WOW: My Visit To Laos’ Creepy, Lawless “Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone”

During my two-part birthday trip to the Golden Triangle, we spent a few nights at the Four Seasons Tented Camp Golden Triangle. As I hinted at in the review, we did a side trip during our stay that I found to be utterly fascinating, so let me explain how it came to happen, and what our experience was like. This is probably as close as I’ll ever get to visiting a place like North Korea (assuming divorce isn’t in the cards!)

I saw something on the Mekong River, and became obsessed

As I explained in my review of the Four Seasons Golden Triangle, the arrivals experience is interesting — you fly into Chiang Rai Airport (CEI), then you drive for around 45 minutes, and then you take a long-tail boat for another 10 minutes.

That boat ride takes place right at the tri-point border region of the Golden Triangle, where Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar meet, at the Mekong River. The thing to understand is that this area is all rather rural, and doesn’t have much in the way of infrastructure.

As we started our boat ride, I saw something across the river, over in Laos, which caught my attention — it seemed to be a legitimate city, with high rises, and some sort of an extravagant-looking hotel.

I wasn’t expecting that, and the above picture doesn’t even do justice to how big the “city” is. For example, the Four Seasons Golden Triangle is built into a hill, and from the top of the property, you can even see the city in the distance, through the haze.

I asked one of the hotel employees about this — he answered “that’s the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, it’s controlled by a Chinese businessman” There’s a special economic zone here?! My interest was piqued.

“Oh… is it possible to visit? Is there anything to see here?” “There’s not really anything there to see, it’s very quiet.” Okay, that answer just made this infinitely more intriguing to me. After all, people don’t usually build big cities in the middle of nowhere(ish) for no reason, and if it’s quiet… well, that’s all the more fascinating and suspicious.

Before we even made it to the hotel, the wheels in my head were turning. I mean, keep in mind the Golden Triangle has quite the historical reputation. The “triangle” part is easy enough, since it’s where three countries meet, while the “golden” refers to its historical status as the world’s most prominent region for the illicit opium trade, as the crop was literally worth its weight in gold.

So you’re telling me a Chinese businessman built a “special economic zone” in a region that’s historically known for drug trafficking, thanks to the ease with which things can be moved between three countries? Oh my…

For the next 24 hours, during any downtime I had, I started reading every story and watching every video I could about this “special economic zone.” Goodness, it was so much shadier than I could’ve even expected:

• The man behind this is Zhao Wei, a (now) 73-year-old Chinese national who made a lot of money investing in casinos in Macau back in the 1990s
• In 2007, he decided to expand his business beyond Macau, and managed to secure a 99-year land lease with the government of Laos, to essentially create a 39 square mile “special economic zone,” which he controls, meaning authorities in Laos have no jurisdiction over it
• Officially, the idea was to bring development to this region, in hopes of increasing tourism and business in the region, all centered around his casino brand, Kings Romans Group; of course the claim is he wants to help the region, arguing that by creating economic opportunity, he’d help drive drug trafficking out of the region
• You’ll be shocked to hear that there might be more to this than just a casino element, with his “Zhao Wei Transnational Criminal Organisation” (TCO) allegedly involved in drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, bribery, wildlife trafficking, and other forms of transnational organized crime, all centered around this “special economic zone”

Below are a few videos about the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, and if you can only watch one, I’d recommend the first one. The accusations are absolutely wild, especially regarding human trafficking. There are claims that people were offered good paying jobs in the area, only to arrive, have their passports confiscated, and then essentially be trapped, forced to work on all kinds of scams (including romance scams).

Our trip to the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone!

When it comes to travel, nothing makes me giddier than having an experience where I don’t know what to expect. This is true of airlines, hotels, and destinations.

So after having done my research, I started asking the lovely Four Seasons camp manager if it would be possible to visit the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone. She was a bit surprised by the request — she said in the past five years, no guest had asked to visit, and she also warned us that there’s not actually a lot to see there.

She wasn’t sure if Laos was currently allowing day visits from Thailand at the Golden Triangle border (it had apparently been suspended at some point), so she said she’d have to check on that. So the next day while on a tour with our awesome guide, Rain, we stopped by the immigration checkpoint to ask. They confirmed it would be possible, so we then visited a passport photo store to get our pictures taken, since we’d need a visa on arrival for Laos.

She recommended that Rain go with us to the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, and we made it our morning activity the last full day. Honestly, if I had known about this all in advance, I would’ve planned to spend a night at the Kapok Star Hotel (that big, golden casino hotel), but alas, we tried to make the most of our time, so could only squeeze in a morning visit.

I wondered what it would be like. In particular, I wondered if this project had basically been abandoned at this point, or just how quiet the whole area would feel? After all, with the amount of negative press this area has gotten, plus the sanctions, I imagine there’s more scrutiny on the area than in the past, and maybe it’s no longer accomplishing its goals (especially post-COVID).

So with much excitement, at around 9AM we headed to the Thailand Golden Triangle immigration checkpoint, to go over to Laos.

The boat ride took all of five minutes.

Laos has quite the modern immigration facility here, specifically welcoming people to the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone. Clearly they had big hopes for the region, but it was basically deserted.

