Are the "good old days" of Chiang Mai long gone?

[Cheesekraft]

I am returning to find Chiang Mai has a much different feel than it had several years ago. The very friendly welcoming vibe seems gone, and everyone feels tense to me. Maybe I am just in the wrong area, but I am really surprised at how CM has changed. Even the traffic is unbelievable! At 21:00 the traffic was the worst I have ever seen it in Thailand, I can't wait for the rush hour. What is changing, and where are the bright sides I am missing in the new world?

[KittenKong]

The good old days of everywhere are long gone.

Personally I just live with it and give thanks that I am old and so managed to see a few nice places decades ago before they were permanently ruined.

[elektrified]

Worst you have ever seen the traffic in Thailand???? It's bad, but certainly nothing like in Bangkok. I've sat in taxi's for 90 minutes in Bangkok - going a very short distance.

[northernjohn]

These are the good old days for many people in the future.

Just as 5 years ago there was people saying where are the good old days.

[mr chow]

Chiang Mai is done! Put a fork in it. Too much everything. And the junta is killing it even more. Not fun anymore. Hell, even the hookres are fat and ugly. There is always a NEW Chiang Mai somewhere. And maybe that somewhere will have a beach. Perhaps our neighbors to the north. BURMA OR BUST!

[NeverSure]

There are many nice places in Thailand that don't include Chiang Mai. I don't and never did like big cities so I can't find the attraction. Any attempt to try to find "the old Thailand" will have to be out in the sticks. Even then it's probably gone, but perhaps just not as much. I like a much smaller town that's within striking distance of a city for those times I need something from a big city.

I started to make some suggestions but I won't because we're all different. I do suggest that you look at some other areas if the crowds are annoying you.

Cheers.

[FolkGuitar]

[isanbirder]

If possible, never go back to a place you knew several years ago. It is always worse!

Maybe this is because we have conveniently forgotten all the bad things in the old days.... or maybe it actually is worse. We can't do anything about it anyway.

[MaeJoMTB]

CM is way better than when I first came here 7 years ago.

More western food available, in shops and restaurants.

Newer and better shopping malls, schools, hospitals.

Cycle shops, coffee shops, faster and more reliable internet.

Wider choice of condos and houses to rent.

If you want bars and hookers .... go to Pattaya.

[shirtless]

The world as we knew it has gone , now we have crap governments crappy people with only a crappy future , why would the vibe be the same people need some hope this has be stolen by the 1%

[villagefarang]

These are the good old days for many people in the future.

Just as 5 years ago there was people saying where are the good old days.

I have been listening to guys lamenting the loss of the good old days in Thailand for 40 years. I always like now.

Edited February 2, 2016 by villagefarang

[colinneil]

Yesterday was always better, some say.

Tomorrow is another day you want it better???? get up of your backside and make it better.

[TheSiemReaper]

The imaginary good old days. Just like British people imagine Victorian London to have some form of innate superiority over modern London (it had none - unless open sewers and endless disease were your thing).

I find Chiang Mai to be very friendly. Its worst traffic is piddling compared to Dubai or Bangkok or Jakarta. It's an easy city to navigate. It has a wonderful blend of both modern conveniences, traditional Thai (and Lanna) life, and a bunch of stuff to do. What more do you want?

[FolkGuitar]

One word; Loxinfo

[Trujillo]

I thought this thread was going to be reminiscences from 25 years ago, but find it to be only "several years."

Things seem exactly the same from several years ago to me (aside from the construction on the ring road, which is a temporary phenomenon).

[jobin]

Loxinfo? Is that a hypertension drug?

[pgrahmm]

CM is a mess ..... The traffic and pace are getting worse.....

That being said - it's my mess and I kind of like it.....It has lost some of it's old world charm....But it is still an interesting small quirky city with all the benefits of a big city......

Cosmopolitan it will never be unless they knock it down and build sky scrapers around the Wats - fill in the moat - run light and overhead rails in the name of progress.....

Personally I like bumping around the place....Still lots of old feel and nooks and crannies to explore....

But not at high season.....

[WinnieTheKhwai]

^ I like to do that in high season actually. Better weather too.

[rebo]

All good old days were bad new days a while ago ...

[bangmai]

The trashpacker ghettos of the Old City and KSR in BKK do seem to get raunchier and more depressing every year. Otherwise, things are pretty much the same, with more traffic.

[cyberfarang]

Maybe Chiang Mai is not what it was and today it is what it is. There is no point in searching for something that isn`t there and complaining about it if the city no longer meets their expectations. The good thing for expats is that they have a chance to move somewhere else is they feel Chiang Mai no longer does it for them. That`s the best advice anyone can give.

[CNXBKKMAN]

You need some form of your own transport in CM and just go out a few miles. You can be another world from the congested hell areas of the city quite quickly. Enjoy the nature, peace and quiet nearby and then return and enjoy the city environment.

If I lived say near central festival and had to put up with superhighway traffic and concrete everyday and never got out of the city I would have negative view of CM.

[true blue]

arrived here many years ago after leaving patong immediately after the tsunami,very quite city in them days,very little traffic,night life negible,tv just beginning.now look at it incredible growth.just wondering how far it can go.say one thing good job its not got a beach.

[Lannig]

Loxinfo? Is that a hypertension drug?

Well, assuming that this wasn't a tongue-in-cheek reply... Loxinfo, now known as CSLoxinfo is a internet service provider resulting from the merger of former CSComs (was part of the Shin group that includes AIS) and Loxinfo, a subsidiary of Thai-Singaporean Loxley PLC.

Used to be a dominant ISP, now has been eaten alive by True and BB Broadband in the home user market.

This being said, I find it hard to relate to the topic of this thread, so my apologies for the diversion.

Edited February 2, 2016 by Lannig

[FolkGuitar]

Having changed from my usual walking route around the moat to one that takes in all the new boutique backpacker guest houses in the north-east quadrant of the Old City, I've found walking through these small shaded sois to be pleasant morning's stroll. A lot of the old shabby places have been replaced with garden restaurants, flower-filled fences surrounding quiet cafes, etc., and as there is virtually no traffic at all down these sois except the occasional motorbike, it's like being a "Old Chiang Mai" once again.

[Trujillo]

You live inside the moat?

That would be weird. Really have touristitis all the time.

[asdecas]

Haha, went back to Bali last month for the first time in thirty years. They used to moan in 1986 that it wasn't like it used to be when Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were there in 1952. Now they moan that it's not like it was in 1986.

[ChangMaiSausage]

Its called progress but to some its a backwards step.

No matter the place it will change over a period of time sometimes for the better others for the worse (depending through who's eyes you are looking)

Chiang Mai traffic is becoming a nightmare but the same can be said for most cities in the world.

[orang37]

As long as you are looking backwards, the "the good old days" are behind you.

~o:37;

[MESmith]

Having changed from my usual walking route around the moat to one that takes in all the new boutique backpacker guest houses in the north-east quadrant of the Old City, I've found walking through these small shaded sois to be pleasant morning's stroll. A lot of the old shabby places have been replaced with garden restaurants, flower-filled fences surrounding quiet cafes, etc., and as there is virtually no traffic at all down these sois except the occasional motorbike, it's like being a "Old Chiang Mai" once again.

Sounds lovely. I'll have to take a drive round there in my pickup truck