House of Opium

The House of Opium is a small private museum established by Mrs. Phatcharee Srimathayakun who was born in Chiang Saen District. After graduating from the Faculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University and living in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, she returned to her birthplace in order to open an antique shop and a small guest house in 1987. She was interested in local history. She began collecting artistic objects and studying the opium trade in the Golden Triangle by reading books on opium, documents provided by Thailand’s Narcotics Control Board, and university studies. She lived with tribal people from the Hill tribe, Shan, Lu, Burmese and Lao who migrated to the village and nearby areas. She saw that their antiques were historical, artistic and culturally valuable. She knew that if these antiques are not preserved, they may be all bought and dispersed by foreign collectors. Therefore, in 1989, she opened House of Opium museum to display opium artifacts and combine the interesting stories of opium in the Golden Triangle .The museum has over 2000 antiques that had been collected for almost 30 years.Read more