Chiang Rai/Chiang Saen

Our waterfall journey signalled the end of my village volunteering excursion. I smiled as the wind blew through the jeep windows, nearly making it to the squished backseat. As much as I had enjoyed learning how to mix a bag of cement, sand and water to lay down paths and decorate their borders with scatted rocks, it would be nice to get back to an area where I could communicate with more than two people effectively. My Thai skills still left a lot to be desired.

With every passing curve of the road, I knew I would miss the mountains, their valleys and the smiling faces in the village. We journeyed back to Ahka House in Chiang Rai, where Som-o offered to let me stay for a few more days until my flight out. I appreciated it and took him up on the first few nights, since they were technically still part of the week I had paid for.

Two days later, the maddening cries of a shrieking bird and persistent rooster echoed through the screen windows. I refused to comply with their 5 a.m. wake up call and tried to find sleep to the image of a sling shot launching small rocks in their direction. I still had a few more steps on the path to achieve vegetarian-level compassion for animals.

Som-o brought us mango sticky rice for breakfast, which made my day. It was typically a dessert, but I whole heartedly welcomed it as breakfast. Little in this world made me happier than a fresh yellow mango.

Api offered to accompany me to the Golden Triangle in Chiang Saen so I could take up my tourist role once again. She had been there before and knew the tricks, like the bus to take as well as where to get off. The ride wasn't too long, but we had to switch vehicles partway there. One of the drivers informed us an elephant had been killed the night before. That fact had my sympathies, animal compassion growing.

Arriving at Golden Triangle, we explored the glitzy Big Buddha area and marvelled at a glimpse of Laos across the great flowing Mekong River as well as Myanmar across the Ruak River. Through the haze, large red-roofed Burmese casinos, Laotian mystery domes and riverbanks emerged. We later walked up the many stairs to the viewpoint. With all the smoke in the air, underwhelming was a fine word to describe the experience. It offered the same sights as the street-level view.

Most of my friends had advised me against the highly underwhelming tourist cash grab, but yesterday Api had shared the Golden Triangle's true treasures: the opium museums.

Why opium? That area between the three countries had been one of the prime opium growing regions in the world for the past sixty or so years, recently being out grown by Afghanistan. Hill tribe people, like the Akha, Lisu, Karen and Hmong, typically grew the crop for little money just to support their families. The Thai royal initiatives worked hard to provide the Thai hill tribe people with alternative crops to grow and support their families. The military would destroy and opium flower fields they found without mercy. Earning ones livelihood in this trade came with its risks.

The poppy, the same brand the Ally countries wore every Remembrance Day, was the opium flower. Once the petals of the flower fell, the bud began to produce a latex-like substance, which was scored two to three times with a metal curved scrapers. That latex substance boiled for a day before it was ready. The farmers were responsible for this portion and would mix in other ingredients to alter the taste.

Opium didn't originate in East Asia, but was brought over with explorers. Larger scale production began shortly after when the colonizers realized its potential for profit.

The local museum showcased everything from indigenous legends depicting the drug and flowers, to harvesting tools, opium weights -- in the shapes of small animals -- and replicas of the poppy flowers and buds. Even opium pillows for the opium smokers, made of hard material like ceramic, wood or ivory, were displayed behind glass alongside pipes and bongs (the word coming from the Thai word baung, meaning cylindrical wooden pipe, that the soldiers shared with Thai people during the Vietnam war).

The first museum was enough to whet my appetite. When Api said there was another one two or three kilometers from here my smile grew. My stomach growled and set off us on a side mission first. We satisfied our cravings with some great local pad thai.

"Pad Thai Khai, kha." I tried to order the rice noodles with egg instead of meat. I worried as 'khai', egg, and 'gai', chicken, sounded suspiciously similar.

Luckily, the woman could read my mind. "Khai, no meat," she confirmed with a smile. The plate had delicious sweet and sour flavours and just the right amount of sauce to avoid drying out the dish. Unlike the botched version I had had in a bus station on the way to Chiang Rai a week ago, this version used the right noodles and sauce. Pure bliss.

