The Night Safari has become the source of best wildlife atmosphere in Chiang Mai. This can be seen from small and large animals in the country as well as animals from other parts of the world being born from natural breeding such as giraffe, zebra, deer, hippopotamus or even tapir which is considered to be an animal with pregnancy difficulty and delivery complex.

Recently, the mother of Bengal Tiger Wan Yen delivered 4 tiger cubs on 6 May, gender remained unidentified as the mother tiger had been very protective, snuggling with its babies all the time, growling at zookeeper not to get near.

According to Chiang Mai Night Safari executive Dr Sarawut Srisakul large numbers of newborns in the zoo are influenced by perfect condition of rich nature in the forest for breeding to be naturally occurred regardless of animal’s origin. This enhanced the development of their relationships; consequently numerous large and small animals are being born which have broken the statistics of more numbers in newborns compared to deaths. The campaign has also been established with the aim to return the animals to their habitat in the North of Thailand, such as barking deers and the animals that can live naturally in the forest.

Currently Chiang Mai Night Safari has 15 bengal tigers, with 4 males, 7 females and 4 cubs of unidentified gender. The Chiangmai Night Safari will open to public to visit these tiger cubs after they are strong enough to be separated from their mother.

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That was until six other tourists died in the city, including three in the same hotel.

Most had very similar symptoms, including myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart.

Thai authorities have maintained the deaths were coincidence, but tonight, 60 Minutes has credible evidence that Sarah Carter died due to insecticide poisoning.

60 Minutes travelled to Chiang Mai and took samples from the bedroom Sarah stayed in at the Downtown Inn, while posing as a hotel guest interested in renting a room.

When she got there the entire fifth floor, the floor where Sarah and her friends stayed, was being pulled apart and cleaned.

It is understood health authorities were due to visit the hotel the next day.

Before leaving for Chiang Mai, 60 Minutes spoke to a New Zealand scientist who suspected insecticide poisoning.

Thai police were also thinking along the same lines and according to an inspector in the local force had raided the company in charge of eradicating insects at the hotel.

We managed to glean from an inspector, the police had raided the company in charge of eradicating insects at the hotel.

Chiang Mai’s Head of Public Health Dr Surasing was also investigating this theory.

“I’m not the specialist,” he said. “But it’s possible that they mixed together the wrong chemicals.”

But Dr Surasing was not able to mention the chemicals that were used in the hotel or the company contracted to use them.

The idea that some Thai hotels could be using unsafe chemicals first came to light two years ago when American Jill St Onge and Norwegian Julie Bergheim died at a Thai resort after they began violently vomiting.

American investigators suspected chemical poisoning but the Thai authorities lost all the samples.

However, 60 Minutes’ samples were being looked after carefully and were taken back to New Zealand for testing by an independent laboratory.

The lab found tiny traces of an insecticide, chlorpyrifos, which is banned in some countries for domestic use.

“I think she’s been killed by an overzealous sprayer who has been acting on the instructions of the hotel owner to deal with the bed bugs,” said chemical expert Dr Ron McDowall, who works for the United Nations cleaning up toxic rubbish dumps.

He said the traces brought back were small, but the fact that the chemical was found three months later, in a room that had been scrubbed, points to chlorpyrifos poisoning.

To further check his theory, Dr McDowall sent the results to other experts in New Zealand and Italy.

“Their reaction was that it is clear, it’s CY poisoning – we’ve seen it before, the symptoms are the same, the pathology is the same, and the proxy indicates that the chemical was in the room. Because it was a proxy with a reasonable level it means the amount in the room was high.”

This spray may have been used only in certain rooms where there was a known bed-bug problem which may be why not everyone at the hotel got sick, but Sarah Carter did.

Unfortunately the blood samples taken from Sarah Carter cannot tell us the answer.

“The chemical is absorbed by the body very quickly. It only has a half-life of a day so it can be very hard to detect after the event,” said Dr McDowall.

Despite this Dr McDowall was confident the symtoms Sarah had plus the manner of her death fitted with chlorpyrifos poisoning.

Yesterday we took our findings to Sarah Carter’s parents, Richard and Anna.

“It’s good to get an answer,” said Mr Carter. “But pretty horrific that they have such low standards that that can happen.”

