Thailand's Rubber Triangle

A light-hearted billboard greets visitors to Chiang Rai's Cabbages and Condoms restaurant. Picture / Megan Singleton.

Lunching at the Cabbages and Condoms restaurant in Thailand's northern-most city of Chiang Rai was an experience I was not sure I was totally up for.

I was on a whistle-stop three-day tour from Bangkok to the Golden Triangle where Thailand borders Laos and Cambodia.

My itinerary indicated the drive from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai would take about three hours and along the way we'd visit ancient ruins and 1000-year-old temples, and poke around villages and factories of artisans busily creating paper parasols, carving wooden elephants and gluing egg shells on to lacquer vases to stunning effect.

Chiang Rai and its sister town Chiang Mai are where many of the quality handmade crafts you find in Bangkok markets are made. This region is also a favourite stomping ground for backpackers keen to trek through the jungle for a bit of flora and fauna appreciation, and for the less intrepid, cheap Thai massages (about $14 for an hour) and of course, shopping.

My afternoon was to be spent visiting the monstrous new Hall of Opium museum, which documents the history and misery the opium trade had on the region and its people during the 19th century, and the ensuing battles that came with it - like the British and Chinese invasions.

But a single sentence on my itinerary said we were to dine at Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant in Wiang Pa Pao.

If there's one thing I can't handle about TV show Fear Factor it's the food they make the money- and fame-hungry contestants eat. So when condom salad appeared on the menu I nearly fled. But realising I would only get as far as the bus in the carpark waiting for the rest of our group to finish, I decided to brave the prophylactic dish.

Cabbages and Condoms is a restaurant chain with five outlets in Thailand. This one in Chiang Rai also has budget accommodation on site by way of cottages designed more for the backpacker. It's comfortable and simple, but not swanky.

The whole condom concept would be humorous if its mission wasn't so serious. These restaurants raise funds for the Population and Community Development Association. PDA was founded 30 years ago and is one of Thailand's most established non-government funded organisations. Its primary concern is for the welfare of the country's rural poor, and since 1974 it has provided education on family planning and sexually transmitted diseases.

I have to admit, this worthy explanation didn't assuage my trepidation. But a billboard at the entrance, painted with 10 brightly coloured condoms, arms waving and faces smiling, proved they do see the lighter side of their mission.

I entered through the gift shop selling many quality souvenirs which also included a bunch of condom flowers. They also sell the real thing, but I was more taken by the bouquet.

Cabbages and Condoms restaurants have a reputation for good, cheap food. I proceeded to the buffet to load my plate with Thai-style chicken, rice and other delicious-looking, yet unidentifiable, goodies. The condom salad sat ominously at the end of the table.

Bravely I walked over and joined the small party of onlookers who were peering into the bowl. Tiny, rolled up condom-looking rice crepes decorated the dish which turned out to be a regular salad underneath. Very clever.

The name for the restaurant is a gimmick that the locals understand. Cabbages are plentiful up here and it is hoped that condom use will become just as common. A line at the bottom of the menu reads, "Our food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy".

Only 30 years ago it seemed everything caused pregnancy in these rural areas. Thai families averaged seven children. Today the average is two and the PDA is proud to have been a part of this shift, particularly for poor families who also remain largely uneducated about HIV and Aids.

Many of Chiang Rai's youngsters leave their jungle backyards and head south for a better life in the big smoke of Bangkok.

Instead they end up lured into the lucrative sex industry, ignorant to its dangers.

But during these family planning programmes it became apparent the rural communities required far more than a reduction in fertility rates. The PDA has since established medical, training, conservation and business education programmes.

One of the most recent initiatives is the Vegetable Bank which links underground irrigation to small plots so families can cultivate fast-growing, high-value veges that require only small amounts of water. This style of farming enables villagers to earn up to $100 per month from their 800sq m lots - about three times what they were earning before the system was initiated.

PDA's original family planning campaign was started by Mechai Viravaidya in the 1970s. His mission was to attract as much media attention as possible in his quest to change society's values particularly to taboo subjects like sex, contraception, vasectomies and now abortion. He has succeeded.

Now best known as Thailand's advocate of family planning and safe sex, he is fighting to bring change, not only in Thailand's bedrooms but at government level.

Twelve thousand volunteers have delivered contraceptives to over 16,000 villages, and today PDA programmes cover a third of the country. Mechai is now slang in Thailand for "condom" and the safe sex activist has become a senator.

So, after the salad had been sampled and my horizons widened, I left the restaurant with more than just my appetite sated. And instead of a mint, everyone received a free condom.

Checklist

Cabbages and Condoms

Where
The main restaurant in Bangkok is next door to the PDA head office in Soi 12, Sukhumvit Rd. Tell the taxi driver to take you to "Sukhumvit Soi Sip Sawng".

Others are also located in the northeast.

Chiang Rai: 620/25 Tanarai Rd, Muang Chiang Rai 57000.

Viang Pa Pao District, Chiangrai: 323 Moo 6 Par-Ngeao Vieng Pao, Chiang Rai 57170.

Nakornratchasima (Korat): 86/1 Serbsiri Rd, Mnai Muang, Muang District, Nakornratchasima 30000.

Nang Rong Centre: 81 Moo 6 Ckokchai Detudom Rd, Nongbot, Nang Rong District, Buriram 31110.

C&C cottages at Viang Pa Pao start from 290 to 800 baht ($10-$28) per night.

* Megan Singleton flew courtesy of Thai Airways and was hosted by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.