Thailand's former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Friday he was "feeling better" in his first remarks after being freed early from a jail sentence for graft and abuse of power.

The controversial billionaire, twice elected premier and ousted in a 2006 military coup, is on day two of a three-day trip to his home city of Chiang Mai.

"I am feeling better," he told reporters, speaking in a northern Thai dialect and wearing a neck and back brace, after visiting the site of his relatives' graves.

The 74-year-old returned to the kingdom in August last year after 15 years of self-exile, and was immediately jailed for eight years on charges dating back to his time in power.

But his sentence was cut to one year by King Maha Vajiralongkorn within days of his return, and last month the government said Thaksin was eligible for early release because of his age and poor health.

In October, officials confirmed that while detained in a prison hospital Thaksin underwent five rounds of orthopaedic surgery. No further details were released.

The trip north -- his traditional political powerbase -- is his first public outing since his release. Thaksin is being accompanied by his daughter Paetongtarn, now head of his Pheu Thai party, and her husband.

"Happiness depends on family," he told reporters before adding, in English, "happiness is at home."

Earlier, he visited Warorot Market where a small number of supporters had gathered.

Roughly 20 people came out to meet with him, shouting the name of the party that has become synonymous with his family: "Pheu Thai! Pheu Thai!"

"I am happy he is here. I am lost for words and don't know what to say," supporter Parncheun Suriya, 68, told AFP as she sobbed.

"I want to tell him may he be with all Thais forever."

A former police officer turned telecoms tycoon, Thaksin is beloved by millions of rural Thais for his populist policies in the early 2000s, but has long been opposed by the country's royalist and pro-military establishment.

The tussle for dominance between the establishment and Thaksin and his allies has largely defined Thai politics over the past two decades.