On my last trip to the Golden Triangle I went to the Golden Triangle Park Hall of Opium, a museum dedicated to the history, cultivation, and usage of opium in Southeast Asia, viewed through a Thai lens. I wanted to go again, so Crystal could see it too. I like going to some places multiple times just because you see things a bit differently on subsequent visits.
This post is from our recent Christmas holiday in northern Thailand. Catching up on posting!
It is a fascinating place, and well worth the visit. If you show Thai ID, you can get a discount on the entry fee. We showed our Thai drivers licenses and our fee was reduced by 50 Baht.
My favourite part of the museum is actually the start of it. You start with a walk down a cave-like hallway, lit with blue lights, and along the way are reliefs created in the walls, depicting the tortures, pleasures, problems, and anguish associated with the consumption of opium. I love how it sets the stage for the museum.
Once through the hall, you start into the museum, and one of the first activities is a video talking about opium, its production, its effect on Thailand, and how the museum started. It’s actually a pretty good overview.
History of opium in Thailand
I’ve found the history to be quite interesting, never having known much about it before. I can certainly understand why countries like China aren’t particularly fond of the British, considering their history, and what happened during the opium wars. I hadn’t realized India had been a large producer of opium, and apparently the city Kolkata (Calcutta) grew up around the East India Company’s Fort William.
From there you move on to the history of opium in Thailand, and the resistance to its influence. There’s an extensive display of the various items associated with smoking opium, from weights to measure it, to scorers, scrapers, dampers, pipes and pipe cleaners.
The pillows and couches opium smokers used didn’t look particularly comfortable, but I guess when you’re high, you don’t care too much. Crystal pointed out that this was done so that opium smokers wouldn’t spend too much time there. Now you know why fast food restaurants have uncomfortable plastic furniture. Old ideas are new again.
If you’re interested in the history of tea in Asia, and different aspects of tea, you’ll enjoy that display.
After this, the museum moves into the modern era, early international opium conferences, etc. It delves into the modern efforts to criminalize the drug trade, reduce usage, social effects, etc. There is the Hall of Reflection, and some dioramas detailing the efforts of the Thai royal family to get the museum started, reduce opium cultivation, and such.
Being more familiar with the modern aspects of the war on drugs, I was much less interested in this part of the museum than the early historical aspects of it.
This isn’t an exhaustive overview of the museum, and it’s well worth seeing in person.
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