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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 3/19/2006 2:28:22 AM | Well have had a few minor incidences while travelling...
Once on the way from Moscow to Kiev we had a HORRID flight on Aeroflot, which we called AEROFLOP from that day on....so much turbulence and when we landed we were thrown all over but everyone on the plane was cheering like mad that we landed as safe as we did....ugh...thank god I was just a teenager then and my heart could take it....
ANother time, while in Odessa I was sick as a dog with a fever. I stayed in the whole day and thought that going for a walk at night would help me feel a little bit better...well...I went for a walk...just 2 blocks in each direction from my hotel, I was alone....anyhow...I must have OVERSHOT the turning point to get back to the hotel and was lost...with a fever...a night..and all alone...eventually I made it back by some freak of nature....I was terrified and never went out in such a feverish state again hehe
Had a few scary hotel rooms before...cockroaches and mice...mmmm....and also while in Moscow, a few of us girls were cornered by a group of men who were trying to "talk" to us..anyhow, after excaping the would-be murderers hehe we went back to our rooms to be awoken with knocking on the door. Since i was the insane one of the group, I answer it...anyhow...some guy tried to get into the room but I wouldnt let him and he left me his room key and some horrible smelling perfume as an inticement to visit him later in the night...as if buddy! LOL I wonder where he is today?
Another time, in Reykjavik I decided to meet 6 chat pals...all at different times...well, all the meetings went well except one....I decided to ahng out with this one guy and we went for a drive and had coffee...when we met again, he met me at my apartment I was staying in and came in for a drink. He insisted on pushing me down and planting a big kiss on me and proceeded to explain to me that we needed to have sex...as if...he left without further incident..poor horny **stard.... hehe
Umm..I have had many cases of getting lost...I love to just hop in a car and drive without maps...I am good that way you know...and found myself sorta getting anxious when I knew I was at least a 6 or 8 hour drive form home and was hoping I was going the right way LOL
THe only other thing that was horrid happened to me in Paris...I wore my new doc martains and decided to walk hours and hours in them in one day....ahh yes...i ended up walking with no shoes on down the streets of Paris as the blood and skin was coming off at alarming rates LOL so word of advice....NO NEW SHOES ON VACATION PLEASE!!
I take chances when I travel..I go to weird, out of the way places...alone or I meet people, as many as I can....it makes my time fun and interesting and so far thigns ahve been pretty calm..I have hitchiked once and picked up a hitcher once too....whew....dont know that i would pick them up again...the one guy i picked up was too jumpy and on some good stuff, as he told me LOL
Was kicked out of a bar once in Helsinki...but then again, I was only 16 at the time LOL
Yah thats about it :) nothing too major...no cops or crimes....Oh once in Moscoq though, we met some black market traders...3 or 4 of them and we told them where our hotel was..when we got back to the hotel, there were at least 20 guys looking to trade things..but it was a mob and we ducked out and ran to our rooms :)
The End!!
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 3/19/2006 8:49:19 AM | | my worst didnt scare me really but made me amazed...was in ukraine and was goin to meet a friend she told me the train to get on and i explaned to hotel manager where i was going and he said it was a long ride so they made me a box lunch to take.well train broke down in this small village and i finaly found some one to tell me what was going on( i dont speak russian or ukraine)they said it would be at least the next day b4 we could leave.about 2hrs later a caravan of cars shows up and its my friend and it seemed like the entire village she lived in and mayb 10mins later the hotel manager and about 8other people from the hotel and the guy i hired to drive me around show up to help me...the driver was a major in the army and he shows up armed to the teeth(he said it was a bad town) but every body was so very nice and i ending up going to my friends village and it was great....and yes i made sure every one at hotel was tipped very well...been back 3times since and they treat me like a long lost brother... | |
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opeth
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Joined: 8/4/2004
Msg: 30 | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 3/26/2006 10:53:28 PM | I was a tour guide in Europe a few years back. On a trip to Costa Brava, Spain, I was headed down to the beach with some of my clients when the police stop us. They had road blocks up and we could see police, military and K-9 untis all over the area. The told us to go back to our hotels immediately. As soon as I wlked in the door of our hotel, we heard a bomb explode. A few minutes later we heard another.
