Something for Nothing: The changing face of Chiang Mai’s digital nomad scene
“Nomad workshops, nomad conferences, nomad gear, nomad retreat, people giving talks to gullible people to build a following they can sell shit to.” This is how the online communities are reacting to the digital nomads in Chiang Mai. Anyone who is active in any of the many locally based Facebook groups will notice that there are an increasing number of biting and bitching posts about digital nomads. And a read of the digital nomad groups will see a community fraught with tension and accusation. You hear odd comments at a bar, read a scathing blog or two, and hear about various ‘scandals’ and accusations of con-artistry. But it is hard to put a finger on what exactly is going wrong or who is it that people dislike so much. Is it a case of one bad sheep or a herd of blind followers? We all know something is going on, but what?
Arranged Bliss
The anachronistic term arranged marriage conjures up all sorts of, generally negative, images — terrified child brides, life-long servitude, and misogyny. So, when Citylife heard of a happily married couple who had entered into their wedded bliss via family arrangements, we couldn’t resist interviewing them for our Valentine’s issue.
Copycat Copyshop Cowboys
For students at Payap University, the old photocopy shop couple are well known. Every day they rock up on a black vintage Vespa, both kitted out in matching cowboy-style outfits; double denim one day, leather chaps the next. Chumpol ‘Uan’ Promchitmart, 62, and Saisunee ‘Tuk’ Khampunya, 56, have, for the last 30 years, been working at the university in their little shop. Some would say they are a match made in heaven, others would say the Wild West.
A Long Life of Love
In 1954 Tawee and Jansom Funtem, two childhood friends who used to play in the rice fields and walk the seven kilometres into town together on the weekends, literally tied the knot and became lifetime lovers. Now both in their mid-eighties, they are great-grandparents who remain as deeply in love as they have always been.
The Co-working Spaces of Chiangmai that You Need to Know About
Throw a stone in Chiangmai and you’ll likely hit a digital nomad. Or if you consider yourself a Pacifist, the likelier option would be to take a walk down Nimmanhaemin Road and chances are you’ll quickly see why the call of Chiangmai is one that resonates most with digital nomads from around the world.
Once Upon a Star: Love of a Groupie
“I cried for three straight months when he left,” said Monthathip ‘Mona’ Thukjai, 24, a pretty young medical technologist at Chiang Mai University, giggling self-consciously. “It was a personal matter and one we weren’t clear on, but I had just bought my ticket to go see him when he left. At first I thought I would cancel, but then I decided that I needed to show my support, so I went anyway.”
The Rise of Thai Women in Tech
When we think of iconic figures that have worked, or are working, at the apex of the computer tech industry, for the most part it is men’s names that populate our thoughts. The industry is seen as a masculine domain, and if you look at the ratio of women-to-men employed, or holding leadership positions, within the tech milieu you see a vast disproportion in male to female employees; from developers to CEOs, jobs in the tech industry are traditionally filled by men.
The Bookworm: An Interview with Trasvin Jittidecharak of Silkworm Press
Trasvin Jittidecharak, whose mother was the founder of Suriwong Book Center, Chiang Mai’s first and largest bookshop, is the publisher and owner of Silkworm Press, a long-established and reputable publishing house founded and based right here in Chiang Mai. Citylife sat down to talk to Trasvin this month about the world of books and their place in today’s digital age.
