I went on a trek in the North of Thailand just outside the Golden triangle. Far away from the fake Levi's and the neon we headed into the jungle. Myself and a lunatic from Belfast who i'd met that morning in the pick-up truck. We spent the first day walking up and down muddy hills following a bloke in bare feet carrying 184 eggs in those cardboard thingy's. Man i could hardly stay on my feet but all day he never dropped 1 flippin egg. All that day he kept laughing at us sweaty foreigners and telling us that he had a treat for us that night and to keep going. Well, we finally stopped walking about sunset in a village inhabited by the Karen peopleand had a wash in a stream and settled down for some food. These people who live in this remote place need to be seen. They are so amazing, living on the side of a hill in the middle of the jungle with few comforts. For years, all around this part of the world the cash crop has been Opium. Everybody is at it and it is as much a way of life as is the British pub. So anyhoo, after dinner they introduced us to a bloke they called Doctor 'O'. One at a time he took us into his little hut and we lay on our sides facing him as he fed the flame to little balls if Opium which we smoked. Weird stuff really coz it was milder than smoking a silk cut and when you exhaled the smoke left a sweet taste on your lips. A once in a lifetime thing which i must confess i enjoyed a lot. We smoked lots of pipes with him well into the night and it was one of the most surreal things i've ever done. Lying on the ground with a man, not speaking each others language but communicating all the same. He gave me a poppy leaf which i pressed in my passport. Purple, blue and white. These people are not lay about dope smokers though. The following day he killed a pig for us (no need) and he and his little boy skinned it and cooked it as a welcome. Funny isn't it how those with the least are the most generous.
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Mar 7th, 2005
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