Chiang Rai & the Golden Triangle

The Akha Tribe

Having had a rather damp start to our visit to Chiang Rai, we woke this morning with some anticipation of better weather. Not so, I’m afraid! It was still raining. Our guide for the day, Dee, had arranged to meet us in the hotel reception at 09:00 hours and so, on the strike of nine, myself, Captain Clarke, Great Uncle Bulgaria and Madame Cholet met in reception. In actual fact, we had all met early for breakfast when, rather unusually, Captain Clarke and myself had arrived early and so had arranged a table for the four of us. So, our very helpful guide showed us to our transport, (these minibuses are really rather good, I must get a photograph at some point!), and we departed.

Our first stop of the day was a visit to an immigrant tribe called the Akha tribe. These are people who travelled from Tibet and settled in Thailand, initially as growers and users of opium, although today they no longer grow opium plants and, instead, grow crops that are encouraged by the Government and for which the government guarantees a certain price. These are actually a very interesting people. They are one of five tribes that were originally immigrants and set themselves up in the Golden Triangle, (more of that later), to grow and

A typical Akha hut

trade opium and who were also heavy opium users themselves. The King’s mother setup a project many years ago to rehabilitate the tribes, stop their addiction to opium and to make it uneconomic for them to grow and sell. The project has been largely successful, there is no opium grown in Thailand at all now and the tribes now grow agricultural crops for which they get at least as good a price as they did for opium, (it takes a huge area of poppies just to harvest a very small amount of opium apparently). The tribes are also encouraged to make handicraft which they then sell to visitors and in the night market in Chiang Rai.

The women of the village were incredibly pushy when we arrived and it was rather uncomfortable being surrounded by them all asking us for money in exchange for some handicrafts. We overcame that though and learned something of the tribe. They have a ‘spirit gate’ which is in the centre of the village. They can leave the village by any means but must return through the spirit gate. There are various rituals and traditions

The Spirit Gate

that are followed and one that is rather life limiting for the men was explained. The villagers, (there are about 700 of them), do not sleep together, (man and wife), and, when they want to have sex they go to the special ‘sex hut’ which is located a little way from the village in the jungle. Now this, in itself, is a rather unique tradition since the whole village knows you have just gone off to have sex! It is, however, the men that should be more worried. There is a tradition in the tribe that the youngest widow in the tribe is responsible for providing practical lessons in sex to all of the young boys in the village. When a boy is considered old enough he is dispatched for a lesson or lessons with her! Now, for any young husband, there must be quite some pressure to keep alive if your wife plans on becoming the next ‘youngest widow’!!

The Yao Wedding!

Following our visit to the Akha tribe, we visited the Yao tribe. A completely different people who come from southern China. These are a better educated people who are at the top of the social chain, (in terms of the tribes), and are regarded completely differently. When we visited them, we happened upon a wedding that was taking place. The young bride was being trussed up a bit like a turkey and the poor young groom was left at the back of the room to get himself ready. The wedding ceremony was due to take place a short while after we visited and would last for at least 12 hours! Of particular note with this tribe was the fact that when bringing gifts to the wedding, visitors bring either rice or cigarettes – seems perfectly sensible to me!

The Burma Border

After our visit to the tribes, we continued on to the Mae Sai which is the most northerly point in Thailand and is the point at which Thailand and Myanmar, (Burma to you and me), meet. It was fantastic to see the border and the constant flow of people crossing it. What was also interesting was that cars, (which drive on the left in Thailand, but on the right in Burma), simply drift across the road to change lanes in what appears to be a totally random, yet always successful, way. Chaos in perfect harmony!

During our visit we also visited the Chinese market. This is a huge market that sells Chinese imports of just about anything you can think of from clothes to sunglasses, to shoes, to electrical goods, to tea! It is a vast sprawling market that is partially undercover and seems to just go on forever and ever! Despite walking through a large proportion of the market, we decided that the majority of the goods on sale were rubbish and didn’t buy anything!

The Chinese Market

Madame Cholet had already bought herself a rather beautiful Jade necklace in the Burmese market which adjoins the crossing and I decided to purchase a new pair of mules on the basis that the lining had just decided to fall out of my existing ones! Captain Clarke also made a purchase of some rather fine porcelain plates which he intends to take home to England. (Rather interestingly it appears that I loaned him the funds and am yet to see them returned!) It is rather amusing to watch the locals on their motorbikes who drive along with an umbrella in the rain!

Following our visit to Mae Sai we adjourned for luncheon at a restaurant between Mae Sai and the Golden Triangle. Although the lunch was quite fine, Great Uncle Bulgaria and myself were suffering some ill effects from the anti-malaria tablets we had started to take this morning as we will be moving on to Lao tomorrow. Consequently, we didn’t really have much of an appetite. Captain Clarke, however, managed to force his way through soup, wanton, spicy pork and peppers, egg noodles with vegetables, stir fried vegetables in sesame oil, coconut chicken curry and a little steamed rice on the side. For some reason he declined dessert other than a little fruit and only took one cup of coffee. The food was for four people but through his valiant efforts he managed to make a reasonable dent in it!

The Golden Triangle

Lunch over, we headed off for our next visit to the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle is a point where Thailand, Myanmar and Lao all meet. From a single viewpoint you can look down to Myanmar on your left, the great Mekong river, (on which we shall travel tomorrow), and on your right, the country of Lao. There is much confusion over whether Lao is called Lao or Laos. Apparently the French added the ’s’ when they colonised it, but the locals call is Lao so for the time being I shall stick to Lao, (until I learn otherwise in the forthcoming days). The Golden Triangle is so called because of the triangular shape made by the joining of the three countries and because of the opium growing and dealing which defined the are.

Our next visit was to the Opium Museum – odd that they should have a museum dedicated to an illegal substance, however … At the Opium Museum we learned that opium was grown and traded in the Golden Triangle and that the British made a huge amount of money because for many years they controlled the trade. Opium was of such value that it was often paid for in gold, but the real reason that the region gets its name is somewhat more involved. Opium was of such high value that people often used ‘fillers’ to bulk it out. Since gold was often used as payment for opium, a practice was started that involved ‘cutting’ the opium with gold to prove it was pure and not ‘filled’. Opium was both grown and used in all parts of the Golden Triangle but is now completely illegal. That having been said, opium is still grown illegally, (allegedly), in Myanmar and, as a consequence, there are random opium checkpoints on all roads that lead to and from the area.

Loy Krathong

Finally, we drove through the town of Chiang Sean which is an ancient walled town that was once the capital of the Kingdom of Lanna which, when the kingdom existed, consisted of what are now 8 provinces of Thailand. We returned to our hotel arriving back at 18:30, tired but ready for our next adventure in the evening.

Today is the festival Loy Krathong which is a Buddhist festival and one of the most important, if not the most important, in the Buddhist calendar. Great celebrations are held and followed by the despatch of beautiful arrangements made from banana leaf wrapped around a core of banana trunk and adorned with jasmine and other flowers, (Krathongs).

Our Lucky Krathong!

The Krathong has a candle and some incense sticks which are lit, a coin is added for good luck and the entire arrangement is floated on the river and let go.

There are literally thousands of these arrangements all floating on the river at once and all sporting a small candle which burns in the night sky. Truly remarkable and a privilege to be part of. After all of the arrangements have been let go, huge Chinese Lanterns are lit and let off in the sky as a continuing celebration and offering for good luck. A truly wonderful event and great to be part of. It’s RudyMenTerry!

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