Ask yourself to name a Thai universal invention, a scientist, a writer, a pop star, a song writer, a medical breakthrough; nobel prize winner; a sports star, and the list goes on and on.. We all know which part of the globe that talent comes from.

Pop Star

Takatan Chonlata, Cream Pimwalay, Gratair, Carabao, GangGeng, Morgan, Pamela Bowden to name just a few.

Simply wind back the clock 15 years and all would be good... no immigration hassles, no shopping mall/moobaan overload, no whining sexpats.

Ask yourself to name a Thai universal invention, a scientist, a writer, a pop star, a song writer, a medical breakthrough; nobel prize winner; a sports star, and the list goes on and on.. We all know which part of the globe that talent comes from.

Muay Thai? hitting each other is about the only thing I can think of - does Nana Plaza count?

Edited May 15, 201313 yr by binjalin

This thread seems to have cleverly disguised its way through various Thai visa rules; that being not to be derogatory to Thai people, its Government and its Cities.

All “our” wishes are infact being critical of Drivers, food, traffic systems, Government lack of direction and jurisdiction, police; immigration; housing, airports, public transport.

It is certainly true that we should not try to change Chiang Mai to suit our own needs per se but you have to wonder that every change that has come about has been by Western influence and ideas.

It seems to me, (how can I be respectful here?) that the Thai system in general has not allowed its people to get ahead, to be a leader, to speak out for their opinion. They have been suppressed by tradition and religion.

Ask yourself to name a Thai universal invention, a scientist, a writer, a pop star, a song writer, a medical breakthrough; nobel prize winner; a sports star, and the list goes on and on.. We all know which part of the globe that talent comes from.

The city will develop, and the wheels of beaurocracy will turn very slowly but the ideas when they are put into practice will be Western ideas. The future will improve for them and for us but until then we have to accept their ways and try not to be critical.

Expats here are covertly very influential in raising awareness, raising standards, improving discipline……..but we are still too hard faced to truly integrate with this community directly...and of course they will need the credit for thinking of the idea themselves.

Iced tea anyone?....hmm Liptons….(oh and he was a Scot)

I know plenty of smart Thais. Good bankers/lawyers/dentists/doctors. The US Government charges 9 USD for a hamburger on Amtrack; it loses another 8 USD...and it probably won't be as good as MCD. We all know there are thousands of small Thai restaurants that can give you a meal for 1 USD that will probably be more than sufficient and might even give you long term cravings. Put differently, there are lots of good business people in the bunch. Something tells me if all farang boycotted tuk-tuks; the amount of scam reports would drop dramatically. There are some honest ones (I don't know them), but they really should be policing themselves more. Seems like they could honestly make way more than minimum wage, and still do a lot of napping. Sure would beat the heck out of driving a school bus.

Edited May 15, 201313 yr by Thighlander

hellodolly, on 14 May 2013 - 07:50, said:

WinnieTheKhwai, on 14 May 2013 - 04:31, said:

hellodolly, on 14 May 2013 - 03:02, said:

WinnieTheKhwai, on 13 May 2013 - 23:33, said:

Also, we need more gogo bars.

Would that mean bringing in more go go dancers from out of town there by contributing to the size of the bar scene in Chiang Mai,

Maybe even rival Pattaya?

It means restoring Cosy Corner / John's Place to the original function, and turning the existing one near the boxing ring into something that more closely resembles Windmill.

If I want Pattaya then I can just go to Pattaya; that's a lot easier and likely more fruitful than chucking some baht into a wishing well.

Why didn't you just say you wanted a time machine.

Ehm, no. Because Chiang Mai never ever had a place like Windmill.

And also because almost everything else is MUCH better now, all things I really would not want to lose with something as crude as a time machine.

Edited May 15, 201313 yr by WinnieTheKhwai

Simply wind back the clock 15 years and all would be good... no immigration hassles, no shopping mall/moobaan overload, no whining sexpats.

