Chiang Mai News
Chiang Mai news, politics, business, culture, and tourism—stay updated with breaking stories, local events, and expat insights from Thailand’s northern hub. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Chiang Mai news source.
-
Sponsored How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?
Managing medical expenses in Thailand is important as healthcare costs continue to rise. The country’s healthcare system includes both public and private options, but even with the Universal Coverage Scheme (UCS) for citizens, many still face high out-of-pocket medical expenses....
-
Freak summer storms damage 1,000 houses around Chiang Mai
PHOTO: Thai PBS Up to 1,000 homes were damaged by gusty winds and storm cells over the weekend around Chiang Mai. Ten districts were blacked out for several hours when a freak rain storm struck on Saturday, ripping off the roofs of homes and flinging debris around the districts. According to the provincial public disaster prevention and mitigation office, the…
-
Police investigating death of 33 year old Australian in Chiang Mai hotel
PHOTO: Chiang Mai News Police are still investigating the death of a 33 year old Australian man in Chiang Mai during the week. The man’s body was sent for autopsy whilst police speculate a drug overdose may have been the cause. The body of the man, identified as Daniel Thomas Janse was found at 4pm on April 17 at a…
-
UPDATE: 25 year old Canadian dies after falling from Chiang Mai zipline ride
PHOTO: chiangmainews.co.th A 25 year old Canadian tourist fell to his death yesterday after a zipline ride failed in Chiang Mai. Police say the tourist fell to his death while riding a zipline in the forests at the Flight of the Gibbon in Mae Kam Pong. Police believe that his safety locks broke, causing him to drop 50 metres into a…
-
Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai coach bursts into flames – VIDEO
A tour bus has been erupted into flames in a dramatic roadside fire on a road just out of Chiang Mai. Channel 3 reports that the bus burst into flames 39 kilometres out of Chiang Mai on the Chiang Mai/Chiang Rai Road early this afternoon. The 55 year old driver noticed smoke coming from one of the rear wheels and…
-
Cameroon man and three Thais arrested over fake email money scam in Chiang Mai
PHOTOS: Immigration Bureau A Cameroon citizen and three Thai suspects have been arrested after sending fake emails to victims saying they owed them money. Immigration Bureau Chief Lt Gen Surachet Hakparn says, “The Four suspects had sent fake emails to victims saying that they were from educational institutions abroad where their children have studied. They had to transfer money to…
-
New airport duty free bid split into two
The Government has insisted that the AoT rejig its awarding for the concession of duty-free shops at its airports. Up to now King Power Duty Free has had a monopoly on the lucrative duty free concessions. So the Board of the Airports of Thailand Company has now decided to split the concession to operate airport duty-free shops into two contracts – one for Suvarnabhumi…
-
Head to Chiang Mai for Songkran – getting wet with a northern touch
Thailand’s best-known regional Songkran celebrations take place in the northern city of Chiang Mai This year the Chiang Mai Songkran Festival runs from April 1-16 and with the theme “telling the story of the Lanna culture while celebrating the auspicious new year with safety and without alcohol.” In Chiang Mai, Songkran is often called Paweni Pi Mai Muang. Chiang Mai…
-
German tourist beaten over Chiang Mai karaoke bar bill
by Thanakorn Wongnang A German tourist in Chiang Mai has filed an official complaint with police, claiming he was assaulted by staff at an allegedly over-priced karaoke bar. The trouble started when he refused to pay the extortionate 10,000 baht bill. 35 year old Arthur Wojciechowski, who ended up with facial bruises from the assault, told Muang Chiang Mai deputy…
-
American drug suspect impersonated ‘Mr Thomas’ for 25 years, arrested in Chiang Mai
PHOTOS: Surachate Hakparn, Immigration Bureau A 67 year old American man, wanted as a drug suspect, has been arrested in Chiang Mai this week. He had been living under the identity of another person with whom he shared a similar face, for more than 25 years. The Thai Immigration Bureau reports that they have arrested a 67 year old American…
