There are the bizarre travel experiences and these are more often than not when you don’t speak the language and you have no idea what is going on. So much more comfortable to deal with these situations when you are in a group, when you are by yourself it can be a bit of a nightmare.
Photo credits to Phoebe Thomas, http://www.loumessugo.com
Like the time I was with two girlfriends and we were flying between Phnom Penh and Siem Riep (Angkor Wat) in Cambodia. This was quite early on, soon after the conflicts of the 80’s and 90’s and the UN Peacekeepers were still there. We all worked in Embassies in Hanoi and the advice we’d received was that it should be fine as long as we stayed on the paths at Angkor Wat. Go off the paths and we’d either be captured by the Khmer Rouge or step on a land mind. Seems easy enough.
Travel in Cambodia has become safer and easier since but then the only way you could get to Siem Riep was by air. The land and river routes were too dangerous. And by air, the only option was Cambodian Airlines.
The visit went smoothly. The day before the markets had been bombed and there had been sniper fire in the restaurant at the hotel, but for some reason we were fine with this. Ah, youth.
We visited Angkor Wat, careful not to leave the paths, and stopped at a bar run by a Kiwi guy that had a fridge full of flak jackets in case the customers needed them.
When we went back to the airport to catch the return flight to Phnom Penh we weren’t allowed on the flight. The flight was called, people started to exit the departure lounge to board the flight and we were told to stay in our seats. Because of the language barrier we had no idea why. Had we done something wrong? Were we about to be taken hostage? We asked again and no we could definitely not board and again, no explanation.
The plane took off. In the time that it takes for another plane to taxi into the departure position another plane arrived. We three were invited onto this plane and had the whole aircraft to ourselves. Which we made the most of by trying to sit in as many seats as possible. Very strange and never explained.
Mongolia
Mongolia could be renamed ‘Inexplicable-ia.
Firstly – when I visited twenty years ago their currency had a 3 Tughrik note. Seems like it doesn’t exist any more but at the time it was quite strange – It doesn’t add up to anything. You can’t exchange 2 x 3 Tughrik notes for a 6 xTughrik note because it doesn’t exist.
Photo credits to Phoebe Thomas, http://www.loumessugo.com
But getting back to aircraft departure times, we flew from Ulan Baatar to Hovd. When it came to the return flight there was no information about the departure time and we had to get back to catch the Trans Siberian as it came through Ulan Baatar in the evening of the same day. We asked at the hotel and the best advice was to go to the airport at about 9am and then wait for the plane from Ulan Baatar to arrive. IF it arrived there is a good chance that it would return, subject to fuel being available.
We waited all day at the airport until finally it arrived and then there was a stampede for the plane, because there was no allocated seating. But we were good at stampedes by this time so got seats.
On the same visit, we caught a bus out of the city to a nearby town. This was a very quiet town, and in the dying stages of a communist system. Checking into the hotel we were told that no, there were no rooms available. A flat stare and quite clearly not true. Defeated we caught the next bus back to UB. We were wise to this in Hovd, and when we were refused a room we asked our Mongolian driver to check in for us and which he did with no problems.
Japan
In Japan I was constantly making cultural gaffes and most of the time I got away with it because of the good nature and politeness of the Japanese people that I was working with and living amongst. But there was the time when I parked my car on the street and it got buried in about half a metre of snow overnight. Coming from a hot place with no snow I was a bit nonplussed. I couldn’t do much with it on the street because of the traffic so I pulled into the nearest drive and started to scrape the snow off. An old lady came screeching out of her house, and started to whack me with a broom and shouted until I moved my car.
And of course the easy mistake of being disgusting and not showering before you get in the public baths.
What about you, have you faced the inexplicable?
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when I went to Turkey by train, at some point in the middle of the night the train stopped and literally everyone got out. we were very confused but then figured out that we must have be at the border and that we must get off to get our passports checked!:) #travellinkup
Ha! So you work it out eventually. Thanks for dropping by.
You really have had some adventures!
Mostly inadvertent ! Another great #travellinkup.
Great memories! I’m glad your brain remembers some different details to mine, so together we can fill in the gaps! Those were the days, eh?
I’d like to know what your memories were :). Am I remembering the 3Tg note correctly? Yes, indeed the trans siberian trip was certainly memorable.