New hotels in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai also called the "Rose of the North" is the second biggest city of Thailand and the biggest city in the North of Thailand. The city itself including its suburbs hosts a population of a bit less than 1 million.


Chiang Mai is the capital of the province with the same name and is a province with still a lot of nature. The highest point of Thailand, Doi Inthanon 2565m, is also located in Chiang Mai province.


Chiang Mai city was founded in 1296 and became the capital of the Northern Lanna kingdom, now the Lanna culture is still very strong represented nowadays. A lot of olde Buddhist temples can still be found in the city center and Doi Suthep is seen as one of the most important temples of Thailand. Next to a well preserved cultural heritage Chiang Mai can be proud of its environment. The city is situated is surrounded by hills and mountains and is held in the valley of the Ping river. A lot of different fauna and flora can be found in the nature around Chiang Mai. All the big elephant camps of Thailand are also located in this province and can be found in the woods around the city.



Because of Chiang Mai's culture, nature and friendly people, a lot of foreigners have made Chiang Mai there second home. A lot of accommodations were build to satisfy guests from over the whole world and it is easy to find your favourite food, the newest clock buster movies, foreign supermarkets, bowling alleys, ... Each year a lot of tourist come to visit the Rose of the North. Some will prefer to visit temples, go mountain biking in the nature, take a stroll on the back of an elephant, go bungee-jumping or learn to cook real Thai food than to relax on a beach in the South of Thailand. And so visitors will certainly come back to Chiang Mai on their next trip to Thailand.

Internationally Chiang Mai gets more and more recognized. They held a European movies week at the local mall and this weekend the "Sumo world championship" was held at Chiang Mai's sport stadium.



The tourist business is hence booming in this marvelous city. On every corner of the street you will found a counter tour to book any information. Free maps from the city all sponsored by the many tailor shops and foreigners making the streets a dangerous place on their rented motorbikes.

The average tourist is not anymore the unshaven rasta backpacker. From the little baby to the old grandpa they are all represented in Chiang Mai. That means that a more demanding clientele have also found its way to the North. The Oriental hotel was the only five-star hotel in Chiang Mai.

Now two more five-star hotels are being build right in the city center, about 600m from each other. The new "Shangri-la" will be completed end of December, while "Le Meridien Chiang Mai" will start operating in January. Both hotels will have together about 800 rooms. That means a lot of work opportunities for the local people. But five-star hotels need experienced and good staff and nowadays a lot of other hotels are afraid their staff might grab this opportunity.



Nok has found work for one of these hotels! Her position will be "shift leader" at "Le Merdien". She will have to train her staff and help them to give a meticulous service to the clients. She is very excited about her new job and the salary isn't bad neither for Thai standards. To work for an international hotel chain can increase her chance of promotion or maybe an exchange project, haha who knows. Meanwhile I am relaxing a bit and I picked up my running habit again, every two days I will finish some rounds at the local sport stadium. I can assure you I sweat a lot in this tropical heat, during the day it's about 33 degrees nowadays and this is wintertime!

Le Meridien Chiang Mai