Meth: a Ticking Timebomb Gone Viral

Every High Has a Low

I was on such a high yesterday that I was bound to come crashing down sooner or later.

As a young girl growing up in Isan Province, Thailand, Nada and her family experienced times when food was scarce and there were days when they had to rely on the land to provide them with food. Bamboo grew in abundance in the hills above the rice fields, and she and her siblings would often ride their bikes searching for young shoots to collect and bring home to cook. Mushrooms were also a good source of protein, and with Mama, Papa and six hungry young mouths to feed, every bit helped.

I cannot imagine how hard it must have been for Nada to grow up impoverished, but that was a long time ago and no matter how many years have passed, some things are hard to change.

Nada has been saying to me for weeks that she wants to go to a mountain near our home to look for mushrooms and bamboo. Personally, I would rather buy them from the markets and help support the vendors there. I didn't like the idea of her going on her own, just in case something bad were to happen so today, we rode up a dirt road to a place Nada had been before to relive her childhood.

I was dressed in long pants and a jacket and wore my old shoes. I also took my trusty walking stick in case we ran into any feral dogs. When Nada asked me to stop the bike, she said for me to wait and that she would only be gone for a few minutes. She then disappeared into the forest through a barbed wire fence and I awaited her return.

I thought that she wanted to make sure there was no landowner in the vicinity and that having a Farang along may have made things more difficult to explain. Thirty minutes went by before she returned...a huge smile and a plastic bag half full of mushrooms and bamboo to show for her efforts. She was pleased with her haul until she saw my face and realised that I wasn't so impressed. I made the mistake of thinking that a few minutes would be no longer than five minutes, but apparently in Thailand, a few minutes is closer to half an hour.

I do understand why she didn't take me along, and that she only had my best interests at heart. You see, Nada is a strong woman who has been trekking in the hills of Thailand her entire life. On the other hand, I'm an overweight and sometimes clumsy Farang, who may have slipped and possibly hurt my bad knee. There's no doubt I would have had trouble getting under that barbed wire fence (although I would have made it even if it killed me), and in Nada's mind, I was much better off waiting for her to do her thing by the relative safety of the roadside.

Upon her return, she did try and make up for her 'error' by saying we could go for a walk along an easier path than she had just negotiated, but I wasn't in the mood. I just wanted to go home and I've been sulking ever since.

Tonight, Nada cooked me some lovely food, gave me a foot massage and is doing her best to lift me out of the doldrums. The problem is, the truth hurts...and Nada's concern for me was justified. The mind wants to go where the body probably shouldn't, and even though I'm sure I would have been OK, there was still some damage done to me today...and it wasn't physical, but mental.

Getting old really sucks.