Chiang Mai Friends is  a group of positive and good-hearted expats and Thais who all share a genuine love for Chiang Mai .

Chiang Mai City is the perfect place in which to encourage the integration of the two communities, Thai and expat. During the last year, the group has provided activities such as cross-cultural educational programmes and the promotion of environmental concerns. Most importantly, we have been successful in our goals of helping our friends with culture shock, language difficulties, immigration problems and many other issues.

Chiang Mai Friends' Group is, quite simply, a group of caring people—an eclectic mix of Thai and foreigners--that like to meet, talk and share information. Its main purpose is to exchange interests between cultures as well as making integration a great deal easier for foreigners who come to live in Chiang Mai. The transition between one's country of origin and Thailand can be difficult; Chiang Mai Friends' Group helps to ease the process, with both foreigners and Thai people helping newcomers to adjust and settle down.

Our group is unique in its aims, and has no commercial aspect, with only its members benefiting from its activities, which, in turn, benefit the Chiang Mai community itself.

Chiang Mai Friends Group is active in serving the community in educational and environmental projects. The president of the group, Duenpen Chaladlam, (Boong), is also the founder of the Green Chiang Mai Project, having developed the concept in the hope that it will ensure that Chiang Mai, both city and province, stays green and beautiful. The main objectives of the project are to plant a minimum of 2,000 trees donated by the government throughout the province every year, to promote the use of organic vegetables which have been locally grown as part of HM the King’s project, and to encourage local businesses, especially those working within the tourist industry, to be aware of the importance of the environment.