Scents of a Woman
pinch of Thai, a spoonful of British, a smidgen of German, a large dollop of American and just the merest influence of Italian: mix, stir and serve up Virginia Bird, creator and owner of Sabu-Sabu natural care products. An elegant Bird, salt-and-peppered hair wound high on her head, clad in a breezy homespun type outfit, leads a trail of elusive scents as complex as her heritage in her wake. As sh … Continued
Editorial
Britain may rule the waves, but in Thailand we waive the rules. For so many of us, this is exactly why we love this country. We are not living in a nanny state where our lives are rigidly regulated and cottonwool is wrapped around us from cradle to grave, protecting us from others and more often than not from our very selves. Instead, we allow pragmatism, not law, to rule. No traffic on the street … Continued
Thailand’s Forgotten People
Seventy-seven year old Don Willcox begins his work at a dawn-breaking six in the morning…seven days a week. For over a decade and a half, Willcox has focused his life on finding ways to help people in the north of Thailand who are neglected by family or society as a whole. He says, “I brought a child who had spastic cerebral palsy to a legitimate private hospital in Chiang Mai because he had an … Continued
Chiang Mai Tattoos
I don’t have a tattoo because I am British. For us, tattoos are the mark of thieves, perverts, ne’er-do-wells; men who spend a lot of their time at sea with other men, circus freaks and long-term guests of Her Majesty. A tattoo is a mark of disgrace even the bible warns us against: Ye shall not make any cuttings on your flesh… nor print any marks upon you. God damn it! – Leviticus 19:28. Tattoos … Continued
What’s Happening?
•ARTS & EXHIBITIONS 8th October – 8th November FROM CHIANG DAO TO LUNGA LAUNG @ Panisa Gallery 053 202 779 We welcome you to this solo art exhibition, displayed by Sarawut Pangjai. The exhibition opens on October 8th at 6 p.m. Now – 30th November DREAMS OF THE NORTH: NUANCES & NOSTALGIA IN CONTEMPORARY THAI JEWELLERY @ Tamarind Village Chiang Mai 053 418 896 – 9 This exhibition shows the … Continued
City Buzz
The Swan is a pleasant little place, decorated with local art – all for sale – with a courtyard replete with pond and fountain, and an upstairs area that looks over the city moat. Many Burmese dishes – cooked both in the traditional and the ‘tribal’ way – are on offer including favourites such as tea leaf salad and Burmese curries. You must try their delicious meat balls mixed with vegetables. Veg … Continued
Chiang Mai on the WWW
This colume is to keep you abreast of the latest websites which Citylife has produced, introducing you to the ever-increasing presence of Chiang Mai online. www.hillsidecoffeehousepai.com Hillside Coffee House in Pai One more addition to the cool and funky things going on in the northern hamlet of Pai is the Hillside Coffee house. Featuring stunning views, delectable cookies, cakes and all things … Continued
City Architects
Favourite piece of architecture in Chiang Mai: Khum Chao Bureerat (Maha Inn), which is now the Lanna Architectural Centre, Faculty of Architecture, CMU. This design combines Lanna architecture and western design technology. Although it is a hundred years old, this building is a good example of the combination of traditional Lanna design and the vision of the architects of the time in using then-mo … Continued
Editorial
We are all editors: not all thoughts tumble freely out of our mouths…well, for the most part, and for most people anyway. We self edit, holding back offence, mockery or verbosity. We either do it for the sake of others or our own . As a society we also edit. En masse, we decide to turn the unacceptable into law and the unwelcome into a code of morality. It is an organic method of editing which e … Continued
The Nim Dream
ecturers from Chiang Mai and Mae Jo universities as well as Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna, under the banner of the Chiang Mai Iam social initiative project, have come together to create a master plan for Nimmanhaemin Road. Though at this point a pipe dream, with the active support and participation of residents, relevant authorities and businesses in the area, their vision could turn … Continued
Doi Suthep in Crisis
August 2006 You can see it from every vantage point in Chiang Mai’s Ping River basin, the sun sets somewhere beyond its ruffle of peaks to the west, it leaks dozens of waterfalls and streams which gurgle down to the thirsty valleys below and the people of Lanna look towards the glittering golden pagoda, which appears to be at its summit, as one of the most sacred sights in the … Continued
Interview with The Lord Mayor Tassanai Buranupakorn
Citylife: What have you achieved since you took office in December last year? Tassanai: My three main policies are to improve quality of life, to rejuvenate as well as preserve Lanna culture, as well as to fix old issues which require attention. The municipal area of 40 square kilometres has 150,000 registered residents, though at any given time I suspect we have more than 300,000 in the city. We … Continued
Editorial
If music be the food of love then my heart must be pretty anorexic. In spite of the belief that music is a universal language, I fear I haven’t even mastered its alphabet, let alone learnt how to speak or understand it. I emote better with Cervantes’ quote that he who sings scares away his woes, after all I have managed to empty out karaoke rooms with a few opening notes…though I doubt Cervantes … Continued
Expat Power: coming to the aid of Chiang Mai’s elephants
Many readers may have heard of the 200 Club. A group of energetic retired expats got together a few years back to organise a slew of fun and interesting activities – Citylife Garden Fair, weekend getaways, raffles nights, dances and parties – to raise funds to support a handful of selected charities and causes. The latest cause for the 200 Club is to support the formation of a non-profit elephant … Continued
The Music Scene
Thesis: The Music is Shit “Music, music, music… is SHIT!” shouts the Pre-Madchester band New Fast Automatic Daffodil’s lead singer on their second single from the, unsurprisingly, Music is Shit EP. It was 1989 and the dire UK music scene was thankfully on the cusp of an(other) enlightenment, having ejaculated itself from the fetid mire of all that tacky pop that now defines the deplorable decade … Continued
The Love Doctor
Having been told that there still exists in Thailand men who make love potions for a living, we put the word out that we were looking for one of these magical blokes. Our mor sanae (literally ‘charm doctor’) was not easy to find, after weeks of asking all and sundry if they knew of a love doctor, our search finally took us to a soi, off a soi, down a road, through a collection of gardens and into … Continued
Liquid Gold: Civet Poo Coffee
The drive is breathtaking at this time of the year and a picturesque hour and a half later, we arrived at Suan Lahu, a coffee plantation on the side of a mountain overlooking the Lahu village below. Jakatae and Manop Jayo, the two brothers who own the plantation, greet us with a grin and invite us into their traditional hut for a chat. As Jakatae bustles around, stoking the fire, pouring water int … Continued
Editorial
Wow! A huge thank you to the hundreds of readers who filled in our online survey over the past months as well as to the 200 who kindly left comments and suggestions for improvement. I will try to address some of your concerns and advice here (I shan’t bore you with the compliments, though they certainly have given us an impetus to continue to evolve). The overwhelming feedback was that it was hard … Continued