At Absolute Health, the health and wellbeing of each and every patient is of upmost importance. One of the more challenging aims for our health is to manage our body’s pH levels. The human body maintains an average pH of 7.4, which is the ideal pH for blood to function to its best ability. Dropping to a pH of just 6.8 can begin to cause disease and health problems, showing us all that if we cannot regulate our body pH, we can become very ill.

As Chiang Mai’s annual Motor Show comes to a close, a dozen or so ‘pretties’ put their slinky dresses back into wardrobes wedged between faux leather biker jackets and skimpy Japanese schoolgirl dresses, cover up their cleavages and return home. Muscles sore from standing in teetering heels all day, cheeks aching from smiling, they head out for a night with friends, or another job serving beer to grinning late-night patrons. Thailand’s ‘pretty’ culture is alive and kicking.

“We would often be startled awake by sounds of distant gunshots,” said Paw Toh Ki, 65, a Karen refugee born in Por Toh village, southern Myanmar; who came to Thailand with her husband and nine children in 1994. “We heard of one neighbouring village after another being burnt to the ground, and lived in constant fear. I never knew what we did wrong to deserve this and didn’t understand why this was happening to people around us. But one day I heard loud shouting in our village. I thought it was going to be OK at first, until the first gunshots were fired. I was frozen in place, my legs wouldn’t move. My husband and children dragged me out the back of the village into the jungle; thankfully my husband had grabbed a knife, a pot and some rice. Other than that, the only things we carried were our children.”

Chiang Mai-born, half Thai and half American Sherry Ann Duncan was fifteen when her body was discovered in a scrubland near Bangkok in 1985. Her murder, and ensuing trial, captured the bloodthirsty attention of the nation. The miscarriage of justice that followed, which saw four innocent men sentenced to death, greatly impacted not only the national psyche, but also the Thai judicial system.

Citylife has moved offices! We are no longer Wat Gaters, but Meechokers and the first order of business, as it would be for any self-respecting Thai, was to check out the neighbourhood for places to eat. We now have a townhouse in Fifth Avenue just across the road from Meechok Plaza, and have decided to share our findings of exciting businesses that have caught our eyes with you all — cafes, restaurants, schools and more. If you ever pay any of these places a visit, feel free to pop in and see us, pick up a mag or just say hi!

7 beautiful biking trails around Chiang Mai. Don’t forget to wear a proper mask over the smokey season!

I’ve been feeling rather out of sorts of late. Looking out into a dystopianesque world through a filter of thick haze, reading comments to our online articles accusing us of being fake news, and editing our cover story about crickets and bugs as a future alternative food source…it all seems a tad surreal and disconcerting.

Last month Chiang Mai was engulfed — not with the smog that has again descended on the city despite all the usual promises — but by a biblical plague. For three nights just after sunset when the moon was at its fullest the air filled with swarms of tiny winged-insects intent on sneaking into my shirt, down the back of my trousers and dive bombing my beer.

Fabulous arty maps, a mae baan to join your family, or a night in a five star hotel in Chiang Rai. Here are three interesting places, people and things we have discovered this month.

Congratulations to Kathrin Khanchanok Kemmler, 17, the first northern winner of the Dublin Junior Literary Awards competition in a decade! Kathrin won 10,000 baht plus tickets and accommodation for two to attend the national competition in Bangkok where she went on to win the national prize for essay writing.