Chiang Rai city's best and most important is the Oub Kham, between the Den Ha fresh produce market and the military hospital (Khai Mengrai Maharat). The Oub Kham is named for a gold gilt bowl, a masterpiece long the property of royalty, and intended only for their use. On display also are a gold gilt throne from Chiang Tung (now Keng Tung, Shan State, Myanmar) and many pieces of royal Lanna regalia dating to the 15th century AD. There are processional chairs, peacock fans, a large variety of elaborate costumes and beautiful cloths, wood and bronze statuary, embossed silverwork, betel sets and photos of Shan tattooing. The buildings are Lanna style, situated with a beautiful garden and pavilion. This is absolutely the best place to get a glimpse of the glorious but lost world of Lanna and the extensive 'Culture of the Region of the Dhamma Letters' (where a Mon script called Akson Tham or 'tua muang' was used in religious texts written on palm leaf, for words in Pali). The owner/operator is Khun Julasak Suriachai; a teacher who believes the beautiful objects of his collection can enrich study of the Lanna culture. Tel: (053) 713-349.

Hilltribe Museum and Education Center, the Population and Community Development Association (PDA), Thailand's best established and most widespread non-governmental organization, operates restaurants, clinics and community-based family-planning programs around the country, and in ChiangRai a tour company and museum. The main intention behind the museum is to help visitors understand what they should and should not do when in hill-tribe areas, and teach about locally significant taboos and values, and respect for other people's cultures. The displays on six major tribal groups (Lahu, Lisu, Yao/Mien, Akha, Hmong and Karen) are meant to compliment information presented in a 25-minute power-point presentation (slide-show) with narration available in Thai, German, English, French or Japanese. Entrance fee is B50/person which includes free coffee, tea or water. Besides the main show are, available hourly, three others: one on community-based tourism, another on hill-tribe costumes and why they are disappearing, and a third, "Weaving a Dilemma", on why hand-weaving is disappearing. The power-point presentation for this includes voice narration and lasts 10 minutes; the other shorter shows don't have narration (only silent-movie type captions), and are but 7 minutes. The viewing room has seating for up to 40; showings can start any time if no-one else is viewing. For community-based tourism, tourists pay an entrance fee and villagers, in situ, give a presentation with demonstrations and dances; a villager also offers a tour showing different aspects of daily life (usually at Ban Lorcha, 60km from ChiangRai city towards the ChiangMai border on Rt. 1089, the way to TaTon).

The museum is growing, having new space as its old building was connected to a new, in year 2000. It's on the 3rd floor (there's an elevator); whether weather hot or rainy, it's convenient and climate-controlled! The restaurant on the ground floor, Cabbages and Condoms, is widely recognized as one of the best in town. The museum's gift-shop offers hill-tribe motif souvenirs, some from small factories but others consigned from villages, drawings on mulberry paper, cannabis-fiber hats, relevant books, cards, jewelry, clothing, pouch-bags, recordings of tribal music and video cassettes (to be replaced with VCDs) on hill-tribe people, herbal ointments, PDA postcards and a good variety of other theme-oriented items.

Each of the six tribal displays includes craftwork from daily life - things you might find in tribal villages, though not put out on view as here, with attractive black and white murals behind. Housing styles, tools and utensils are available for inspection. Further displays of traditional hunting, fishing and agricultural equipment are complimented by a bamboo room (with a 2 meter diameter threshing basket and an interesting specimen of giant bamboo, the world's largest grass, at the center) joined with another on tribal clothing - cross-stitch, appliqu?, head-gear, and pouch-bags. The large entrance-room (behind the pay-point) has an opium related display, giving an accurate explanation of the real, global picture, in response to the exotic flavor attributed to the once opium-using region, in much popular media. 5500 years of history are reviewed, and a question posed: why focus on repression of opium, but not tobacco and alcohol?

