Chiang Mai

view from from Doi Suthep
photo by flickr user garycycles2

The largest and most culturally significant city in northern Thailand with a population of 150,000 and a starting point for tourists going for trekking tours surrounded by mountains and lush countryside.

Chiang Mai is an ancient city being founded in in 1296 AD and it was pretty much isolated until the 1920s. Despite growing modern nowadays it kept it distinctive laid back charm.
The area around Chiang Mai is home to 13 hill tribes with with a population of one million altogether.

Wikitravel says:

Chiang Mai (เชียงใหม่) is the hub of Northern Thailand. With a population of over 170,000, it is Thailand’s fifth-largest city. Located on a plain at an elevation of 316 m, surrounded by mountains and lush countryside, it is much greener and quieter than the capital, and has a cosmopolitan air and a significant expat population, factors which have led many from Bangkok to settle permanently in this “Rose of the North”.
There are several social and politcal concerns with trekking in Chiang Mai - for which the “non-touristy” treks will not help you to escape. Many of the treks will see you visiting villages already destroyed by tourism, and expecting you to purchase many of their “handicrafts” - much of which are manufactured in Chiang Mai.
Be aware that the highly promoted “long neck” tribes are actually refugees from Myanmar.

Wikipedia says:
King Mengrai founded the city of Chiang Mai (meaning "new city") in 1296, and it succeeded Chiang Rai as capital of the Lanna kingdom. To protect it against raids from Burma, the city was surrounded by a moat and a defensive wall. With the decline in power of the Lannathai kingdom, the city lost importance and often was occupied by either the Burmese or Thais from Ayutthaya. As a result of the Burmese wars that ended with the fall of Ayutthaya in April 1767, Chiang Mai was so depopulated that its remaining inhabitants abandoned the city from 1776 to 1791. During that time, Lampang functioned as the capital of what remained of Lannathai. Chiang Mai formally became part of Siam in 1774, when the Thai King Taksin captured it from the Burmese. Chiang Mai rose in both cultural, trading and economic terms to adopt its current status as the unofficial capital of the north of Thailand, second only in national importance to Bangkok. ... read more