Sunday, October 22. On the way to the Golden Triangle we made an unscheduled stop at Tham Luang Cave, where in 2018 13 boys and their soccer coach were trapped by rain water for about two weeks. There is now an impressive statue of the diver who died in the attempt to rescue them. The cave system is now closed off except for the first 400 meters, and today even that was closed due to water. It was a good detour for us.
Next was the Opium Museum. Exhaustive history. Included was a video on how to convert the opium “juice” into the end product. Thailand is properly proud that they successfully eradicated the crop thirty years ago, using both the carrot and stick. They also had a display room of other northern Thailand features. The Mekong Catfish is the world’s second largest fresh water fish. (They say it’s the largest, but the Russian sturgeon has that honor.) Also shown were the Long-necked people.
Rode in third-world jalopies to lunch. 10.5 hp single cylinder engines. The location is a multi-purpose collection of crafts and skills. Out front were cheerful small children selling their crayon drawings for $1 or less. Lunch was grilled pork and steamed brown rice.
The last stop was a view of Myanmar and Laos. This is my second three-country viewing (Paraguay, Brazil, Argentina). The Mekong is already a wide, fast moving river, though it is still far from the Pacific. The main building seen in Myanmar is a casino. The city in Laos is developing rapidly thanks to Chinese money, Chinese workers and Chinese tourists. One building still under construction is a casino.
Dinner was spaghetti, Thai style. A little bit spicy with much more sauce than noodles. Meat was disturbingly undercooked. I selected the restaurant primarily for their featured wine (19 Crimes), which I’d had before. Hopefully the wine will counteract any aftereffects from the meat. I stumbled upon a beautiful clock tower on the way to the local Irish bar to watch some more cricket.
