Monday, November 7, 2011

Screw Fear

I'm taking part in BootsnAll's 30 Days of Indie Travel Project, in which they are inviting bloggers from around the world to join them in a daily blogging effort reflecting on our past travel experiences.
Today is Day 6 and the topic is FEAR:

People are always telling me how brave I am to travel to all these "exotic" and "scary" places. They always say, "oh, I could never do the things you do, I'd be too afraid". I've had people tell me that they're afraid to stay in a hostel. Really? What exactly is scary about a hostel? You know that movie wasn't real, right?
I don't consider myself all that brave, yet I often find myself doing things other people are too "afraid" to do.
For me, travel is not about being brave. It's not about overcoming my fears, although that is certainly a part of it sometimes. I see it like this: I want to do something, so I am going to do it. It's that simple. Sure, I get scared sometimes. But that's not going to stop me from exploring the world and experiencing everything that I want to experience. Even if I have to do it on my own because everyone else is too scared to come with me.
Everybody gets scared, but that shouldn't stop you from doing a single thing you desire to do. And besides, travelling is not scary. Get out of your damn comfort zone for once.


I'm going to tell you about just a few of the somewhat scary things that have happened to me, and how they have not changed my desire to get out of my comfort zone one single bit. These are not in any particular order.

1. On my first day in Malindi, Kenya, I was talking to this guy named Nero about the things I planned to see and do while I was there. I mentioned that I wanted to go see these particular ruins outside of town, but I didn't know how to get there. So Nero offered to take me there on his motorcycle. I was a little hesitant at first because I had just met this guy, but I finally agreed because I like free transportation and he seemed nice enough. He drove me out to these ruins and then took me to the little beach town of Watamu (which was incredibly beautiful). He even took me into the village where I met his mother, brothers and baby sisters, all living in a little mud house. And we went to his dad's bar, where I got to try munazi, the local palm wine. I went all over the Malindi area with him and saw places tourists rarely see. And then things got weird. I went back to my guesthouse and told him to call me later about a reggae show he had mentioned. I almost immediately passed out due to a long day and when I awoke hours later I had a bunch of missed calls from him and a few irate text messages. Then I heard yelling outside. I peeked out my window and there was Nero yelling at the man at the front desk, who was smart enough to keep the front door locked at all times. I decided right then that I wanted nothing more to do with this guy, put my headphones on, and tried to go back to sleep. In the morning the man at the desk told me that Nero had been threatening him because he wouldn't come upstairs to let me know he was there. He even tried to fight a security guard. He said this went on for quite a while, but he stood his ground and I'm glad he did. That guest house employee was my new best friend.
I avoided Nero for my last couple days in Malindi, but it's not like I wish I hadn't met him or anything. If I had been too scared to get on that motorcycle I would have missed out on all those experiences. I wouldn't have seen the beautiful beaches of Watamu and got a lovely henna design on my arm, I wouldn't have gone through villages where all the children chased after and yelled  "ciao!" at me instead of "jambo", I wouldn't even know what munazi is. So, even though things got scary a little later, I don't at all regret getting on Nero's motorcycle. And I'm sure I will hitch a ride with a stranger again if it means I get a free tour.
Watamu Beach

2. I have always loved baboons. I don't know what it is, but they are one of my favourite animals. So when I was at Victoria Falls in Zambia I was delighted to see dozens of baboons of all sizes all over the place. I assumed they must be used to people since the area was crawling with tourists, so I didn't hesitate to get within feet of them. Well, actually I kind of had to because they were crowding the pathways. After strolling among baboons for a while I stopped to take a picture of a particularly large one sitting on a fence. As I was taking the picture he growled at me a little bit so I backed up. As I backed up another even larger baboon came from the side and jumped on me. I screamed and he grabbed my bag, which was attached to me, and tried to make off with it. I had to fight this baboon for my bag for what felt like minutes (it was probably only a few seconds). Finally he let go and ran away but he ripped the front of my bag nearly off. Shaken, I quickly left for an area with fewer baboons and none of them bothered me again. I'm just happy it was my bag he ripped and not a body part, because that guy was strong and could have done some serious damage like ripping my arm off. I still like baboons, I just think that was a particularly evil one.
The picture I took just before I was attacked

