Day 4 Mae Sai to Chiang Saen (Golden Triangle)

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1st May 2012


"VISITING GOLDEN TRIANGLE "

         
Route: Mae Sai to Chiang Saen (Golden Triangle)
Mileage: About 40km from Mae Sai

Exit the border town & heading to Golden Triangle..

Using same road to 2nd Friendship Bridge to Myanmar...

Stop here at Hall of Opium..just before Golden Triangle.. To me, this is a must visit place..!!

Taking photo inside the building is forbidden. But we was supprised on how they demonstrate the opium history here in Thailand.

In the late 1920's, Thailand was importing most of the opium in required. Back then, opium smoking was tolerated much like tobacco smoking is tolerated today. In the early 1930's, a British adviser to Thailand's Ministry of Finance developed a plan for the legal production of opium by hilltribe people in the provinces of Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. The aim then was to by-pass having to purchase expensive opium from India. It is no wonder that Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces produced a large amount of opium.



Opium generals, fled to Southeast Asia after coming to power in Communist China, created at the intersection of the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand, creating the popular opium triangle. People from China started to sell opium to the West using the works of mountain tribes, who were already familiar with the cultivation of poppy. At the end of the twentieth century, the Thai authorities conducted a massive operation, taking the north of the country under their control, thus eliminating from the area of a triangle, Thailand, and introducing penalties for the involvement in drug trafficking.  

Since Thailand banned opium in the year 1959, hilltribe people were given a chance to replace their crops with other high-value crops such as cut flowers and sub-tropical fruits.

Photo at the Golden Triangle.. never knows when will come here again...

Next Thread : Day 4 Chiang Saen (Golden Triangle) <-- click here UPDATED !!!

27-28/04/2012 Day 1 KL to Chaam <-- click here UPDATED !!!
29/04/2012 Day 2 Chaam to Phitsanulok <-- click here UPDATED !!!
30/04/2012 Day 3 Phitsanulok to Mae Sai <-- click here UPDATED !!!
01/05/2012 Day 4 Mae Sai to Chiang Saen (Golden Triangle) <-- click here UPDATED !!!
01/05/2012 Day 4 Chiang Saen (Golden Triangle) to Chiang Kong <-- click here UPDATED !!!
01/05/2012 Day 4 Chiang Kong to Chiang Mai <-- click here UPDATED !!!
02/05/2012 Day 5 Chiang Mai (Doi Inthanon) (Rest Day) <-- click here UPDATED !!!
02/05/2012 Day 5 Night at Chiang Mai <-- click here UPDATED !!!
03/05/2012 Day 6 Chiang Mai to Samoeng <-- click here UPDATED !!!
03/05/2012 Day 6 Samoeng to Pai <-- click here UPDATED !!!
03/05/2012 Day 6 Night at Pai <-- click here UPDATED !!!
04/05/2012 Day 7 Pai to Mae Hong Son - Part 1 <-- click here UPDATED !!!
04/05/2012 Day 7 Pai to Mae Hong Son - Part 2 <-- click here UPDATED !!!
04/05/2012 Day 7 Night at Mae Hong Son <-- click here UPDATED !!!
05/05/2012 Day 8 Mae Hong Son to Mae Sot- Part 1 <-- click here UPDATED !!!
05/05/2012 Day 8 Mae Hong Son to Mae Sot - Part 2 <-- click here UPDATED !!!
05/05/2012 Day 8 Night at Mae Sot <-- click here UPDATED !!!
06/05/2012 Day 9 Mae Sot to Kanchanaburi <-- click here UPDATED !!!
07/05/2012 Day 10 Kanchanaburi (Rest Day) <-- click here UPDATED !!!
08/05/2012 Day 11 Kanchanaburi to Suratthani <-- click here UPDATED !!!
09/05/2012 Day 12 Suratthani to Koh Samui <-- click here UPDATED !!!
10/05/2012 Day 13 Koh Samui to Sadao <-- click here UPDATED !!!
11/05/2012 Day 14 Sadao to KL <-- click here UPDATED !!!