Mae Rim forest café to demolish encroaching property
A coffee shop in Chiang Mai’s Mae Rim district that boasted beautiful creek views, has been ordered to demolish 80 square metres of the premises that encroaches on forestland.
The shop, located within a privately-run 11-rai tourist attraction named “Pongyang Jungle Coaster & Zipline” in Tambon Pong Yaeng, became famous on Thai social media after it released photos boasting “tens of baht coffee with the taste of hundreds of baht and the beautiful waterfall view worth millions of baht”.
Photo from: Jungle De Cafe's Facebook fanpage
However, the exposure also drew criticism that the shop encroached on the Mae Rim forest area and a public waterway, resulting in an investigation.
Mae Rim district chief Chaisaeng Pattanasakpinyo, provincial forestry office head Rachen Phummaphuti, administrative officials, police and soldiers inspected the site on Tuesday morning.
They found that the shop had a new seating zone and a bridge built to cross the creek from the shop side to the forest side.
Officials deemed that the new seating area encroached on the forestland by 80 square metres and ordered it to be demolished. The shop complied by posting a sign that the seating area and the bridge were being demolished, while the original building continued to attract tourists.
Pobsanook Monjam co- owner Aranya Tharin said the coffee shop had been open for about three weeks and received good feedback from visitors. To show sincerity, however, the problematic part of the building would be demolished to comply with authorities.
She said they misunderstood that the area could be used.