“I didn’t want it to be an individual,” said Ms Carter. “I wanted it to be some faceless, nameless thing. I guess this does bring closure, at least we know so it doesn’t happen to anybody else.”

“Hopefully there will be some action taken now and it won’t be like the other cases where it is swept under the carpet and is just an unexplained death, never substantiated with any follow up.”

The Carters have struggled to get information from the Thai authorities and they question how much effort is being put into the investigation.

“Their short term defence is to bury all these incidences so that the rest of the world doesn’t hear about them to ensure their tourist numbers don’t drop off,” said Mr Carter.

The Govenor of Chiang Mai, who has always maintained the deaths are not linked agreed to sit down with 60 Minutes and answer some of our questions.

60 Mins: You have said that the seven deaths were a coincidence. Do you still believe that?

Governor: I do believe. I do believe coincidence.

60 Mins: I think people find it very hard to believe that seven people dying in similar circumstances is a coincidence.

Governor: It is a very bad occasion and such bad luck for that hotel.

60 Mins: If this had happened in New Zealand the hotel would have been shut down – why hasn’t it been shut?

Governor: There are concerns of certain rules of law in the country. We are very saddened by what happened to Miss Sarah Carter.

60 Minutes also spoke to one of Sarah’s travelling companion, Emma Langlands who also became ill and has not spoken publically about the ordeal until tonight.

She says the three friends had been looking forward to going off on their OE together.

“We were really excited, really looking forward to a well-deserved holiday,” she said.

After holidaying on a Thai island the girls headed for a more cultural experience in Chiang Mai, a northern city renowned for its rivers, markets and temples. There they planned to go elephant trekking and visit the local hill tribes.

Sarah Carter, Amanda and a third friend Emma, arrived in Chiang Mai late in the afternoon.

They went to the Downtown Inn, dipped their toes in the pool, booked themselves on a tour and then went to Chiang Mai’s night markets.

The girls were pretty worried about what they could safely eat and chose a well-known food court to eat at.

“We were very cautious about where we chose to eat and if we didn’t like the look of a place then, you know, we wouldn’t eat there,” said Amanda.

“Sarah and I chose pork curry, and Amanda chose to have a chicken pita kebab.”

So given the three girls ate different meals and none of them ate any toxic seaweed, as early reports suggested, it seems a food poisoning diagnosis is unlikely.

Amanda said the trio’s first impression of the Downtown Inn was good.

“I mean nothing really stood out. The room seemed really clean and there was no, you know, strange smells or anything like that. We did see a sign that indicated that the hotel was sprayed with insecticides but we don’t know when that occurred.”

When the girls woke the next morning all three had sore stomachs and they began vomiting.

They got so bad that night they were rushed to Chiang Mai Ram Hospital with suspected food poisoning.

Two girls recovered, sadly Sarah Carter suffered heart and kidney failure and died the next morning.

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Amanda Eliason, Emma Langlands and Sarah Carter.

It’s taken the lives of seven tourists, all of whom fell ill from a mystery illness in Chiang Mai, Thailand this year.

Now two young New Zealanders have spoken out for the first time about their harrowing story of falling sick at Chiang Mai’s Downtown Inn hotel with the illness that killed their friend Sarah Carter.

Emma Langlands and Amanda Eliason, both 23, shared their story on the website thailandtraveltragedies.com, set up by Miss Carter’s father Richard, who believed Thai authorities “covered up” details relating to his daughter’s death.

Miss Langlands and Miss Eliason wrote that they arrived in Chiang Mai early in the evening of February 2 and took a taxi to the Downtown Inn, which seemed “clean and comfortable”.

They visited the night bazaar, eating at an indoor food court.

“Amanda ate a chicken pita kebab, and Emma and Sarah ate red pork curry. Both Amanda and Sarah drank a passionfruit shake. Later at the hotel, we drank the bottled drinking water provided for us.

“We woke up early on 3 February, and within half an hour of each other, all fell ill. We called a doctor to our room mid-morning.”

They improved in the afternoon and ate some food the hotel provided, but took a turn for the worse that evening and were admitted to hospital about midnight.

Hotel manager Thanthep Bunkaew has previously told of seeing the girls vomiting in their room, and arranging a doctor to visit and hook up an intravenous drip.

