As we all know, sometimes even in this beautiful city, it’s hard to face the day, so why not order in? Do away with the usual fast food rubbish and tuck into some fresh homemade locally made grub.

Take note of these new hotels and hostels that have popped up across the city for the next time you need to direct some friends to somewhere a bit better than your living room sofa.

It is hard to keep up with all the new restaurants and their changes in this city, but we do our best! So here are three culprits that have been adding to our waistlines this past month.

Anyone who has spent any reasonable amount of time in Thailand knows that securing visas, work permits, and just ensuring your security here in the Kingdom can be stressful. If your job falls through or you have to move cities, you are more often than not left with a voided visa — only to have to start the painful process again. For digital nomads, woes may increase due conflicting rules and statements: one day a tourist visa is acceptable for digital work, and the next there are threats of yet another crackdown, arrests and deportation.

“The Study and Development of Leading Projects in Areas in Accordance with NCPO’s Policies to Honour His Majesty the King and Bring into Practice His Sufficiency Economy Philosophy to Community Areas of Chiang Mai.” Under the Project to Promote the Quality of Chiang Mai Provincial Management, 2016.

Design Ideas by Panisara Phummapooti, Owner of Roll Me Bakery at Nimman

Bangaluru (Bangalore) may not be an obvious choice for a holiday. It doesn’t have the allure of Mumbai’s Bollywood royalty, Delhi’s fascinating layers of historic lost empires, Jaipur’s photogenically iconic pink city and floating palace, Goa’s chilled vibes or Manali’s chillum-fueled Himalayan spirituality. It’s a sprawling lush green metropolis of over eight million people touted as the Silicon Valley of India, a Garden City, a Pensioners’ Paradise as well as India’s Pub City — quite an eclectic and seemingly contrasting handful of epithets!

With all the international faces walking our streets, high rises flanking them and traffic jams gridlocking their arteries, it is hard to remember what Chiang Mai was only a few decades ago: a sleepy backwater town unknown and unconnected to the rest of the world. In these pages, over the years, we have interviewed dynamic young entrepreneurs, international jet setters and everything in between. This month we would like to introduce you to a woman who embodies a very typical Chiang Mai success story.

It rained last night and the temperature has dropped to wintery levels. As I was checking Facebook this morning before coming to work, I saw that a young intern who had been with us a few years ago had just posted, “So happy it rained, no pollution this year!” There are a lot of misconceptions about the ever-alarming annual pollution likely to be heading our way in the coming weeks.

With a background in architecture and design, 57 year old Yuttana Piyatrakul is a businessman from Chiang Rai who has spent the last few years attempting to innovate architecture. “When famous historical inventors found electricity or invented the car, most thought they were crazy,” he said while introducing his designs. “But now we use them every day — and that is what I am trying to achieve. I want to move the building industry forward. It has been stagnating for years.”

Divine desserts for those days when the sweet tooth has its cravings…

In the January 2016 issue of Citylife, you may have read my article about how English learning in Thailand’s schools might be improved by focusing on literacy rather than conversation or communication. That article was inspired by all the discussion in the Thai media about the failure of Thailand’s education system to improve standards of English proficiency in Thai public schools.

Well, New Year has come and gone and I think we’ve all had enough time to sober up. New Year’s Eve was quite a bit of fun and we got to stay out past our 12 o’clock bedtime so thanks police, we really appreciate it. Getting back in the swing of things after the holiday season is always tough for me. Turns our that Citylife gets a bunch of singles and promo releases on a regular basis so I’ve got a nice, easy review of a song I picked up.

Well, New Year has come and gone and I think This month I was looking forward to recounting the tale of how I met the king of Cambodia. Unfortunately I didn’t meet the king of Cambodia and, as I assume the majority of the people on this planet have never met the king of Cambodia, telling of an adventure where I failed to meet his royal highness isn’t really much of a story.