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Fan of Chiang Mai
To the Editor:
I am a temporary resident of Chiang Mai, but one who
hopes one day to come back to retire here. There are so many splendid things
about the city: the graciousness of its people, the beauty of its temples
and other historic sites, the multi-cultural nature of the city, with its
many minority peoples, as well as majority Thais. On a practical level,
however, there are a few problems that one hopes the city authorities might
turn their attention toward.
The lack of traffic lights in areas where pedestrians
must cross the street amid heavy traffic. An example would be the areas on
both sides of Thapae Gate, near the Montri Hotel and the Art Cafe. It is
ridiculous not to have stop lights there, and eventually someone will be
injured or killed as he/she tries to cross the street.
2) The lack of sidewalks for pedestrians and, in cases
where there are sidewalks, their bad state of repair. An example of the
latter would be the walkways on both sides of Huay Kaew Road between Central
and the Amari intersection. There are holes and gaps and bumps. I for one
have fallen and injured myself on that sidewalk. In many countries, people
would file lawsuits against the authorities in case of personal injury.
Fortunately for the city authorities, that is not the custom in Thailand;
but still, common sense requires something to be done to keep the walkways
in good repair.
3) Unacceptably loud levels of noise from karaoke bars
late at night and from sound trucks at all times. People do have a right to
peace and quiet, especially in their own homes, I should think.
4) The large numbers of uncontrolled and sometimes
dangerous dogs, either master less strays or dogs whose owners let them run
free. Again, people should be able to walk about without worrying about
attacks from fierce dogs. I have seen small children menaced, as well as
monks attacked. Dogs should be kept within a compound or walked on a leash,
not allowed to run free. There is a danger of rabies and other diseases
resulting from their bites.
If the authorities would make an effort to solve the
above problems, Chiang Mai would be an even more comfortable and pleasant
place to live, for everyone. I earnestly hope that progress can be made,
especially before I come back to live here in about four years.
Signed: A (mostly happy) Fan of Chiang Mai
Love reading the Chiangmai Mail
Dear Sir/Madam,
My wife and I started reading the Chiangmai Mail
over a month ago and now we look forward to every Saturday to pickup the
latest issue. We enjoy almost each and every page and clearly believe you
have a content mix and a reporting method that is a solid 7 out of 10, if we
were to score it. Please keep up the good work.
We believe you could add to the content, making it more
comprehensive, and we have provided a few suggestions here: 1) The weather
forecast; 2) What’s playing in the local cinemas, and possibly 3) An expat
corner discussing local activities.
There is only one negative that we have found and that is
the “Auto Mania” page. We find this page discriminating - why give a
full page to the same topic, week after week? I would guess less then 90% of
your customers read this page. You may want to consider changing the topic
on this page from issue to issue and thereby providing a weekly “pleasant
surprise”... (i.e scuba diving, points of interest in the area, traveling,
latest in high tech, kite flying, local history, etc.).
Regards,
Bernie and Jesse
Boycotting tuk-tuks
Editor;
We would like to share with you our opinion about public
transportation in Chiang Mai. This is our second stay in this city we so
much like and this time we stayed here more than two months.
We do appreciate ‘rot-songthaew’. Their drivers
understand quite well our destinations and their prices are quite cheap in
town.
On the contrary, Tuk Tuk drivers mostly ask you expensive
prices and make some propositions that are not always correct.
We very much regret that they are emitting both strong
exhaust gas and dreadful noises that even woke us up and many people during
the night.
We also noticed that they keep on wandering around empty,
looking for potential customers.
We therefore decided to boycott them definitely.
Thank you for your attention!
We will send this letter to the Tourism Authority of
Thailand and Chiang Mai Mail.
Marie-Eve Volkoff-Peschon & Paul Peschon
Gallard France
Square Ring looking to land a bite
Editor;
Whoever does the Square Ring column obviously looks to
land a bite ... Well he landed one. Kostya Tszyu is a champion because of
not only how he fights, but by how he handles himself, deals with the media,
respects his opponents and raises his children. His record speaks for itself
and the way he conducts himself is twice as impressive. If boxing and boxers
were more like Kostya it would not have been tarnished as it has been and
will no doubt be again.
Aaron Larsen
NT Australia
Howie Replies: Aaron: Thanks for the e-mail. I could
not agree more in regard to Kostya. He is the best around as a fighter and a
gentleman. At the fights last night in Las Vegas we were talking about
Kostya and maybe a match up down the road against Diego Corrales who has
just returned to the ring. There is no one out there in his weight class
that can come close to beating Kostya. His inactivity at some point may
allow someone to “steal” a win and that would be a shame.
Thanks for writing.
Cheers,
Howie Reed
Las Vegas Nevada
USA
Keep up the good work
Editor,
I do not want to write another complain-letter, just let
you know how much fun it is to read your newspaper every week. My wife and I
are retired and we did not know what was missing until we found Chiangmai
Mail. All the magazines are very beautiful picture books but they are
just not what you want to read when you live here permanently. We still have
our copies from Citylife or Welcome to Chiang Mai for references like maps
or some telephone numbers but they are mostly from interest for tourists. So
with your newspaper we finally know what is going on, what decisions are
made in the municipality and thank you also for your Dining Out section. We
tried some of your recommendations, both the ‘economic’ and more
expensive ones, and we are happy to agree on most, not all, what was said
about the places. In some cases, ‘service’ is quiet poor, but the
quality and presentations were overall good value for money. Therefore -
keep up the good work.
Sincerely,
The Macintosh Family
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