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VOL.26
No. 11 November 2017
ChiangMaiCitylife.com
Editorial Your Say City Talk City Buzz Client Spot City7 What’s Happening? City Events
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Citylife Garden Fair 2017
Adventures of Tom
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Battling Beetles
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Love Foundation
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A Northern Thai Tradition
16 Trade Routes, Wars and Tourism 36 The story of Chinese settlers in Chiang Mai
Design Ideas City Games
Kickflips and Grinds The arduous journey of Chiang Mai’s skateboarders
30 34
22
TRAVEL Insight from a Regional Travel Guru
ADVERTORIALS Delaying Joint and Bone Problems through Integrative Medicine
20
Panyaden International School
38
Subscribe today! Get a copy of Citylife in you mailbox each month for only 850 baht a year. Contact wichuda@chiangmaicitylife.com for details.
Editor in Chief/Director Pim Kemasingki Consultant John Shaw MBE Production Manager Nitkanung Watanakun Deputy Editor Aydan Stuart CityNow! Editor Sureeporn Tridsadeerak, Tus Werayutwattana Director of Sales Pawalee Muninthorn, Chidchanok Tangsongpaibool Head of Graphic Design Pongsak Inthano Graphic Designers Sarinnaphat Chartperawong, Priyawit Nikornpant Photographers Pichaya Choeychom, Apiwat Singharach Photo Contributor Steve Yarnold Intern Nikki Osgood
Company Contacts: Photographer for social events: knot@chiangmaicitylife.com Editorial Team: editor@chiangmaicitylife.com, aydan@chiangmaicitylife.com Sales: salesadmin@chiangmaicitylife.com, Administration: admin@chiangmaicitylife.com Citylife is published by Trisila Company Limited Fifth Avenue Mee Choke 555/211 moo 2 Chiang Mai-Phrao Rd., Nong Jom, San Sai, Chiang Mai 50210 Thailand Tel: 053 241 360 Fax: 053 241 362 E-mail: info@chiangmaicitylife.com www.chiangmaicitylife.com
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www.chiangmaicitylife .com
As I write this in late October, that moment is a shimmering promise following what is going to be a crazy month. In the days when our company — and media in general — was far bigger, and when our fairs were far smaller, the event wasn’t such a challenge. But from our first post-tsunami event when we had under two dozen stalls and raised just under 30,000 baht for tsunami victims, to today’s whopping 300 plus stalls and a dream of making the half million baht mark, the fair has grown far beyond us and has become a collective effort and achievement of the entire community. One of my favourite times of the year is around 4pm on the day of our Citylife Garden Fair. After four or five months of planning and hard work and the inevitable stress and frenzy of the day, this is when I can finally relax and give myself a mental pat on the back. Food stalls have mostly sold out, drink stall owners are grinning from ear to ear at the brisk trade, the bands have gathered an adoring crowd, preliminary reports show that a respectable sum of money has been raised for charity, all earlier altercations and sulks have been forgotten and my one visible job of the day, the live auction, is over. After twelve years and probably over 20 Citylilfe Garden Fairs, I have developed a finely-tuned routine and by 4pm I would have enjoyed my first glass of bubbly and found myself booked in for a foot massage. I sit, glass in hand, looking out at the hustle and bustle of the last hours of the event. It’s a good feeling.
So this month, I feel that I need to recognise the fact that while Cityllife’s name still headlines the event, it is no longer our event alone. Hundreds of businesses, from iconic international brands such as Georg Jensen, Le Meridien, Four Seasons and Silk Air, to our city’s very own success stories including Oasis Spa, Rachamankha Hotel, Ginger & The House and Elephant Parade through to more humble enterprises, have all pledged their support. The local media has been wonderful and have all promised pledged to give us big boosts of promotion this month and even the national media, including Thailand Tatler, will be featuring our event for the first time. Musicians have always been an integral part of our fair and have donated their time and talent to keep us all happy and entertained over the years, but this year we have a new group of amazing people — artists. So far, over 25 Thai and international artists, some who are world renown, have donated paintings to us
and there will be an art exhibition between 16th-25th November at the Chiang Mai University Art Museum. But it is a small group of volunteers who have really pushed us to another level, for the past many months meeting every few weeks to make this event even bigger and better. They have contributed so much to our event that I can’t thank them all enough. But of course the reason our humble Citylife Garden Fair has become a permanent fixture on our city’s calendar is because of you. I know this sounds cheesy, but without all of you sharing our event on your Facebook pages — you can find us at Citylife Garden Fair ’17 (CMU Art Museum) — or coming to support our tombolas or auctions, shopping, eating, drinking and dancing, we wouldn’t have raised millions of baht upon millions over the years for those who need it the most. So thank you and see you ALL on November 25th at the Chiang Mai University Art Museum for a fantastic time.
Pim Kemaingki Editor-in-Chief
Our major sponsors so far...with many more to come.
Citylife Garden Fair 2017 (CMU Art Museum)
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READER
Battling Beetles:
A Northern Thai Tradition By Aydan Stuart This is the time of the year when the sounds of small ridged sticks rubbing against logs of wood used to be heard emanating from back yards throughout the north of Thailand. The familiar sounds would be interspersed with the roar of a crowd and was ubiquitous and easily identified in days past. But times have changed and its gentle echoes and resounding cheers have faded…along with any recognition with, and familiarity of the sounds. But if you know where to look, you may still come across this scene, found only in our small corner of the world: men of all ages squatting on the floor in dirty flip flops, dark heads huddled together, focused on a Lilliputian fight as they jeer and cheer. Shots of moonshine as well as weathered and rugged baht notes pass from hand to hand as everyone oscillates between holding their breath, sighing and shouting in unison. Occasionally the silence would be pierced by a soft shriek; this is the agonised sound of a beetle being pincered. A good fighter will pincer back and both beetles would be momentarily still, locked in mortal combat, or at least a very powerful headlock. Seconds later, a horn snaps in two and with one last final shriek the defeated beetle makes a hasty retreat back into the hand of its owner. The men cheer and chink glasses in congratulations bahts won and another pair of fighters is prepped to enter the stage. This is the world of Thai rhinoceros beetle fighting, an ancient Northern Thai tradition. Although numbers are dwindling — in both beetles and interest — there are a few who are dedicated to keeping the tradition alive and since ‘tis the season, Citylife decided to take a look at this controversial and unique tradition which has long been a part of the north of Thailand’s cultural fabric.
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READER Lanna’s Xylotrupes To many in Thailand, the sight of a Thai rhinoceros beetle, locally known as kwaang, is familiar, often seen in school boys’ top pockets. Kids across the north who happen across a kwaang were the lucky ones and would rush to show off their finds to their friends before a teacher would spot the bug and snatch it away, throwing it into a bush. As boys grow older their interest fades, but for a select few the obsession remains, and as these boys step into adulthood they join the small ranks of beetle fighting fans who trade, breed and gamble their treasured insects. Recognisable by the large horns protruding from their heads, the male rhinoceros beetle comes in many shapes and sizes. Growing to an average of 6cm in length, many type of beetle can be found across Asia, Africa and parts of Europe. With a pair of wings encased by a black or dark reddish brown shell with lacquer-like properties, these nocturnal insects have an adult lifespan of just a few months after a gestation period of up to five months as a grub. Purported to be one of the strongest species on earth, they can lift between 100 and 850 times their own weight and unsurprisingly pack a powerful pinch between their two horns, capable of doing some damage to a careless handler. Despite their strength, they are often docile and peaceful creatures, spending their days sleeping and eating sugary fruit. That is of course, until they catch a whiff of a potential mate.
morning there would be one sitting there feasting,” explained 28 year old Warakon Thumma, one of the biggest rhinoceros beetle vendors in Chiang Mai. “Sugarcane is sweet and tough so they spend hours working out the sugary syrup in a sort of trance.”
Kwaang beetles are full of beauty, their fights were like dances. They were living pieces of art Boxing Beetles “Fighting beetles is not difficult,” said Sumit Utalerd, an avid rhinoceros beetle collector and competitor. “All you need is a strong male with long horns and a bit of good luck.” Beetles are matched by length, width and size of horns, and when two similar beetles are found they are brought to a log, known as the stage, where the fight will take place. As onlookers share their predictions and place bets, the owners position their fighter over a small hole carved in the stage that houses a pheromone secreting female that gets the males agitated and looking for a rival.
When the female pheromones begin to arouse the male, their docile demeanours change to that of a riled up bull, lunging forward looking for a rival to butt horns with. Between August and October of every year, these beetles reach maturity and are highly driven with a desire to mate. According to Dr. Stephane Rennesson, an anthropologist working in the region, the beetles don’t fight to attract females but rather to ward off any rival that may appear during intercourse — a process that takes over an hour.
Using little sticks with ridges along them, the owners often ceremoniously spin the stick against the stage causing vibrations that are said to communicate a message to the beetle that its fight time. The stick is also used to control the beetle, rubbing it on the left or right legs to encourage it to turn, and spinning the stick between its two horns, moving it forward and agitating it so it is ready to fight. “If a beetle is unwilling to fight, then the fight is forfeited,” said Rennesson talking at a recent Informal Northern Thai Group talk. “That is why the ‘ceremony’ before the fight is very important — it’s like a spell.”
“To keep up their strength, the rhinoceros beetles need a lot of sugary food, so in the past, all one needed to do to catch one was to hang up a stick of sugarcane overnight and by the
“Before a fight I will let my beetle drink some fresh sugarcane syrup to give it an extra burst of energy,” said 64 year old Udom Wongson at a Lampang beetle fighting event. “I also don’t
let them breed until the season is over so then they fight harder. I don’t know if that’s the best way but it’s worked for me ever since I was a young boy.” Rennesson suggests that the hit of fresh sugarcane makes the beetles drunk and their trance like state keeps them fighting for longer. The two beetles will fight on the stage until one gives up, breaks a horn or after completing 12 ‘rounds’. “A round is over each time they separate horns,” explained Sumit. “When they fight, we try to turn the log to keep them on top but if they fall off that can also counts as a round.” Sometimes, if a beetle looks as if it will back out, the owner will take it by its horns and shake it vigorously. “It helps them forget they are losing,” said Udom as he shook one of his beetles…that subsequently lost anyway. “Once a beetle loses one fight, he usually loses them all,” said Warakon. “These days we try to release them so they have a chance to breed, maintaining the population.” Fighting a Losing Battle Sadly, rhinoceros beetles are becoming less and less common in northern Thailand. Warakon explained that although the beetle as a species is not anywhere near extinction, in more recent years they have all but disappeared from the jungles and gardens of northern Thailand. This is widely attributed to the massive increase of pesticides used in farming, especially on longan farms. “The rhinoceros beetle lays its eggs underground after the mating season, so when farmers pour chemicals over their crops it seeps down and kills the eggs,” said Warakon. “In just the last five years, the number has dropped so much that I have had to give up on finding them here and reach out to other parts of the country where they are still more abundant.” Another reason why the beetles in the north aren’t fairing so well is, of course, due to the beetle fighting industry. Most owners will pitch their own beetles against one another to find the strongest to fight with, eliminating any chance of breeding, while only the weaker ones are released into the wild. Sumit says that he has noticed a weakening in strength in beetles found in the north, his speculation confirmed by Warakon who contends that the past de-
13 Citylife November 2017
READER
cade’s winners have almost always come from the Northeast. “In Isaan they are still abundant as they use less chemicals as they generally grow different crops,” he explained. “They are often found around sugarcane plantations as farmers use raw sugar as fertiliser that gives the grubs a burst of energy when they are born improving their survival rates. I get most of my beetles from Chaiyaphum.” A Growing Trade As one of the biggest traders in rhinoceros beetles in Chiang Mai, Warakon has had to invest in a team of beetle catchers in the Northeast who source the fighting critters for him. “I have a team of about ten men who have over 100 traps each which they check every day. Once all the beetles are collected, they send them up to me. I get around 500 beetles a time, several times a week,” he said as he explained how the beetle trade has had to change over the last decade. “They sell each beetle to me for between 20 and 100 baht and I sell them onto vendors across the city who then in turn sell to their customers. The biggest markets for beetles can be found behind the flower market near Arcade Bus Station and at Kad Wua in Hang Dong.” Warakon grades his beetles from grade A to D, starting at just 40 baht for a small 5cm long beetle to as much as 350 baht for a 6.3cm beetle. “Now I use the internet to sell the beetles, posting online when I get a new shipment in,” he said. “Thanks to Facebook I can usually sell all of my beetles in just one morning, but there is a downside that has affected the whole market — now those who catch the beetles can easily see how much they can go for, they are beginning to increase their costs. Just five years ago beetles were going for as little as 5 baht a piece, now the cheapest you’ll find is 20 baht.” Sumit is aware that the future of beetle fighting is not bright. “I started looking towards other ways to make money with beetles,” he said. “I often collect and stuff my favourites from each year so now I focus on their looks rather than their strength.”
