My Chiang Mai

The biggest ever gathering of classic cars in Chiang Mai took place on Sunday to celebrate the owners’ new website: www.chiangmaiclassiccar.com

Fifty cars and 8 scooters assembled at the Yaang Come Hotel, Sidornchai Road, as guests of the owner Khun Jitapong Guawong, whose front door was flanked by his 1940’s Mercedes Benz and 1950’s Armstrong Siddeley.  But it was not only glamorous limousines and Porsches posing for the cameras. Long and short wheelbase Land Rovers, two Mokes (the jeep version of the Mini), a split-screen VW Kombi and a turbocharged Mazda pick up truck added to the huge variety.

Guest of honour from Bangkok was Khun Pravut Kanchanawat, vice president of the national Classic Car Association Thailand.
The new website is being linked to the English language www.classiccarsoflanna.com and more photos from Sunday can be seen on www.city-now.com (go to Social Scene and click on classic cars).

Owners meet on the last Sunday morning of each month. Next is November 29th at NIM City Daily, the shopping area near the airport with the Rimping supermarket.

The next few days could see a formal truce statement issued by the rival red and yellow shirted political rivals in the north.
A statement is being prepared for the Governor of Chiang Mai province, agreeing to respect people’s rights and guarantee tourists that all residents are “good hosts”, an anonymous source has told ‘The Nation’ newspaper.

The (apparently neutral) source said that the Chiang Mai Chamber of Commerce had brokered the deal during meetings with the pro-Taksin Shinawat ‘reds’ and their yellow clad rivals.

In the interests of tourism business, a meeting was held 2 weeks ago with both groups attending, though a second meeting more recently was boycotted by “splinter groups” of both colours, said the report.

Promsak Saenpho, leader of the red-shirted Confederation of Grassroots People of the North, was quoted as saying: “The country will be victorious if unity is restored and the political colours are destroyed.”

Less than 50kms away in the rural town of Payao, 8 members of the 2 groups were photographed shaking hands for the camera back on October 6th. Wearing every possible colour except red and yellow, they issued a brief statement saying: “We have good intentions for society, but may have offended ‘the other colour’” and apologised.

A few years ago there was a move in Chiang Mai to re-name the annual wet season to “The Green Season.”

This could now be a step closer with far less than average rainfall so far this year. The main reservoir feeding our city is dramatically lower than this time last year.

Mae Kuang Dam, west of Doi Saket, is at its second lowest October level for many years, and the last time this happened there was a drought by early March. Water was cut off for many hours to different parts of the city at different times of the day and night.

Mae Kuang’s green island (pictured from one of the two restaurants on the banks) can only be seen at low water, a most unusual sight at a time when ‘the big rains’ are normally at an end.

The level of our other huge dam east of Memalai, Mae Ngat, is said to be ‘average’, but supplies are not easy from so far north. However, by this time next year, a long tunel feeding water from Mae Ngat into Mae Kuang, should have been completed, and city droughts hopefully consigned to history.

Only 61% of eligible Chiang Mai city centre voters turned out to the polls on the 4th, but a decisive 24,384 of them voted for Tassanai Buranupakorn, candidate No 2 and nephew of a previous two-time landslide winner.

Surprise runner-up with 13,197 votes was a lady some thought a rank outsider, Wipawan Woraputthipong (No 7), while immediate former Mayor Dr Duantemduang trailed badly in 3rd place with only 6,958.

The poll was called after Ms Duantemduang was disqualified on a technicality over her residential status in the city, but new incumbent Khun Tassanai may face a far more serious hurdle.

A man wearing a red shirt (indicating support for ousted former Prime Minister Taxin Shinawat) was arrested while carrying a list of eligible voters and 24,000b in cash. If an investigation now under way by the Chiang Mai Election Office connects him to a candidate, that candidate will be disqualified, forced to pay for a new election and subject to a jail term of up to 10 years and a fine of up to 200,000b. The investigation should be complete within 2 weeks.

Notably, 4,444 of the 64,871 ballots handed in had the ‘abstain’ box ticked, showing what many observers interpet as dissatisfaction with all the candidates.

Chiang Mai fails to figure in 2 important surveys appearing in the current ‘Tourism Review’ magazine.

The bad news is that this fair city is not in the world’s Top Ten Intelligent Communities, a rating given mainly for IT innovation and networking. Swedish capital Stockholm beat the world to this accolade, by the way.

Good news: Chiang Mai also failed to make it into the world’s Top Ten Pick Pocketing Places! In fact, in all of SE Asia, only Hanoi, Vietnam, squeezes into this list of infamy in 10th place.

