If you read anything about the mountaintop town of Mae Salong, you’ll be told that it doesn’t resemble a typical Thai town at all and that you’ll feel like you’re in northern Laos or southern China. That’s very true; the reason being it was founded in 1961 by remnants of the Kuomintang, (KMT, or Nationalist … read the full post

The Chiang Mai Hilltribe Handicraft Training Centre was established in 2007 by the Seventh Day Adventist Church to help train and provide income for education for women and girls from poor hilltribe families in northern Thailand. The making and sale of clothing, bags and accessories allows the women to earn money to help pay for … read the full post

Sometimes we end up with a fetching photo or two of Chiang Mai that doesn’t quite make it into a post here but we still think might be appealing for readers to see… So I’ve decided to pile them all in here along with a few tasters of what’s upcoming, and a reminder that any … read the full post

The Golden Triangle is one of those regions that has captured popular imagination: think warlords, secret armies, opium mule trains chugging through the jungle, triads, the DEA and CIA, hill tribes, remote villages and above all the chest-high pink and white poppies that are the source of opium and its derivatives, morphine and heroin. Through … read the full post

Or ‘welcome to the house of fin’, (fin being the Thai translation)! The House of Opium is the original of the two museums in tiny Sob Ruak (in Chiang Rai province) dedicated to the sticky resin of this one particular flower. There is also the new, flashy — and expensive — Hall of Opium, which … read the full post