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This alternative interest has led way to more people breeding the beetles at home, however the practice remains controversial among dedicated beetle owners. “Breeding them may be good for beauty but they’ll never win a fight,” said Warakon. “The thing that makes the beetles strong is that they’ve survived the wild and become an adult, if you just pamper them in a box they are going to be weak.” This new era of beetle beauty pageants has given rise to a new market that focuses on looks and perfection over strength and power. “When a judge looks at a beetle for beauty, they look at the height and length of their horns,” he explained as he lifted his prized beetle of the year, most recently winning him first place in the Pai Beetle Beauty Contest. “The best ones’ horns make a perfect circle if you were to join up the gap in the middle.” According to Sumit and Warakon, the best beetles, whether they are fighters or posers, can go for as much as ten thousand baht or more. “When it comes down to the big games, beetle fighting is much like football,” Sumit said. “The person with the most money can buy the biggest, strongest beetle or the most beautiful beetle and just win outright.” A State of Class “In the past, rhinoceros beetles were something that the masters of the households used to collect and fight,” explained Ajarn Vithi Phanichphant, an acclaimed historian and lecturer at Chiang Mai University. “It was chickens that the poor used to fight. Kwaang beetles were full of beauty, their fights were like dances. They were living pieces of art.” Much like Thai boxing, the fights used to be accompanied by traditional music which along with the vibrating sounds of sticks on logs turned the atmosphere into something quite mystical. Monks would also fight their beetles, sending their novices into the jungles to procure their fighters. With associations to the temple, the animal cruelty angle was diminished as there was no fear of karmic retribution. Often owners would release the beetles at the end of Buddhist Lent to make merit or gift them to the temples where the novice monks would take them, fight them and eventually release them. “Over time the tradition incorporated gambling — which is strictly
illegal in Thailand — and became relegated to the lower ranks of society while the masters looked towards more civilised forms of entertainment,” he continued. According to Ajarn Vithi, the etiquette that surrounded interactions between boys and girls of yesteryear made it difficult for a boy to approach a girl without the permission of her family member. “Each girl at home would be guarded by a brother, often the younger brother, who would have the say as to who was allowed to see the girl,” he explained. “To get a good queue number, as it were, you had to bribe your way in, often with a gift of a strong, valiant rhinoceros beetle.” As beetle fighting became more commonplace and society more fluid, the tradition has all but died out apart from in remote tribal villages. Today boys will just approach a girl directly, sometimes offering up his beetle for her to take without the hassle of talking with her brother first. Although today we are a long way away from using beetles as bartering chips to flirt with girl in the village, the beetle fighting scene is still around and is still predominantly a male sport. As men welcome their children into the scene, they will support the continuation of the tradition just as they have done for centuries. “Although love is no longer a motivator, money is what still holds it all together,” laughed Ajarn Vithi. “It’s a tradition of the sticky rice people so unless they disappear I expect these unique things we do, such as beetle fighting, to last alongside.” Rennesson suggests, however, that although it is primarily for entertainment, the tradition reflects local wisdom in a way that may become harder and harder to interpret the further we move away from the origin of such traditions. The overall consensus of the dwindling community of beetle fighters and collectors is that despite fewer numbers these days, the tradition will endure. “Fewer young people are showing an interest in beetle fighting these days as it’s seen as a farmer sport,” said Udom. “A bunch of old uncles playing in a farmhouse is not as attractive to the newer generation, but in time they’ll be just like us.”
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LOCAL
gs) o d d n a ( e l p o e p e h t ere are e are helping this year. 1. Beam Foundation: A Community Service Internship Programme Service internships by university students in rural village settings that focus on mentoring youth, environmental protection, community development, health and safety. In return for their help, students receive a scholarship for their studies. BeamEdu.org
2. The Love Foundation: HIV Awareness/Testing Programme An online programme developed by the Love Foundation to promote safe sex for students at Chiang Mai universities. The project will also provide free HIV testing for up to 200 students. TheLoveFoundation.com
3. Hand to Paw: Community Outreach Programme Working with communities on the importance of dog sterilisations, immunisations and basic healthcare. The programme also assists with the vaccination and sterilisation of homeless street dogs residing in temples. HandAndPawProject.com
4. Burma Border Projects: Mae Sot Income Generation Project The Migrant Learning Center in Mae Sot will secure their future by creating their own small holding to grow their own vegetables and mushrooms — some of which will go to the school, the remainder will be sold to the community to generate income. Monies will also finance a stall to sell the produce. Burma-Projects.org
6. Jen’s House: New Kitchen Project Jen's House is a dorm/home in Sanpatong for Karen students from villages around Chiang Mai. Their current 'kitchen' has no running water, sink or work surfaces. This project will provide a clean hygienic kitchen for the students to cook, socialise and enjoy communal meals.
5. Hug Project: Online Abuse Prevention Project Prevention programme that conducts workshops directly with at-risk children in neighbourhoods, villages and schools on how to stay safe online to help protect them from internet facilitated abuse. HugProject.org
7. Project Win Thailand: Project Protein Project Win is a grassroots partnership reflecting the late King’s teachings on sustainability. This project will provide a remote rural village with a new fish pond and a chicken coop complete with livestock. This is a community led, hands on project which will also provide school children and their families’ education on providing nutrition for themselves and their community. Project-Vin.Blogspot.com
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8. Bengali Humanitarian Relief: Emergency Relief Fund In response to the plight of an estimated 430,000 civilians, mostly children, who recently moved from Myanmar to refugee camps in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh and who are in desperate need of humanitarian relief; funds raised will provide essential humanitarian support to new arrivals crossing the Myanmar-Bangladesh border particularly children in this continuing desperate crisis. Facebook.com/bengalirelief
All charities have been offered a free stall at our fair, so you get to know them all better on the day.
LOCAL
ook your Spot 300 stalls booked, so you have until the 15th of November to get one!
We have chefs from the city’s finest of fine dining restaurants to food trucks, noodle carts and pop-up bakeries. Come hungry! Drinks from juices to coffees, bubblies to cock- and mock-tails will be plentiful.
Citylife Garden Fair Update Chiang Mai University Art Museum has kindly donated one large exhibition room in their museum and we are planning on organising an art exhibition and auction leading up to the day. So far over 25 artists, including Kamin Lertchaiprasert, Nicolas Luna, Vichit Chaiwong and Kitikong Tilokwattanotai have donated pieces of art and all monies raised will go towards our chosen charities.
An online auction site has been launched, www. chiangmaicitylife-auction.com where you can go to check out some of our larger auction items and start your bidding early!
hristmas Time! Dusit D2 hotel is going to be brining Santa and his little helpers! There will also be loads of fun Christmas activities, the Christmas choir, Christmas cookies, cards and decoration and this will be a great opportunity to do your Christmas shopping.
Tombola & Auctions As usual, most of the money raised will come from our tombola (similar to a raffle) which will have hundreds of prizes to win, so make sure you buy as many tickets as possible, as every baht you hand over goes to charity. Then there are the silent and live auctions. We don’t have a final list of donated items yet, as its early days, but there will be the usual fabulous prizes to be bid on.
Fantastic bands and performers will be rocking the stage from 11am9pm. Bose, thanks to NEO Entertainment Gallery, will also be donating all the speakers for the event!
Parking For the first time ever in Citylife Garden Fair history, we think we have this traffic/parking thing down! There will be ample parking on the grounds and across Nimmanhaemin Road at the exhibition centre. You will also be able to access the fair from both the Canal Road and Nimman Road entrances.
ATM
And if you worry that you will run out of cash, fear not! The Government Savings Bank will be bringing an ATM van to the fair.
Visit us on Facebook at: Citylife Garden us on(CMU Facebook at: Citylife Garden FairVisit 2017 Art Museum) for all Fair 2017 (CMU Art Museum) for all exciting updates. exciting updates.
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ADVERTORIAL
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When thinking about join and bone problems, we think about knee problems, back pain and arthritis. We use our knees hundreds of times a day so it is not surprising that they are often the first joints to cause problems in older age. Our spine is another part of the body which is often first to show signs of ageing, and can bring bigger problems with it such as posture problems, strength and sleeping discomfort. When keeping an eye on our bodies, we must be aware of what could happen and the first warning signs that may lead to much worse symptoms if left untreated. A pain in the neck could be nothing, but it could also point towards something more serious affecting your back or your spine. Anything could happen, but being aware of these potential risks and how to combat them or prevent them entirely is knowledge we should all share. In most people symptoms of joint pain and joint disease start to appear in your 50s, but in most it takes a further 20 to 30 years before it reaches chronic stages that often affect mobility and strength on a permanent basis. Early warning signs are easy to miss however, and are often overlooked. Walking down the
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FREETIME
Kickflips and Grinds: The arduous journey of Chiang Mai’s skateboarders by Tus Werayutwattana “It’s about time that skateboard players are perceived as serious sport players,” said 38 year old Pichai ‘Kob’ Booncoomyou, one of Chiang Mai’s skateboarding pioneers who has spent the past few decades fighting for space and legitimacy for his sport. He began skateboarding at a time when western teens skateboarded from playground to sports arenas, while Thailand, with its potholed pavements and limited access to good skateboards, was still many years, if not decades, from catching up.
The First Push Kob recalls with crystal clarity his early days of the sport, having picked up his first skateboard at eight years old. “I saw older kids skating around town and wanted to try it myself,” said Kob. “Despite the fact that skateboards were hard to come by in Chiang Mai, I managed to get hold of some pretty basic equipment and started learning what I could.” Those were pre-internet days and there was almost no way to learn skills, techniques and tricks apart from copying friends, catching occasional glimpses on TV or through painful trial and error. “There were about 10 of us who first came together at the newly opened Kad Suan Kaew in 1995 after they offered us free space to skate. It was nothing fancy, just a plain space with an open
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floor with a few rails but it was a start, and we were very grateful.” In just six months the number of skaters had skyrocketed to over 100. “With so many of us, it’s unsurprising looking back, that there were so many complaints made against us thanks to reckless and disrespectful skaters,” Kob continued. “Yet despite all that we managed to stay at Kad Suan Kaew for eight years.” “We were all young, reckless, stubborn and proud of our skills, and frankly we eventually got out of hand, including me — regretfully,” said Kob. “If things were broken, nobody would own up, our egos got the better of us and we started to act like we owned the place. What
we forgot was that it was still a shopping mall and not a skate park. We didn’t respect that.” The inevitable happened, and in 2003 Kad Suan Kaew had had enough and outright banned skateboarders from its grounds. Over the next year many skaters gave up or moved onto other hobbies as there was nowhere else to play. Kob was about to give up himself when he met Pich ‘Tum’ Potarach while playing basketball one day. The two discovered a mutual interest in skating and decided to do something about it. A New Start The pair finally found a place to skate at Chiang Yuen temple. “Around that time, Kad Suan Kaew also did a U-turn and decided to open a
FREETIME
skate park in partnership with Red Bull,” continued Tum. “However, they were charging 50 baht a go which was prohibitive for most of us who wanted to skate every day.” Unfortunately neither Red Bull nor Kad Suan Kaew were willing to pay anything towards maintenance and the park quickly fell to disrepair. Fortunately the duo managed to expand the Chiang Yuen temple crowd and get the community back together again. “We were skating after school hours daily in those days,” said Tum who said that temple school students would become excited at the daily sight of the skateboarders… while teachers grew anxious. “Wat Chiang Yuen’s students had long had a reputation as delinquents,” said Kob. “But surprisingly, we didn’t have any issues with them at all as they really seemed to take great interest in our activities, spending hours skating rather than fighting and drinking. To be fair, there are skaters who drink and smoke, but not everyone does, just like with any other sport. But still, the teachers distrusted us and saw us as trouble makers — a trend that seemed to span worldwide. They reluctantly allowed us to stay on, but for a price". The temple turned into the official Chiang Mai skateboarding base, and the first provincial competition was held there, which helped raise funds to pay the rent. The name 'Wat Chiang Yuen Skaters’ soon became synonymous with turning problem children into fine and creative young adults,” explained Kob. “TV channels were featuring us and it was a golden age for us skateboarders.” A Balancing Act Kob, who is now the owner of Little Cook Café and an aspiring graphic designer, explained that skateboarding has became less popular over the years. Today, the Wat Chiang Yuen Skaters have all but gone, and there are only
small pockets of skaters kicking flips and twisting ollys across the city in places like the Chiang Mai Municipality Stadium, the Fine Arts Faculty in CMU and Promenada’s parking lot. “We tried our best to keep the scene going, at one point we even got the mayor to show interest in building a park. They sponsored a CNX Extreme Day event, then lost interest,” lamented Tum who is constantly struggling to gain legitimacy for his sport.
