At the beginning of November 2012, I took a short trip to Phrae and Nan. So nice to escape the gridlock of Chiang Mai and in Phrae to take a long swim in their 50 metre public pool where entry remains at 20 baht for an adult.
It is now one year since the Chiang Mai Municipal pool opened, but with the impending National Games at the exorbitantly priced pool at the 700 year sports centre is likely to be out of action for the best part of December what alternatives might be about?
Well here is one piece of good news, for those fortunate enough to have access to Chiang Mai University sporting facilities:
The pool and changing rooms were completely renovated earlier this year and the standard of the latter puts both the municipal pool and the run down 700 year pool to shame.
It would be nice to report progress on a second municipal pool which has been unusable since it was constructed some six years ago.
The new large pool at the Railway Park had laid unused, apart from breeding habitat for mosquitoes an frogs, since its completion due to a dispute between the municipality and the contractor building the park. It appeared, however, that the conflict had been resolved as work proceeded to repair many damaged features of the park. At one stage the pool was full of clean water and it appeared that the promise of the new Mayor Tessanai Buranabakorn to fix all the unfinished projects dating from the period when his uncle was mayor was being fulfilled.
Alas the picture below shows the present condition of the Railway Park Pool:
As of April 2013 the Chiang Mai University administration has decreed its pool be open only 5 days per week to keep the employees there working the same number of days as the rest of the staff. Maybe they should lock the gates 2 days out of 7 also? On Monday & Tuesday there are no staff to collect money or supervise safety so like the Canyon pool – swim free at your own risk.
Hi there. Any follow-ups about the Railway Park Pool? That picture and my recent visit to the park confirm my pessimistic attitude about the development. It’s such a pity!
Sorry to report Adrian but just over a week ago I went to the park and the pool was in the same sorry state as the picture. Meanwhile the Mayor has found funds to rebuild the wall across from the Town Hall along the Ping River where taxi drivers pee at night rather than fix the pool or build a urinal.
The mosquito problem could easily be solved by dumping a few bottle of liquid dishwashing
soap/detergent into the stagnant water. This will create a soapy film on the surface of the
water preventing the mosquito larvae from breathing.