Thanks for looking in on the travelogue Bill.

As far as I understand, the name "Golden" Triangle was coined to express the riches coming into this area because of the opium production and sale, not for the actual gold located there as a mineral. - There are plenty of golden structures and statues to be seen in Thailand, as well as in the neighboring countries of Myanmar and Laos. Today's largest producer of gold in the area is China, it is apparently now the largest gold producer in the world.

Looking back to ancient times, when these temples were constructed, it appears that "Gold is fairly widely, though irregularly, distributed throughout Southeast Asia in igneous and metamorphic hard rock deposits and in sedimentary placer deposits" and is mined to various extent in almost all southeast Asian countries, with the largest mine located in Indonesia. The area was actually known as the "Golden Land" already in antiquity, as referenced by Ptolemy almost 2000 years ago.

For extensive further information, see this link: https://journals.openedition.org/archeosciences/2072?lang=en

I trust this answers your question - and welcome you to keep looking into the continuation of my travelogue.

MAE SAI is the main town of the Mae Sai District in the far north of the Chiang Rai Province, located at a major border crossing between Thailand and Myanmar. The town of Tachileik, in Shan State/Myanmar is right across the bridge. The Asian Highway Network (Thailand Route 1) crosses the Mae Sai River and leads to Tachileik. The towns of Mae Sai and Tachileik form the bi-national conurbation shared between Thailand and Myanmar. Due to this vicinity with Myanmar, Mae Sai is quite an important market town.

WAT PHRA THAT DOI WAO aka the Temple of the Scorpion - This small but interesting temple is located at the top of a hill behind the Mae Sai border market. To reach it, we climb up the steep and long steps, flanked by the seemingly never-ending scaled bodies of dragons topping the walls at the side of the stairs. The temple is small but turns out to be a photographer's delight with a multitude of very accessible statues of Buddha in many different poses as well as other creatures. In the past, King Wao who ruled Yonok Nakorn built this place in order to store Buddha's hair in in 364 B.E. Wao in the Lanna language means scorpion. Though the temple's condition deteriorated over time, it had been repaired many times and presents itself very well at this time. Additionally, the hilltop location is the perfect spot for panoramic views views over Mae Sai town and towards Tachilek in Myanmar as well as the hilly ranges of the area.


Notes
TRIP INFO: Set # 1 provides a brief introduction to THIS SERIES on SOUTH & EAST ASIA. See it at
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-724330-1.html

THAILAND COUNTRY INFO in set # 143: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-755664-1.html

GOLDEN TRIANGLE INFO in set # 173: https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-758433-1.html

EARLIER POSTS of this series: Access my topic list at UHH, the new posts are listed in reverse chronological order:
https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/user-topic-list?usernum=45105

Thanks for visiting, for improved clarity please view the downloads. I look forward to your comments and questions.

.