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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  • 11 US exchange students were lost but now they’re found | Thaiger

    11 US exchange students were lost but now they’re found

    A group of American exchange students got lost in a Chiang Mai forest yesterday, stranded on the edge of a cliff and had to be rescued by officials very early today (Thursday). Fortunately, the Nok Kok Cliff above the Tad Mok Waterfall has a mobile phone signal, so the students, one boy and ten girls, managed to call tourist police…

  • VietJet upgrades to larger planes for Chiang Mai sectors | Thaiger

    VietJet upgrades to larger planes for Chiang Mai sectors

    Vietjet, the Vietnamese-owned budget carrier, says it will add its newest Airbus A321 aircraft on some flights to Chiang Mai. Vietjet is the first airline to assign the 230-seat aircraft to a domestic route in Thailand replacing the smaller 180-seat A320 on two flights daily to Chiang Mai during the morning and evening peak traffic hours. By mid-September, up to…

  • Land expropriation for new Chiang Mai airport expected to start next month | Thaiger

    Land expropriation for new Chiang Mai airport expected to start next month

    PHOTO: chiangmaicitylife.com Chiang Mai’s second airport is progressing with the expropriation of private land set to start in September. Chiang Mai City Life reports that, following the Airports of Thailand approval of new airport projects in Chiang Mai and Phuket with the budget of 125 billion baht, the board will be proceeding on the expropriation of private land. Story about…

  • Thai woman drugs, then steals from two tourists – one of them is dead | Thaiger

    Thai woman drugs, then steals from two tourists – one of them is dead

    Chiang Mai police are on the hunt for a Thai woman they believe has been responsible for the drugging and robbery of two foreigners – one of them has died as a consequence of her crimes. An Indian and US tourist were independently drugged and robbed by a “pretty, short-haired” Thai woman. The Nation is reporting that the Chiang Mai…

  • Malaysian tourist caught lying to Chiang Mai police | Thaiger

    Malaysian tourist caught lying to Chiang Mai police

    PHOTO: Chiangmai News A Malaysian tourist is in hot water after telling Chiang Mai police that he’d been robbed by a foreigner in the city centre this morning. He’s now been charged with filing a false police complaint. 20 year old Pravin Krishnan was charged early this morning (Friday) less than two hours after lodging the complaint. Police say that he…

  • Chiang Mai’s Doi Suthep houses to be immediately vacated | Thaiger

    Chiang Mai’s Doi Suthep houses to be immediately vacated

    PHOTO: The Nation It’s time to go. The Chiang Mai OrBorJor and protest groups opposing the Doi Suthep housing project for judges and officials have agreed that the 45 housing units for judges must be immediately vacated. As those who still stay at a nine-unit condominium building, the meeting agreed that they must be moved too, to a smaller condo building within…

  • Gang violence flares up at a pub, ends up at hospital – Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    Gang violence flares up at a pub, ends up at hospital – Chiang Mai

    PHOTOS: Sanook Two gangs of young people went at it late into last night in Chiang Mai. When all the dust had settled one victim was recovering at the Chiang Mai Medical Centre. Sanook is reporting that the trouble started outside a pub in the Nimmanhaemin area of the city. A 21 year old was taken to Chiang Mai Medical Centre…

  • Protesters demand removal of the court-owned properties on Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    Protesters demand removal of the court-owned properties on Doi Suthep in Chiang Mai

    The fight over the Doi Suthep houses, deemed illegal several months ago, has taken a new tack over the weekend with an approach to the Department of Agriculture in Chiang Rai to build new offices and housing for judges there. But Doi Suthep protesters that’s not good enough. They say that the resolution to build new offices and residences for the…

  • Now everyone can fly – from CNX to Hanoi | Thaiger

    Now everyone can fly – from CNX to Hanoi

    It’s getting easier and easier to get around the region with new start-ups opening up the skies and current operators always introducing new routes. Now, the people that brought us the slogan “now Everyone Can Fly”, Air Asia, is launched four direct flights a week between Chiang Mai and Hanoi, Vietnam’s northern capital. The Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday flights start…

  • Chinese call centre gang raided in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    Chinese call centre gang raided in Chiang Mai

