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The best vegetarian guide for Chiang Mai is made by Ath (Phongsathon Kitchawet), who is a webdesigner, artist, photographer, writer and idealist. I met him today and had a talk with him about the website and most important- Chiang Mai as a vegetarian city.

When Ath moved to Chiang Mai in 2000, he found the Vegetarian Restaurant Guide to Chiang Mai, Thailand map by David Freyer (15 March 2000). This map showed 39 vegetarian restaurants and 8 veggie-friendly restaurants, giving a total of 47 restaurants.

Chiang Mai Municipal city’s area is 40.216 square kilometer, so in 2000 the average was almost one restaurant per square kilometer…true heaven for vegetarians like myself.

Chiang Mai definitely has the most vegetarian restaurants in Thailand.

Surveying in September 2007 by Ath, there were more than 28 vegetarian restaurants in Chiang Mai City Municipality area. Less than 2000 because of closure or change from vegetarian to vegetarian-friendly (also meat) restaurant.

However, the Chiang Mai vegetarian scene is still vibrant, with more than 18 new vegetarian restaurants opening since 2000 (half the restaurants currently open) and the average is 1 restaurant per 1.43 km2, which is still high.

Chiang Mai’s broad cultural mix also plays a large role with Thai, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Indian, Muslim and western influences evident in Chiang Mai’s vegetarian restaurants.

Local culture seems to be less of an influence with some notable exceptions. The famous Northern Thai monk Khruba Sriwichai became a vegetarian in 1903. However this seems to have had only a limited effect on local people.

The main reason of opening a vegetarian restaurant is:

1. Religion

1.1 Buddhism
1.1.1 Theravada school Santi Asoke is the leader.
1.1.2 Mahayana school
1.1.2.1 From China, which is the origin of Chinese vegetarian festival.
1.1.2.2 From Taiwan, I-Kuan Tao (or Tian Tao or Anutaratham in Thai) movement opened many vegetarian restaurants in Chiang Mai.
1.2 Other religions
1.2.1 Sikh (Indian Restaurant but now closed)
1.2.2 Christianity (Korean Food, vegetarian-friendly)

And also Dev Mandir, Hindu temple. It is not a restaurant but it gives away free Indian and Thai vegetarian food every Tuesday, 8.30 – 9.30 pm. It’s delicious and I recommend you to try it.

2. Health
Influenced by Cheewajit (applied macrobiotic) 1998 – 2002.

Even though there are more vegetarian restaurants in Chiang Mai than other Thai cities there is still only 1 vegetarian restaurant for every 5,356 people in the municipal area (population of 149,959, March 2006).When you consider the social, ethical and environmental factors, this is still very few.

Besides all of this very interesting information that Ath could give me, the website also has Thai language learning (with audio), a great map of vegetarian restaurants, and sight seeing information for Chiang Mai etc.

To visit the website - go to: http://www.geocities.com/chiangmaivegetarian/indexeng.htm

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Listen to the extraordinary sounds of our Thai cat Pudsey going into labour.

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Donating your hair for charity is not only supporting a great cause, it is also a way to make sure that nothing is wasted in life and that in every act you do you are mindful. I donated 30 cm (14 inches) of my hair to charity today -for children’s wigs and in the video below you can see the event and get instruction how to donate.

One of the charities you can donate your hair to is “Locks of Love”. It is a well-established nonprofit organization dedicated to gathering donated hair for children’s wigs. The charity makes wigs for financially disadvantaged children across the U.S. who suffer from long-term medical hair loss. These children receive custom-made and fitted wigs made from donated human hair for free or on a sliding scale based on need.

Donated hair must be at least 10 inches long, clean, dry, and bundled into a ponytail or braid. Colored or permed hair is acceptable if it’s not chemically damaged. Most of the wig requests come from girls, and they want long hair. That’s why there is a minimum length. Hair as long as 14 to 16 inches is ideal. Short-haired boy’s wigs are made from shorter lengths separated from longer ponytails/braids.

“Wigs for Kids” is another nonprofit group that accepts donated hair. This organization also gives wigs to children affected by medical hair loss. Their hair donation guidelines are slightly different: hair must be 12 inches long and must not be permed or color-treated in any way.

While chemotherapy is the best-known reason for children’s hair loss, it does not cause a permanent loss of hair. After the treatment is over, hair almost always grows back within three to six months. In contrast, alopecia areata, an autoimmune skin disease, can cause patchy or complete hair loss that lasts for years. The cause of the disease is unknown, and it currently has no cure.

According to “Locks of Love” most of the children they help have alopecia areata, and the wigs are a great boost to the children’s self esteem.

Whether you have hair or money to donate, those in need will appreciate your hair and your generosity.

You can send your donated hair to:
LOCKS OF LOVE
2925 10th Avenue N
Suite 102
Lake Worth, FL 33461-3099

- My haircut was done by Khun Noi at “Your Hair” in Chiang Mai. It is located on 106/4 Sirimangkalajarn Rd, Chiang Mai 50200. Phone: +66 (0)89-5599586

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We don’t usually use our blog as a sales channel, but as this motorbike has featured in several of the website posts and podcasts, we made an exception

My Honda Phantom is in excellent condition and about 2.5 years old. It’s been a perfect way to explore northern Thailand. I bought it for 66,000THB a year ago and spent an additional 3,000THB on the side bags and protector bars. It has now done almost exactly 20,000KM. It has been exceptionally well looked after - I had it serviced about 6 times - at about an average of every 1,500KM.

READ MORE + MORE PHOTOS

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This post is an account of a night spent at Safe Haven Orphanage on the Thailand Burma border as Cyclone Nargis passed by North West of us. If you would like to make a donation to the victims of the Cyclone inside Burma - please do so at Givetoburma.org.

Last week I headed to Mae Sot for a few days to conduct a training course and catch up with some friends. On Saturday, five of us decided to hire a pick-up truck and head 150KM North up the Thailand/Burma border to Safe Haven Orphanage.

It had poured down in Mae Sot at about 2am on Saturday morning, and the rain showed no sign of abating. We arrived at Safe Haven at about 3pm on Saturday, and dashed between muddy puddles for the nearest house to avoid another soaking.

Tasanee and the children from Safe Haven Orphanage moved onto their new land shortly before Christmas. The land is located next to the river marking the border between Thailand and Burma, and when I made the trip there with my sister during our motorbike epic last December, Tasanee was frantically directing the assembly of the first wooden house so that the children could move in by Christmas.

This time, there were 4 or 5 mainly wooden Karen-style structures in various stages of completion - the beginning of a new settlement. All the buildings were raised on wooden stilts, with leaf & bamboo roofs.

At about 4pm on Saturday afternoon the rain really started hammering down, and seemed to be flying past the valley sides with an almost horizontal trajectory. We didn’t think too much of it at this point - it was more of an inconvenience because it meant we couldn’t play with the children outside. Looking for something to do, we decided to head into the neighbouring village to buy some sweets for the children, and 15 minutes later discovered the road we had entered the village by had been blocked by a falling tree and power lines it had brought down. Read the rest of this entry »

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