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.

  • Sponsored

    Living on a budget in Thailand? Here’s how to stay healthy without breaking the bank

    Thailand is a popular place for people who want to enjoy a good life at a lower cost or even on a budget. Many expats, retirees, and digital nomads choose to live here because daily expenses are cheaper than in...

  • Tesco slavery case – police interview 100s of Mae Sot workers

    Tesco slavery case – police interview 100s of Mae Sot workers

    Police and labour officials in Mae Sot are interviewing more than 100 workers from the former supermarket supplier in the Tesco slavery case. Authorities are gathering information as they follow up on last week’s raid led by deputy national police chief Gen Surachate “Big Joke” Hakparn at the VK Garment (VKG) factory in the border town of Tak province. The…

  • Christmas Eve raid finds 40 underage pub patrons drinking

    Christmas Eve raid finds 40 underage pub patrons drinking

    Many children eagerly await a visit from Old Saint Nick on Christmas Eve. They hang their stockings and set out cookies and milk for Santa Claus. But for one club in Sisaket province, and its underage patrons, without a chimney for Santa to come down, they instead got a late-night Christmas Eve visit from someone a bit less welcome. Police…

  • Golden gunmen set to repel crime wave in Thailand’s Wild West

    Golden gunmen set to repel crime wave in Thailand’s Wild West

    In the lawless shopping malls of Mae Sot – Thailand’s Dodge City – golden gunmen are set to a repel crime wave. Gold shop owners in the western border province are being given firearms training, as an epidemic of armed robberies grips the Thai side of the frontier with Myanmar. Three gold shops in the province have been held up…

  • Monkey steals bag containing 50,000 Thai baht and throws it off a cliff

    Monkey steals bag containing 50,000 Thai baht and throws it off a cliff

    A trouble-making monkey in Srisaket province, northeast Thailand, stole a tourist’s tote bag and launched it off the side of a cliff yesterday after finding nothing edible inside it. A team of park rangers scaled down the cliffside to retrieve the bag, which contained 50,000 baht (US$1,438) in cash. Park rangers at Khao Phra Wihan National Park received a call from…

  • Kindergarten students save up to buy blankets for the needy in northern Thailand

    Kindergarten students save up to buy blankets for the needy in northern Thailand

    Kindergarten students in Chiang Rai province in northernmost Thailand saved up one baht every day for a year to buy blankets for people suffering in the cold weather this winter, especially those living at high altitudes in the province’s mountainous regions. Teachers at Chiang Rai Kindergarten invited students to join a charitable project entitled “Doing 89 Million Good Deeds for…

  • Driver hits wild gaur in northeast Thailand, both injured

    Driver hits wild gaur in northeast Thailand, both injured

    A driver hit a wild gaur in Thailand’s northeast province of Nakhon Ratchasima last night, injuring both himself and the gaur. The driver hit the gaur on Highway 3052 in Wang Nam Khiao district. The driver said he saw the gaur cross in front of him, too close for him to stop or avoid hitting it. Rescuers arrived on the…

  • Forest ranger and 4 locals arrested for illegal logging in northeast Thailand

    Forest ranger and 4 locals arrested for illegal logging in northeast Thailand

    Yesterday, police arrested a forest ranger – whose duty is to protect the forest – and four of his friends for illegal logging in Khon Kaen province in northeast Thailand. The gang cut down protected and valuable species such as Siamese rosewood and Burmese padauk. The police’s Anti-Trafficking in Persons Division (ATPD) recently travelled to Khon Kaen’s Nong Ruea district…

  • Thailand’s rescued tiger cubs fattening up, but not for the pot

    Thailand’s rescued tiger cubs fattening up, but not for the pot

    Thailand’s rescued tiger cubs are fattening up nicely in Udon Ratchathani, but these guys have already been saved from the pot. Laos’ wildlife authorities are finally assisting Thailand’s search for 30 tiger cubs trafficked across the border to be fattened up and fed to sexually-challenged Chinese customers in underground Bangkok eateries. Chaiwat Limlikitaksorn, director of the Ubon Ratchathani’s National Parks,…

