This story is about a very unusual kind of work I was engaged in for some months in the 1980s in east Asia.

Later, much later, when writing this story, I tried to find other accounts or references to this kind of work, to be sure I hadn't missed any salient facts in this writing.

The only references to this kind of work I could find online had been written years after I had been involved in it, at a time when it had already become unprofitable. And none of these references went into this kind of work in any depth. None mentioned the pleasures and the risks that came with this kind of work, which I thought was unfortunate because there were plenty of both. I found it hard to believe that I could now find barely even a trace of the existence of a kind of work I had once looked upon as a possible long-term career. But, then again, I had been given constant warnings at the time that this work was by its very nature only a temporary occupation. This kind of work was inextricably interlinked with an unusual and adventurous lifestyle. As such, I feel that the details of this work are something well worth explaining.