No hypermarkets (hello Tops & Kad Luang, nothing else), one crappy cinema showing 'Soundtrack' movies, a desperate 7-11 shortage, phone calls to Bangkok costing a ridiculous amount, crappy roads, Only the Night Bazar rip-off (no Walking Street market), no reggae bars and far fewer bars of any kind, Nimmanhaemin was a dark suburbia, very limited schooling options for kids, buying just about anyhting out of the ordinary required a trip to Bangkok or ordering from there, (more) frequent power cuts, an EXTREMELY limited choice of non-Thai food options, Aom Muang was a dark, congested place (Train going past: huge traffic jam), Superhighway took forever without tunnels, etc, etc, etc. It was hell! (Ok, no, I enjoyed myself. But if all those things were to disappear overnight then that would feel pretty hellish to me right now)

Edited May 15, 201313 yr by WinnieTheKhwai

my top six

1. BTS

From where to where, exactly? And would you really want that concrete thing in the sky?

I would wish to get rid of inappropriately dressed foreigners.

No girls with side-boobs, bra-less or uncovered shoulders.

No topless men, or men wearing swimming trunks or short-shorts wandering around the moat.

Ask yourself to name a Thai universal invention, a scientist, a writer, a pop star, a song writer, a medical breakthrough; nobel prize winner; a sports star, and the list goes on and on.. We all know which part of the globe that talent comes from.

Pop Star

Takatan Chonlata, Cream Pimwalay, Gratair, Carabao, GangGeng, Morgan, Pamela Bowden to name just a few.

Whilst I appreciate the effort my point being universally respected. I am not sure anyone outside Thailand has heard of any of these people. however you did your best with the list, now try to do the other categories.

we will influence change but they will never influence the world

Ask yourself to name a Thai universal invention, a scientist, a writer, a pop star, a song writer, a medical breakthrough; nobel prize winner; a sports star, and the list goes on and on.. We all know which part of the globe that talent comes from.

Pop Star

Takatan Chonlata, Cream Pimwalay, Gratair, Carabao, GangGeng, Morgan, Pamela Bowden to name just a few.

Whilst I appreciate the effort my point being universally respected. I am not sure anyone outside Thailand has heard of any of these people. however you did your best with the list, now try to do the other categories.

we will influence change but they will never influence the world

How many French pop groups can you name (or Belgium, or Russian or South African?)

Ask yourself to name a Thai universal invention, a scientist, a writer, a pop star, a song writer, a medical breakthrough; nobel prize winner; a sports star, and the list goes on and on.. We all know which part of the globe that talent comes from.

Pop Star

Takatan Chonlata, Cream Pimwalay, Gratair, Carabao, GangGeng, Morgan, Pamela Bowden to name just a few.

Whilst I appreciate the effort my point being universally respected. I am not sure anyone outside Thailand has heard of any of these people. however you did your best with the list, now try to do the other categories.

we will influence change but they will never influence the world

How many French pop groups can you name (or Belgium, or Russian or South African?)

Daftpunk are French - I didn't need to google

Now you talk like a Red Shirt!

Thai system in general has not allowed its people to get ahead, to be a leader, to speak out for their opinion. They have been suppressed by tradition and religion.

my top six

1. BTS

From where to where, exactly? And would you really want that concrete thing in the sky?

down huay kaew would be nice?

my top six

1. BTS

From where to where, exactly? And would you really want that concrete thing in the sky?

Over the hills to Pai

"Submerging deeper into utopian fantasia, I envisioned that everywhere in Chiang Mai, on that day, Farangs would wave to each other, whenever they met, or passed on the sidewalk, and sing-out ... you know what."

As I explained earlier, in another post, this is perfectly possible

But it would not be cool.

Long timers do not want to wave and appear as if they are tourists fresh off the boat from Iowa with corn in their pocket.

I wish for less air polution in Febuary/March

I wish the Thai government would allow a foreigner with a Retirement Visa to volunteer at a school to help Thai students with their English.

