Useful insiders tips for travellers visiting ChiangMai

[Mcffee]

Hello, I am collecting all the 'Useful insiders tips for travellers visiting ChiangMai' that I discovered in the past 20 years, about unknown but sometimes very useful, or just remarkable things, that are unknown to visitors. One example is 'Mister Boxmaker', the friendly elderly man who, together with his brother has a shop right next to the main postoffice. His brother has a car tire-service in front, and he makes custom cupboard boxes in the backside.

He does really good job and it is a pleasure to watch him doing this, he always has a stock of materials, carboard, foam chips, styropor board, bubble wrap etc. to make any kind of box you need for very low prices. Visitors always go to the small shipping services in the Nightbazar area that charge sometimes 800-1000b for a crappy box made of used material, but the Boxmaker makes very strong ones using only new materials for 60-120b. This man is really a chem, made lots and lots of boxes for me and friends. Beside, he also passioned with making a kind of music instruments -forgot what exactly- and he loves to talk about it. Who knows other more or less 'secret' unique things like services, restaurants, places, people etc. in ChiangMai that may not be mentioned in the popular travel guides?

-

edit: typo

Edited October 30, 2014 by Mcffee

[dave2]

are you dee mfee .... the graffiti artist ?

dave2

[daveAustin]

Are you 'Mister Boxmaker' in disguise? Sounds good, although it'll no longer be unknown to visitors of course. Here's a tip for you, if you don't have a Thai driving license and thus have to pay to enter Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, hide behind a group of Thais to make it through their entrance.

[quidnunc]

Which post office is the main post office? The one on Charoen Muang?

[VillageIdiot]

Are you 'Mister Boxmaker' in disguise? Sounds good, although it'll no longer be unknown to visitors of course. Here's a tip for you, if you don't have a Thai driving license and thus have to pay to enter Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, hide behind a group of Thais to make it through their entrance.

Is there any topic, however positive or upbeat that you can't twist around to put Thailand or the Thais in a bad light?

[beau thai]

Are you 'Mister Boxmaker' in disguise? Sounds good, although it'll no longer be unknown to visitors of course. Here's a tip for you, if you don't have a Thai driving license and thus have to pay to enter Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, hide behind a group of Thais to make it through their entrance.

Is there any topic, however positive or upbeat that you can't twist around to put Thailand or the Thais in a bad light?

Seems a bit tough on Dave! Thought he was just giving a hint for miserly farang to sneak in without payment- surely puts farang in a bad light if anyone?? 555

[VillageIdiot]

Are you 'Mister Boxmaker' in disguise? Sounds good, although it'll no longer be unknown to visitors of course. Here's a tip for you, if you don't have a Thai driving license and thus have to pay to enter Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, hide behind a group of Thais to make it through their entrance.

Is there any topic, however positive or upbeat that you can't twist around to put Thailand or the Thais in a bad light?

Seems a bit tough on Dave! Thought he was just giving a hint for miserly farang to sneak in without payment- surely puts farang in a bad light if anyone?? 555

Yes, you're right... I was just out of sorts at the time I posted.

[Greenside]

Good project Mcffee

Those kind of things are what I like to try and feature on my map, too. No time to write now but I'll contribute some items for you.

[slipperylobster]

ok...boxes...ummm Thanks.

I can whip up some plastic bags, if you need some.

[Beng]

Which post office is the main post office? The one on Charoen Muang?

That's the one.

[Mcffee]

Which post office is the main post office? The one on Charoen Muang?

The one on the road in Sankampeang direction, before the train station is the main postoffice. Just before you find the box maker. (outside you see car tires)

[Mcffee]

Good project Mcffee

Those kind of things are what I like to try and feature on my map, too. No time to write now but I'll contribute some items for you.

What kind of map are you working on?

[Mcffee]

Are you 'Mister Boxmaker' in disguise? Sounds good, although it'll no longer be unknown to visitors of course. Here's a tip for you, if you don't have a Thai driving license and thus have to pay to enter Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, hide behind a group of Thais to make it through their entrance.

