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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    Where to shop for sports gear at Jungceylon Phuket

    Phuket might be known for its beaches and nightlife, but the island also has a thriving fitness culture. From Muay Thai gyms to beach runs at sunrise, staying active is part of daily life for many who live here (as...

  • Foreigners anger Chiang Mai locals for kissing in temple | Thaiger

    Foreigners anger Chiang Mai locals for kissing in temple

    A foreign couple enraged Chiang Mai locals after a picture emerged of them kissing beside the famous Wat Si Suphan temple. Wat Si Suphan in the northern province of Chiang Mai became even more popular this week after its 500 year old stupa, or chedi, collapsed. The Thai media reported locals and foreigners swarmed to the historic building this week to…

  • Chiang Mai’s famous giant panda turns 21 years old | Thaiger

    Chiang Mai’s famous giant panda turns 21 years old

    Chiang Mai’s famous giant panda, Lin Hui, has turned 21 years old. The panda is well-known as being Chiang Mai Zoo’s most popular attraction, with birthday festivities drawing crowds from all around the country. The Chinese Consulate-General in Chiang Mai wrote a special card for the zoo, saying it was grateful for the zoo’s efforts in caring for the panda…

  • Popular Chiang Mai waterfall closed due to flooding | Thaiger

    Popular Chiang Mai waterfall closed due to flooding

    A popular waterfall for tourists in Chiang Mai has closed due to flooding, the National News Bureau of Thailand reported on Monday. The waterfall is located in Doi Inthanon National Park. Floodwaters have also strongly damaged several stores in the Chom Thong district, according to park officials. Locals from the nearby Khun Khun Klang village were seen moving their belongings…

  • American told to stop riding go-kart in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    American told to stop riding go-kart in Chiang Mai

    Police and residents in Chiang Mai urged an American man to stop riding his yellow single-seat go-kart on a public road after highlighting the danger he poses to himself and others. A dash cam video of the yellow single-seat go-kart was uploaded to Thai social media on September 21. The kart is seen dashing down the left lane of the…

  • Foreigner allegedly using dogs to scam Chiang Mai locals | Thaiger

    Foreigner allegedly using dogs to scam Chiang Mai locals

    Residents in Chiang Mai alerted Thai media to a foreigner who abandoned and starved his two pet dogs to scam money from people in the community. Thai residents from the Nam Pueng Village in the Saraphi district of Chiang Mai reported to the media that a foreigner renting a house in their village cruelly left two dogs outside his home…

  • Heavy rains collapse part of Chiang Mai’s ancient city wall | Thaiger

    Heavy rains collapse part of Chiang Mai’s ancient city wall

    With continued heavy rainfall, part of the ancient city wall of Chiang Mai collapsed. A section of the wall near the Chang Phuak Gate partially crumbled in last night’s storm. The ancient wall stood in Chiang Mai for about 750 years before collapsing in the rain. The Chiang Mai municipality was joined by authorities from the Fine Arts Department who…

  • Superstitious Thais queue for days to see famous fortune teller | Thaiger

    Superstitious Thais queue for days to see famous fortune teller

    Dozens of superstitious Thai people come from all over the kingdom and queue for several days just to get their fortune told at a temple in Chiang Mai. They all seek the wisdom of 52 year old Tui, or Sattaphat, a monk at the Tung Yu Temple in Chiang Mai. Tui became famous on Thai social media after hundreds of…

  • Monopoly: Chiang Mai Edition being planned for next year | Thaiger

    Monopoly: Chiang Mai Edition being planned for next year

    Coming off the success of the Phuket Edition that was released in March, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has announced the launch of Monopoly: Chiang Mai Edition. The new edition celebrating the northern city is scheduled to be released sometime next year. The perennial board game favourite has launched over 300 versions and thousands of custom editions ranging from…

  • UK student conquers mountain in Thailand blindfolded | Thaiger

    UK student conquers mountain in Thailand blindfolded

    A Cambridge philosophy student conquered a Thai mountain blindfolded in tribute to his blind sister and to raise money for charity. The 21 year old scholar climbed the treacherous Doi Suthep, near Chiang Mai, with his girlfriend, as he embarked on a three-day journey on July 11 blindfolded to fundraise for a charity that supports his sister Harriet, who was…

  • Mahout asks media to help find elephant tail hair thieves | Thaiger

    Mahout asks media to help find elephant tail hair thieves

    The managing director of the Maesa Elephant Camp in the northern province of Chaing Mai has appealed to the media to help track down thieves who broke into the camp to steal elephant hair to craft talismans. Anchalee Kanlamapijit, the managing director of the camp, contacted Thai media yesterday and asked them to spread the news about the elephant story,…

  • British man injured in assault by Thai taxi driver, or was it a fence? | Thaiger

    British man injured in assault by Thai taxi driver, or was it a fence?

    What looked to be another blight on Thailand’s treatment of foreigners ended up instead as a blight on foreigners in Thailand as a British man who claimed to have been attacked by a taxi driver in Chiang Mai confessed that he had actually injured himself on a fence. The man suffered cuts in the palm of his hand and on…

  • Body of missing Thai – Belgian tourist found in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand | Thaiger

    Body of missing Thai – Belgian tourist found in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand

    Rescue teams have found the body of a Thai – Belgian tourist who went missing after a white water rafting accident in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, on Friday. The body of 30 year old Nicholas Hinckxt was found in the Mae Taeng River in Mae Taeng district at around 2pm yesterday, some 10 kilometres away from where his boat capsized.…

  • Chiang Mai’s 1-month pledge to clear dead power cables | Thaiger

    Chiang Mai’s 1-month pledge to clear dead power cables

    Chiang Mai Municipality promises to remove all of the city’s dead wires and cables within a month. When they finish burying the new cables underground is another matter. Following residents’ complaints, the municipality began tidying power and communication lines around the Wang Sing Kham community yesterday while another project to transfer cables underground continued near Chiang Mai University. Since the…

  • Nok Air to make Chiang Mai a new global destination hub | Thaiger

    Nok Air to make Chiang Mai a new global destination hub

    Nok Air announced it is turning Chaing Mai International Airport, in the northern province of Chaing Mai, into a new hub of domestic and global routes. The airline yesterday invited Chaing Mai Governor, Wuttiphum Julangkun, and the media to a press conference at Chiang Mai City Hall, at the Chang Phueak in the Mueng Chiang Mai District, to discuss the…

  • E-ganja highly popular with Chiang Mai teens & govt officials | Thaiger

    E-ganja highly popular with Chiang Mai teens & govt officials

    Vendors in the northern province of Chiang Mai have revealed that their best e-ganja customers are either wealthy teenagers or government officials. E-ganja, like an e-cigarette, is a portable electronic device that simulates smoking. But unlike e-cigarettes, the e-ganja electronic device includes cannabis oil instead of tobacco. One of the positives of using an e-ganja electronic device is that it…

  • 2 Chinese charged with attempted murder after making a f-arse of extortion attempt | Thaiger

    2 Chinese charged with attempted murder after making a f-arse of extortion attempt

    A botched 3 million baht extortion attempt by 2 Chinese nationals turned into a f-arse when one of them shot a fellow countryman in the buttock. A married Chinese couple Yu Wang and Li Min met with mainland compatriot Wang Xiaoye at a house in Muang district of Chiang Mai under the pretence of selling some antique porcelain at around…

  • Fight between ex-husband and new man attracts 50 police to ER in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    Fight between ex-husband and new man attracts 50 police to ER in Chiang Mai

    A fight between a woman’s ex-husband and her new man brought chaos to an emergency room at a Chiang Mai hospital last night, so much that 50 officers arrived on the scene to sort things out. The storm began brewing between the men when the woman and her new partner went to her ex’s house to ask him to return…

  • British pensioner in Chiang Mai dies in motorbike accident | Thaiger

    British pensioner in Chiang Mai dies in motorbike accident

    A Chinese motorist has been threatened with the full force of the law if she is to blame for the death of a British pensioner in a road accident in northern Thailand. Keith William McVeighty died in a motorbike crash involving a car on a motorway in Chiang Mai on Sunday morning. Footage from CCTV reveals a female driver allegedly accelerated…

  • Chiang Mai bars, clubs prepare to re-open for business tomorrow | Thaiger

    Chiang Mai bars, clubs prepare to re-open for business tomorrow

    Chiang Mai’s bars and clubs have been waiting a long time, but finally, from tomorrow, they can once again welcome back customers. As the Covid-19 situation in Thailand continues to improve, the Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration has given nightlife venues in the green and blue provinces the go-ahead to re-open for business. Those that have survived, that is. According…

  • Canadian man arrested for stealing traffic barriers in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    Canadian man arrested for stealing traffic barriers in Chiang Mai

    Police have arrested a Canadian expat in Chiang Mai after driving his car around the city to steal metal traffic barriers. Yes, traffic barriers. 69 year old Ronald John Price was arrested today on Ratchadamnoen Road in Chiang Mai. According to reports, Mr. Price covered his face whilst stealing metal traffic barriers from around the province. He drove his sedan…

