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Chiang Mai also sometimes written as "Chiengmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in Northern Thailand, and the capital of Chiang Mai Province. It is located some 800 km north of Bangkok, among some of the highest mountains in the country. The city ... more »
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Airports Chiang Mai also sometimes written as "Chiengmai", is the largest and most culturally significant city in Northern Thailand, and the capital of Chiang Mai Province. It is located some 800 km north of Bangkok, among some of the highest mountains in the country. The city stands on the Ping river, a major tributary of the Chao Phraya river.
In recent years Chiang Mai has become an increasingly modern city, although it lacks the cosmopolitan gloss of Bangkok. It has many attractions for the thousands of foreign visitors who come to the city each year. Chiang Mai's historic strength derived from its important strategic location near a southern branch of the ancient Silk Road, and long before the modern influx of foreign visitors the city served as an important centre for handcrafted goods, umbrellas, jewellery (particularly silver) and woodcarving.
Chiang Mai hosts many Thai festivals, including:
* Loi Kratong: Held on a full-moon night in November. Every year thousands of people assemble floating banana-leaf containers (krathong) decorated with flowers and candles onto the waterways of the city to worship the Goddess of Water. Lanna-style hot-air lanterns (khom loi) are also launched into the air. These are believed to help rid the locals of troubles and are also taken to decorate houses and streets. * Songkran: Held in mid-April to celebrate the traditional Thai new year. Chiang Mai has become one of the most popular locations to visit for this festival. A variety of religious and fun-related activities (notably the good-natured city-wide water-fight) take place each year, along with parades and a Miss Songkran beauty competition. * Flower Festival: A three-day festival held during the first weekend in February each year, this event occurs during the period when Chiang Mai's temperate and tropical flowers are in full bloom. The festivities include floral floats, parades, traditional dancing shows and a beauty contest.
Chiang Mai has several universities, including Rachapat University, Rajamangala University of Technology, Chiang Mai University, Payap University and Maejo University -- as well as numerous technical and teacher colleges.
Chiang Mai is a regional centre for a number of activities, including:
* Hill-tribe tourism and trekking: A large number of different tour companies offer organised treks among the local hills and forests on foot and on elephant back. Most also involve visits to the various local hill tribes. These include representatives from the Akha, Hmong, Karen, and Lisu tribes. * Other outdoor activities: The varied local terrain also offers opportunities for mountain biking, elephant riding, bamboo rafting and kayaking. The area also has several golf courses. The nearby national park that includes Doi Inthanon, the highest mountain in Thailand, features many hiking trails. * Shopping: Chiang Mai has a large and famous nightly bazaar for arts, handicrafts and counterfeit products of all descriptions, and a number of large, well-appointed modern shopping centres. * Thai massage: The back streets and main thoroughfares of Chiang Mai have a variety of massage parlours which offer anything from quick, simple, face and foot massages, to month-long courses in the art of Thai massage. * Local museums: These include the Chiang Mai City Arts and Cultural Centre, the Hill Tribe Museum and the Chiang Mai National Museum. * Thai Cookery: A number of Thai cookery schools have their home in Chiang Mai.
Bus, train and air connections serve Chiang Mai well. A number of bus stations link the city to Central and Southern Thailand, The Central Chang Pheuak terminal provides local services to other locations within Chiang Mai province. Services from the Chiang Mai Arcade terminal, north-east of the city, run several times a day to Bangkok (a 10 to 12 hour journey). This terminal also provides services to over 20 other destinations around Thailand.
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The state railway operates 14 trains a day to Chiang Mai Station from Bangkok. Most journeys run overnight and take approximately 12 to 15 hours. Most trains offer a first-class (private cabins), and a second-class (seats fold out to make sleeping berths) service.
Chiang Mai International Airport receives up to fifteen flights a day from Bangkok, and also serves as a local hub for services to other Northern cities such as Chiang Rai, Phrae and Mae Hong Son. International services also connect Chiang Mai with other regional centres, including Xian (China), Kunming (China), Luang Phrabang (Laos), Taipei (Taiwan), Singapore, Hong Kong, Yangon (Myanmar) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) Tokyo (Japan).
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King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai (meaning "new city") in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lannathai kingdom. Mengrai constructed a moat and a wall around the city to protect it against raids from Burma. With the decline of the Lannathai kingdom, the city lost importance and often was occupied by either the Burmese or by the Thais from Ayutthaya. As a result of the Burmese wars that culminated in the fall of Ayutthaya in April 1767, Chiang Mai itself was so depopulated that the remaining inhabitants abandoned the city for fifteen years (1776 - 1791). Lampang functioned as the capital of what remained of Lannathai during that time.
Chiang Mai formally became part of Siam in 1774, when the Thai King Taksin captured the city from the Burmese. Chiang Mai rose in both cultural, trading and economic terms to gradually adopt its current status as the unofficial capital of the north of Thailand, second only in national importance to Bangkok.
The people generally speak Kham Muang (also known as Northern Thai or Lanna) amongst themselves, but the Central Thai of Bangkok is used in education and is understood by most. The old Kham Muang alphabet is now only studied by scholars and Northern Thai is commonly written using the standard Thai alphabet.
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* This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Source wikipedia.
