I have an auntie who lives in Chiang Mai, and it is one of the hotbeds of the 'Red shirt' movement too. I prefer Bangkok though. I'm not too hopeful for anything to come out of the Burma election, I see it, at the very most, a whitewash by the Burmese government to move towards a more 'legitimate' rule following rising opposition. South East Asian politics is sad though, as it is usually characterised by coups whenever one faction of the ruling class becomes fed up with the way the ruling faction is operating. Oh and if you can, then yeh, Mae Hong Son you should get to, there are jungles around Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai I believe so if you get bored you could probably order up a trip. You could probably get into Burma quite easily from that end too, well, I don't know how easy, cos I lied to the border guards and said I was underage and went to a Thai school (when in fact I wasn't) so they let me in for a cheaper price, but foreigners will have to pay yes.
It's a really nice country, I'm interested to see what happens with the Burma election. I'm up north right now in Chiang Mai area. Very nice city as well.. I like it better than Bangkok.
No afraid not, although my mum's side of the family is Teochew Chinese from Thailand and I grew up there for the first 5 years of my life which is how I've retained the language (but unfortunately have lost the ability to write it).
Just over a month now, are you in Thailand as well?
Hey, how long have you been living in Thailand for now?