ช่างภาพลุงวิจิตร ไชยวัณณ์ เล่าเรื่องเยือนสหรัฐอเมริกาพร้อมในหลวง ในปี พ.ศ. 2503
ท่ามกลางฝูงชนแน่นขนัดที่ต่างเปล่งเสียงร้องถวายต้อนรับด้วยความยินดีเพียงแรกเห็นพระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัวภูมิพลอดุลยเดช และสมเด็จพระนางเจ้าฯสิริกิติ์ พระบรมราชินีนาถ ที่ทรงเปี่ยมด้วยพระสิริโฉมอันงดงามทั้งสองพระองค์เสด็จฯลงจากเครื่องบินพระที่นั่ง ไม่ว่าจะเป็นชาวไทยหรือชาวอเมริกันที่มาเฝ้าฯ รับเสด็จในครั้งนั้น ต่างก็ชะเง้อ ชะโงก เขย่งให้ตัวสูงขึ้น ขอเพียงเพื่อจะได้ยลพระสิริโฉมอันงดงามของทั้งสองพระองค์ขณะเสด็จฯเยือนสหรัฐอเมริกา
เรื่องเล่าโครงการหลวง จากหม่อมเจ้าภีศเดช รัชนี
หม่อมเจ้าภีศเดช รัชนี เป็นสมาชิกของชมรมขี่ม้า ในช่วงต้นยุค 80 ที่กองพันธ์สัตว์ต่าง ซึ่งตั้งอยู่ที่อำเภอแม่ริม ขณะนั้นท่านมีพระชันษา 60 ปี แต่ฉันยังอายุไม่ถึง 10 ขวบ เป็นเด็กที่ค่อนข้างเกเรนิดหน่อย แต่ชอบขี่ม้า ตลอดเวลา 7 – 8 ปี ที่ขี่ม้าด้วยกัน ทุกวันเสาร์อาทิตย์ฉันจะตื่นไปขี่ม้าก่อนพระอาทิตย์ขึ้น พร้อมกลุ่มสมาชิกของชมรมขี่ม้าประมาณ 5 – 20 คน และหากหม่อมเจ้าภีศเดชอยู่ที่เชียงใหม่ ท่านก็จะเสด็จมาด้วยและเราจะขี่ม้าขึ้นไปบนดอยสุเทพหรือดอยปุยด้วยกัน บางครั้งก็จะหยุดพักปิกนิกตามน้ำตกต่าง ๆ เช่น น้ำตกตาดหมอก บางทีก็ขี่กระโดดข้ามสิ่งกีดขวาง และหลงทางบ่อย ๆ บางครั้งหลงเป็นชั่วโมง เพราะเป็นพื้นที่ป่า และไม่มีทางเดิน อีกทั้งในช่วงเวลานั้นฉันยังเป็นเด็กเพียงคนเดียวในชมรมอีกด้วย จึงมักจะร้องไห้บ่อย ๆ เพราะชอบหลงทาง
Christmas Tunes
Well, what a month. The Americans have decided on their next president and the lanterns and pageantry of Lo Krathong have faded. The long-tailed macaques at the Lopburi Monkey Banquet have finished their feast and are presumably back to terrorising tourists. The turkeys of Thailand that survived Thanksgiving can breathe a sigh of relief, blissfully unaware that round two of being stuffed, basted and roasted is less than a month away. Yes folks, a fun-packed November is behind us and, in the words of Noddy Holder; it’s Christmas! again.
The King’s Parade
Two months ago I met with Sudchai Kanonokulsoontorn, a pleasant 63 year old man with a deep love for the King. We were to talk about the International We Love the King Parade — a parade organised exclusively for foreigners in Chiang Mai who wish to express their love and respect for the King independently from the usual collective events that are scattered throughout the city around the 5th of December, His Majesty the Late King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s birthday. We talked, we laughed, we shared stories about the King and about what the expat community in Chiang Mai were doing for him and we smiled, a lot.
The Tea Wolf
According to legend and lore, an emperor in 2737 BCE, who happened to have been a herbalist, was given his preferred refreshment, a cup of boiling water, which had had a tea leaf blown into it from a nearby bush — et voila! Tea was born. According to literature, some kind of leaf was used as infusion as early as the 3rd century BCE, as was noted in a Chinese dictionary at that time. Whatever the source, it has become common belief that it was the Emperors of China who discovered and cultivated the use of tea.
Farmer, Soldier, Sailor, Spy: The Prince Who Built His Majesty’s Royal Project
His Serene Highness Prince Bhisatej Rajani was a member of my riding club in the early eighties at the Pack Squadron Riding Club on the Mae Rim Road. He was in his sixties and I was still in my single digits, a semi-precocious child who loved horses. For the next seven to eight years we would arrive at dawn on weekend mornings, a group anywhere between five and twenty, saddling up and riding into the Doi Suthep-Pui Mountains for picnics by waterfalls, reckless cross-country adventures and more often than not getting lost for hours on end.
