Word: baht
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...prolific opium-producing region--where Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Laos come together. While methamphetamines had previously been sold either in powdered or crystalline form, new labs in Burma, northern Thailand and China commoditized the methamphetamine business by pressing little tablets of the substance that now retail for about 50 baht ($1.20) each. At first only bar girls like Jacky smoked it. Then some of the younger guys who hung out with the girls tried it. Soon a few of the housewives began smoking, and finally some of the dads would take a hit or two when they were...
...replacing that opiate as the leading drug produced in the notorious Golden Triangle. While methamphetamines had previously been sold either in powdered or crystalline form, new labs in Burma and northern Thailand commoditized the methamphetamine business by pressing little tablets of the substance that now retail for about 50 baht ($1.20) each. At first, only bar girls like Jacky smoked the stuff. Then some of the younger guys who hung out with the girls tried it. And then a few of the housewives began smoking, and finally some of the dads would take a hit or two when they were...
...them, taking hits from the sheets of tinfoil. As Jacky applies a thick layer of foundation makeup to her face, and then dabs on retouching cream and then a coating of powder, she talks about how tonight she has to find a customer; she needs to make a thousand baht. She'll work the dance floor at Angel's and, if she can't pick up a foreigner, she'll try Thermae, a sleazy after-hours joint and the evening's last resort for Bangkok's bar girls. If she can find a customer and save some money...
...Back then, she was a motorbike messenger, shuttling packages back and forth throughout Bangkok's busy Chitlom district. She was laid off after the 1997 devaluation of the baht when her company released those messengers who didn't own their own motorbikes. "Now I don't think about the gift shop anymore. Smoking yaba pushes those kinds of thoughts, and the thoughts about my children, to the back of my mind. It's good for that. Smoking means you don't have to think about the hard times." Bing nods his head, agreeing. "When I smoke, it makes everything seem...
...short, it's October again, and investors are behaving like idiots again. This time last year it was the Y2K bug; the year before, presidential impeachment and the collapse of hedge fund Long-Term Capital; the year before that, the plunging Thai baht and Asian contagion. None of those crises proved catastrophic to U.S. stocks...