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SNOWING IN BALI

shared many of the same issues. Despite its Eat Pray Love-esque image, corruption was endemic, violence rife, and the drug dealers were cleaning up, selling both on the island and sending drugs overseas, especially to Australia. Bali is located in a strategically perfect spot for international trafficking and its millions of tourists serve as a perfect camouflage.

Snowing in Bali took about 18 months to research and write. Over that period, I spent time with gangsters, drug dealers, pimps and hookers to get a feel for the dark side of the paradise, which invisibly infiltrates everywhere. But it was the access I got to the island's international drug dealers that was most riveting. There was no question their stories were the ones to tell, especially as more and more of the island's dealers agreed to talk to me; participating in one-on-one interviews, often sitting for days at a time while I recorded their stories.

My entree into this unique position was largely due to my previous book — it had introduced me to dealers in jail, who put me in touch with people outside, most of whom knew of Hotel Kerobokan. Some had read and liked it, with one person even photocopying it to pass around. It was also proof that I wasn't an undercover cop.

Of course I don't condone what they do, but I found the drug dealers fascinating, and mostly highly intelligent, educated, multi-lingual and cultured — with a penchant for the best: top restaurants, French champagne, high-class hookers, luxury villas and hotels, first-class travel and designer clothes. Many were surfers, who had come to Bali chasing the perfect waves, and found an ostensibly easy way to fund their lifestyles in paradise.

As you'll see, the main players tell their stories, with graphic — sometimes very sexually explicit — details of their drug fuelled party lifestyles, as well as their secret tactics to

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