The Hall of Opium Museum is a family and user friendly well planned exhibition of the history of opium and its place in the Golden Triangle. This region, once rife for banditry, smugglers, and the center of Southeast Asia’s opium trade has since been replaced by tourism and other agricultural crops, and the museum takes guests on a journey through...

One of Thailand’s wackiest festivals, Phi Ta Khon is a great one for experiencing traditional Thai culture in a rural setting. The village of Dan Sai never sees a tourist for 362 days a year, but on three others, the tiny hamlet gets packed with revellers for this bawdry fete, which is a combination of pagan and Buddhist. Villagers wear...

Phu Chee Fah is one of Thailand’s best hidden attractions. Thais know about it, but few tourists visit here, which is a shame, as it is a spot of superlative natural beauty. In Thai, Phu Chee Fah means “mountain pointing to the sky,” which aptly describes the main peak of the area, which looks like a finger sticking up towards...

Poi Sang Long is a beautiful and colorful festival that lies off the radar, celebrated up in rural northern Mae Hong Son Province in Thailand’s mountainous north. The festival, which occurs at the start of April each year, celebrates the passage of young boys into becoming novice monks. While there are similar festivals celebrated in Chiang Mai and elsewhere, in...

This rather bizarre festival occurs usually in the first week of March, although the date is an auspicious one fixed by the temple, so it can be two weeks on either side of this depending on the year and lunar calendar. Wat Bang Phra is a temple is famed for its previous abbot, Luang Phor Pern, who specialized in giving and...

Songkran, the Thai New Year celebration, takes place every year from April 13-15. Celebrated nationwide, during the hottest time of year, when temperatures are over one hundred degrees. Its origins are Buddhist, and the holiday celebrates the passing of season, with water traditionally poured on Buddhist statues as well as into the hands of elders to show respect. In modern...

Truly one of the world’s most bizarre and macabre festivals, this is one you don’t want to miss if you happen to be in Phuket when it occurs (every year in either September or October, depending on the Chinese lunar calendar). The city pays homage to the nine emperor gods, as locals try to ensure good luck and prosperity for...

Located at the Anantara Golden Triangle Resort, this camp provides employment for around 25 former street elephants, mahouts and their families, who live together in a traditional mahout village. Activities for guests at the resort include a ‘mahout experience: learning about the daily care of the elephants, helping to bathe the elephants in the river, and ‘driving’ the elephants like...

Surin Province in north-eastern Thailand is the cradle of Thailand’s elephant community, with over 300 registered elephants. This not-for-profit project subsidises nearly 200 Gwi mahouts, helping them to keep their elephants in free-ranging conditions and keep them off the streets of Bangkok. Volunteers who stay for at least a week in Baan Tha Klang Village work with the mahouts, helping...