"THERE'S NOWT SO QUEER AS FOLK!"

"Nothing quite so unusual as people", is how the old Yorkshire adage translates, and it applies as much here as it does there.

I don't want to give you the idea that I have lots of spare time, but when possible, people watching has always been one of my favourite hobbies. Restaurants, from the big and pricey to the modest noodle stall, are always good locations for this, so what follows sits nicely with the foody theme of this month's magazine.

A trend I've noticed over recent years here is for young western visitors to sit down and order healthy stuff like salads, then immediately light up and resume their chain smoking! What a paradox!

There's a westerner who has been living in Chiangmai for almost a year now. I don't know if he's a health freak or simply living on a low budget. He rides a bicycle everywhere while wearing a smog mask and a full motorcycle helmet. And he rides the wrong way along one way streets!

A quiet, pleasant, unassuming old feller who used to site around hotel lobbies reading newspapers all day suddenly seemed to go through a personality change.

I began to see him knocking back tequila in huge amounts at various bars, very late at night, getting into animated and noisy arguments. Sometimes he would be found semi-comatose and taken away by tuk tuk to his condominium, on more than one occasion by ambulance to hospital as he had fallen down and sustained minor injuries. This happens to many men in their teens and twenties. Surely, long before we are 70, we should have put all this behind us?

There's an urban legend around here that somewhere up in the hills is a huge and impressive house, surrounded by high walls and sophisticated security devices. At the gate there is always an armed Thai security guard. Inside is a foreigner who is enormously wealthy and, with or without just cause I know not, constantly fears abduction. On the rare occasions he leaves the house, he drives a 5 year old white pick up truck, as anonymous as anything on the road. Wonder if he's happy?

Spirulina! Nature's Superfood?

A unique Chiangmai farm is producing one of the world's healthiest foods.

PIP

Down on the Farm

A natural product which began development in a Bangkok test tube in 1987 is now grown in 15,000 square meters of ponds near Sanpatong and exported all over the world.

David Hardy

LET'S SPEAK THAI No1:
Problems with the waitress? Say it in Thai

Samantha Burman

Happy Valentine's Day

We say it with flowers.

David Hardy

Chiangmai and the North

Expat Express

My Chiangmai

David Hardy

Reasons to Relax

Ric Klein

Nong Khai Commentary

Riverbank Stone

Financial Affairs

MANAGED CURRENCY ACCOUNTS

The Drinks Page

Night Fowl

Pool League 2003

Letters

MILKING THE MEDIA

Chinese zoo officials will visit Chiangmai's proposed site for the expensive air-conditioned quarters being prepared for a mating pair of giant pandas. (...).

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