Thailand

The Golden Triangle snakes along the borders of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar, a land as beautiful as it is brutal. The Mekong River twists like a silver serpent through shadowed valleys, past isolated villages whose fields once fed a global hunger for heroin. This rugged, turbulent region earned its infamous name from centuries of opium fueled violence and despair. More than a crossroads, the Golden Triangle is a nexus of greed, pain and heartbreak.

In 1925, King Rama VI transformed a patch of Bangkok’s then quiet outskirts into a space meant for both education and recreation. Although his original vision of a museum never materialized, the area gradually became the city’s first public park. He named it Lumphini, after the birthplace of the Buddha in Nepal, symbolising a deep respect for Thai culture and heritage amid a period of rapid modernisation.