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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Illegal bird feed vendors arrested at Tha Pae Gate, Chiang Mai.
Chiang Mai City Life is reporting that the pigeons at Tha Pae Gate have been an ongoing issue for the city as their numbers has been reportedly increasing. In the attempt to prevent an infestation of pigeons in the area, Chiang Mai Municipality enacted a law prohibiting any street vendor in the area to sell bird feed. For tourists and…
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Protesters turn to ‘cursing ritual’ in the latest Doi Suthep protests
PHOTO: File Photo by Nisanart Kangwanwong If banners and peaceful protests don’t work, try a bit of local northern Thai ‘woo woo’ instead. As part of next month’s protests agains the Doi Suthep housing development in Chiang Mai organisers are planning a ‘cursing ritual’. The Doi Suthep Forest Reclamation Network is staging a major protest in late August to pressure…
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Chiang Mai wife grabs husband’s Glock and shoots him dead
PHOTO: Sanook Sanook is reporting that the police were called to a shooting crime scene shooting in a bedroom behind a convenience store in Hang Dong jurisdiction., Chiang Mai 48 year old Sawat, a civil defense volunteer in Chiang Mai was shot in the chest. He was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. The man’s wife, 60 year…
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Serbians on the run after trying to fire-torch their way into a Chiang Mai ATM
PHOTOS: Sanook Two Serbians are on the run after trying to use a make-shift fire-torch to break into a Bangkok Bank ATM in Chiang Mai. Sanook report that the pair tried to use a gas canister for cooking to help cut their way into the ATM next to the Ratchaphak University. But the walls of the ATM was too thick and…
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Former US pilot shoots himself dead at house in Chiang Mai
PHOTO COMPILATION: Ban Muang A 62 year old former US pilot has shot himself in Chiang Mai on Wednesday. Ban Muang is reporting that the man’s Thai wife heard a single shot ring out at their house on the Rattanakosin Road in Chiang Mai. The woman ran to a bedroom where her husband was dead from a bullet wound to the…
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Miracle as amulet “saves” father and son in Chiang Mai
Sanook is reporting that Thai media are hailing the survival of a father and son as a miracle. The father and his three year old boy walked away from a horror crash on the Chiang Mai-Lampang highway. 30 year old Chat was travelling along Route 11 on his way home with his son from Lamphun to Muang district of Lampang.…
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Bogus ‘botox clinic’ raided in Chiang Mai
PHOTOS: Thai Rath Thai Rath is reporting that a recently opened ‘beauty clinic’ in Chiang Mai has been raided resulting in the arrest of a 26 year old Thai woman. Yapha Nithijindawach claimed she trained as a doctor in South Korea but was unable to produce any evidence of the qualifications. She faces four charges including operating the clinic without…
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Chiang Mai’s Doi Suthep housing protests ramping up for August
The protests against the construction of the Thai judge’s residences on the slopes of Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai has gone quiet over the past month. That’s all about to change. Activists from leading non-governmental organisations from eight northern provinces will next month join a massive protest against the special housing for judges on Doi Suthep. The Nation reports that…
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15 year old dies in Chiang Mai boarding house fire
PHOTO: Chiang Mai City Life A 15 year old girl has died following a fire that engulfed the living areas of a Christian boarding school in Fang district, north of Chiang Mai city, this morning. Fang police were alerted at 1:30am about the fire at the Christian Paolo School that is run by the Evangelical Fellowship of Thailand. Ten fire engines…
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Chiang Rai: Rescuers prepare to bring out the final five
PHOTO: VOA Following last evening’s successful rescue of a further four members of the Mu Pa football team, bringing the total number safely out at 8, Thai and international divers are preparing to rescue at least another four today. Mission control spokesperson Narongsak Osotthanakorn described the rescue operation, so far, as a success. Last night the first of the four emerged…
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First Mu Pa members emerge from Tham Luang cave
File Photo Police chatter at the Tham Luang cave suggests that the first two team members have emerged from the cave mouth. The first at 5.40pm and the second one 10 minutes later. They walked out on their own feet. Their successful retrieval bodes well for the other 11 members The Governor, acting as the official spokesperson, has not confirmed…
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Drilling down into the cave – 100 tunnels drilled so far
As the frantic effort continues around the Tham Luang caves to find alternative ways to get to the cave chamber where the 13 footballers have been waiting since two weeks ago, ‘chimneys’ or tunnels from the top or side of the mountain, down into the cave, are being established. AFP are reporting that there have been more than 100 of…
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Chiang Mai: New Zealander accused of masterminding murder of his Korean mother Chiang Mai
Chiang Mai police have arrested a New Zealander for allegedly masterminding the murder of his Korean mother by setting it up as quarrel between his wife and his elderly mother. 50 year old Brian Lee was arrested and charged with masterminding the murder of 76 year old An Jung Ja at a house in the Mountain View village in Tambon…
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Huge meth bust in Chiang Mai
The big seizures of methamphetamine pills and ‘ice’ continue around the Kingdom. In the last two months nearly 50 million pills have been collected in various stings and raids. Around 9 million methamphetamine pills and 300kg of crystal meth or “ice” was seized in Chiang Mai province shortly after the arrest of a fugitive last Monday, the police claimed. Officers…
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Chiang Mai: Son finds father dead in car
A man has been found dead in his own car in Chiang Mai’s Muang district. The car was covered near his house when his adopted son found the car with his father inside this morning. Police estimate that 48 year old Somphet Thaso died at least two days earlier. His adopted son, Sukit Somboonpattanakoon, said Somphet could not be accounted for…
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Heroin-swallowing smugglers nabbed in Chiang Mai and Bangkok
15.5 kilograms of heroin is a serious amount of illicit narcotics. Six Nepalese and one Indian national have been accused of being members of a transnational drug-trafficking syndicate, They’ve been transporting drugs by having people swallow dozens of capsules containing heroin and were arrested last week. The Nepalese suspects were identified as Singha Bir Gongbotamang, Sudarshan Thapa, Prasad Gurung, Suresh…
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Small guest-houses and hotels closing down across Chiang Mai
Hotels, from small to medium size, are closing down across Chaing Mai following recent crackdowns and enforcement of the Hotel Act. Similar crackdowns are underway across the country this week, notably in Krabi as well. About 100 protesters have staged protests outside City Hall demanding that their issues be raised with the Tourism Ministry and the Thai PM. Small and…
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NBTC been told to clean up the overhead cabling mess
PHOTO The Nation Last year PM Prayut Chan-o-cha declared war on Thailand’s overhead electric cabling signalling provincial governments to get their overhead house in order. The clean up has been complicated by the many services that run their systems overhead – cable TV, electricity suppliers, internet and telecom providers. Now the Nation Broadcasting and Telecommunication Commission (NBTC) has been tasked…
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Now, THAT’S a mushroom!