I have grown tired of juggling between the good and the bad kids In 2015, a friend of Tum managed to persuade Maya Lifestyle Shopping Mall to hold a skating event that was aligned with the International Association of Skateboard Companies (IASC) which in turn resulted in local skaters being allowed to meet up regularly outside the front of the mall. “This lasted just five months before a skater was caught skating in an area we were not supposed to and we were kicked out,” Tum said. “I’m actually quite relieved that we were banned. Things were starting to get out of hand as usual and I have grown tired of juggling between the good and the bad kids. I’m happy skating in a quiet corner in Promenada with my friends right now; keeping myself out of the drama.” Despite his frustration Tum still supports the CNX Heart Skateboard, an online community created by Jirawat ‘Toto’ Navachak that is con-
tinuing the fight to lobby local authorities to invest in a proper skate park. “I gathered what I think is necessary for the park proposal. I did a survey collecting statistics about the skaters in Chiang Mai and I even drew a rough design of what the skate park should look like,” explained Toto, who although new to the scene, is now the face of the (once again) growing skateboarding community. “I want to show Chiang Mai that we are just another group of passionate sportspeople.” So far, the lack of a proper skate park has not stifled the spirits of the city’s hard core skaters. Chiang Mai has even produced its own professional skaters too, such as Sirikit Saelee, a member of the early Kad Suan Kaew gang and now a professional skater for Preduce, and Patarakhun Pianchana, a 28 year old skater who is now sponsored by AI Team who has accumulated a large following online. For now, the skating community exists and perhaps thrives in bubbles around town; yet it will most likely always live in the shadows of other sports. “Each day I receive at least 10 messages from many people across Chiang Mai,” said Tum, “mostly asking where to skate. When attitudes change, and they are changing, then we will truly flourish.” Chiang Mai skateboard community Facebook page: cnxheartskateboard
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Citylife READER
The Adventures of Tom by Tom Clegg
Pub Quiz Chiang Mai Why do we use the term trivia to mean general knowledge? If a question like this piques your interest, then an evening at one of Chiang Mai’s pub quizzes may be for you. Let’s start with a brief look at the history of the pub quiz. Anthropologists have long held that bar-based trivia first emerged as a popular pastime in the North of England in the 1960s. For many months of the year a lack of sunshine and a propensity for heavy rainfall meant the local pub, with its open fire and readily available bar snacks, was a literal lifeline. For those not wishing to huddle around a pen and paper there was often a dartboard available. However pub quizzes in the north were often poorly organized on an ad hoc basis and, according to sociologists, often ended in a scuffle between village elders, or something. And so it was up to a couple in the South of the country to introduce a bit of order. In the mid-70s Sharon Burns and Tom Porter saw an opportunity to replace the usual conversations about land boundaries and cheese making practices by establishing leagues and publishing sets of questions to be sent out to aspiring quizmasters in sealed envelopes. The Sunday night pub quiz was established. Over subsequent decades trivia nights spread to all corners of the globe on every conceivable night of the week, not least to our little expat enclave in the north of Thailand. The weekly quiz-night is also popular with publicans and bar owners for one very simple reason - people like to get pissed when trying to remember the capital of Azerbaijan or which element comes fifth on the Periodic Table. Quiz nights for many are now the most lucrative night of the week. Those setting the questions can also do well out of an hour or two behind the microphone. Here in Chiang Mai, and in bars around the globe, rewards for pulling a few questions together might, at the very least, involve free beer for the night.
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For those unfamiliar with the general layout of the pub quiz, here are some bullet points: 1. Politely ask a friend or two if they would like to form a pub-quiz ‘team’, and decide on a night and venue on which to meet up. Go to that venue on the night specified. 2. Establish a team-name. Preferably something childish that sounds a bit filthy. 3. Dress smartly – smart people are clever people. Even better, get a team ‘strip’. Pub quizzing is a sport, after all, in the same way that F1, horse-racing and golf are sports. 4. Turn off your phone. 5. Order a drink. 6. Answer the questions, ideally correctly, or at least in the order the quizmaster is asking them. 7. Have an argument with your team-mates about at least one of the answers. 8. Have another drink. 9. You may be asked to play a joker. Play it for the round for which you think you answered the most questions correctly. 10. Have another argument and a drink. 11. Repeat until a) Your team is triumphant and awarded the prestige of having guessed the greatest percentage of questions correctly, or b) Your team is not triumphant, in which case award yourselves with another drink for giving it your best shot. Ostensibly a bit of fun, a pub quiz should never be entered into lightly. Although pretty straightforward, as I have mentioned above, there are rules. Possibly the nicest of which is the blanket ban on the use of smartphones in order to prevent any cheating. What a joy to spend a couple of hours not having to hear: ‘Sorry mate, just got to reply to this’ or watch the person opposite try to remember what the hell it was you just asked him as he slips his little computer surreptitiously back into his pocket. Nope, it’s usually instant disqualification for
those caught feeding their social media habit or having a quick look at a popular search engine in the bar on trivia night. Plus it’s a pub quiz – the feeling of self-loathing that comes from diddling one’s fellow competitors by cheating is unlikely to be assuaged by the prize of a voucher or jug of cheap lager. So, the next time you find yourself twiddling your thumbs of an evening why not contact your local Chiang Mai bar and find out if they put on a night of trivia. Or offer to set one up (most bars already holding a quiz are more than happy for guest presenters to pick up the microphone). Write to Thailand’s Ministry for Bar Entertainments and demand a pub quiz be organised in your tambon, or invite some like-minded trivialists round to your place for an evening of quiz. After all, in a world that appears to be nudging us ever onwards towards idiocracy, what better salve than a couple of hours celebrating knowledge for the sake of knowledge, however seemingly trivial? Which brings us neatly to the answer to my question – Why the term trivia? Well, as the Latin boffins among you have already discerned the word translates as ‘three roads’ and refers to the disciplines of grammar, logic and rhetoric. In classical times these were considered the lower of the Seven Liberal Arts. Since then the word has come to mean commonplace, vulgar or ordinary and represents inconsequential knowledge that is general, random and throwaway. Pop along to a quiz night and this will all become abundantly clear. Chiang Mai Pub Quizzes (that I know of): Monday – The Pub - www.thepubchiangmai.com Tuesday – Archers - www.facebook.com/archerschiangmai Thursday – UN Irish - www.unirishpub.com/ events-calendar/quiz-night
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Citylife READER
This is an open forum for you to express your opinions. write to: editor@chiangmaicitylife.com Subject: Your Say. Letters can be on any topic but priority will be given to those under 200 words. Letters may be edited for clarity or conciseness.
Crying Fake! Just wanted to lend my support for your editorial on 'fake news'. As a fellow dinosaur and purist I cringe every day under this unrelenting assault on our common sensibilities. When it becomes acceptable to flaunt 'alternative facts' (huh?) it is a sure sign of the decline of civilization as we know it. More open discussion such as yours is urgently required. However I suffer in the skepticism that far too many people prefer to be spoon-fed rather than employ critical thinking. This fosters prejudice and ignorance as the cornerstones of our modernity. After all, 60 million Americans voted for Trump! Keep up the good fight. Yours truly, Dr. Jonathan Nash
Blush Blush Am really impressed with the direction Citylife seems to have taken the past year or so. You are tackling far more interesting stories which are relevant to we expats living here. I have been really enjoying the Lanna history pieces and have learnt more about Chiang Mai that I never knew. I also liked the migrant/refugee pieces, and thought that they were very important stories to tell. But it is the nuts and bolts stories of pollution, waste, flooding, drought and such which I find very timely and relevant; the Doi Suthep and Wasting Away stories this month being two good examples. This is an excellent publication and Chiang Mai is lucky to have it. Enclosed my subscription fee and address. Yours sincerely, Tim Brody
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A fascinating look at Doi Suthep [How Healthy is Doi Suthep: October 2017]. I never knew any of that information, especially that the park has been a UNESCO biosphere reserve for forty years, the fact that the park has been reduced in size, the great variety of fauna and flora and also the work being done to preserve it. I find it all rather worrying re the timber and hope that the authorities are as concerned about this issue as Dr. Stephen Elliott obviously is. The fact that 10% of this side of the mountain is now timber waiting to catch fire is terrifying. What can we do? I live in Wat Umong and have no interest in waking up one night to an inferno. I am very much enjoying the tackling of these very relevant local issues. I believe you are what they call a hyper local publication. Sarah John
Wine and Whines [Adventures of Tom – October 2017] I too have not been able to understand the raison d'etre for fruit wines sold masquerading as wine. I have been told it is a tax dodge and was hoping Tom's article would actually have some research in it clarifying that. Some of the fruit wines taste Ok considering their price but I have noticed the bottle does not empty very fast, indicating a poor drink; that is lucky as many of them are 14% alcohol, enough to make you fall asleep in no time. Andy Mo Maybe you can clear something up for me. I was eating at a live music pub not too long ago and asked the owner if they have bands playing every night. She told me they would like to host regular bands, but the ‘loud music’ tax of 4,000 baht a night that the police demand is rather
expensive. I was quite surprised as this place is some distance from a built-up area and the amplifiers were fairly small. So, I was wondering how much music tax Maya Mall rooftop bars pay to the police, and what other stipend they might have to pay for playing extremely loud music after midnight that pervades a densely populated neighbourhood —including my bedroom. While I am glad “Zombie” and “Hotel California” have been replaced with England’s New Year’s Eve special, “Don’t Look Back in Anger”, seven nights a week is a bit much, and to be honest lyrically nonsensical music is best served drunk. Do you think it would be possible to ask the local constabulary to divide the tea money up between complainants such as myself? They are, after all, serving my best interests with their noise tax, so I feel it’s only fair to share the spoils. Liam My wife and I can’t wait for the Citylife Garden Fair, especially since it will be the second one this year. It is the highlight of my annual calendar and the one day of the year I am guaranteed a good time. We love getting there early, doing all of our Christmas shopping and then going home for a siesta. We normally (I say normally because we have been going to every single fair since we arrived in 2007!!!!!) go get back in the mid afternoon as this is when its most social. We meet friends and acquaintances we often only see once a year at your fair and we really enjoy the live music and of course rooting for our auction wins. This event is an incredible achievement and I hope that it continues to help those in need and pull together the Chiang Mai community for many years to come. See you on the 25th. Bob and Ann
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CITY
GAMES
by Paul Hardacre
Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game Review The iconic thrum and crackling clash of lightsabers and the screeching sounds of TIE fighters as they swarm around a death star, have featured prominently in every episode of the world’s most successful space opera media franchise since the cinematic release of Star Wars in May 1977. From Luke Skywalker and the Rebel assault squadron unleashing wave after wave of courageous attacks on the planet-killing Death Star (Episode IV), to the rakish Poe Dameron spearheading a victorious low altitude battle in the skies of Takodana to rescue Han Solo, Chewbacca, Finn, and BB-8 (Episode VII: The Force Awakens), the prospect of some rag-tag fleet of versatile (but usually vastly outnumbered) X-Wing fighter-bombers facing off against vast swarms of unrelentingly nimble TIE fighters has never failed to thrill audiences. The Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game takes those on-screen thrills and transfers them to the tabletop in a fast-paced, tactical but readily accessible battle game for two players. Each player takes control of the galaxy’s finest starfighters – either X-Wings or TIE fighters – and pits them against each other in a merciless melee for control of space (and, by extension, the galaxy). Over the course of several game rounds – each divided into separate phases covering planning, activation (i.e. movement), combat, and resolution – players skillfully maneuver and unleash ordinance upon each other until all of one player’s ships are blown to smithereens. The ‘unpredictability’ arising from the selection of planned maneuvers in secret, and the tangibly different ‘feel’ of the various ships (based upon their maneuverability), are particularly successful aspects of the game. Stoutly boxed, the Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game contains three miniature ships (one X-Wing and two TIE fighters) with corresponding maneuver dials, a range ruler with eleven maneuver templates, 84 tokens (covering aspects of play ranging from targeting, shields, critical hits, and evasion to asteroids, satellites, mines, and more), 51 cards (detailing ships, upgrades and types of damage), ‘Learn to Play’ and ‘Rules Reference’ guides plus a ‘Mission Guide’ and six dice. Although a multitude of expansion sets are available which allow you to populate the game with your favourite ships and characters from the Star Wars films (Y-Wings, A-Wings, Imperial shuttles, TIE fighter variants, and even the Millennium Falcon, for example), the Star Wars: X-Wing core set includes all the necessary components to get started battling the finest starfighters from a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… Players: 2 Playing time: 30-45 minutes Age: 14+ (although children aged 10+ could play, with a little guidance) Lead Designer: Jason Little Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game is available in Chiang Mai from Golden Goblin Games Mobile: +6684 901 7762 (JS) and +6681 802 4122 (Bow) LINE: @Goblin www.goldengoblingames.com
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Citylife ADVERTORIALS
Introducing Yamaha’s Newest High End City Scooters This month, the Yamaha Rider’s Club on Huay Kaew Road would like to introduce two of their newest additions to the showroom floor — the new Aerox 155 and new edition of the NMAX 155cc. These two scooter hybrids bring the technology and the precision of a big bike to a smaller more versatile scooter perfect for both city living and local adventures. Aerox 155 The slogan that comes with the Aerox is that it ‘Rox Your Soul’. With greater power than most other high end scooters, this slightly sporty bike is perfect for people who enjoy zipping around town before heading up a mountain alongside their big bike riding friends. The 155cc Blue Core engine is of top specification and has a Variable Valve Actuation (VVA) system that not only supports the bike throughout the driving experience but also prevents the bike from losing bite or from shuddering at higher speeds. The tyres are both 14 inches and the rear tyre is slightly wider, ensuring greater grip and control. The current edition that is on the showroom is the R version, that comes with a front wave disc break and a rear suspension sub tank that make tight turns and difficult climbs no problem. According to the Chiang Mai Rider’s Club, it is this addition that makes this bike stand out above the rest. NMAX 155cc As is expected with any Yamaha bike, only the best of the best is expected. The NMAX has similar specifications as the Aerox 155 – with
a Blue Core engine that is eco-friendly and incredibly fuel efficient and the same VVA system that ensures the bike performs at its peak even in challenging situations like steep climbs or high speed. The 155, four valve engine is powerful but delicate enough to easily control around the tight city sois. The build of the NMAX is a little larger than the Aerox, offering more comfort but a wider berth. The full LCD display is clearly visible in all weather and it also boasts incredible storage space of 25 litres under the seat — perfect for anything you may need for a day trip or to store a helmet comfortably. The NMAX also comes with an ABS system as standard, bringing all of the best elements of it’s bigger brothers — the XMAX and TMAX series — into a bike that is smaller and more convenient for city living. Until the end of November, the Yamaha Rider’s Club is offering a 2,000 baht discount on cash payments for any of their bikes, and for people wishing to pay on finance, the rates will drop to just 1.25%. The Rider’s Club also provides free registration for all their customers and once you buy a bike you join the club of Yamaha owners in Chiang Mai, opening up a world of events, training days and bike adventures organised and planned by the Rider’s Club. Yamaha Riders' Club Chiangmai Chore Motor Chiangmai Co.,Ltd 9 Huay Kaew Road Facebook:Yamaha Riders Club Chiangmai Line Id: mumee_koy , thanaphoomcm Tel: 053 218 555, 086 193 3311, 088 251 5006
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Design Ideas Naowadee Mueyprom Designer and owner of contemporary craft store A: Travel Bag This bag is made from the cloth used to carry babies in Hmong communities, but works great with the leather. 7900 baht B: Antique handbag This bag is over 100 years old, but is something I love to have in my collection. 22,000 baht
d
a
C: Woven Cloth This 60 year old cloth is beautiful and can be used for so many things. 6,900 baht D: Shoulder Bag with mixed embroidery This is an old bag that has been re-designed to match the outfits of modern times. 4,900 baht
b
Facebook: Chiang Mai Antiques Sivalee Antiques Tel: 098 004 6995
c
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Natural textiles for Eco lifestyle
Check our Opening house, activities & workshop schedules at www.studio-naenna.com
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Citylife TRAVEL
Insight from a Regional Travel Guru by Pim Kemasingki Arin Chokphisit proudly shows me his Thai ID card, telling me that a monk had chosen his name for him after studying his horoscope, as is the Thai way. Arin is a member of an exclusive and minute group of foreigners who have gained Thai citizenship, in his case largely due to the impact he has had on the Thai tourism industry. Arin mostly stays in the wallet, however, only to be brought out at government checkpoints or dinner parties. The man himself, Armin Schoch, is a familiar face in the Chiang Mai expat scene, having lived here since 2003, and is also recognised as a giant in the Thai and regional tourism industry, which he has been a pioneer of since the early eighties. “I had been selling tickets in a travel agency at home in Switzerland after completion of my apprenticeship with Swissair,” said Armin of his early career, “but all I wanted was to find a job abroad so when I saw an ad for Diethelm Travel, part of the then Diethelm & Co. Ltd. trading company established in Thailand in 1906 and the largest travel company in the country,
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I decided to apply. They were looking for a mature executive to manage 30 staff but I managed to convince them that even with my lack of experience I could do the job. So in 1983, at the age of 25, I married my then-girlfriend Anne and we arrived in Bangkok in the middle of a massive flood,” Armin began his story as we sat down for a long lunch of craft beers and pasta at a restaurant near Citylife.
exploring new attractions and routes. These were the days when tours would be booked by air mail, up to a year in advance. But the tourism was very two dimensional, with set packages that didn’t offer much variety in terms of special interests or cater to specific groups; there were always the classic round trips which everyone did. This routine also became a problem in attracting return visitors.”
“Tourism in Thailand in those days was just on the cusp of a massive boom,” explained Armin, a man with a gruff voice, a face weathered with experience and an infectious enthusiasm for life. “You were looking at absolute growth; whatever we tried would work. It was all about Bangkok, Pattaya and Hua Hin then, it was only later that Samui, Phuket and Chiang Mai emerged. I remembered trying to drive along the coast to Karon from Patong Beach in Phuket once and we couldn’t make it, there weren’t even dirt tracks! We had one office in Bangkok for the entire country. The focus of that first decade was on increasing infrastructure; so, offering advice to the government as to what tourists were looking for, training personnel and
The late ‘80s also saw Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam liberalise their investment laws. Having seen, with certain envy, the growth of Thailand’s tourism industry, Indochina began to tentatively explore their own potentials. “By ’89-’90 those countries had started embracing capitalism and I was tasked with going to Laos to establish the very first joint venture tourism company, something we eventually successfully did in all three countries. While these countries were very aware of the undesirable aspects of Thailand’s tourism and tried their best not to copy them, capitalism brought the same types of corruption and haphazard development you have seen in Thailand. They learned from Thailand but were still unable to correct its mistakes,” said Armin, shaking his head.
Citylife TRAVEL While Thailand was beginning to add other dimensions to its tourism – motorbike tours, tented camps, eco-tourism, health retreats – Indochina remained two-dimensional with its own well-trodden routes and circuits. “It was always the same cities, same attractions, same hotels, indoctrinated guides who couldn’t really say what they felt, it wasn’t until much later that they even discovered the beaches in these countries,” added Armin. “It would take many years before you could visit hill tribe villages, go on a cycling tour or go on a sea canoe.” “I like pushing borders, going further, deeper,” continued Armin, a bon vivant and an avid biker who has spent over 30 years exploring, and eventually opening up, some of the most remote areas in the region. Armin has led and still enjoys leading numerous motorbike tours in Thailand and Myanmar. In the early 2000s he also led two groundbreaking boat trips along the entire navigable length of the Mekong with one and the same boat, the first of which was a hovercraft which he took from Jinghong, China to Saigon, Vietnam and back, making headlines across the region and beyond. After a decade working in Thailand and Indochina, Armin began to become fascinated by Myanmar, a country then relatively unexplored. In 1994 he decided to leave Diethelm Travel and try his luck in Myanmar.
our evenings entertaining and our spare time exploring the country.” On one such trip up north in the Kachin State, Armin heard about and eventually met a British man of German ancestry who was living in a compound with his 12 children and 30 grandchildren. They were completely self-sufficient, except for the occasional need of money to buy salt. He had grown up in Darjeeling, and was lying on a hill waiting to ambush Japanese troops one day during the Second World War, when three hill tribe women walked past. He promptly fell in love with one of them and followed her back to her village to ask her father for her hand. When Armin returned to Yangon and told the British embassy they had a British subject living in the far north of the country, they were shocked to hear of him. “Friends and I bought him an old car as he was getting old and it was getting hard to take his tulips to the market to trade for salt. He told me that the last time he had been to Yangon was in 1929!” regaled Armin who has an encyclopedia-worth of such stories. Doing business in Myanmar in the ‘90s was not easy. “Myanmar was a rumor mill and businessmen lacked reliable information on what was going on inside the country. As a consequence, you basically had a business horizon of only six months, which made any planning very difficult.
and it can kill society. But like everyone else, I wasn’t in the least aware of any of this in the ‘80s. We were simply enjoying the growth. There are still beautiful places in the region, but when tourism hits it, it takes years, but eventually you have to wonder whether or not you have regret in being part of that machine. But I have come to realise that you can’t stop tourism. It’s not just big business which creates tourism, the demand comes from all sides and levels, and that is why it is so hard to manage. You can’t just blame tourism, you have to blame the providers and the environment in which the providers are allowed to flourish. If you allow haphazard development to cater to every need, and I mean every vertical and horizontal need, then…well, look at Pattaya.” Armin believes that he has a role in lessening the impact of tourism and that is something he is growing more and more aware of; training responsible guides, adhering to local culture, showing respect, etc. “Look at Chiang Mai,” he points out, “Where I think things went wrong is that there are no platforms here to unite all the stakeholders in the industry on a broad level that includes local government to foreign operators. There is not enough exchange and that is when things start getting very confusing.”
