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Gateway to the Golden Triangle
Legend has it that in 1262, a Thai-Laotian prince, Mengrai,
followed a crazed elephant into the jungles. The elephant
came to rest upon the banks of the Kok river. Seeing this
as an auspicious omen, the prince declared that he would build
his capital on the site of the elephant's rest - and so Chiang
Rai, first capital of one of Thailand's earliest kingdoms
came to be.
A little over one hundred years later, more lightning was
to shape the history of Chiang Rai. The Lanna kingdom was
reaching the height of its power when, in 1436, lightning
struck the chedi of one of the town's temples. The chedi,
so the story goes, split asunder to reveal at its centre a
delicately carved jasper image - the Emerald Buddha.
 Wars
and invasions, shifting borders and marauding rebels, have
all helped shape the fate of this distant northern province
in the five hundred years since the Lanna kingdom's golden
years. However, it is the trials and tribulations of the last
half century that have led to the area around and to the north
of Chiang Rai becoming known as the Golden Triangle, all because
of a beautiful flower that blooms in January - the Opium Poppy.
Since
the heady days Communist insurgency and international drug
cartels, things have calmed down significantly. Today, the
dusty town of Chiang Rai sits quietly at the gateway to a
new-look Golden Triangle, where the power of the tourist dollar
outweighs the draw of drug money. As a significant symbol
of the internationalization of the region a replica of the
Emerald Buddha sits within the walls of Wat Pra Keow,crafted
of Canadian jade, by a Chinese sculptor.
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