Eyewitnesses, however, have said he was unarmed and doing nothing more aggressive than buying betel nut when he was killed.

ECONOMIST: Banyan

"It's true that some people think I'm crazy, but I don't care, " Mr. Thongbai said, pounding a bright-red mixture of betel nut and tobacco to chew on later.

WSJ: In Thailand, It's Hard to Predict

Today, Chiang Mai's infamous Night Bazaar is located a stone's throw away from the original trade movements that brought silk, opium, tea, dried fruit, lacquerware, musk, ponies and mules, gold, copper, cotton, edible birds' nests, betel nut, tobacco and ivory into the province.

BBC: Shopping in Chiang Mai

Mr Ondaatje has filled the house with the collection of Sri Lankan antiquities he had begun as a schoolboy old maps and prints of Colombo, talipot palm-leaf manuscripts, bird paintings from the Calcutta school, pre-colonial furniture, betel-nut cutters, swords, knives and firearms.

ECONOMIST: Museum sponsorship