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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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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Thailand’s emerging ‘go to’ location for New Year
Tokyo, Paris, New York City… and Chiang Mai. Whilst the first three are perennial favorites to ring in the new year, Chiang Mai has overtaken Thailand’s capital as THE place to be to see in 2019, according to Agoda. Tokyo’s appeal continues with concerts, parades and light shows on offer. For Thais, Chiang Mai overtakes Bangkok’s crown for the top…
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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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Social media helps re-unite dog and owner in Chiang Mai
Facebook users in Chiang Mai have banded together to locate a lost dog. 24 days ago it was frightened by the firecrackers on Loy Kratong night and ran away. Thanawat Jinawanit recounts how he and his aunt, Yaowamal Jinawanit, got the dog back from a temple in another tambon last Sunday after a Facebook user called him to report sighting…
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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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Nude couple pictured on top of Egyptian pyramid sparks investigation
“Climbing pyramids is illegal in Egypt, with critics saying the incident shows a disregard for the nation’s laws and its conservative society.” The question of tourists and their behavior at national monuments and popular sites comes up again today. This time in Egypt… Read the report HERE. “A video that shows a foreign couple in a naked embrace at the…
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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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Chiang Mai football team cries foul over ‘big’ Under 12 team
PHOTOS: Sanook A Chiang Mai football coach is complaining online after his team played another team from Nan province who were much bigger. Sanook is reporting that the coach alleges the Nan team were not Under 12s and complained that this “should not be happening in Thailand 4.0”. The photos clearly indicate the Nan team were much taller. But his…
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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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