“The manager of the hotel was very attentive when he found out we were ill, and he later visited us in hospital.

“During the day we spent in the hotel room, we were aware that people were concerned about a guest in the room next to ours, and were attempting to enter that room. On one of his visits to hospital, the manager told us that the person had passed away.”

Miss Carter, 23, died in Chiang Mai Ram Hospital as Miss Eliason lay in the bed next to her, recovering from emergency heart surgery.

Early reports suggested Miss Carter’s death was caused by toxic seaweed she had eaten, but food-poisoning tests were inconclusive.

A report in March by Thailand’s Department of Disease Control found Miss Carter was one of three people to die from myocarditis – heart inflammation – between January 9 and February 4.

Three more travellers staying at the Downtown Inn died in similar circumstances. Chiang Mai governor Pannada Disakul said their deaths were a coincidence.

Miss Langlands and Miss Eliason said they had provided information and samples for the continuing investigation, and hoped that process could give answers.

Since his daughter’s death, Mr Carter created thailandtraveltragedies.com to raise awareness of the dangers tourists can face in the country.

Easter had been a difficult time for the Carters, as it would have been Miss Carter’s first visit home to Auckland since the Thai trip. The Victoria University graduate was working at BDO Spicer in Wellington.

“Fortunately we’ve had a lot of family around, which has been comforting, but it has been very hard,” Mr Carter said.

He was pleased his daughter’s companions had allowed him to share their story. Thailand was being wrongly touted as a haven for young tourists, “but it’s not – it’s a Third World country”.

“If we’d known then what we know now, we would have discouraged Sarah from going.”

He still believed it was a toxin or a poison, rather than a virus, that made the women ill. The family was awaiting test results from Japan and the United States and hoped they would provide conclusive evidence.

A report by Thailand’s Department of Disease Control in mid-March identified a Frenchwoman aged between 23 and 33 as the third person to die of myocarditis between January 9 and February 4 in Chiang Mai.

A Californian, Mariam Soraya Vorster, 33, who was working as a guide in Chiang Mai, died on January 11, just over three weeks before Miss Carter’s death.

Ms Vorster’s husband said his wife was in excellent health before she came down with symptoms of food poisoning and died.

Canadian Bill Mah, 59, died on January 26. He had used the facilities of the Downtown Inn.

Thai officials put three other deaths in similar circumstances down to coincidence.

Thai local Waraporn Pungmahisiranon died two days before Miss Carter, and British couple George and Eileen Everitt died less than two weeks later.

All were staying at the Downtown Inn, the same hotel as Miss Carter.

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The long-stay market is a strong niche and it would improve tourism revenue in the province after political protests last year.

“Cultural tourism has been promoted for a long time, but competition in the field is intense. Many other provinces have attractive Songkran celebrations,” said chamber president Narong Kongprasert.

The chamber reported that local tourism declined following political protests by supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra last April and May, But the incidents took place in a limited area and did not tarnish the province.

“It’s time to refocus our strength,” said Mr Narong. “We are confident that Chiang Mai is still a tranquil place with nice weather and perfect to be a second home.”

Living expenses in Chiang Mai are lower than Bangkok, while its low crime rate is another advantage.

The province is a long-stay hub for foreigners, especially Japanese. About 3,000 Japanese are long-stayers and have a close community through the Thailand-Japan Longstay Association.

Many Japanese stay in Chiang Mai for about one month on their first visit to see whether they can adjust to the local environment. Once they like the place, their second stay is usually three to five months. Their average spending is 30,000 baht a month, providing revenue of more than 1 billion baht to Chiang Mai each year.

“We expect to welcome more Japanese elderly in years to come. Once the number rises to 10,000, it means the province gets revenue up to 4 billion baht, much the same it earns from selling longan for the entire year,” Mr Narong said.

At least 800,000 Japanese retire every year and many choose to have a lengthy stay abroad.

The Japanese consulate in Chiang Mai revealed at a recent seminar that over the past decade the number of retired Japanese who had moved to find a second home overseas had increased by 38%. About 360,000 chose Asian destinations, up from 200,000 10 years ago, with 80% deciding to reside in Thailand.

