Ricardo

Recently spoke with Mr Hughbert St.John-Smythe, acting honorary-consul at our excellent local UK-consulate, who was telling me that building-work will shortly be starting on an extension to the main-office building, in the grounds of the Consulate/British-Council.

However not to worry as normal-services/opening-times will be maintained, while the work is underway, aimed at adding extra office-accomodation, which will be needed once the service is upgraded next year to a full Embassy, upon relocation of many Thai central-government offices to Chiang Mai, following the recent flooding & in-anticipation of longer-term problems.

Various locations in Isarn had been proposed, but Chiang Mai's clearly-higher location and also better transport-links, such as our international-airport and planned China-Chiang Mai-Bangkok-Singapore high-speed railway, won out in-the-end.

This can only be good for local expat-residents, who would be able to enjoy upgraded-service, and is also likely to boost property-prices in the area, a trend which has already been visible recently, as Bangkok-residents look to move to 'the Rose of the North'.

Further details may be expected to emerge shortly, I understand.

A friend took the bus down to Bangkok, at the week-end, and said there was bad flooding along-the-way at Nakhon Sawan & that he's heard the railway-line was washed-out South of Lampang a couple of weeks ago.

Can anyone confirm whether it's still closed/not-running ? I tried the SRT-website but couldn't see any 'Current News' section.

As those of us who keep bees in Chiang Mai will be aware, scientists from Mae-Jo Agricultural University have been working up in Samoeng to boost yields of locally-grown strawberries, by encouraging bees to increase fertilisation of this popular winter-season crop, so that production enables increased-exports to China & other nearby countries.

A secondary aim has been to develop a special new honey, in much the same style as longan or sunflower honey are popular, as a distinct flavour carrying the scent and flavour and beneficial pollen, from these healthy and tasty soft-fruit. The development would thus benefit both farmers and beekeepers equally.

They have hoped that this laudable aim might be achieved, by inter-breeding bees from northern-Thailand, where Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai are the main honey-producing provinces in Thailand, with bees from other fruit-growing parts of S.E.Asia, to boost the bees' vigour and nectar-collecting attributes.

Unfortunately this technique carries a minor risk, last seen in Brazil a few decades ago, when the new hybrid-breed of bees were discovered to be more-aggressive and protective of their stored-honey, which in any case turned out to be reduced rather than augmented production. Things don't always go the way the scientists might hope !

I've seen this week a couple of pick-up loads of bee-hives, heading northwards in mid-evening, as the local commercial beekeepers move their valuable colonies away from the area. I've also noticed that there seems to be a growing-shortage of insecticides on the shelves, at local shops like Rimping & Carrefour, which suggests that those in-the-know might be stocking-up in advance of potential problems.

TV-posters might be well-advised to follow this example since, in the event of a serious problem developing, there would be no point in 'heading for the hills', because that is exactly where the 'Killer Bees from Samoeng' will be lurking in wait for us !

Please excuse me, if this is already well-known, but I was intrigued to spot that the Air-Asia web-site now offers a limited connecting-flights service, for passengers arriving off one flight (like from BKK) and connecting-on within 6 hours to another flight (like to London-STN).

- No need for a transit-visa at KUL, unless you are there for more-than 6 hours
- No airport-tax at the transit-hub
- Hold-Bags are automatically tagged-through to your final destination
- You check-in for your connecting-flight in the transfer-hall at KUL
- If the first flight is delayed, they offer a FREE change to the next flight

There are of course (this is still Air Asia) a number of caveats, the service only applies to selected-routes, you must allow at least 90-minutes connection-time, etcetera ...

But the gradual-emergence of a limited connection-service, as more people catch a local-flight to connect with a long-haul flight to Europe or the Land-of-Oz, can only be good news !

Air Asia's web-site shows the start in late-January of a new route, with direct-flights between Hat-Yai and Chiang-Mai, regular-fares are B4,320 return & promo-fares start from a ridiculous B1,980 return.

The daily flight FD4016 departs HDY at 12.45 arriving at CNX 14.55, while the return flight FD4015 departs CNX 10.15 arriving in Hat-Yai at 12.15, and the direct-flight saves all of the messing-about & much of the current-cost, of changing plane & re-checking-in at Bangkok as previously !

This will hopefully help both tourists and visa-runners, passing through Hat Yai, and also makes it easier for me personally to visit family in Hat Yai. See you soon !