Have you tried this out? There only must be a group of Thais available, and you must be not a very tall person. (thinking of the joke 'why does an elephant has red eyes? - to hide himselves in a strawberry field') The sick 'foreigners this way' sign always was a reason for me to not visit this 'ATM temple'. I used to know a very curious European guy who managed to enter the 'private area' below, by carrying an empty box. He told the guard that he came to bring new study books for the monks. Thus in that area he took the time to look around and discovered 'the big garbage slide' that ends in the woods below (...) Thanks for the tip, I will include it in my list.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Mcffee

[Mcffee]

are you dee mfee .... the graffiti artist ?

dave2

No I am not a grafitti artist nor a tagger, mcffee became the abbreviation for my website mekongcoffee.com that started to lead it's own life, now often chosed as my register name. I am also not affiliated with the extravagant, coke-sniffing antivirus developer who killed his neighbour.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Mcffee

[northernjohn]

I think the ones you are referring to in the night Bazaar area also include the shipping in that price. boxes are cheap.

[Mcffee]

I think the ones you are referring to in the night Bazaar area also include the shipping in that price. boxes are cheap.

Not the case that I know, one of the shipping shops along Tapae Soi 1 ripped off a family and charged over 800b for a really lousy box that could not even be closed, needed to carry an electric toy car on the plane. For 800b also you can't ship much more then an enveloppe with documents.

Have you got any 'insider tips' ? A lot of discussion but where are the tips?

[Beetlejuice]

Which post office is the main post office? The one on Charoen Muang?

The one on the road in Sankampeang direction, before the train station is the main postoffice. Just before you find the box maker. (outside you see car tires)

Making cardboard boxes in the backside sounds like a painful experience to me and not something I would care to watch.

Good advertising though done in a discrete way.

[Oscar2]

Are you 'Mister Boxmaker' in disguise? Sounds good, although it'll no longer be unknown to visitors of course. Here's a tip for you, if you don't have a Thai driving license and thus have to pay to enter Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, hide behind a group of Thais to make it through their entrance.

Is there any topic, however positive or upbeat that you can't twist around to put Thailand or the Thais in a bad light?

doubtfully. one has to wonder why he is here since he hates Thais and Thailand so much. what a wet blanket!

[Mcffee]

Which post office is the main post office? The one on Charoen Muang?

The one on the road in Sankampeang direction, before the train station is the main postoffice. Just before you find the box maker. (outside you see car tires)

Making cardboard boxes in the backside sounds like a painful experience to me and not something I would care to watch.

Good advertising though done in a discrete way.

Sir, may I know why you are spoiling my topic with your negativity and cynism?

Ofcourse, I cannot look into your mind or your soul, I do not know how much you have suffered, or were cheated and disapppointed during your life in Thailand. I have lived there for two decades and I know the culture very well, as we all do on ThaiVisa.

Yet maybe you should consider yourself to end your obvious habit of spitting negativity, cynism and trolling all over the place. Because all you do is confirming the caricature of the 'frustrated old expats in Thailand'.

While thousands of expats contribute so much to this forum by sharing helpful information, there is also a group that only abuse ThaiVisa to ventilate their permanent frustrations. Don't be one of those forum polluters and learn to stay on topic, unless you are a 6 year old.

By the way, now I do live permanently in Europe, and ofcourse I am not affiliated to the friendly old man who helps people with his beautiful boxes, I do not even know his name. Perhaps you better re-read the opening topic and contribute something, but not your mental frustrations. How many percentage of your 6,487 posts were nothing but trolling and cynical oneliners that really nobody was waiting for?

Or either come with a good contribution or just go away. Perhaps it is time for you to take a break.

Good luck to you sir.

-

And don't forget to take your medicines.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Mcffee

[AnotherOneAmerican]

Are you 'Mister Boxmaker' in disguise? Sounds good, although it'll no longer be unknown to visitors of course. Here's a tip for you, if you don't have a Thai driving license and thus have to pay to enter Wat Prathat Doi Suthep, hide behind a group of Thais to make it through their entrance.

