AKHA TRIBE, NORTHERN LAOS
In 2012, with the help of a local guide, I trekked into the mountains in Northern Laos in search of the Akha tribes. The Akha people live high in the back mountains in small villages close to the Chinese border. They are happy people, mainly farmers, growing cotton, food, and opium.
Upon arrival, I was greeted by a small man, chewing red betel nut which gives you euphoria and is very addictive. He was the chief of the village and invited me into his little hut. It was a dark one-room hut a few metres off the ground, with a fire in the middle and small beds around the edges.
Without a word, he sat down and started burning a piece of resin on a candle. He then added this resin into a small bowl, added a bit of unknown powder then packed it into the biggest smoking pipe I’ve ever seen. He then lay on his side and started puffing on his pipe. The puffing went on continuously in and out without a break for at least a minute… He was smoking Opium. He then prepped the pipe and passed it to me….
Teufelsberg, Berlin
I visited the infamous Teufelsberg in Berlin with my new mate David. I was couch surfing at his place and we did a day trip here. Teufelsberg is a man-made hill, believed to be created from the rubble of some 400,000 buildings, created in the 20 years following the Second World War. The US National Security Agency (NSA) built one of its largest listening stations on top of the hill, rumored to be part of the global ECHELON intelligence gathering network. It was the best vantage point for listening to Soviet, East German, and other Warsaw Pact nation’s military traffic and is now and tourist attraction and a great place for graffiti artists and rave parties. http://en.wikipedia.org/wikiTeufelsberg