Forgotten Frames: The incredible story of one local editor and his trip to America to photograph the King
The crowds cheered as the young King Bhumibol Adulyadej and Queen Sirikit stepped out of the Royal Thai Air Force plane, Thais and Americans alike, craning their necks and standing on tip toe to get a glimpse of one of the most glamorous royal couples to have ever visited the United States. On a platform high above the crowds, photographers with telephoto lenses were busily snapping the historic moment. President Eisenhower and his aides were standing ready to greet the royal couple. As the plane doors opened, a military band began to play. Squeezed in amongst pomp of dignitaries and security services, stood a Thai man wearing a suit with a small 35mm camera hanging off his neck. Mere feet away from their majesties, and clicking the shutter on his new camera for the first time.
I never got to meet the king. And that is my regret to bear.
Like millions of Thais, however, I have seen him dozens of times. As a child, I used to run excitedly up to the road at the end of our lawn, frantically waving a mini flag, hoping for, and occasionally getting, His Majesty’s attention, as the royal motorcade swept its way to and from Phuping Palace each winter.
A Brave New SOTUS: Seniority: Order: Tradition: Unity: Spirit.
Hazing in Thailand is institutional. Most university students will face hazing of some sort or another, from the benign to the deadly. It is a time honoured tradition for freshies at university to undergo weeks, even months, of intense hazing from their seniors. While there have been reports of hazing deaths and torture, on the most part it is an uncomfortable, time consuming, often painful experience which many students go through in the name of bonding with their faculty class mates.
Breaking Ground: Chiang Mai to Get a New Park
Wandering around the old city, hunting for ideas, I knew that I wanted to write about art, a scene that is still in its infancy in my home town, and something which has truly excited and inspired me during my short time here. After a few weeks of foot- and finger-work (on my laptop), I learnt that the now abandoned Women’s Correctional Institution behind the Three King’s Monument was the hub of the city’s graffiti, and having walked past the imposing structure a few times, I knew that it’s outer walls had become giant canvases for street art.
Guardians of our Gates
Over the past few months Citylife has received numerous emails, and even had personal visits, from expatriates who have expressed frustrations over the ongoing problems at Chiang Mai Immigration Office. Online forums and social media groups have been overflowing with criticism of the department, which so many rely on. We have heard of long queues, all-night vigils, allegations of corruption, overworked staff and a mounting number of people given wrong (or not being given) information, causing them to go to great expense to pay overstay fines or having to leave the country to redo their visas, and these are just some of the more frequent gripes.
What Has the Army Ever Done For Us? Read On…
To paraphrase Monty Python’s question of the Romans, ‘What has the army ever done for us?’ With 20 coups under their belts since the start of constitutional monarchy in 1932, endless meddling in politics, massive (and controversial) spending on military equipment and regular posturing over border issues, we often forget that the Royal Thai Army does in fact do a lot of work, especially in times of disaster and for those most in need for rural areas.
A Day of Peace
The Institute of Religion, Culture, and Peace at Payap University recently hosted an open workshop for people interested in joining the Day of Peace, a United Nations recognized day of ceasefire and nonviolence founded way back in 1981. To raise awareness of this day here in Chiang Mai, PhD student Eva Mazharenko from Payap University’s Peace Studies program led a discussion to an audience of Buddhist monks, Western visitors, and Payap staff about what the Day of Peace is and how it benefits society.
St. Vladimir in the Heart of Lanna
It was surreal. As I was getting out of my car down a quiet soi in Chang Klan, slumbering dogs yawning in the sun and a lonely vendor pushing a cart of noodles, bells ringing periodically in invitation, I looked up at an extraordinary building. It was an honest to goodness a Russian Orthodox Church, complete with onion domes and glittering gold crosses.
