[Tripco]

I supose many of you will travel somwhere this summer (summer, at least for us in the northern hemisphere), so, i hope this thread will be somekind of useful Cannatravel guide. Feel free to jump in with your advices.
I’ll start with my country, Serbia (I know it’s not very popular destination, but…). Possesion of any amount of Cannabis is illigal. Smaller amounts will be tolerated, but it depends from cop to a cop. Try to have ganja in only one small pack or rolled in a few joints. Possession of more smaller packs is usualy treated as selling. If a cop press hard on you, don’t be offensive, try to bribe him/her with words like “can we talk about it”. Don’t try to give money in the beginning, only when (and if) the cop asks for the money. If it doesn’t works, call your embassy.
Most likely, you’ll visit our capital town, Belgrade. It’s not hard to find ganja there, but you won’t find it on the street, at least not in the city centre. Choose some caffee (there’s so many of ‘em) with techno/trance/house or reggae or alternative rock music, order a drink and ask bartender if he/she knows somebody who sells it. When the dealer shows up, make transaction in the caffee, or in the street around the corner, don’t go any further (you might be robbed). Ask to see the goods, smell it, check it any way you use to do. There’s a tons of schwag coming from Alabania and nearby serbian rural regions, but you can also find very good (mostly outdoors) grown ganja. To find hashish is a litlle bit harder, but it can be very nice surprise with black turkish or some of domestic homemade varieties.
More or less, the same situation is with other main cities, such are Subotica, Novi Sad, Nis, Kragujevac. Novi Sad is also famous for its EXIT music festival (this year 2.-6. july with Franz Ferdinand, The Cardigans, Kelis, HIM, The Cult, Billy Idol, numerous DJ’s, and jazz and world music stages). Any kind of drug can be found there, but be aware of nonuniformed cops.
Very good outdoor Cannabis can be found in the smaller cities (in some places you can actualy see ganja fields from the bus/train), but it’s harder to blend in with the locals and the cops will be attracted to you.
Usual Strains are: (Early) Misty (extremly popular last few years), Durban Poison, Skunk (all different versions), Masterkush, Big Bud. Ask for last years hit – homemade Blueberry hash.

[naga_sadu]

1. Are the cops ACTIVELY looking for drugs- or do they nail you only if they visibly see the drug(s) on you? Or can they frisk you at random with that "do you mind if I did a brief search" bullshit? Do they do this often?

2. What's the going backsheesh rate there? For tourists...? Is the rate more or less universal or does it vary from the cities to towns/villages etc? In S. Asia, $15-$20 should see most budget travellers through...

3. Are there any "whistle-blowers" tourists ought to watch out for? For example, the Bangkok cab drivers are NOTORIOUS whistle blowers...

4. Is it cool to smoke in the smaller privately owned guest houses/ lodges?

5. Are there any ripoffs? Is it a major problem? Like fake crap, heavily stemmed baggies etc?

6. Do the cops often patrol the country roads? As in, can I comfortably park my rented motorbike off a country road a puff a fattie? Or should I stick to indoors? Do cops often patrol the countryside and/or the cities??

7. Is it possible to rent out a private residence for a 1 month to 45 days basis?

8. Please name some cool smoker spots and backpacking locations...?

9. And pls suggest some killer meat dish I can much on when I'm stoned off my ass?

If u could give more details focusing around the questions I've raised, I feel it will give the potential tourists a picture perfect scene on what to expect etc.

[GrowerGoneWild]

Well I made a trip to Vancouver BC Cananda and I stopped into "New Amsterdam" cafe 301 Hastings Street. Very interesting.. To say the least.
Lots of headgear avalible as well as a cafe with some eats and espresso's.
They dont sell there so dont go there thinking you can buy some buds at the
counter. But it was kinda cool, everybody was hanging out and smoking..
It is however in a dicey part of the city IMHO.

