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

[stament]

11 minutes ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

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.

nevermind worse things happen at sea

[elektrified]

I could care less about bars and prostitutes as I've never hung out in bars in Thailand. But what I miss in C.M. are the local and International Music Festivals. There used to be a great Festival every year in December at 3 Kings with artists from around the world. It was nice to see everyone having a good time and see the Thais let their hair down and dance till 1:30. Been about 3 years since the last one. Then there was the promoter from Bangkok who had several International Festivals at that space between Nimmanhaemann and the Klong Road. They were incredible....excellent musicians. There was a great International Festival at Promenada about 3 years ago. People were dancing until 1:30 A.M. That one had some very unusual and talented artists. Sadly it all seems to have died. They still have what they call a "Jazz Festival" at Nimm each year, (not jazz but easy listening) but the last one was very boring and everything started shutting down around 11:00 P.M.

[cyberfarang]

8 hours ago, Puwa said:

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.)

It seems to me that from your acid description of the OP, you are really describing yourself or you have been there in the not too distant past. You really do sound like a bitter person with a lot of pent up frustration to let out and the OP has helped you release some of it as a kind of punching bag. 

 

I have lived in Chiang Mai for a good while and now a permanent fixture where I live in the darkest depths of Hang Dong and would not want to live anywhere else. Believe or not believe I actually like it here. Have a long term Thai girlfriend, friends and have retired in comfort and I consider myself as being better off here then I would if I had stayed in England. But I still consider that the social amenities for Farlang tourists and expats in Chiang Mai are now overpriced, below standard, limited and in that respect it`s become boring and if that offends some people, tough. You fail to realise that what may be enjoyable for some will not be enjoyable for everyone and just because some people may have opposing views to yours in what they consider as entertainment does not mean they are sad old loners. 

 

Enjoying the company of pretty girls while drinking in a bar does not make someone a sexpat. Enjoying having a drink or a meal out somewhere where it is lively during the late hours doesn`t make someone a sad lonely person and fancying a piece of action on occasions doesn`t mean that person is not normal or has issues with themselves. I am also cheesed off with the way the immigration procedures have turned in this city, the worst in the whole country, so our moans and groans are justified and that`s all they are moans and groans, does not mean we are discontented with our lives. On reading your post, it seems you are the one with issues not only with yourself but also with the rest of the world, that to me is sad.

 

 

[stament]

Am I the only one on here who likes it when CM is very quiet? I can't stand crowds, long may it continue and I thoroughly encourage visitors to bypass CM and go to Bkk, Pattaya and the islands instead ??

 

Whoops wrong threa, ahould be on the high season thread lol. Am I bad? ?

 

Re current bar scene, agree has gone downhill. Think this is a general comment on the total bar scene and not just LK area, but also thai bars. Reduced drinking hours IMHO has caused this along with other restrictions. I myself detest Zoe and basically now just drink in restaurants when I am eating, at friends or sometimes Gekko as my friend likes the deals they do there. I used to go out in Santitham a few years back but now I am located in Nong Hoi so never venture over there. As for Nim area went once a few years ago, never liked it and never returned.

 

I am planning to go out on Boxing Day to watch the football but am unsure where to go. Any recommendations from anyone?

[streetsweeper]

All cheese becomes mouldy eventually. Not much that you can do about it or with it when it does.

You could try to scrape the surface off and voila call it okay but the mould creeps back in quickly.

Thailand has become mouldy and offers little value for the expense of living there.

I've moved my retirement abode elsewhere until that place eventually becomes mouldy.

If I had my druthers then I'd live in New York City or London or Beirut for that matter but I don't have the income to finance that. At least in those centres they scrape the mould off the cheese quickly and gaining a valued customer is a cornerstone of the business ethos.

That is difficult to find in Thailand.

No bother,.... I am my own land of smiles!