In the arrivals area, there were three ATMs, so you could get the currency of China, Laos, or Thailand.

Just outside the immigration checkpoint, we found someone to drive us around for a couple of hours (in these odd, large golf carts, of sorts). As we left the parking lot, we saw what looked like an abandoned Bentley… or at least it didn’t have any plates. But I guess who needs plates when you’re in a lawless place, especially since I imagine that someone here who has a Bentley is pretty connected? 😉

The second we got out of the immigration area, the situation got even stranger. There were massive six-lane roads, that were just completely empty. Like, you’d see a motorbike every so often, but that was about it. There were basically no signs of life.

The next thing I noticed was the number of cigar “clubs.” There was one on every corner, but they also seemed to be pretty deserted, though admittedly it was only mid-morning.

Our first stop was a beautiful pedestrian zone, which was sort of abandoned, but sort of not.

We didn’t see a single other person there, yet the doors to many stores were open, and some even had a sign about how you could take items, and just leave money in a box. There were also some monkeys in cages just sitting outside, which… was kind of sad and eerie.

There was some KFC signage, though I imagine it has been a while since that was open, and for that matter, something tells me they were never paying franchise fees. 😉

We also visited a breathtaking temple, where we saw one of our first signs of life — there was a monk. Yes, just one. I’d love to know his story…

Then there was “Little Venice,” which was super creepy. It looked more like Disney World than Venice, but again, there was no sign of life.

Next, we visited the Kapok Star Hotel, the 500+ room casino hotel. This really gave very strong North Korea vibes — like, the hotel appeared to be fully operational, but is anyone actually staying here??

Architecturally, it’s certainly quite a building, with a huge atrium.

There was a big banner in the lobby about the “International Art Exhibition of the Golden Triangle for Peace.” But of course… peace!

Our driver insisted on walking us around the hotel. We ended up on a higher floor, which he said had good views of the city.

There was a coffee shop there, so I offered to buy us all a coffee. I then realized that the extent of the coffee shop was basically a $5 drip coffee machine, so I didn’t actually want anything. But I had already offered, so our driver ordered a coffee. Even though this coffee shop was staffed, we must’ve been their first customer of the day, because they couldn’t actually get the sole drip coffee machine to work. It took all of 15 minutes for them to even turn it on.

We also walked through the casino, where there’s a strict no photos policy (and I didn’t want to do anything to get into trouble, for obvious reasons). To my surprise, there were actually a good number of people there. As it was explained to me, these are largely people who come over from Thailand for the day to gamble.

We then just drove up and down the streets, looking at some absolutely massive buildings — some were complete, and some were still actively under construction. It was odd, because you’d see maybe five construction workers working on one of these buildings, so it’s like they’re doing something, but not going full steam ahead.

If I saw one of the videos correctly, this block of buildings is also where some people are (or were) reportedly “imprisoned,” as part of these scam centers.

We then stopped by a market, which had a ton of stalls, but again, no visitors…

And then we made our way back to Thailand, since we had plans in the afternoon. Before I wrap this up, let me make a few points:

• For those who think it’s reckless that we visited, we were of course intentional with how we approached this; I wasn’t video recording and sticking a camera in peoples’ faces, trying to knock down doors, or anything like that, but instead, we just acted like normal tourists, and I didn’t think that would arouse any suspicion (and it didn’t)
• Some people may take issue ethically with the concept of visiting places like this; personally, I think increased coverage of the area only helps in holding the various parties accountable, and simply ignoring it is almost what they want, in terms of continuing with whatever they’re doing
• This is truly one of the strangest places I’ve ever been, because I’ve never been to a place that’s semi-deserted in this way; like, there were people gambling, but other than that, there was almost no one
• In an ideal world, I would’ve loved to spend a night here, and to walk around independently in the evenings, when it’s maybe a little more lively, or something, but we tried to make the best of our limited time, and squeezed this in at the last minute
• This isn’t surprising, I suppose, but it’s interesting how everyone just acted as if this was all completely normal; again, that makes sense, since this is what locals are used to, but for me it felt like being in an alternate reality

I’d be fascinated to know what the actual current state of things is. On the one hand, it all feels quite deserted, and one would think that this concept has largely been abandoned, given the increased international scrutiny on it.

On the other hand, there’s still construction work going on. As we drove down the streets, I of course couldn’t help but wonder if there were still people “imprisoned” in those high rises, or if all of that had been shut down, in the meantime.

It’s all a mystery, but I can officially say that this is the most unusual place I’ve ever been.

Bottom line

When we made plans to travel to the Golden Triangle, I was expecting to see elephants and cool nature, and not a creepy, abandoned, lawless city. But that’s the joy of travel sometimes, when you’re caught off guard, and have an experience you weren’t expecting.

The Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone has been under development for nearly 20 years, and is essentially a city in Laos that’s run by a Chinese businessman, and laws don’t apply there. Officially, it’s intended to be a place for tourism and economic development. Unofficially, well… there’s a lot of other stuff going on there as well.

This place is unlike anywhere I’ve ever been, and I still can’t stop thinking about it. I wish I had been able to spend a night, and dig a little deeper. But hey, we made the best of our time, and our visit made for a morning that I won’t soon forget.

What do you make of the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone?