Whats On Chiang Mai

This is a must time of year to visit the Tha Phae Gate in Chiang Mai to see the amazingly beautiful display of lights and candles of Loy Krathong.  The actions peaks this year on November 12, 2008 when the moon is full. Do not miss this amazing festival in Thailand!

Ever wonder where the many police in Chiang Mai live?   You will never see this place on the tourist maps, however there is a large economy housing complex in the Nong Noy (Nonghoi) area where the police in the Chiang Mai district stay!

Located in the Nong Hoy area of Chiang Mai, Dumrong Yuttitum and Friends Law Office offers both civil and criminal legal services to foreigners.  You can find their office hidden away at 543/95 Karnkeha Nong Hoi Village, Chiang Mai-Lamphun Road, T. Nonghoi, A. Muang, Chiang Mai.   Phone (053) 802128.   Email:  dumrongyuttitumlawoffice@yahoo.co.th.

The Nakorn Ping Palace Hotel is an older, yet to be renovated, budget property just south of the Holiday Inn Chiang Mai, right behind the Nong Hoy Market. According to the front desk staff, Nakorn Ping Palace Hotel does not see many western tourists; most of their customers are from Thailand, China and Taiwan.  We toured the rooms and they were old, but clean.  Some of the rooms has nice views of the Mae Ping River and other rooms had nice views of the surrounding mountains.    Personally, I don’t think I would recommend staying at the Nakorn Ping Palace Hotel.  The rooms are old and the furnishings need to be updated.  However, it is a good landmark when you are looking for the Nong Hoy Market.   Travelers on a budget might find the property interesting, since the rates are quite low.

If you love authentic Northern Thai food, I strongly recommend you visit the Nong Hoy Market (Nong Hoi or Nonghoi Market), just south of the Holiday Inn Chiang Mai.  For the past two days, I enjoyed some of the best tasting smoked Northern Thai sausages (Sai Oua) I have ever eaten.   When in Chiang Mai you must get off the “beaten path” of over priced tourist places and find the real Chiang Mai.   The Sai Oua at the Nong Hoy Market is freshly smoked and sells for 20 baht for a 6-7 inch piece.   Delicious!   Don’t forgot to order 5 to 10 baht worth of sticky rice.   If you smile, they might even toss in a big handful of delicious Thai herbs (Samun Prai).

After a “not so good ” experience trying to to get the tailors of Fashion King in Chiang Mai to reproduce a simply shirt pattern, I found S. K. Boutique, 89/2 Changkland Road, Shop A109 in the Kalare Shopping Center (Kalare Night Bazaar).  The owner, Raj, was confident his tailor could create a shirt from a pattern and save me 100 Baht.   Now creating my custom shirt cost 400 instead of 500 Baht, a savings nearly 20%.

The first shirt by S. K. was perfect so I decided to make another one.  The second one was good as well, so I decided to make a third one.   The quality, fit, and workmanship was much better at S. K. Boutique than Fashion King.  So far, I can recommend Raj and S. K. Boutique for taking selected exotic Northern Thai cotton fabrics and creating custom shirts.

The Chiang Mai Food and Tourism Festival, October 9 -15, 2008, is now underway at the Central Airport Plaza. Many well-known restaurants are featured at the festival. If you love Thai food and beer, this is a festival you don’t want to miss!

After some bad experiences with a few tailors making custom labels for my shirts, I found a nice embroidery shop, Raan Supat, 44/8 Wiang Ping Road, Chiang Mai, 50000. They make the custom labels for my custom shirts for about 50 baht each, which is a bit expensive because I think I can get them for 30 baht if I shop around more. The problem is that my labels are silk and Raan Supat does not keep small pieces of silk in the shop, so I will have to have a source for scrap pieces of different color silk material to make labels.

By the way, Wiang Ping Road is a very interesting place to visit if you want to see a non-tourist area very close to the center of Chiang Mai.