3. I was in Melaka, Malaysia, wandering around the night market with my friend Jodie when I noticed this man that seemed to be standing either at the same table as us or one table over for the last while. I thought I must be imagining it, but as we moved around between vendors he was always close by. Finally I discretely pointed him out to Jodie and we decided to lose him. We pushed into a crowd of people and made our way to a different section of the market, but this time he was clearly following us. He saw us look back straight at him and he knew we were on to him. He started walking faster toward us and we pushed our way faster through the crowd, worried about what exactly this man wanted. We dashed into a brightly lit store and then out a second entrance that took us out onto a side street. We wanted to just leave the area altogether and get away from this guy, but we didn't want him following us home so we stopped at a cafe to wait it out. While we  were eating a delicious piece of cake we saw him walk by the cafe, probably looking for us or some other foreign girls to harass or who knows what else. We waited for a while to make sure he was actually gone and then walked home, checking behind us the whole way. I have no idea why this man was following us, and I'm sure if he tried anything the people in the market would have done something, but that was definitely a scary few minutes of my life. Am I afraid to go back to Malaysia now and peruse night markets? Of course not, strange men could follow us anywhere.
Melaka at night

4. When I was in Thailand I paid for a bus to take me from the east coast to the west coast, where I was headed to Phuket. It was one of those mini buses that are usually reserved for tourists, and this one was filled with my friends and I plus a bunch of other backpackers. I think there were over ten in total. We got on the bus and drove for hours before stopping at a restaurant where they told us we would have to switch buses. OK, that was fine, it happens occasionally. So we waited, and waited, and waited, and then they told us that that bus wasn't coming and if we wanted to get to Phuket that night we would have to pay for another bus. The other travellers and I banded together and refused to pay again, so eventually the person who seemed to be in charge decided to take us to the office. At the office they told us a bus would be coming shortly, so we waited for a while. And then they told us that the bus wouldn't be there til morning so we had to get out of the office as they were closing. We didn't even know the name of the town we were in so there was no way we were going to go out there in the middle of the night and try to find a place to stay until morning. We argued this with the woman running the place and told her there was no way we were leaving that office and we wanted our money back, etc. And then we noticed the menacing-looking men with motorbikes standing at the entrance. As we noticed them a few of them pulled out what looked like broken table legs with nails in them from behind their bikes. And they stood there holding them, like they were threatening us with them. So we had this woman threatening to throw us on the street and these men on the street who looked ready to beat us with table legs. This was not a good situation. We discussed it with each other and finally agreed to just pay this woman again if she would get us to Phuket that night. It's not like it cost a lot, it was just the principle of the thing: we didn't want to pay for the same trip twice. But I would rather pay twice then get beaten up in some unknown town over a bus fare.
Through this experience we made friends with the other backpackers on the bus and a bunch of us ended up going to Patong Beach, Phuket together. We got an awesome hotel there for a ridiculously low price thanks to one of the Aussies on the bus who was headed there, we drank altogether too much Sang Som and towers of beer and pretty much had an awesome time. If it weren't for those scamming bus people we would never have bonded like we did. So our negative situation turned into a positive.
The bus scam crew

Now some people will say, "see, travel is scary, these things will happen to me too!". But guess what? I've travelled through 5 continents and 17 countries and these are the most fear-inducing situations I can come up with off the top of my head. After these, and many other misadventures, I'm still alive and in one piece aren't I? I think that's all that matters. You can be scared of things all you want, but don't be afraid to live. I say screw fear, do what you want.

Friday, November 4, 2011

Budget Shmudget

I'm taking part in BootsnAll's 30 Days of Indie Travel Project, in which they are inviting bloggers from around the world to join them in a daily blogging effort reflecting on our past travel experiences.
Today is Day 4 and the prompt is: MISTAKES - Everyone makes mistakes. We forget to ask for Coke without ice in Mexico and spend the rest of the trip in the bathroom. Or we arrive at the airport for a 7pm flight only to realize the flight left at 7am. Tell us the story of your worst travel mistake.

I don't think I've made any major travel mistakes. Sure, I've made some errors or misjudgments here and there, but they just add to the adventure. Most of my small mistakes have had to do with money. Not bringing enough of it, not budgeting properly, etc.


