The Golden Triangle in Chiang Rai

The Golden Triangle was an expansive area taking in parts of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar. The region was famed for providing an estimated 50% of the world’s illicit heroin and opium supply. Various US Agencies (including the CIA) were (supposedly) active in the region to counter opiate production and it is one of the few places on earth outside Vietnam where ‘Agent Orange’ was (supposedly) utilised to kill vegetation – in this case the opium poppies that flourished in the fertile land around the Mekong River. So rewarding was the region’s drug trade that various factions inside the three countries fought each other struggling over control of the lucrative crop. The Golden Triangle was a “no-go-zone” except for the fearless, the foolhardy, and the military. Nowhere else in Southeast Asia earned so much infamy … nowhere else conjured so many images of warlords and wickedness… For many then, a visit to the latter-day Golden Triangle must be a bit of a disappointment.

Opium production has been illegal in Thailand since 1959 and His Majesty King Bhumipol’s ‘Royal Projects Foundation’ initiated a ‘crop substitution program’ that has moved farmers away from cultivating deadly opium and successfully driven them towards more lucrative (if less immediate) produce. The success of the program has all but tamed the region’s drug trade, and today the Golden Triangle is simply a small area around where the three countries meet around a village called Sop Ruak.

In many respects there’s not a lot to a visit to the Golden Triangle except looking at the scenery and having your picture taken in front of a big “Golden Triangle” sign. There’s nothing extraordinary about the place – quite the contrary in fact (probably a testament to the success of King Bhumipol’s project). The water is slow moving and murky, and the river traffic little more than huge Chinese flat-bottomed boats carrying export goods to Thailand and Myanmar. Unless of course you can get to Myanmar side of the river where there is a Casio (there was a plan to make this an international haven for gambling, but nothing much materialised), there’s little to do save eat at a few decent restaurants and visit a few ancient temples. However, the Golden Triangle is one of those ‘been there; done that’ type of places. As such, it’s certainly worth the visit, so long as you don’t expect more than it offers.

How to get there: From Chiang Rai you can take a bus to Chiang Saen. From Chiang Saen take a Songtaew to Sop Ruak (fare 10 Baht). If you need to let people know where you are going simply say ‘Golden Triangle’ in English - they should have heard that before!