The consulate estimates that several million Japanese will retire in the next three years and they will be high-quality tourists with high purchasing power.

Mr Narong expects Japanese long-stayers to increase by 10-15% next year as the recent natural disasters may drive people to stay out of the country longer.

The chamber has teamed with hotels and serviced apartments to renovate and reserve about 10% of their rooms or a whole floor for long-stayers, who also include retirees from Scandinavia.

“Local developers have shown good support for the project and it is estimated that there are 2,000 rooms available for new long-stayers,” Mr Narong said.

Government agencies such as the Tourism and Sports Ministry also supported the project with a plan to launch a retirement school to provide classes such as Thai cooking, Thai massage and planting vegetables for the elderly.

These might not be enough if Thailand wants to compete with Malaysia’s long-stay campaign.

The “Malaysia’s My Second Home” programme offers a 10-year residency permit and permission to buy property. In Thailand, long-stayers get a one-year visa and have to renew it every year. “Despite Thailand’s reputation for warm hospitality, I think there are many things the government must do to improve competitiveness,” he said.

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Lin Ping, who is one year and 10 months old, was due to move to China in May on her second birthday, but she will be allowed to stay in Thailand until 2013, the AFP reported.

The youngster was the first giant panda cub to be born in Thailand after a successful artificial insemination project at Chiang Mai Zoo.

Lin Ping is a national star in Thailand, with a 24-hour Panda Channel allowing nature enthusiasts to follow her every move.

Her name literally means ‘forest of ice’ in Chinese and was decided upon after a 2009 competition yielded 22 million suggestions.

The decision to let Lin Ping stay in Thailand for two more years was announced today (April 7th) by Chinese parliamentary leader Wu Bangguo, who was speaking with visiting Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

Written by Alex Cochrane

“We are very confident that the Chiang Mai hub will receive positive response as there is a huge demand from Singaporeans as they visit the attractive city and also travel onward to other popular destinations in Thailand. People from Chiang Mai will also benefit from this new service as Singapore is renowned as a shopping paradise, leisure centre and food haven. The new route is a significant achievement for us, as it signifies our drive and commitment in expanding our network, providing an extensive choice of destinations to our guests. With AirAsia’s excellent connectivity and low fares, communities in both Thailand and Singapore and the rest of the Asean region will now get to enjoy greater reach to many places and see more of the world with utmost convenience. With the introduction of this route, our Singaporean guests can now reach Chiang Mai in 2 hours and 50 minutes without the hassle of transiting in Bangkok”, says Tassapon Bijleveld, CEO of Thai AirAsia.

Chiang Mai is well known for its natural beauty of waterfalls, mountains and lush landscape. The northern city is also a center for artistic talent, with vibrant night markets, handicrafts and many individual artist boutiques. Chiang Mai is home to the famous Thai-born panda, Lin Ping, who resides in Chiang Mai Zoo. All of these unique qualities of the city serve as good reasons for people to visit. Currently, around 5 million people explore Chiang Mai every year and the numbers are still growing.

“This is really great news for Chiang Mai and with greater accessibility to the city, there is no doubt that we can expect an increase in tourism and more people to visit the charming destination”, says Porntip Makornpan, Director of Tourism Authority of Thailand in Singapore.

President and chief executive officer Tjeert Kwant said the complex would be launched under the name Promenada Chiang Mai and was designed to be the first resort/shopping mall in the Northern city.

Construction will commence in November and the complex will be launched in April next year.

The complex is divided into six zones in a three storey building. These are Kids’ World, Edutainment Zone, Fashion & Trendy Bazaar, Sports World, IT World, and Entertainment and Supermarket Zone. There will be 300-330 retail stores, 60 per cent of them foreign owned and the rest are locally owned. Currently 30-40 per cent of the area is open for rental.

ECC Group has signed a contract with the local Tantranont family to launch Rimping Supermarket. It is also negotiating with a major cinema business as well as the biggest bowling business in Thailand. The deal is expected to conclude in February.

Kwant said a similar complex under the name Promenada @ Canary would be launched in Vietnam as well, with an investment of Bt3 billion on 82,000sqm. The first phase is expected to be complete during the third quarter of this year.