Open 8:30 to 6 p.m. and 10 to 6 weekends and holidays, or by special request and prior arrangement, especially for group tours; it's in the center of town at 620/1 Tanalai Rd., Amphoe Muang, Chaingrai 57000. Tel 053-740-088; e-mail crpda@hotmail.com &/or see www.pda.or.th/chiangrai/hilltribe/museum.asp; director Alberto Delapaz is available on request to lecture or answer questions.

The Chiang Rai Province Cultural Hall Museum is almost across from the TAT office on Singhaklai Road in a big white building with a large parking lot. There's a sizeable statue of King Mongut (Rama IV) in front of the main door. No signs in English beckon (nothing in Thai even promotes the museum from outside). But it is here that a child or newcomer could readily learn most about the region. It is only a small museum, starting with a few prehistoric tools and a couple medieval canons. The costume examples are quite good, as is the write-up of local tribes. There are examples of ancient Lanna literature in the Dhamma script, and some interesting ancient pottery. Screens for watching explanatory videos are placed in the walls, there's a model of the city, and a display of five main areas of Tai culture. The fee for adults is only B10, for children B5. There's a small gift shop in the front. Hours are irregular, but the door is usually open during daytime. Ask at the office to the right.

Princess Mother '90 Museum - past the Goh Loi library and the barber school (a very old building inside of which free haircuts are offered!) is a large pavilion dedicated to the memory of the King's mother. On display are collections of lacquer boxes, wood pulleys, and pottery, but the markers are only in Thai. There are some old handwritten, folded texts with drawings, a good display of weaving equipment, and lots of costumed mannequins. Admission is free.

House of Opium, Newly expanded and re-arranged in 2006, the "Opium Museum" at the Golden Triangle has been there since 1990. The heroin package logos and Khun Sa material ("Opium king or freedom fighter?") remain important, but are stressed less. There's a new balcony gallery above (on a third floor, the original museum is up wide stone stairs on a second story, in the center of town). Pretty color hill-tribe photos, large murals, Lua and Akha opium-origin legends and a huge collection of old weights, scales, fancy opium pipes and other paraphernalia remain dominant. 1000 year old Burmese carnelian stone cigarette holders (for bai man herb smoking) are an exquisite highlight, and the beautiful old opium "pillows" (head-rests), ceramic and of wood or stoneware real treasures. Plastic opium flowers, though, only barely reflect the flowering glory of the narcotic plant.

The entrance, through the gift-shop at the top of the stairs (there are other gift-shops below) offers a short history of opium. The top-floor gallery has many wonderful, magnificent even, Chinese ceramic water-pipes, tobacco info with a plethora of terra-cotta pipes (2-300 years old, with lotus and sometimes swan design), and an interesting view down into the galleries below. The shop is large, and sells many things: effigies, masks, opium pipes scales and boxes, knick-knacks and handicrafts, lacquer boxes, antiques, Buddha amulets, tiny ceramic tea sets, stamps, bank-notes, t-shirts and clothes, musical instruments, lots of post-cards, posters, Sa (mulberry paper) albums, books, music, coffee and tea.
Open daily 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., tel. 053-784060; see www.houseofopium.com.

Free if ticketed for the House of Opium (admission B50) is the Luk Bapb, or Chiang Saen Little Buddha Image, Museum, on the second floor of the building wing to the left of the main staircase (opening October or November, 2006). Luk bapb are small stone or glass pieces, decorative or of spiritual imagery. The many religious icons are mostly of Chiang Saen, northern Burmese or other bordering culture design. At the back is a large display of fancy stone necklaces. In cases along the way are thousands of luk babp - a few available for sale but most essential to the collection. Jade, other stone and glass elephants, whales and frogs abound. Of special interest are jade tiger pairs, which symbolize the ying-yang. Other tigers have a baby tiger in the mouth (one of these, of petrified wood, is worth B20,000). A long, long chain of quartz elephants is intriguingly unusual, and there are wax molds of animal and insect figures. To the front right is some religious art, and at that end of the hall is a large altar (there's a small altar box on legs on the other side of the semi-partition, half-way down). A few Burmese morality-tale images are reminiscent of Nats, but not the same thing. Old ornately decorative containers for religious objects rest atop a cornice. In all, a collector's dream - vast variety of unusual, but similar, objects of age and beauty.

