Places of Interest: Pentatonic Rock Bar Chiangmai

The Pentatonic Rock Bar is located at the Zoe in Yellow corner, a lane just off the city centre, in Chiang Mai. There are many pubs and nightspots here and the area is frequented by tourists from all over. Here is their Facebook page

The Pentatonic Rock Bar is not much to look at (interior/exterior) and its menu is sparse – beer only (at 120 baht) and no cocktails. But if you are looking for real rock/metal music, this is the place.

A few bands take to the stage each night, each playing for about an hour. Once in a while, guest bands drop by.

The night usually starts off slow with some quieter, slower music, before the thrash kicks in later on, usually after 10pm. Some songs that I have heard there before include:

Holy Wars… And the Punishment Due – Megadeth
Symphony of Destruction – Megadeth
Master of Puppets – Metallica
Enter Sandman – Metallica
Raining Blood – Slayer
Walk - Pantera

In short, this place is definitely worth a visit for rock & heavy metal lovers. A word of caution though - a quick search on online reveals that several tourists have been assaulted while in the area, so it is best to keep a low profile and watch your surroundings while you are there. 

Places of Interest: The Giant Chiangmai (Cafe & Restaurant)

Finally paid a visit to this place a few days ago after hearing so much about it. It The Giant is at the Mae On area and getting there was not easy - the road is rough, steep, and narrow (definitely not recommended for bigger vehicles and in wet weather!). This probably also explains why there is a songthaew or taxi service available for the last leg of the journey, which has the steepest slopes, up. 

The Giant is an interesting place for a coffee/meal - basically it is a cafe/restaurant built into the side of a hill (I guess this makes it not a true treehouse) and has some nice scenery. And that's about it. They have a small menu which I feel is overpriced for what you get and there is nothing else to do except a zipline which you can ride back and forth for 200 baht.

From the looks of it, most people are there only for photo-taking and because they have heard so much hype about it. Overall, The Giant is a good idea but it's inaccessibility, average food, and lack of things to do make repeat visits unlikely - I know I will not be back.  

Here is their Facebook page

The entrance

From the entrance, there are two ways to the main seating area

Left way: a flight of steps lead downwards to a seating area on the side

Right side: a bridge made of wooden planks lead the way. 

Places of Interest: Dutch Farm - San Kampaeng

Stopped by a place known as the Dutch Farm on our way to the San Kampaeng Hot Spring yesterday. The place has a small aviary as well as rabbit and sheep enclosures but is mainly a place where ponies are reared. Nothing much but a nice place for taking pictures and feeding the ponies and sheep. If you have kids, they will love it. Worth a quick look.

Tickets at 100 baht for adults and 30 baht for kids.

Overall shot of the place

The rabbit enclosure

A cute bunny with a mohawk... LOL

Entrance to the pony enclosure

  

The sleeping quarters of the ponies

Feed the ponies - fresh grass at 10 baht a bunch

A really small pony

Here comes the sheep

Some nice backdrops for photos

A small man-made bridge and waterfall

The King's Royal Project

Dropped by the King's Royal Project shop on the way home from the Doi Kham temple today. This is one of my favourite places for fresh produce as the items are really fresh and reasonably priced. 


About the Royal Development Projects

His Majesty, King Bhumibhol Adulyadej, had devoted his time, energy, and life to improving the lives of the Thai people and the development of Thailand all these years. His extensive travels to all parts of Thailand over the years have given him first-hand knowledge of the problems and difficulties facing the Thai people. This inspired him to set up thousands of development projects nationwide with the aim of raising the standard of living in Thailand.

Since 1952, His Majesty King Bhumibhol Adulyadej has initiated more than 3,000 royal development projects in various areas including agriculture, water conservation, healthcare, education etc.

About the King’s Royal Project

The King’s Royal Project is a development project that was started after His Majesty King Bhumibhol Adulyadej visited the northen hill-tribes of Doi Pui in 1969. During the visit, His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej observed that farmers there were using the slash and burn method to clear land for growing crops. This reduced the forests to ashes, resulted in deforestation, and also caused other adverse effects on the environment. He also saw that the farmers were growing poppy plants, used to make opium, which was illegal and undesirable.

His Majesty King Bhumibhol Adulyadej then started the King’s Royal Project with the intention of using alternative crops to replace the poppy plants. These crops generated more income for the farmers than poppies and helped to reduce poverty, opium production, and deforestation, at the same time.

Today, the King’s Royal Project provides high quality fruits, vegetables, flowers, beverages, sauces, personal care items etc to consumers in Thailand as well as overseas under the ‘Doi Kham’ brand - all of the produce meet Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) regulations. Not only does the project give Thais easier and cheaper access to food that were originally grown abroad only, it provides employment to thousands of Thais and is also a model of sustainable and profitable farming.