What's different about Chiang Mai?

[heybruce]

I think Winnie pretty much explained it in post #6, and some others have pretty much backed up what Winne wrote. Anywhere that you have an active party time city complete with sex tourism and beaches then it will attract the more seedy groups of people who prey on the drunken tourists. From what I've been told, cities like Angeles City in the Philippines, and Rio in South America, make Pattaya look like a church choir concert.

By contrast, Chiang Mai is more of a city for expats. It has a small red light district, but what city of that size anywhere doesn't?

Allegedly 300+ short-time hotels in CM. Seems a bit like overkill to me but I guess all those uni girls need to earn their tuition fees somewhere.

Just so we'll know if you're writing from experience, have you ever been lucky with a "uni girl"?

Just curious, the men I know who fantasize about university girls never get past the fantasy stage. None of the university students I know have expressed any interest in trading sex for money.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Just so we'll know if you're writing from experience, have you ever been lucky with a "uni girl"?

I married one.. does that count?

[Pops]

Plenty of drunken backpackers around CM. Though there certainly is less of a P4P scene. The thing is, many of the crimes in Phuket involve vacationing families. Even some of the hotel operators can be shady characters.

You say the magic word: Backpackers = Not much money.

Chiangmai has a lot of tourists but mostly backpackers.

That is why there is more criminality surrounding tourists in Phuket and Pataya.

[wolf5370]

Just so we'll know if you're writing from experience, have you ever been lucky with a "uni girl"?

I married one.. does that count?

Well that depends on whether you consider that "Lucky" or not

Edited August 4, 2013 by wolf5370

[Thighlander]

CNX is relatively affluent compared to other areas of Thailand, and the cost of living is lower. They can afford to be honest. They don't have to rely on ripping people off to feed their kids, like they do in BKK, Phuket, and Pattaya. Lately, I have noticed more Thais from other areas of Thailand coming to get a piece of the action. There are some honest TT drivers; they are still in the minority, and Tuk Tuks are frequently the catalyst in tourist' rip-offs, like the Karaoke ripoffs.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Just so we'll know if you're writing from experience, have you ever been lucky with a "uni girl"?

I married one.. does that count?

Well that depends on whether you consider that "Lucky" or not

LOL! So far so good, I suppose.

[rene123]

I think Winnie pretty much explained it in post #6, and some others have pretty much backed up what Winne wrote. Anywhere that you have an active party time city complete with sex tourism and beaches then it will attract the more seedy groups of people who prey on the drunken tourists. From what I've been told, cities like Angeles City in the Philippines, and Rio in South America, make Pattaya look like a church choir concert.

By contrast, Chiang Mai is more of a city for expats. It has a small red light district, but what city of that size anywhere doesn't?

Allegedly 300+ short-time hotels in CM. Seems a bit like overkill to me but I guess all those uni girls need to earn their tuition fees somewhere.

I guess I just don't travel in your circles. I've only noticed the farang oriented ones in the Loi Kroh road area. But I'm sure there are many for the Thai trade. I just don't have any cause to visit them. The bars and cafes in the Nimmanheman area seem a little up-scale to be hooker bars.

[AnotherOneAmerican]

I guess I just don't travel in your circles. I've only noticed the farang oriented ones in the Loi Kroh road area. But I'm sure there are many for the Thai trade. I just don't have any cause to visit them. The bars and cafes in the Nimmanheman area seem a little up-scale to be hooker bars.

End of Nimmanhamen, turn uphill Suthep Road to the next lights, look to your right sign on wall 'CM Uni Art Dept', look to your left down the small Soi, under the arch round the back, it isn't a coffee shop. About 100 girls, mostly uni students working there every day from 2:30pm until midnight.

The infamous 'ChiangMai housewives Club' also just off Nimmanhamen.

Edited August 6, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[Gnasher328]

Have to agree with those who state that CM gets a different type of tourist and Pattaya & Phuket, and with the comments that the people here are also different that the Thai in either of those two places. I've been here over 5 years, and I can't think of any other city I would rather live in. Yes, it's definitely changing, growing rapidly, but there sees to be a better understanding of how to grow and expand the right ways, instead of things just popping up haphazzardly like forest mushrooms after a rain.

When I read the stories about tuk-tuk incidents in P & P, I can't help but think of the time, 3 years ago, when I had a problem with my CBR not starting when parked in the side lot of Kad Suan Kaew Mall. I called my wife, who then called Honda, who had 2 guys in a truck there within 15 minutes. I then walked around to the front the mall were half a dozen tuk tuks were parked and asked, in English, if anyone there spoke English. One man smiled and said: Me do!". I told him I needed a ride home, and then explained where I live, which is close to BoSang, which he understood. It's almost exactly 18 kilometers from the mall to my house. He told me 250 baht. I didn't even try to bargain with him. When he pulled up to my driveway, I got out, paid him, and then gave him a new pack of Marlboro. He was like a kid at Christmas time. He quickly dug out a piece of paper and pencil and wrote his name and number down, handing it to me and telling me to call him if I ever needed a tuk tuk again.

Another time my wife and I were shopping for a 2nd hand fridge to take to our son up in Arunothai where he had just been appointed as a teacher. We found a nice on at a place along the moat, and my wife negotiated a good price. As we were finishing up, a Thai on old motorbike with the side cart puled up to drop some things off. My wife talked to him for a minute and he agreed to load the fridge onto his cart and follow us home. 200 baht. He even helped us carry it in and set it at the back of the driveway, out of the way of car and bikes. Wife then gave him three 20 gallon trash bags of tin cans and told him he could have those. He gave her his number and said if we needed someone to haul things away, to give him a call.

I can't see either of these two incidents happening in Phuket or Pattaya.