Keeping your wits (and your valuables) about you at festivals, in museums and any crowded place is an especially good idea in Barcelona,

Rome and Prague, the 3 top havens for casual thieves. ‘Tourism Review’ warns especially of distractions by smartly dressed natives, children, and ‘careless’ people who cause distractions by various ploys.

All over the world, carrying minimum cash on every occasion, and locking your passport up at the hotel, are wise moves. (In Chiang Mai, night-time bag snatching by thieves on motorcycles is the crime most likely to affect tourists, say our police).

Last week’s announcement that Chiang Mai suddenly had a new district, the 25th in fact, was the cause of much comment and speculation. After all, this is a small city!

However, we can relax. As often happens, the authorities made no distinction between Chiang Mai, the city, and Chiang Mai, the province. In fact, Wat Chan is located halfway between Samoeng and Pai, half a day’s hard motorcyle ride from our city centre.

Half a million baht will be spent by the provincial authority to renovate an existing arts and crafts centre to become the local admin office.

The official name will become Galyani Vadhana, in honour of the late Princess, the elder sister of His Majesty the King.

A new Chiang Mai city plan for road widening from the Interior Ministry is being dramatically narrowed by public opinion.

Last year, with no local consultation with residents, the appropriate Ministry department announced plans to widen 35 city centre roads, involving the demolition of hundreds of historic buildings, including some temples.

A group named Raksa Ban Raksa (’to protect our nation’) has been formed to fight the moves, one of which would totally alter Thapae Road, a major city centre artery. The movement has attracted support from all apects of city centre Thai society.

The group claims that following their protests, 27 of the 35 roads have been removed from the plan and the extended widths of 5 others have been reduced. More announcements on the plan are expected within 4 weeks.

Seven people arrested at a condo near Chiang Mai city centre had 6kg of heroin hidden inside bicycle pedal spindles.
The police, who are now saddled with 394 little heroin-filled tubes, say the alleged peddlers were part of a chain planning to push the drugs in Taiwan.

Well, in only one respect, but it’s important.

Despite recent protests by some 30,000 people in the capital of Apia, the South Pacific island of Samoa changed over to drive on the left side of their roads on September 7th.

The change was decreed by the government to fall in line with neighbouring Australia and New Zealand, and to reflect the fact that most vehicles in Samoa thus have the steering wheel on the right.

The protesters feared a massive increase in accidents, saying that drivers had not been properly prepared. Their fears proved to be groundless.

Like it or not, Samoans have joined almost a third of the world’s drivers who all drive on the left. This possibly surprising total is of course explained by the enormous combined vehicle populations of UK, Japan, Malaysia, India and Indonesia, as well as Pakistan and most of the countries of Africa.

Why Thailand, surrounded by right-driving Burma, Laos and Cambodia, evolved motoring on the left can only have sprung from British influence in Malaya, now Malaysia.

When men rode horses and carried swords, most of them kept to the left. This was simply because most people are right handed and it was faster to draw your sword against an oncoming robber or enemy, as the sword was worn on the left of the body. Napoleon is said to have ordered his armies to march on the right as one of his demonstrations of hatred of the English. But at least we have to thank him for his lighting. At night, one soldier at the front had to carry a white light and one at the back a red light!

Editor’s note: Sweden was the last European nation to change (from left to right) in 1967 and did so without one fatal accident, thanks to brilliant, long term advance planning. The biggest expense was changing all the doors of the buses! Burma was the last eastern nation to change (the same way) in 1970. It is said that a general was obsessed by knowing how he would die. His fortune teller said a truck would run away down a hill and hit his car, in which he always sat on the left. The next day he ordered the nation to change over to the right.

New recruits are on the way to help the 3 women police officers responsible for questioning women and child crime victims in all the 7 provinces of the north.

The bad news for the grossly over-worked trio, based at the Chiang Mai Provincial Police HQ on Superhighway, is that the 70 new female officers won’t graduate for another 3 years.

This was the message given to the recent seminar of the Foundation for Women by Police Maj. Gen. Amnuay Nimmano, who admitted that currently, of 8,000 interrogators in Thailand, only 137 are women and 128 of them work in Bangkok. The national total used to be higher, but many policewomen had left the force for better paid jobs in other fields, he said.

“Each police station should have at least one policewoman to deal with crimes involving women and children” he added. Many such crimes involved physical and sexual abuse and many witnesses were too embarassed to talk openly to male officers.Pol Lt Col Jaruwan Churasri, aged 28, the only woman at Don Muang police station, said that the justice process “lacked sensitivity” towards women and child victims.