I found this article on google news this morning and after reading it, I lost a bit of respect for the Huffington Post.

What's your opinion???

Thailand Journal I: Chiang Mai Bargirls

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/francis-levy/thailand-journal-i-chiang_b_4544586.html

If you disagree with the article, then please voice your opinion with the Huffington Post.

How bizarre.

That resembles Chiang Mai in no way at all. "The first thing one notices driving into the Northern Thai city of Chiang Mai from the airport at night are the bargirls." Really? Where? I'm trying to think which direction he could have driven that the first he noticed was the bar girls. Can't think of a single route where that's the first thing he would see.

"with shuttered storm fronts, weathered buildings and desolate factories testifying to its backwater status." Again, where on earth is he going in the city that he sees this?

This entire piece is a work of fiction by someone who maybe visited as a backpacker in 1989

I haven't done that drive at night for years. Could it be the author passed some of the karaoke bars with the girls hanging out front?

he is propaly relating to the karoke bars on chang klan road,must admit there is some hot girls there,but my wallet could not stand the experience.

"The first thing one notices driving into the Northern Thai city of Chiang Mai from the airport at night are the bargirls"

I don't think whoever wrote this has been to Chiangmai......I stopped reading after this sentance.

he is propaly relating to the karoke bars on chang klan road,must admit there is some hot girls there,but my wallet could not stand the experience.

You are probably right about the area.

I know a couple of girls that work in the karaoke and I don't think you would call them 'hot' if you saw them in 7/11 the next day, without the grunge on their face and their kid(s) in tow.

that article's been doing the rounds for a few weeks and the author's been called plenty on his seemingly not having been to chiang mai and his certainly never having traveled from the airport to the city at night. think it might even be a bot rather than an actual writer.

I tried Huffington Post a couple of years ago, partly for the news but mostly for the OpEd pieces. Just 3 days in I ditched it The way they reported news was so biased it was outrageous. They seem to be trying to be The Guardian of the online newspapers and openly displaying their politically correct, very Liberal (with a capital L) views and opinions. That's fair enough, but only for OpEd pieces. You can't have opinion and bias creeping into reporting of news.

I'll never go back there, they've done their dash for me.

Probably the most shallow, least-researched, glib, throwaway article I have ever read on Thailand. Virtually every sentence contains an inaccuracy and a misunderstanding based on a superficial summary of what the author saw going down the street.

It would be a waste of time trying to correct this.

I welcome stories like this, we need to stop having story after story about Chiang mai being in the top 5 places to retire to....

I tried Huffington Post a couple of years ago, partly for the news but mostly for the OpEd pieces. Just 3 days in I ditched it The way they reported news was so biased it was outrageous. They seem to be trying to be The Guardian of the online newspapers and openly displaying their politically correct, very Liberal (with a capital L) views and opinions. That's fair enough, but only for OpEd pieces. You can't have opinion and bias creeping into reporting of news.

I'll never go back there, they've done their dash for me.

it was and is a blog and aggregator, not a news site. and has never hidden its left leanings.

What a load of <deleted>. The first thing you should be noticing is the flyover, moat and lack of bar girls! CM the gateway to the Golden Triangle's temples lol.

he is propaly relating to the karoke bars on chang klan road,must admit there is some hot girls there,but my wallet could not stand the experience.

But its not "the first thing you notice"

Its about 5 kms from the airport.

Wouldn't you notice the huge, shiny modern Central Airport Plaza shopping mall first?

Lets discuss the writers [if indeed he is a writer] fictional fact story. And story it is , maybe even bordering on 'Fairy's Tail'.

Making a wild assumption that the writer even visited Chiang Mai, which too many find impossible to recogonize by his , perhaps drug or alcohol induced , description, accept for a second that he did have such a trip. Perhaps with a bit of miscommunication or distorted direction request, he found himself in a taxi trying to fill his vision of his greatself on the way to his dream destination. His request to the driver being "take me to the hottest, redlight district that you know "

He may have been driven by the southern route and the driver than took a short cut thru the Chiang Mai Land segment of our city. He may have been hor-moan-ally enticed into one of the karaoke clip joints and proceeded to have his dream fulfilled. Until , that is, the bill arrived. He may have expressed some objection in the fashion that only a westerner can express. He may have experienced a few minutes of underwear annointing fear. He may then have decided that his would get his revenge in such a way that he did not express his own cowardly or negative shortcumings. But what I can say, and do say, is that this mobile meat did not portray our Chiang Mai in any way that most of us know it to be..

So treat his writing for what it is........ hor-moan-aly induced fiction, being spermed and rejected, and written about in the Huff and Puff Post.

Obviously a keen student of CM given his response to posters about his enjoyment of the "Traphae Muay Thai stadium", "night market", and commentary on "King Mangrai"......I have so much to learn...and perhaps hit up the Traphae stadium tonight.

Taking the CM aspect out these are very poorly written, disjointed, and confusing pieces on Thailand. You could virtually substitute any city name any be non the wiser about the locale.

Good one Gonzo!! That seems like the scenario that could have gone down very easily.............but the downside of that story/blog is that we'll be invaded by a bunch of Pattaya addicts instead of old retiree geezers.

Anyone who trusts what the Huff says has another think coming. I've seen several articles linked on TV, generally inaccurate.

It's very pro-gay (nothing wrong with that!), but I can't help wondering if the author of this piece's problem was that he couldn't find a gay bar.

The net has a lot of this kind on bs on any topic you wish to explore.

I hope this guy has a day job because he surely isn't a writer.