[KhonKaenKowboy]

I actually found better bars, prices, cleanliness, friendliness last time I was in Salt Lake City, Utah and every notorious Bible Belt city you could name.  Three wineries in my parents new town of 1600 people.  I simply came on here and posted a recent experience trying to do a couple of beers...in less than two hours we had last year's Janet Reno look alike contest winner on here spouting off about pot bellied retirees on a budget that contradicts what she seemed to have forgot she said in an interview.  Then I was called a predator.  It appears you can now see it was the femibutches, who got Bernard Trink out of the BKK Post; not the Thais.  It is also more clear why the city self destructed.  Usual Thai shoot yourself in the feet business and a big manure truck load of the sanctimonious ready to impose their standards on the rest of the World at the mere mention of a late afternoon beer. I'm single again after three years..really never had to search for entertainment...had a package deal...cleaning, cooking, massage, etc..all one fair price....she got an opportunity for more cash in bkk and told me she was leaving...why was I not surprised.  We once watched Papillon for three hours and she didn't even know we were watching the Spanish version.  Maybe I'll find one who actually completed M4, next time.  Apparently it is a lot easier than finding a bar that can check a few boxes.  Finding her clone would even be easier.

[stament]

all sounds very sad ?

[KhonKaenKowboy]

Yeah, can't compete on drinking with Mormon HQ...pathetic more than sad.

[stament]

I was referring to what you described as your package. 

[yellowpaintings]

On 12/18/2016 at 3:17 PM, KhonKaenKowboy said:

New Mexico; number 1 in mobile homes per capita, and last in student achievement.  The latter may explain why you seemed to have missed the OP, which was about bars and happy hours; not taking a garbage pile tour on a motorbike.

 

Ah yes, New Mexico, the Third World State. My town had all the charms of post-war Afghanistan, but we did have beautiful, orange tap water.

 

I was responding more to the general tone of discontent in the thread than I was your OP.

 

I've only been in Chiang Mai for about four years, so I don't know how it used to be. I actually enjoyed your OP, even though I disagree, but would like to hear some tales of how it used to be. Can we hijack the thread to have hear some glory days stories?

[dru2]

4 hours ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

I actually found better bars, prices, cleanliness, friendliness last time I was in Salt Lake City, Utah and every notorious Bible Belt city you could name.  Three wineries in my parents new town of 1600 people.  I simply came on here and posted a recent experience trying to do a couple of beers...in less than two hours we had last year's Janet Reno look alike contest winner on here spouting off about pot bellied retirees on a budget that contradicts what she seemed to have forgot she said in an interview.  Then I was called a predator.  It appears you can now see it was the femibutches, who got Bernard Trink out of the BKK Post; not the Thais.  It is also more clear why the city self destructed.  Usual Thai shoot yourself in the feet business and a big manure truck load of the sanctimonious ready to impose their standards on the rest of the World at the mere mention of a late afternoon beer. I'm single again after three years..really never had to search for entertainment...had a package deal...cleaning, cooking, massage, etc..all one fair price....she got an opportunity for more cash in bkk and told me she was leaving...why was I not surprised.  We once watched Papillon for three hours and she didn't even know we were watching the Spanish version.  Maybe I'll find one who actually completed M4, next time.  Apparently it is a lot easier than finding a bar that can check a few boxes.  Finding her clone would even be easier.

 

So why aren't you in Salt Lake City? One of out major partners operates out of there - but I personally am happy in Chiang Mai, Please, I invite you to leave!

[lkn]

29 minutes ago, yellowpaintings said:

I've only been in Chiang Mai for about four years, so I don't know how it used to be. I actually enjoyed your OP, even though I disagree, but would like to hear some tales of how it used to be. Can we hijack the thread to have hear some glory days stories?

 

See this thread about how it was much better before we had malls, international chain stores, condos with western comfort, the entire Nimmenhaemin area, etc.

 

 

[cyberfarang]

3 hours ago, yellowpaintings said:

 

Ah yes, New Mexico, the Third World State. My town had all the charms of post-war Afghanistan, but we did have beautiful, orange tap water.

 

I was responding more to the general tone of discontent in the thread than I was your OP.

