Golden Triangle Excursion: Part 3

Happy Monday, everyone! I have to say, I am a little sad to be going back to classes after such a fun trip, but there are only two weeks until fall break so that's going to keep me going! There's plenty of work to be done between now and then, so I'm sure the days are going to go by fast. Anyway, on the third day (Friday) of our trip we woke up bright and early in Baan See See to get breakfast. Everyone at my table got a piece of toast with an egg (scrambled or fried) - guess we all had been missing Western breakfast food more than a little! We also got the pleasure of dining with a huge spider (as big as the palm of my hand, including the legs) hanging out off the balcony roof, but it didn't budge from the middle of its web so we were pretty sure it was did. Still, big ol' bugs are not unusual in Thailand, making every day a bit of a wildlife adventure!

The morning brought us to the preserved camp of Khun Sa, notorious drug lord slash local hero. The local people were in charge of the upkeep of the museum rather than the national government. It was raining pretty hard, so we darted from building to building huddled under umbrellas. Khun Sa actually had several camps because he was periodically flushed out of them, before taking refuge in politically unstable Burma where is was eventually reported dead. Three large rooms were mostly dedicated to pictures of Khun Sa and the Shaun people that he helped, with some slightly unnerving photographs of him talking to child soldiers and workers in an opium poppy field. Some of him personal rooms had been kept more or less the same way since he left them, such as his bedroom, bathroom, and a conference room with a slightly-larger-than-life replica of Khun Sa. My personal favorite, though, was this homage to him and his pet horse that greets all visitors to the Khun Sa museum.

The skies cleared as we made our way to a tasty buffet lunch where we were still in Thailand but had a great view of both Burma and Laos. (Did I mention that in SE Asia the "s" in Laos is silent so its pronounced "Lao"? Well, now you can impress people with your global knowledge at parties!) I stuffed myself on fried wantons, udon noodles, sweet-and-sour fish, and these awesome little Thai pancakes that are a dessert item but are decorated with green onions, carrots, and corn. We then headed to the official Golden Triangle spot that overlooks the three-point intersection at the Mekong River. Made for some spectacular photos. I'm standing in Thailand, but off to the left is Burma and off to the right is Laos. Wild!

We then walked up to a very, very old temple (built in 1302 C.E.!). Lots of amazing ruins and a building housing Buddha images that were recessed into a little room where ladies unfortunately weren't allowed. However, ladies definitely were allowed to do a neat little ritual where numbered sticks are shaken in an open canister. You shake one out and read the number, which corresponds to a drawer off to the side. Each drawer had paper fortunes in it. This practice in not Buddhist at all, rather, it comes from China. As I mentioned before, many of these regional practices were integrated in Buddhism to smooth the conversion of the people and to maintain each unique cultural identity. My fortune told me, "You're like a person who got lost in the wood and have to pave your way through the thorns." My favorite part was, "If you think of having a spouse, it's fine to find one." Sound advice.

The next adventure of the day was a visit to the Hall of Opium museum, which was basically the polar opposite of the Khun Sa museum. It was paid for by the Chinese as well as heavily sponsored by the royal family, particularly the Princess Mother (the mother of the king), who took it upon herself to speak out for the eradication of opium and rehabilitation of addicts. It was huge and modern, but definitely had a political message behind it. The hall leading into the museum was bathed in weird blue light that gave it a subterranean atmosphere, complete with eerie sculptures emerging from the walls that depicted the tortured souls of opium addicts.

After a brief introductory video, we were left to tour the museum through a series of interactive exhibits that traced opium's beginnings in ancient Egypt and Greece to its prevalence in the Western world before it made it's way back East to the kingdom of Siam (modern-day Thailand). The tone of the exhibits then turned to the multifaceted impacts of drug addiction. The most memorable feature of this section were the replicas of cells built into the transparent floors where mannequins of opium addicts going through withdrawal called up prerecorded cries of anguish amid flashing red lights. I also took time to read a wall dedicated to celebrities who had suffered, and in some cases, died, from drug addictions, especially to opium-derived heroin. 

We then checked into our last hotel of the trip before the late afternoon activity of . . . taking a boat to an Laotian island! Whoa! Tune in next post for the final and most international installment of this series!