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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Grab and illegal tuk-tuks killing Chiang Mai rental company
PHOTO: Hia Kiang, the long-term owner of a tuk-tuk rental company says it’s no longer profitable – Chiang Mai News Recent news out of the northern city suggests that all is not all in the relationship between the App-world taxis and the traditional taxi services. Chiang Mai News is reporting that a long time owner of a business renting tuk-tuks…
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Chiang Mai authorities vow to take action on aggressive strays
by Nisanart Kangwanwong and Kriankrai Rattana Aggressive stray dogs are be removed from Chiang Mai’s streets in the Doi Saket district after an attack on a 14 month old girl last Sunday. The toddler is now receiving treatment at a local hospital. She received more than 100 bites after being attacked by strays and is being given antibiotic injections every eight…
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Public hearings planned for bill to legalise transgender cohabitation
PHOTO: Coconuts BKK Public hearings are to be held in the capital and other provinces on November 12-16 to gauge opinions from stakeholders about the ‘partnership bill’. The Bill would, for the first time in Thailand, legalise the cohabitation of transgenders. In Bangkok the hearing will be held at the Miracle Hotel while in the provinces, hearings are to be…
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University Dean hands over iPad evidence in Chiang Mai upskirt case
by Thanakorn Wongnang A Chiang Mai University dean has turned over to police an iPad belonging to a former lecturer at the school who has been accused of using it last month to take photos beneath female students’ skirts. The lecturer has not been publicly named at this stage. It’s understood that Associate Professor Prapa Sukkasem, dean of the Faculty…
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Tourists grafitti Chiang Mai caves
Chiang Mai authorities are trying to find the people responsible for graffiti in a Chiang Mai cave. Police are threatening to prosecute the offenders and seek jail terms for anyone who is caught. Chiang Mai News is reporting that foreign names have been scratched in the walls of a cave at the Mok Fa waterfall in the Doi Suthep – Pui…
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Northern temperatures to drop 3-5 degrees Celsius
OK, so we’ve exaggerated a bit. Mercury in Thailand’s north is set to drop another 3-5 degrees from tomorrow until Friday. Meanwhile southern regions are facing forecast rains and isolated heavy rain in some areas. The Thai Meteorological Department says another strong cold front out of China is looming south to cover the upper regions of Thailand from October 30-November…
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Chiang Mai’s Canadian spray painter released on bail
A Canadian woman, arrested in Chiang Mai for spraying graffiti on an ancient wall, says she’s sorry for what she did and “terrified about what comes next”. 22 year old Brittney Schneider, was in Chiang Mai last Thursday when she said she and some others got “ridiculously drunk.” Speaking to Canadian media, she says they started to walk back to…
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Another 15 million meth pills seized in Chiang Mai arrests
Police have arrested six men and seized 15 million methamphetamine pills they were allegedly trying to smuggle from Chiang Mai to Bangkok in four pickup trucks. The arrests were made between 8.30am and 3pm on Monday in four separate incidents at two checkpoints, on a road and at a resort in Mae Ai district in Chiang Mai, and further north…
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Chiang Mai glue sniffer beats up Chinese tourists
Sanook is reporting on what they described as yet another “devastating blow to Thai tourism”. In the latest case, the alleged glue-sniffing son of a downtown tailor went after two Chinese tourists with a wooden club as they innocently took photos in a tourist area. The attack occurred in the Wua Lai Road area where there is a ‘walking street’…
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Police go in search of accomplices after Chiang Mai haul of 10 million meth pills
Police have arrested a drug suspect this morning and confiscated a whopping 10.2 million methamphetamine pills in Chiang Mai’s Mae Ai district. The suspect, so far unnamed, was arrested along with the 102 sacks containing drugs in Ban Muser Oko (Moo 6) in Tambon Tha Ton by officers from the Mae Ai and Mae Chan precincts, as well as border…
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Two tourists’ graffiti might end them up in a Chiang Mai jail
A British and Canadian tourist face up to 10 years in prison after being charged with vandalism. The pair spray-painting graffiti on an ancient city brick wall in Chiang Mai. Reuters have reported that 23 year olds Furlong Lee (UK) and Brittney Schneider (Canada) were arrested at a guesthouse in Chiang Mai and are being held at the provincial court pending further questioning over…
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New Immigration chief sweeping a broom through Chiang Mai Immigration offices
SCREENSHOT: Komchadluek Responding to constant online chatter about the ‘mess’ at the Chiang Mai Immigration offices, the new Immigration chief, Maj-Gen Surachate Hakparn, is poised to transfer the existing Chiang Mai Immigration boss to an inactive post whilst further investigations are made into the office operations. People have been complaining about all matters, from long waits (some cited having to…
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Chinese arrivals down by half in Chiang Mai
PHOTO: Chiang Mai News A crisis meeting for tour operators has been held in Chiang Mai where they learned that Chinese tourism was down 50% in the first nine months of 2018. Some measures were put forward to woo them back – including setting up Chinese language classes to improve communication with the tourists from China. Reasons blamed for the…
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Mu Pa drops in on Gen Prayut at Government House
PHOTO: Thai PBS Members of the Mu Pa football Academy and team are back in Thailand following their whirlwind overseas tour of Argentina and the US, including an appearance on one of the most popular talk shows in the world. This morning they had a meeting this morning with the Thai PM Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha at the Government House. Accompanied…
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Chiang Mai flasher arrested
A Chiang Mai man has been arrested for allegedly exposing himself to foreign women in downtown Chiang Mai in recent days. Police said 54 year old Anusorn Pheraket,who lives in Tambon Wat Ket in Chiang Mai’s Muang district, was arrested late yesterday. Police have obtained a court order to detain Anusorn pending further questioning before pressing charges. Police tracked down…