  • Emotional man holds daughter hostage in bid to win back his estranged wife

    Emotional man holds daughter hostage in bid to win back his estranged wife

    An emotional man tried to hold his eight year old daughter hostage at school in the Nang Rong district in the Isaan province of Buriram in a bid to win back his estranged wife after she asked for a divorce. A teacher notified the police when the 35 year old father broke down crying in the classroom. Police managed to apprehend…

  • Police seize 2.5 billion baht in Mekong drug raids

    Police seize 2.5 billion baht in Mekong drug raids

    Police seized almost 2.5 billion baht worth of assets after raids across eight provinces in northeast Thailand. The Narcotics Control Agency piloted the arrest of the Mekong Spirit Network, a large drug trafficking group. Deputy national police chief Chinnaphat Sarasin said drug squad officers raided 30 locations across eight provinces. During the raids, they seized 2.5 billion baht (US$70 million) in…

  • Man faked death to break up with his wife

    Man faked death to break up with his wife

    A Thai man hated his wife so much that he faked his death to escape her unhappy clutches. A 35 year old married man named Bird, from Udon Thani in northeast Thailand, left a suicide note for his wife on Tuesday, December 13 saying he was going to end it all because he could not take any more of her…

  • 13 online gambling houses raided, 1 billion baht assets seized

    13 online gambling houses raided, 1 billion baht assets seized

    Cyber police raided 13 online gambling houses in Bangkok and Chiang Rai and seized money and assets worth over 1 billion baht including cash, luxury cars, watches, designer bags, and plots of land. Police reported details of the arrests at a press conference yesterday, December 13. The ball started rolling on smashing the illegal operation when the officers spotted a…

  • Temple in Pichit wows with rainbow-coloured crematorium

    Temple in Pichit wows with rainbow-coloured crematorium

    A temple in the northern province of Phichit is turning some heads with some colourful new decorations. Instead of painting their crematorium in the modest traditional tones of white or cream, they have instead painted it with eye-catching bright rainbow colours. Wat Nong Plong in the Wang Sai Phun district of Phichit decided to brighten up an area overwhelmingly associated…

  • Charging elephant gores a foraging man to death

    Charging elephant gores a foraging man to death

    Two elderly villagers were foraging in a Loei province forest when, out of nowhere, an elephant burst through the trees. The charging elephant caused the men to scatter and flee, but one did not escape and got gored to death. The unfortunate incident took place within the Phu Luang Wildlife Sanctuary on Sunday. The two men in their seventies had…

  • Two of four robbers still missing after gold shop shooting

    Two of four robbers still missing after gold shop shooting

    Two out of four suspects remain at large after an attempted gold shop robbery that ended in a hail of bullets. Four people tried to break into a gold shop in the Muang district of the northern province of Tak on Thursday. But they did not expect to be faced with a shop owner who is a champion marksman. He…

  • In northeast Thailand, a pretty camping site is being offered for free

    In northeast Thailand, a pretty camping site is being offered for free

    In Thailand’s northeast Nakhon Ratchasima province, the Department of Rural Roads is letting tourists stay at a pretty camping site for free. The site is located between markers Km18 and Km19 on Rural Road 3052 of Wang Nam Khiao district. It overlooks the Baan San Kamphaeng Reservoir. There is a lane along the reservoir where people can walk, jog, and…

  • Bloody end to innocent celebratory nap

    Bloody end to innocent celebratory nap

    An Udon Thani woman who was attacked by her husband last week is now looking around for someone new. Husband Somchai returned home early, and threw her lover out of her bed, before stabbing him. Chanoknat says she is unhappy with her husband Somchai Sonangam. According to Bangkok Post, the 44 years old says her rude husband barged in on her…

  • Resurgence of AIDS in Thailand overshadows UNAIDS summit

    Resurgence of AIDS in Thailand overshadows UNAIDS summit

    News of the resurgence of AIDS in Thailand, blamed on the proliferation of dating apps, has dismayed many. Historically, Thailand has one of the best records of all countries in the region in caring for people living with AIDS. The government is now setting out to eradicate AIDS in Thailand by 2030, according to deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul on…