My Chiang Mai

Motor racing pays a rare visit to Chiang Mai next weekend with the arrival of the Toyota Motorsport 2010 road show.

It all happens at the 700 Year Sports Stadium over Saturday and Sunday, July 10-11, and the only sad faces belong to Drag Racing enthusiasts, whose monthly meeting has had to be postponed at short notice. Car and motorcycle drags (straight line racing against the clock) will instead take place on Sunday July 18th.

As well as top Thai racers dashing round the short circuit, a tour of the stadium’s car parks, there will be a safe driving exhibition, celebrity appearances, family fun activities and a live rock concert on Saturday evening.

Low cost carrier, AirAsia, is now offering a self check-in service at several airports, including Chiang Mai.

For added comfort and convenience, customers can also utilise its web-based check-in service, the carrier said in a statement.

AirAsia said the initiative was part of its on-going mission of using the information, communication and technology (ICT) forefront to exploit technology and practice cost efficiency.

By adopting a cost effective service and liberating the traveling experience for customers, the innovative service will also avoid airport congestion, long queues and reduce waiting time at no extra cost, it said.

Dato’ Sri Tony Fernandes, Group CEO of AirAsia Berhad said “We have invested quite a significant amount to develop our ICT facilities in order to keep-up with global standards. Now, we have equipped ourselves to fully exploit the benefits of it and achieve a competitive excellence in the market. What could be simpler than going on-line and checking-in at the tip of your fingers be it via mobile or at home? This new service is relatively easy to deploy, saves cost and benefit both – guests and AirAsia. As Asia’s biggest low cost carrier with a strong domestic and extensive network within the Asean region, we believe our amazing low fares and innovative services have an edge over the masses and empower more travelers to fly with us.”

Quick and easy self check-in methods :

1) Web Check-In

All you’ll need is a connection to the internet, a printer and your travel itinerary and you’ll be able to check-in 48 hours prior and up to 4 hours before the scheduled departure time using Web Check-In. With your Boarding Pass, you can proceed straight to the Document Check Counter to stamp your boarding pass and then on to the Boarding Gate. If you have baggage to check-in, drop your baggage at the Self Check-In Counter at least 60 minutes prior to the boarding time.

2) Self Check-In Kiosks at the airport

Beat the crowd, check-in from our kiosks at the available locations below 6 hours prior and 1 hour before the scheduled departure time. You’ll need the details of your travel itinerary to check-in. With your Boarding Pass, you can proceed straight to the Document Check Counter to stamp your boarding pass and then on to the Boarding Gate. If you have baggage to check-in, drop your baggage at the Self Check-In Counter at least 60 minutes prior to the boarding time.

Chiang Mai – Some kids were apparently puzzled when they joined a Children Day celebration held under sponsorship of former prime minister  Thaksin Shinawatra at the Waroros Grand Palace Hotel.

They were told to recite a motto given by Thasksin in exchange for prizes.

They were told to recite “To have bright future, children must learn technology” but some kids recited the motto of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajva, which says: “Be creative, be diligent in studying and uphold morality”.

A lot of red-shirt people took their children to join the celebration. Prizes given by Thakin included a BlackBerry phone, 60 bicycles and many sports equipment.

Read the full story in The Nation

When it is a Cornellage, of course!

Collages by Cornelis Hoek are the subject of a most unusual exhibition opening at 116 Art Gallery, Chiang Mai, on September 5th.

Using scissors rather than a paint brush to create his art, the multi-talented Cornelis brings together pictures of buildings in a variety of imaginative ways.

A Dutch expat now resident in Chiang Rai, Cornelis was an operatic tenor soloist for many years, and later became the first concert director to take Chinese classical dance to Europe. As a weaver he has produced over 250 fine tapestries.

The 116 Gallery is at 94-120 Charoen Muang Road, Chiang Mai, where gallery director Khun Pool Nganpeerapong is becoming a collage artist in his own right, having created an amazing likeness of Cornelis himself to promote the show.

LATE NEWS
The exhibition has drawn so much interest, the gallery have extended it to October 10th. Unsold work will then be exhibited in Bangkok and later overseas.

This article is Copyright © MyChiangMai 2009, no reproduction without prior permission.

Dr Jack Green from Texas and his wife Nala have opened the first Baptist church in Chiang Mai city at the rear annexe of Boss Hotel near the railway station.

With degrees in theology and philosophy, Dr Green is a gifted and often very amusing preacher in the usual informal and friendly Baptist style.

He met his Lahu wife Nala through the church, as she worked for many years with a Baptist mission here, helping hill tribe people to export their handicrafts.

Everyone is welcome to the services at 11.00am every Sunday, with a special welcome for a much-needed pianist and song leader.

