The city’s first female friendly tattoo studio – a comfortable place to get tattooed without the added pressures of a male tattoo artist or designer.

Documentary film maker Marko Randelovic has recently spent time in Thailand, spending time with a number of hill tribes in the Chiang Mai and northern Thailand area. This is his press release that partners a small documentary short he made during his time here.

The Winter Fair, a generation ago, was the highlight event in Chiang Mai’s social calendar; a must-visit in the days when nothing else much was going on! Today it may not be as relevant as it once was, but it has retained a charming old world vibe that makes for a fun night out. Our new intern Ainee Setthamalinee visits the fair to bring you some photos and entice you to pop in for some kitsch fun.

Nestled among rolling vistas of rice fields, facing a panorama of mountains clothed in thick jungle, is the small hamlet known as Baanpong. Travelling from Chiang Mai city to Sankampaeng you’d drive right past it without knowing, but if you were fortunate to take the right turn and follow the meandering road to the district of Mae On Tai, you’d find one of the most picturesque spots on the fringes of Chiang Mai.

Instead of using hand gestures to get your point across, why not just visit a tattoo studio where the staff not only speak English, but understand it too.

The festive holidays are here, and in just a few days we will all be merrily clinking glasses over Christmas dinner and seeing in the New Year at our favourite bar. With all this free time, why not check out a few bars a bit further out of town? Call an Uber and head out for a great night, safe in the knowledge that you can drink as much as you want and have a warm ride home at the end of the night.

Spas and beauty parlors can be found on virtually every street corner of our bustling city as locals and visitors alike enjoy taking an hour or two out of their lives to get pampered and prettied. It is, however, unusual to find both a spa and a beauty parlour in one convenient location.

Citylife has been the northern partner to The Nation Multimedia on the Junior Dublin Literature Awards for ten years. This year’s subject matter is, “Moving Forward”.

Appearing at Chiang Mai Design Week 2017, BAMBOOINA curates 10 contemporary Indonesian brands.

The sight of a four foot elephant standing proud in locations around Chiang Mai is not an uncommon sight. Partnered with a sign that identifies their name, artist and even price – these are almost icons of the northern city and are often exported to parade in some of the biggest cities in the world all in aid of elephant conservation.

WAWEE is now starting a new project with Mama’s Kitchen presenting fine Middle Eastern cuisine, prepared by chef Nuntasarin ‘Neena’, Saisamut who will bring over 20 years of experience in cooking Pakistani food to the city bistro.

Celebrity Ink is becoming a well-known name across Chiang Mai, following its success in Phuket and opening around the world.

One of the coolest things about our upcoming Garden Fair is the sheer variety of artists and creatives who come out to share their work. You never know who you might encounter! This year we have the pleasure of featuring local American author Julian Mihdi as one of our vendors. In spring of 2017, Mihdi released his fiction debut Chimera: Four Stories and a Novelette in Salt Lake City, Utah. A native of Virginia, Mihdi is a former resident of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. Here at City Life we all knew Julian as a weekly host of hip-hop open mics at Sangdee Gallery. We were excited to catch up with him to learn what his new book was all about…

This latest addition to The Boutique Collection, The Boathouse is a secluded hideaway with a beautiful beachfront on Kata Beach Phuket.

Open your eyes and you will find that you are not in the Maldives, but in fact sitting in a recliner under the gentle twinkling lights of faux stars in an exciting new spa, right by Chiang Mai’s Tha Pae Gate.

The following information lists the government’s event schedule, and other events and promotions around the city in celebration of Yee Peng and Loy Kratong.

Here is Citylife’s definitive list on what to get up to this year – whether its getting dressed up and enjoying a few drinks or exploring a few special spooky horrors around town.

October 26 marks the day of the Royal Funeral of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej which is being held at Sanam Luang in Bangkok. Across the country there will be ceremonies and flower offerings including Chiang Mai. The Royal Funeral ceremony will take place at the International Exhibition and Convention Centre from 9am to 6am the following day.

