of the goodness of their hearts, or did a few baht change hands? OK Phuket Air was/is a disaster but if they manage to get their sh*t together again can you see the Govt refusing them another licence?

...... Sierra1 asked himself and us.

They might make a difference between domestic and international. They will probably ask Phuket Airlines to mobilize all the goodness of their hearts and do their best to match with international safety standards (and some of the naughty ones will eventually present their mia-noi's as perfect stewardesses during coffee break).

The tsunami and bird flu weren't of the Govt's making but their handling of the situations have done little, if nothing, to reassure the tourist. The same with the South, it's not of the present Govt's making but their handling of it so far is not much short of a joke. It's not an easy problem to solve, and I for one have no answers but there must be a better way.

...... Sierra1 went on wondering.

And Limbo joint in.

Territorial conflicts in a globalizing world, it sounds anachronistic.

And from the other hand it is too simple to say: Let them be part of the country where they ethnically and culturally belong to, as the border between Malaysia and Thailand will be symbolic anyhow in fifty years.

Look at Yugoslavia, the Sovjet Union, Tchecho-Slowakija. Now fallen apart.

Each their own flag, national hymn, national hero's, nice parades on national holidays: Everybody happy and business goes on as usual.

Let the Kurds have their Kurdistan.

Limbo.

[Limbo]

What I hear in some guesthouses is that the guests don't stay as long as they did before. The mostly individual travellers move on to Chiang Khong and disappear to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Most of them stay only one day in Chiang Rai.

A handfull of temples and waterfalls won't keep them here, how many streetsigns you may have pointing at them. And they don't travel tenthousand kilometers to do their shopping in the same kind of Seven/Eleven as they did at home.

It is a sign! Individual travellers (many times backpackers) are always ahead of the touroperators. They are the scouts of international tourism.

Many new hotels have been built in Chiang Rai during the last years.

I hope that the Tourist Authority Thailand office in Chiang Rai, together with the town council, the Chamber of Commerce and the Cultural Council one day will find each other, show themselves able to co-operate and set out a coherent policy for future developments.

Chiang Rai has an enormeous potential for tourism. The character of Chiang Rai as a tourist destination is however changing. And this change has to be anticipated.

New destinations are under development but Chiang Rai still hasn't mssed the boat yet.

Limbo

[sierra01]

Could this be a sign of a general slowdown in tourism, maybe due to Mr T's somewhat anti tourist introductions like the new licensing laws, and the dual pricing, increasing tourist related crime etc? On the other hand it might just be a blip, and everything will be ok next week!

[Joel Barlow]

Maybe they don't come for 7/11, but Aussie friends were thrilled with the new MaeSai Tesco Lotus, really! They said the prices were way better than at home.

The rice harvest certainly still goes on behind my home (maybe I'll post truly exciting pics!)

As for me, I notice more tourists (and yes, they do go quickly off to Laos, but i doubt local airlines have anything to do with thier planning), but also new bars looking to open but failing to open on Jed Yod. The new institutional fast food place on the Night Bazaar back soi (across from Edison, a bit towards Pratu Siri main intersection, where Pahonyothin makes a 90 degree turn) was packed over the weekend, many Farang... the new pizza place empty. The pizza was thin, which I like, but not filling. Two Italian guys got garlic bread, but it wasn't on the menu.

I hear there are now 2 Lahu museums locally, now. Haven't gone to see the new one, by the hotsprings across from Elephant Camp (on the way to Akha Hill G.H.), as my Lahu wife expresses no interest, but will rush off to see items of grass, gourd and wood (I hope, a crossbow maybe) as soon as I can!

Jeez, what to people want from CR? Staged cowboy fights with people faking death by falling off rooftops? Admittedly CM has more for the tourist, but I'd way rather be here.

[chang35baht]

Chiang rai is as busy now as I like it to be. Granted, for the local people/economy, the more people coming here the better. But for selfish reasons I want Chiang Rai to stay the size it is and not to expand into a Chiang Mai sized city. It`s great to be able to drive or ride your bike a short distance to find yourself in the countryside in such a short space of time.

Keep on passing thru you backpackers.

[Limbo]

I hear there are now 2 Lahu museums locally, now.  Haven't gone to see the new one, by the hotsprings across from Elephant Camp (on the way to Akha Hill G.H.), as my Lahu wife expresses no interest, but will rush off to see items of grass, gourd and wood (I hope, a crossbow maybe) as soon as I can!

Nice to hear! I only know the one in the Akha/Lahu village near waterfall (there we go again) Huai Mae Sai. I think it is an initiative of the people of www.bannok.com.

I think these small museums, how simple and amateuristic they might be, have an important function. For the people who live in the villages as it recognizes their culture and for the visitors to find information.

Overhearing the explanation of official Thai tourist guides about the ethnic minorities I got the spontaneous urge to send them back to school. Further than some platitudes and cliché's their scope doesn't go.

I hope there will be many more. They don't have to be big, no, they even shouldn't. It is a great beginning.

The museums in Chiang Rai town? Help! That's another chapter.

Four so far failed projects: The Rai Mae Fah Luang, the former Mae Fah Luang Pavillion on Koh Loi, the museum of the Cultural Council in the Sala Klang Kao and, forgive me for mentioning it, the horrible presentation of the clothes of ethnic majorities in the old prison.

A lot can and has to be done! But who? And when?

Limbo

Sorry, I forgot to mention the only real museum in town, a private one, the collection of Acharn Julasak:

Oub Kham at Den Ha. The subject is Lanna culture.

Edited December 5, 2005 by Limbo