If you allow haphazard development to cater to every need, and I mean every vertical and horizontal need, then…well, look at Pattaya. “I arrived there knowing no one. I kept a low profile, stayed in a guesthouse and just listened and learned, figuring out who the movers and shakers were, eventually identifying who to approach for a joint venture,” he continued. “You will be surprised to hear that in all my years I never had to bribe anyone. You just have to talk sense. And so it was that I arrived just as many other players began to set up shop such as ‘Road to Mandalay’ and Air Mandalay. We were the handling agent for the crème de la crème of international travel agencies. It was a great time, meeting celebrities and enjoying soirees with the most interesting people in the country. There were so few foreigners in Yangon then that if you saw one, you would likely cross the street to find out who they were, ask them what they were doing, then invite them to dinner. My company, Insight Myanmar, became successful within a short time and in 1997 we opened L’Opera Restaurant in Yangon as our second restaurant joint venture after we had opened the very first Italian restaurant in Laos with L’Opera in 1992. As we did earlier in Indochina, I found myself advising the government as to how to go forward regarding facilities for visas, how we pay tax and other tourism-related issues. The main challenge was the inability to function efficiently as many laws and government procedures in use dated back to colonial times. But these were glorious days. My wife Anne set up a trading business importing Tissot and Rado watches and we lived in a sumptuous colonial-era house, spending our days working,
To find out what was going on in Myanmar you had to fly to Bangkok to clear your head for a few days and then talk to people in Bangkok about it. No one in Myanmar really had a clue what was going on. Then the Asian currency crisis occurred and coincided with turbulent time in Myanmar politics and I decided to set up Insight Thailand and Insight Cambodia to diversify my risks and in 2000 ended up selling my companies to Diethelm and returning to my alma mater as the Group Managing Director of Diethelm Travel.” He and Anne sold their businesses and headed back to Bangkok. The next few years saw massive mergers and acquisitions within the Diethelm empire, and in 2003 Armin decided to go solo again, this time choosing Chiang Mai to set up shop. “Like many people, I had nowhere else to go and that’s how I ended up in Chiang Mai,” he grinned, before taking a minute to polish off the rest of his pasta. In Chiang Mai, he set up a new company, Impulse Tourism, which today provides high-end and specialised tours to northern Thailand and the region. He still maintains close ties with Diethelm Travel as someone who possesses intimate knowledge of Indochina and Myanmar as well as the history of the company. Armin appears to be ambivalent about the tourism industry in the region, and Chiang Mai specifically. “Tourism kills,” he said with a dramatic slap of the table, and a resulting slosh of beer. “It kills the environment, it kills culture
He uses elephant tourism as a case in point: “There are, I believe, 44 elephant camps in the north of Thailand, many of which are new. As a Chiang Mai based tour operator serving reputable overseas tour companies who have growing concerns about the elephant tourism industry, it is our duty to ensure that those elephant camps we work with are professional in everything they do, we have to evaluate with them their health and safety procedures, first aid capabilities – an endless list to satisfy legal and socio-political requirements of the European and American tourism industry,” said Armin. “But the problems occur when you try to set standards in an industry which doesn’t even understand the standards. OK, you have an outfit like Mae Sa Elephant Camp which is a 100% pure tourism business, but one which is run very slickly and professionally. Then you get the Lampang Elephant Conservation Centre which is also a hospital and then you have Patara, a breeding centre with a secondary function of tourism. These three places all offer an elephant experience, but they all have completely different objectives. These subtle messages are hard to get across to tourists on the other side of the world. Many people are shying away from big businesses like Mae Sa Elephant Camp as it has never pretended to be anything but a business, and people are distrustful. What they don’t realise is that Mae Sa is much more aware of the polemics involved and know that they can’t afford to have accidents or to mistreat their elephants. When I took a close look at them I was flabbergasted to find out
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Citylife TRAVEL
how professionally they rotated their elephants, how systematic their reporting system was and the care they took of their elephants. And just because you call yourself a sanctuary doesn’t mean that you treat elephants any better.” According to Armin, as of the start of this winter tourist season most European tour operators will no longer sell elephant rides, boycotting many established businesses which provide them. It has become politically incorrect to ride elephants and with the risk of accidents, insurers have also bowed out of the arena. “What this means is that tourists, mainly Asian, who wish to ride elephants will find their own way to camps whose owners are savvy enough to know that words like nature, park, sanctuary, rescue centre or home will attract tourists. These are pure business people who often do not understand, nor frankly care about, the socio-political issues surrounding elephants. Without travel agents, these camps are marketing online, pushing the business away from established businesses with checks and balances into the hands of potentially unscrupulous operators.” “Elephants have long been a unique selling proposition for northern Thailand,” continued Armin. “I use them as an example, but as rules and regulations become more rigid in the west, established channels will become more
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cautious, opening up opportunities for the less scrupulous. This could potentially be applied to the entire tourism industry.” Armin points out that hotels and other local operators are also coming under great scrutiny by European agents. “In some countries like Germany, if someone booked a two week
most European tour operators will no longer sell elephant rides tour to Thailand, for instance,” he explained, “and all was great except for the fact that one day in Phuket they came back from their tour only to find that the pool was closed for repair, they can basically sue the tour operator for
not informing them, thus miring their entire holiday experience. A German judge could end up forcing the operator who sold the entire travel package to refund a portion of the entire holiday to the tourist, not just that portion, but a percentage of everything from flights to accommodation. The overseas tour operators’ counterpart agencies here are locked into a far more intricate system unless they choose to sell directly to the customer online…which brings us back to the lack of accountability. But it’s not necessarily bad. Who knows? There is a lot of unknown now. Look at this Chinese wave we are all riding. Will it last? Will it grow? I don’t think anyone knows, but we are certainly changing a lot about ourselves to accommodate what may or may not be a sustainable proposition. We have reached a dimension of proportions when it is no longer a tourism issue, but a social issue, which brings me back to the lack of a platform for stakeholders to discuss these collective concerns.” Armin and Anne have put their roots down in Chiang Mai and this is their home base from which they travel the region. He continues to hope that the many stakeholders in the tourism industry will communicate more so as to make sure that while Thailand enjoys the tourism income, it doesn’t damage the very things tourists come here to see.
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Citylife SOCIETY
Trade Routes, Wars and Tourism: The story of Chinese settlers in Chiang Mai
by Tus Werayutwattana Cicada Club's club house in Mae Hia’s Koolpunt Ville, is both a café and day care centre for Chinese expats. I sit down with Coco Huang, the club house’s owner along with a group of Chinese women who tell me that they all first heard about Chiang Mai from the film Lost in Thailand. They were talking about the 2013 Chinese mega hit comedy a la The Hangover, about three men travelling to Thailand which became the first film to earn over one billion Yuan at the Chinese box office. As a local Thai, I was well aware of the increase in Chinese visitors to our city following the release of the film and understood the power of that phenomenon — the sudden influx of tourists who, to a large extent, were unlike any tourists we had ever experienced before in terms of sheer numbers and behaviour. Most of us in Chiang Mai agree that this influx was great for business, but at the same time these novice travellers often made national news for what the public deemed as a wide range of faux-pas. I’ll admit that I too, at one point began to feel frustrated at their behaviour, conveniently forgetting my own Chinese heritage. I then noticed that all the talk was focused on tourists, and I began to wonder about the Chinese who live here permanently, wanting to learn more about who they are, what they do and where they came from. After all, there are over two million Thai-Chinese people in Northern Thailand, a region with 11.6 million people, so where did it all begin and what is their story.
36 Citylife November 2017
Of Kings and Emperors “King Mungrai the founder of Chiang Mai was born mixed race, with his father being of the Lua tribe and his mother a Tai Lue from a family which came from Xishuangbanna in Southern China. One of the main reasons he built Chiang Mai was to create an offshoot from the lucrative Silk Road during the Yuan Dynasty,” explained Vithi Phanichphant, a dedicated historian and a highly respected authority on northern Thai culture. “At the time it was the Mongols who had control of all the trade along the Silk Road reaching south as far as Bagan in Myanmar, an important city as it was a doorway to the Bengal Bay. Before Mungrai became king, the young prince travelled south towards what is now known as Northern Thailand, building cities along the way in a bid to create his own path to connect with the Silk Road in China. In 1243 he conquered Kengtung and by 1259 he succeeded his father and became the first king of the Unified Tai City States. During this time he continued south, building and conquering cities such as Chiang Rai and Fang. Following his successful conquest of Lamphun, he then built Wiang Kum Kam before finally founding Chiang Mai in 1296.” Around the same time the Sukothai Kingdom was emerging as a regional power, and during the mid to late 13th century emissaries began travelling between China and Sukothai, according to the Tia Eia Chiang Mai Chinese Association 40th Anniversary Encyclopaedia,
resulting in a great number of South Chinese migrants putting down roots in what is now Thailand. “The logging industry was overtaken by Chinese agencies, who then distributed the logs to Sukothai to process,” added Vithi. During the Ayutthaya era many Hokkiens from Southern China served as administrators in the kingdom. Later when King Taksin, the son of a Teochew noble, ruled the short-lived 18th century Thonburi Kingdom, he attracted a great influx of Chinese Teochew people. The growing nation of Siam that would one day become Thailand, became populated with great numbers of Chinese people, from nobles to labourers, many of whom slowly naturalised into the evolving Thai creed and culture. By the mid-19th to early-20th century, another wave of Chinese people entered Siam, this time as labourers looking for work, escaping the poverty-stricken provinces of China as it began to battle with a fast growing population, western imperialism and growing political unrest. At that time, King Rama I, who had succeeded the throne from King Taksin, continued to trade with the Chinese. Many of Siam’s Chinese immigrants at that time had migrated south and lived along the eastern coast, only began moving north again after the railway network expanded north in 1921. Culturally, northern Thailand shares many traditions with the Chinese, some more obvious than others. The Tia Eia Chiang Mai Chinese Association 40th Anniversary Encyclopae-
Citylife SOCIETY dia identifies traditions such as the Vegetarian Festival, the Moon Festival and the Spirit Festival as direct imports from China. Even the way we worship at Buddhist temples is influenced by Chinese culture. “In Thailand we are taught that we can pray at any temple and get the same results,” said Vithi. “However when it comes to the Chinese Zodiac, we believe that praying at the temple dedicated to our birth sign will bring us better merit. This is an entirely Chinese concept commonly believed by many Thais.”
Retuning to Chiang Mai In 1921 Ou Xiaotang, the son of a powerful Chinese migrant family moved to Bangkok from Guangdong, China and eventually chose to relocate to Chiang Mai to work as a clerk. The young entrepreneur opened a gold shop on Wichayanon Road and later expanded his business by opening a gun shop. He soon became the main distributor for Boon Rawd Brewery in the north of Thailand, a position that granted him a chance to become a shareholder in Singha Beer. In 1943 he acquired Thai nationality and changed his surname to Osthaphan. By the end of his working life, he was one of Chiang Mai’s most successful businessmen, owning a rice mill, a wood processing plant, an ice factory, a gas station and a branch of Kasikorn Bank, among many other ventures. It was at this point in time when historians say the wealth shifted from the hands of Chiang Mai’s rulers into those of foreigners, notably Chinese hands. It was Ou who secured his bid on the home of the last ruler of Chiang Mai, Prince Kaew Nawarat, after a drawn out court battle with another interested Thai citizen of Pakistani descent. In 1945 the palace was bought for 180,000 baht and two years later it was transformed into the Nawarat Market. As the city grew so did the markets. Large numbers of Indian and Pakistani immigrants settled and became naturalised, along with many more Chinese business people. At the time of his death, Ou had 21 children, each expanding his legacy across Thailand. Many descendants of those children live in Chiang Mai today and the surname has become synonymous with wealth and success. Following the Second World War and the growing nationalistic attitudes and policies of the Thai government, Chinese migration slowed, mainly due to new immigration legislations. “It was only about ten years ago that Thailand started reaching out to China in a big way again,” said Li ‘Yim’ Xiaojuan, the Chinese editor of Guidelines Travel by Compass Magazine. Yim is a Chinese national from the Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture. “The Lampang Intertech College was one of the first government institutions to offer programmes to Chinese nationals to come to Thailand and study Thai and then peruse further education in the Kingdom. When I started there were around 150 of us, many of whom decided to stay on and seek employment after graduation.” From graduation to around the time Lost in Thailand was released Yim saw only a small number of Chinese tourists in Chiang Mai, some of whom hired her off the books to be a guide — after all there were no Chinese speaking guides at that time, and she knew the city well. “At that time Thailand still didn’t have its eye on Chinese tourists,” Yim explained. “Those who travelled here were experienced travellers. Suddenly our economy started to boom and people had more money to travel overseas. This, paired with the rise of social media and the
film Lost in Thailand, saw Chiang Mai become the perfect tourist destination for the Chinese.”