If your in the area, "New Amsterdam" cafe is kinda a cool place to stop by. I just wish they sold buds over the counter :(

[Tripco]

Excellent Naga, Your questions offers me opportunity to elaborate a bit more. Well...
1. Cops use to do random checks but not very often. But if they see you rolling it or smoking something they might consider as a "suspicious smoke", they will turn you inside-out.
2. Backsheesh - for those who are not familiar with this word, it's the usual term in southeastern Europe, Turkey, and part of the Near East countries (it's of the turkish origin) for bribe, but it Serbia it could also means "tip" in the restaurant. Original serbian word for bribe is "mito" (it's pronounced "meeto"), but don't use it when you speak with cops, it will offend 'em. Heh, the rate of bribe varies. In the smaller cities usual rate is, like, 10 Euros, but if yo're lucky, you can get away with 5 EUR. In Belgrade and majir cities, expenses are biger - from 10 to 20, maybe 30 EUR, but it can go up to 50 sometimes. Note this: if a cop comes out of patrol van (with a whole group of 5-8 cops) and they wear boots and kinda army uniforms, don't even think of bribing 'em - they're on your case.
3. Sorry, i'm not sure i know what is "whistle-blower". Is it a person who will call the cops?
4. Yes, it's O.K., no problem with that.
5. Yes, there are some rip-offs but they won't sell you heavily stemmed pack/bag, that's for local kids. Most usual rip-off is that dealer promises you a high grade ganja, but instead of it, you end up with a bag of nice-looking low grade buds. But everyone will allow you to see the stuff and most of 'em will allow you to twist it with fingers and to smell it. Good dealer will always offer you to puff a few smokes. Usual packs are 5 grams or 10 grams. Don't be surprised if it's packed not in the plastic bag, but in the cigarete pack celophane or staniol paper. In the provincial areas, some dealers still use matchbox as a pack (3-4g). Prices can vary, from 1-3 EUR for low grade to 5-6 EUR for high grade outdoor and 7-10 EUR for best indoor buds (but it's harder to find last one, especialy in the provincial areas). Hash, 10-15 EUR for good domestic, good Turkish black and low grade Afghani and Moroccan. High grade Moroccan goes up to 20-25 EUR. Sometimes extremly good Lebanese blond and Nepalese can be found but it's a very limited amount so the prices are very high
6. Well, you never know if they gonna show up (like everywhere in the world they're around you just when you don't need 'em). If you stop with a bike, sit down on the grass besides the road and smoke. If you see 'em coming, destroy the joint and act like you're fixing something on your bike, they will probably pass you by.
7. Yes, it is possible to rent ahouse/apartment on a long term basis.
8. It's very cool to smoke in the old fortresses in the Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis. It's a great view from there. Near Subotica is lake Palic, very cool place also, with very good ganja.
9. Killer meat dish? Well, serbian cuisine is nothing but meat dishes. In the western part (Kragujevac and region of Sumadiya) it's usualy raw meat roasted on a spit or in the oven. My recomendation: roasted lamb served with homebaked bread and chili peppers. In the southern and eastern Serbia specialties are from grilled (mainly pork)meat, serbian version of barbecue. My recomendation: anything you order is great but be aware, if you don't like hot paprika and chilli peppers (feferoni in serbian), some of it might not be for you.
Just to add that alcochol production is still completly legal in Serbia so, you can find a great choice of excellent domestic housebrewed brandys - mostly plum brandy (slivovitza), but also grape brandy, apple brandy, apricot brandy, peach brandy... Wines and beers are good and cheap. This is notoriously alcocholic country.

[naga_sadu]

Tripco:

Thanks for taking time to post extra details.

But anyways, a "whistle blower" is someone who offers to sell you the greens, sets you up, tells you to go to a certain location and then calls on the cops who bust you there. This kind of bullshit is very frequent amongst the Thai taxi drivers. Are there any such pplz we should look out for in your area???

Note this: if a cop comes out of patrol van (with a whole group of 5-8 cops) and they wear boots and kinda army uniforms, don't even think of bribing 'em - they're on your case.

Really- would cops in your part of the world seriously take the pain to assemble themselves into a van with all that military gear and bust a pot smoking tourist?? If so, it is shocking indeed considering Serbia is a deep rooted Bolshevik society. Or have things changed too much???

I've heard about such military style busts like you talked about- but only for black money cases. Even then, they had a very famous influencial warlord come football club owner (forgot his name) who specialized in bailing ppls with black money out of such messy situations. I also think he married a "turbo folk" singer. Last I heard, he got gunned down in a 5 star hotel (the Intercontinental?). So, I figured there must be ppls out there to bail you out of such trouble- being faced w/ 5-10 AK wielding cops.

