What’s Happening?

 ARTS & EXHIBITIONS  2nd – 4th December ASIATOPIA INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE ART FESTIVAL At Suan Buak Haad Park 084 173 7575 From 4 – 7 p.m. Enjoy the art performance from Asiatopia artists. Free admission 7th – 12th December 12TH NIMMAN ART & DESIGN PROMENADE @ Nimmanhaemin Road Don’t miss this massive exhibition of art, design and home decorations. You’ll find anything from funky dis … Continued

Community Services

♦ 01 Informal Northern Thai Group Tuesday, 13th December: ‘Return to Mae Sariang: Ethnic Relations in a Thai Frontier District’ by Charles F. Keyes. For further information, please call 053 117 319 or email gabaudel@loxinfo.co.th. ♦ 02 Nicotine Anonymous Want to stop smoking? It works! Meetings on Wednesdays and Saturdays at 1 p.m. at The 7 Fountains, Huay Kaew Road. For more informati … Continued

Clients’ Spot

This ‘homemade style’ Italian restaurant has been open now for over 6 years. Dine out with friends or family in a very pleasant setting of a renovated house with a nice garden and enjoy what we have been told are ‘secret recipes of Italian food’ that go back over 30 years. To keep a certain uniqueness to their menu, Arcoba’Leno always rotates dishes, at the moment you might see such dishes as exot … Continued

City Talk

Home Ideas

City Buzz

This recently opened coffee shop, situated in Mae Hea area, is shaded by huge trees, that gives it its garden feel. There’s also a cute little strawberry and vegetable patch and even a small stream into which you can sit and dangle your feet. Enough said really, it sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it? On offer is coffee, tea, bakery goods, ice-cream, some dishes and soft drinks. Located behind Royal Pa … Continued

City Events

City Vibes

Artist: DJ Shadow Album: The Less You Know the Better Rating: The album cover for the new release by the subtly named Mr. Muthafuckin’ eXquire looks like a woman with dyed-purple hair downing a bottle of beer and playing with herself, but it couldn’t possibly be that could it, because no sane mind would opt for such an image to promote a release. But for me it’s less about the content of the image … Continued

Chiang Mai on the WWW

www.citylife-citylife.com www.citylife-citylife.com This new website explains just what Citylife the ‘multimedia company’ does… which might be a little bit more than you previously thought. By navigating the site you will not only get to meet all the staff at Citylife, but learn about various projects, services and initiatives, as well as see Citylife’s vast portfolio. You’ll also get to see som … Continued

Your Say

♦ Body Parts In ‘This is Thailand’ November 2011 someone asked, ‘How much does it cost to get married?’ I was surprised at the answer James gave, I thought that a more appropriate reply would have been ‘AN ARM and a LEG’! Regards, Anthony Sneddon ♦ Show me the Money The editor wrote a couple of months ago in her editorial about how the new government’s policies will benefit Chiang Mai … Continued

The Life of Wine

I had fully intended to spend this month’s column talking about the fascinating chemical processes involved in malolactic fermentation. Then I thought, bugger that, it’s Christmas! So, instead, I have brought some interesting wine facts into school for game’s-day. Take them away if you wish, memorise them, and then regurgitate them to stunned family members over Christmas lunch. ♦ The histor … Continued

This is Thailand

1. I’d like to know, where does the name ‘The Land of Smiles’ come from? And why does Thailand have this name? Is it still used by the TAT? James: From 1.2 million foreign visitors to Thailand in 1977, numbers rose to 5.7 million in 1993, to 15.8 million in 2011. Tourism became a major part of Thailand’s economic growth in the 80s and that’s when slogans were introduced. The term Land of Smiles wa … Continued

Out in The City

There are some gay Scrooges out there. Smug that here, in Chiang Mai, December 25th is not a public holiday, and who feel that they are somehow liberated by not having to be full of seasonal cheer and goodwill to all men. They hate writing those cheesy cards and wrapping gifts or listening to carollers lit by candlelight lanterns. I am not one of them. I am more bum-hug than hum-bug. Don’t get me … Continued

