Naka Foundation: Changing the Narrative for Captive Elephants
We in Thailand have long taken elephants for granted. They have always just been ‘there’, taking our kings into battle through history, sung about in nursery rhymes, seen begging on the streets and as a tourist magnet. Elephants have lived amongst us and with us for so many generations that today’s trend to ‘free’ elephants, calling for a return to the wild, can be quite bewildering to we Thais.
Mickey Mouse House
“I never thought it would get this big, but here we are…” These were the words spoken to me when Naren ‘Oak’ Panyapu opened the door to the north of Thailand’s very first independent Micky Mouse memorabilia museum in Lamphun. Walls were covered in glassed off shelves that were stacked to the brim with rows and rows of Mickey Mouse figurines, toys, plushies and wall hangings. “I first starte … Continued
The Offbeat Lure of Lampang
When was the last time you visited Lampang? No, seriously, when did you actually visit rather than pass through on your way to Tak or Bangkok? For many, Lampang is all about ceramics and horses and carts, and frankly, once you’ve been there and done that…well. This month, Citylife takes it upon ourselves to discover the hidden secrets and quirks of Lampang to see if we can entice you go give it another go. Sure, Lampang right now is a hotter, smokier and dryer city than Chiang Mai, and yes, its lack of public transportation is a pain (unless you want to help a mule get a day closer to heat coma) but go on, get into a car or hop onto a bike, and head to Lampang and check out some of our recent discoveries.
Blooming Chiang Mai
This time of year, its difficult to appreciate the natural beauty of our city. With the thick smog and crippling heat, its hard to even leave the house. But if you do gather the courage to step outside, take a moment to notice the flora and fauna that appears this time of year. If the smog and the heat is just too much, we here at CityLife have done the noticing for you. Enjoy these pictures taken around our blooming city.
Bike4Elephant Rides to Bee the Change for Wild Elephants
I sport silver elephant earrings and cotton elephant pants on the regular, and I have several off hand facts I can spew off at you about why they’re the coolest mammal on planet earth. For example, elephants live in matriarchal family groups and elephants can use their trunks to get a little tipsy. However, until recently I have to confess I didn’t know a lot about the plight of elephants specific to Thailand. This changed when I had the opportunity to ride my bike alongside Bring the Elephant Home (BTEH) staff and volunteers this week in their first Bike4Elephants Beehive Expedition in Loei.
Riding into the Mountains with BMW and Shangri -La Hotel Chiang Mai
For the first time since its inception, the BMW Motorrad International GS Trophy was held in South East Asia this year, with northern Thailand the chosen setting for a competition amongst the world’s best amateur riders of the BMW R1200 GS. This year, the 5th time the competition has been held, saw the largest number of riders – 57, as well as 19 embedded journalists – in 19 teams coming from a total of 25 countries. Prior to being held in Thailand, the GS Trophy was held in Canada in 2014, South America in 2012, Southern Africa in 2010 and Tunisia in 2008.
Imperial Mae Ping Welcomes Biggles Big Band
Set in the heart of the Night Bazaar, the Imperial Mae Ping sits majestically amongst the bustle on a vast property, attracting tourists and locals alike. The modern Lanna style hotel offers up a fantastic range of facilities, from full service accommodation to multiple dining venues. This month however, on March 11th, Imperial Mae Ping is playing host to something a lot more special.
A Brush of Art Before Bed? The Grand Opening of Art Mai? Gallery Hotel by Compass Hospitality
On the February 13th, Citylife was invited along with hundreds of special guests to enjoy the experience of the exciting Art Mai? Hotel set on soi 3 Nimmanhaemin. If you are an art lover then this is a must-stay hotel for you (rooms come with easels!), but even if you are a simple appreciator, then this hotel will impress.
Rising High at Chiang Mai Balloon Park
It was very early on a Saturday morning, after a long week interning at Citylife, covering murder stories, traffic updates and all sorts of news and reviews. I was exhausted, but managed to get myself out of bed before the sun rose. Bleary eyed, I took a quick shower and jumped onto my motorbike. The powerful aromas of grilled pork and other morning delights teased me along my journey to San Sai, and I had to stop to grab a quick breakfast to fortify myself for the excitement to come. Cutting through the morning fog and fumes, I finally arrived at a big field which is used to launch hot air balloons.
Warorot Market’s Secret Treasures
We have all been to Warorot Market, it is a Chiang Mai institution. Our mothers took us shopping there in our youths and now we take our foreign friends to take Instagrams and try out bugs and all sort of local delights. For over a hundred years, Warorot has maintained its market vibe, changing its produce and faces as times and generations go by.
Camp Meating: Hidden Camp of Chiang Mai
As those winter spells call to us again, many thousands of people from across the world visit Chiang Mai and are blown away by the cool breeze and the foggy views. Many tourists however, miss out on the best things that Chiang Mai has to offer, unaware of the secret views, eating places and social hubs that are ever new in the city.
A Bangaluru Adventure
Bangaluru (Bangalore) may not be an obvious choice for a holiday. It doesn’t have the allure of Mumbai’s Bollywood royalty, Delhi’s fascinating layers of historic lost empires, Jaipur’s photogenically iconic pink city and floating palace, Goa’s chilled vibes or Manali’s chillum-fueled Himalayan spirituality. It’s a sprawling lush green metropolis of over eight million people touted as the Silicon Valley of India, a Garden City, a Pensioners’ Paradise as well as India’s Pub City — quite an eclectic and seemingly contrasting handful of epithets!
