I just got the word that Minor International is taking over Brix at Hotel M (next to Tapae Gate), and they will turn it into another Burger King. Grand opening on April 10th.

Too bad, I really enjoyed that place for people watching and good Thai food. I don't really feel we need more junk food in CM.

Great news - BK far better than MacD - opp in the Imm Hotel

Great news - BK far better than MacD - opp in the Imm Hotel

Might be great news for some but fast food franchises ,in my opinion,just take away one of the reasons most people like coming to Chiang mai, to enjoy a different environment.If you want the city to be taken over by McDonalds ,KFC ,Starbucks etc etc,which is the direction it seems to be heading, may as well as stay in your home country.

Great news - BK far better than MacD - opp in the Imm Hotel

Might be great news for some but fast food franchises ,in my opinion,just take away one of the reasons most people like coming to Chiang mai, to enjoy a different environment.If you want the city to be taken over by McDonalds ,KFC ,Starbucks etc etc,which is the direction it seems to be heading, may as well as stay in your home country.

Yeah I agree. 7 or 8? whatever... McDonalds in a city this size is ridiculous. Not saying I'm against them or other Western names altogether but why in the old historical part of the city and not in the modern shopping malls? Pretty soon there will be no history left and only modern over-development.

yea, though I support free enterprise, preserving what is left of the "old city' feeling, would be a good move for CM tourism...... and ambiance.

Great news - BK far better than MacD - opp in the Imm Hotel

Might be great news for some but fast food franchises ,in my opinion,just take away one of the reasons most people like coming to Chiang mai, to enjoy a different environment.If you want the city to be taken over by McDonalds ,KFC ,Starbucks etc etc,which is the direction it seems to be heading, may as well as stay in your home country.

Have you traveled around the world at all? I don't have to "stay in" my "home country" to find a McD, BK, KFC, Starbucks etc. OK, they've got a McDonald's at Thapae Gate, one on super highway and then in the malls. Doesn't really sound like CM is being over taken by "fast food." Nor have I ever seen a Burger King here, fyi. Geez, some people and their drama.

The "Old City" feeling is about zero except within the immediate area of the gates, with the exception of Thapae which has increasingly little to see except fast food outlets and now I see two or three giant TV/Electronic Billboards have appeared near McDonalds. Only a matter of time before they let them run stadium level sound through them as well.

It's a great pity the the Tourist Authority isn't run by people with some imagination and international experience and that the planning department operates solely for the benefit of the advertisers and the Big Power set that pull the financial strings. Geese and Golden Egg comes to mind...

There's hardly a spot in the city where you can get a clear view of Doi Suthep without a giant billboard in the way. What do you tell a visitor who wants to see Old Chiang Mai (Rose Of The North).

Buddahmind: BK at the airport and a 24hr one in Chang Klan Road. Bet you there are 5 within 18 months.

Edited February 5, 201313 yr by Greenside

You can still people watch from the new BK and 99% of the thai food here taste the same , unless there is a really talented chef.

Why do people get so dramatic over a western franchise, it's just a hamburger place.

A clean air conditioned restaurant in that area is welcome. Now i dont have to sweat while i eat.

These outlets are for Thai people as well,they enjoy a change of cuisine.

Whose city is it?

You can still people watch from the new BK and 99% of the thai food here taste the same , unless there is a really talented chef.

Why do people get so dramatic over a western franchise, it's just a hamburger place.

A clean air conditioned restaurant in that area is welcome. Now i dont have to sweat while i eat.

It specifically places like Burger King, McDonalds, Starbucks etc about which people have a bug up there butt, not about fast food in general. Compared the reaction towards this BK to when the Duke's Burger stand was about the open. The impending arrival of the later was anticipated with glee by the TV faithful.

This not about the food, it's about homogenisation of the environment. Life's a lot less rich if every place you go looks the same (and if the food tastes the same too then that's another black mark in my book).

Sure, the locals like this stuff. They've seen it in the movies and on TV until they're convinced it'll make them happy and attractive. Just like all the whitening creams in the pharmacy...