Or go up the back steps.

[Mapguy]

[northernjohn]

I think the ones you are referring to in the night Bazaar area also include the shipping in that price. boxes are cheap.

Not the case that I know, one of the shipping shops along Tapae Soi 1 ripped off a family and charged over 800b for a really lousy box that could not even be closed, needed to carry an electric toy car on the plane. For 800b also you can't ship much more then an enveloppe with documents.

Have you got any 'insider tips' ? A lot of discussion but where are the tips?

Yes get your geography right Tapae Soi 1 is not in the night bazaar. Also I doubt they paid 800 baht for a carton. If the box can not be shut take some thing out of it. There is a post office in the Anurson (sorry about the spelling) market you can get small boxes also the Ping post office has many different size boxes they will even seal them up for you. Care to give us the dimensions of this gigantic box some one paid 800 baht for?

[Mapguy]

This topic is ultimately misleading and should be ignored, if not closed.

[Mcffee]

This topic is ultimately misleading and should be ignored, if not closed.

What is your problem sir? Both the TT as well as the OT are clear enough, it is not more and not less.

Oh, and if you not stop your harassing I will report you to the admins.

rediculous.

[FolkGuitar]

This topic is ultimately misleading and should be ignored, if not closed.

Please forgive me for disagreeing with you, but this topic is EXACTLY what newcomers to Chiang Mai can benefit from. I wish there was some sort of list available when I first moved to Chiang Mai, something with specifics about the town rather than the generalities that I found. The problem is people taking it OFF topic, arguing about the location of a shipping shop rather than suggesting that there is one in the Night Bazaar area and yet another just inside Thapae Gate up about 20m on the left when facing west.

Doi Suthep is on the west side. Pretty common knowledge to those of us who live here, but it takes newcomers a few weeks or months to work the kinks out of our usual directional landmarks, the ones we use all the time to tell people how to find the area they are looking for,

Around town;

Chiang Puak Gate is on the north side, its road leads north to Mae Rim

Chiang Mai Gate is on the south side, and the road across from it is where the Saturday Night Street Market is held. That's 'Wualai Road,' aka 'The Silver Street. There is a VERY complete electric shop down this road a few hundred meters from the moat, used by the electrical contractors.

Thapae Gate is on the East side, and has a large plaza where the Sunday Market it held, as well as many different events during the year.

Suthep Gate is on the West side, and it's road leads towards the mountain (Doi Suthep aka 'the mountain) and many medical facilities,

The U.N. Irish Pub A friendly meeting place just a hundred steps from the moat on the east side of the Old City, on Ratchvithi Road. It's remarkable how many directions start with 'From the UN Irish Pub go three streets further into ...'

Tessco Lotus is on the Superhighway, behind it is the huge gardening and pet center called Khantiem Market

Panthip Plaza- a computer and camera shopping mall is on the corner of Changklan Road and Sri Donchai Road south-east of the Old City, and Icon Square and Computer Plaza are just across the street from the moat near the north-west corner.

Rimping Supernarkets, Tops Markets, Kassem's Store, Macro, Big C Extra, all navigation landmarks we use when giving directions.

New folks... Learn these names, and learn their locations, This knowledge will still be helping you even after you've lived here 20 years...

And 'old' folks, lets make this thread the best list of all the tips and tricks we've learned. There is no doubt we've learned a fair share. If you are tempted to make some disparaging remarks... don't. Control yourselves. You not little kids any more. No need to act like one,'

[NancyL]

Thank you Folk Guitar for trying to bring this thread back onto topic. Let's not forget to add the names of the major malls the your helpful list of major landmarks. At least Kad Suan Kaew just outside the NW corner of the Old City and Central Airport Plaza, about 1 km meters south and west of the Old City and on the way to the airport.

The rest of the new malls don't really figure into my universe, except the new Maya Mall, at the intersection of Nimmanhaemin and Huey Haew.

The thing is, Folk Guitar, what you're describing is the process by which someone develops a mental map of their universe. I don't know if travelers really do this. I'm not certain if all residents do. They should, but as we've seen from this thread, so obviously don't.