The King of Cambodia
Well, New Year has come and gone and I think This month I was looking forward to recounting the tale of how I met the king of Cambodia. Unfortunately I didn’t meet the king of Cambodia and, as I assume the majority of the people on this planet have never met the king of Cambodia, telling of an adventure where I failed to meet his royal highness isn’t really much of a story.
Chiang Mai’s Winter Fashion In Pictures: Donations To Charities Needed
It’s that time of year again, but this time it’s different. The cold breeze overhead is worse than people in Chiang Mai have experienced in years, and with such a dramatic shift in temperature, many of us are not prepared. So in times of need, we make do, and here are some people Citylife snapped around Chiang Mai today making use of what they can find to keep warm.
Nimmanhaemin, Chiang Mai’s New China Town
Citylife’s young interns from Mae Jo and Chiang Mai Universities set out to explore Nimmanhaemin Road this week to show how it has changed since the influx of Chinese tourists over the past few years. Business is booming and signs of (and for) Chinese tourists everywhere.
A Special Treat at Phuket’s Classic Amanpuri
This was supposed to be a travel story about Phuket’s Surin Beach, but the minute I checked into the exquisite Amanpuri I knew that I wasn’t going to leave until the last call from the limo to return to the airport. Having won just about every single award and accolade in the industry over its nearly thirty years, the Amanpuri is the grand dame of Thailand’s resorts and the first and flagship hotel in the Amanresorts brand.
TEDx Asks if You Dare
For all those who don’t know, TEDx is and international creativity and ideas forum which invites guest speakers to explore a vast range of topics — sciences, philosophies, cultures, religions, politics and anything else you could imagine. This year TEDx will be held here in Chiang Mai on the 30th January 2016, locals and visitors attending the event will be asked to “Dare To…”
A Timeless Teahouse
I stepped through the doorway, took off my shoes and slid into a pair of Chinese slippers. The floor was of varnished mahogany, the furniture inside the teahouse similarly polished to a high sheen, with quintessential Chinese designs finely engraved into every nook and cranny. In the far corner stood a man, dressed in traditional clothing – of which tradition it was hard to tell – with a silver teapot in his hand and a serene smile on his face.
Going Back: The Part Nobody Warns You About
The last few days were rough. Rob and I both got food poisoning from an ill-conceived late night hot dog binge, and spent our final hours taking turns packing and puking. Farewells were a fever dream; my nausea felt like a premonition – leaving Chiang Mai literally made me sick.
The Great Escape
We consider ourselves a fairly intelligent bunch here at Citylife; I mean, we write things that people read and all. To be fair, I don’t know many people who wouldn’t describe themselves as intelligent, so I suppose our opinions of our own gray matter are neither here nor there. But when we heard about the soon to be opened Escape Hunt, we reckoned we would get a team together and go along to show off our smarts and come back feeling smug in our intellect.
10 Years of Citylife Garden Fair
This was the 10th year of our Citylife Garden Fair, and was by a long shot the most spectacular affair to date. It all started when a few of our readers came to ask to use our old Citylife garden to organise a small fair to raise money to help the victims of the 2004 tsunami. We invited friends, clients and anyone who cared to join in and had about thirty or forty stalls selling goods to the few hundred readers who turned up. It was such a lovely day that we decided to do it twice a year (choosing two to three beneficiary charities per event), which we did until the whole thing simply got too big so we pulled it back to an annual event.
Five Reasons to go to Vientiane
Vientiane, Laos, is a relatively sleepy capital city when compared with many others in the region. Most visitors from Chiang Mai tend to stop over for a brief overnight before heading to the ruins of Pakse or the World Heritage charm of Luang Prabang…or as so many expats know, to sit in the Thai embassy waiting for a visa. But there are indeed great reasons to go to Vientiane, and here are some of them.
Citylife Garden Fair ’15
Over the past ten years our Citylife Garden Fair has grown up, evolved, and simply grown into a pretty incredible annual event which, according to JJ Hobby Market, attracted over 5,000 people last year, raising nearly 220,000 baht for two local charities in 2014. The fair is now way bigger than our small staff can handle, and thankfully we have been supported by a team of dedicated volunteers, who are promising to make this year’s event the biggest and best yet.
7000 Jehovah’s Witnesses Coming to Town
I had never met a Jehovah’s Witness before. While I had heard funny stories of people having to contend with their door being knocked here in Thailand, I thought their numbers to be nominal – that was until I heard that this month over 7,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses would be attending the biggest non-sporting convention Chiang Mai has ever seen.
It’s High Season
After a few quiet months, Chiang Mai’s festive season has started with a spectacular bang. Following a strange cold spell last week, this past weekend saw enough events to keep Steve Yarnold from complaining of boredom for a few days. A running commentary by many people who attended these events was that Chiang Mai is almost unrecognizable from the city it was in the past. Sophisticated affairs – sans flip flop – incredible world cuisines and wines and high caliber art work battled it out for our attention.
One Day Pass Detox at The Pavana Chiang Mai Resort
We all grumble about losing weight, feeling tired and fatigued; we talk about making changes, kick-starting our lives. But most of us don’t do anything about it. So when The Pavana Chiang Mai Resort invited Citylife to experience their famed detox programme, I jumped at the opportunity.
Rugby World Cup in Chiang Mai – Venues and Fixtures 2015
The Rugby World Cup has come around once again, and Chiang Mai’s loyal followers gear up for another season of late nights and wild adventures trying to find that late night showing. This information will be constantly updated, so check back regularly for any more information about venues, promotions and changes to fixtures.