House of Opium, Drug culture museum in Ban Sop Ruak, Thailand
The museum is a collection of over 2000 objects documenting opium production and trade in the Golden Triangle region where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet. The displays present a wide range of items that illustrate different aspects of this historical trade and its regional importance.
The collection was founded in 1990 to preserve historical artifacts from local hill tribes before they disappeared from the region. The founder gathered these objects to document an important chapter of regional history and traditional ways of life.
The exhibits display tools and implements that hill tribe communities used for poppy cultivation, reflecting their traditional craftsmanship and daily work practices. These objects tell the story of how local people engaged with agriculture and trade in this border region.
The museum is located near the Mekong River in Chiang Rai Province and is relatively easy to access from the main town. Wear comfortable shoes as the exhibition spans multiple rooms and viewing all displays takes a reasonable amount of time.
The collection includes a reconstructed poppy field showing how plants were grown and how the landscape of this area once looked. It also features traditional dolls representing six different local hill tribes, illustrating their visual and cultural distinctions.
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