TESTAMENT TO THE POPPY'S TURBULENT PAST

The Hall of Opium is a sleekly elegant structure of concrete and glass
that looks more like Bill Gates' house than a monument to narcotics.

There's no hint, at least from the outside, of narco terrorism,
addiction, degradation or, indeed, crime. Standing on a hillside
overlooking the epicentre of the Golden Triangle with views of Burma
and Laos across the Mekong River, the museum is more concerned with
education than titillation.

Of course, even today the area is rife with drugs. Opium poppies are
well suited for cultivation in the hills and mountains of the three
Triangle nations and the area is a major transit zone for many
narcotics, with all the related strife.

But this dignified new museum takes a step back and presents a
well-curated overview of the history of opium and, in many cases, an
unflinching history of how governments - including this one - profited
from and encouraged production of a drug now vilified, but once valued.

That wonderful lady the late Princess Mother set up the Doi Tung
Development Project in this area to give local villagers other ways to
make a living, and this begat the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, which
exists to research the topic.

The foundation now boasts this opium museum, built with a loan from
the Japanese government. Visitors ease into the hallucitory world of
opiates as they follow a long, winding corridor dramatically walled
with dreamlike images and lit in atmospheric red.

From the dream tunnel, you emerge into a floral section with - alas -
fake opium poppies, along with their botanical cousins. The tour guide
explains that the altitude of the museum site is too close to sea
level for opium poppy cultivation.

Next, a film show tells you all about the early days of opium
production and methods of cultivation. Onwards through various
dioramas, tableaux and displays, each with a commentary in Thai,
English or Japanese, and you are beginning to understand a lot more
about the trade.

What emerges is that opium wasn't seen as much different from tobacco
by 19th-century traders. When the Chinese would sell to (but not buy
from) British merchants, to redress the trade imbalance, the merchants
started smuggling in opium from India. They were not out to destroy
China; their interest was to establish a market in high-demand
merchandise with assured repeat sales.

Of course, in the nakedly aggressive climate of the 18th and 19th
centuries, the term "trade war" often meant just that; but the idea
that opium - today so demonised - was viewed as little different from
quinine or belladonna is a fresh one.

To its everlasting credit, the Hall of Opium does not flinch from the
fact that the Thai government had no problem with the trade in the
then-legal poppies and in fact made opium a government monopoly. Then,
when World War II interrupted supplies from India, the government went
to the hilltribes people, who already grew poppies for their own use,
and encouraged them to cultivate more as a cash crop. It was only when
opium was outlawed that it became a big problem.

The museum then traces the problem with equal candour. Films of people
whose lives have been blighted by opium addiction tear at the
heartstrings.

And the final area soothes the spirit with inspirational quotations
from inspiring people.

Definitely not your usual museum.

Details

The Hall of Opium is a 20-minute drive from Chiang Saen on the road to
Mai Sai.

Opening hours: Tours are conducted Thursday to Sunday starting at 10am
and half-hourly until 3.30pm.

Admission prices: Bt50 for Thais; an outrageously inflated Bt300 for
foreigners (which must really annoy the Japanese whose tax money
financed the facility).

Open now, with a formal opening scheduled for January.