Living between Two Dimensions
Fortune telling has been practiced for hundreds of years. Since the beginning of time, humans have yearned to know their destiny. While the activity may have died out in many countries, anyone who’s spent an extended period of time in Thailand will know that it still exists as a part of everyday life. Seers can be found all over the cities — from hotel lobbies to temples.
Life as a Wednesday’s Child
Why must Wednesday’s child be full of woe? Looking at this straight forwardly, I suppose people are excited to start the week on Mondays and always celebrate TGIF on Fridays, while Wednesdays are just there, in the middle, neither exciting nor offensive. Safe, boring. Like many families with three children. The oldest child, Monday’s child, receives all the love and hope as it is the first to expand a couple into a family. The Friday child, has a whole solid family unit to care for him or her and never lacks attention or care. The middle child is often considered the self-reliant child, the easy going one, the one that doesn’t cause problems. He or she is expected to learn from the eldest and teach to the youngest, often failing to gain the same attention as his or her siblings.
Apichatpong’s “The Serenity of Madness” Reshapes Contemporary Art
Bangkok-native and internationally influential film producer and artist, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, has completely reshaped the conceptions of contemporary art to that of his own, recently releasing his exhibition “The Serenity of Madness” at Chiang Mai’s newly built Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum. With short-films, prints, 3-D artwork and a variety of other platforms that touch on his recollections and experiences with spirituality, memory and class, Apichatpong’s world-class collection is one not to be missed.
Let’s Talk About Democracy Book Re:public Owner Rodjareag wins US State Department Award for Bookshop
I walk into Book Re:public, escaping the noisy road and sticky June heat in exchange for air conditioning and stark quiet that matches the neat, whitewashed paint and angular shelves against the walls. This isn’t how I expected it to look—the bookshop that is.
A Net Full of Idols
I was on a press trip in Satun, by invitation of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, when I met my first Net Idol. It had been a harrowing boat ride and we were finding our feet on a spectacular deserted island which promised many photo opportunities. I’d taken a few pictures and was proudly uploading them onto my Instagram and Facebook accounts when a good looking young man asked me to take a photo of him. We started chatting and I asked what publication he was from. He told me that he was a Net Idol. I had no idea what that meant, but he told me that he was invited because of his following on social media. I soon friended him on Facebook and discovered that since we had started chatting about 20 minutes previously, the photo I took of him had already generated 3,700 likes on Facebook, a mere fraction of his 80,000 Facebook and 95,500 Instagram followers. It was sobering to realise the impact of his post when compared to the dozen or so reactions I had received during the same time period. When we arrived at Koh Lipe half an hour later, stepping off our speedboat, a gaggle of girls rushed up to him for selfies. I was intrigued.
Under My Gender: An Emerging Artist’s Fantasy
As we develop an understanding of the world through the problems we face, it’s our human reaction to resort to our fantasies; fantasies that we fight so hard to make reality despite hardship. Emerging artist Thepmetha Thepboonta, a graduate from the Faculty of Fine Arts at Chiang Mai University, gives us a glimpse into his fantasy in his first solo art exhibition “Under My Gender” at Seescape Gallery. As an activist for bisexuality through his artwork, Thepmetha will be opening up his work for viewing for the whole month of July.
The New Face of Old Chiangmai
In 1968, proud parents, Borvorn and Oon Chutima, flew to the United States to drop their son, Jumpol off for college. Very few were so privileged in those days outside the great northern families of Chutima, Nimmanahaeminda, Kittibutr and Na Chiang Mai. The Chutimas were also closely related to the Nimmanahaemindas, all four families wealthy from property development, a rare foresight during a time when Chiang Mai was, at best, a backwater town far from the world’s eyes.
Editorial: A Quarter of a Century!
Fair warning, this editorial will be infused with sentimental nostalgia and a fair sprinkling of self-trumpeting. But you know what? 25 years! We are going to shamelessly pat and slap ourselves on the back for that. Like any good story, our founding editors’ first words in what was then called the Chiang Mai Newsletter were, “Once upon a time, there was a free sheet…” not the most original, nor the sexiest, of openings, but there you go.