Living on a lake in Chiangmai.

[ChiangMai noon]

Within an hour of central chiang Mai, there are countless wonders.

Unfortunately most tourists seem to stick with the many, very similar day trips to elephant parks and treks to rather fake hilltribe villages. the locals don't get much further than the bars on thapae road.

Yesterday, i took my nice new bike to mae Ngat dam, bout a 45 minute bike ride from Chiangmai.
The dam is situated just inside a National Park. Bringing your work permit will ensure you only have to pay the 20 baht entrance fee, failing that, the foreigner fee is 200 baht.
Driving was thirsty work, so me and my friend ( i do have one) had a nice cold beer in one of the park restaurants for a very reasonable 30 baht.

Most of the visitors to the Park are Thai.
This is a group of finely dressed Thai people eating.



Thge whole point of the trip was to cross to the other side of the dam and have a look at the house boats, where you can stay the night.

We needed to catch one of these little low boats to get there.



Some Thais coming back from a little trip accross the dam.

[ChiangMai noon]

The boats op-erate all day like a taxi service and the cost of a return trip to the house boats over the other side is 300baht a boat.

This is our driver, he was rather nice.


You can see the dam wall in the background.

This is another boat, speeding accross the water.



The trip takes about 25 minutes at a fair old lick and is rather pleasant.
Life jackets are provided for stupid people that never learnt to swim, which is just as well since the dam reaches a deep point of 60 metres.

[DrAndy]

It is nice to have a friend

[ChiangMai noon]

The houseboats are basically floating houses and look like this.




you can float around on these rubber rings, if you want to, the water is very clean and peddle boats are available too.

[ChiangMai noon]

This is another view of some other house boats.



basically when you get bored with your location, you can simply move it to another.
Of course these things don't move under their own steam, you have to get a tow.

We decided to stop and have dinner at this spot.



here is another view from our dining table.

[ChiangMai noon]

Truly, life doesn't get better than this.

The staff are genuinely friendly, dinner was cooked at a snails pace allowing the time to imbibe some fine thai beer.

We chose somtam and poached tub tim fish in a lemon sauce.
The fish comes directly from the reservoir and was delicious.



This poor fella was alive just hours earlier.

[ChiangMai noon]

This is my friend and straight owner of Chiangmai's first and only gay book shop looking rather satisfied with the food and life in general.



A room for a night on one of these floating houses will set you back 100 baht.
As you can see, the accomodation is extremely basic, though what do you expect for 100 baht.
There are one or 2 more up market boats that have UBC and internet access, but we didn't make it as far as those ones. i believe they charge 200 baht a night.

[ChiangMai noon]

This place is truly wonderful and next wek, I am planning to stay the night.
The place would be ideal for all sorts of elicit activity, raves, swinging couples, skinny dipping with your favourite ho. No old bill down these parts of course.

Buying one of these things costs only 200,000 baht and there is no rent to pay.
Hell i might even get one for myself and turn it into a party place for swinging couples. Imagine the profits to be made.

Anyway, i shall be running guided motorcycle trips to this place as part of a longer tour, if anybody is interested, feel free to pm me.

[Marmite the Dog]

It looks pretty relaxed out there CMN. I presume if you're going to have parties you'll need to be moored away from the other houses. How would that affect getting electricity for the sound system?

[ChiangMai noon]

Most of the boats get their electricity from a generator.
it is tranquil indeed, but I believe entirely possible to make some money on fun party type things.

[Marmite the Dog]

Selling organised orgies to the Japs looks like good business.

[ChiangMai noon]

I agree marmite, i am concerned about the marketing.
I wonder if swingers use some sort of secret code.

[Lily]

It looks lovely.

I think Kanchanaburi has something similar but more pricey, I would think.

[Lily]

I think swingers can swing anywhere cant they?

Why dont you do that though?

I mean seriously, not the swingers, but buy one, fit it out a bit better (but not enough to take the rustic atmosphere from it) and rent it to people looking for a quiet few days.

You could supply transport and arrange for the food.

[aging one]

Damn it does look really nice. And its been done by and for Thais so the prices are just right. That fish looks really good.

Great for those dry hot days of March April and May up there eh CMN?

[Eliminator]

What are the legailities of OWNING one of these and would it be possible to build something a bit more upmarket to park on this lake? I'm thinking of something like a houseboat the would have it's own power to get around.

[ChiangMai noon]

I was actually hoping to meet an aquaintance to ask the very same questions yesterday. Unfortunately he's gone back to England with his wife for a while. i know he's managed to install an internet connection and ubc t.v, though I believe his permanant address is probably listed as being elsewhere.
As far as I'm aware, anyone can just buy one if they have the money, it doesn't count as land.
i am guessing however that for immigration purposes you would need to be registered somewhere more permanant that doesn't just float away.

he has a Thai wife, so I'm not sure how they went about it but I intend trying to find out. will get back to you when i do.

There are several new ones being built at the moment, though I think he bought an old one that required work doing to it.

[Thetyim]

What are the legailities of OWNING one of these

I tried it on the Sirikit dam. I gave up.
I just couldn't get a definition of the difference between a boat and a raft.
On Sirikit a raft must be registered and there are no more registrations but anyone can have a boat.
There are rafts for rent there. It makes a great holiday .

CMN, if you are serious about this then you should visit Srinakarin first, they have some large, upmarket two storey rafts there. Exactly what you would need for a floating orgy.

[ChiangMai noon]

CMN, if you are serious about this then you should visit Srinakarin first, they have some large, upmarket two storey rafts there. Exactly what you would need for a floating orgy.

Well the wife is going away for a few days next week.
Perhaps i'll do a little research first.

[William]

CMN, if you are serious about this then you should visit Srinakarin first, they have some large, upmarket two storey rafts there. Exactly what you would need for a floating orgy.

Well the wife is going away for a few days next week.
Perhaps i'll do a little research first.

The boat registration shouldn't prove to be too much of a problem. However, service industry is historically a problem under the Foreign Business Act 1999. I'll try and wake-up a little earlier tomorrow and have a look see for you.

~W~

[ChiangMai noon]

Thanking you a lot William.

[Ice Maiden]

They really are beautiful.

As well as places you can buy food from are there any shops in that area?

[Propagator]

Looks great there and has made me reach for me maps as it looks like a good escape from part of Sonkram. Which road would I need to take, the one to Chiang Dao or to Phrao?

As an aside what is the going rate for the MiB if caught speeding, got away with 200Baht last time.

[MeMock]

CMN, you might be onto something here.

[ChiangMai noon]

Looks great there and has made me reach for me maps as it looks like a good escape from part of Sonkram. Which road would I need to take, the one to Chiang Dao or to Phrao?

Take the Chiang dao road, go through mae taeng, about 4 km down the way you will see a large concrete sign on the right indicating the National park, the dam is 13 km from the turn off.

CMN, you might be onto something here

I hope so Memock.