Northern Thailand News
Northern Thailand news, Chiang Mai news, business, tourism, and culture—stay updated with breaking stories, local events, and travel insights from Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Pai, and beyond. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted Northern Thailand news source.
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Naga Fireball Festival is coming to Isaan on October 10
Organisers of the annual Naga Fireball Festival are hoping the gala will once again recapture the imagination of all visitors after a couple of barren Covid-19 pandemic years. The festival is back in the Isaan province of Nong Khai on October 10 and promotors are predicting a bonanza event that will help boost the provincial economy by 70% to 80%.…
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Drug chase ends in flipped car, 6 million spilled Yaba pills
Chiang Rai police chased suspected drug traffickers until a truck flipped and nearly six million Yaba pills spilled out. The drug bust was the culmination of an ongoing drug smuggling investigation by the police. Several suspects are still wanted in connection to the incident that was reported yesterday. Police had been alerted to a group of drug traffickers earlier and…
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Viral video: American man joins Thai dance in Isaan rite
A TikTok video has gone viral of a twinkle-toed American man taking part in a traditional Thai dance routine at a religious ceremony in the Isaan province of Sisaket. Thai netizens hailed his nimble footwork, dancing skills, and endeavour. A Thai TikToker, Ryansdiary, posted a video of the 36 year old American man, Scott Spyway, taking part in the parade…
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Large, endangered Indochinamon Bhumibol crab spotted
Officials stumbled upon a nearly-extinct freshwater crab this week in Phetchabun. The Indochinamon Bhumibol crab is the second one that has been found in the northern province in the last year. And it’s just in time, as September is believed to be mating season for the two rare crabs. The crab close to extinction was found in the Wang Pong-Chon…
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6-hour whiskey drinking contest draws criticism
A contest to drink booze straight for six hours? Maybe not the best idea. A rice whiskey drinking competition is drawing criticism online from readers questioning the safety of such an event. The contest was advertised online on Friday and is scheduled to take place on October 11. The location appears to be Donna Kham House farm, in Ban Thaen…
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Police lieutenant in NE Thailand reportedly kills motorcyclist in crash
Last night, a police lieutenant in northeast Thailand reportedly crashed into five motorcycles and killed one motorcyclist. CCTV footage caught the lieutenant ramming his truck into the motorcycles waiting for a traffic light at a traffic island in Buriram province. The motorcyclist killed was a 25 year old waiting to make a U-turn. After the crash, the lieutenant’s pickup truck…
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Fight between teens leads to stabbing in NE Thailand
There was a knife attack involving groups of teenage boys in Thailand’s northeast province of Khon Kaen last night. Students in Grade 9 from the Mathayom Suksa school stabbed three Grade 11 boys at the school in their abdomens and lungs. The attack happened outside the school in the Nam Phong district. One of the injured boys, Narongrit, told police…
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Extreme mud roads not enough to stop commuting teachers
Rain-drenched pavements on city roads are bad enough but, in rural areas of the Tak province, flood waters on the dirt roads have created clay mud swamps. Many roads are practically impassible, but some dedicated teachers are going above and beyond to commute to school each day. In the Umphang district of the northeastern province, roads have been particularly bad,…
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Cannabis-stealing school principal thought plants were free
A principal at a well-known school vehemently denied stealing a cannabis plant from a MotoGP event over the weekend, but backtracked when police presented security footage of the theft. The incident took place at the Chang International Circuit in Buri Ram on Saturday, where the newly-legalised plants were being stored for an event meant to promote cannabis tourism. The principal,…
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Prawit billboard comes with note asking for legal leniency
In the northeastern province of Bueng Kan, billboards have been appearing promoting caretaker Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan. One recently spotted sign in the province’s main city of the same name along the Laos border came with a note attached asking authorities to go easy on them for erecting the billboard, possibly skirting payment and regulations. The sign features a large…
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World record petrified tree to become geological tourist attraction
After being certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest petrified tree trunk log ever found anywhere in the world, officials in the province of Tak are developing plans to turn the tree site into a geological-based world-class tourist attraction. The world record was verified in July in Tak, a northern province of Thailand lying on the…
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Heroic teen risks life to save boy electrocuted in NE Thailand flood
A teenager in northeast Thailand risked his life to save a young boy who was electrocuted while wading through a flood. The 12 year old boy had been near a power pole near a school in Udon Thani province on Friday. The teenager, 19 year old student Atthachai Argudom, went in to rescue the boy and ended up suffering electric…
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Boy in northeast Thailand dies of respiratory disease
A boy in Thailand’s northeast province of Nakhon Ratchasima died of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) on Monday. This is the first death from RSV reported this year, but a doctor from Maharat Nakhon Ratchasima Hospital warns that RSV could be more virulent this year. The doctor, Jiraruj Chomchoey, said that at least one child has been admitted to the…
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Rain flooding likely to dampen third quarter flood of tourism
Thailand has been ecstatic to finally welcome back tourists – mostly – but now, after the pandemic, a new threat to tourism has emerged. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said it expects a normally profitable third quarter to be muted by the flooding in 21 provinces across Thailand. The floods are expected to affect corporate travel especially. Much of…
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Chiang Mai hosts Thai style Halloween to make merit for ghosts
Thai people in the Mae Jo Town Municipality of the San Sai district in Chiang Mai province joined the northern Thai-style Halloween event and parade on Saturday to make merit for ghosts and souls from hell. People in the northern part of Thailand believe that ghosts and souls rise from hell to visit their relatives and ask for merits on…
