Another Chinese Style Scrape And Cram Development For C.rai

[maidu]

For the City politicos, all development is good development. For those of us who like a little breathing space it's ominous. I've been NW of C.Rai for 14 years. The village and its approaching roads are being developed at a fast pace. An average of 3 houses and 2 stores go up every week.

There was a slightly hilly parcel, about 5 rai (2 acres) packed with mature fruit trees, other large trees, bushes grass, etc. Now it's nothing but flat dirt. Not a blade of grass, no soil, only packed flat clay. A Chinese-Thai estate bought it and is gearing up to build cookie-cutter houses, with roof edges 1 meter apart.

Across the road, same thing, though there, they took a rice paddy, put in a meter of fill. Again they've divvied it up to pack as many units in as possible. Same in two dozen other sizable plots, just in my one little village. The villagers are probably happy, because they see values going up. Money is all that matters to Asians. Everything else takes a back seat.

It's typical Chinese style of development. I've even seen it in parts of Burma which are Chinese owned/influenced. They will take a parcel, scrape it flat. Won't leave one tree out of a thousand standing, and then put a checkerboard grid on it, to cram as many units as possible. No parking spaces, no greenery, no little park area with a bench or table. Asians have declared WAR on nature, and nature is losing big-time.

Pardon me for sounding cynical, but just had to vent. There is absolutely nothing anyone, particularly a farang can do to effect any sanity or slow-down in this trend. We can pack up and move farther afield. I probably shouldn't mention this, but outlying parts of Mae Chan are still rather nice. Yet, those areas too will be scraped flat and crammed with buildings - as progress marches on.

[mcgriffith]

Happens everywhere there is no zoning, or community input into development.

Opposite my apt bldg here in CM near CMU was a beautiful green space, with an old wood house and large trees.

2 yrs later- some ugly low rise condo bldgs, with additional shophouse bldgs with 3 story high billboards advertising weight loss, cosmetics, and assorted other vanity products. A total eyesore.

To add insult to injury, some bright spark put up one of those obnoxious Bangkok style digital billboards, advertising Thai youth magazines, GM cars, and other assorted <deleted> that runs on an endless loop.

There is no where one can go to escape this (see my first sentence).

I know you folks in CR have been relatively lucky to date, compared to us down here in the big city.

You have my full sympathy.

[DonaldBattles]

As Chiang Mai is over sold and very expensive you may expect the hordes to continue to over run nature in Chiang Rai. Can you picture what Chiang Rai will look like in 5-10 years. The Prime Minister has never been here since she was elected. The pot holes on the roads get more and larger. The town is already full of people and no place to park. The 2 lane roads are starting to backup during the rush hour. You do notice that the government continues to build more and expensive buildings in the city to help compound the traffic when they don't want a big Tesco Store near town.

Land grabbing by rich Thais and Chinese is in full swing and they will continue to build in an uncontrolled unregulated way. Houses on government owned land in the mountains are being built at a fast rate. You have never heard of the forestry department taking big houses that are built with no Chanote deed on government land.

However bad these things are, we are still better off than the people in Chiang Mai.

[JAG]

One mans "cookie cutter house" may well be what a young couple have scraped and saved for, so they don't have to live in a rented room, or with their parents.

[klikster]

The 2-lane roads backed up at rush hour in '96. Sanambin Road used to be a nightmare when school finished. What else is new?

It's not so much the developments outside town, but the increase in the number of automobiles in town.

Does your dislike for the Chinese contribute to your disdain for this new housing estate?

[maidu]

The 2-lane roads backed up at rush hour in '96. Sanambin Road used to be a nightmare when school finished. What else is new?

It's not so much the developments outside town, but the increase in the number of automobiles in town.

Does your dislike for the Chinese contribute to your disdain for this new housing estate?

If it were Albanians building all the housing estates in every sector around Chiang Rai, I might mention that factor also.

[DonaldBattles]

The rapid trashing of Chiang Rai by hot Bangkok money continues. With no infrastructure development how can we expect to get around in town 5 years from now. In 7 years the traffic and population of Doi Hang (7 km from town) has more than tripled. Amazing Doi Hang. Karaoke Bars, slop chops and all night loud music. Still better than many other places.

[klikster]

While I may agree that over development and overly dense development is not usually a good thing, it's apparently being done by private money .. whether the money comes from China, Albania, or Mars.

Public money develops the type of infrastructure that reduces traffic congestion. Public policy sets out (or ignores) requirements for construction density, zoning etc.

Blame the developers if you choose, especially if they are Chinese, but you might need to look at Bangkok .. rather than Beijing for the root of the problem. That, of course, assumes that it is a real problem rather than a personal opinion.

As far as the population increase .. blame it on those darn Thais. How dare they movie up there where they don't belong.