Presently, many of the schools think this is a grand idea, but the foreigner risks deportation if he is reported to Immigration by someone. Alas, it can be considered working without a "work permit".

A Carl's Jnr.

Yes Yes Yes!

And do a proper job on Night Bazaar road with permanent stalls on a widened footpath, and a few footbridges to allow browsers to wander over safely.

The noise and other pollution of lugging those bloody trolleys up and down every single day has always seemed to me to be a patently ridiculous and wasted effort.

Chinese Takeaways

What authentic Chinese, or Chop Suey, Sweet & Sour Prawn Balls, Beef Fried Rice, Chow Mein & Spring Rolls etc?

Authentic anything other than thai food here would be nice

May I suggest you try McDonald's and Burger KKng?

They can't even do those right

Kebab carts, maybe 8 ot 10 around the city.

Guess you don't get out too often? There are already a few around the city.

My secret wish for Chiang Mai, is that there were a few more of these, now sadly lacking in the Chiang Mai social scene.

I wish I would wake up one day, and find that CM had turned into Paris, France, but still at CM prices, more or less!

Quick stabilization at present population number within 2 years..

What more could most people ask for?

Install 10 Olympic size indoor swimming pools and keep the water at 26 degrees.

Ice skating rink. (indoors)

Free WIFI throughout the city providing 100 Mbps connections to everyone. (Easy to Do. Just Ask Google.)

That's enough.

(I have not had a pizza in over 10 years (no joke) I'll wait for the WIFI before I again touch one of those pies)

Can you say the same?

Dream on folks...for deep down ye all know that materialism, greed and corruption shall surely prevail here.

Those of us who, over decades, raised altruistic voices in protest at the demise of Lanna traditions, the disintegration of cultural values and rampant disrespect for the environment did so in vain - we should perhaps have known better than to join those dedicated associations and well-intentioned tree-planting projects, and just enjoyed life instead.

So looking back, expect ye more of the same, less oxygen, fewer trees, more hotels, more bars and bright lights on Nimman and elsewhere, much more construction, more cars, more one-way systems, more highways, and many many more tourists, particularly from China.

Expect ye all prices to rise, old-fashioned courtesy to gradually disappear, and aspirations of a 'green' Chiang Mai to wither, or be poisoned by the carcinogenic smoke of annual burning season, which is probably not going to stop until there are no forests or farmland left to burn.

The high speed train, if it ever arrives, will disgorge passengers into a hot crowded city where if they don't have a car, they'll be at the mercy of avaricious taxi drivers, for the dreams of a tramway system, alas, evaporated a long time ago.

That may sound pessimistic, but in truth, current and future generations may not mind such an urban horror story. They may in fact love the 21st century Asian city 'buzz' intensely, the only danger being the city's broken pavements, which are incompatible with texting or I-Poding, but nobody will be walking anywhere, anyway. They will enjoy the New Age Chiang Mai to the full, and why should they not?

Old folks, who saw the city's better days, can continue dreaming, or just try to appreciate what is left - which thankfully, is still quite a lot. So let's have another glass of wine...

Edited May 17, 201313 yr by jko

I would like a big warning sign when the Thai police have set up a road block around a blind corner.

My not so secret wish for Chiang Mai would be

For someone to please remove the 'A' from Chiang

So that I can stop worrying about mispronouncing it

Every day.

Less punters who call themselves "teachers" who are simply farangs with some two week "teaching English in a foreign language" guff piece of paper. Also penny pinching farangs who haggle over a few baht and don't tip.

My own parking space outside the Red Lion .

Kebab carts, maybe 8 ot 10 around the city.

Guess you don't get out too often? There are already a few around the city.

Viet Nam Flavour.

I dream of:

- A well designed public transport system, preferably with the main system above ground something similar to the light rail system in Kuala Lumpur.

- Well coordinated to change lines where needed.

- Well coordinated with ground transport at most rail stations.

- Reasonable fares with multi use ticketing and with monthly passes etc.

I wish / I hope / I'm not holding my breath for tomorrow.