Santikhiri

Province

Santikhiri ( Thai: สันติ คีรี formerly Mae Salong, แม่ ส ลอง ) is a village in the administrative district ( Amphoe ) Mae Fa Luang Thai province of Chiang Rai.

Geography

Santikhiri located about 40 km northwest of the provincial capital of Chiang Rai and seven kilometers east of the border from Thailand to Myanmar. Even today, the town is dominated Chinese. Because of its location on top of the mountain is a popular tourist destination. In the surrounding area tea and coffee is grown.

History

It is located near the border with Myanmar. Santikhiri was founded in 1961 as Mae Salong from Myanmar flüchtendenKuomintang Chinese of the 93rd Regiment under Tuan Shi -Wen on the mountain Doi Mae Salong ( ดอย แม่ ส ลอง ).

Until the 1980s Santikhiri was dominated by the cultivation of opium. The rebel leader Khun Sa had a few kilometers from Santikhiri his headquarters at Ban Hin Taek, until he was expelled after three days of fierce fighting in 1982 by the Thai army.