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POLL: Northeastern Thais favour Sudarat for Prime Minister
A recent poll in the northeast of Thailand showed Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan leading the polls so far after announcing her candidacy for Prime Minister this week. She lead with 23.4% of the votes by those polled, followed by the daughter of a former prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra. The survey was conducted by E-Saan Centre for Business and Economic Research of…
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UPDATE: Police superintendent transferred to “inactive” post after pub raid
UPDATE The saga continues around the pub that was raided in Thailand’s northern Chiang Rai province early yesterday morning. The police superintendent of Chiang Rai’s city district police, Colonel Kittipong Sukwattanapun, has now been transferred to an “inactive” post in the operations centre of the provincial police headquarters. The transfer is punishment for his alleged failure to control the operations…
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Teenage girl’s body found in northeast Thailand forest
The body of a teenage girl has been found on Friday in a forest behind her school in Thailand’s northeast province of Buri Ram. The girl, 17 year old Nichada Salangam, had reportedly skipped her last class of the day with two friends before her body was found. Nichada’s friend Chularat said the three friends had skipped class to eat…
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Officials bust hundreds of Chiang Rai teens drinking underage
A team of officials has busted hundreds of teenagers in the northern Chiang Rai province drinking under Thailand’s legal age of 20. The officials raided a pub in the main city district early this morning and found 325 people drinking underage, with some as young as 16 years old. Many of the youngsters dashed away on motorcycles when they saw…
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Should monks be fit? Pics of monks in gym stir online anger
Some buff Buddhist monks doing reps in robes have gone viral as images of them working out in a gym caused an uproar on the Internet. The photos were posted yesterday on the Buddhist News Facebook page by a man who refers to himself as an abbott and claimed he invited residents of his temple to get some exercise. “I…
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“Parading shrimp” the most unique yearly tourist attraction in Thailand
People talk about the big tourist attractions of Thailand – the temples, beautiful beaches, bustling cities, parading shrimp… wait, what? September brings one of the most unique spectacles in Thailand, and people flock to the northeastern province of Ubon Ratchathani each year to watch as shrimp climb out of a creek when heavy rains swell the shores. The naturally occurring…
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School burned down for robbery netting 500 baht
In Buri Ram, a desperate person burned down a school building to cover up a robbery that netted them just 500 baht. The Wat Kok Charoen Temple School was set ablaze on Friday and the unknown suspect in the arson attack left behind a bizarre note saying “I love the Prime Minister. I am sorry, I need money.” The Phlapphla…
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E. coli contamination found at popular waterfall in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand
A popular waterfall on Doi Suthep mountain in the northern province of Chiang Mai is brimming with E. coli bacteria from human feces, warns Dr Rungsrit Kanjanavanit, a Green Globe award-winning conservationist and professor of cardiology at Chiang Mai University. The doctor warns against drinking or washing your face in the waterfall… “While driving up Doi Suthep mountain, there is…
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48 year old Thai man gets first ID card after a lifetime of trying
A 48 year old Thai man finally got his first ID card after a lifetime of trying, thanks to a little help from the Thai media. The man, Sena Sriphet, is from the Koh Chan district in Chon Buri province, but he moved to live with his wife in the Nong Bua sub-district, Pa Kam district, in the Isaan province…
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Tropical storm ‘Mulan’ makes a splash in the north of Thailand
The tropical storm ‘Mulan’ that meteorologists warned would hit Thailand has now poured down on the country’s north and northeast regions. The regions dealt with flash floods yesterday (Friday), due to heavy rain caused by the depression from the storm. In the northern province of Phayao, villagers in Nam Bong forest were forced to evacuate when flash floods swallowed their…
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Nigerian and Vietnamese couple found dead linked to drug trade
The two foreign nationals found buried in a forest in northeast Thailand last month might have been linked to the drug trade, according to the national police. The couple, a 38 year old Nigerian man and a 33 year old Vietnamese woman was found buried in a forest in Nakhon Ratchasima province on July 28. Today, Thailand’s national police chief…
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2018 Thai cave rescue inspires new attraction in Chiang Rai
Taking inspiration from the 2018 cave rescue in the northern province of Chiang Rai, one billion baht will be invested in a new attraction and exhibition called The Caventure. A soft opening is expected in October next year. The 17-day rescue in 2018, or the Tham Luang cave rescue, at Tham Luang Nang Non Cave in Chiang Rai, was an…
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Patiphan explains to police: It was my twin brother Patiphat!
In what seems like a scene from a movie with a lazy plot, a man in Nakhon Ratchasima says his upstanding life has been ruined by his criminal twin brother. Patiphan and Patiphat Kaeowaem were split up when they were babies and their lives took radically different directions. Born to a poor family, when they were just two months old,…
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UPDATE: Sexy Thai model fined 5,000 baht for dancing topless in club
UPDATE: Thai model and DJ “Oil Kissyface” has been slapped with another 5,000 baht for more sexy antics. Oil was previously fined 5,000 baht under the Public Obscenity Act after a video of her dancing topless at a nightclub in Khon Kaen last week went viral on social media. After news of her fine caught the nation’s attention today, another…
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10 year old killed & 5 injured after pickup hits motorbike sidecar
A 10 year old child was tragically killed, and four children and a teenager were seriously injured after a pickup truck smashed into the children’s motorcycle sidecar in the Isaan province of Nong Bua Lamphu yesterday. Officers from the Si Boon Rueng Police Station were called to the scene of the accident on Nong Bua Lamphu – Chum Pare Road…
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