Doi Tao, south of Chiang Mai, is where a five year old has found a giant mushroom, known locally as ‘hed jan’. Local villagers from the Ban Ko Luang, Pong Thung in Doi Tao were astonished when a five year old local, called Bell, turned up at home with an enormous mushroom on his shoulder that he says he collected…
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TECNO Mobile and Manchester City Football Club developing Thai youth football talent
Football inspires Thai people like no other sport. Whether a player, spectator or follower of an English Premier League team, Thai people are passionate about the sport and unwavering in support of their team. Thai youngsters play football from an early age at schools, on the streets, in the parks and dream of one day becoming a professional like their…
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Chiang Mai hostel & guesthouse owners seeking clarification on Hotel Act
PHOTO: Manon Hostel, Chiang Mai Concerns over interpretation of the current Hotels Act, following a court-ruling last month about a Hua Hin condo being deemed illegal when renting rooms by day or week, have spread to Chiang Mai where guesthouse and hostel owners are seeking clarification. Guesthouse, hostel and small hotel owners in the northern city have filed a petition…
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Hua Hin and Khon Kaen to get extra flights from Air Asia
Hua Hin and Khon Kaen, new flight destinations for Air Asia, are looking to get more passenger love with Air Asia announcing proposed expansion of routes to the two destinations. New routes are being added to and from the Hua Hin airport, adding to the first scheduled flights from KL, Malaysia this month. Hua Hin International Airport The proposed new…
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Complaints flow in for dodgy balloon festival organiser – Chiang Mai
PHOTO: thaitravelblogs.com These balloon festivals have been popping up around the country and work like a travelling carnival of hot air balloons. The festivals tend to involve little more than a music festival with some well-lit hot air balloons around the perimeter. A similar show, the International Balloon Festival, was n Chiang Mai at the Cowboy Army Riding Club from March 2-4…
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Chiang Mai hoteliers say the licensing laws are ‘unjust’.
PHOTO: www.delannahotel.com A few weeks ago a Hua Hin condo lost a court case when the judge ruled that the condominium was not allowed to rent out its rooms on a daily or weekly basis. This has big ramifications for websites and business models like AirBnB. Now the crackdowns are happening in Chiang Mai but local hoteliers believe the registration…
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New airports in Phuket and Chiang Mai will ‘ease congestion’.
There’s been mainly positive response to the news that the AoT have approved the construction of two new airports – one in Phuket and one in Chiang Mai. The Director of the Thai tourism department says the decision is an important part of the support needed for ever-growing tourist arrivals. Yuthasak Supasorn, says it is a good sign for the industry,…
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New airports approved for Phuket and Chiang Mai
After four years of false starts and rumours it looks like Phuket will now get a much-needed second airport to feed the island and the surrounding region. Yesterday’s announcement by AoT (Airports of Thailand) comes after extensive studies to examine the extension of the current Phuket airport runway which is hemmed in by Thepkasattri Road at one end and the…
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Chiang Mai wakes up to floods this morning
PHOTO: Chiang Mai Citylife Downtown Chiang Mai has hit by flash floods this morning (Thursday) following heavy rains on Wednesday night. Residents reported several roads with up to 20 to 40 centimetres of water, forcing kerbside shops to move their businesses to higher ground. Local authorities said the flooding started at 3am this morning. Most of it came from Doi…
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12 million meth pills seized in Chiang Rai
Police in Chiang Rai, far north Thailand, say they’ve seized a huge cache of 12 million methamphetamine pills from an abandoned vehicle. National police adviser Pol General Thanitsak Thirasawat said that the pickup truck was found on the Chiang Rai-Wiang Chai road in Wiang Chai district loaded with 57 sacks of narcotics weighing 1,425 kilograms. The truck’s licence plate number…
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Huge rally in Chiang Mai protesting judges’ homes on Doi Suthep mountain
PHOTO: Chiang Rai Times Around 1,000 people have rallied in Chiang Mai yesterday to protest the homes being built for Thai judges on forested land on Doi Suthep mountain. The protest is one of the largest protests against the government ever staged. Public frustration has been mounting over the project since aerial images started circulating on social media earlier this…
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Bike crashes into a van killing one
A 35 year old man from Chiang Mai, Warat Liewrungrot, has crashed his motorcycle into a van, killing him instantly. He was driving without a helmet. The accident happened in front of Soi Suksan 1 in Rawai heading towards the Chalong Circle. Witnesses told Chalong Police that Warat was riding his motorcycle at high speed from Rawai Pier towards Chalong…
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