The Spa Resort Chiang Mai and the "Residences" are located within a 30 minute drive of the northern capital of Chiang Mai ... (www.chiangmai.com) Thailand 's "Rose of the North" and within 8 km. of the rural community of Mae Rim ... (www.maerim.com) with several outdoor markets and many local Thai restaurants all at a fraction of the cost you would expect to pay. It is also located within 2 kms. of the prestigious "Prem International School" ... (www.premcenter.in.th) known as one of the top international schools in Thailand , grades 1-12.
The spectacular Mae Sa valley, just a few kilometers away, is home to the luxurious Four Seasons Resort, as well as numerous natural attractions.
The valley is home to spectacular waterfalls, botanical gardens, butterfly farms, and flower markets. For the more adventurous the valley also boasts bungee jumping, off road 4wd adventures, and cart racing .Elephant trekking and river rafting are also popular activities here. Within 15 minute drive is the spectacular " Green Valley " golf course and country club. One of six in the Chiang Mai area.
Besides the world renowned natural and architectural beauty that Northern Thailand is famous for, many retired expats here consider the most important attraction to be the quality of life at such a favorable cost of living. It is definitely a factor in creating the lively foreign community that thrives here in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai is also well known for its many advanced medical facilities.
Welcoming visitors is an art perfected in Chiang Mai, and recent decades have seen the city emerge as one of Asia 's most popular and best value destinations. People come to experience the beautiful mountainous scenery of Northern Thailand , go trekking, eat, drink, party, delve into history and seek out adventure. The quiet winding lanes of the old town, the rustic old wooden guest houses, and Bed & Breakfasts, lively riverside restaurants, colorful hill tribe folk and bustling night bazaar all contribute to make Chiang Mai an unforgettable destination. With its rich cultural heritage, and rapidly growing contemporary music and arts scene ,Chiang Mai offers visitors an eclectic and rewarding cultural experience.
The city of Chiang Mai is considered to be Thailand 's second most important city and one of its largest. Despite this, it remains a tenth of the size of Bangkok , with an estimated 400,000 people living in the greater urban area of the city. A growing community of long stay foreign residents and tourists swell this figure by an estimated 100,000 during the tourist season.
Chiang Mai is located approximately 700kms north of Bangkok and 250kms south of the Myanmar border. It sits well within the tropics, located 18? north and is surrounded by mountain ranges which form the tail end of the Himalayan range.
Chiang Mai sits in a broad valley at an elevation of 330 metres above sea level. The valley is dissected by the Ping River - one of the four main tributaries of the great Chao Praya - and it runs roughly from north to south.
As much as 70 per cent of Chiang Mai province is covered in mountains and forests. Agriculture, mainly fruit, vegetables and some rice cultivation, is the mainstay of the local economy. In the past ten years, tourism has become an increasingly important economic growth point for the city. Other industry includes cottage industry, handicraft production, exporting, small scale business and manufacturing.
The city dates back to 1296 when it was founded as the new capital of the thriving Lanna Kingdom . Lanna (meaning 'a million rice fields') predates the kingdoms of Sukhothai and Ayuthaya and incorporated an area stretching from Chieng Sean, on the northern reaches of the Mekhong river, to Lamphun, just to the south of Chiang Mai. It is one of the few cities in the world that boasts a fully preserved square mile moat and, even today, the corner ramparts and restored gates remain.
Chiang Mai has been continuously inhabited for more than 700 years, but its fortunes have waxed and waned at the hands of invading armies from Laos , Central Thailand and Burma . From the pinnacle of its strength under King Mengrai (c.1300) to its submission as a vassal state under the Burmese in the mid 16th century, the city has managed to remain largely independent and was only formally included in the greater Thai Kingdom when the Lanna monarchy was extinguished early in the 20th century.
More Facts On Chiang Mai
The rooftop "Kalaes" are a unique Lanna icon found everywhere Eighty per cent of the local population are deemed 'Khon Muang' (meaning Northern folk) and they speak a slightly different dialect to the central Thai language. The last census determined that there are 1,547,085 residents in the Chiang Mai province, although this figure doesn't include the minority hill tribes whose status is often in limbo.
Chiang Mai is bordered by the provinces of Lamphun and Lamphang to the south, Mae Hong Son to the west and the country of Myanmar to the north. Chiang Mai is also home to Thailand 's highest mountain, Doi Inthanon, along with five other peaks counted among the country's ten highest. It also has five main national parks and more than a dozen smaller ones.
The region enjoys a mild tropical climate, regulated by the mountainous terrain.
Sunday, May 13, 2007
*Tourist dollars turn Chiang Mai into capital of cool* *JENNIFER CHEN*
To get a sense of how Chiang Mai, has changed in recent years, head to Nimmanhaemin Road, a street that runs south past the leafy campus of Chiang Mai University.
Five years ago, finding a decent cup of coffee in the biggest city in northern Thailand was a mission impossible.
Now on Nimmanhaemin, you find not one, but at least half-a-dozen cafes to please Java lovers. On one corner alone, there's a Starbucks and two local competitors with comfy seats and eclectic soundtracks that mix Ella Fitzgerald with Arcade Fire.
Foreign tourists to Chiang Mai, who flood the city during the peak October-March season, aren't the only ones getting their caffeine fix. Instead, on any given day, the tableau would probably include a clutch of bespectacled local architects hunched over their laptops and artfully disheveled Japanese expats.
As well as slick coffee shops, Nimmanhaemin is bustling with other barometers of gentrification: boutique hotels, spas, upscale boutiques,art galleries, swish restaurants and newly built apartment buildings and townhouses.
The trend is also apparent in the old city centre, where tourists usually start their trips. Everywhere you turn, there seems to be a spa or boutique hotel - and at least four English-language guides telling you which ones to go to. Tourism gurus say Chiang Mai has shed the stigma of being a backpacker destination and is now in the grips of another makeover. Some reckon that this once sleepy backwater is becoming the hip alternative to Bangkok , a year-round playground for foreign and local artists, architects and creative types.
"Everything before was Lanna - Lanna, Lanna, Lanna," says Pim Kemasingki, managing editor of /Citylife/, a local magazine her father started 15 years ago. "But you've suddenly got an era where you've got some really creative people who've said, `OK, Lanna is a great base but we're not just going to keep selling the same product and reinventing it over and over.' And Chiang Mai has suddenly woken up and there's now a lot of new, contemporary, cutting-edge modern and international design."
