A Cautionary Tale
I read your article Handsome Men and Invisible Women with interest. I am an independent 73 year old Canadian expat living in Chiang Mai. I mean this article with no disrespect, malice or rudeness but where would one contact a ‘sie lie’ lady? [Ed. Citylife article Handsome Men Invisible Women, November 2011] I would like a young lady to come and dally for a couple of hours and then take her problems whatever and leave. I am a gentle, sensitive man and I just do not want to get involved in their problems; been there done that and frankly I cannot afford to financially and emotionally get involved with their personal problems, and I do not wish to immerse them in mine. Maybe you could refer me to a website or blog. I do not hang out in bars and spend a small fortune on watered down drinks for some clinging bar girl. I would like female companionship maybe once or twice a week as long as there is still fire in the old furnace. I have tried the dating sites, etc. route and am down over $30,000 Canadian over the last two years plus a broken heart twice. Chalk up my attitude to experience. I have tried the above mentioned Thai Love Links but 50% have children (I am to old to be a father; been there done that) the other half have a 7 day a week job, 8 to 10 hours a day. When you also eliminate the ones that speak little English there is not much else to choose from.
My last adventure was with a beautiful lady who emailed me 6 times back in October of 2010 and that caught my attention real fast. I struck a financial deal on MSN. The deal included her and her family received about 15,000 baht a month and she came to live with me here in Chiang Mai. Periodically I noticed money missing from my shoulder bag and I became paranoid to the point of stuffing my money in my shorts in a small bag. The last straw was when [her family] hounded me for more money to pay for all their poor planning. I called a truck from Chiang Mai and sadly packed up some personal items and left.
Thinking back and remembering all the ads of her on websites showing beautiful Thai ladies, the cultural divide is so great and these beautiful Sirens like a beacon, beckon for you to come hither and live the good life with them, but the good life has a price. She was 28 years old and had more fillings in her mouth than I did. She had 2 teeth pulled (cheaper to pull than fill in Thailand) and she needed 2 crowns. I spent close to 100,000 baht to fix her teeth. I bought her many new clothes (she never wore them). I bought her a nice gold ring (she never wore it). So the motto of this story is never spend money on trying to improve their lives; you’re wasting your time and money. I had a good friend tell me when I first arrived here not to drop any big money on these girls, and well, as time proved, truer words were never spoken. I could never figure out then why he would walk up the stairs in my apartment with a different girl on his arm, hmm, well now I know.
I still grasp at straws hoping that if I can get my ex to return here and get her out of the family circle things will change but the family circle is like the Wagon Trains of old West when the Indians attacked. All my pleadings etc. are to no avail as the cultural chain can never be broken. So that is why I am asking for a lead as to how to contact a sie lie, as life must go one and mine is a fleeting one at 73. I want to enjoy the few years I have left.
What affects one now affects us all. Europe and the Euro is collapsing. What is money? Ah yes, only paper with ink on it making a lot of promises that are deteriorating daily. Paper money is only as good as the politicians running each country on the planet, and well they are all just lackey’s looking to be re-elected to get their fat pension. They care little about us, the human herd, we are the sheep to be shorn at their bidding. They have over the decades all made impossible promises that are no longer affordable. The chickens are coming home to roost.
G. J.
Sanguinary Correspondence
Bloody rude letters you gentlemen get.
Here is something simple for Toby Moore [December 2011]. The magazine is given out for free. If you read a free magazine, then you have to understand that they have ads. Simple.
I get angry at expats in this city who want something for free all the time. The English teachers who go to cocktail ‘dos’ just go get drunk, while disrespecting the organisers or their speeches. Then there are the old retirees who will haggle with a vendor for five baht, even though your pension comes to ten times their salaries. Get a life!
Irritated
Kitchen Talk
I usually tell restaurants to skip the MSG and sugar (refined of course) and Joe’s article in the Nov Citylife made me think about my motivations and if my ‘fears’ were unfounded.
I think what he has decided is that the food industrial complex can take any natural flavour or taste and synthesise it in order to ‘manufacture’ food. Of course they want you to feel that you are getting something ‘natural’ and identical! What I say is that the umami taste is real but nature is much much more complex than we realise. Also by creating a chemical compound that approximates the natural taste we surely leave other subtle elements out because it is not detected or the influence small or it is expensive to make. Finally to get too much umami from natural sources would be difficult but today we get a more concentrated version, potentially more frequently so it is an issue of both quality and quantity. The same goes for many ‘modern’ processed foods like sugar too.
So in conclusion getting Umami ‘naturally’ from the traditional sources is far preferable.
Just my 2 baht of thoughts (you get what you pay for 🙂
Tom Westheimer
Thank you
Trisila Company Limited donated goods to help relieve the hardship of those affected by floods including instant noodles, clothes, blankets and other things. The Chiang Mai Municipality would like to say that we have received all goods and will donate them to those in need as soon as possible.
Thank you very much.
Tassanai Buranupakorn
Mayor, Chiang Mai Municipality
Farmers with no Markets
On Wednesday and Saturday mornings my wife and I like to buy our vegetables and fruit etc. from the farmers’ market inside the [Chiang Mai] University agriculture faculty trial grounds which are situated between Nimmanhaemin and the Irrigation Canal Roads.
The products are fresh, organic, and reasonably priced, and you get to meet the growers themselves. Not only do we get to eat good wholesome food but we know that what we pay goes directly to the producer.
We now hear rumours, confirmed only last Saturday from a worker on site, that the university is planning to move the trial grounds and the market out to Mae Hia because they want to use the existing site to build – guess what – a shopping mall!
Only last year the University closed down the other, very popular, farmers’ market that opened on the first Thursday and Friday of each month on the patch of ground just inside the agriculture gate, off Suthep.
Before getting too steamed-up about this would it be possible for Citylife to check the facts, maybe get a statement from the Rector’s office. If the facts are basically correct and a petition could be started to save the market and the livelihood of the stallholders. We would be the first to sign-up.
Yours sincerely.
Geoff and Sorani Thorsby
[Ed. Sadly we have to confirm what you have discovered, the market will indeed be moved, though the exact location will be announced later. However, while a mall – gasp! – is definitely under consideration, the Faculty of Agriculture hasn’t decided yet what to do with the land and say that they will get in touch with us when they have a plan.]
Cars out of the Moat!
I would be interested to know how strong the sentiment is for a ban on private motor cars inside the moat.
I envisage a permit system, with a sticker to be displayed on the windscreen to exempt residents, business, the disabled, and public transport operators. Revenue raised from the permits could be used to improve traffic flow and parking facilities outside the moat.
It seems inevitable to me that some sort of scheme like this will eventually happen, so the sooner it begins the better. Although one can see drawbacks to such a plan, only a little more thought will result in the conclusion that everyone ultimately benefits.
If the management of Citylife are in agreement, public spirited as you are, your magazine would be the ideal place to begin a campaign.
Yours sincerely,
Leo Bourne
[Ed. We are unsure if we are in a position to spearhead such a campaign, but if anyone else is interested in voicing your opinion please send emails to us at editor@chiang maicitylife.com or make comments on Citylife’s Facebook page. Should we generate enough interest, perhaps we can approach the municipality.]