I seriously hope that people enjoying some herbal refreshment won't be faced with such situations...? Plz. clarify man. But if that's the case, is it "game over" or are there some ppls who can bail you out?

Just to add that alcochol production is still completly legal in Serbia so, you can find a great choice of excellent domestic housebrewed brandys - mostly plum brandy (slivovitza), but also grape brandy, apple brandy, apricot brandy, peach brandy... Wines and beers are good and cheap. This is notoriously alcocholic country.

Speaking of alcohol, is Navip wines still around??? ??? ?? ?? ?

Hope I'm not taking too much of your time, Tripco and again, thanks for posting a cannatravel guide on a not so well known/ advertised destination.

hey, interesting thread

one question though, I have to ask - what kind of a madman would try and buy weed from a Thai taxi driver???

just in case anyone out there is contemplating such a thing - my advice is this: don't even dream of it, it would be a recipe for disaster!


my two cents from living in Thailand a while:

as a rule it is fair to assume that yellow taxis and tuk tuks in Thailand will 9 times out of 10 aim to rip you off one way or another, until you are able to speak to them in reasonable Thai, and this is just when we are talking about getting you from A to B, fuck buying weed lol!

(overcharging farang [foreigners, esp. white] is standard with tuk tuks, and not an insult per se, but metered taxis will often take a somewhat circuitous route too, and we are talking seriously fucking circuitous sometimes if you're in Bangkok)

as for buying weed - in Thailand you need to be extremely careful, and I mean extremely

believe me, I am not one of those pricks who gets a kick out of telling people how dangerous and "ghetto" a place is - it's just that in Thailand stupid farang are the jam in cops seriously bread and butter wages lol

cops in Thailand get payed absolute shit, nothing at all, even by Thai standards, and they are generally looked on with total contempt by most Thais - it is seen as a job for idiots

however, many unscrupulous Thais - not in short supply lol - are happy to do business with the filth, and this is what you really have to worry about if you are buying weed for Percy in small amounts -

my advice - never bother buying over 10 gram kind of quantities, unless you are a smuggler, in which case, fuck knows what you get up to, and good luck

but sane people, stick with this, and my guess is that the chance of you ending in the monkey house is minimal, but get caught and you are likely to have to pay through the nose - this is the main worry

Thai cops will ask high from a tourist, and from what I hear, farang have payed several thousand pounds, a lot of money by anyone's standards

but more important is where to buy:

for a tourist who is passing through, my advice is this - never buy and smoke outside of the place where you have bought - in other words, only buy in the bars, guesthouses and restaurants that have an open selling/smoking policy, and who sell as a matter of course

e.g. Siam Cookies in Koh Tao; The Rasta Cafe in Chiang Mai - these places have been around for years, and will have payed all their bribes etc... you will pay way way more than Thais would - maybe 5 to 10 GBP for 10g of pretty damn good weed - but nothing painful

your other safe option is to hunt down some expats, which in Chiang Mai, for instance, is not difficult at all - a lot of the old timers round places like The Writer's Cafe (and shit I think some of them may even be writers too) are smokers; get talking, buy them a few drinks and I'm pretty sure they will invite you for a smoke anyway

but whatever you do, don't be an idiot and ask random Thais

I'm afraid that the economic reality for the vast majority of Thais, particularly Thais who will live in places like Klong Toi in Bangkok, who will know where to score, is that they will see dollar signs flashing before their eyes

not least you are putting them on the spot, you know

if you were living off 50 dollars a month or less, wouldn't you? I know I fucking would

don't ask bar girls (I am talking broad spectrum here i.e. any Thai girl in a bar) unless you are already back at their flat lol in which case their boyfriend back in wherever it is is already paying them enough that you are safe and they will just phone their dealer (who will probably only have yabba)

don't ask bar girls who are back in your room, because they are probably broke lol - or, in all seriousness, unless you have been hanging out with them for a day or two, or you are absolutely sure they do actually like you lol - (not likely, I'm afraid, because if they do like you, they will probably hate you, if you see what I mean)

yes - rule no. 1 never ever ever ask random people on the street, not even if they are wearing one of those Rasta beanie things

a lot of rural Thai towns only have a couple of police, and have plenty of weed floating around - but you will probably be the only farang around, and as a guy (I assume girls aren't this dumb anyway) even if you are, for instance, with a girl who is from the village, I still don't advise buying - everyone will know about it within minutes, quite literally, and the policeman may well be arsed to get up off his behind and earn his year's salary in one afternoon's being scary lol