-
Chiang Mai hit-and-barge-through pickup driver sought by police
SCREENSHOT: Facebook/เพจคลิปดังเฟซบุ๊ก Can you help? Video footage from a car dash cam on the San Dek intersection in Chiang Mai shows a white Mazda pick-up barging its way through some waiting motorcycles sitting in the traffic. The rear motorcycle rider gets thrown off his bike, his bike is damaged but the surprised rider gets up after the pick-up just keeps…
-
American falls to his death from a Chiang Mai apartment
An American man has fallen to his death from the balcony of his room on the tenth floor of a condo building in Chiang Mai’s main city district early this morning (Monday). The Muang Chiang Mai police station says they were alerted at 1.50 am to the death of 60 year old Ruben Ponce at the Astra Condominium on Chang…
-
Chiang Mai love triangle leads to stabbing attack – two dead
A woman’s husband and the woman’s young male lover were both killed after a short fight at an apartment building in Chiang Mai. The deaths were reported to the Chang Phuak Police Station at 7am yesterday morning (Sunday). 57 year old Samruay Sukjui and 28 year old Banphot Pimpa both died of knife wounds. Samruay’s younger brother, Charoensap Sukjui, told…
-
Chiang Mai panty sniffer nabbed
PHOTO: Manager Online Police in Chiang Mai have arrested a ‘panty thief’ who had gone to a coin-operated laundery to steal ladies’ underwear. One woman reported ten items had gone missing from the Tha Phae branch of “Hot Wash & Dry”. She claimed the items were valued at 6,000 baht (obviously womens’ underwear costs a lot more than mens!). Police checked…
-
American all smiles after getting nabbed over convenience store theft
A 54 year old American has been caught stealing from a convenience store in Chiang Mai. Gregory Paul Burke was captured on camera at the Muang police station grinning over the matter. Staff at the store in Khotchasan Road, Chiang Mai, caught him stuffing two big bags of instant coffee, some chewing gum and a pack of sushi into his…
-
Three died, three injured in Chiang Mai road crash
Three people were killed and three others injured when their car hit a power pole on the Chiang Mai-Hod road in Chiang Mai’s Doi Lor district early today (Saturday). The vehicle overturned after it hit the pole. Emergency responders and rescuers from the Putthasawan Nopparat Foundation had to use iron cutters (Jaws of Life) to extract the bodies from the vehicle.…
-
Government considers blanket alcohol bans on April 13
There’s a 24 hour ban on alcohol on the weekend preceding AND the actual election weekend this month. And next month is Songkran with the Government mooting possible blanket bans on Songkran day, April 13. This year the Government says they want an alcohol ban on the biggest annual holiday for Thais. It’s also part of the week when there…
-
Wheelchair-bound man shot dead under a flyover in Chiang Mai
A man has been found dead with two gunshot wounds under a flyover in Chiang Mai’s Meuang district. He was an amputee and still seated in his wheelchair when police attended the scene. Police were alerted at 7.30am this morning that a body had been discovered in a wheelchair beneath a flyover on the Chiang Mai-Lampong road in Tambon Tha…
-
Event Round-Up – March 2019
The month kicks off with one of Thailand’s most unique and bizarre festivals and celebrations, that of the Tattoo Festival in Nakhon Chaisi in the province of Nakhon Pathom, around 50 kilometres west of Bangkok. Held at the Wat Bang Phra temple on 2 March, the festival also goes by the name Wai Kru Sak Yant after the spiritual tattoos…
-
Chiang Mai massage worker has baby in the police toilets, abandons the child
Thai Rath reports that police in Chiang Mai have located and arrested a 43 year old woman who snuck into the city district police station and had a baby in the toilets there. After giving birth last weekend, the mother left with her child still in the toilet bowl. The baby was found soon after, survived, and is now stable and…
-
Flight attendant alleges he was assaulted by Thai Airways captain
Thai Airways have ended up in the news again, for all the wrong reasons. Police in Chiang Mai report that a Thai Airways cabin attendant has filed a report claiming he was assaulted by the captain on his flight. But he says he doesn’t want to pursue a criminal conviction at this stage. He told police that he made the…
