Once confined to the family rumpus room or occasionally dusted off to help while away the time during long school holidays, board games and card games are enjoying a global renaissance. Even geek staples like Dungeons & Dragons and myriad other role-playing games have burst forth from angst-ridden tween and teen bedrooms to hold sway over cafes and other newly declared ‘gaming locations’, with Chiang Mai being no exception.

Nicole’s fingers hovered above the keyboard and a blank Google search awaited her inquiry. With a few keystrokes, the words ‘volunteer in Southeast Asia’ appeared into the search bar. She pressed enter, and within seconds, nearly 800,000 results popped in to view. Work with Orphans in Cambodia, one beckoned, while another told her to Build Homes in Bali! As a university student studying early education, the choice to volunteer as an English instructor was easy. A few short months later, she found herself boarding a plane from Michigan to Chiang Mai to teach at a Thai school for four weeks.

Just an eclectic cluster of cool little eateries we discovered this month.

Some exotic restaurants for those of us needing a respite from somtam and noodles.

On its surface, Can Do Bar seems like your average after-hours watering hole. Shelves of liquor bottles shimmer under neon signage, and the latest pop chart-toppers drift out from the loudspeakers. Despite its comfortingly nondescript appearance, it is the only bar of its kind in Chiang Mai: it’s run entirely by sex workers.

About 70-80% of our immune system is most active in the gut and digestive tract. That is how important our digestive system is. It not only feeds us by extracting all the things it needs from our food, but also is the place where all the bad stuff is kept at bay. But with great power, comes great responsibility. Everything we eat affects the behaviour of our immune system and how our body works, from chewing all the way to digestion. Good eating habits promote a heathly body and strong immune system, and food with poor nutritional value can quickly cause our body to deteriorate, along with our immune system too.

This month I thought I’d present my lecture on something useful. Last month I finally decided to go all legal and get myself a proper Thai motorcycle licence. The below might be helpful for those who are perhaps thinking of doing the same.

Although Chiang Mai is still holding onto its vibrant, lively nightlight despite the midnight Cinderella curfew, sometimes a night off the booze is just what you need. Whether you’re a night owl or just not looking for a drink, here are some things you can do after midnight that does not involve alcohol.

As Western countries edge closer and closer to hemp and cannabis legalisation, Thailand is quietly and tentatively following suit. Following the vilification of cannabis and hemp caused by the American presence in the region in the late sixties, Thailand and her neighbours introduced harsh prison sentences, and even death penalties for the consumption and dealing of the drug. Almost half a century later, new, and more progressive attitudes are finally sprouting up like toadstools across Thailand. This year, laws have already been passed that will see hemp become a fully commercial crop within the next three years, and legislation regarding decriminalisation and re-classification of cannabis is currently under review, with positive results predicted within the next two years. Northern Thailand has been given the honour to lead the hemp revolution, with a rich history of cultivation among Hmong and other highland cultures making this the logical locale to begin, and starting with those who know best.

Beginning its life in Brisbane in 1989, The Coffee Club has grown and grown, finding its footing in Thailand back in 2010. Finally, we northern locals can get a taste of one of Australia’s favourite all-day cafes without trekking to the capital, a place which brings world-renowned hip café culture to compete in Southeast Asia’s coffee capital, Chiang Mai.

It has been almost a year since Jennifer Harhigh was appointed the United States Consul General for Chiang Mai. We were curious as to what she has been working on during this time and thought it was time we sat down for a chat.

Who’s a litterbug? Well, judging from the vile amount of gunk and gore being dredged out of our drains and from our city canals over the past few weeks, far too many of us.

Aesthetic medicine is developing at a rapid pace, with new research and technology offering physicians training and tools to better care for their patients’ beauty and skin requirements. It can sometimes therefore be quite bewildering and intimidating for the novice client seeking aesthetic treatments in a great sea of clinics, doctors, treatments and medicine.