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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Sponsored The 5 most common travel emergencies in Thailand and how to be prepared
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Chiang Mai: The good, bad and ugly
PHOTO: TakeMeTour Post Magazine has published it’s ‘review’ of Chiang Mai, with the “good, bad and ugly sides to Thailand’s second city”. Here are some of their main points… The good There are more than 300 temples in Chiang Mai; they outnumber 7/11 stores, which takes some doing in Thailand. Situated in the heart of the old city, Wat Phra…
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Weather for January 16
Bangkok Morning clouds followed by afternoon sun. High 33ºC. Winds NE at 10 to 15 km/h. Chiang Mai Generally clear. High 30ºC. Winds ESE and variable. Phuket Afternoon showers. High 31ºC. Winds NNE and variable. Chance of rain 40%. Ko Samui Thundershowers. High 25ºC. Winds ENE at 10 to 15 km/h. Chance of rain 40%. Pattaya Partly cloudy. High 32ºC.…
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Missing 14 year old girl now under government care
by Kornkamol Aksorndej – The Nation Weekend A 14 year old girl, reported missing for more than two weeks and later found with an older man in a Chiang Mai apartment, is now under government care. Pol Maj General Jirabhop Bhuridej of the Crime Suppression Division, says, “We won’t give details about the case. The minor must be protected.” The…
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UPDATE: Missing 14 year old teenager found
The missing 14 year old school girl Tipayarat “Yoyo” Laosuwanpong, reported by her family as a missing person yesterday, has been found safe. She was found late last night (Thursday) in Chiang Mai. The family are awaiting further details and hoping to reunite with their daughter today. Police say they’ve detained a 52 year old Chiang Mai man in relation…
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Thai man victim of ‘attractive foreign woman sex scam’, warns others to beware!
PHOTO: Channel 7 A man from Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, has shared his story of online blackmail in a Channel 7 TV News report. He says it’s a warning for Thai men to beware of attractive foreign women. The man, a dance teacher from Chang Khan sub-district, says he was befriended by an attractive foreign woman on Facebook. The…
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Doi Suthep network boycotts meeting, wants to move forward on rehabilitation of forest
The Reclaim Doi Suthep Forest network boycotted a meeting yesterday. They say they are pressing the government to push its stance on the rehabilitation of the mountainside forest land that was encroached on by residences for judges and court officials last year. “We won’t attend any meeting until there is a clearer policy.” Network spokespersons Chatchawan Thongdeelert, Bunnaroth Buaklee and Kamseeda Paenthai read…
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Immigration police track down officer involved in re-entry stamp scam
PHOTO: Bangkok Post An immigration officer has been suspended without pay for allegedly permitting foreign travellers to do a re-entry without them having to actually leave the country. Immigration chief Surachate Hakparn says his department has identified the officer and have named him in Thai media. “The officer confessed to have provided entry stamps in return for 5,000 baht from…
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Phuket tram project seeks private sector investment
(The term ‘tram’ and ‘light rail’ are variously used to describe the new public transport project for Phuket.) The Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) is now inviting the private sector and local administrative bodies to get behind and invest in a mass-transit project in Phuket. The project is valued around 35 billion baht. The next rounds of talks…
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National road toll – Day Five “Seven Days of Danger”
“Chiang Mai has reported the highest cumulative crashes with 91 cases yesterday.” 314 lives have been lost in 2,761 road incidents over the first five days of the New Year seven day safety campaign. 2,848 people have been injured during the same period around Thailand’s roads. The most cited causes for Monday’s road incidents were drunk driving (44.9 per cent)…
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Chiang Mai soldier caught in gun road rage
PHOTO: Sanook Footage from a dash cam shows a soldier advancing on a family of three, threatening to shoot them with a gun in Chiang Mai. The incident is related to a preceding road rage incident in the Mae Rim district. Footage shows the mother and wife of the man trying to prevent them from continuing to argue as the…
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National death toll rises to 236 – Day Four in the “seven dangerous days”
A total of 236 people have killed and 2,265 others injured in 2,194 road accidents after number were released for the first four days of the New Year holiday period’s “seven dangerous days”. The tally includes deaths and injuries from last Thursday up to Sunday night. Chiang Mai and Nakhon Ratchasima had the highest cumulative fatalities of 12 deaths each,…
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New Year weather around Thailand
It might be the middle of the annual high season but the ‘high season’ weather isn’t co-operating. Although generally fine weather has been the trend in the past few days there are a few unseasonal fronts coming to different parts of the country, according to the Thai Meteorological Department. In the central/southern provinces, including around Hua Hun and Gulf islands…
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Chiang Mai hosts pageant to promote OTOP
PHOTOS: Daily News Thais often claim the most beautiful women in the country are from the northern provinces, especially Chiang Mai. Which leads us into this swimsuit photo shoot for the forthcoming Miss Chiang Mai pageant in January. Daily News reports that some 30 northern ladies, in a variety of swimsuits, paraded to promote the event at the Chala Number 6…
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“Chiang Mai red buses are a rip-off” – Ratchanont Suprakob