    PHOTO: Chiang Mai City Life Thai police have had a lot of success recently tracking down call centre gangs in all parts of the country. This time in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai City Life is reporting that a Chinese call centre scam operation was raided yesterday. Four Chinese citizens were arrested. The arrests occurred on August 7 at a housing…

  • Warning out for Samui ferry as waves reach 3 metres in Gulf of Thailand | Thaiger

    Warning out for Samui ferry as waves reach 3 metres in Gulf of Thailand

    The Samui Harbour Office has issued warnings to the ferry operator to be careful in both directions on the Surat Thani run with waves up high as three metres today in the Gulf of Thailand. The office has also prohibited small boats from leaving the shores of Koh Samui. The ferry boat operator was warned to check lifejackets and all…

  • Morning fire at the Chiang Mai post office | Thaiger

    Morning fire at the Chiang Mai post office

    The local precinct superintendent, Pol Colonel Chuwit Kongkaew, says a fire, suspected to have been caused by a short circuit, broke out this morning (Sunday) in the local post office. The incident happened at the one-storey post office building of the San Khamphaeng branch. The fire, which occurred at around 7am, took fire-fighters 30 minutes to get under control at…

  • Up to 1000 foreign volunteers affected by Chiang Mai immigration work permit stand-off | Thaiger

    Up to 1000 foreign volunteers affected by Chiang Mai immigration work permit stand-off

    The head of two foundations in Chiang Mai has revealed to ThaiVisa that a stand-off between the new head of the Chiang Mai labor office and the city’s immigration department is causing trouble for up to a thousand foreigners who are volunteering at charities around the province. Our source – who has asked not to be named – said that…

  • Illegal bird feed vendors arrested at Tha Pae Gate, Chiang Mai. | Thaiger

    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…

  • Protesters turn to ‘cursing ritual’ in the latest Doi Suthep protests | Thaiger

    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…

  • Chiang Mai wife grabs husband’s Glock and shoots him dead | Thaiger

    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…

  • Phrae bus crash – 35 university students injured | Thaiger

    Phrae bus crash – 35 university students injured

    Thirty-five students from the Uttaradit Rajabhat University have been injured following a bus and car collision on the Rayong to Chaing Mai road last night (Thursday). Four of the students and the unidentified car driver were seriously injured and the rest suffered minor injuries, including the 52 year old bus driver Wichien Phromtha. Pol Lieutenant Apichat Chuathong of Huai Rai…

  • Former US pilot shoots himself dead at house in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    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…

  • Miracle as amulet “saves” father and son in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    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.…

  • Bogus ‘botox clinic’ raided in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    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…

  • 86 billion baht budget set for Chiang Mai light rail system | Thaiger

    86 billion baht budget set for Chiang Mai light rail system

    A green light for a go ahead of Chiang Mai’s planned light railway transit system has been issued by the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA). Chiang Mai City Life is reporting that, following an initial approval for the project back in August 2017, the MRTA has finally given the green light to start the formal planning and construction…

  • 15 year old dies in Chiang Mai boarding house fire | Thaiger

    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…

  • Chiang Rai: Rescuers prepare to bring out the final five | Thaiger

    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…

  • First Mu Pa members emerge from Tham Luang cave | Thaiger

    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…

  • Chiang Rai: PM offers congratulations and thanks rescuers | Thaiger

    Chiang Rai: PM offers congratulations and thanks rescuers

    PHOTO: Thai PBS Thai PM Prayut Chan-o-cha has congratulated the officials, civilians, volunteers and foreign rescuers involved in the search and rescue operations. He applauded their success in finding the 12 boys and their football coach deep inside the Tham Luang cave on late Monday night. He also thanked specifically the Navy SEAL teams for their sacrifice, resolve and cooperation…

  • Chiang Mai: New Zealander accused of masterminding murder of his Korean mother Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    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…

  • Huge meth bust in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    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…

  • Chiang Mai: Son finds father dead in car | Thaiger

    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…

  • Visiting the Elephant Sanctuary Park in Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    Visiting the Elephant Sanctuary Park in Chiang Mai

    By Sebastian Jacobitz At the end of last year, I had the opportunity to travel for more than three months through Southeast Asia. I have already stated my travel plans before, and now the time has come where I want to recap on visiting the Elephant Jungle Sanctuary in Chiang Mai. It was hands down one of the best experiences…

  • Small guest-houses and hotels closing down across Chiang Mai | Thaiger

    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…