Hope that's of help,

Namkha

p.s. a friend of mine got busted in Laos, because of being an idiot - up till 12 in a village, singing and shouting, while smoking... the cops showed him a lump of weed: "The man who have this: we cut off his hand!" lol

[Tripco]

I thought whistle-blowers are something like that. Hm, i doubt there's so many around here (if there's any left). It was the case in the prior regime, but now, everybody wants to do some "bussines" and whistle-blowing is not good for it. Most of taxi drivers will offer you to meet some nice lady, of course, it will cost (cca. 50 EUR).
The "van cop" patrol comes only when you're in your way to police station but you're resisting the arrest or you're making some other problems. Then, there's no use to bribe 'em, they have command for the arrest.
Naga, you're talking 'bout Arkan (a guy who was shot afront of the Interconti). But he was No.1 maffia boss, "capo di tutti capi" in Serbia during the '90's. That kind of case is for Gardanmerie, serbian police special forces (you won't see 'em on the streets unless you visit some high risk soccer game - avoid such events and stay away from the crowd, it might get reeely ugly if some group discover that you don't support their team).
There is lawyers who will bail you out, but you gotta show 'em somehow that you have a good deal of money to pay 'em for the trial.
Navip wines are still around, but their quality is not. All their good wines goes to export (mainly to U.S. and Canada). Much better these days - Triumf wines from the winery of the serbian royal family, and of course, domestic homemade wines, but for that you should go to some of the wine regions.

[naga_sadu]

one question though, I have to ask - what kind of a madman would try and buy weed from a Thai taxi driver???

Indeed. Most ppls. attempting this are classified as "madmen" because cab drivers are notorious whistle blowers. I just used this example to see if there are any similar groups of ppls in Tripco's destination. It's glad to know that whistle blowing has declined. I can already see a bright future for Serbia.

Either ways- yea- it's good to talk to someone who's been there and lived in Thailand for a while. I always asked the bar girls and I never got jipped or jumped. But yea- I always made sure it was at THEIR residence EVERY SINGLE TIME. ANd I'm happy you pointed out- ASK THEM IN THEIR FLATS AFTER ENSURING SHE IS COOL. But still, compared to South Asia (India, Pakistan) it's still a bit sketchy and I did get my streaks of paranoia every now and then but I always kept my cool. So plz. don't expect the scene to be as free floating as places in South Asia such as Balochistan, Jammu Kashmir, Kerala and Himachal Pradesh.

Either ways, the Reggae bars are usually associated w/ greens but at least in BKK- it seemed WAY too sketchy. Maybe they're cool I dunno, but I was too sketched out.

Also, the girls over at the Turkish bath-homes seem cool w/ hooking up the ppls too. Out of 3 attempts, I got hooked up twice without any hassles. Once, I got told that it won't be possible. These were 3 different ppls. And they were all "veterans" too. Was I just lucky or are these ppls cool as well? For one, they seemed more well off than the other contingents of the population. These ppls. seemed more professional in getting this done too without being sketchy. More than the bar girls, I can honestly vouch more for these ppls. I can say I got alot less sketched out w/ these ppls than the normal bar girls.

I'm sure you will have more insight on this. Please correct me if I was just a lucky SOB or whether or not that's the norm. Again, I don't know anything about the social dynamics there. I'm just reporting what I experienced.

But sad to say, the quality of herbs in Thailand has dwindled nowadays- I mean I can only compare what I've experienced with what my older collegues/ relatives have told me. The towns for me didn't seem all that sketchy for me. I'm South Asian- so I could easily pass off as a "5-6 money lender." But I can see this being a problem to the US/ European peoples. But I hear the 5-6 money lenders aren't particularly beloved by the locals. So, if it's not your day, you could very well be facing a mob of pissed off machete wielders...but thankfully, all my stints in the towns in Thailand were peaceful.

