The Golden Triangle presents the unusual opportunity to see two other countries from a single point. The Mekong River serves as the boundary between Thailand and Laos (to the east), while the curvy Ruak / Ruek stream serves at the boundary between Thailand and Myanmar (to the north). If you liken this triangle to a Y, Thailand controls the left side, Laos controls the right side, while Myanmar’s border swoops down between the two branches:
In case Thai script isn’t your thing, the touristified version is right on the corner:
Myanmar to the left, Laos to the right.
Beyond the big Buddha, the skeleton of a ship, and a chance to stand on a top of a couple larger-than-life elephants, there were plenty of lanterns around:
In truth, this is a small site — within 15 minutes you’ll find yourself wandering past the souvenir stands and the usual tacky selections of t-shirts. Little here surprises, or should surprise.
With the Golden Triangle given a ‘meh’, we hopped back on the scooter and rode to the main reason we came up this way .
The Hall of Opium
The Hall of Opium is considered one of the better museums in the country and recognized as “an outstanding recreational attraction” in the 2006 Thailand Tourism Awards. In terms of money, the museum had to have received a vast sum of it — about $10,000,000 USD, according to one source — and throws enough information at you in essentially perfect English.
Pay your admission fee, then walk up the handicapped-friendly ramp through the dimly-lit tunnel you see above. Between the tunnel and the next room, I sort of wonder whether the designers were smoking when they were putting this place together. Officially, it’s supposed to convey the contradictions that surround the narcotic: mystery, danger, ease of pain, fear, and so on.
Before you know that, you’re on the third floor, awaiting an escort into a larger-than-necessary room to watch a ten-minute video. Until they escort you in, take in the charts of illicit cultivation of opium poppy and plenty about poppy plants. The video covers the basic history lesson — northern Thailand had long been a source of opium cultivation, with trade crossing across a loosely-policed border.
In 1988, Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother visited the area and wanted to start a program that educated people about the background of opium. This museum is the culmination of that desire, which opened in 2005.
The early history of the opium trade is well-covered, and adds in the various historical contexts, from the unequal Bowring Treaty to the tea trade to how the Siamese government attempted to control the trade to the medicinal uses of opium. Not pictured is a ship-like exhibit showing the conditions of the time and a surprisingly fair take on the Opium Wars in the 18th century.
A look inside an opium den. Like something out of a Jules Verne book, a smoker laid down to make it easier to handle the long pipe.
A weight to carefully measure how much opium a smoker got. The museum shows Lao weights, while the Lanna (Northern Thailand) weights were typically made of elephants. Other weights were made in the shape of mythical creatures: the lion-like Singha, the swan-like Hamsa, and the Karawek bird.
Pipes, anyone? Dozens are on display, along with scorers to bleed the opium sap, scrapers to scrape the hard sap off later on, and other tools.
It tends to jump around in subject a bit here. From the tea trade in Europe to a mention of King Rama III (r. 1824–1851) stating illegal opium smoking was becoming a serious problem. Opium didn’t become fully illegal until a century later, and crackdowns didn’t really start until then — a subject that really should have been a part of the conversation…
The elaborate ways people have tried to smuggle in drugs is a highlight, although the multimedia display dates the museum to a time when CD-ROM’s and dial-up modems were your digital sources of information. The dated anti-drug messages from the Western world aren’t much better, except perhaps as a sign of how ineffective the ‘War on Drugs’ has been in the Western world.
At the end of the day, the Golden Triangle is a blatant tourist trap, while the Hall of Opium ends up being disappointing despite the obvious stacks of money that went into it. Paying a higher admission fee simply because you’re a foreigner is the final nail in the coffin — pass on both of these in favor of Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Lampang, or plenty of other places in the north.
Name: Hall of Opium and the Golden Triangle
Address: For the Hall of Opium, along route 1290, Tambon Wiang, Chang Wat Chiang Rai 57150 (GPS: 20.364835,100.073721) . For the Golden Triangle Park, along route 1290, Tambon Wiang, Chang Wat Chiang Rai 57150 (GPS: 20.351689,100.082948)
Directions: These two destinations are about two kilometers from each other, which is why they’re put together here. Get a bus here from Chiang Mai or Chiang Rai to the Golden Triangle, or take a long scooter ride here from Chiang Rai (about 70 kilometers, or a bit over the hour).
Hours: The Hall of Opium is open 8:30am-4pm Tuesday — Sunday. The Golden Triangle Park has no posted hours, but I would assume during daylight most days is a good place to start.
Admission: Hall of Opium, 200 baht. Golden Triangle Park, free.
Phone: Hall of Opium, 053–784–444
Website: www.goldentrianglepark.com or maefahluang.org
