Airport transfer
Many hotels will have an airport transfer service. Aside from hotel services, there are taxis available upon arrival
Transportation to Chiang Mai International Exhibition Convention Center (CMECC)
As there is no public transportation to the Chiang Mai International Exhibition Convention Center (CMECC), we suggest you use a taxi service. There are several ways to call for taxi service in Chiang Mai: local taxi service, Grab and UBER.
1) Local taxi service To get to the CMECC, please ask your hotel to call a local taxi for you. At the CMECC throughout the conference a booth will be set up providing on-call taxi service for trips back to your hotel or downtown. The standard price is 250 THB/trip.
2) GRAB Taxi (mobile app). GRAB will charge according to distance plus 50 THB additional. Normally the price will be around 100 – 200 THB in Chiang Mai town, depending on distance. You can download the app for your phone from the Apple App Store or on Google Play.
3) UBER UBER is another means of transportation in Chiang Mai. The price varies, but should not be more than 200 THB in Chiang Mai town, depending on distance, traffic, and timing. You can download the app for your phone from the Apple App Store or on Google Play Please note that in Chiang Mai, depending on your location, it may take around 10-30 minutes for a taxi or other transport service to reach you. Please be prepared to set aside time for this.
City Transportation
Songteaws or 'red trucks' of Chiang Mai’ serve as the informal commuter of the city. It cost around 20 baht/trip for the inner-city route. Taxis are also found but limit themselves to the airport run and private calls. Tuk Tuks are usually gathered in tourist areas.
Chiang Mai has an Emergency Help number, 191, who will pass on your call to the correct service.
Government Offices in Chiang Mai are open from 8:30am to 4:30 pm Monday to Friday.
There are choices of international call providers. Normally, dial 001 + country code + area code + phone number. Using VOIP, 008 or 009 are available.
All regions in Thailand including Chiang Mai is at GMT+7.
The official language of the conference is English. Many Thai people speak English well, but many more (and especially people you meet in the streets, like your taxi driver, your market merchant etc.) do understand some English, mostly enough to communicate with you).
220 volts AC, 50 Hz, flat or round two-pin plugs are standard.
Please contact the information desk if you need medical assistance. They will advise you about where and how to find appropriate medical care.
The Thai unit of currency is the BAHT. Most banks are open daily from 9.00-15.30 in weekdays. Small bank branches in Department Stores are open everyday during the store time. USD 1 is approximately 35-36 baht excluding the exchange charge.
Shopping is one of the premier activities in Chiang Mai. The advantage of shopping in Chiang Mai is that visitors may learn about handicrafts production by watching artisans making the products firsthand. Both in the city itself and in several outlying villages, particularly along the Bo Sang-San Kamphaeng road, there are establishments where visitors can purchase handicrafts and works of art directly from the people who produced them. For the more casual shopper, the Chiang Mai night market features numerous street stalls and shops, the Sunday Market offers more unique, independently created souvenirs and products, and the indoor, air conditioned Central department store shopping complexes on Huay Kaew Road and Chiang Mai-Lampang road sell international brand name products.
Chiang Mai features many foods that are parts of its own distinctive cuisine, including both those handed down over the generations from the Lanna kingdom and those influenced by its neighbors, especially Myanmar (Burma). Chiang Mai specialties include spicy sausage, khao soy (a type of noodle soup), and the ultimate in northern cuisine, a khan toke dinner; khan toke dinners usually consist of several small dishes, such as curries, crispy fried pork skin, and northern style chili sauces, served with sticky rice on a small round table, usually in front of a traditional dancing show.