The infamous red song thaews of Chiang Mai are being slammed as a rip-off by a popular Thai actor. The song thaews are a popular public transport around the northern city. “Guy” Ratchanont Suprakob hopped onto his Instagram account with a video of himself walking in the northern Thai capital spraying the local transport option. (Here’s his Instagram account if…
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Belgian hit-and-run victim urges driver to come forward
An elderly Belgian woman has been injured in a hit and run in Chiang Mai and now recovering in the Chiang Mai Hospital. The 78 year old is urging the motorist who injured her to come forward and apologise. Chiang Mai police deputy chief Pol Colonel Piyaphan Pattharapongsin on Tuesday said police were still trying to locate the driver of black…
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240 million baht in assets seized in Patong and Chiang Mai counterfeit raids
Lt Gen Surachate Hakparn is continuing his counterfeit goods crackdown in Patong and Chiang Mai where 240 million baht of assets have been seized over the past month. At a media scrum held at the Police Region 8 headquarter in Mai Khao yesterday Surachate said, “We have raided four targeted areas in Patong and four targeted areas at the Chiang Mai night…
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Man jumps to his death from condo rooftop in Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai police are reporting that a man, allegedly experiencing depression following a business failure, has jumped to his death from a condo rooftop in front of his relatives. The incident happened this morning. 40 year old Apirak Chansawang died on impact outside a luxurious 32 floor condo in the Wat Ket area of Chiang Mai. His relatives told police…
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UK backpacker needs 1.5 million baht for hospital bills and to fly home
24 year old Sophie Wilson, who has broken her neck in an accident, remains in a Chiang Mai hospital and has to pay £60,000 for hospital bills and to fly back to the UK. inews.co.uk reports that Sophie was injured after diving into a swimming pool and misjudging the depth. She was fished out of the water on December 1…
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Noodle sellers dodging police bullets in Chiang Mai
PHOTOS: Manager Online When people fire guns, the bullets that miss still end up somewhere. Like into the cooking pot of a surprised noodle seller in Chiang Mai! The man selling noodles was working the late night shift on a road leading to Mae Rim, according to Manager Online. He had a very lucky escape after a bullet shell-casing hit…
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Teaching children to avoid sexual predators
“These clips are then recorded and sold to a secret group.” Members of the police-led Thailand Internet Crime against Children (TICAC), Zoe International and the Hug Project are educating students on how perpetrators lure victims and use their sexual information and images to further extort sexual favours. “Their plans are very complex,” said Wirawan ‘Boom’ Mosby, founder and director of…
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King leads the way in ‘Bike for Love and Warmth’ – PHOTOS
Yesterday’s Bike Un Ai Rak event proved again that Thai’s love getting onto their bikes and joining in a royally-sponsored cycling campaign. The event was held yesterday, in the capital and provinces. Hundreds of thousands of people across the country took part in the “love and warmth” cycle rides. The main event was held in Bangkok where the ride was…
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The wheels are rolling for today’s Bike Un Ai Rak around Thailand
Cyclists were enthusiastically preparing on Sunday morning for the “Bike for Love and Warmth” ride to be led in Bangkok by His Majesty the King and coinciding with other rides starting simultaneously around the country in the afternoon. Citizens are expected to line the King’s 39km route from Dusit Palace’s Royal Plaza to Lat Pho Park in Samut Prakan. The…
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Hot Air Balloon ‘crash’ story was a lot of hot air
Reports of a hot air balloon crash and injuries earlier this week in Chiang Mai were, well, a lot of hot air. Chiang Mai News has clarified a story about a hot air balloon crashing and causing damage and injuries in Doi Saket on Monday morning were just fake news, according to a Sanook report. This was confirmed by aviation…
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First ever ‘Elephant Travel Mart 2018’ to promote ecotourism in Thailand
A new ecotourism event, Elephant Travel Mart 2018, jointly hosted by ‘Save Elephant Foundation’ and ‘Asian Elephant Projects’, aims to bring together ethical elephant tour operators and tour agencies in Chiang Mai on December 14. The event, taking place at Khum Kan Toke, Chiang Mai, is conceived by the founder of ‘Save Elephant Foundation’, Sangduen Chailert (Lek), who works tirelessly…
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Thailand detains Taiwanese citizen over anti-China broadcasts
PHOTO: Taiwan News A Taiwanese businessman has been detained in Thailand for allegedly helping an underground online radio broadcast aimed at Chinese listeners. The allegations have come from Radio Free Asia (RFA). But the manager of the online radio station says Chiang Yung-hsin (蔣永新) has nothing to do with illegal broadcasts, according to the Central News Agency. Police in Bangkok…
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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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Chiang Mai wall vandal arrives home in Canada
PHOTO: 23 year old Canadian tourist Brittney Schneider returned to Alberta, Canada on Friday: Facebook/Brittney Schneider 23 year old Canadian tourist Brittney Schneider has returned home after being charged with vandalism for spray painting graffiti on an ancient wall in Chiang Mai. ‘I’m super happy and was super thrilled to see my family. I thought I’d never see them again.’…
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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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