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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    How to reduce out-of-pocket medical expenses in Thailand?

    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....

  • “Parading shrimp” the most unique yearly tourist attraction in Thailand

    “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…

  • School burned down for robbery netting 500 baht

    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…

  • E. coli contamination found at popular waterfall in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand

    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…

  • 48 year old Thai man gets first ID card after a lifetime of trying

    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…

  • Tropical storm ‘Mulan’ makes a splash in the north of Thailand

    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…

  • Nigerian and Vietnamese couple found dead linked to drug trade

    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…

  • 2018 Thai cave rescue inspires new attraction in Chiang Rai

    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…

  • Patiphan explains to police: It was my twin brother Patiphat!

    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,…

  • UPDATE: Sexy Thai model fined 5,000 baht for dancing topless in club

    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…

  • 10 year old killed & 5 injured after pickup hits motorbike sidecar

    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…

  • Sexy Thai model fined at 5,000 baht for dancing topless in club

    Sexy Thai model fined at 5,000 baht for dancing topless in club

    A sexy Thai model has been fined 5,000 baht for a public obscenity act after a video of her went viral dancing topless at a nightclub in the Isaan province of Khon Kaen. The nightclub was also fined for operating without a license. Paphavee “Oil” Chaimongkol, aka Oil Roi Joob, which means Oil Kissyface, was working as a DJ at…

  • Famous northern Thai dish declared world’s best soup

    Famous northern Thai dish declared world’s best soup

    A famous northern Thai dish has been declared the world’s best soup by the foodie platform TasteAtlas.com. This was part of its list of “50 Best Soups in the World” published on July 25. The dish, called Khao Soi, includes red curry soup and meat, usually chicken, and egg noodles. It is then topped with crunchy noodles, fresh lime, pickled cabbage,…

  • 2 dead & 5 injured in gunfight between teens in Northern Thailand

    2 dead & 5 injured in gunfight between teens in Northern Thailand

    Two teenagers were reportedly killed and five injured when a gunfight broke out in the car park of an entertainment venue in the Isaan province of Ubon Ratchathani. Eyewitnesses revealed that about a dozen teenagers clashed in the car park of Talat Nikon Thani on Chayangkun Road in the Nai Mueng District of Ubon Ratchathani, and about 70 to 100…

  • Eight women killed in drug driving accident in central Thailand

    Eight women killed in drug driving accident in central Thailand

    A minibus driver allegedly under the influence of drugs who fell asleep at the wheel faces time in prison after killing eight elderly women passengers in the Isaan province of Khon Kaen. The minibus overturned and landed in a ditch on the Khon Kaen – Kalasin Bypass Road in the Phra Lap Sub-district, Mueng Khon Kaen District, Khon Kaen province…

  • Thai police face challenges with identifying bodies in Northeast

    Thai police face challenges with identifying bodies in Northeast

    Police are facing some challenges in investigating the death of a couple in northeast Thailand. The bodies of a man and a woman were found in a forest in Nakhon Ratchasima province on July 28. Police believe the couple had been dead for two to four weeks when they were found, making it harder to identify the bodies. The Deputy…

  • Bodies of a couple found buried in Isaan province remain unknown

    Bodies of a couple found buried in Isaan province remain unknown

    The naked corpses of a Thai woman and a foreign man discovered buried in a forest near Baan Tung Arun Community in Chok Chai district, Nakhon Ratchasima, or Korat, Isaan province, remain unidentified. Police reported yesterday that the investigation to find out who they were continues after revealing enquiries had been made to a number of hospitals specializing in silicone…

  • Meth bust in northeast Thailand, pills worth about 20 million baht

    Meth bust in northeast Thailand, pills worth about 20 million baht

    There was another meth bust in northeast Thailand last night, this time in Nakhon Phanom province. Rangers had been patrolling the Mekong River when they noticed a group of men on a long-tail boat. The men took a sack out of the boat and left it on the riverbank before they sped off in their boat. In the sack, the…

  • Chiang Rai runway closed after Nok Air plane skids off runway

    Chiang Rai runway closed after Nok Air plane skids off runway

    In Chiang Rai, a Nok Air plane slid off the runway while landing due to heavy rains that resulted in slippery ground conditions. The accident took place last night, as a landing Boeing 737-800 skidded off the runway at Mae Fah Luang International Airport in the northern province. No one was injured in the crash, but it did force the…

  • UPDATE: Police find clues in likely murder case in northeast Thailand

    UPDATE: Police find clues in likely murder case in northeast Thailand

    UPDATE Police have found clues in a likely murder case in northeast Thailand. This news comes after villagers the bodies of a man and a woman in a forest in Chok Chai district in Nakhon Ratchasima province on Thursday night. Now, police have found microchips in the woman’s silicon breast implants. She also had unique tattoos. These include a tattoo…