After a 1/2 hour, they came through our hotel to check for bombs as well. We found out a little later that the Basque seperatists had blown up the beach and had called in a bomb threat on one of the hotels, but didn't say which one. That was a wild day. We all spent the day at the bar. Figured maybe they would spare it considering blowing up a bar was alcohol abuse! | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 3/27/2006 10:46:31 AM | The first time I went to England, we'd flown all night and had gotten very little sleep. In a daze, we managed to find the correct bus. After getting on it, we departed the airport. Not thinking anything of it, I sat on the LEFT side of the bus. A while later, I woke to see rather large hedgerows very close and on MY SIDE OF THE BUS!!! It took me a minute to realize where I was and why this was happening.  | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 3/27/2006 11:38:00 AM | | Last year I was in Thailand waiting to catch my flight to Bali, and just as we were about to board the plane we heard about the terrorist attacks. We were supposed to be staying very close to where the bombs actually went off so we decided against going and headed to the closest ticketing agent and booked a flight to Kho Samui instead...was much more relaxing then going into Bali....made for an interesting experience getting refunded for our hotel in Bali....person asked us why we decided to cancel our hotel...hmmm maybe the bombs blowing up about 5 minutes away... | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 3/27/2006 2:21:10 PM | | In 1993 I had gone to Panama City Beach, Florida for the first time with a couple buddies. One had a house there. So I stayed at the Beach Club while they left. I was walking down Thomas Drive to find a cab after leaving the Club around 3:30am and a group of guys were walking opposite direction towards me, I never thought anything as I was pretty loaded. As I walked by them one bumped me and started mouthing off, I was oblivious to it and kept walking when I realized these guys were starting to follow me, and so I scurried along, stagger more like it. And luckily seen a cab at the convenience store just nearby, I got to it and jumped in and the guys started yelling stuff as it drove off. Sobered me up a bit I would say. | |
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Sigi
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Joined: 5/26/2005
Msg: 35 | |
| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/15/2006 8:06:16 PM | Hmmm..most of my travels went fine...but here just one of the remarkable moments ...
India- While going to the toilet (hole in a wooden floor, no water)...suddenly hearing a loud, smacking noise...looking down through the hole...seeing the mouth of a big pig 'enjoying his fresh food'...fill in the rest yourself.. | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/16/2006 9:07:12 AM | Well, there was trip to New York city, circa 1982 or so...
A friend and I landed at midnight, after one of those wonderful noise suppression flight paths ( Gee, we are at 45 degrees....and I can still READ the license plates !!!!  ) onto the tarmac.
Before leaving, at American customs, I had the pleasure of having my wallet taken roughly from my hands, as the female custom's agent wanted to see how much cash I had. That was perhaps a sign of what was to follow...
We planned to take the bus into town, to the Milford Plaza on 8th Avenue. We boarded the shuttle bus, and asked if it would drop us off near the hotel. We were told yes.
The bus stopped at the Port Authority, and the driver told everyone to get off. We asked where the hotel was, and the driver roughly said "Over THERE !!" .  A Jack the Ripper style fog had blanketed the city during the bus trip, and visibility was perhaps twenty feet.
This was before the clean up in New York, and it was more like "Taxi Driver."
Ever see " The Out of Towners ? " We pretty much were IN that movie then.
We walked through Times Square, where we came across this rather large crowd gathered around the entrance to a theatre. An off Broadway triumph ? A celebrity signing autographs ?
No, it was some sleazy sex cinema, and the bouncer was wailing on some poor son of a gun with a baseball bat, with about one hundred people watching.
Then, the next day, we decided to go get a bottle after our tourist day out on the town.
