Doi Tung and Opium

We woke up to a familiar sound heard in bungalow hotels around the world: of early bird gardeners brushing the footpaths with the regular swish, swish of brooms. During breakfast overlooking the River Kok, we sighted another coppersmith barbet. An auspicious start to the day, perhaps?

Our first destination was Doi Tung, with its royal villa and botanical gardens. The villa was closed for an hour when we arrived at the popular hillside site, so we visited the gardens, at an altitude of 1,939 m. The gardens were not, by European standards, spectacular but the late Princess Srinagarindra, the present king's grandmother, who had inhabited the royal villa until she died at the age of 94, had realised that the area was suitable for many European plants and flowers which were unknown to the average Thai person. So she had had them planted here. The gardens are rather kitschy in a Disneyland sort of way, but lots of families were enjoying them and that is, of-course, the main thing.

The sun was shy at first, but later we were able to take some pleasing pictures. Then we walked up to the villa, built in Swiss chalet style. We were requested to take off our shoes, sunglasses and hat and given an audio guide. This was really good and during the visit we felt we had learned a lot about the wonderful princess who had lived here and done so much for the people of Doi Tung.

We had almost reached the bottom of the hill that takes you through the Doi "bazar" to the carpark, when we were asked to stop and the whole street came to a standstill. Silence dropped on the busy road. A princess was on her way with an amazing encourage.

The Hall of Opium in Sop Ruak has a very good reputation and I have been looking forward to visiting for many years. It was worth waiting for. Apart from being very modern and full of the newest museum techniques it gave us a great insight into the history of world trade and particularly that of the British India Company. It explained the opium wars and described the devastating effect the consumption of opium had in Asia. And it became clear why North Thailand gave Princess Srinagarindra the nickname Royal Grandmother, for it was on her initiative that the peoples of the Doi Tung opium area were given education, health care and alternatives to the cultivation of opium.

If the museum had impressed us, the Golden Triangle was a disappointment. The drop in tourism, mainly due to Corona, has left the stallholders with very few customers and the boat trip people with nothing to do. Very, very sad!Read more