Bars/HappyHours....New, New Lows......

[KhonKaenKowboy]

7 hours ago, rogeroc said:

I have been coming to CM for over 10 years now and there is absolutely no doubt that the centre is dying and with an oppressive Police presence as well. Agree with it or not the old light hearted 'girlie bar' scene created a convivial, fun and social atmosphere a few years back. You didn't have to take a girl home, you could have good banter with the girls and others in the bar, buy a reasonably priced drink for you and girl (if you wanted) then stroll down to Hotshots listen to a good Thai band and watch and join in with people simply out to enjoy themselves.

 

But now it is as KKK says, there is barely a bar in the Moon Muang and Loi Kroh and Sois that i want to enter, many very expensive drinks and others with constant pestering to buy girls drinks. As for walking past Zoe in Yellow or Spicy they are full of boozed up, loud, yobbish younger folk and with the early closing hours and lack of alternative options making the congestion worse. Unpleasant areas much more so than LK.

 

What has truly caused this decline i am not sure. Not convinced it is entirely down to the newish draconian rules. I see a change in the customers as well. I know very few long or short term stayers that are interested in the girlie bar scene anymore. Most now just seem content propping up the bars and drinking and talking with male mates about football; all seems a bit pointless to me they may just have well stayed in the home country. Is it all about money and that locals and customers alike have less to spend or is that folk are turning more 'puritanical' again.

Yes...used to go to JP five times a week...plenty of BG in there....just a sideshow....I rarely participated, but was always on a friendly basis with them, staff, and many customers...very easy on the wallet, too.  When the "look free five minute" signs went up, the BG were gone and the place was in a free fall, along with all of OK and mm.  I don't think I have had a beer in there since the Chinese langhuage signs went up...what a coincidence.  Oh well...watching my school on ESPN 2.  We are up 17-7 at the half....cold Heineken, partagas, some good snacks, and a clean RR.  Would have been y to watch it with some fellow sports fansd and working girls.....last time we went this far in the playoffs, I watched it at a sports book in mexico.....pure fun...and that was with much harsher police conditions.

[hml367]

11 hours ago, NancyL said:

 

So you're admitting you're taking a quote out of context?  I agreed to do a video for this website -- one of these "retire in CM on the cheap" places, after I emailed them pointing out that they aren't painting the full picture when they fail to disclose that a retiree should have an emergency fund, health insurance, etc.  It was only after meeting with the business owner and contributing to his material on health care in Thailand that I agree to sit for his video on retirement in CM where I uttered the words you're taking out of context.

 

Has all the other material about the need for health insurance and an emergency funds disappeared from that website?  

 

If so, I have lost all respect for the guy and will contact him immediately and ask him to remove my image.  Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

 

In answer to your question in the first paragraph: I am not admitting to anything.  As stated in my post, it "seemed" you were supporting the comment since there was no rebuttal if I recall correctly.

 

You're welcome.

Edited December 17, 2016 by hml367

[SooKee]

3 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

 

........(snip)

 

Whats the status of the Mandalay area ?? I heard thats been spruced up and can even be late, but dont know what kind of crowd it gets, more Thai or just more of the Zoe / Spicy sameness.. 

 

 

 

Mandalay has been Ok the few times I've been recently, mostly Thai with a few westerners, not the same type as you'd get at Zoe / Spicy.  I think the Thai crowd has moved on too, in terms of what appeals, but even for them, most I know prefer the Bangkok scene for socialising, several have even moved there. Even for Thais, for whom you'd think CM would cater for better, it's all a bit samey and typical old-style Thai style.

[cyberfarang]

3 hours ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

Yes...used to go to JP five times a week...plenty of BG in there....just a sideshow....I rarely participated, but was always on a friendly basis with them, staff, and many customers...very easy on the wallet, too.  When the "look free five minute" signs went up, the BG were gone and the place was in a free fall, along with all of OK and mm.  I don't think I have had a beer in there since the Chinese langhuage signs went up...what a coincidence.  Oh well...watching my school on ESPN 2.  We are up 17-7 at the half....cold Heineken, partagas, some good snacks, and a clean RR.  Would have been y to watch it with some fellow sports fansd and working girls.....last time we went this far in the playoffs, I watched it at a sports book in mexico.....pure fun...and that was with much harsher police conditions.

I too can remember the good old days when fun times could be had in Chiang Mai, but I don’t want to dwell on the past otherwise some will say; it’s me that has changed, I have grown older blah ,blah, blah, blah.

 

I do not expect everything is going to stay the same and have always been able to adapt and keep up with the times. I also realise the cheap and cheerful days have gone. This does not bother me as I am more interested in value rather than cheap.

 

But I believe a better word to describe the situation is not change but rather, decline. It’s simply not fun anymore and I don’t mind paying for something that is good value, fun with choices, but that’s not happening in Chiang Mai. I have advised some friends who are thinking about holidaying in Thailand and have not visited Chiang Mai before, to not bother and waste their time and money coming here. I told them if they come here I really don’t know where to take them and during the late hours most of it is shut down and they will be bored. It really is abysmal.

[dru2]

'... I have advised some friends who are thinking about holidaying in Thailand and have not visited Chiang Mai before, to not bother and waste their time and money coming here'.

 

Unless, of course, they are interested in history and culture. Which doesn't preclude nightlife, but surely merits a visit...

[cyberfarang]

9 minutes ago, dru2 said:

'... I have advised some friends who are thinking about holidaying in Thailand and have not visited Chiang Mai before, to not bother and waste their time and money coming here'.

 

Unless, of course, they are interested in history and culture. Which doesn't preclude nightlife, but surely merits a visit...

History and culture. That should take all of 2 days providing they start out early before everything closes and try to avoid some of these attractions that have duel pricing policies for Farlangs.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

Nothing like a temple tour to remind me of the safe driving, dog loving, considerates...once you have seen 3 or 4; you really have seen them all...and for god's sake, pick up the garbage..it is not religion; just common sense.

[Paul Catton]

4 hours ago, LivinLOS said:

 

My 2 satang would be that Thais have moved on and grown up / modernized.. 

 

The 'old days' when some terrible cover band crooning out songs they couldnt pronounce, 

 

 

Aparrently the old days are back, refer Hard Rock Cafe thread.

[dru2]

50 minutes ago, cyberfarang said:

History and culture. That should take all of 2 days providing they start out early before everything closes and try to avoid some of these attractions that have duel pricing policies for Farlangs.

I have no idea what a 'Farlang' is.

Edited December 17, 2016 by dru2
spelling error

[cyberfarang]

3 minutes ago, dru2 said:

I have no diea what a 'Farlang' is.

It`s my nickname for foreigners that think a few temples and some old piles of 700 year old bricks in the city represents history and culture.

[SooKee]

28 minutes ago, cyberfarang said:

It`s my nickname for foreigners that think a few temples and some old piles of 700 year old bricks in the city represents history and culture.

 

Indeed.  I think you'd have to be REALLY interested in the CM style of history and culture to be bothered about it.  I've never been a big temples / castles person (unless they are REALLY worth a visit like Kerak and Krak de Chevalier in Jordan / Syria, the latter of which I'm glad I got to visit before Syria became a war zone). The temples here are OK I suppose, but all a bit samey.  The city walls?  Hmmm.  Yeah OK.

 

Does make me smile, before I came here (and since) many folks would talk about the wonderful mountains and forests of CM.  Yeah.......riiiiight.  You've never ACTUALLY visited anywhere that IS renowned for mountains, forests, lakes and rivers have you?  Thousands of acres of tropical rainforest wasteland, unkempt, strewn with rubbish and littered with countless abandoned building constructions don't constitute my idea of attractive countryside.

[evenstevens]

 the opening poster has replied a total of 20 posts  on this thread, mostly  bagging C/MAI, for reasons, that is  due , to his lousy lifestyle

no bloody wonder ,  he is Down And Out In  C/mai!!!

its   a   beautiful    C/mai   late arvo  to all

[Puwa]

On 12/16/2016 at 0:52 AM, KhonKaenKowboy said:

 What's bad for Chapiqua, is good for mankind. 

I believe you mean Chappaqua, you illiterate drunk.

[dru2]

3 hours ago, cyberfarang said:

It`s my nickname for foreigners that think a few temples and some old piles of 700 year old bricks in the city represents history and culture.

 

 

Well, I have been here for more than a quarter of a century and I love it. It's my home.

 

Without trying to be predicatbly tendentious, why do you stay?

 

 

[Sandy Freckle]

Some wise person once said..., 'a fool and their money will go separate ways'..., sometimes I'm inclined to think the Thais take it a notch farther...., as in 'a fool and their money have no right being together in the first place...., we see it as it as our moral obligation to relieve those fools of that which so obsessively rules (and ruins) their lives'  Too deep grasshopper ?