It was about nine o'clock Saturday night. We left our wallets and papers in our room, and took twenty dollars. I was dressed in my worst clothes, trying my hardest to look like a homeless guy. My friend was dressed in a three piece suit. We started walking those long NYC blocks, and we had about three to go to the liquor store.
About a block into our walk, I saw a group of young black men leaning against a wall. I grew up in a working class neighborhood, and one of the things you develop is a certain intuitive sense of who people are. These guys had that "vibe", and all of them had what one might call "prison muscle".  Their posture, the way they were scoping out the people walking by...all spelled trouble.
I suggested that we cross the street, and we were still quite some distance. My Pierre Cardin clad friend told me I was being silly.
There were not a lot of people outside, which made it worse. I figured New York was a town that never slept, but a lot of people seemed to be taking a nap.
Of course, the second we passed by we were suddenly surronded by them - all six.I am six feet tall, and built a bit like a football linebaker. Beside these guys I looked like Mini-Me. They "asked" us to go down an alley way. Somewhere, deep down inside of me, a voice went " We are staying right here, do what you want...."
Then another internal voice screamed " WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY ? "
I learned then that one can be terrified, and still act perfectly calm. I explained we were from Canada, that we had only twenty dollars on us, and that we would be willing to donate it to their favorite charity.
They actually walked us back to our hotel, under escort - which I found hilarious and strange. I guess they didn't want to ruin our trip by getting mugged twice in one night.
Oh yeah, on the flight back I decided to watch the take off on the screen, over the pilot's shoulders. I listened in to the air traffic control channel. We had just lifted off, and were about less than one hundred feet off the ground, when I heard this :
"Air Canada 234, do you see a United 123 at your three o'clock position? Over. "
"Negative."
GREAT, here we are hurtling upwards at a few hundred miles an hour into one of the most congested pieces of sky in the world...and they LOST a PLANE ??????? | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/16/2006 11:21:27 AM | | When i was in Africa there was some kid who stole a fruit from an open market and he had nowhere to run so he ran up a tree and they were trying to coax him down but he wouldnt budge so they shot him outta the tree it was soo sad and freaky as hell i couldnt sleep for a week | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/18/2006 7:30:52 AM |
-Having an Italian stranger rub his erection against my ass in a crowded Roman bus...
Too funny - same thing happened to me, but it was a stranger in a lineup at a Munich McDonalds.
Spent a summer working in southern Bavaria in Germany - wisely decided to go skinny-dipping, very late at night, in a public fountain with a bunch of equally intoxicated young people from Ireland, Britain, Canada and the US. Having a blast when the next thing we know, the local police show up - managed to find enough clothes for everyone to get at least halfway decent and then loaded us in a wagon. Kept us in a cell for the night to sober up (and scare the crap out of us) and then let us go the next morning - can you imagine the paperwork they would've had to deal with?? I can laugh at it now, but it wasn't so funny at the time!
Another time, I was hiking up Gros Morne Mountain with a friend - he had gone on ahead to set up camp, and I was dawdling a little. Met some people on their way down who said they just saw two bears on the trail up ahead. Kind of makes your heart go up in your throat just a little! Never did see either bear - must've been my bad singing that scared them away - lol | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/19/2006 1:24:48 AM | This thread has brought back a lot of good travel memories - but this is a tame recollection, nothing scary at all. (completely off topic in fact!)
When I was in a hostel in Instanbul, there was a young Englishman there with a bicycle balanced on top of his wardrobe. He had spent 5 years travelling and now was planning to cycle from Istanbul to Cairo. I was still kind of confused in my own mind about Turkey - it seemed like a tough place to me. Every young male had to do 3 years' military duty and some of those guys actually saw active duty. I had been reading the English language Turkish newspaper every day and had hung on to them, so I gave him the newspapers, and I told him that there had been skirmishes along the Turkey/Syria border and he would be insane to ride his bicycle alone around there. (I also thought his long blond hair would be a problem.) Anyway, he complained that I was ruining his trip with my concerns, and I have no idea if he ever took that trip. I think about this every couple of months - did that guy cycle to Cairo, and if he did, how did it go? I will never know! | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/19/2006 8:21:48 PM | I can think of several, but here are 3.
