Over the course of the year Michelin-starred chefs were invited to be guest chefs in Shangri-La’s kitchens, where they were challenged with using local produce and collaborating with the hotel’s kitchen crew, to create spectacular pop-up feasts for our city’s diners.

I’m going to give you a guide of the very best of the best spots to find some cruelty-free, (mostly) healthy, but more importantly, delicious food. Thai, Western, Chinese, Mexican, Israeli, Japanese, you name it – Chiang Mai has it, and its vegan.

After escaping the 40 degree heat into the stone-walled haven of cool air, I immediately understood why Thai monks wanted to build a temple underground, 700 years previously.

Talk of exploring? Thai delicacies are what you should be splurging. Think barbecued meat, syrupy sauces, intense spices, and dishes that burst out with a lot of aromas. For your kitchen, these cold holidays are five (5) of my favorite Thai specials to take the dull moments away.

Over 15 million visitors come through Chiang Mai every year, and I felt like the only one who wasn’t in love with the city.

Having my own company means that I have never had to face any sexual inequality in my workplace. And having my two best friends from childhood working beside me — one is our production manager of 20 years, another our sales manager of nearly ten — means that women haven’t, as far as I know, felt any inequality here either. So that’s good. But the fact is it exists and women around the world live and work in frustration over the unfairness of it all.

So if you, or your child, dream of studying in the United States, but your current connection to US colleges doesn’t extend further than that gained from Hollywood movies, the idea of leaving home to dive feet first into such a new world can be daunting.

Herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP) usually occur later in your adult life, caused by the general degeneration of your body system. However, it is now apparent that these days young people, as young as their early 20s can also suffer from HNP, due to the modern lifestyle — looking at the smartphone screen, sitting at the office all day.

As we wrote in one of our articles once, Cute is the new Cool, and Chiang Mai knows how to do both. Check out these adorable little places guaranteed to charm.

Put a bounce back in your step, wow your friends with a magic trick or spoil yourself rotten with a spa…choices choices.

Chiang Mai has always been a city with a bewildering number of new restaurants opening…and sadly old closing. Here are some of our favourite new discoveries this month.

Apart from the obvious – Doi Suthep, Doi Inthanon, et all – our team came up with this eclectic bucket list for 2019.

Recently, her name has been popping up with even more frenetic frequency as she invites and entices our city’s women entrepreneurs, and our male allies, to join her upcoming Bond Women’s Festival. So, being nosy, we decided to get to know her and find out what is up with this fiery ball of energy.

In late October Citylife was invited to join H.R.H. Prince Richard Duke of Gloucester and the British ambassador for their visit to the Children’s Advocacy Centre Chiang Mai. Following the dignitaries’ departures, we were introduced to Police Colonel Soonthorn Arunnara, Deputy Commander of Investigation Division Immigration Bureau and Police Colonel Thakoon Nimsomboon, Deputy Commander of the Anti-Trafficking in Person Division and the Head of the Thailand Internet Crimes Against Children (TICAC) Operation Team, both of whom kindly agreed to sit down for an impromptu interview.

The past year saw a slowing down of incoming Chinese tourist numbers and now we are hearing people bemoan the lack of Chinese tourists. So we thought we would take a look at where we are with our Chinese visitors and what the future holds for us both.

Tucked away in the fertile forests of Chiang Mai, deep in the heart of Sameong district, lies a hamlet of traditional villages where the Karen hill tribe live. In these remote communities, the women still wear native handwoven Karen tunics, and the men herd water buffaloes to plough the farm, as they once did 50 years ago.

Last May Alun Cooper put action to his words by bringing together a group of students and offering them a chance to influence the school’s strategic plans. Senior school student council members spent months identifying problems, creating visions, setting strategies and with a vast input of emotions and thoughts, presented their plan to the Head of School.

Elegant, bright from the rays shining down from the sun-roof, with open spaces offering views of the bustling Nimman soi 3, Saruda Finest Pastry is a sophisticated patisserie serving cakes, tarts, torts and sweet pastries at a quality and level of aesthetics hard to find in our city.