The Golden Triangle has long offered many coffee and souvenir shops, and now is opening a Night Bazaar. There are many hotels including four fancy big ones and 10 guest houses: 600+ rooms in all. Long-tail boats offer rides to Don Sao Island, Laos (B20 entry per person, no visa necessary, 6 people in a boat over costs B200; there's a Lao products market with souvenir/handicraft shops), and to the Golden Triangle Casino (Thai-owned but officially in Myanmar, so deposit of passport, or at least a copy, is necessary).

Chiang Saen National Museum is open 8 to 4 Wednesday to Sunday but closed 12 -1 for lunch; this museum is a must for anyone with a real interest in the area (B40 donation). The town itself is a kind of museum, with over 130 ruins. In the museum are many ancient stone markers (stelae) carved with ancient Dhamma letters. There are other fascinating stone carvings, as well as a display of ancient pre-historical findings. Explanatory markers are good, as is the book selection in the gift-shop. Nearby, along the Mekong, one can see many riverboats from China.
Set amidst bucolic ancient ruins including Wat Jedi Luang (right next door) and nearby Wat Pa Sak (seven ruined structures among teak trees, just outside the city walls, dating from 1295; the main jedi is carved with flowers and mythological beasts), there naturally are many items from Chiang Saen archaeological diggings. At the entryway are large bronze 14 - 15th century Buddha images of the Chiang Saen style, and to the left many inscribed stelae (inscribed stones), mostly from around 1500. The Lanna alphabets vary; some resemble Burmese, some are more Thai. To the right, past the famous, fantastic Kirtmuka, embossed 14th century Kala face, is the pottery room, with beautifully painted Wiang KaLong ceramics, Phan ware and 16 to 17th century stoneware of the border areas. There are also16-18th century terra-cotta pipes.
Upstairs, above the stelae room, is an indoor balcony area with smaller Buddhas, bronze bells, Burmese silver coins dating to 1784, a 10"x14" stone crouching elephant, some beautiful 16th or 17th century polished stones and an exhibit of etched bricks showing scenes from a Jakata story of Prince Wetsandon giving his white elephant to impoverished Brahmins (he gets banished, then restored; the folk-art stylings are interesting, but hardly as sophisticated as some of the pottery).
Past the ceramics room is a PlaBuk catfish exhibit with displays of fishing equipment, then some interesting old musical instruments and lots of lacquer-ware and betel boxes. The museum goes around a small garden with bas relief fresco pieces, and has a new second section to the rear, with 16 - 17th century "opium weight" sets, some silver and gold chatara ornamentation for religious monuments, Mahorathuk bronze drums, a paleo-archaeology exhibit and an arial photo of the area placed next to a topological relief map. Most exhibited items have two explanatory cards, one in English and one in Thai, giving important details (like that lots of cowries shells used as money were found in a clay pot, as shown), but the longer explanations with photos on the walls are only in Thai. Outside, between the two buildings, is a fancy large-wheeled wood cart, with a kind of "hood ornament" at the front of a long bar to each side of which the pulling animals would walk, depicting a rabbit.
Back in the main building, going on around, are some good ethnographic displays, and a full set of Yao (Mien) ceremonial paintings. Housing and cloth styles of local groups are well explained in two languages. The last display is of Lanna tung flags (which are meant to hang down, not spread sideways like national flags), and then one comes to the gift-shop. The book selection, in English and Thai, has many compelling titles. Offered are northern classical music recordings, knit-work, handicrafts, souvenirs, cards and Lanna tung flags.
The nearby earthen ramparts, and others around Chiang Saen today, are just a fraction of the defensive walls originally constructed. The Mekong River flows along the northern side and Chiang Saen Lake, 4 km. south of town, has been developed for recreation with swimming, boating, fishing and early-morning and evening bird-watching.

