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Eight kilometers
north of Chiang Saen, this riverside area marks
the spot where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar
(Burma) and Laos converge and to form the
legendary Golden Triangle, a mountainous area
whereby the the main occupation of the ethnic
minorities is to plant the opium poppy.
Spices and natural
resources together with opium were being traded
during the 1600s whereby the addiction to this
drug and its derivatives, morphine and heroine
began to grow. But now, the Thai side of this
infamous region has been changed to a tourist
attraction whereby souvenirs of opium pipes and
T-shirts are the closest things to opium that
are being sold to visitors as the Thai
government has successfully stamped out poppy
cultivation through crop-substitution and strict
law enforcement.
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