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Tea and temples on a two-wheel trip through Thailand’s Golden Triangle, once infamous for opium production
- Thailand’s Golden Triangle, once a centre of opium production, offers sweeping views of mountains and plains, and has border towns full of character
- A scooter trip through the region passes tea plantations, and villages inhabited by descendants of Chinese Nationalist soldiers who settled there
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“You won’t be taking this far?” asks the assistant at the motorbike rental shop in Chiang Mai. “This Honda is new.”
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“Relax,” I say, “I just need it to go to the market from time to time.”
She gives me the key but I sense reticence, as if she knows I’m going to push the basic automatic scooter to the very limits of its range.
A week later, Bence Irmes, my guest house neighbour, says he’s planning “a country ride” with a friend and asks me whether I’d like to accompany them. I accept the invitation before realising they’re planning to ride through the infamous Golden Triangle.
“Yes, but don’t worry, it’s nothing compared with the Ha Giang Loop I did last year in Vietnam,” says Irmes. But it’s not the distance that concerns me; it’s the reputation the “triangle” has.
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The area where the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar meet, the Golden Triangle is – or at least has been – one of the world’s largest opium-producing regions, with all the crime and lawlessness that come with such a distinction.
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