 

I've only been in Chiang Mai for about four years, so I don't know how it used to be. I actually enjoyed your OP, even though I disagree, but would like to hear some tales of how it used to be. Can we hijack the thread to have hear some glory days stories?

It was a bit of this, a bit of that and a bit of the other.

 

The roadways were awful, the traffic was bad, there were hardly any shops or stores to obtain western type foods, there was no Internet, a telephone landline was a luxury and could take years to get one, the only English language newspaper was the Bangkok Post, applying for a one year visa extension could take 2 years before being approved, the 90 day report was a writing pad on the desk at immigration. Walk in, sign on the pad with a pen and if didn`t bother nobody cared. No cable of satellite TV and only a handful of Thai TV channels available, and the Thais would actually point at us in the street saying; Farlang, Farlang, look.

 

There were bars everywhere teeming with girls. Girls would pull up on motorbikes asking Farlangs if they wanted them and street girls for hire packed the Tapae Gate during the evening and all through the night. There were scores and scores of drinking places many with live music, mostly western style sung by Thais. Eating places were open right through the night and above all it was cheap. In those days going out alone was no problem. Other Farlangs would actually talk to you in the bars and before long you were all having a drink together and as usual it was men`s talk,  about women, money and how they played their part in some war or other. But the main thing is, this was only to be found in the main town, outside the town is was mostly how it is now, but in those days the choices were there. It was possible to party or just go somewhere quite away from the beaten track.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

5 hours ago, dru2 said:

 

So why aren't you in Salt Lake City? One of out major partners operates out of there - but I personally am happy in Chiang Mai, Please, I invite you to leave!

Lots of  pyramid schemes there, what a coincidence.  At least they had cold beer, though.

[cmsally]

Guys, maybe cut out the personal diatribe, this thread is literally on the road to nowhere!

 

 

[Dante99]

Has been from the first post.

[Nowisee]

Someone used decline instead of change, good verb and describes more accurately what's happening here.   
Some girl had the cajones to write in her blog, "Chiang Mai has no vibe, no soul."  IF you've ever been to a city that has soul or vibe you almost have to agree.  

We prefer to get some beers from Makro (spare the thai beer please) and hang out at the secret place, ok sometimes the balcony will do.  Bars?  Most aren't enjoyable, they offer very little.  

I've been to a few of hip craft beer pubs and they are just tolerable, too bad LOS can't accept that local beers suck and open the door for good beers or those with the craft skills to brew their own without the tax rape.

What's left to do in the city?  Hit the food places.  The traffic makes it unbearable to get most places.
The reply here about after seeing 3-4 temples (now they love charging the farang) and you pretty much have seen and done the temple tours is about right.  

 

On 12/18/2016 at 0:36 PM, yellowpaintings said:

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.

 

 

Untouched jungles?   

Next time you go hiking up there listen carefully... you will not hear any sounds.  ALL the wildlife is gone, killed, eaten, poached.
You should know this, but if you were to do a hike anywhere near Taos Ski area or any where in Northern NM you will see a lot of wildlife and rivers with fish in them... just sayin.  These forests are dead.

I find the HT villages are interesting, I wouldn't call it beauty, many have trashed the land.  

 

As for CM, this is not organic growth and it's becoming...er, it's lost it's delightful charm.  

 

 

[millwall_fan]

"The Africans taking over my grandparents neighborhood in Miami comes to mind, but that actually took five years+ "

 

Are you sure that KKK stands for Khon Kaen Kowboy and not Ku Klux Klan. Pathetic racist post. 

[narkeddiver]

4 hours ago, millwall_fan said:

"The Africans taking over my grandparents neighborhood in Miami comes to mind, but that actually took five years+ "

 

Are you sure that KKK stands for Khon Kaen Kowboy and not Ku Klux Klan. Pathetic racist post. 

 

Sadly he seems to be a racist, misogynistic, skin flint

[puukao]

I get the OP's sense-of-humor.  That was funny.

 

 

[Sparkles]

One part of the OP's heading is 100% correct "new lows" .

 

Has to be the most depressing ,racist,irrelevant post of the year.

 

Hopefully  the mods put it out of its misery, well overdue.

