A Singaporean's guide to living in Thailand

[yinyang]

Upper reach Mae Rim, in Poon Yang stretch ..small village grocery shop with local poison seng som selling for bht140. Cheap kicks.



Peek at owner's house within shop

 

[yinyang]

MonCham is only few kms from upper reach Mae Rim. Scenic views here as good as Doi Ithanon, minus the hassle of long commute. Steep incline on narrow stretches is a challenge with many touristy cars this time of year.

Interesting pavilions to eat and chill with mountain views. Camping site also popular





Not allowed to bring your food up here, with only hill restaurant

 

[yinyang]

More outdoors pics at MonCham (pronounced MonJam). Word was that PM visited this spot previous week

 

[yinyang]

My last hurrah in Chiangmai, replay at MOC MOI restaurant. Singer can do good English classic nos with usual thai pop.

 

[dietcoke]

that hospital is across the river so you stay at the other side?

oh no, i and my wife always go to the temple nearby there whenever we are in BKK

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

roti I visitd chiang rai last october. I even went to burma and I saw that clock tower I think my pictures are in this thread

 

[rotikosong]

roti I visitd chiang rai last october. I even went to burma and I saw that clock tower I think my pictures are in this thread

Yes I think I remember. You posted a good report. If I recall, you also posted photos of Wat Rong Khun - the White Temple. Clock tower is designed by same guy - the style similarity is unmistakable.

I've been to Chiang Rai multiple times. I won't go into the usual sights (google) but here are some other useful tips not usually found in online guides:
1) Use the meter taxi. 053-773-477. 24 hours. 20B fee + meter. Much cheaper than variable and sometimes cuthroat tuktuk and songthaew pricing.
Use it for airport pickup even unless you want to pay 200B flat rate taxi fare.

2) Saturday walking market is on Thanalai Street which is front of the Thum Lae Keaw park. Huge. 6-midnight. Prices cheaper than Night Bazaar.

3) If you want to go to another border town besides Mae Sai-Tachilek, take the bus from the old bus station (Kun Song Kow) next to the Nigh Bazar to Chiang Khong. Maybe 60-70B and takes 1.5 hours. Unfortunately it is a rot bat meaning non-a/c bus that makes multiple stops (anywhere really) along the route. There are fans and the windows are open though! At Chiang Khong, the new bridge to Laos is now open and you can walk across. Need a passport but Thais only need their bat prachachon (IC)

4) Once you get to the Night Bazaar area, every other usual tourist sight (except for Wat Rong Kun and Baan Dam - both are 10km south and north respectively) in Chiang Rai is walkable - do need to take any other form of transport. Renting a motorbike or bicycle is a good idea to get around quicker.

5) Chiang Rai is seeing an increasing # of Chinese tourists. If you see a tour bus outside a restaurant, avoid. Usually lousy.

6) Forget about beer bars - CR is lousy. Most places that Thais go to are in the suburbs and they are chill-out kind of place (no rave). CR is not like CM.

7) The one mall in town is Central Plaza to the south. A little far but still walkable from Night Bazaar area. Big C is nearby Central. If you want a supermarket kind of place in the city center, then google map for "Overbrook Hospital" - that's the premier private hospital in town, sort of their Mount Alvernia or Mt E. There's a large supermarket nearby. Otherwise, go to the wet market, Talad Thesaban - which is near the clock tower

Edited to add:
8) Rai Mae Fah Luang - which is like a botanical gardens + teak architecture display. Nobody but Thai people seem to go there. It's nice. 5 km or thereabouts west of city center

 

[Froggy]

The best thing on our 9hr flight back fro Melbourne is this



A simple bowl of spicy tomyam flavour MAMA cup noodle that we requested.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

went to suk soi 11 club named levels located at hotel Aloft. Wouldn't want to stay there soi 11 is a hell to walk in and out of especially at night and forget about taxi rides since the road is jammed. Best bet would be bike rides to the bts but i think they charge 40 for tourists.

Some drunk girl decided to sleep on the pool table at the ground floor. Standard behavior of ang mohs back in their countries.

 

[yinyang]

went to suk soi 11 club named levels located at hotel Aloft. ...soi 11 is a hell to walk in and out of especially at night and forget about taxi rides since the road is jammed. Best bet would be bike rides to the bts but i think they charge 40 for tourists. Some drunk girl decided to sleep on the pool table at the ground floor. Standard behavior of ang mohs back in their countries.

Dropped by 2X last year, 1st time disallowed me entry even with (covered) sandals. Bit loud music for this old fart and saw some FLs on the prowl. Got terrace area for smokies. Well this is prime suk area with farangs. Across Levels is Oskars Bistro, with not bad food and popular hangout before popping over to Levels. Near Bed Supper Club cluster

And yes, notorious stretch late after hours with taxis declining metered fares.



http://www.oskar-bistro.com/

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Dropped by 2X last year, 1st time disallowed me entry even with (covered) sandals. Bit loud music for this old fart and saw some FLs on the prowl. Got terrace area for smokies. Well this is prime suk area with farangs. Across Levels is Oskars Bistro, with not bad food and popular hangout before popping over to Levels. Near Bed Supper Club cluster

And yes, notorious stretch late after hours with taxis declining metered fares.


http://www.oskar-bistro.com/

Fls are a plenty in a the small numbered sois of suk. Actually to be honest there is always a lingering suspicion if a thai girl has actually ever done fl at one point in her life or does it part time. Even the prince married a former porn star.

Did you see the huge number of african fls near the jw marriott area?

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Visited bash after levels They actually have a midget operating the lift and it's those old school type of lifts.


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3UelABchPBA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/J-dUFqc_ROQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[Froggy]

Missus went Isetan in Central World and bought some Hokkaido seafood for me to cook

Simply boil in water with Hokkaido seaweed and sake


White wine sauce giant mussels


With some nice sake

 

[Froggy]

Diesel price today is 29.99 baht, $1.15 per litre.



was a little surprised my tank can hold more than 73L of diesel

 

[sleaguepunter]

Diesel price today is 29.99 baht, $1.15 per litre.[/URL]

it $1.72 b4 discount over at little red dot. Caltex card with a thanks sticker on it give an extra 6% discount on top of the 14% given by the caltex station located at whitley road. so after the 20% discount, "you sai" cost $1.376 per litre.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Accident at around 12 midnight on ploenchit. 3 vehicles involved 1 is a van and i think the other one is a taxi and a silver car. The driver can be seen here trying to direct traffic away from his car

 

[Froggy]

Never seen such heavy fog before in bangkok

Video taken 8am

 

[Froggy]

See how foggy is Foodland now almost 9am



came here for breakfast porridge minced pork

 

[johnny333]

went to suk soi 11 club named levels located at hotel Aloft. Wouldn't want to stay there soi 11 is a hell to walk in and out of especially at night and forget about taxi rides since the road is jammed. Best bet would be bike rides to the bts but i think they charge 40 for tourists.

Some of the hotels located deeper from the main road have a free ferry service for hotel guests. They usually use one of those small tuk tuks.

 

[Jah_rastafar_I]

Some of the hotels located deeper from the main road have a free ferry service for hotel guests. They usually use one of those small tuk tuks.

That's right but well sometimes they might have a timetable or the rides might be pretty full.