LATE NEWS
The venue for services has been changed to the Grand View Hotel, Superhighway, each Sunday at 11.00am, starting September 27th.

More information on e-mail: jgreen@landmarkministries.org

The three alleged leaders of the Chiang Mai “red shirts” surrendered to police yesterday at Phupingrajanivej police station.

They were released later in the day on bail of 300,000 baht.

The three are Apichat Insorn, Somchai Kunacharatdej and Sarayuth Suyasak.

Two other men are still at large.  The three were charged with illegal assembly by more than 10 persons, inciting chaos and obstructing police operations during the two-day visit of Finance Minister to Chiang Mai last month.

The arrest warrant for the trio was issued last month after clashes with the police in Chiang Mai.

The three men are allegedly members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).

This article is Copyright © MyChiangMai 2009, no reproduction without prior permission.

Chiang Mai has been voted the 5th best city in the world by readers of ‘Travel + Leisure’ magazine.

The 14th Annual ‘Travel + Leisure’ World’s Best Awards rank cities, hotels, cruises & resorts.

The awards are based on an impartial survey of readers who are asked to vote for their worldwide favourite travel destinations. The survey is made in association with Harris Interactive, an independent research firm,

Chiang Mai is a popular tourist destination for travelers from around the world. Whilst tourism figures have been down for the whole of Thailand this year, there have been increases in the number of tourists from within Asia and the Middle East.

This article is Copyright © MyChiangMai 2009, no reproduction without prior permission.

The Chinese motor industry had come to Chiang Mai!  The Chery QQ has been on sale in China for nearly 2 years and now it’s on sale through a network of Thailand dealers which includes a dealer here in Chiang Mai.

For the rest of this month there is a display in Carrefour Chiang Mai where prospective buyers, of just the plain curious types, can take a look at the QQ.

The QQ is a small car with a 1.1 16 valve engine with fuel injection and impressive fuel consumption.

Chery is China’s biggest car manufacturer. They have come under criticism over the QQ after GM accused them of copying the Daewoo Matiz, whist that may well be true I do feel that most car manufacturers do draw inspiration from other manufacturers to some extent.  Having driven  Matiz many years ago I must say that any similarity is superficial.

It’s easy to be biased against Chinese manufactured goods, especially if you have ever owned a Chinese built motorcycle!  However I must say that I was impressed with the overall build quality of the little QQ and at the price It looks unbeatable.

The base model (which impressively includes airbags) is just 366,000 baht and for another 20,000 baht you can buy the luxury model which includes such refinements as Leather Seats, 14″ Alloy Wheels, and Sony Stereo System with iPod adaptor.

The Chery QQ is available in Thailand a nice range of colours, and overall it has the looks and feel of a much more expensive car.

It’s only a matter of time until Chinese built cars become mainstream throughout the world, lets hope that early adopters in Thailand get a car the lives up to the hype in the brochure.

“Setting fire to forests is a national sport in this country,” Jacques Cavin told a Chiang Mai audience on July 30th.

Referring to the controversial “slash and burn” technique of agriculture, he declared: “We don’t do that. We buy produce from the forest to make fertiliser without chemicals.”

Jacques was describing Natural Agriculture Co Ltd, the business of his wife Khun Uraiwan, which combines Swiss expertise with local ingredients with the aim of reducing Thailand’s reliance on chemical fertiliser.

“Thailand uses 4 million tons of chemical fertiliser each year. The soil is eroded and I believe the country is now going through what Europe did 20 years ago” said Jacques.

Khun Uraiwan and her team use produce from 16 square kilometers of forest and 7 rai of garden in Ban Thi.
“We obtained Board Of Investment status in less than one month, and everything is going very quickly because people know this is needed” added Jacques. “We give people the recipe for our fertiliser. Please feel free to copy us!”  he invited.

Jacques was speaking at the monthly dinner meeting of the SKAL international tourism club at the Holiday Inn.

For more information, e-mail: jcavin@bluewin.ch

This article is Copyright © MyChiangMai 2009, no reproduction without prior permission.

Chiang Mai zoo recently added a Snow Dome, and it’s become very popular with the tourists.

Located in the panda observatory, the 560-square-meter facility cost a staggering 60 Million Baht to build and will be maintained at a temperature of -5 degrees Celsius. It has separate sections for pandas and visitors and it will be the new home for the panda family at the zoo.

The fee of 150 Baht for adults includes a loan of warm clothing. Each session is just 15 minutes but that’s probably long enough given the temperature inside.  Only 50 people at a time are allowed into the Snow Dome so there may be a bit of a queue at peak times.  There are 12 sessions in a day.

Many Thai people who have never visited a cold country do have a desire to see and play in the snow. Perhaps this is an ideal opportunity to realize that dream?

This article is Copyright © MyChiangMai 2009, no reproduction without prior permission.