[Foxy52]

Reading the comments here, I sometimes wonder if I'm living in some other Chiang Mai. The Chiang Mai bars I go to are great, with interesting -people, beautiful young women and cheap booze. And no I'm not naming them, in case all the TV wet blankets turn up

[Dante99]

10 minutes ago, Foxy52 said:

Reading the comments here, I sometimes wonder if I'm living in some other Chiang Mai. The Chiang Mai bars I go to are great, with interesting -people, beautiful young women and cheap booze. And no I'm not naming them, in case all the TV wet blankets turn up

Yes please do not name them.

[KhonKaenKowboy]

Edited by @KhunBENQ:

removed erroneous quote suggesting text is from another user.

-------------------------------

 

I went by Infinity and Maldives last night.  Large beers are 80, 100, and 120 for Leo, Singh's, Heineken.  Fewer than 10 customers....place could hold 200.  Looked OK, but really didn't look fun and it seems like the mercenary girls have hit CM.  I wouldn't want a cold girl and a warm beer.  Looks like Joan and Darby would be happy with it.  There is  newish bar near Victoria Hotel large Leo, Singh's, Heineken..65,85,100 THB....all on ice, no customers, and the Heineken was 3 months old...but hopefully people will go there so I don't see old beers at 711.  Bought z few on the say home that were less than a month old.  But they hit 2 out of three....price, coldness...but a 67% is an F, where I come from.  A person with stage three cancer has a longer life expectancy than this bar.  But at least there is competition.

 

[scottiejohn]

4 hours ago, Sparkles said:

One part of the OP's heading is 100% correct "new lows" .

 

Has to be the most depressing ,racist,irrelevant post of the year.

 

Hopefully  the mods put it out of its misery, well overdue.

Hopefully  the mods put it out of its misery

The OP, the post or both?

[KhonKaenKowboy]

18 hours ago, millwall_fan said:

"The Africans taking over my grandparents neighborhood in Miami comes to mind, but that actually took five years+ "

 

Are you sure that KKK stands for Khon Kaen Kowboy and not Ku Klux Klan. Pathetic racist post. 

The Africans have certainly done a lot for lower Sukhumvit...a lot of people no longer go there because of them.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

4 hours ago, Foxy52 said:

Reading the comments here, I sometimes wonder if I'm living in some other Chiang Mai. The Chiang Mai bars I go to are great, with interesting -people, beautiful young women and cheap booze. And no I'm not naming them, in case all the TV wet blankets turn up

 

Yup. And I have plenty pictures to prove it.  

 

However that's not really appropriate to post.

 

When I compare to my pictures from 20 or so years ago, the girls around bars were most definitely not prettier.  In people's memories they are, when punters themselves were young(er) and more active, but photos don't lie. 

[KhonKaenKowboy]

2 minutes ago, WinnieTheKhwai said:

 

Yup. And I have plenty pictures to prove it.  

 

However that's not really appropriate to post.

 

When I compare to my pictures from 20 or so years ago, the girls around bars were most definitely not prettier.  In people's memories they are, when punters themselves were young(er) and more active, but photos don't lie. 

 

[millwall_fan]

5 hours ago, KhonKaenKowboy said:

The Africans have certainly done a lot for lower Sukhumvit...a lot of people no longer go there because of them.

'The Africans'?? What are you on? so all Africans can be neatly  bundled together can they? Actually I really like soi 3. The Arabs and the Africans lend a unique atmosphere to lower Sukhumvit. One of their great attractions is that they drive away the dog tossers. Which your comments tend to suggest is a group you are amply qualified to join. 

 

[KhonKaenKowboy]

5 hours ago, WinnieTheKhwai said:

 

Yup. And I have plenty pictures to prove it.  

 

However that's not really appropriate to post.

 

When I compare to my pictures from 20 or so years ago, the girls around bars were most definitely not prettier.  In people's memories they are, when punters themselves were young(er) and more active, but photos don't lie. 

Seems like it's OK to bundle the Chinese here, and there are quite a few more.