  • Shopping mall in Chiang Mai goes dark, couldn’t afford 20 million baht power bill | Thaiger

    Shopping mall in Chiang Mai goes dark, couldn’t afford 20 million baht power bill

    Tenants and staff were in shock after a shopping mall in Chiang Mai suddenly announced temporary closure due to economic fallout from Covid-19. Or is it economic mismanagement? Thai media have reported that the centre had more than 20 million baht in debt from electricity bills and had to close immediately because they were unable to pay the bill. Today,…

  • Doi Suthep’s controversial land and houses returned to treasury department | Thaiger

    Doi Suthep’s controversial land and houses returned to treasury department

    After almost 4 years of waiting, protests and arguments, the Court had returned the controversial land and housing project at the foot of Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai to the Treasury Department. The Department’s Director-General revealed 45 houses would be demolished, and land would be adjusted for the “benefit of the residents”. For the other 9 condominiums in the area,…

  • Chiang Mai elephant camp invites tourists to visit for free this Songkran | Thaiger

    Chiang Mai elephant camp invites tourists to visit for free this Songkran

    If you can’t splash each other this Songkran, splash an elephant instead — in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai’s Maesa Elephant Camp invites tourists to splash in the water with elephants during the Songkran holidays, which will be celebrated this week from April 13 – 16. The camp is open from 9am – 3pm every day and admission is free. After…

  • Human rights official claims DNA tests infringe on Lahu hilltribe, Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    Human rights official claims DNA tests infringe on Lahu hilltribe, Chiang Mai

    In 2021, soldiers and police found large amounts of illegal drugs on the border in Fang district of Chiang Mai, according to a member of the National Human Rights Commission. The soldiers and police investigated nearby areas, which happened to be where 51 Lahu hilltribe members lived. The authorities then collected DNA samples from the 51 residents, suspecting they might…

  • Zoning revised: Chiang Mai open to tourism, restrictions ease in several provinces | Thaiger

    Zoning revised: Chiang Mai open to tourism, restrictions ease in several provinces

    Restrictions are easing across Thailand, especially in Chiang Mai. The northern province is now fully open to international tourism and can welcome travellers entering under the Test & Go and Sandbox schemes. Restaurants in Chiang Mai can also serve alcohol until 11pm. A number of provinces have been reclassified on the Thai government’s colour-coded zoning scale based on local Covid-19…

  • Elephant camp in Chiang Mai put up for sale due to drop in tourists during pandemic | Thaiger

    Elephant camp in Chiang Mai put up for sale due to drop in tourists during pandemic

    Elephant parks and sanctuaries relying on foreign tourists for an income and funds to feed the animals have been hit hard during the pandemic. One elephant park in Chiang Mai is now up for sale due to the drastic drop in the number of visitors over the past two years. The owner says she’s been unable to afford the 2…

  • Body of dead baby with children’s toys found in freezer at Chiang Mai home | Thaiger

    Body of dead baby with children’s toys found in freezer at Chiang Mai home

    The body of a baby has been found in a freezer at a home in Chiang Mai along with children’s toys. The baby was stillborn and a report from the Bangkok Post says police suspect the father put the body in the freezer more than a year ago. A man cleaning and renovating his 83 year old mother’s house found…

  • Motocross rider dies, another injured after falling from cliff in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    Motocross rider dies, another injured after falling from cliff in Chiang Mai

    A motocross rider died and another was severely injured after driving off a cliff in Chiang Mai and falling more than 50 metres. The two were on a motocross trip from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and were driving near the scenic village Mae Kampong and up to a mountain viewpoint when they fell from the cliff. The riders were going…

  • French expat with Alzheimer’s rescued after getting lost in Chiang Mai forest | Thaiger

    French expat with Alzheimer’s rescued after getting lost in Chiang Mai forest

    More than 200 people teamed up for a rescue effort to find a French expat with Alzheimer’s disease who went missing in Chiang Mai. He was found the next morning in an abandoned temple in a forest. The 70 year old man says he was driving to the French Embassy in Chiang Mai when he forgot the way home. His…

  • French expat who went missing in forest turns up safe in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    French expat who went missing in forest turns up safe in Chiang Mai

    A French man who went missing in a Chiang Mai forest made his way to a hilltop temple, and is now safe. The man, Jacques Moriceau, went missing in a forest in Doi Tao district between late Thursday night and early Friday morning. He had driven to submit documents to the French consulate, and got lost on his way home…