Will things change here? Over time that's more than likely, but I simply can't imagine it being anything close to what P & P are now.

Probably not the one that wanted 110Bht from Kad Suan Kaew to Hillside 4 then. And a bike shop opposite HS4 wanted 100 Bht to lube my chain when a can of lube is only @ 40-50 Bht.

I like CM but I fear the bigger it gets and the more tourists it might go the same way as others.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Gnasher328

[WinnieTheKhwai]

> I like CM but I fear the bigger it gets and the more tourists it might go the same way as others.

Good. we desperately need a couple decent daytime bars.

[heybruce]

I guess I just don't travel in your circles. I've only noticed the farang oriented ones in the Loi Kroh road area. But I'm sure there are many for the Thai trade. I just don't have any cause to visit them. The bars and cafes in the Nimmanheman area seem a little up-scale to be hooker bars.

End of Nimmanhamen, turn uphill Suthep Road to the next lights, look to your right sign on wall 'CM Uni Art Dept', look to your left down the small Soi, under the arch round the back, it isn't a coffee shop. About 100 girls, mostly uni students working there every day from 2:30pm until midnight.

The infamous 'ChiangMai housewives Club' also just off Nimmanhamen.

You gave directions to a hotel, I'm not sure if I can give the name, which does have a massage parlor. It doesn't have close to 100 girls (so I'm told) and I have my doubts about them being university students. Certainly not CMU students, CMU doesn't provide a degree with morning only classes, letting students work the rest of the day. I'm not sure if any local university has a class schedule that accommodating.

I've never heard of the ChiangMai housewives Club. Is that the yellow green building about 100 meters south of Beer Republic? I have looked inside there, it's good for a laugh but nothing more. It does undermine the claim that Nimmanhamin is a hi-so area. (WinnieTheKhwai, regarding your post "Good. we desperately need a couple decent daytime bars." This is a daytime bar, how desperate are you?)

I don't know of any traditional hooker bars (choose a girl, negotiate a price, pay a bar fine and look for a room) in the Nimmanhamin area. I'm sure there are at least a few prostitutes prowling around, but they are more discrete than in the old city.

Edited August 7, 2013 by heybruce

[AnotherOneAmerican]

I don't know of any traditional hooker bars (choose a girl, negotiate a price, pay a bar fine and look for a room) in the Nimmanhamin area. I'm sure there are at least a few prostitutes prowling around, but they are more discrete than in the old city.

Hooker bars are a foreigner only concept. Loi Kroh is a foreigner area.

It isn't the way Thais go about their business. Nimmanhamin is a Thai area.

Thais are generally horrified at the blatant and obvious way westerners pay for sex and are seen in public with prostitutes.

Edited August 8, 2013 by AnotherOneAmerican

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Is that the yellow green building about 100 meters south of Beer Republic? I have looked inside there, it's good for a laugh but nothing more. It does undermine the claim that Nimmanhamin is a hi-so area. (WinnieTheKhwai, regarding your post "Good. we desperately need a couple decent daytime bars." This is a daytime bar, how desperate are you?)

Yes that's the place that many sexpats persist in calling the housewives club. Staff are the usual mix of hilltribe and Shan people; it would take some leap of the imagination to call them housewives.

And yes, I have been that desperate, back in 2000 or so when there were far fewer bars and I had to entertain a group of visiting friends. I was actually successful in keeping them entertained for several days.. they came away with quite a good impression of Chiang Mai as a place to go out and misbehave.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

I don't know of any traditional hooker bars (choose a girl, negotiate a price, pay a bar fine and look for a room) in the Nimmanhamin area. I'm sure there are at least a few prostitutes prowling around, but they are more discrete than in the old city.

Hooker bars are a foreigner only concept. Loi Kroh is a foreigner area.

It isn't the way Thais go about their business. Nimmanhamin is a Thai area.

Thais are generally horrified at the blatant and obvious way westerners pay for sex and are seen in public with prostitutes.

When you live in a place you have to keep up appearances. When on holiday and nobody knows you, a lot of those considerations go out the window, leading to more meaningful extended 'relationships' with bargirls, where you can and do just take them for dinner, shopping, see a movie, visit Huay Tueng Thao and so on.

So are they horrified.. maybe some. Others do exactly the same if they can grab a girl and go holiday with her in Phuket or some place else where they can enjoy some privacy.

[heybruce]

Is that the yellow green building about 100 meters south of Beer Republic? I have looked inside there, it's good for a laugh but nothing more. It does undermine the claim that Nimmanhamin is a hi-so area. (WinnieTheKhwai, regarding your post "Good. we desperately need a couple decent daytime bars." This is a daytime bar, how desperate are you?)

Yes that's the place that many sexpats persist in calling the housewives club. Staff are the usual mix of hilltribe and Shan people; it would take some leap of the imagination to call them housewives.

And yes, I have been that desperate, back in 2000 or so when there were far fewer bars and I had to entertain a group of visiting friends. I was actually successful in keeping them entertained for several days.. they came away with quite a good impression of Chiang Mai as a place to go out and misbehave.

Thanks, I just learned a little more about Chiang Mai. Believe or not I found the place accidently; during Songkan I was walking to the old city (I don't use my motorbike during Songkran because I don't want to die) and a lady in front of the yellow house splashed water on me in an interesting manner. I had trouble believing a place like that exists in the Nimmanhamin area so I stopped by after Songkran for a beer and to check it out. I think the ladies working there now may be the same ones working there in 2000, and they were probably a bit past their prime then. They were pleasant but after one large beer, which I shared with two of the three ladies working, I left. I wish the ladies well, they really were pleasant and I'm sure they're hard up, but I'm not going back.