When I go to buy a some cigs or some provisions like fried banana at a shop/ stall, the keeper would ask me whether or not I was a 5-6 from the city (usually Bangkok). I'd just confirm I was a 5-6 from BKK and the conversation would end right then and there. A few of 'em would frown but hey- I just wanted to enjoy some scenic smokes with some authentic Thai food away from the noise pollution and the maddening crowds of the capital city...without attracting any attention so I figured I did the right thing. Alot of 5-6s can't speak the local lingo properly and have a local escort with them. The stereotype fitted well with me.

For one, I was hunting for Thai sticks like mad. I could only find cheap Cambodian immitations. Can we still get the legendary Thai sticks of the 70s and early 80s today??

Hiya, personally I would feel that if you are with Thais who are "well off", and they can score, then all is well. Like you noticed, there is a massive class rift in Thailand, and well off Thais are often seriously fucking rich, by anyone's standards, so your only worry is getting ripped off on quantity, I would think.

Needless to say, the difficulty in buying in Thailand comes from the money aspect, not availability, and as many Thais are so broke, there is always a chance they will want/need some cash enough to fuck you over, royally even. I would never go looking for weed on the streets in Bangkok, especially in the areas where there is a lot around, like Klong Toi, which is a massive slum area over near the old port, and I would guess is a major entry point for drugs of any kind into BKK, especially, as far as I can tell, for yabba.

I went to one of the rougher bits of KT once, with a Thai friend, and it was scary as fuck, a total maze of alleyways and shacks, very easy to get lost or worse, but it was her neighbourhood. I would stick with just the view from the flyover lol, which tells you enough. We were looking for a friend of hers, a dealer as it happens, but not to score. One woman asked my friend: "Why the hell did you bring the farang in here, are you fucking crazy?" Too right. But I have an irrational, slightly prurient need to see everything

Weed in central Thailand (eg Lopburi) and Bangkok can often be substandard - often found as scraggy loose and brittle leafy buds, slightly harsh smoke, though still above average in strength in the scheme of things. That said, the strongest Thai weed I smoked, I bought in BKK: blue oily buds, silvery grey sheen, visible trichs. Nicely cured, and intensely pyschedelic, out of your gourd style. It was probably from up North, but I have a theory there may be some decent Burmese genetics around weed in central Thailand, which is in part ethnically Burmese, and there is an old Burmese shamanic tradition... lol a little far fetched, I know, as like I say, Lopburi weed is not good (and Lopburi is an ethnically Burmese area, strong shamanic tradition in towns I visited, and plenty of drug use, traditional and modern)

Up in Chiang Mai you can consistently score good quality genuine Thai stick and I'm sure if you made the effort to head into the hills with someone who knew their shit you could hunt down some of the finest cured sativa smoke in the world. But then I have faith, and I don't believe all this talk about landraces declining either: I have smoked killer weed the world over, most notably in Thailand and Jamaica, though India also... next stop - Malawi

Namkha

[naga_sadu]

Speaking of canna-travel, and not so well known destinations, I kinda got reminded of Iran...more specifically, Tehran. At least about 3 years back, the smoking scene shocked the eight shades of shit outta me...in a good way

While the place usually invokes images of crazy hardliners running around w/ AKs and oppression etc., I was amaized to see the degree at which it was easy to score in Tehran. All I had to do was hit the parks. And spot a bunch of bored looking young dudes in Western clothes. If a dude is playing a musical instrument by a park, you know u can ask him for greens I didn't ask the ppls very blatantly. I did some small chat and then slowly bought it up. The ppls by and large were VERY hospitable.

It was all very straight forward there on. But yea- I have to admit- there was no charas though, only bhang. But either ways, if you run into the police, there are no arrest charges for cannabis whatsoever. Only a fee of 10-50 riyals.

Also, lots of ppls seemed to be growing it in their flats + the elders had no idea what it is. Apparently, they derive some sort of cooking oil from the seeds...either ways, some of the locals esp. the college pupils seemed to say "the government can crack down on this if they wanted to, but they do this to keep rebellions in check."

But either ways, I didn't try to venture out into the Eastern border areas there. Didn't fancy getting caught a firefight bet. the border guards and the Afghan smugglers....those firefights involve armoured columns, RPGs etc.

I wonder how things are today. Where's mriko nowadays anyway? Wonder whether he's been there recently? Or anyone else know anything about this area in more detail n today's situations???