Wow - a Burger King in Chiang Mai. This will really put Chiang Mai on the map as a cosmopolitan city.

Wow - a Burger King in Chiang Mai. This will really put Chiang Mai on the map as a cosmopolitan city.

No big deal. 20 years ago the Thapae Gate area was a bunch of really terrible hole-in-the-wall Western restaurants,sleazy girly bars and even less ambience than now. The illusionary "real" Thailand is long gone.

Edited February 5, 201313 yr by Ulysses G.

When I was growing up in the US in the 70s & 80s locally baked bread was hard to find and locally made beers didn't exist unless you lived right near a gigantic factory brewery. Nowadays there are small craft bakeries and breweries everywhere. The homogenizing trend towards mega stores and fast food franchises is real and sometimes depressing but it's not all-encompassing or irreversible. Tastes change and so does the market.

Great news - BK far better than MacD - opp in the Imm Hotel

Might be great news for some but fast food franchises ,in my opinion,just take away one of the reasons most people like coming to Chiang mai, to enjoy a different environment.If you want the city to be taken over by McDonalds ,KFC ,Starbucks etc etc,which is the direction it seems to be heading, may as well as stay in your home country.

Have you traveled around the world at all? I don't have to "stay in" my "home country" to find a McD, BK, KFC, Starbucks etc. OK, they've got a McDonald's at Thapae Gate, one on super highway and then in the malls. Doesn't really sound like CM is being over taken by "fast food." Nor have I ever seen a Burger King here, fyi. Geez, some people and their drama.

Have I travelled around the world ? yes I have,sounds like you havent travelled much around Chiang Mai if thats all you can come up with.No one is making a drama out of it,only yourself ,its just opinions,relax.

Virtually every city on the planet has a BK, whats the problem for some of you. CM is PACKED with various food outlets from all over. Sometimes folk don't want to be a rice muncher every day, and for sure McD's and BK are the biggest supplier of what most folk want from time to time anywhere.

Great news - BK far better than MacD - opp in the Imm Hotel

Might be great news for some but fast food franchises ,in my opinion,just take away one of the reasons most people like coming to Chiang mai, to enjoy a different environment.If you want the city to be taken over by McDonalds ,KFC ,Starbucks etc etc,which is the direction it seems to be heading, may as well as stay in your home country.

Ever spent any time with a Thai? They expect food to be served fast and within minutes of them being hungry, so fast convenient food is exactly what they like, be it 7-11 or a roadside nodle shop. I have seen them frustrated in Burger King having to wait slightly longer!

Any chance it will be a drive through? Number of times you almost get a ticket stoppng at the McDs' in town is rediculous. Could they open up the area in front of Thapae Gate for parking? McD's and Burger King could sponsor a traffic warden to help people across the road.

They should re release the advert for 'Mong Hill tribes people'!

Iain

Great news - BK far better than MacD - opp in the Imm Hotel

Might be great news for some but fast food franchises ,in my opinion,just take away one of the reasons most people like coming to Chiang mai, to enjoy a different environment.If you want the city to be taken over by McDonalds ,KFC ,Starbucks etc etc,which is the direction it seems to be heading, may as well as stay in your home country.

Ever spent any time with a Thai? They expect food to be served fast and within minutes of them being hungry, so fast convenient food is exactly what they like, be it 7-11 or a roadside nodle shop. I have seen them frustrated in Burger King having to wait slightly longer!

Thats nothing compared to a dissatisfied farang...He'll let the whole restaurant know why the waiter is an &!@# if he gets the order wrong, because he cant understand what the heck the farang is saying. Then he'll go on to prosecute the Thai waiter asking him if he understands Thai .

Some farangotangs amuse me.

I agree another BK will not kill the fun around ....it's another cleaner toilet to go to

Great news - BK far better than MacD - opp in the Imm Hotel

Might be great news for some but fast food franchises ,in my opinion,just take away one of the reasons most people like coming to Chiang mai, to enjoy a different environment.If you want the city to be taken over by McDonalds ,KFC ,Starbucks etc etc,which is the direction it seems to be heading, may as well as stay in your home country.

