Excursions in Northeastern Thailand
Part II - Road Trips
Click here for Part I - Into the Countryside: Northeastern Thailand
After we visited Phu Sang National Park, Piyaphat and I drove to the Laos border. I didn’t have the visa to cross over, but it was nice to see the landscape along the way. It was very jungle immersive! I will definitely arrange to get my visa in advance of my next visit.
We also stopped at the Pang Mutaeng temple with another large Buddha, and more interesting art (4-headed Buddha statue ‘Phra Phrom’ and 5-headed cobras)! I may have the name of the temple wrong - so please let me know. It is in Chiang Kham district.
A couple of days later we headed to the Golden Triangle. We stopped in Chiang Khong to look at the Mekong River (very muddy following Typhoon Yagi and recent flooding). I got to take some photos of the river boats at the Bak Ferry Terminal (with a view of Laos on the other side), and then we visited the Museum of Chiangkhong Old Photos. There are no English translations for the photos, but my nephew provided interpretation services. The guard at the museum says they almost never see tourists, and asked us to sign the visitor’s book. This was a really nice little museum (no cost) with some fascinating photos (a couple shown below). I particularly liked the photos of the King of the Mekong (Mekong giant catfish - Pangasianodon gigas) which can measure up to 3 m in length and weigh up to 300 kg.[1] This species is CRITICALLY ENDANGERED under the IUCN Red List.[2]
As we left Chiang Khong we saw this massive Buddha off the highway (below), and continued on to Chiang Saen and the Hall of Opium.
Photos L-R: Buddha north of Chiang Khong; view of the Mekong River at a rest stop; 21km to Golden Triangle; front and back of the Golden Buddha statue at Ban Sop Ruak village (situated at the convergence of the rivers Ruak and Mekong, which form the triangular border of Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar), and the elephant statue there.
We proceeded to the Hall of Opium, to visit the site and museum and learn about the opium trade that defined the area for a long time. The Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej (1927-2016) - also known as Rama IX - and his mother, Princess Srinagarindra worked for years to provide economic alternatives to drug lords in the region. This is an excellent museum that discusses the tragedy of opium addiction, the political influences that kept the trade going, and the work of King Rama IX and his mother. I highly recommend this museum, it is beautifully and thoughtfully curated.⭐⭐⭐⭐
For more background on the museum, visit O’Connell’s article about the site.[3] Note, that the latest UNODC report indicates that opium is still flourishing in the region, primarily in Myanmar.[4]
Photos L-R: Museum sign; hall of hallucinogenic dreams; peaking through a porthole of history; elephant opium weights from Laos; opium sales for money to keep the tea flowing; landscaping on the grounds
For more about the history or opium and trade with the west, I recommend the article ‘First China War’ on the (British) National Army Museum website.[5]
Our final road trip was to Chiang Rai to visit the White Temple and Wat Huay Pla Kang. We weren’t sure if we were going to get to go, as Chiang Rai had been hit so hard with flooding. Thankfully neither of these two temples were impacted. The White Temple is quite famous, and is high on the tourist list for people visiting northern Thailand. More unusual though is the Wat Huai Pla Kang (Temple of Mercy) - with its giant Guan Yin statue. It was built in 2001 as a monastery but received recognition as a Temple from the National Buddhism Office in 2009. It has a blend of Buddhist and Chinese influences. [6][7]
Photos above: White Temple, Chiang Rai, Thailand
Photos below: Wat Huay Pla Kang
I would recommend a visit to any and all of these sights. I only wished I had more time, as there are so many more places in northern Thailand that I didn’t get to see (yet).
If you have any questions, comments or recommendations, please add them below!
[1] Hogan, Z., Moyle, P., May, B., and Baird, I. (2004) The Imperiled Giants of the Mekong. American Scientist. Issue May-June 2004, Vol 92, No 3, pp. 228 - online https://www.americanscientist.org/article/the-imperiled-giants-of-the-mekong
[2] IUCN Red List (2011) Mekong Giant Catfish. accessed online December 2, 2024 https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/15944/5324699
[3] O’Connell, R. (2019) Drug Lords, a Princess, and the Gardens of the Golden Triangle. Remote Lands - posted Apr. 25, 2019.
[4] UN Office on Drugs and Crime (2023) Golden Triangle opium economy sees steady growth in 2023. posted Dec., 12, 2023.
[5] https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/first-china-war-1839-1842
[6] Tourism Authority of Thailand. Wat Huai Pla Kang. accessed Dec. 2, 2024.
[7] Betgem, F (2021) Wat Huay Pla Kang, the Temple of Mercy. posted July 20, 2021 on Chiang Mai a la Carte.