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Airport tips for cheapies – Bangkok
Heading out of Bangkok and looking for a few financial short-cuts? Getting to the airport, Don Mueang or Suvarnabhumi, needs a bit of planning. To get to Don Muaeng from the Bangkok on time a taxi is probably going to be your best bet. If it’s in one of the peaks the taxi can take the ‘top floor’ route which…
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Tourists flock to Doi Inthanon for the morning mists
Tourists are heading for the hills to enjoy the first of the season’s cold snaps in northern Thailand. Both domestic and international have have been flocking to Chiang Mai’s Doi Inthanon, Thailand’s highest mountain, to enjoy the start of the cooler temperatures, dipping as low as 7 degrees Celsius. The Jom Thong district of Chiang Mai province experiences temperatures of…
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Violent tuk-tuk driver faces charges over incident at Chiang Mai airport – VIDEO
A tuk-tuk driver who led a blockade of a Grab taxi at Chiang Mai International Airport on Monday has no public-transport driving licence and will face several charges following the incident, which was exposed by a foreign visitor. The Chiang Mai Land Transport Office and the Chiang Mai police head office met today to plan legal actions after @Winston Vaduz…
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Happy Birthday Sweet 17
PHOTO: The Nation Happy birthday Lin Hui. Lin Hui is one of the stars of Thailand’s ‘panda frenzy’ a decade ago. Today she’s 17 years old and fans assembled at the Chiang Mai Zoo to sing “Happy Birthday” and maybe share some special birthday bamboo. Lin Hui’s mate Chuang Chuang got in on the fun as well, sharing her birthday…
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Australian living in Chiang Mai hangs himself from a roadside tree
An Australian man is believed to have hanged himself from a tree on a roadside in Chiang Mai’s Hang Dong district this morning. The man has been identified as Nicholas James Watek. A passer-by called the Hang Dong police around 9.30am after he saw the man hanging from a tree on Soi Bon Kai Doi Tham in Ban Doi Tham village…
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A backpack full of meth pills headed for Chiang Mai
A Chiang Mai man has been arrested las night after allegedly trying to smuggle 100,000 methamphetamine pills into the city from the Myanmar border, 100 kilometres away. Police at a checkpoint in Mae Ai district had signalled for a motorcyclist to stop but he sped off. With officers in pursuit, he lost control of his motorbike and came to grief…
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Two motorists died in Phuket road accident
PHOTOS: CITY LAW 201 / Newshawk Phuket Two motorists havedied in a road accident on Chalermprakiat Ror 9 Road (Bypass Road), southbound this morning. The Phuket City Police were notified of the accident at 5.45am this morning. Emergency responders and police arrived at the scene two find one deceased female and one deceased male. Two identification cards were found with their personal…
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Police find bodies of Briton, Thai wife buried behind their house in Phrae
The bodies of a Briton and his Thai wife were found buried over 2 metres deep in the garden of their property in Phrae Muang district today after they went missing on September 19. The Nation is reporting that the bodies of 64 year old Alan Scott Hogg and 61 year old Nott Sudaen were found buried beside a creek on…
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Three men have confessed, one remains on the run – murder of Phrae married couple
Three men have confessed to the murder of a missing couple – a British expat and his Thai wife – in Phrae. Police say the three men were hired by the woman older brother to kill the married couple. Police made the arrests in Wang Chin district late yesterday. They say they eventually had the confessions after hours of ‘intense’…
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Ambulance slams into tree in Lampang killing three
An ambulance returning to Phayao, after delivering a patient to Phitsanulok, has hit a tree in Lampang this morning, killing two nurses and the driver. Police say the accident happened at 7am on the Ngao-Phayao road in Ban Huay Oon village of Lampang’s Ngao district. The two nurses were identified as 42 year old Angsumalin Rakchat and 21 year old…
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Chinese tourists ignoring the PM’s orders
If Thai PM Prayut doesn’t have enough to worry about with errant politicians not towing the line, he now has to contend with Chinese tourists not obeying his instructions. Daily News is reporting that Chinese tourists are ignoring prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s orders to stop feeding Chiang Mai’s pigeons. The edict from the Thai PM’s office, that feeding pigeons is…
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Thailand’s air quality measurement standards raise concerns
by Chularat Saengpassa From next month, the Pollution Control Department (PCD) will set PM2.5 particles as an indicator of Thailand’s air quality, but the move does not ease the concerns of people in the know. “I must tell you that the PCD intend to use the ‘24-hour mean’ as the indicator and that may be misleading,” said Tara Buakamsri, the…
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Making your point, head first into a fish spa
Sometimes you have to go the extra distance to prove your point. Like putting your head in a fish spa. Sanook reports that a Thai owner of hundreds of fish spas around the country has made hi point about an Australian woman and the foreign media for discrediting his business. The actions of Chaiyaporn Lojaya follow the Australian’s claim in…
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Tourists caught up in Chiang Mai karaoke bar overcharge ‘scam’
PHOTO: Daily News A Chinese tourist and three friends lodged an official complaint with the Chiang Mai police about the operators of a karaoke bar who allegedly overcharged them. They say they were ‘shocked’ after being presented with a bill for 14,000 baht. The incident on Monday night resulted in the men seeking police assistance after being handed the bill.…
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Surprise raids seize fake goods valued at 30 million baht in Chiang Mai
The Night Bazaar market in the main city centre of Chiang Mai has been raided by 200 police. They seized 27,000 fake brand products with an estimated street value around 30 million baht. The raid started at 10pm on Wednesday night without warning, surprising shop owners. The police went through 25 outlets seizing fake branded goods – shirts, bags, clothing,…
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