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
City Sport
[right][/right] The Farangutans have been making use of the two new astro-turf pitches in Chiang Mai over the last month. These kinds of pitches, new to the city, are apparently everywhere in Bangkok and almost always fully booked. So get ready for Chiang Mai’s next biggest fad. Maybe you can play a few hours of footy and then take your aching feet to one of the many foot spas. In September the pl … Continued
Community Services
01 The Informal Northern Thai Group 12 October: A Tribute to Edward Rose. If you cannot attend and would like to write in a message for the tribute please send it by email to one of the organisers below and your message will be read during the programme on the evening of the tribute. For more information, please contact Pete at pfreeouf@yahoo.com or Jack at snowgoose@fastmail.cn. 02 Dog of the Mon … Continued
A Retiring Attitude
This happened the other day on one of those ubiquitous Chiang Mai red taxis. A westerner got on and asked (in English) to go towards the university. When he got off he approached the front passenger-side window and handed the driver’s wife 10 baht and began to walk away. The wife stopped him and said that the fare was 20 baht. He yelled back that he knew the cost of a ride and he didn’t want to be … Continued
City Vibes
Artist: James Blake Album: CMYK EP Rating: At first listen this Dubstep EP sounds like the sexual union betwixt an Atari ST and a ZX Spectrum. But pay close attention and these finely crafted tracks open up rhythmically and emotionally and reveal their true inner self, powerfully emotive modern music. There are only four tracks to enjoy here, from the barely dance-floor ‘CMYK’ which utlilises a po … 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
Your Say
• Classical Mistake A small correction to one of Nick Hanlon’s choices of the greatest pieces of music written as printed in ‘City Talk’ in the September edition. ‘Ode to Joy’ is a poem that was written in 1785 by German Friedrich Schiller. The most famous musical setting was by Ludwig Van Beethoven sometime before 1824 which he used in the final movement of his 9th Symphony (The Choral). It is no … Continued
The Life of Wine
I had the pleasure of sharing a glass of wine or two with about thirty wine imbibers at the beautiful Ratchamankha Hotel last month. The wine dinner hosted by Citylife featured a series of Italian wines by ItalAsia matched with an ‘Oriental Fusion’ menu. Roving around the 40 foot table and speaking to many of the attendees, two things became glaringly obvious to me. Firstly, contrary to the myth t … Continued
This is thailand
For those of you with any questions regarding Thailand, Thai culture, history, tourism, laws, rules, food, nightlife, sub-cultures, dating; generally anything as long as it is relevant, we have a panel of three experts who will respond to your enquiries. Email: james@chiangmaicitylife.com. 1. Do you know where in Chiang Mai I can get electronic goods fixed when they are not under warrantee? I have … Continued
Mirror, Mirror, on the wall…or wardrobe…
“Enough! It will do you good and I can’t do it on my own” said Mrs. D with a resolute look on her face. “You are coming.” “Ooh la la” I said in a vague attempt at lightening what had been a somewhat tense discussion. It failed and I knew that I was losing the argument. I couldn’t see what good ballroom dancing would do and wasn’t going to give up without a fight. “Darling, you could do it on your … Continued
Night Bazaar in Twilight
The story begins in 1977, when the first tour buses in Chiang Mai began picking up and dropping off tourists to and from one of Chiang Mai’s few hotels, the Chiang Inn, on Chang Klan Road. Entrepreneurial vendors, mainly from crafts outlets in Sankampaeng, saw an opportunity to peddle their wares to tourists returning to their hotel after a day’s elephant riding or sightseeing. Business was good a … Continued
Up in the Clouds of Mon Jam
A warm cup of aromatic coffee in hand, perhaps a lover’s palm in the other, one can simply sit and gaze for hours at the ever-changing views in front, below, above and around. Perched high on a ridge facing the valley of Chiang Mai, with Mae Taeng’s flat basin leading up towards the majestic heights of Chiang Dao, Mon Jam is the newest offering from His Majesty the King’s Nong Hoy Royal Project. A … Continued
Culture Shock
What is culture? It’s certainly something not easily definable, it’s negotiable – when it suits us – and it’s unashamedly versatile. Nevertheless, we live within it, and occasionally die for it; we argue for its global ascendancy in the pub and cry for its plight when it moves on without us. Culture is a well worn word these days in Thailand as the government’s grip on the nation loses its strengt … 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
Condos Taking Over The Jungle
From her house in Chang Khian, a north western Chiang Mai neighbourhood at the foothills of Doi Suthep, it takes only minutes for Wanpen Saetia to walk down to the vast, grass covered field where a big new building project is soon to be constructed. The Building Control authorities say they have already given permission to put up three out of the four 7-story condos that are planned to accommodate … Continued
Talking it Over
Rather than stretching out the same conversations about traffic, pollution and ‘noise’ with the same old friends and cquaintances, coming to pretty much the same old conclusions and doing absolutely the same old nothing about it, the editorial team thought it might be time for me to branch out and meet some folk with mono-syllabic names to discuss Chiang Mai with. We chose three urbanites: Pradd, … 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