1. Please could you tell me where I can find the fixtures for the new season for Chiang Mai F.C.? Also which division will they be in? From what I have read nobody seems to know in advance where they will play each week. Sometimes it is the Municipal Stadium and sometimes the 700 Year Stadium. How can you find out in advance?
James:
The fixtures for 2011 season are not out yet. CMFC have now moved to the 700 Year Stadium permanently because the municipality can only hold 3,000 people, but the 700 Year Stadium has a 25,000 capacity. A friend made a website for CMFC in English. www.chiangmaifootballclub.com
2. I am thinking about getting away for those polluted hot summer weeks? Any ideas on where to take an extended holiday?
James:
I was just saying to Pim earlier how much I enjoyed spending a couple of months in Taipei, Taiwan. And hardly anyone goes there, it’s very much off the touristic path. You can walk around the whole city no problem, through huge parks, universities, over large pavements. It’s still hot, but not as hot as Chiang Mai and nowhere near as polluted. For me being able to walk places is a huge bonus. I spent weeks there just wandering around going to bookshops, coffee shops, and there was always a concert or something going on in the parks. You can go with Bangkok Airways from Bangkok or from Chiang Mai direct with China Airlines.
Hugh:
I am planning to go to Kunming, China this hot season. It is directly north of Chiang Mai, in Yunnan Province (having a small population of ethnic Thais living there). The city is just the jumping off point for Lijiang, and Dali, two ancient cities in the mountains, like you see in the Chinese sword fighting movies, and we also plan on visiting Shangri-La. Yes, there really is a place called Shangri-La. Well, it used to be called Deqing but the city fathers knew it would attract more tourists with the more exotic name so changed it in 2001. It is on the Tibetan plateau and should be nice and cool.
John:
There are many lovely resorts in the cooler mountains to the north of Chiang Mai with prices ranging from the low hundreds to the high thousands. Well worth exploring in the hot season.
3. I heard that the traditional Thai kiss is a kind of sniff on the cheek? Is this true? Does it have a different meaning? Is it not polite to kiss the western way?
James:
Some Thais still – perhaps when more affection is being demonstrated – ‘sniff kiss’. I suppose it depends on who you are kissing. Kissing, like everything else these days, has become a globalised commodity and so is pretty standardised to the western way. Though I guess everyone has their own little niche in the kissing market. Being sniffed does feel very warm and affectionate, though on the other hand this is how dogs often communicate their affection to one another’s anus. I can take it or leave it. [Ed. James Austin Farrel!]
Hugh:
The sniff kiss is called ‘hom’ in Thai which also means ‘to smell good’. You’ll see it done with children a lot. The western idea of kissing (lips to lips, etc.) was not originally practiced in Thailand and is still quite rare. I have only heard of it done with a western partner (usually with not a lot of skill). Here is a quote, a bit of a warning, from my retirement book, ‘Your Thai paramour may or may not share your fondness for kissing but if he or she knows how to give you that big sloppy western kiss then they obviously have had some earlier training.’
John:
The cheek snuffle ‘hom’ is the accepted kind of greeting and is quite distinct from the private ‘jup’ or mouth kiss. However note the old and still popular song ‘jup khun kid wa mai samkan’ Don’t you think a kiss is important?
4. Ok, I have to admit it, I have turned into a TV addict of late (I said this would never happen to me in Thailand!). But with free downloads it’s easy to choose the stuff I want and not have to sit or surf through dross. The thing is I am running out of TV ideas, can you three recommended essential TV? Like, series, soaps, quiz shows, talent shows, informative stuff too.
James:
Series: The Wire. Comedy: Peep Show. Soaps, Quiz, Talent: none. Informative: All of Adam Curtis’s documentaries. That includes: The Century of Self, The Trap, The Power of Nightmares.
Hugh:
Here is what I download: Mad Men (best acting on TV and great story line), Desperate Housewives (the trouble these women can get in, quite funny), House (great graphics of internal organs and Hugh Laurie is worth the price of admission), Glee (great music, the most fun you’ll have watching TV in a long time), V (got to get my sci-fi fix), Sons of Anarchy (sex, violence, and big bikes. Who could ask for anything more?) , 30 Rock (Tina Fey, by far the funniest half hour on TV), the Daily Show (the best ‘fake news’ show ever). I also download Hawaii 50 and Nikita (they both have really hot Asian leads). My favourite Thai TV show is ‘Khun Pra Chuey’ (God Help Me). It is sort of a variety show but includes lots of culture, art, handicrafts, and history segments and usually good traditional music. There are three MCs and one ‘Todd’ is a westerner whose Thai is excellent (early Saturday evening).