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You are browsing the archives of 2008 April.

With the Thai New Year Water Festival (Songkran) rapidly approaching, there are calls for a return to the traditional way of celebrating. This involves gentle dousing of water as opposed to the all-out water fights which take place nowadays. Of course, it’s highly unlikely that younger people – Thai and farang – will pay much [...]

There are numerous buses which ply the route between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, with varying prices according to the degree of comfort, speed and number of stops en route. The cheapest service has fans instead of air-conditioning, stops numerous times and is quite slow. At the other end of the spectrum, the VIP bus [...]

As the effect of the Asian rice crisis continues to bite, the price of the commodity is still going up. Commentators are referring to rice as ‘white gold’ and some farmers in Thailand have resorted to arming themselves at night to protect their increasingly valuable crop from rice hustlers.
The rice shortage in Asia has come [...]

I recently visited Chiang Rai and stayed at the Wiang Inn for 2 nights. Travelling by bus from Chiang Mai, I hadn’t pre-booked any accommodation but was looking for somewhere fairly central. The Wiang Inn is located on the main Phaholyothin Road just a few minutes walk from the bus station and the night market.
Reception [...]

Today is Chakri Day in Thailand and as it falls on a Sunday this year, tomorrow is a public holiday in lieu. April 6th marks the founding day of the royal Chakri Dynasty of which the present Thai monarch, Bhumibol Adulyadej, is the ninth king (Rama IX).
On Chakri Day, the king and other members of [...]

Weekend rain and some gusty winds have helped to clear the haze from the air in Chiang Mai. The air quality yesterday and today has been excellent and from the city the views of Doi Suthep have been outstanding.
I’m not sure whether the recent rain we’ve had up here was brought on by the [...]