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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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....
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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…
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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…
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Chiang Mai hotel staffer admits to faking gang attack story
PHOTO: Thairath A story about a gang of three armed men attacking an employee and stealing money from a Chang Mai Hotel appears to have been a false report. The employee has eventually confessed to making the story up. The original story alleges that the men had held up the Airport Resident Hotel on Mahidol Road at 5:45 am in the…
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Armed gang steals 30,000 baht in early morning Chiang Mai hotel attack
UPDATE of this story HERE….. An armed gang has robbed the Airport Resident Hotel in downtown Chiang Mai early this morning. Daily News reports that the deputy provincial police chief is asking police to locate the criminals in what he said was a “brazen attack that could damage tourist confidence”. A 30 year old staff member of the hotel, Yossakorn…
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“Red buses are a rip-off. We’d rather use Grab or Uber” – Chiang Mai
A poll among Thai tourists in Chiang Mai is giving a big preference to local Uber and Grab services and the thumbs down to the northern city’s notorious ‘Rot Daeng’ or red buses. The Mae Jo poll shows that 76% of Thai tourists want to see the red vehicles reined in. While 78% say they’d rather use Grab or Uber for…
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Chiang Mai sting lands family of smugglers in custody
PHOTOS: The Nation A family that smuggles together, stays together. In jail. A family of six is under arrest in Chiang Mai after allegedly handing over 15 kilograms of crystal methamphetamine and 170,000 methamphetamine pills to undercover police in the province. Police arrested all the members of the ethnic Lahu family. All were aged between 32 and 51 years. Police say…
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Chiang Mai temple roasted for charging foreigners to enter
There’s two-tier charging then there’s the next step of allowing Thais in for free and only charging foreigners. That seems to be the case when a Chiang Mai temple has been caught out charging a 50 baht fee, but only for foreigners. A Facebook post from Aronong Silvestra claims he found the box at Wat Suwan in the Muang district…
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Grieving Chiang Mai father kills himself in same spot son committed suicide
A grieving father has been found dead in front of his house in Chiang Mai’s Mae Wang district this morning in an apparent suicide. It was the same spot where his son killed himself last year, according to police. Pol Lt Col Natthapol Jaikantha, deputy commander of the Mae Wang police station, said 57 year old Chankaew Sopha killed himself…
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Chiang Mai 71 year old kills 26 year old lover in murder-suicide
A 71 year old man is believed to have killed his 26 year old lover, a married woman, before hanging himself in Chiang Mai. The bodies of 71 year old Sompong Chuenjai and 26 year old Sasithorn Ruantha were found in the man’s townhouse in Ban Praewa village in Tambon Tonpao, San Kamphaeng district, east of Chiang Mai city, last…
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Chiang Mai policeman caught accepting bribe on Facebook post
A Chiang Mai traffic policeman has been transferred “to inactive duties” (whatever that means) after allegedly being caught on a Facebook post accepting a 200 baht bribe from a Chinese tourist. The tourists’s motorcycle had been locked up for parking illegally. The post appears to show the policeman pocketing the 200 baht and then unlocking the tourist’s bike on Phra…
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Company rolls out new computers for Chiang Mai school
Top executives from Thailand property development company Boutique Corporation recently visited the Intanon Wittaya School in Chiang Mai and presented them with ten desktop computers to the school. Inthanon Wittaya School is located in Amphur Mae Jam, 111.2 kilometers from Chiang Mai, with 192 kindergarten and primary school students. The school offers a computer class but only had 11 computers…
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Eight year wait for Chiang Mai’s proposed Light Rail
Whilst Phuket has got a tentative go ahead for its Light Rail system (for a start of contraction in 2020), people in Chiang Mai will have to wait eight years for their local version of a modern public transport system. The Chiang Mai News reports that a ministerial level government meeting in Lampang this week reported on the latest developments.…
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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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