Koh Samui Paradise 1991

From 2008

My annual visits to Koh Samui throughout the 1990s consisted of a train ride down from Bangkok to Surathani. There was no plane. A ferry ride over to the island. Booking a beach bungalow at Coral Cove and renting a Honda MTX 125cc motorbike to get round the island. Chaweng Beach was the prettiest stretch of sand in the Gulf of Siam. There were no hotels and the fanciest bungalows were located at the Jungle. The only nightclub was the reggae bar, but there were plenty of places for drinks.

One night I met two French people at a fish restaurant. We went to Chaweng Beach for drinks. They had some speed pills. We did two each. The effect was almost immediate. To counteract the jitters I downed a Valium. The combination of speed, downers, and Mekong defied my usual excellent sense of personal chemistry.

I recall going to the bar and ordering drinks for everyone.

After that I vaguely remember someone telling me I couldn't drive.

Then lights out.

Well past midnight I woke up on a sagging table in the alley behind the bar. It was raining. I was dry. My bike was in the sand. My keys were in my pocket. So was my wallet. The only thing missing was an 18K ring, which might have been given to a girl. Something like that.

I was lucky.

I could have gotten on the bike and driven back to the Coral Cove.

I don't think I would have made it.

That was my one drug experience on Koh Samui.

It was more than enough.

Koh Samui Drug Ring Bust

Coca plants are grown in the Andes highlands by small farmers. They sell the cash crop to drug dealers who process the leaves into cocaine for shipment to demand centers such as the USA and Europe. Their smugglers run a gauntlet of thieves, government agents, police, and military, however more gets through than gets caught.

Thailand has a death penalty for drug dealing. Those convicted routinely are executed by lethal injection. This ultimate penalty has done nothing to stop the flow on drugs and it is obvious to anyone other than the government that the war on drugs has been lost a long time ago.

This defeat is despite the recent raids in Koh Samui netting a Thai-farang cocaine ring selling their product to revellers at the classic Full Moon Parties on nearby Koh Phangan.

"It was quick, secret, well-planned and no lives were lost." The head of the raids declared to the Press. The arrests came after the detention of Nigerian traffickers, who confessed 'freely' to NSB agents the full details of the operation from South America to Africa to Europe to Singapore and finally Thailand.

The Full Moon gang's leader was an Iranian exile targeted by the DEA. He did not resist the search of his house. You don't say no to Thai police. The investigators claim to have found money, cocaine, and bank books.

When asked why the NSB officer picked 8/1 for the raids, he smiled, saying, "My fortune-teller said it was a good date."

5 suspects are under custody awaiting charges.

A day later you could still buy cocaine on Koh Samui.

Good work.