Tag Archives: opium

A TASTE FOR THE EAST 1990

February 26, 2024 – 1:32 am

My first trip to the Orient was in 1990. A round-the-world ticket. One destination was Singapore. The Straits city was already undergoing its metamorphosis from a colonial port to a gleaming metropolis of skyscrapers. Raffles had been closed for renovations. I stayed at a cheap Chinese hotel in a decrepit godown. The walls climbed toward […]

By Peter | Posted in 90s, Drugs, semi-fiction, Thailand, Travel | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)

A STORY OF O by Peter Nolan Smith – 1994

February 24, 2024 – 1:59 am

In 1994 Crazy Santa possessed a special guest card to the Russian Baths on East 10th Street. The steam room crew began to heat the river boulders at 6am. The two-ton stones glowed red by 7:20. The Schvitz opened at 8 AM, but Crazy Santa was in the dry steam room at 7:21. He was […]

By Peter | Posted in Drugs, East Village, NEW YORK, semi-fiction | Also tagged , | Comments (0)

Sleep Sweet Sleep

September 21, 2023 – 6:33 am

written Sept. 21, 2017 Tourists in Northern Thailand flock to the convergence of the Mekong and Mai Klong Rivers in expectation of experiencing the notorious Golden Triangle. Most express deep disappointment that there aren’t any opium dens from which they can watch the flow of the Mekong River. A few harass the riverside shop owners for a […]

By Peter | Posted in Drugs, Thailand, Travel | Also tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

Brown Mixture

May 13, 2019 – 1:19 am

800 kilometers north of SriRacha is the Golden Triangle. Tourists identify this fabled name with the confluence of the Mekong and Ruak Rivers. The term more accurately referred to the opium-growing regions in Burma, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, where once most of the world’s opium was grown by the tribesmen living beyond the law. Back […]

By Peter | Posted in Drugs, Health, Thailand | Also tagged , , | Comments (0)

Across From Burma

September 21, 2017 – 7:32 pm

Throughout the 90s I biked up from Chiang Mai to Mai Sai on the Thai-Burma border. A small river separated the two countries. The people on both sides looked the same and the houses were built in a similar fashion. I stayed at the Mai Sai Guest House to the left of the Friendship Bridge. […]

By Peter | Posted in 90s, Thailand, Travel | Also tagged , , , | Comments (0)