1. At a conference in Chicago, I was staying on the 26th floor. My boyfriend had come up to visit and I was getting out of the shower when we heard running in the hall. Opening the door, we saw the hall was filled with smoke and fireman everywhere. We were told we could not use the elevator. Turned out it was just a basement fire that came up thru the ventilation system on our floor. It was scary.
2. I split off from my group in Paris to go to Rome ALONE. I wanted to see the Sistine chapel and none of my friends did. I knew very few Italian words and was not used to travelling by train. I was exhausted because the day before in Paris all the transportation workers(cabs, busses, trains, etc.) were on strike and we must have walked 60 miles looking for a room(that's another story with a wonderful ending). Anyway, on the train I folded out the seats and lay down and was asleep in minutes. My passport was around my neck under my shirt. I woke up with something pressing me in my rear!!!! Sleepily I reached around behind me and SOME GUY HAD HIS PENIS out pressing against me. I freaked out and ran out of the car and realized there was not another single person in the car I was in. He didn't follow and I was confused and still half asleep and worried about my luggage getting stolen if I left the car, etc. I was alone with this pervert who spoke NO english. My passport strap had been broken as if he had been trying to get it from around my neck. Fortunately the conductor came in about that time and I grabbed my bags and let him escort me to another car. He only spoke a little English so it was impossible to tell him what happened really.
What I learned. NEVER get in an empty train car ALONE lol.
3. Another weird thing somewhere in California. I stopped because I was exhausted and rented a room at this seemingly clean looking hotel. The guy gave me a key and said it was their only room. The windows in the room were broken out, the door lock was broken and would not lock, the headboard of the bed, and the night stand were riddled with what looked like hundreds of bullett holes. I simply was too tired to drive, so I set up a little motion detector in the room and slept with my pepper spray in my hand. It was a restless night for sure. | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/24/2006 6:40:42 PM | Travelling through Africa on a truck and losing our armed convoy while crossing the desert at a time of attacks by pseudo Tuareg bandits.
Not strictly travel but I was living in Uganda and driving home down a lonely track to my village at 1 am after a night out in Kampala, when my vehicle was chased by hijackers.
A great big black****oach on a hotel pillow in Uganda!!
During the time of the old communism, being taken off a bus in the Harz mountain area by police because they said we didn't have a permit to be there.
Three of us being followed by a gang in Paris at night. We couldn't shake them off and the police weren't interested. One of them followed me down to a subway toilet and I was rescued by a brave Canadian.
ps it looks like my insect has been censored! | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/25/2006 3:38:11 PM | hey simply, i must admit in all the countries i've been in, traveling solo or with someone else, hiking in off the beaten path places, sleeping on buses alone, living in a city alone traveling back and forth from downtown to the place i was living in, i never ever came across a problem, i know it is always out there, i consider myself pretty damn lucky, i never got sick or injured... of course good ol travelers diarrhea once, but that's a given... but ya sorry i'm drawing blanks on anything bad happending to me...
NOW saying that, i would love to draw everyones attention to some of the cases i've been reading lately (which happend in january/february in bolivia, one couple brutally murdered from austria, and one guy from spain... about 10,000 us dollars taken from their bank accounts, all from the same group of criminals, the mastermind was a guy who's been known to kidnap travelers and only get slaps on the wrist multiple times | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/26/2006 9:28:25 AM | Wow, thats a crazy story.
The worst thats ever happened to me was me and two of my friends got into a fight at a bar in Poland, cause some guy punched one of my friends in the face, we just eneded getting kicked out of the bar. | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/27/2006 7:48:10 PM | being followed, and even assaulted by disgusting men in Turkey on more than one occasion. Up until that point I genuinely believed that people are generally *good*, and wish no ill will upon another.
I still harbour a deep hatred for that forsaken nation & it's corrupted religion years after my unfortunate excursion.
