Chiang Saen- The Golden Triangle- Huay Xai, Laos
Wednesday, March 8th, 2006I’m writing this post from Huay Xai, Laos, a little village on the Mekong River. We crossed the border today from Thailand in a longtail boat loaded down with locals and their grocery shopping. We took a two-hour ride (59km) from Chang Saen to the border in a Sawngthaew, which is a covered pick-up with two long benches in the back, serving as a local bus. The truck was so packed, Fabien had to stand on the back; the people inside made a little space for me inside and when I sat down, a cheery man with dark-stained teeth smiled at me and said “I wuv you.” “Pardon?” “I wuv you,” he repeated and then pointed at Fabien and said, “you, friend.”
This morning we woke up early, before it got too hot, rented bikes and rode 10km f rom Chiang Saen to the Golden Triangle- the small triangular area on the Mekong River where the borders of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand come together. In the not too distant past, the Golden Triangle was the center of the opium trade in Southeast Asia. Thailand has wiped out opium production and successfully replaced it with crop substitution and tourism. Myanmar and Laos, on the other hand, are still economically dependent on its production. The ride along the river was scenic and peaceful. Just an occassional longtail boat passing and the barges from China carrying the goods that stock the markets across Asia. We visited the Opium Museum, which had interesting displays about the cultivation and use of opium. They also told some local legends about opium’s origin.
One goes like this: A beautiful girl from the village had very bad body odor; it was so bad no man wanted to marry her. Sadly she died from loneliness. Before her death, she asked a friend to take care of her grave. She said that flower would grow on her grave. This flower would bring people much pleasure, but it would also bring them pain and suffering. This is where the poppy came from.
After visiting the museum, we returned to Chiang Saen to visit the ruins of a couple of wats before catching our sawngethew to the border.
We came to Chiang Saen from Chiang Mai, to have a little break on the way to Laos as well as to visit the Golden Triangle. Chiang Saen is a sleepy little town, especially on a Sunday afternoon. When the bus dropped us off, we weren’t sure we were in the right town, and I wasn’t sure if the look the monk gave us who got of with us was supposed to be reassuring or questioning like “why have you come here?” But we found a place to stay without much of a problem and then took a walk to the river, the mighty Mekong. There was a small market and the hawker stalls were closing up for the evening. We sat and watched a while as a Chinese barge started to unload its goods, then we walked the other direction where people were standing on the sandflats and others were swimming in the river. A dip sounded so good, but I didn’t trust the quality of the water, so we opted for a cool shower at the hotel instead. Later that evening we returned to the riverfront for dinner, where numerous hawker stalls were barbequeing fish, chicken and pork. We sat next to the river on a straw mat with a small table,drank ice cold Chang beer and ate bbqed pork and bamboo fish (a river fish roasted inside a bamboo log with coconut and spices) by candlelight. Life doesn’t get much better than this.
Written in Huang Xai, March 6,2006.
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