A Growing Wave To anyone who is familiar with Chiang Mai, it is clear how much the city has changed in the last five years. Chinese businesses are opening up and more Thai business owners are marketing to Chinese tourists, with some even giving up completely on tourists from other nationalities. According to Wei ‘Miao’ Run Xiang, a 29 year old business owner, it was this wave of tourists that brought along a new boom of Chinese nationals looking for business opportunities. “After visiting Chiang Mai on holiday I saw a great opportunity,” she explained. “Things were cheap and the number of Chinese tourists was massive so I quit my job as a pharmacist and moved to Chiang Mai permanently. Now I own a business that is connected to thousands of Chinese nationals who have visited Thailand and want Thai products sent to them back at home. I have sold cosmetics, clothes, mattresses and even condos!” Miao fits perfectly into the new type of Chinese migrant: Well-educated and female. According to research by the Mahidol University’s Institute for Population and Social Research, this current wave of Chinese migrants are seeking economic opportunity instead of economic survival. In 2015, almost 19,000 Chinese nationals obtained work permits, double that of pre-Lost in Thailand days. But according to Yim, this is just the beginning. “There are so many Chinese people just waiting to explore the world,” she said. “It is our culture that is holding us back most. Many Chinese are nervous about travelling abroad but that attitude is changing and when it does, millions more Chinese will pour out and settle across the world.” According to a recent interview in the publication The North in July 2017 with Ren Yisheng, the Consul General of the Chiang Mai Consular Office of The Consulate General of the People’s Republic of China, there are over 137 million Chinese people already living and working abroad, a number that is only increasing. Currently there are 30,000 Chinese people studying in Thailand, 1,200 of whom are in Chiang Mai, he stated. As I sat at the daycare café I listened to the women talking about why they were here. For some it was because of work, but for most it was to give an alternative life to their children. “The Chinese government grooms our children. My husband and I don’t agree with their policies. International schools in China are also very expensive, so we thought why not come to Thailand and try our luck here. After all, we just want to give our child the best education that we can afford,” said Nanzy Zhang, a mother of an 8 year old who is from Shanghai. “We will stay here until our children graduate at least, and then see where they want to go. Maybe they will stay here so we will too, but if they move away we may have to go with them,” added Limin Hou, one of many women I talked to who followed their children’s wishes to move to Chiang Mai, leaving their husbands to earn a living. For centuries there have been wave upon wave of Chinese migrants who have settled permanently into Chiang Mai and beyond. We are now witnessing a movement which our ancestors have witnessed countless times before. And if Yim’s predictions are correct, then we
Chinese gate at Kad Luang Osthaphan family
Nawarat Market
Cicada Club, a gathering places for Chinese residents nearby
37 Citylife November 2017
Citylife ADVERTORIALS
Educational Excellence
through Philosophy, Environment and Values at Panyaden International School by Pim Kemasingki, Photos by Panyaden International school and Apiwat Singharach A long driveway circled by a tunnel of bamboo leads the way towards Panyaden International School. As the tunnel ends, it opens up to reveal a school which looks as though it has grown out of the ground on which it stands. As children of all ages pour out of their school rooms into the arms of adoring parents, their giggles and grins turn the day sunny. Children, from toddler to twelve, were running around barefoot, uniforms askew, some heading to the award-winning bamboo sports hall for after school activities, others to their parents’ vehicles, chattering about their day. “We all go barefoot here,” smiled Yodphet Sudsawad, Panyaden International School’s founder as she pointed out a simple practice that embodies so much of the school’s approach and philosophy. “It instils a connection to nature which we find very important to a child’s development. It is good for the feet as walking on the grass massages the sole, it helps children to learn to watch where they are going and to be mindful as well as helping them to overcome any fear they may have of nature. If
38 Citylife November 2017
they step on some sharp pebbles, then so be it; they will learn to be more careful in the future.” Panyaden opened seven years ago to much acclaim and curiosity. Yodphet’s stated aim was a dream and desire, “to see the children in my school grow not only physically but mentally and spiritually, to become leaders and innovators who are able to help our society and to be an inspiration for the world they live in.” To that end, while the school has adopted the British International Primary Curriculum (IPC), she has also infused the entire school, from architecture through to curriculum and extracurricular activities, with core values based on Buddhist philosophy. Yodphet’s husband, Dr. Markus Roselieb, a then-amateur and now successful architect, was tasked with building the school. He used natural earth, clay, stones and bamboo to create an internationally acclaimed cluster of structures on 14 rai of land to echo and complement his wife’s philosophy for the school — green materials, natural airflow and ventilation for cooling, low carbon footprint and environmentally mindful.
“We offer a value-based education,” explained Yodphet of Panyaden’s philosophy. “This means that universal values, or what we call 12 Wise Habits, such as perseverance, patience and compassion, are introduced and constantly reinforced through the use of experience. Our children are encouraged to experience consequences naturally. So if a child doesn’t want to study in class, that is OK, but then they will miss out on playtime because they will have to complete their work during lunch break or recess. We don’t force them we allow them to learn through their own experiences and through role playing or discussions. This way they will learn about cause and effect. This will apply later in life when they encounter things such as peer pressure. Our kids will understand consequence and make their own decisions about smoking, drinking or drugs as well as any and all future life challenges. We put a lot of expectations on our teachers who work very hard to instil these values into every aspect of school life. We also don’t praise beauty or smartness of talent, but effort, perseverance and development of the 12 Wise Habits.”
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Panyaden’s approach to education is unique, yet also conforms to a growing trend to educate holistically, rather than focus solely on academic rigour. The school has regular meditation sessions in-school for its students as well as retreats for its teachers. The school’s spiritual advisor, Venerable Ajarn Jayasaro regularly visits the school to give talks, meet with and advise students, teachers and parents. Guest monks and nuns also give talks and lead Buddhist events throughout the year. The school’s student body comprises over two dozen nationalities and culture is also an important aspect in every day school life with students studying in both Thai and English with Thai and Lanna cultures and traditions also being taught and applied. “When we teach maths, it isn’t just maths, we help our students to understand perseverance,” explained Yodphet. “When they are hungry, we teach them about patience; when someone is bullied we teach both parties tolerance, responsibility, compassion and truthfulness. Our students learn to think and discuss issues so that they can apply their lessons to all aspects of life. Our teachers live and breathe our philosophy, that way they can apply it in all situations.” Panyaden’s philosophy permeates not just the curriculum and the architecture, but also the school’s extra-curricular activities. The school has its own vegetable garden and paddy field, tended to by the students. There are regular field-trips off-campus such as tree planting projects as well as on-campus activities after hours. It is important to Yodphet to involve not just the students and teachers in the school’s activities, but also to engage parents, so that all parties can work towards the positive development of the students. “Our kids learn to find happiness from within,” continued Yodphet. “They learn that only they are truly responsible for their happiness and that any difficulty and challenge faced is merely a lesson from which to gain strength so that they can see that the only person they need
to better is themselves. This helps them to create their own positive teaching mechanism so that they are able to face anything thrown their way.” Yodphet’s stated aim for the school was never about academic excellence, instead she has been true to her original philosophy, focusing efforts and priorities on values. Yet, a recent 2016 assessment programme, Measuring Academic Progress (MAP), which is used by thousands of schools in the US as well as over 550 international schools in 160 countries, recently revealed that in English and maths, Panyaden’s students are equalling or outperforming other international schools in Thailand as well as schools across the US. “We never ignored academia,” added Yodphet, “our students have reading time each day in the library which instils a love of reading, essential to any education. We use practical applications to teach maths and have activities and games to explain science. So it has been very satisfying to see that our approach has led to the natural consequence of academic excellence. You can now see, after seven years, that our approach is working. Our graduates go on to excel in all areas while retaining their individuality and being mindful of the world, of others and of the environment around them.” Panyaden’s students, “learn to react to change without losing their centres.” Through the use of structured knowledge, students learn to make educated and solid decisions, their morality acting as a foundation from which to react and expand. The school itself is beautiful thanks to its unique and mindfully purposeful architecture, its expansive gardens and grounds. There is a large swimming pool, bamboo jungle gyms are dotted across campus and there are many trees to climb on. School rooms are covered with student drawings, crayon written notices and reminders of tasks assigned; each infused
with individuality and character with children appearing carefree and confident. Now that it has proven its academic prowess, Panyaden has a combination of elements to make for a formidable holistic educational experience. As dusk and rain began to fall, the last barefooted kids hopped into their parents’ cars; soles and souls both very well massaged. Panyaden Overcomes Flash Flood One day after Citylife’s visit to Panyaden, a devastating flashflood swept away the earth foundations of the school buildings causing damage of up to 40 million baht. The school is temporarily closed, but is soon to move to a compound behind Kad Farang while Dr. Roselieb and his team work to rebuild. The aim is to be back and fully functional by the beginning of 2018, though school life will go on off-campus. “Even the way the school has handled this flood has fallen in line with its philosophy,” said Craig Parkin, a sponsor of one of the children who is helping to spearhead fundraising efforts. “Nothing is permanent and this experience and all the collective work which will go into rebuilding, is going to become an invaluable teaching moment for all.” It’s not just the teachers, students and parents who have come together in time of devastation, but alumi and the Chiang Mai community as a whole. Much work remains to be done but you can follow the progress on the school’s website or Facebook page. There is also a gofundme page at www.gofundme.com/panyaden-greenschool-flood-relief. 281 Moo 2, Namprae , Hang Dong Tel. 080 078 5115
39 Citylife November 2017
Citylife LOCAL
What is your most embarrassing experience you have had since moving to Chiang Mai?
01
Tiffany Tang, 26 Project Manager, Chinese
I was running about five minutes late for a workshop so I texted the person who was picking me up and he wasn’t happy with me at all. Not because I was running let but because five minutes is not late here. He said unless you are really late don’t say you are late. In Chiang Mai people are 'Chiang Mai late', not five minutes late!
02
Knot Choeychom, 26 Photographer, Thai
When I first moved to Chiang Mai I didn’t understand northern language and my friends decided to trick me by asking me to go and get ‘kalam tord’ from the market. Needless to say, kalam is a northern word for a gentleman’s parts which resulted in me being laughed at by all the market aunties.
03
Ryan Lim, 21 Student, American
It was at a restaurant in the student market. There was a pitcher on the table where I was sitting. I poured myself a cup and started to drink it. It tasted kind of weird but I thought it was a tea that I've never had before. Then I noticed no one else was drinking it. After I ordered, the waitress took the pitcher and brought it to the kitchen. I saw them starting to cook with it. It was broth. I was drinking broth.
04
Spiro Pappas, 24 Student, American
I was talking to my Thai friend and I asked him something. In the middle of his response, he sneezed twice and each time I said “bless you”. Then he stopped talking altogether and stared at me. I realised later that people don’t say bless you here in and he thought I was offended by his sneezing. It was really awkward.
40 Citylife November 2017
05
Chelsea Martus, 22 Student and Intern at FORRU, American
I received a Thai nickname in my Thai language course at CMU. I was excited and told my Thai friends that my new name was “Sai”. They laughed at me until one of them finally told me that I was using the wrong tone and called myself ‘intestines’ instead of ‘sand’.
06
Nicha Amnatrat, 22 Student, Thai
07
Li Xiaojuan, 30 Editor at Guidelines Travel, Chinese
I have a story about using a grab taxi one time. A Grab looks like a normal car and I was waiting for the car at the pickup point. One car parked in front of me. I get into the car and the driver looked at me and asked who I was. I said “you are not the grab taxi are you…” but he looked very confused so I quickly got out.