Never go there! Unless it is as part of an occupying force. | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/29/2006 5:59:13 AM | Many opportunities for mishaps. Few actual mishaps. The world has a way of taking care of idiots sometimes :
Just a few.....
Staring down a Burmese army mortar unit on the next hilltop taking pictures of a bombed out village a student asked me photograph.
Driving out to the secluded outskirts of Fez to drink beers with a few shady locals I'd met that day.
Getting lost at sunset in an outrigger canoe in the South China Sea searching for a tiny island because the guides were the cheapest we could find for the trip.
Hyperextending a knee while trying to dance in rough seas on a ferry in the Phillipines.
Getting robbed on my first day in Manila by a couple of completely disarming cathoilic school girls.
Watching the next volcano erupt while standing on the rim of the most active one in the chain.
Getting the "yo gimme' all yo money" line from a group of kids in a dark park on the way home from the Empire State building. And laughing because I had none.
Getting caught between the shore and the open ocean by a huge barracuda who just seemed a bit too interested in me.
......And some of the food poisonings along the way.
No knives though. Yikes ! | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/29/2006 7:53:37 AM | I think its official, webhead you take the award for the scariest travel experiences. but wow fascinating! How great to have stories like that to tell your kids.
Here's a couple of mine.....It took me 3 days to get out of Copenhagen once. There was this huge snow storm and that airport has only 4 de-icers evidently LOL. I was put on standby which of course was a joke since the world and his wife were also on standby.
Stood in a line up for 4 hours and as I was on my own couldn't leave the line up for fear of losing my place. Was rerouted through Oslo, Paris, Vienna ...all of which were cancelled. Finally made it on a Frankfurt flight...which was delayed for a two hours on the runway.
I arrive at Frankfurt with 30 minutes to catch my connection to Toronto. Of course, it's a huge airport and my flight leaves from the furthest gate from where I arrived. I am running at full tilt and hit a big crowd of people. Elbowing my way through to the front. I meet a wall of security guards. Seems there is a bomb scare.
The crowd get antsy..and one german guy starts taunting the guards. They ask him his name and he says angrily "Aladdin Bin Laden", Suddenly 6 unformed guards pull their guns and surround him and he is arrested and shouting all the way down the airport. They set up new security and one by one we are physically searched. They did hold the plane and I did make it back to Toronto but 3 days late and of course my luggage was lost.
Another time, a flight from Barcelona to Venice was rerouted in flight to Milan. We then had to take a bus to Venice. I will say this about Italians ....they have no concept of what a line up is. It was a total free for all, getting on that bus. It was really late, I was really tired...and another thing I will say about Italians (and I love them as a people) they have no concept of keeping their voices down when people are trying to sleep.
Around midnight, our bus suddenly pulls over and we realise we have a flat. The bus driver who reminds me of Danny devito is surrounded by a hoard of angry italians....and I was little scared for the man. We wait a couple of hours till another bus comes and finally get into Venice at 2 am. There has been a soccer final there and its filled with drunken english soccer hooligans who are puking in the canals and roaming the streets.
When we finally made it to St Marks square....it was early morning..pitch dark and quiet except for a man playing a grand piano in the middle of the square. It was eerie. We had to bang on the hotel door for some time before the concierge would open to us. The next morning, it had rained and the square was flooded and planks were set up and thousands of people were walking single file along all these planks which was another odd sight. | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 4/29/2006 9:24:27 AM | | i had a really tough time in India in December. I'm grateful for the experience, but it was rough. The rat/large mice? infested overnight train was hard for me. but the worst happened to some girls I met while i was there. to make a long story short, they had to fight for themselves when they were possible drugged and then spent 6 hours trying to make sure they weren't raped by the men who were supposed to be helping them. they were fine, but that is the scariest thing i've ever heard of. it was also the first trip i had where i constantly felt like i had to have my back up all the time, which was exhausting. however, the end of the trip i spent in pushkar and that was amazing and one of the most memorable experiences ever. | |
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Algea
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Joined: 11/14/2006
Msg: 48 | |
| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 12/4/2006 12:05:40 PM | "We leave at 8:00 am so be here about 7:30 to get a good seat" says the guy at the Jeefaro Empire Filling station as he hands me ticket #2037 and I fork over the 200 Kwacha. (I always did like saying that word.) Currently I was in LLongwe, Malawi and "The Destination" was Lusaka, Zambia. How long is the ride?" I asked. 8 hrs or so was the answer I received. I always try to take an earlier bus when going from one country to another so it would be easier to change money and find a place to stay.