Haw Shan Art Gallery - out NongBua Road, across from Family Bakery, in a large, dark-wood, Shan-style pavilion. Open for special showings.

Lanna Museum, at Rong Rian Ban Sang Khong Yai, just southwest of Chiang Rai Hospital at an elementary school, can be opened by request.

The Chiang Rai Cultural Center is just north of the new airport, to the other side of the highway, by Rajapat Teacher's College.

Mae Fah Luang Art & Cultural Park, just opened recently. Just across from Country Home, west of town, there are two lakes, a huge barge, several large Shan style "Haw" and many small ponds. B20 entrance fee. Haw Kam Golden Pavilion is B50; it's a great 2 story Shan hall full of royal accoutrements collected by Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn ("Phratep"), with many superb examples of Lanna craftsmanship: seven-armed candelabra, Buddha images, wooden alters, embroidered cloths for wrapping Buddhist scriptures, carved wood screens, swords and monk's fans. All quite magnificent. Ancient stone markers with Dhamma letter inscriptions kept there before opening are no longer on view. The gardens are as manicured as any golf course, the gift shop handicapped accessible. Botanicals aren't named, and a semi-open building with grass courtyards, large paintings, antiques and sculpture remains locked.

The Hilltribe Development and Welfare Project, 12 km from Mae Chan towards Doi Mae Salong, displays tribal-style houses and cultural accoutrements, and every 4th Saturday of a month has a light-and-sound show, first in Thai then in English (B450, tel. 053-779124)

The Yao Museum at Ban Yao Lao Chi Kuai ("Culture Museum and Handicraft Shop" by Ban Huai Tong, Pa Tung, off Rt 1089 near kilo 71) offers little more than a sign to attract attention, but does have a couple interesting artifacts you can view free if you can locate someone with a key.

Ban Jalae Hilltribe Life and Culture Center, a project of the Mirror Art Group, has a small museum with a scattering of Musur cultural artifacts, and a slide show about changing Hilltribe life and the three tribes of the area: Lahu, Yao/Mien and Akha. 20 km. northwest of Chiangrai near Huai Mae Sai Waterfall, B20.

Tai Yuan Art Gallery on Rachyotha Soi 3 (250 Moo 15) is new, and represents the best known artists of the north.

Across from Sammakkhi Wittayakhom School on Banpaprakan is MunNiTi Chiang Rai, a Taoist and Mahayana Buddhist Chinese temple, and on Soi Krung Thong (between Sanambin Road and Jet Yot) is a small Teh Chiew Chinese ancestor worship temple with a cumbersomely long name. There's also a beautiful traditional-style Shan house in that soi. On the road to Pattaya Noi is a temple to the Chinese Goddess of Mercy, Jao Mae Kuan Im, with a large statue of her outside. Kwan Im, or Guanyin, is considered the female Buddha aspect. There's another temple to her, a Taiwanese one, in the Ban Kheck area.

Da Rul Ahman Mosque, on Thanon Issaraphap a bit behind Haw Nalikah Restaurant), was built over 100 years ago. Chiang Rai's first mosque, it is frequented by Haw Chinese and has no minaret. On Thanon Aladin, southeast of the bridge to Mae Sai, is Nu Rul Islam Pakistan Mosque (Kok Thong Soi 19). Its minaret has loudspeakers. Men there wear white with skullcaps, and speak neither Thai nor English. Their neighborhood, north-east of the Mengrai statue and Ha-Yak, is Chiang Rai's most ethnically diverse; one finds also a Hakka &/or Taiwanese Chinese temple dedicated to vegetarianism and the goddess Quon Im, a small Baptist Church and the Catholic Mission, with Santi Vithaya School and the Church of Mary's Nativity.

Chiang Rai First Church, its largest, was built in 1914 at PratuSiri corner. It's Presbyterian.