Yeah I agree. 7 or 8? whatever... McDonalds in a city this size is ridiculous. Not saying I'm against them or other Western names altogether but why in the old historical part of the city and not in the modern shopping malls? Pretty soon there will be no history left and only modern over-development.

Correct...

In Luxor the best view of the Temple of Luxor is from the upstairs window of McDonalds...crazy

(Not my photo but I've been there)

Virtually every city on the planet has a BK, whats the problem for some of you. CM is PACKED with various food outlets from all over. Sometimes folk don't want to be a rice muncher every day, and for sure McD's and BK are the biggest supplier of what most folk want from time to time anywhere.

Not in Australia they don't. Outlawed them. No, not really but some bloke got in first with the Burger King name in a shop in Adelaide. They they then had to come up with a new name - Hundry Jack's. But that didn't hold them back as they are now the second largest Burger King franchise in the world with over 300 stores. Just goes to show that us Aussies like to eat a lot of shit.

yea, though I support free enterprise, preserving what is left of the "old city' feeling, would be a good move for CM tourism...... and ambiance.

My parents had a house on a small beach resprt. The island had a rule, no major chains allowed.

This could be a great rule for CM on the INSIDE of the moat, grandfather the ones there now like black canyon.

No big deal. 20 years ago the Thapae Gate area was a bunch of really terrible hole-in-the-wall Western restaurants,sleazy girly bars and even less ambience than now. The illusionary "real" Thailand is long gone.

Agree with the former, but of course it's not gone. Far from it. Not even on the way.

Actually Brix at Hotel M already has great, clean toilet facilities (some of the most interesting in CM-- and I know my toilets) plus it's clean and airconditioned. What it lacks are customers, especially during the "off season". In fact, this year they shut down fro 2 pm - 5 pm during the low season, which I don't remember them doing before. It was always a great place to "hang out", meet people to talk, make phone calls, etc, in cool comfort all for the price of a cheap bottle of water.

So, from a business sense, I guess it makes sense to turn the restaurant into a BK, but I'll miss have a quiet, clean, cool place with a good toilet to meet people to chat.

Edited February 5, 201313 yr by NancyL

What it lacks are customers, especially during the "off season". In fact, this year they shut down fro 2 pm - 5 pm during the low season, which I don't remember them doing before. It was always a great place to "hang out", meet people to talk, make phone calls, etc, in cool comfort all for the price of a cheap bottle of water.

...or maybe it lacks valued customers ;-)

Great news - BK far better than MacD - opp in the Imm Hotel

Might be great news for some but fast food franchises ,in my opinion,just take away one of the reasons most people like coming to Chiang mai, to enjoy a different environment.If you want the city to be taken over by McDonalds ,KFC ,Starbucks etc etc,which is the direction it seems to be heading, may as well as stay in your home country.

Yeah I agree. 7 or 8? whatever... McDonalds in a city this size is ridiculous. Not saying I'm against them or other Western names altogether but why in the old historical part of the city and not in the modern shopping malls? Pretty soon there will be no history left and only modern over-development.

Old town.. historical part of the city.. come on .. people reading these descriptions of Chiang Mai that have never visited would think its some sort of preserved peacefull oasis backwater not the trashed overdeveloped traffic choked polluted tourist trap it has become

Actually Brix at Hotel M already has great, clean toilet facilities (some of the most interesting in CM-- and I know my toilets) plus it's clean and airconditioned. What it lacks are customers, especially during the "off season".

Back when it was JJ, and before they starting messing about and fiddling with formats, it did not lack customers.

No big deal. 20 years ago the Thapae Gate area was a bunch of really terrible hole-in-the-wall Western restaurants,sleazy girly bars and even less ambience than now. The illusionary "real" Thailand is long gone.

Agree with the former, but of course it's not gone. Far from it. Not even on the way.

It is long gone from the Thapae Gate area and having a Burger King there is not going to make a bit of difference one way or the other.