David

Anyone who trusts what the Huff says has another think coming. I've seen several articles linked on TV, generally inaccurate.

It's very pro-gay (nothing wrong with that!), but I can't help wondering if the author of this piece's problem was that he couldn't find a gay bar.

Maybe he wasn't looking for one. Maybe he was taken from the air port to the Cabins addiction treatment center for obvious reasons.

How bizarre.

That resembles Chiang Mai in no way at all. "The first thing one notices driving into the Northern Thai city of Chiang Mai from the airport at night are the bargirls." Really? Where? I'm trying to think which direction he could have driven that the first he noticed was the bar girls. Can't think of a single route where that's the first thing he would see.

"with shuttered storm fronts, weathered buildings and desolate factories testifying to its backwater status." Again, where on earth is he going in the city that he sees this?

This entire piece is a work of fiction by someone who maybe visited as a backpacker in 1989

I'm just wondering though. Was his Airport taxi Bt1500? Maybe the taxi driver gave him a bit of a tour.

Could his flight have been diverted unbeknownst to U-Tapao, perhaps ?

I feel that the responders to this topic are being to sensitive to the facts - I have been here for almost 9 years now - I love CM - for the past few years I have been saying to my Thai wife what I see with my eyes as we drive makes me very sad - the writer as I see was only commenting as to what I see - who are these girls that sit on vacant streets with shops closed and looking into mirrors and popping perceived pimples and putting on another layer of makeup - no clients for whatever purpose - it has made me sad for there life's - 2 nights ago we were driving home fro a function at the Shangri-La streets empty and I had my window down and low and behold I received a Hello Hello from a row of young girls look for what in there life I don't know

From Amazon.com a review of his first novel. This guy has an agenda that is why The Huff carries him.

Editorial Reviews From Publishers Weekly

James Moran relishes his roommate's gourmet cooking, helps the homeless and is a sex addict having a wild affair with a woman with whom he has yet to exchange names. The sex, which dominates the first half of the book, leaves James wandering the streets in postcoital amnesia. But just as the sex threatens to overload the story, James decides to establish a real relationship with his lover, and things begin to shift: other vices—from alcohol to abstract expressionism—enter the picture, with disastrous results. The book's raw but thoughtful carnality comes off as at once serious, clever and crude in sending up the absurdities of contemporary hookings-up. It's not a traditional love story, but debut novelist Levy puts thought and genuine feeling behind all the doings. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Francis Levy has had short stories, criticism, humor, and poetry appear in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Village Voice, The East Hampton Star, and The Quarterly.

Ahh..so he's a nut-job wannabe novelist with a couple of self-published books under his belt.

Still, as mentioned above, I hope we see more articles like this about CM so it hopefully cuts down on the number of people coming here.

I think he must mean Karaoke Girls, that sit outside brightly lit premises on stools.

Unlike bar girls, you never go inside, but beckon them over to your car, they get in and you drive to a short time hotel.

Yes, they are everywhere in CM, but not really for the use of foreigners.

I think he must mean Karaoke Girls, that sit outside brightly lit premises on stools.

Unlike bar girls, you never go inside, but beckon them over to your car, they get in and you drive to a short time hotel.

Yes, they are everywhere in CM, but not really for the use of foreigners.

thanks for your post - I think you are correct - this is what a visitor sees and develops opinions

Ahh..so he's a nut-job wannabe novelist with a couple of self-published books under his belt.

Still, as mentioned above, I hope we see more articles like this about CM so it hopefully cuts down on the number of people coming here.

Wrong mesquite...........if anything it might attract more of the 'wrong' kind of people here.

We all know and agree that CM is more of a family town [growing into a city] and the fact that there are still the same 3 dead agogo bars that there was 15 yrs ago and the very few open air hostess beer bars with past their best years girls that can't make it in Patts is proof that CM is not the sex tourist destination that is south of us.

I did voice my opinion and posted a link to this thread with 'The Huff' contact us about corrections and waiting to hear from them.

I do like Arianna Huffington on Real Time with Bill Maher as she seems quite liberal, but she doesn't seem to be doing her job in editing content for her publications.

Ahh..so he's a nut-job wannabe novelist with a couple of self-published books under his belt.

Still, as mentioned above, I hope we see more articles like this about CM so it hopefully cuts down on the number of people coming here.

Wrong mesquite...........if anything it might attract more of the 'wrong' kind of people here.

We all know and agree that CM is more of a family town [growing into a city] and the fact that there are still the same 3 dead agogo bars that there was 15 yrs ago and the very few open air hostess beer bars with past their best years girls that can't make it in Patts is proof that CM is not the sex tourist destination that is south of us.

I did voice my opinion and posted a link to this thread with 'The Huff' contact us about corrections and waiting to hear from them.

I do like Arianna Huffington on Real Time with Bill Maher as she seems quite liberal, but she doesn't seem to be doing her job in editing content for her publications.

Wow if you are a lover of both your hosts of media I would think you would welcome anyone to visit and do their thing being the liberal you are - I would think that you would of sent the Huff what you just said but added the reality of the truth that maybe what he saw was the truth but not bargirls - you sound like the progressive that that acts like the liberal of do what you want but under our rules - my view let them all come and see and what you call the "wrong" kind of people will leave and spread the word!!

In Cm there are

3 go-gos

3 Soapy massage fishbowls

300 short-time hotels (allegedly)

100 Bars with a barfine policy

Numerous brothels and Karaokes

Endless massage parlours with everything on offer.

And countless uni girls free-lancing.

Not to mention 1000s of girls on TLL, happy to come for the weekend.

How many places do you need?