Here is a list of all the Halloween style venues in Chiang Mai that are open year round – perfect for those who can’t wait till next October.

You can get a head start on your bids for the garden fair right here right now.

The Four Seasons Resort Spa has a resident expert from now until the 28th October whose skills will leave your body supple and release any tensions or strains you’ve been hoarding.

Taking the train to Bangkok can be quite an adventure, especially on the new trains! Here is our journey in photos, with mixed reviews.

In Chiang Mai, there will be events and ceremonies that everyone is invited to attend, here is what we currently know – follow us for more.

Get excited folks, we have a fantastic lineup of great music and entertainment for the upcoming Citylife Garden Fair. Great local bands have kindly volunteered to perform for us throughout the day, starting from 11am and ending at 9pm.

Exploring the site exposed a central lake with fountains and aquatic flowers. There was a swimming pool with a sloping entry for any with walking difficulties. The delightful colourful gardens, wheel-chair friendly, were meticulously tended. There were bamboo huts overlooking the lake and a centre with rooms for beauty care, massage, therapy and a gymnasium.

Thai Freedom House would like to extend a huge Thank You to all of the amazing, hard-working volunteers, staff and contributors to last years Citylife Garden Fair, it was truly an honour to be part of it and to be the recipients of a portion of the funds raised. We received a huge lump sum of 178,000 baht from the fair.

It has been a tentative season for the Halal industry in Thailand as the market, worth roughly 1.29 billion US dollars has both grown and shrunk, but is now on the rise again, and expected to grow by another 6 billion US dollars over the next year. Over the last 20 years, the number of certified Halal brands has risen from a mere hundred to over 160,000 brands, generating 6,000 million US dollars through the export market alone, exporting to countries all over the world, both Muslim and non-Muslim.

What is meaning? What is creativity? These are the questions the overflow audience took away from ‘In – Between’, performed by the Malangphu Group at the Maiiam Contemporary Art Museum on 9th September.

It has been a long day at work and you got a lot done. You feel like celebrating and unwinding with a few drinks with your colleagues…here are a few bars that fit the bill perfectly.

You breathed easier last haze season, didn’t you? Pat yourselves on the back. You helped to reduce the amount of smoke in the air by raising 1,000,000 baht to support the Warm Heart Stop the Smoke! Campaign. And how about a round of applause for Citylife? CityLife’s Garden Fair contributed a full 15% of that – 150,000 baht. You donated that, too!

Globally, and in the Asia Pacific region, an authoritarian patriarchal rule is ascendant and feminist space is under increased attack. In order to exist, we sisters (or rather like minded feminists, who do not necessarily have to be females) will have to resist and persist. Resist this patriarchal ascendancy and the consequent threats to civil society. And persist to challenge the exploitations and inequalities that are driving us towards unsustainable development.

Finding a good steak in town can be a difficult task. Rare, medium or well done – whatever your style may be, here are the best steaks in Chiang Mai that we think you should try next time you are craving a juicy hunk of beef.

When deciding to get a tattoo, the first thing you put your mind to is the design. Do you go for a Japanese style snake tattoo on your leg or settle with a simple, but classic tattoo of an elephant to remind you if your time in Thailand? Whatever your style, the most important thing is going into any tattoo shop with a clear idea of what you want – even if it is to get some advice! There are several other important things you should be aware of before jumping straight in; things that often get forgotten in all the excitement.

Earlier this year funkily coloured elephants were seen all over our city. From Tha Pae Gate to Nimmanhaemin, Wat Gate to Chang Klan, it seemed that for nearly two months, wherever we looked, there was a pretty statue of an elephant. It was the Elephant Parade’s ten year anniversary and nearly 100 elephants, many painted by local artists and celebrities, were back on their home turf, raising awareness about elephant conservation, promoting the arts and generally prettying up our fair city.