City Women

The countdown to Christmas has started and it’s time for me to put the ‘big kid’s’ hat on that I get out once a year! I love everything about Christmas – the food, the gifts (giving and receiving), cheesy songs, decorations and general good cheer! Every year, Christmas brings back memories of being a little girl and so excited that I didn’t think I’d ever get to sleep on Christmas Eve. My sister a … Continued

Notes from Joe’s Kitchen

“Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone – too nervous to bear witnesses – to take the pudding up and bring it in…Hallo! A great deal of steam!” (Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol) Using steam to cook food has a long history, but it has fallen out of favour in the west. In Thailand, it is still a frequently used technique – from sticky rice, to fish or chicken nung manao, to desserts. To help you cel … Continued

Citylife inhouse

Over 200 people responded to the 2011 Citylife Online Survey – a great turn out, thank you all! The results and feedback proved to be very useful and we promise to take these responses on board for 2012. Below are a few statistics about you and your relationship with Chiang Mai and Citylife. Here are some of our favourite comments and suggestions: Citylife is indeed worthy of your time particularl … Continued

Editorial

Many moons ago, I brought over a dozen friends home with me from university for the summer holidays. As we backpacked, Honda Dreaming around the north, getting into all sorts of awful trouble, we were on the lookout for some adventure…as you do. One evening, tootling along on our bikes, we stumbled upon a rather festive, and promising, looking gathering. There were rows of motorbikes and pickup … Continued

Best and Worst of 2011

A memorable moment? – Regina Coeli school reunion in January with over 30 old school friends (23 years after graduation!) So much shrieking and gossiping I haven’t dared show my face at the Goodview since. Best book you read, or film you saw? – Rediscovering my granddad’s memoir dedicated to me which he wrote over 20 years ago when he was in his late 70s. What made you laugh? – My exercise buddies … Continued

Special Scoop: Le Meridien

Favola Walking into Le Meridien’s Favola restaurant causes an instant pleasant reaction to one’s senses; the pervasive smell of baked breads, pizzas cooking in a wood fired oven, while the soft lighting glowing against the backdrop of an open kitchen and refracting against the glass panelled walls, creates a very soothing ambience. In terms of creating good first impressions, Favola certainly exud … Continued

Back to the Future – Segway in Chiang Mai

Had Michael J. Fox been chased by a bunch of jocks all riding Segways in one of the Back to the Future films they wouldn’t have looked out of place at the side of a ‘hover board’. Ok, so you might stand out a bit, but buzzing around Chiang Mai on a Segway (model i2) is a pretty cool and novel experience. In fact, the first thing you’ll say after you’ve given up your machine is, ‘I want one’. At ha … Continued

Facing Up to Politics

In this second instalment of my series on local opinions of the past, present and future of politics in Thailand, we come to a representative of western intellectual thought: Dr. Paul Chambers. Dr. Chambers has extensive experience in the region, first as an envoy of the United States Peace Core in the mid 1990s, then as an English teacher, university lecturer and his current post as the director … Continued

It’s That Time of Year Again

I could feel her eyes burrow into the back of my neck and like a deer in headlights, I froze. “Put that drink down or else there will be two more balls hanging from the Christmas tree” said Mrs. D with a distinctly frosty tone. I placed the brandy on the table and explained that I was only performing a quality control audit after having been asked to check the booze cupboard in advance of the seas … Continued

The Morning After

Knowing how many of you might feel on January 1st we have come up with a bunch of ideas to soften the morning after blues. Whether you feel like knuckling down and carrying on the party, or taking a hint from your banging head and detoxing, we think you’ll find something here for you. “I eat bacon for breakfast, bacon for lunch and I drink my dinner.” William Pitt the Younger, at the age of 24, he … Continued