Dan Komikenny

Seeing Through the Haze Dan Komikenny

Told as a series of nostalgic short stories and travelogues, which begin when the author began his drug-fuelled adventures in London, next to Amsterdam and then on to 4 more continents over a period of twenty years. Looking back from sobriety and a new philosophy of life, Seeing Through the Haze attempts to recapture some of the wild times as vividly and entertainingly as possible. The good old times had begun in the UK with such memories as a clandestine meeting of the various smoke fathers rolling joints in a closed (hot-boxed) room. Not forgetting how a friend celebrated his 21st after a big meal with a smoke in the park only to escape arrest and still smoke at least some of the evidence. Amsterdam '95, the Disneyland for stoners as a space cake first resulted in human neck inertia quickly followed by paranoia and finally defeatism. A hash pipe took the form of mini submarine for one stoner and the tram system caused temporary paralysis for another poor soul. In NYC at the age of 19, avoiding detection at the foot of the statue of liberty meant carefully evading three members of the police force on foot. While in Guatemala at 36, getting hold of the best hydroponicgear while chilling at an ancient Mayan lake stands out. Brazil in 2000 was my first time away from my parents or friends. In Salvador, Bahia, Jerry, the jack of all trades and master of none, sparked up a spliff in a jewellery store with the front door wide open. One year later as independent traveller again, in San Agustin, the cultural ambassadors who worked for UNESCO came bearing dope and all things nice. Cambodia in 2003. Notwithstanding turning down a random character who plonked a kilo of smack in my palmin Phnom Penh, there'd been a free unsmoked joint by the border that the bus driver let me smoke; what a way to arrive. A year earlier, in the Rif near Chefchouen, Morocco, a walk in the mountains became laborious due to the side-effects of hash I'd consumed. Lunch with the weed farmers was wacky and picking your own directly from the plantation came highly recommended.