Alexa Hostel’s Nimman Social has fast become one of the area’s most popular hang- and meet-up venues. The hostel is aesthetically pleasing and very competitively priced for its prime location, with rooms and dorms available starting in the hundreds of baht.

This is a great spot for teenagers who enjoy playing different board games all day and having a chill weekend break from studying. This game haunt also offers a small selection of video games which you can play with your friends.

We love nothing more than discovering new places to eat and sharing our discoveries with you. Here are three of our recent pleasurable experiences this month. By the way there are many more we share in our other media, so make sure you also pick up a copy of our sister publication, Spoon&Fork, dedicated to all things food!

It is important to get outside of our comfort zones once in a while, whether it is to go somewhere new or indulge in a new experience. So, here you go, what are you waiting for?

“Clothes are the most intimate items for people,” said Wasin a (Aunchanum), costume designer of the mega budget and hit TV drama Raknakara, in a lilting Lanna accent. “It is more than a wearable apparel because it reflects our mindset, our economy, our lifestyle and our values.”

Bangkok. A wild city flashing with expensive bars, stagnant taxi rides and a labyrinthine of sois. I moved here recently and have been struggling to get my Chiang Mai friends to come down for a visit ever since.

Falalalalalalalala! ‘Tis time to get festive, feasting and fabulous.

Thailand and elephants are practically synonymous. Whether working or worshipped, elephants have coexisted closely with humans in this part of the world for millennia. Although naturally gentle and intelligent, their size and strength create unique challenges in managing as well as living side by side with them. These giants cannot be truly domesticated in the way that cattle and dogs have been bred for domestication.

Preventing cell degeneration can be challenging and convenient at the same time. It’s all about what we consume. The difficult part of this is knowing and understanding what we consume.

As you read this editorial I am writing in late November for the December issue you have in hand, we are already working on our January 2019 issue, so I can’t help my mind from skipping forward to what next year holds for Citylife and Chiang Mai.

Digital Nomads are permanently relocating to Chiang Mai in droves. It currently holds the #2 spot of Best Cities for Digital Nomads

When I heard the event named “Thailand’s Strongest Man” I thought about big burly men with bulging muscles and big scary voices. When my editor asked me to go, I really didn’t know what to think. So, I read up the schedule of the event before I went to try to familiarise myself with each competition – but it didn’t help much, because what on earth is a Log Press or a Bus Pull? When I asked my editor, she just shrugged her shoulders and told me to go and have fun and an adventure!

There is so much to enjoy here if you are a lover of a good lifestyle and have some time to indulge in a lazy few hours over a delicious dessert, a mocha berry coffee or some BBQ ribs…

We have noticed a renaissance, of sorts, of Thai cuisine here in Chiang Mai lately, as new and old restaurants turn to our roots to rediscover, reinvent, represent or simply recall ancient as well as regional Thai dishes…

The Citylife Garden Fair has been a nomadic affair over the past seven years since we sold our fabulous old office in 2011. To be honest, as nostalgic as I am about the garden of my childhood, it wouldn’t fit in a tenth of the crowds we’ve been pulling at recent fairs, so in spite of wistful homesickness, I agree with Dr. Pangloss that everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds.

Join us for this very special event that brings together the community with entertainment for the whole family. There will plenty of shopping available, with clothing, organic products, handmade crafts, secondhand goods and lots more on sale. We’ll see you at the fair. 

“Recycling has potential. It is an industry which can grow sustainably if the benefits are shared amongst all the people in the system,” said Sampan ‘Dome’ Nenrod, the founder of Eiamdee Recycle. His emerging and ambitious business has big plans to elevate Chiang Mai’s household waste management.

ICCRF is the only trade fair in ASEAN for children’s content rights which offers business opportunities to creators, writers and publishers to promote and showcase their works along with encouraging knowledge sharing and networking, while visitors can enjoy a bewildering variety of books from international publishers at special prices.

Four days passed by quickly, and like a typical fun vacation, I was sulking at the thought of going back to work. It might be the adrenalin rush of my first time in Taiwan, but the city is the image of what I imagine my hometown of Chiang Mai could be; clean and vibrant with street food and nightlife while also being safe, a city where art and technology coexist and nature is only an hour’s drive away.