Eager to explore Zambia I was there bright and early, found the appropriate bus and a vacant seat with a window that worked. We promtly left at 11:30, remember we are on African time. Anyways it was your usual trip across an African border, the bus stops just b4 the immigration building and numerous passengers get off the bus and walk into the bushes, the border guard hassles you for a tip and you are on your way, only to stop after entering the new country and be reunited with those fellow passengers as they emerge from the bushes and get back on the bus. I guess not having ID can be a problem but the system seems to get ppl across borders quite efficiently.
About 3:00 we pulled into the little brick fenced compound of the Chipata bus station and the driver said 30 minutes. Around 5:00 I was getting a little anxious about reaching Lusaka in daylight with no changed money, but then my problems were answered. The driver returned and yelled something and then left again. "In ENGLISH!" I asked aloud. "You sleep here!" said the voice, well hey it's a cheap nights accomodation !
As the evening progressed I became quite familiar with my surroundings , bit into Daniel Quinn's "Ishmael"and even figured out 5 of the puzzles in the logic problems book my mom gave me b4 I left home. As it got dark a crowd started to grow about the stations pub and the barred window even had a crowd as everyone wanted to see Mike Tyson fight on the only TV for miles. Something that seemed to put some local patrons in a pugnacious mood, problem was word was also out that there was a MIZUNGU on the bus in the compound. I believe the direct translation is "English Man", may as well have meant TARGET!!!.
TINK! TINK! as the first stones hit the side of the bus, followed by numerous others. This is where that window that works is soooo important but was meant to control weather not shrapnel. My window went up and my backpack placed as a shield for the next 4 hours as assorted aggregate and flaming sticks were hurled in my direction accompanied by the chanting, MIZUUUUUNGU !MIZUUUUUUNGU ! MIZUUUUUUNGU ! Yes, it became a little unnerving, at one point I peed in a bottle cause I new I couldn't leave my seat and the alternative would have broken my spirit, great thing was, in Africa you always carry an empty glass bottle to use as refund for one if you want to leave any store with a full one, and it can function as a weapon or urinal if necessary. Needless to say sleep was out of the question.
I was witness to an event that did warm me up a little. An older woman boarded the bus and sat across the aisle and ahead of me a bit. After settling in she opened her bag to reveal a frosty COCA COLA, with no opener in sight she used what could have been her only surviving molar to do the job . As sour as I was the act got me to muster a smile. The mortar fire finally stopped and the chanting subsided but there was a time on the bus that I seriously questioned seeing the sun come up, but it did and was I ever happy. We arrived in Lusaka about 3:30 that afternoon where a machine gunned escort(not the safest place) took me to a taxi stand where I found a ride to a Sikh temple that I heard took in travellers. They even had a volleyball court that helped take my mind off of the past days events, just no meat, eggs or kissing in the kitchen! | |
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| Travel experiences that have scared the hell out of you...
Posted: 12/6/2006 5:57:59 PM | | Spent a couple of weeks on the Island of Mindinao in the Philippines. It was pretty uneventful but the place is suppose to be crawling with Al Qeada affiliates. Trying to cross the street in manila is a freightening experience. Saw someone get pistol whipped in Hamburg, was followed by a junkie in Amersterdamn, got lost in Caracas Ven. Closet I came to real danger though was missing the Tsumanmi by 2 days. I had reservation at a hotel in Phuket Thailand. The hotel was destroyed just 2 days before I was to arrive. | |
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