Opium Museum and Golden Triangle

Today we traveled north to the border that is known as the “golden triangle” on the Mekong River where Myanmar(Burma), Thailand and Laos all come together. First we visited the Hall of Opium, an excellent interactive museum that chronicles the history of opium use throughout the world and the spread of opium around the world from ancient times to the modern era. It demonstrates everything from how opium is grown and harvested and turned into drug form, to the political intricacies of the opium trade throughout history. We spent much of the morning in that museum and it was really absorbing. We wound up staying overtime because we became so engrossed in the material. Opium in now illegal in Thailand and cannot be grown here, although the black market for opium still exists in the “golden triangle” region notwithstanding the laws against it.

Then we went to a small Akha tribe village that was truly “off the beaten path” in a serious way! We parked at the Golden Triangle visitors site and then boarded a very small farmers work truck (see picture) and struck off into the hills through rice paddies on dirt roads that are flooded and muddy from the rains. Truly the ride on those roads makes winter in Rochester look like smooth sailing! We saw many farmers out planting the rice crops as we passed field after field. It has been raining pretty consistently since we got to Chiang Rai and the rice fields are fully flooded and the dirt roads up there are a muddy, potholed mess! We wound up at a very small restaurant run by an Akha tribe family that is truly in the middle of nowhere. You could only find the place by knowing from someone that it exists because you can’t even get there without someone to drive a farm truck to take you there. We were served delicious barbecued chicken, yellow rice and grass noodles and then crepes with pineapple in sugarcane syrup for dessert. The food was excellent. The restaurant is on a hill and the woman who prepared our food had just come in from the rice fields to make our meal and was on her way back to continue planting rice after we left! We got some pictures with the Akha family that run the restaurant before we left one of which I’ve posted here.

Then we went back to the visitors site at the Golden Triangle where we climbed to the top of a shrine where there is a magnificent view of the Mekong River and Myanmar and Laos on the other side. There were several Buddhist shrines, one of which dates from the 7^th century. We explored around the shrines and took in the incredible view of the river that we’ll be sailing on tomorrow. (Picture above) We also visited an elephant shrine. (Picture included) The locals believe that it is good luck to walk beneath an elephant so people go to this shrine and walk under the elephants three times for luck. We all took our turn before departing for home. This evening, mercifully, is a free evening and we are all looking forward to a quiet night in the hotel to relax and unwind. We’ve been going at a pretty hectic pace ever since we arrived and we can use some R&R. We’ve also got to pack before we go down for the night as we leave unbelievably early tomorrow.

Tomorrow we have to be up by 5 AM to leave at 6 to head back to the border region where we were today. Tomorrow we cross into Laos so we need to allow time for processing at the border (visas to purchase, passport control etc.) We will be on a river cruise boat all day tomorrow and Tuesday, spending tomorrow night in a lodge in Pakbeng, Laos, along the way. I will try to post tomorrow night, but I understand I will only have internet access in the bar/restaurant area of the lodge we’re staying at so I will have to see what the scene is like there and how easy or not it is to get online. If I don’t post tomorrow, you’ll get a double dose the next day!