Edited December 17, 2016 by Sandy Freckle

[amexpat]

It's immoral to let a sucker keep his money." – Canada Bill Jones

Not Thai, BTW. 

 

"Greed is Good",  "There's one born every minute",  etc, etc.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

On 12/16/2016 at 0:44 PM, amexpat said:

KKK (how appropriate) just couldn't hold it in any longer.  He's again venting his racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic, right-wingnut fantasies.

 

I wonder what his next username will be?  Neo Not See?  

Maybe I should run for President....well, I got 7 years to think about it.

[Scott]

Perhaps posters should follow the forum rules and stop baiting and bickering.  If not, they will get some time off to think about it.  

[narkeddiver]

To the OP I would say if Chiang Mai isn't giving you what you want and you have no ties here then stop moaning on this forum and simply move to somewhere that will make you happy - life is too short

[Dante99]

6 hours ago, narkeddiver said:

To the OP I would say if Chiang Mai isn't giving you what you want and you have no ties here then stop moaning on this forum and simply move to somewhere that will make you happy - life is too short

It has nothing to do with the where he is, he will moan and complain anywhere, it is all about him.  

[mesquite]

13 hours ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

Maybe I should run for President....well, I got 7 years to think about it.

In all due respect, I think you're going to have to wait 8 more beyond that as the first woman president, Ivanka, will be elected in 2024.  This upcoming dynasty is going to be a long one.

[samsensam]

 

a life revolving around bars, alcohol and junk food. living the dream.

[yellowpaintings]

I feel like I live in an alternate universe. Chiang Mai is a blast. The early bar closings are only at surface level, and the afterhours party scene gets wilder than I can handle. 

I spend days driving and hiking up through untouched jungles and beautiful villages reachable only by motorbike on forest trails. 

I agree the temples get rather repetitive, but they've all got their little charms.

I'm not even that bothered by the burning season, though I lived in New Mexico for a long time, and often had ashes coming down like snow through the haze of smoke. Plus I've always heated my home with wood fires, so maybe I just got used to it.

I can't speak for the girls though, as I imported mine.

 

[orang37]

On 12/16/2016 at 9:27 PM, KhonKaenKowboy said:

I am young enough to have taken computer science ..in high school..don't really like being called old and neither do both my parents.  

 

How do you feel about being called "immature" ?

 

cheers,  ~o:37;

[rogeroc]

It wasn't going to be long before the 'if you don't like it leave' brigade started to shout!

 

Can you not see that this thread has comments from Posters who have an attachment to Chiang Mai, have or still do love the place but are saddened to see the decline. Why shouldn't we be able to express ourselves and yes 'i am reluctantly thinkng of leaving because of the decline!

 

And to those who say that there are still plenty of drinking holes open all evening don't you understand that this is about the atmosphere and vibe of a city not about being able to drink copious glasses of Chang until 4.00am behind closed shutters in a remote backstreet.

[Puwa]

From time to time I let my guard down and react to the OP. Otherwise, I recognize his posts for what they are: a cry for help. An unsmiling man in the land of smiles, friendless and free, wandering the streets alone  (in his telling, always alone), obsessed with lifeless transactions, quick to demean and disparage others, disgusted by nearly everything and everyone around him. He returns to the same dingy bars, not to save 10 baht here and there on beer as he says, but to torture himself by watching other people socializing happily. For reasons we don't know, he has judged and sentenced himself to this way of life.

 

And he returns to the forum again and again, now as KKK, earlier as Thighlander, before he was booted out, other names before that, to wail his same sad song of lament. Forget the words, all we need to hear is the repetitive beat, the sound of his drumming fingers on a table at Dayli or his head against the wall of a condo room.

 

Buddy, whatever the world has done to you, whatever misfortunes have mangled your spirit, I hope you find your way to some kind of happiness, for your own sake. You can do it.

 

(Chances are you will reply with a typical dismissive jibe. Doesn't matter, doesn't faze me.)

[stament]

ar multiple different monikers allowed? ?

[oldgent]

KKK.Puwa has just summed you up time to move on buddy new places new bars new people

but i do agree with you that Chiangmai has lost its charm 

 

[KhonKaenKowboy]

Some just can't take the truth.  Instead, just attack the messenger.  I have considered moving, but it isn't as simple as getting on the next plane, primarily for Immigration reasons and all the things that go with it.  It has been a good year to me..my worst move was buying a 2.1% 10 year FD in America thinking it was going to be 8 more years of stagnation.

[elektrified]

52 minutes ago, stament said:

ar multiple different monikers allowed? ?

Not anymore.