Beautiful Summer Weather for Chiang-Rai and the coming of Songkran!

Sorry for the lack of an update everyone, been very busy...

Last week and weekend saw some very warm tempertures here in Chiang-Rai and Thailand, however, this week has been very comfortably mild. I would like to shoot some more videos soon for all. The week after will be the notorious yet fun Thai holiday called Songkran. We will shoot what we can since we don't want to destroy our camera! Thanks for visiting and come back real soon!

Electrical Infrastructure Work in Chiang-Rai Thailand

Here is a crude video of Thai Electric technicians climbing up the poles to rearrange the wiring for a new road. There must of been at least 20 on the poles all at the same time down the street! Sorry for the quality of the video...

Google Adsense & Internet Connectivity in developing countries...plus, iPhone clones for sale.

Adsense by google was yanked over the weekend. It's not like it was making tons of money anyways. No wonder quite a few people don't use it. It's cool, will just use someone else. I remember when google was just a tiny little search engine back in its infancy. It sure has turned into a strange creature, just like ebay...

Been having internet connectivity problems due to major construction in my hood. It really is developing around here! Stay tuned for a video documenting the construction of a major artery from the Chiang-Rai airport to the downtown area.

Got really nice iPhone clone phones for sale. $159.99 & $19.99 S&H. Please inquire within. Let's have a great week from Chiang-Rai!


Frankie

Gambling in Myanmar!

Yesterday a friend of mine and I went to Tachilek Myanmar to check out some shopping and a casino!



As you can see our attempts to document this visit on video was hindered by the hotel's security. Later on in the day, by coincidence, I was perusing the Bangkok Post newspaper's web-site to come across this article on gambling in Thailand.

In case the link is disabled, here is the text from the the last story in the article:

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-Follow the money-

Kiatchai: Owns Burmese casino

Politics and casinos are sometimes inseparable.

Every now and then the issue of the legalisation of casinos comes up, as certain political leaders are strongly behind the plan.

The latest leader to raise the point is Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who is pushing for legal gambling venues to be allowed in five major tourist destinations: Pattaya, Phuket, Khon Kaen, Chiang Mai and Hat Yai.

Unsurprisingly, the idea has drawn loud choruses of both praise and criticism.

Like it or not, casinos have sprouted up along our borders with Cambodia, Burma and Laos - and they're doing a roaring trade.

It is also well known that many politicians are involved in the running and setting up of these "foreign" casinos.

Money from these gambling dens supply the Thai politicians who own them directly or via nominees with regular flowing cash.

Money from these casinos act as a major financial source during local and national elections.

One of them is former Udon Thani MP Kiatchai Chaichaowarat, who turned his back on politics after his Thai Rak Thai party was disbanded.

His casino is located in the Burmese border town of Tachilek, opposite Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district, and in the Golden Triangle near Chiang Saen.

A brother of a key politician of the Chart Thai Party is also linked to a casino on the Burmese side of the Golden Triangle. It is believed he holds a major stake in the place.

A veteran politician now in the senior ranks of Puea Pandin is also said to own at least two casinos in the border town of Poipet in Cambodia, opposite Sa Kaeo's Aranyaprathet district.

Current cabinet members have frequently been spotted in casinos they partially own in Burma and Cambodia, particularly so when they were politically unemployed after the 2006 coup.

"The gambling amount is as high as hundreds of millions of baht.

"But the money is not to be seen, it's just written figures," one source said when trying to explain how these games between politicians and businessmen work.

Repayments were apparently made during the December 23 elections.

"Some politicians took their families back and forth to manage casinos in neighbouring countries, amassing wealth during the political break," said the source.

Casino earnings were recently used in a ploy to attack political opponents, said the source.

"Some Thai politicians joined hands with the military, bringing in casino money from the border, pretending it was money for vote-buying during the Dec 23 elections.

They set up arrests, making false accusations against their political opponents in order to discredit them," the source said.

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So the casino we visited is owned by a major Thai politician. I wonder if not being able to film had something to do with that?

At this time, the new Thai government is seriously considering the legalization of gambling. Which makes sense since since Thais go outside of the country to gamble. They also gamble online and in illegal gambling dens. Let's face it, Thais and Asians in general love to gamble...modern life in general is a gamble.

If you would like further information about the casino in Myanmar, you can obtain more information from their very nice web-site.

Next time, let me shoot a decent video!!

Summertime Weather Hits Chiang-Rai!

Today was definitely the hottest day of the year so far. With highs in the high 90s and lows in the 70s, it sure is pleasant...

