A poppy field somewhere in Northern Laos. Our guide told us that it was problematic for him to take us to this area, as he was about to be certified as an eco-tourism guide.

So, it’s our secret where exactly this was. Apparently, opium tourism does not mix well with eco-tourism. Anyhow, I say leave the opium to the lowland rice farmers, who need it more than some backpacker who has a sore coccyx after a six-hour ride crammed into the back of a pickup truck on a bumpy road.

Photo and text copyright Jacques van Wersch.