Ways to get high

In Cambodia, it is possible to have your pizza served "happy". It is an unique Cambodian cuisine and means your ordinary pizza will be garnished with a bit - sometimes a lot - of "happy herbs". Yes, this means ganja/marijuana/pot/weed, whatever you call it. In the good old days (1990s) when Cambodia was the Wild East, every pizza place served happy pizzas, but, nowadays, due to Cambodia's more strict drug policy (yes, "happy herbs" are also illegal in Cambodia) "happy" might only be a buzz word on the menu used instead of "delicious" or "yummy". So if you don't want to have anything to do with drugs omit "happy" food. However, if you do want to get stoned, ask whether "happy" really is that happy. Other food items can of course also be upgraded to "happy" like the equally famous happy shake.

Often sold as tickets to the moon, magic mushroom are easy available throughout backpacker Indonesia. Though mushrooms are illegal throughout Indonesia some backpacker places seem to be going under the radar. Seeing billboards advertising "Bloody sexy fresh magic mushrooms" are not unusual in places like the Gili Islands. So if you do want a trip to the moon, just make sure it is a return ticket you get.

Betel nut is an innocent looking nut, but when chewed with crushed coral and mustard stick, it works as a mild stimulant – which strangely also generates blood-red saliva that stains everything including the teeth. Most locals chew betel nut unless their branch of Christianity has managed to ban it. Many shops and offices have signs banning the chewing of betel nuts on the premises and in Honiara they even try to minimise the disgusting red spit splashes by encouraging the use of spitting boxes (used cardboard boxes). Yummy. If you give it a try, do not expect any effect besides a headache the first couple of times - and you have to be pretty persistent to keep trying.

These girls are not prostitutes, as you might think, but betel nut beauties who only sell betel nuts, cold drinks and cigarettes. Positioned in neon lighted glass booths along the major provincial roads, these skimpily dressed girls try to attract passing drivers' attention (probably mostly men) with their cuteness and lack of outfit. In the good old nineties, the girls were hardly wearing anything, but today no breasts or buttocks are exposed. Betel nut is a mild stimulant and is big business in Taiwan, where the girls are considered as a unique culture feature. They certainly make entering a Taiwanese town a bit more exciting. Just remember to keep your eyes on the road while driving.

At first you might wonder why anyone would want to drink Kava. A murky liquid with a strong bitter taste that leaves your lips and tongue numb. But then you feel it, a lightness that flushes to your head. You get mildly stoned, but without losing your mental clarity. And the best bit is you do not get any hangover the next day. Kava is legal throughout the South Pacific and is normally made by grinding the Kava root and adding a bit of water (though old tribe recipes demand it to be chewed by virgin boys). In Vanuatu, you can find Kava everywhere. Bigger villages have Kava bars that are signposted by a single colorful light bulb outside. When the light is turned off, there is no more Kava.