Kwant said the company would focus on Southeast Asia because of continuous investment by many foreign firms and government support in each country in the region.

Within the next two to three months the company will launch another project in Thailand, with an investment similar to that for Promenada Chiang Mai on a smaller area.

The company is also considering launching a complex in Cambodia.

Prachon Pratsakul, the disaster prevention and mitigation chief of Chiang Mai, said that a high-pressure area expanded from China and reached the northern province. Consequently the temperature in Muang district of Chiang Mai has dropped lower than 15 degrees Celsius for three days.

Muang district is the warmest place in Chiang Mai. If the temperature there is below 15 degrees Celsius, the temperature of the whole province will be under 15 degrees Celsius as well. Therefore, Prachon proposed the Chiang Mai governor declare the whole province a cold-stricken area.

There are over 2,000 villages in 25 districts in the province and the cold is affecting over 230,000 families or about 433,000 people.

Chiang Mai authorities have sought another 14 million baht from the Interior Ministry to procure winter gear and about 80,000 blankets for local people. The necessities will given to those who are stricken the hardest first.

Managing director Luenchay Vongvanij said tourism in this major northern destination had slowed down in recent years due largely to the country’s political turmoil.

”Our resort has had an occupancy rate of only 30% on average for two years now,” he said.

Opened eight years ago, the 30-room Jirung Health Village resort and spa is located in Mae Rim.

The group owns 100 rai of land nearby. About 70 rai will be used to build Jirung Residences, with the first phase on 15 rai comprising 75 units sized from 37 square wah and priced from 2.9 million baht apiece.

Target customers will mainly be health-conscious Bangkok residents wanting a second or vacation home at a hillside resort, said Mr Luenchay.

The Vongvanij Group will also offer rental services for customers interested in leasing out their units, with revenue shared 50:50. Sales performance will be analysed before the second phase begins.

Much of the property development in the province is super-luxury projects such as the Minor Group’s Four Seasons Resort and the Mandarin Oriental Dhara Dhevi, as well as the Azaya Villas residential development priced at more than 20 million baht a unit.

Another segment is Chiang Mai-based property firms developing single house, townhouse and condominium projects aimed particularly at the local foreign communities such as Japanese, Koreans, Americans and Europeans.

”Japanese love living grouped together and near the city because they get lonely, while Westerners love their solitude,” said Mr Luenchay, a 48-year-old Bangkok resident who has spent half his time in Chiang Mai for more than a decade.

Jirung Health Village resort generates annual revenue of 30-40 million baht.

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Original Story Here

This singular experience begins with a stay at Four Seasons Resort Chiang Mai, located just outside of town in the beautiful Mae Rim Valley. The Resort’s working rice field, pampering Thai spa, and authentic Thai cooking classes immediately connect you to the rich culture of the area. Chiang Mai itself, over 700 years old with the city centre still surrounded by fortress walls and moats, is brimming with art galleries, workshops and cafés, a perfect place for strolling and shopping. After soaking in this mix of old and new cultures, a helicopter takes you on a thrilling hour-long flight over the thick green carpet of jungle and terraced rice fields and into the heart of the Golden Triangle, the legendary area where Thailand, Burma, and Laos meet. Upon landing on the banks of the Mekong River, a private long-tail boat awaits to carry you onward into the heart of the Thai jungle.

Ride Elephants at Tented Camp

At Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle, Thailand, voted Best in the World by readers of Condé Nast Traveler magazine for the last three years, you’ll feel as though you’re an explorer from the 19th century, yet with all the modern comforts of an upscale hideaway. The adventure begins with your private, safari-style tent, outfitted with comfortable, handcrafted furnishings, including hand-hammered copper tubs. In addition to the 90-minute Spa treatment for each guest during their stay, you can also experience visits to nearby hill tribe villages or a boat ride on the Mekong, perhaps with a stop in Laos. But the high point will likely be learning the traditional elephant-handling skills of the mahouts. Interacting with the elephants, and then trekking through the forest atop these magnificent, highly intelligent creatures is both a literal and spiritual journey.

Package for the Ultimate Thai Escape

This package is perfect for a group or even for a romantic honeymoon, and rates start at THB76,810 (US$2,560) per room, per night for two guests. For more information and to book your stay, call 66 53/298-181.