Editorial : August 2006
DoiSuthep is such an integral part of life in Chiang Mai: we listened as children, wide-eyed, to the story of pregnant Nang Bua Ban whose unrequited love led her to jump to her death at Wang Bua Ban Waterfalls during the second world war; we enjoyed afternoon picnics sliding down rocks into Montatarn’s crystal pools as adolescents; we naughtily snuck up to lie on the road and watch the stars with our sweethearts as teenagers; we scattered our loved one’s ashes deep into the jungle, at peace that one day our own body-dust will also mingle with the mountain’s earth; we lit our candles and circled the sacred pagoda in age old rituals on auspicious occasions; and, at the end of a long hard day, we sit on our city balconies with a glass of wine and think how lucky we are to have such a magnificent view.
Citylife’s Gratest Hit: ‘Damage Undone: inside a Women’s Prison’
Over the past fifteen years (180 plus issues), a number of writers have contributed to Citylife (formerly Chiang Mai Newsletter). Throughout 2006, to celebrate the publication’s 15 year anniversary, we will bring you a pick of the past every month.
Editorial: March 2006
After I decided to write this month’s editorial on my abhorrence of the death penalty, I did some research and found ample evidence and information to fill this page with logic, reason and statistics to sway any rational and compassionate human being into taking a stand against this barbaric practice. But please allow me to dispense with such formality — you can Google ‘death penalty’ and find over 25 million pages dedicated to the argument; many more erudite than any I could write.
Editorial: November 2006
Shortly after the coup, I had a phone conversation with my aunt in Bangkok on our various – and pretty general, by then – opinions about giving the junta a chance, how Thaksin really did have to go, and how Thailand must have a more transparent government. She ended our conversation with, “Pim, Thaksin is one of our nation’s greatest teachers.” For a moment, I was floored. Then, thankfully, she cl … Continued
Madness and the Media
For many years, while driving past the south side of the moat on my way to the Airport Plaza, I have been intrigued at the sight of the huge building that is called SuanPrung, It’s rare to ever see anyone in the garden or the car park in front of the building, which, for me, adds to the eeriness that psychiatric hospitals have held over me ever since I visited a suicidal friend who’d been sectioned back in the early nineties.
Citylife’s Greatest Hits
Over the past fifteen years (180 issues), a number of writers have contributed regular columns to Citylife (formerly Chiang Mai Newsletter) ranging in subject from the informative such as Gary Ilines’s Teacher Talk, Nienke Parma’s A Dog’s Life, Ed Rose’s Out and About, John Hobday’s Weather Report, to humour columns such as Seymour Cummings from Andrew Bond, Auntie Myrtle’s attempts at helping those agonised and Oliver Benjamin’s Rabbinic efforts.
This Tuesday, 3rd July, 2018 is…International Plastic Bag Free Day
Our Thailand is a beautiful country, full of beautiful places and beautiful people, but we are destroying it through our careless use of plastic bags. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to see everyone carrying their own reusable bags and containers around on Tuesday and all vendors not having to give out any single use plastic bags?