-
Two kindergarten students crushed under school bus
PHOTO: Thai Rath Two six year olds have died whilst heading home from kindergarten after their school bus reversed over them. Thai Rath reports that the 66 year old driver was in police custody charged with negligence causing death. Surachai Rakmanut had picked up 20 children in the truck used as school transport from the Mae Pang kindergarten in the…
-
Rolling his way to Narathiwat raising funds for southern hospitals
PHOTO: ‘Uncle Mee’ during one his fund-raisers last year – The Nation A wheelchair user is on his way in a mega southern journey from Chiang Mai to Narathiwat in the south to raise funds for three hospitals in the southern border provinces. 56 year old Sathit Jantharangsi, or Uncle Mee, reached Phitsanulok last night and was heading to Nakhon…
-
Foreign couple drinking on top of Chiang Mai’s historic wall
PHOTO: Chiang Mai News Chiang Mai, tourists and historic sites just don’t seem to mix well. This time, two people are in trouble after they were photographed having a drink sitting casually on top of one of Chiang Mai’s historic walls. The Chiang Mai News Facebook page is calling on the authorities to take action. As usual, netizens saw the…
-
Disaster zone declared in Lampang after 31 mild tremors
It’s been a week of mild shocks and tremors in Lampang province in northern Thailand. Although there has been no lives lost, there has been a lot of minor damage to structures, mainly in the north of the province. The Wang Nua district, the northern-most district in Lampang province, north-east of Chiang Mai, has been now declared a disaster zone…
-
Experts warn of northern faultlines as aftershocks rock Lampang
PHOTO: Wat Phra Kerd’s abbot leads officials to inspect the damage to the pagoda’s visibly tilted tiered umbrella top after Lampang’s Wang Nua district on Wednesday suffered a 4.9magnitude quake. The recent tremors around Lampang slightly damaged a few dozen homes in six tambons, including the tiered umbrella of the Wat Phra Kerd pagoda in tambon Thung Hua. The 4.9…
-
No fatalities or injuries reported in Lampang earthquake
PHOTOS: NNT No fatalities or injuries have been reported as a result of yesterday’s earthquake in northern Thailand. The tremors occurred 15 times and registered 4.9 magnitude with a 21 kilometre deep epicentre in the Wang Nua district of Lampang province, but caused no serious effect to villagers, according to a report of the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation.…
-
Chiang Mai’s sword-wielding song thaew driver charged over intimidating tactics – VIDEO
Story from Sanook. Video from Thai Rath The red song thaew driver, who followed a white sedan around the moat road waving a sword in Chiang Mai, has now been charged by the police. Sanook reports that 69 year old ‘Son’ has now been charged with having a knife in public and behaving in an intimidating manner that could scare…
-
Swordwielding song thaews driver slapped on the wrist – no police action
The head of the infamous Chiang Mai red song thaews says he has spoken with a driver after the man wielded a sword out of his window at another driver who he claimed had tooted his horn. But that’s it. Nothing more. CCTV on the Maneenopparat Road shows the incident as the song thaew driver tailgates the white Honda Jazz,…
-
72 year old jumps for her life from the second floor during home inferno
An elderly woman has suffered head injuries whilst escaping a blaze that burned down her home in Chiang Mai. The fire broke out at a two-storey teak house on Ban Pae road in Tambon Tha Sala of Chiang Mai’s Muang district. Five fire engines took an hour to get the blaze under control after it swept through the entire timber…
-
Father and daughter killed traveling to Bangkok to apply for masters degree
A father and his daughter were killed after their car careered off the road in Lampang and hit a tree. Police say 58 year old Rongthep Ratanapipit was driving his daughter 22 year old Latthawan Ratanapipit from Chiang Mai to Bangkok to apply for master degree, when he apparently dozed off behind the wheel. The car crashed into a tree in…
Don't forget to check out some other things to do in Thailand - get help starting a business or finding a job in Thailand, buy Thailand property, rent a yacht or book a medical procedure worldwide.