Now that I have been living here for quite sometimes I always get embarrassed when I see people from my hometown doing these inappropriate things like being loud and inconsiderate. It makes me think I must have been like that once, so sometimes I have to tell them off myself!
08
Anonymous, 26 Teacher, English
When I had my first teaching job here I lived on campus with a few friends. Drunk one night I thought my friend was knocking at the door so I thought it would be funny to answer butt naked, but it was actually my boss. Needless to say she was not amused but by the next morning in the office, it was all giggles and I wasn’t fired.
41 Citylife November 2017
New Bottles at New Bars Sip on a few special brews this month at these three bars all serving rare to find bottled drinks that go down great with some sweet vibes on the side.
The Yellow Pug Craft beer lovers rejoice as this cosy little bottle-shop brings even more international and locally sourced beers to our humble northern city. With a collection of craft beers that rival any other bar in town. Take a seat and sip down on a few of the best beers from around the world. With prices starting at just 150 baht, a night out is not that unreasonable either. They also have four beers on tap that rotate as and when the barrel is finished. Currently, every Saturday there is a live band but expect more music to appear soon, including jazz and soul if their plans are realised. As the store grows, more beers and more food will be joining their menu but for now expect cosy vibes, friendly owners and hoppy beers. Open 6pm – 11.30pm 44/08 Second Ring Road Facebook: The Yellow Pug 089 559 8080
No.9 Hostel & Café
Winstons Pool and Sports Club
Although the name is somewhat misleading — there is no more café and a lot more bar — this hostel is the latest place you can go to find one of the city’s best craft beers, My Beer Friend. As one of only four places providing this craft beer in the city (with more to come soon) they serve only this beer, and it’s IPA cousin. The bar also has a great selection of gin and a few other cocktails too. The vibe is community, and every night they fire up a barbeque and you can bring whatever you want to grill up while sipping down on a foamy headed glass. If you come is a big group it is best to book a table ahead to avoid overcrowding. On Fridays and Saturdays they also have 20% off all gin drinks to really get the night started. Dorms are available upstairs as well as private rooms if you get too merry to drive home.
Winstons Pool and Sports Club is great for those looking to sink a few balls and watch a bit of footy after a long day at work or to catch up with the latest fixtures on live TV over the weekend. Found inside the re-vitalised 12 Huay Kaew bar complex opposite Kad Suan Kaew, this is the only proper international sports bar opened in the area. The bar is littered with TVs that operate on a first come first served basis — giving the first customers dibs on what is being shown that night with a few exceptions when it comes to the biggest games of the season. They have two pool tables, one with British pool the other with American, great for challenging your workmate from across the pond. They also stock international beers, ciders and spirits and have a free buffet every Saturday from 6pm to 9pm, and there is seating both inside and outside. Children are also welcome and the staff of polyglots can speak a range of languages, including Thai, English, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, German, Korean, and Japanese.
Bar open 11am – 2pm and 5pm - Midnight 23 Nimmanhaemin Soi 9, Suthep Facebook: No.9 Hostel & Café 063 493 6415
42 Citylife November 2017
Open 5pm – Midnight (Check bar for late opening times for early hour fixtures) 12 Huay Kaew, Huay Kaew Road (Opposite Kad Suan Kaew) Facebook: Winsons Pool and Sports Club 089 234 9006
For the Love of food Here are three of Chiang Mai’s newest restaurants perfect for those with a taste for good food and adventurous chefs.
Le Bistrot de Chiang Mai This well-known restaurant is now under new ownership and has been revitalised with a fancy new menu, style and service. Chef Olivier and his wife Sao are now on a mission to inspire locals to return to Le Bistrot and try their food, with homemade sausages and cold cuts such as country style pork terrines, duck rillettes, liver mousse, garlic sausage, serrano ham and pancetta. Their signature dishes include a hearty selection of grilled meats such as grilled duck breast, grilled lamb chops and our favourite, the tournedos Rossini, a tenderloin steak served with pan seared foie gras, potato puree and truffle shavings. They even have a selection of French stews too, which are hard to find anywhere else in the city. The wine selection is limited but each bottle has been carefully selected for quality. Open 11am – 11pm 42 Kampang Din Road, Soi 2 Facebook: Le Bistrot de Chiang Mai www.lebistrotdechiangmai.com 053 272 712
Monoceros Resort
Andrew’s Kitchen at Wawee Bistro
A quiet and charming resort in the foothills of Mae Sa Valley, Monoceros also has an excellent restaurant well worth the short schlep. This little resort with only ten bungalows is home to a stunning open aired restaurant serving up a variety of Thai and Chinese dishes, along with a few western favourites for good measure. The menu highlights though are the Isaan dishes, as many of the ingredients are home grown on the resort grounds. Sit back in a casual and lush setting and dig into dishes bursting with flavour. In addition to savoury dishes they also stock a delicious blueberry cheesecake and a solid drinks list of fresh fruit juices or freshly brewed coffees.
A great spot in the heart of the city — with ample parking, phew! — to grab a bite and a good cuppa coffee throughout the day. Wawee Coffee, Chiang Mai’s first coffee shop brand to go national, has invited chef Andrew Commins to helm its kitchen. Son of Soontaree Vechanont of Huan Soontaree fame, Andrew is a restaurateur by blood and comes with an impeccable pedigree having worked in many of the UK’s finest restaurants for over a decade. Staple bistro favourites such as paninis, burgers, eggs Benedict, cookies and cakes are all delicious and there are a few more experimental dishes to keep foodies on their toes such as the hung-le curry lasagne. There are smoothies and fruit juices, coffees and teas to wash it all down.
Open 7am – 9.30pm 21/2 Moo 6 Ban Mae Ram, T. Mae Ram A. Mae Rim Facebook: monocerosresort www.monocerosresort.com 088 251 3962
Open 7am – 9pm Rachadamnoen Road, Sri Phum Facebook: Wawee Bistro 052 001 112
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Chiang Mai’s Cutest Cafés Check out some of Chiang Mai’s cutest cafés, decorated to the rafters with soft pastel colours, cute and cuddly mascots and rainbow coloured treats topped with pink sprinkles and whipped cream, naturally.
Jood 3 Jood This Korean bingsu-style shaved ice café is turning heads in Chiang Mai due to its massive servings that even a party of 10 could struggle finishing. Although not exactly bingsu (they use flavoured shaved ice instead of milk ice) the feel and taste is almost identical. You can choose from many portion sizes but the most iconic is their party platter that comes with two huge mounds of flavoured ice and is surrounded by tens of toppings, such as melon, watermelon, banana, cookies, marshmallows, Oreos, cereals, balls of ice cream, whipped cream, honey and chocolate, caramel and green tea sauces. The idea is you decorate your own shaved ice mountain before you tuck in. For those looking for a bit of savoury they also serve up snacks such as chicken wings and cheesy Mama noodles that can be washed down by a drink of tea, coffee or if you so desire, a bright pastel blue ‘unicorn drink’ that is topped with rainbow marshmallows, a small bear cookie and copious amounts of whipped cream. Open 11am – 8pm 179/1 Prapokklao Road, Sri Phum Facebook: Jood3JoodCNX 082 495 5665
Bear Hug Café
On Cloud Nine
If you can’t bear being away from a bear, then bear with us as we introduce the barely subtle Bear Hug Café. Almost every dish is somehow decorated with a bear, be it a scoop of ice cream with chocolate eyes and ears, a silhouette of a bear in a side of coco powder or as a pancake with ears and a cute button nose. The atmosphere is cosy and inviting and despite the bear theme, they don’t cut back on making sure each dish and each drink are as delicious as anywhere else. Try the bear hug toast slathered in chocolate sauce or the New Zealand ice-cream waffles. If you prefer something more hearty, tuck into a spaghetti carbonara or a New York style burger or if you are early to rise and hungry for a breakfast, try their 125 baht western breakfast served with fresh orange juice.
If you can imagine fluffy clouds of cotton candy and soft milk pastel drinks, then you can start to get what this dessert café is like on the inside. Pink walls enclose this fluffy — friendly café filled with sweet treats that would cause your dentist to faint. Special little boxes house a pot of ice cream with a spoon and fruit on the side and their cakes are spongy and soft topped with a pastel tone rainbow of soft butter icing. Their drinks are no different, with rainbow themes throughout, some of which are topped with a big hug of candyfloss... just because. Soft neon signs hang from the walls with phrases like ‘today is a fluffy day’. Minimalistic baby chic is the best definition we can come up with, but best to just try it for yourselves.
Open 9am – 6pm (Closed Wednesdays) 91/1 Kotchasarn Road, Chang Klan Facebook: Bear Hug Café 053 206 555
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11am – 10pm 5 Nimmanhaemin Soi 9 Facebook: Oncloudnineofficial 065 478 0688
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Citylife LOCAL
CLIENTS’ SPOT
Babylonian Iraqi Restaurant As you walk into the Babylonian lraqi Restaurant, you are instantly transported to another part of the world, with classical Middle Eastern décor and music, and the scent of freshly sizzling exotic food. Moroccan lamps create a warm ambiance and complement the teakwood furniture. If you are a fan of traditional Middle Eastern dishes, then this place is perfect for those looking for an authentic lunch or dinner.
ProAuto When looking for a car repair shop, it can be difficult to choose the right one. Will they trick, over charge or do a bad job? Are the parts they used certified and are they cutting corners? As a non-Thai speaker it can be even more challenging when the repairmen are unable to understand your requests. Well, fear no more as we introduce ProAuto, an auto repair and service shop that has over 12 years of experience and a team of English speaking professionals to boot. Focusing on services and smaller repairs when they first opened, they soon became popular among local Thais and expats in the Hang Dong area. From there they grew and now, in addition to care services and inspections, they offer a range of repair work, oil changes, and suspension jobs and tyre replacements. They describe the service they provide as a one-stop-service — bringing everything under one roof, they are well stocked for every eventuality and if any problems with your car are discovered, they can get straight to work without delay. With over eight pages of positive comments on ThaiVisa and numerous reviews on other social media platforms, the opinions speak for themselves. Whether you need a new set of tyres, a yearly inspection so you can pay your tax or if an urgent issue needs fixing right away, just give them a call and take it from there. 22 Moo 5 Chiang Mai – Hang Dong Road, Mae Hia Facebook: proautothailand Line: @proauto proautothailand@gmail.com 089 838 8899
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Here, the quality and tastes of food makes for an unbeatable experience. The restaurant sources many of their ingredients from suppliers outside of Thailand. When you sit down, you are greeted right away with piping hot complimentary tea from Kashmir and a light lentil soup. The New Zealand barbeque lamb is absolutely delicious and tender and the chicken served with salad topped with a lemon aioli, bursting with flavour. Even the rice, which is readily accessible here in Chiang Mai, is shipped from India and the perfectly seasoned cardamom and cinnamon mixed basmati rice dish is to die for. The owner doubles as the head chef and sees to it that every dish prepared for customers tastes just right. The tabbouleh salad is our favourite, but pretty much every dish we tried was full of flavour. Babylonian Iraqi Restaurant is open every day, and also offers catering for in-house private event service. For an easy and enjoyable bite to eat, you can’t beat this traditional Middle Eastern spot. Open 11am – 9pm (10am – 9pm on Weekends) MAYA Lifestyle Shopping Centre, 4th floor babylonianiraqirestaurant@gmail.com Facebook: babylonianiraqi 093 768 7100
Seven Gay Bars not to Miss Show your pride and get involved in the gay scene in Chiang Mai, that although small, is alive and kicking.
Ram Bar By far one of the most popular LGBTQ hangouts, this place has been dubbed the friendliest gay bar in Chiang Mai. Every night features a free cabaret show starting at 10pm and the laser light show will drag you in, if you don’t mind the pun.
Garden Bar Tucked behind the gay-friendly Lotus Hotel is this casual and lovely bar and restaurant, great for dates or to meet new people in a cozy setting. They have just given it a facelift and a spruceup so well worth another visit if you have been once before.
