A tired rickshaw man, waits in the street for his next customer, I have no idea how long he has been working today, but I think that it is the beetlenut chewing that is keeping him going rather than the energy from food.

Areca nut, or more commonly known as betel nut, is the seed of the betel palm or Areca catechu, a species of palm tree which grows throughout the Pacific, Asia, and parts of east Africa. The most important active principles of betel nut are arecaine and arecoline, alkaloids which are comparable to nicotine in its stimulating, mildly intoxicating and appetite-suppressing
Betel chewing is a part of many Asian cultures, and preparation techniques vary. The nut is either slivered or grated, often flavored with spices according to local tradition and usually wrapped in a betel leaf along with some lime to better extract the alkaloids. After about 20 minutes of chewing, the fibrous residue which remains of the nut is spat on the street, where it remains visible due to its characteristic bright red color. Trails of bright red sputum lining the sidewalks are a sure indication of the popularity of betel chewing in an area.