Apparently Chiang Mai is immune to the global franchising efforts of McDonald’s, as well as the endless marketing campaigns of a certain bubbly beverage. Perhaps immune is putting it strongly, but those are definitely not the foremost spokespersons for corporatocracy in this valley town. No, the flagships of westernization around here are 7-Eleven and Johnnie Walker.
Pushed in between brick pagodas and flimsy food carts the green and orange coat of arms of convenience seem to be everywhere. On the block by my house alone there is one on each corner, with another in the middle of the block on the opposite side of the street. And it’s not just in distribution that these guys have their American cousins beat. The Chiang Mai 7-Eleven’s take one stop shopping to a whole new level. Here you can find anything to go along with your 74 ounce frozen drink, from discount DVDs (Chinese Die Hard 4 anyone?) to ready to eat fried balls of fish meat.
Why do I know this? Surely I didn’t fly half way around the world to shop and shelter myself in a western style corner store? What kind of politically correct, educated in the ’90s traveler am I? What am I doing going into a 7-Eleven?
The answer: 7-Eleven has got the cheapest water.
In order for you to fully appreciate this I must make one thing clear: I have always gotten my drinking water from the tap. Water bottles, Brita filters, etc. all seemed like marketing schemes to me. A little iron in the water? Good for the bones.
But in Chiang Mai even the locals don’t drink from the sink. I’m pretty stubborn, but when I was told that “don’t drink the water” was a rule of thumb for everyone, not just the farang, I erred on the side of caution and started buying bottled water. Being that I’m living on an extremely tight budget I choose to shop at 7-Eleven for water, buy my food from the street carts, and ask forgiveness for backing a corporate conglomerate at the wats (I know, but the guilt that comes with a Catholic upbringing isn’t negated after a couple of weeks in a Buddhist city).
Still, the big 7 has got nothing on Johnnie Walker. For every 7-Eleven store there are 50 signs promoting that ever popular scotch from Ayrshire. It seems to me that the Striding Man is second only to pictures of elephants when it comes to advertising here Chiang Mai.
I haven’t spent enough time out on the town to see if the advertising campaign is working, but given the Thai taxes on alcohol, even 7-Eleven can’t sell the scotch for cheap. In fact, as far as prices versus the US goes, drinking is probably the most expensive pastime here in Thailand.
Luckily for me I don’t have to buy fresh Johnnie Walker Red to brush my teeth with.