Open 6pm – Midnight Charonprathet Soi 6, t. Chang Klan Facebook: RamBarChiangmai www.rambarchiangmai.com 085 034 5607
Open 7pm – Midnight 2/25 Vingbua Road, T. Chang Pheuak 053 215 376 / 053 215 462
Pandee Bar Back again to the infamous Soi 6, this is our last on the list. A discreet bar filled with tables for two, great drinks and even a few games of connect-four. Great for a night with a special date or just a few mates.
Secrets Bar Next door to Ram Bar, this watering hole is popular among those who are into the scene but not into full on drag and lasers. Being more laid back, with a great selection of drinks, this place is often frequented by resident expats.
Open 5pm – Midnight Charonprathet Soi 6, Chang Klan 089 554 5392
Open 5.30pm – 1am Charonprathet Soi 6, T. Chang Klan Facebook: Secrets Bar www.secretsbarcnx.com 081 531 5566
Adam’s Apple This club is one of the hottest gay clubs in Chiang Mai, despite its rather erotic nature. Packed with dancers, exotic drag shows and sexy lap dances, this club brings with it some long lasting memories.
Orion Bar This bar is great to unwind, play some pool and escape the hustle and bustle of the busy Night Bazaar. You won’t have any problem finding this place thanks to its very big rainbow sign.
Open 9pm – 1am 1/21-22 Wiengbua Road, Chang P huak Facebook: Adam’s Apple Club
Open 5pm – 1am Charonprathet Soi 6, T. Chang Klan Facebook: orion.bar.1
Loft Bar Hero Although the all-male, muscular staff may trick you, this bar is actually a mixed bar, attracting women and gay men alike. A live band plays every night and is located in the business park behind Big C. Open 6pm – Midnight The Rooms, 89 Moo 4, Nong Pa Krang Facebook: Loft Bar Hero Chiangmai 089 555 9524
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Clubs and Societies
Citylife Garden Fair 25th Novmeber @ CMU Art Centre Tel. 053 248 360 Facebook: Citylife Garden Fair 2017 (CMU Art Museum) Citylife's annual charity fair will be moved to a fabulous new location on Nimmanhaemin Road. With space, we will have more stalls, more food, more drinks, more performances and activities and raise MORE for charity.
TEDxChiangMaiWomen 4th November @ TCDC Chiang Mai Facebook: TEDxChiangMaiWomen Watch semi live-streaming talks from the TEDWomen 2017 event themed "Bridges". Talks from Fundraising local speakers followed by panel and open discussions about the issues covered. Tickets are 300 FDSC Charity Dinner baht and 100 baht (students). From 1.30 – 5.30pm 19th November Chiang Mai Connect x NTFV: Food Innovators @ David’s Kitchen Tel. 081 531 9217 Meet-up & Networking The evening will feature a silent auction with 7th November some amazing prizes that include exotic hotel @ Chiang Mai Connect by NTCC stays, dinners for two, exclusive designer watches www.eventbank.com/event/6355/register and much more. David's Kitchen will be donating NTFV is a consulting and coordinating organisation, all proceeds from the event towards developing part of the Federation of Thai Industries that sup- FDSC's scholarship programme that assists vulports food industry businesses. Access to innova- nerable and underprivileged children and young tion is key to develop Thailand's food products people in the region. Tickets are 1,200 baht which and exports in-line with the endeavour to become includes a delicious 4 course dinner and a glass of 'Kitchen of the World'. From 6.30 – 9.30pm. Processco on arrival.
Loy Krathong: Lantern Festival by the Ping River 4th November @ Holiday Inn Chiang Mai Tel. 053 275 300 ext. River Terrace Join the feast in Lanna-style market "Kad-Mua" specialities with Thai Lanna and International buffet with BBQ grill station, fresh seafood, roasted leg of lamb, pork loin and more premium selections. Available at 1,999 baht net per person. From 6pm. Piedmont Wine Dinner 10th November @ Le Méridien Chiang Mai Tel. 053 253 299 A collection of the best selected Piedmont wines and the special hearty 4-course menu will delight your palate at Favola this November. Discover the culinary journey to Piedmont, one of the most famous wine regions where great wines and delectable food resonate throughout the rest of the world. Prices are 2,900 baht for for Eat, Drink & More members and 3,200 baht for non-members. From 6.30pm.
Sports THL Minimarathon 12th November @ Royal Park Rajapreuk Tel. 053 943 297 A 11 kms mini marathon is available at 1,200 baht and a 4.5 kms fun run is available at 300 baht. All proceeds will be used as student scholarships, Department of Tourism, Chiang Mai University. From 6am.
Concerts and Shows
Promotions
Down Town Dixie Concert 2017 2nd November @ Imperial Mae Ping Hotel Chiang Mai Tel. 053 283 900, 053 276 420 A charity concert hosted by The Imperial Mae Ping Hotel Chiang Mai raising funds for schools in the rural area that are lack of education supplies. Tickets are 750 baht per person (the price includes international buffet).
Loy Krathong Festival by The River Market 3rd November @ The River Market Tel. 081 026 6567 Join the cultural celebration in a safe environment with Thai buffet, open bar, house drinks, traditional Workshops Thai entertainment, western music, lanterns, krathong and much more! Prices are 2,500 per ault Krathong Making Workshop and 1,250 per kid. From 6 to 11pm. 3rd November @ Kad Klang Wiang (close to Wawee coffee) Loy Krathong Dinner by RatiLanna An annual workshop by CLBS is back. Learn how to make a beautiful krathong (traditional floating 3rd November basket) out of banana leaf and flowers. Then, take @ RatiLanna Riverside Spa and Resort your krathong back with you to release it in the Tel. 053 999 333 Celebrate the historic festival in kad mua and enjoy river in the evening of the Loy Krathong festival. the BBQ and international buffet dinner with the From 10am to 5pm. classic Thai dance show, live music performance and the not to miss Krathong floating. From 6pm. Reservation is recommended.
Khon Mask Dance Drama 26th November @ KAD Theatre The famous Thai mask dance drama performing the classic Ramakien, arranged by the many experts in the field across the nation, will be performing here in Chiang Mai. Tickets are 500 baht and 200 baht. Proceeds will be donated to the College of Dramatic Arts Theatre student scholarships.
Loy Krathong Festival 2017 by X2 3rd November @ Oxygen Dining Room, X2 Chiang Mai RiverFairs & Festivities side resort Tel. 053 931 999 17th Money Expo fbco.cmr@x2resorts.com 10th – 12th November Join the authentic Thai specialties in celebration @ Chiang Mai Hall, Central Plaza Chiang Mai of Loy Krathong festival, featuring live hammered Airport dulcimer and Thai traditional dance performances, Join the biggest finance and investment exhibi- Thai set dinner designed by Michelin Star Chef at tion in Thailand. Since 2001, MONEY EXPO has 1,500 baht per person. From 6 – 11pm. been providing consumers, SMEs, and investors, a convenient and equal access to financial services Moon River Night funding sources, and investment services. 3rd – 5th November Prem Careers, College and University Fair 2017 @ Maraya Resort Tel. 053 812 121 14th November Spend a special night with your special ones over a @ Prem Tinsulanona International School romantic Thai fusion dinner on the riverside under There will be many representatives from universi- the moon on Loy Krathong Festival. Serving offers ties, colleges and educational consultants world- 5-couse Thai fusion menu. Price at 750 baht per wide to provide information and advice to students person for foods, soft drink and Krathong (alcoholic from Grades 9-12 beginning to think about their beverages not included). Limited 20 seats per day. future plans. Parents are also warmly invited to come along and take part during the day. Free Loy Krathong with Four Seasons Resort Chiang admission. From 9.30am to 2pm Mai 3rd – 4th November Prem International Day 2017 @ Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai 18th November Tel. 053 298 181 @ Prem Tinsulanona International School Experience Loy Krathong in unique style with a An annual celebration of the diversity of Prem, special package starting with a Lanna-style dinner representing the thirty-two countries currently in with interactive live stations, take a limousine ride the community. This event is free admission and to join the lively local celebrations. Starting at kid friendly. From 2 to 6pm. 29,500 baht per night. This offer requires a threenight minimum stay. All inclusions are for up to two guests per stay. 48
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Notices Chiang Mai Yee Peng Festival 2017 2nd – 4th November @ Chiang Mai An annual celebration comprised with Loy Krathong and the Great Sermon Ceremony. The festival will officially begin on the 2nd with the opening ceremony at Lanna Folklife Museum at 7pm The Grand Krathong Parade 4th November @ Tha Pae Gate The parade will begin at 7pm from Tha Pae Gate to Chiang Mai Municipality Office. Tang Tum Luang 1st – 5th November @ Jed Lin Temple The Great Sermon will also be hosted on November 3rd at eight temples including Suan Dok, Chiang Yuen, Chai Sri Poom, Bupparam, Chai Mongkol, Nuntaram, Rampueng and Jed Yod from 6am to 8pm.
For up to date events visit www.chiangmaicitylife.com
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Opening 1. L’Oreal at 65 Hair Studio 2. M edia Pre-Opening Party at X2 Riverside Resort 3. O pening of Chiang Mai Motor Expo 2017
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4. Opening of Italian Festival at Kantary Hills 5. O pening of Pizza Company at Maya Lifestyle Mall 6. O pening of Taste of Vietnam at Holiday Inn 3
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Parties 1. 4ever Young Night Fever at Mixology 2. Union & Crew Republic at Namton’s House Bar 3. C.E.C. Breakfast Club at River Market 4. Dining Out Group at Hard Rock Café
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Parties 1. R ainbow Night of Beasts & Monsters at Anantara Resort 2. S mash Cocktails Night at Rooftop Bar Sala Lanna 3. Special Poolside Party at Japan Village
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4. World Buffet Night at Le Crystal
Others 1. AIS New App Workshop at F-lab 2. Baladin Craft Beer at Mercato Wine Bar 3. Bell’s Be Real Party at TWJ 4. Boonhugsa Live at Thapae East 5. Diwali at Accha Indian Restaurant
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1. X 2 Chiang Mai Riverside staff stood in silence on the anniversary of the death of King Bhumibol 2. D affodils for Dad at Maya Lifestyle Shopping Centre 3. On the eve of the first anniversary of the passing of H.M. the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Chiang Mai Immigration arranged a Flowers and Music for our Beloved King at the Promenada Resort Mall 4. Documenta 14 Talk at MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum 5. E xercise for Happiness at Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection
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6. GO Festival Tournament 2017 7. Shangri-La 10th Anniversary Press Conference 8. L ast year at the T.A.T. ‘Good Taste, Great Experience in Chiang Mai’ initiative guests entered into a lucky draw. The Lucky Draw took place at the Imperial Mae Ping 9. W e Will Rock You Fashion Show at Hard Rock Café
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Others 1. R atiLanna Riverside Spa and Resort staff big cleaning day in the community at T. Pa Daet 2. C hiang Mai Ram Hospital congratulated Head of Internal Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine Chiang Mai University for his new title as professor 3. C hiang Mai Ram Hospital congratulated Squadron Leader Monthanik Ragngam for his new title as General Manager of Chiang Mai International Airport 4. C harity Free Hair Cut by Pavilion Night Bazaar in collaboration with Cut & Care Hairdressing Studio, Tee Design, Pheromone Barber Shop, Barber Walking Street CNX and Rotary Chiang Mai Phuping Club
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5. M arrigolds for Dad by Chiang Mai Ram Hospital 6. B eyond Banana by Hillkoff in collaboration with Faculty of Engineer and AgroIndustry Maejo University 7. C entral Festival Chiang Mai honouring HM the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej 8. L e Coq d'Or welcomed Aom Thanyatorn for her birthday celebration
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Don't forget to pick up a copy of Spoon&Fork coming out in mid-November which will be filled, as usual, with mouthwatering images of some of Chiang Mai's most delicious dishes, articles about movers and shakers in the food and bev business and recommendations to some great eateries in our city.
Contact: ja@chiangmaicitilife.com or Call 053 241 360 Facebook: Spoon and Fork by Citylife
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