With a little fuel, we walked to the royal Hall of Opium. The walk down the shoulder of the road was hot at 35-40 degrees Celsius, but thankfully not as humid as it had been in Bangkok. As we rounded the corner, we caught sight of large rock indicating the name of the establishment in both English and Thai. 

The museum, far enough from the main road area, was impressive to say the least. When the royals were paying, along with sponsorship from the Japanese government, the place was swanky. A large garden welcomed any guests driving in as well as security guards. It had its own lake as well.

To get into the displays within the museum, there was a long walk through a long dark tunnel with brown clay walls. Impressive carvings of people under the influence of opium, shown in their sagging faces or wide mouths and eyes, helped us experience the what a trip on this drug might be like. The walk took just shy of five minutes, which was a considerable amount of time; although, in air conditioning it was hard to complain.

At the top, two friendly Thai women explained more about the opium flower, in very well-spoken English, before ushering us and a few other visitors into a video introduction of the museum. The museum had been established by the Mae Fa Luang foundation, supporting the work of the present king's deceased mother, in one of many efforts to reduce the demand for opium through educational programs. His mother had been responsible for many of the initiatives to reduce opium farming in Thailand.

The opening exhibits went through the opium plant's journey to Asia and some of its past uses as medicine; although, addictive as their insight into Benjamin Franklin showed. The rooms featured displays which immersed the visitor in the atmosphere of colonial times and with mock-replica ships. The opium trade had served to help finance the expense of shipping tea from Asia to England.

This lead to the next section, the Opium wars, during China's struggle to reclaim their country and recover from a catastrophic portion of their population's addiction. They imposed a prohibition on the substance outside pure amounts for medicinal use. However, in later years, the British, who were prospering too well from the Chinese's man's demise, fought to keep it legal through unfair treaties and wars. It was interesting to see treaties in this light, since as a Canadian, I was more familiar with their use in land, tax, education claims with our Indigenous People.

The museum did spend some time going through Thailand and the opium trade, although, most of the interesting facts were trapped in bills, taxes and legal documents. Opium was never legal to use there, outside of people of Chinese descent. I had hoped for more given that this was a Thai museum, but maybe that would be losing a bit too much face.

I had heard the story of the origins of Coca-Cola's name as it used to have cocaine within the drink. The next section of the museum went through the other uses of opium and opium derived products that at one time were legal, before the detrimental efforts were known, at least publically. Along with Coke, children's cough syrup, pain killers, medicine to relieve menstrual pain, morphine, codeine and medicinal heroin made the list. I also appreciated that they included posters or bottles from the era that advocated how effective it was.

I didn't doubt opium would distract the user from those menstrual pains, among many other things. I was also curious what legal substances today would turn out to have long and dangerous side effects with my future children wondering how it could ever have been endorsed. Energy lists were high on my list of suspicions.

The end of the museum had a preventative and warning focus where I felt the exhibits and facts tried to sway my opinion. There was a long wall of well known addicts alongside anti-drug campaigns. The final pillars were covered with inspirational quotes to end the museum experience. I did find that this museum took me on an interesting journey from the origins of the plant, to the conflict, the use and the ugly consequences. Their commitment to energy efficiency also impressed me as the lighting, videos and read aloud segments were motion sensor triggered.       

While I hadn't had any direct experience with the Thai government's drug policies and enforcement, I had been warned by employers that the police conducted random urine and hair tests in select bars to make sure patrons weren't using. Our English department director told us to watch our conduct public places and to avoid our use while living and working in Thailand, or at the very least be smart about it if we really couldn't help ourselves. It wasn't like our homes in North America where everyone seemed to know someone who could score them weed/marijuana, at the very least.

 A bust for possession or use in Thailand could have voided our work visas and best case scenario sent us home. Thai jails weren't rumoured to be welcoming locales, should it come to that. Drugs were something they didn't take lightly after all the issues they have had with opium in the past. For some reason, I found these museums wonderfully engaging and interesting. Perhaps, it's the illegal nature of the substance or all the conflict that ensued over the poppy flower. Regardless, it was something I was happy I didn't skip on my trip up North to the Golden Triangle.