NG Photo Of The Day December 8, 2005

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Where: Mae Hong Son, Thailand
When: 1994
Photographer: Jodi Cobb

Buddhist monks walk beside a field of sunflowers in northern Thailand.

Opium poppies once covered the hillsides here, and sunflower fields like this one often grow from seeds dumped over the fields in an attempt to eradicate the poppies. Strict laws and alternate agricultural opportunities for farmers have helped bring an end to most of Thailand's opium production. The opium trade continues, however, with poppies grown in neighboring Myanmar (Burma) and elsewhere.