  • A debt-ridden Thai woman seeks help after spiky durian assault

    A debt-ridden Thai woman seeks help after spiky durian assault

    A Thai woman in the northern province of Lamphun has asked for media help after she was assaulted with some durian fruit because of a loan shark debt. The woman, Duangduen, revealed she borrowed about 20,000 baht from a money lender to open a shop with a friend last year. But things spiraled out of control and the interest repayment…

  • Elderly northeast woman charged with theft after picking plants for curry

    Elderly northeast woman charged with theft after picking plants for curry

    An elderly woman in northeast Thailand just wanted some fresh produce for her curry but ended up being charged with theft. The woman, 70 year old Chaweewan, had headed out on June 11 to pick a handful of galangal sprouts from her village in Phang Khon district of Sakhon Nakhon province. Chaweewan says the area is public land, but one…

  • UPDATE: Officials raid religious cult, no illegal action found

    UPDATE: Officials raid religious cult, no illegal action found

    UPDATE The new religious cult that caught the globe’s imagination for allowing followers to drink alcohol got raided yesterday. But officials from Chiang Yuen district in Mana Sarakham province in northeast Thailand found no illegal activity. Chiang Yuen’s District’s Chief, Somporn Kuankamkong, officers from Internal Security Operations Command, Buddhism Office, and Public Health Department, yesterday visited the cult temple, Phra…

  • New religious cult leader encourages followers to get drunk

    New religious cult leader encourages followers to get drunk

    Thai media visited the temple of a new religious cult in the Isaan province of Maha Sarakham to interview its leader after a viral TikTok video revealed he encouraged followers to get drunk at the cult ceremony. A female TikTok user posted a video joining a ceremony with the cult in Maha Sarrakham. The video revealed participants wearing an all-white…

  • Thai tutor arrested for making child porn with boys

    Thai tutor arrested for making child porn with boys

    An alleged pedophile wanted by the US and Thai Cyber police has finally been tracked down and arrested thanks to a local boxing gym owner. If found guilty the 20 year old part time teacher faces between three and 10 years imprisonment and a fine between 60,000 baht and 100,000 baht. The tutor, named Mai, sexually assaulted children between the…

  • Girl in northeast Thailand rides elephant to save fuel costs, goes viral

    Girl in northeast Thailand rides elephant to save fuel costs, goes viral

    Elephant crossing! An 11 year old girl in northeast Thailand’s Buriram province has become a TikTok sensation from riding an elephant to school to help her family save cash on fuel. The girl’s father, Wisanchol, told reporters that he works with elephants and that his family owns four of the gentle giants. The elephant that his daughter, Pupae, was filmed…

  • Police keep open mind on Thai man found dead in water tank with cut throat

    Police keep open mind on Thai man found dead in water tank with cut throat

    Police reported they were keeping an open mind to whether a local man was murdered or committed suicide after a body with a cut throat was found floating in a water tank at a house in the Isaan province of Roi Et. The body of the dead man, believed to be 51 year old Chaiyut Pakakatet, was fished out of…

  • ‘It’s God’s Will’ says Thai gunman after Chiang Rai mass shooting

    ‘It’s God’s Will’ says Thai gunman after Chiang Rai mass shooting

    A drug-crazed killer gunned down three locals, including a 4 year old girl, and injured two in a mass shooting in the Baan Pa Kia Community in the northern province of Chiang Rai yesterday. Several cats and dogs were also killed in the crossfire. The drunken gunman told the police, “It’s God’s will.” The murderer, reportedly called Anucha Jabo, high…

  • Mother & daughter rescued from drowning at Khon Kaen Airport

    Mother & daughter rescued from drowning at Khon Kaen Airport

    A mother and daughter were rescued after accidentally driving a car into a flooded underground car park at Khon Kaen Airport in Isaan province of Thailand. A Facebook page, พระจันทร์ ลายกระต่าย V2 (The Rabbit on the Moon V2) posted pictures of a white sedan dripping in water with the caption, “Khon Kaen Airport.” The page didn’t explain the details of…

  • Petrified tree in Tak certified as Guinness World Record largest

    Petrified tree in Tak certified as Guinness World Record largest

    Ah, Thailand: famous for its tropical beaches, delicious food, wild nightlife, and… giant wood? Thailand recently gained a Guinness World Record after unearthing the longest petrified tree trunk log ever found anywhere in the world. The world record was verified on Friday in Tak, a Northern province of Thailand lying on the Burmese border. The gigantic fossilised log was measured…

  • Thai man appeals to robbers to stop as he has nothing left

    Thai man appeals to robbers to stop as he has nothing left

    A Thai man today appealed to thieves to stop robbing him after declaring he has nothing left to steal. Niphon Muangkram’s home in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen has been robbed 6 times in 3 months with 40,000 baht of valuables taken. One of the ironies of all this is that his home is only 1 kilometre away from…