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.
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31 year old British tourist arrested in Chiang Mai – Drugs and overstay
PHOTO: Sanook A 31 year old man has been arrested in Chiang Mai yesterday for alleged use of crystal methamphetamine (ice) and overstaying his visa. Police arrested British tourist, Benjamin John Soulsby at his rented house in a housing estate in Tambon Tonpao, Kamphaeng district, following a tip-off from the house owner that his tenant appeared to be high on…
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Frosty reception on Doi Inthanon this morning
Doi Inthanon, Thailand’s tallest and most revered mountain in Chiang Mai, awoke this morning covered in frost as the mercury dipped to minus 1 Celsius degrees. Kritsayam Kongsatree, chief of the Doi Inthanon National Park in Chiang Mai’s Jom Thong district, says it was the first time this winter/cold season the temperature had fallen below freezing. He added that the…
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Chiang Mai official says the hotel sell-off is “because there were too many tourists”
PHOTO: This hotel is not for sale! Manager Online is claiming that a senior tourism official in Chiang Mai says the reason people want to sell hotels in the northern city is not because there are so few Chinese tourists now. It is because there are so many. Chiang Mai’s former tourism industry chief Pornchai Jitranawasathian, who now runs the…
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Temperatures plunge on Thailand’s highest mountain
The temperature has plunged sharply from around 7 degrees Celsius yesterday to only 1 Celsius today at the summit of tourist destination, and Thailand’s tallest mountain, Doi Inthanon in Chiang Mai. This was reported by an official stationed on the mountain this morning. Wasan Chanthep, the assistant chief of Doi Thanon National Park, said the temperature at Kiew Mae Pan…
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Enjoy the Bua Tong Blossom Festival in Mae Hong Son
The blooming of the Dok Bua Tong – or wild sunflower – is on now around the hills and valleys of Mae Hong Son in Northern Thailand. The Bua Tong Blossom Festival 2018 in Mae Hong Son takes place until to December 10. The Bua Tong flowers are yellow to orange in colour and are smaller in size than the typical sunflower. Originating in…
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Chiang Mai’s small to medium hotels face challenges
FILE PHOTO (This hotel is not for sale!) Chiang Mai’s small to medium accommodation sector is facing fresh challenges as the tourist mix in the northern city changes, and shrinks in arrival numbers. The fallout from declining tourist arrival numbers, especially Chinese since the Phuket Phoenix tourist boat tragedy in mid-July, is forcing more than 10 small hotels and hostels…
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South Korean local company owner falls to his death in Chiang Mai
PHOTO: Sanook Sanook has reported that a Korean man has died after jumping from a flat roof on a department store in Huay Kaew Road, Chiang Mai. CCTV shows the man at the view point yesterday, according to Chang Pheuak police. Three or four other tourists were also enjoying the view at the same location. Another person came onto the…
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Chiang Mai tourism operators paint gloomy outlook
Tourism in Chiang Mai has been decimated by the downturn in Chinese arrivals. Tour operators and officials are hoping that more Western tourists would fill their place, especially during the next few months. The Chiang Mai News reports that a hotel operator in the Prapokklao area says her business had been terrible the last few months. She was now forced…
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Despite a ban, permission has been sought to launch 64,000 lanterns for Loy Krathong
Enthusiasts are seeking permission to fly 64,000 lanterns on the night of Loy Krathong in Chiang Mai, despite a nation-wide ban. Loy Krathong is on this Thursday. Meanwhile, the Chiang Mai provincial administration has imposed strict regulations on the release of flying lanterns into the sky as well as on the sale and ignition of firecrackers and fireworks on Loy…
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One in ten that die on Chiang Mai roads are foreigners
Ten percent of the people that die on Chiang Mai’s roads are foreigners. That equates to more than 1,000 foreign tourists and expats dying or being injured on the province’s road so far this year. The statistics also reveal that the overwhelming majority of deaths and injury were on motorcycles (the same as the rest of Thailand). Chiang Mai News…
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66 yo Austrian arrested in Chiang Mai for possessing child porn
The Thai immigration says they’ve arrested a 66 year old Austrian for downloading and possessing child porn. The Thailand Internet Crime Against Children (TICAC) division learned about someone using the Dark Web to access child porn in September. Thai police identified the person living in the Pa Daet district in the Chiang Mai city and obtained an arrest warrant. The…
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Canadian and British graffiti vandals spared jail
Canadian media is reporting that a Canadian citizen and a British man have been able to avoid jail time over the spray painting of the Tha Pae historical wall in Chiang Mai. Read the original story HERE. There was 10 years jail staring them in the face after police nabbed them over the matter. But instead of ten years in…
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Three killed in a Chiang Mai house fire
A Chiang Mai couple and their two year old child were killed when their house was engulfed in a fire early today. Police report that they were alerted of the fire at the two-floor house in Ban Pa Tun village in Tambon Pa Tun, Muang district around 5.30am this morning. After the fire was put out, three charred bodies were found…
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Chiang Mai tourism plans to promote more outlying regions for 2019
“The plan is to promote traditional, conservative activities such as temple routes, sightseeing tours in the old city and visiting craft villages.” The Tourism Authority Thailand (TAT) Chiang Mai Office has announced its performance for the past year and announced its plans for 2019. Visroot Inhyam, the director general of TAT’s northern region outlined the main issues for tourism promotion…
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Protest banners reveal resident’s names – Chiang Mai
The ongoing battle between protesters and residents of housing inside a controversial residential area on the foothills of Dom Suthem in Chiang Mai, has taken a new tack. Banners revealing the names of appeal court officials who live at the controversial housing estate at the foot of forested Doi Suthep mountain were found in Chiang Mai yesterday. Read more about the…
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Grab and illegal tuk-tuks killing Chiang Mai rental company
PHOTO: Hia Kiang, the long-term owner of a tuk-tuk rental company says it’s no longer profitable – Chiang Mai News Recent news out of the northern city suggests that all is not all in the relationship between the App-world taxis and the traditional taxi services. Chiang Mai News is reporting that a long time owner of a business renting tuk-tuks…
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Public hearings planned for bill to legalise transgender cohabitation
PHOTO: Coconuts BKK Public hearings are to be held in the capital and other provinces on November 12-16 to gauge opinions from stakeholders about the ‘partnership bill’. The Bill would, for the first time in Thailand, legalise the cohabitation of transgenders. In Bangkok the hearing will be held at the Miracle Hotel while in the provinces, hearings are to be…
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University Dean hands over iPad evidence in Chiang Mai upskirt case
by Thanakorn Wongnang A Chiang Mai University dean has turned over to police an iPad belonging to a former lecturer at the school who has been accused of using it last month to take photos beneath female students’ skirts. The lecturer has not been publicly named at this stage. It’s understood that Associate Professor Prapa Sukkasem, dean of the Faculty…
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Man questioned over bestiality “club” in northern Thailand
PHOTO: The alleged organiser of the Bobo bestiality club (right) is interviewed by police at his home (Image by Watchdog Thailand, censored to comply with Thai law) A man who was allegedly running a bestiality “club” near the northern Thai capital of Chiang Mai has been questioned by police after an investigation lasting more than a year by animal rights…
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