This is a really easy town to give directions using North, South, East, West. Doi Suthep is to the west of the Old City, the river is to the east, the airport is to the south and so on. The city is a perfect square aligned in cardinal directions yet it's amazing how many people can't follow when I say things like "Kad Suan Kaew is the mall northwest of the Old City"

Edited October 30, 2014 by NancyL

[Konini]

Because the moat is a perfect square, for directionally challenged such as myself the clock system is easiest for the gates - Chang Puak is 12 o'clock, Taipae is 3 o'clock, Chiang Mai is 6 o'clock and Suan Doc is 9 o'clock. The moat has the other numbers of the clock too, which I use with an approximate distance from the centre point of the old city - I also use it for more far flung places too, such as the iron bridge being 4.30 to 5 o'clock, about 3.5km from the centre point.

Lame I know, but it works for me.

[Saan]

Useful to travelers is the whereabouts of a good pharmacy. I would recommend Peera Pharmacy which is in Walking Street just up from the Black Canyon Café and on the same side. It has a large range of medications often used by westerners and is run by knowledgeable people with excellent English. It is easy to find for tourists as Walking Street begins at Thapae Gate.

At the risk of being pedantic I will say that I don't think the moat is square. I believe it is a rectangle (only just) of 1.62 by 1.6 km

[narkeddiver]

are you dee mfee .... the graffiti artist ?

dave2

No I am not a grafitti artist nor a tagger, mcffee became the abbreviation for my website mekongcoffee.com that started to lead it's own life, now often chosed as my register name. I am also not affiliated with the extravagant, coke-sniffing antivirus developer who killed his neighbour.

Allegedly;)

[quidnunc]

This topic is ultimately misleading and should be ignored, if not closed.

Please forgive me for disagreeing with you, but this topic is EXACTLY what newcomers to Chiang Mai can benefit from. I wish there was some sort of list available when I first moved to Chiang Mai, something with specifics about the town rather than the generalities that I found. The problem is people taking it OFF topic, arguing about the location of a shipping shop rather than suggesting that there is one in the Night Bazaar area and yet another just inside Thapae Gate up about 20m on the left when facing west.

Doi Suthep is on the west side. Pretty common knowledge to those of us who live here, but it takes newcomers a few weeks or months to work the kinks out of our usual directional landmarks, the ones we use all the time to tell people how to find the area they are looking for,

Around town;

Chiang Puak Gate is on the north side, its road leads north to Mae Rim

Chiang Mai Gate is on the south side, and the road across from it is where the Saturday Night Street Market is held. That's 'Wualai Road,' aka 'The Silver Street. There is a VERY complete electric shop down this road a few hundred meters from the moat, used by the electrical contractors.

Thapae Gate is on the East side, and has a large plaza where the Sunday Market it held, as well as many different events during the year.

Suthep Gate is on the West side, and it's road leads towards the mountain (Doi Suthep aka 'the mountain) and many medical facilities,

The U.N. Irish Pub A friendly meeting place just a hundred steps from the moat on the east side of the Old City, on Ratchvithi Road. It's remarkable how many directions start with 'From the UN Irish Pub go three streets further into ...'

Tessco Lotus is on the Superhighway, behind it is the huge gardening and pet center called Khantiem Market

Panthip Plaza- a computer and camera shopping mall is on the corner of Changklan Road and Sri Donchai Road south-east of the Old City, and Icon Square and Computer Plaza are just across the street from the moat near the north-west corner.

Rimping Supernarkets, Tops Markets, Kassem's Store, Macro, Big C Extra, all navigation landmarks we use when giving directions.

New folks... Learn these names, and learn their locations, This knowledge will still be helping you even after you've lived here 20 years...

And 'old' folks, lets make this thread the best list of all the tips and tricks we've learned. There is no doubt we've learned a fair share. If you are tempted to make some disparaging remarks... don't. Control yourselves. You not little kids any more. No need to act like one,'

What would make compilations like this a lot more useful would be inclusion of GPS addresses.