Still no reply from the Revver.com people about their video approvals for the wedding video I took, and still no luck loading on to the Blogger site. I'll try again...

An Apology For Not Posting the Wedding Vid and The Effects of Construction and Progress

We're so sorry about the wedding video everyone, but I tried maybe a half dozen times to blogger.com's server and I'm still waiting on approval on the vid from Revver.com. What is up?! I think it may be my internet...now let's admit that Thailand is not the greatest for internet, however, it's really not that bad. In all frankness, it's actually all the construction for the new downtown to airport bridge and road! All of it is just right next door to where we live and the bridge itself will land next to the house my wife grew up in!!

Now if you think I'm excited about this...well...I am! To an extent..

It's somewhat of a dichotomy as the bridge will bring a significant increase of traffic to my neighborhood. But, an increase in traffic equates to business opportunities...I don't know...I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Stay tuned as I bring you a video of the construction and how they are doing it Northern Thai style!

A Chiang-Rai Wedding Party

Here we attend the wedding party of the wife's High School friend. *Take a look as you can see how they do it here in Northern Thailand. Enjoy!

*Video coming shortly

Going to a Chiang-Rai Wedding...

Good day world! It is a good day because the weather is so nice(you can check our weather on the link to the right), and today the wife and I are going to a western style wedding. I'm sure the weddings here are a lot mellower then back in the States. I personally am not a big fan of weddings. I've been to something like three weddings in my life and to me they seem to be quite unusual. A bunch of people getting together to observe 2 other people join together in holy matrimony...whatever. As long as there's free food and drinks!!

I am going to try to take some video and make it interesting for all of you who are interested in how they do things over here as far as weddings goes...stay tuned!

Be sure to check out all our videos at Revver.com!

Our Featured Video for Today

The entering an Akha Hill-tribe Village vidoe above was shot by a friend who recently made the 3 day trek to visit the Akha hill-tribe people and 3 other tribes.

The hill-tribe people in The Golden Triangle are the hillbillies of Asia, there has been tremendous interest by outsiders with these people over the years. From governments to religious missionaries to outright zealots...these people live a very simple lifestyle, produce incredible handicrafts and provide the majority of the farming for the area.

You can see a solar panel hooked-up to a hut. Now that's cool...

Be sure to check out all our videos at Revver.com!

New Chiang-Rai Le Meridien Resort Opening in September 2008

The Royal Meridien Group and Starwood are going to open a beautiful new 160 room Le Meridien resort nestled next to the Rimkok river. Now I know what they're building down the street from where I live! This resort will be sure to liven things up a little around here, and most certainly, it will increase the stature of Chiang-Rai of being probably one of the most resort laden areas in the world - They are literally everywhere around here! From all price ranges too...so, if you want to relax, Chiang-Rai is the place to be!

Don't forget to check out all our cool Chiang-Rai videos at Revver.com!

The Golden Triangle Maesai Thailand/Tachilek Myanmar Visa Run

This useful video describes in detail how to make the Maesai Thailand/Tachilek Myanmar Visa run. Oriented towards those who would like to travel within Thailand longer then the initial 1 month visa given upon entry into Thailand.

More Odd Weather For Chiang-Rai

Here we are going into the end of February and the weather is outright weird. A little cool and a little wet. A cold wet to be more exact. Effects of global warming?

Bizarre Weather Hits Chiang-Rai!

The 2007-2008 winter has been abnormal to say the least. With warmer then average low temperatures for this time of year. Going into the last week of January has experienced further strange weather with rain! The area is not known for having rain this time of year. June through November, sure it rains...but January?! Luckily, it isn't that cold or the area could experience snow! I actually like this weather, it reminds me of winter in Northern California.

The Chiang-Rai Food Festival - January 17th-21st, 2008

The Chiang Rai Restaurant and Food Shop Club is scheduled to hold the 16th Chiang Rai, Thailand Travel Food Festival on the grounds, at the foot of the Mae Fah Luang Bridge from 17 to 21 December 2008, 17.00-24.00 hrs.

Highlights of the fair

- 60 booths selling foods that are certified by the CFGT (Clean Food Good Taste) standard - booths publicizing tourism in the north - health products of the traditional Thai medicine - competitions of fruit carving and cooking - the Lanna cultural performances. And performances by local artists and school performance groups. The Rolling Stones are also set for a performance...

Happy New Year from Chiang-Rai!

New years in Chiang-Rai was quiet yet very celebratory! Unfortunately, Chiang-Rai province had the most number of vehicular accidents over the New Year weekend in the country. And that's something not to be happy about...