 |
| Huts and small bungalows lining a river passed on the way to the Golden Triangle |
One beautiful day while staying in Chiang Rai, Tiger and Bird decided to take a trip up to the northernmost point of Thailand. The mysterious Golden Triangle is the meeting place of Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand as marked by the lazy flow of the mighty Mekong River (see the photo below). Why golden? Well, the opium and drug trade once flourished here and up into the 1990s this area was the world's largest producer of opium. Right before the turn of the century, the three relevant governments worked together to eradicate opium production and transportation here, with at least some success on the Thailand side.
 |
| The Golden Triangle. Laos is observed from Thailand, across the Mekong River. |
The Golden Triangle is a relatively flat region when compared with the rest of the mountainous province. We left early on a bright, sunny day from Chiang Rai town for the two hour drive. The trip took us along some picturesque but otherwise nondescript roads before we happened upon a small town that suddenly sprang up alongside the Mekong River (see "1" below). Here small shops and hotels, many with signs in Chinese characters as well as Thai script, were open for business. Traffic picked up and we drove past large, air-conditioned tour buses and some shops with many Chinese tourists milling about. We took note of this and parked next to a small Wat. The weather today was hot and the noonday sun relentless as we stepped out of the car. The Wat itself was quite small (see "2" and "3"). Walking through, we soon found ourselves on a large, open boardwalk along the river, mostly deserted although several Chinese tourists huddled in the shade of some adjacent trees. A landmark for the location (see "4") showed that we had indeed reached the Golden Triangle, and the fork in the river before us was the meeting place of the three countries' borders. The area felt local and somewhat touristy, with vendors selling trinkets, food - very average at best - and snacks. We found a young lady selling coconut smoothies at a nearby stand, which ended up being quite delightful to these parched and sweaty visitors!