Like the time I didn't think to bring any cash with me to Jamaica. I just brought my debit card, thinking this was a touristy place full of resorts, there will be an ATM somewhere to get cash out. Having travelled all over the world to places with dodgy or nonexistent ATMs, I really should have known better. I was staying in the small town of Negril (not in a resort), where there were actually a few ATMs....but they were all for local banks not on the Visa Plus or Cirrus network. There was one Scotiabank or some other big bank in town and when I found it there was a lineup ten people deep. When I finally got inside the building I was going to put my card in the machine when I heard a big boom and a crash and the lights went out. I went back outside and there was a power line down in the middle of the road. Awesome. Some locals told me that this had happened before and it would probably be a few days before they got it fixed. Luckily I was there with friends who were smart enough to bring cash and were happy to lend me money. It worked out okay I guess because I spent less money and it gave me an excuse to walk down the beach to town every couple days to check on the ATM, meeting interesting locals along the way.

When I was in Peru I again had to borrow money from a friend. This was more of a budgeting mistake though. I probably drank too much beer and had altogether too many good times in the months leading up to this, spending my money on things I had not budgeted for. But that's not a bad mistake is it? It just means I was enjoying myself. When I arrived in Cusco I went to pay for my Inca Trail trek, for which I was leaving the next morning, but I was over $100 short and the bank wouldn't let me take out any more. I gave them what I had and went in search of the guy I'd been travelling with. He was nice enough to lend me the money to cover it and then I had to make a phone call to my mom, asking her to send me some money. Damn, I hate doing that. By the end of my trip I had to get my mom to pay for my flight home too. But in the end I paid everybody back and I don't regret going over budget at all. Why travel all that way just to spend all your time worrying about money? Enjoy it, you never know when you'll be back again.



You Got a Fast Car, I Want a Ticket to Anywhere

I'm taking part in BootsnAll's 30 Days of Indie Travel Project, in which they are inviting bloggers from around the world to join them in a daily blogging effort reflecting on our past travel experiences. I don't think I'll be writing a post every day, just whenever a topic strikes my fancy.
Today's prompt was MUSIC: "Music and travel memories often go hand in hand. A song can inspire our explorations, or it can take us back to a specific place and time. Tell us about your travel playlist and what it means to you."


       There are many songs that I like to listen to while travelling, or that inspire me to get back on the road. But it's those songs that remind of a certain time and place in my life that will always be special to me. Most of these aren't songs that people would typically associate with travelling. Here are a few of those songs: 


Fast Car - Tracy Chapman


Ahh the Llama Fuckers: Kiel, Kurt, Guy, Hamsah, Dean, Kerry, Justin, and myself. Fast Car will forever remind me of travelling through South America with this awesome group of people. Our group was made up of Aussies, Kiwis, Canadians and an American. Some of us met in Argentina and we picked up the others in Chile, where we embarked on an epic trip through the Uyuni Salt flats and then through Bolivia up to La Paz. I'm not even sure which country we first started singing Fast Car in, but trying to remember the lyrics became an everyday occurrence. And we were terrible at it. One person would sing one line and forget the next one so someone else would have to chime in. After a few weeks we still hadn't made it past the first verse. 
Wondering where we got a name like Llama Fuckers? Courtesy of a tour guide at the silver mines in Potosi, Bolivia. His name is Efra, look him up if you want to blow shit up in a mine and get a bad ass name like ours. 




I Kissed a Girl - Katy Perry




It's not that I even like the song, because I am not a big Katy Perry fan. But it will always remind me of my best friend Chantelle and a camping trip we took in the summer of 2008. We were camping out in the backwoods of British Columbia, at a place we like to call Moon Rock. To get there you have to drive up into the mountains on a logging road, way out in the middle of nowhere. After a couple of days spent there camping with friends Chantelle and I decided to go on a beer run, a trip that would probably take about an hour by car. We were driving too fast along this winding gravel road, listening to I Kissed a Girl and singing along at the top of our lungs, when we took a corner too fast and started spinning. The car ended up on its side in a ditch and there was no way we were getting it out. Because our cell phones had no service out there we had no way to call for help, so we started walking back to camp. At first Chantelle was crying about the car, but soon I had her laughing at the situation and we sang I Kissed a Girl as we walked back.
Chantelle passed away last year after moving to another province the year before. Now every time I hear this song I think of our last awesome summer spent doing everything together, and how it didn't matter that we were stuck out there in the wilderness far from everyone. Because we were both stuck out there with our best friend. 



Ice Cream Truck - Cazwell
(This one may not be appropriate for young viewers)


Earlier this year I went to Negril, Jamaica with a group of friends. We had three little cabins on the beach, all in a row. There were five of us girls and two guys. Ice Cream Truck was our wake up song. Well it was the girls' wake up song anyway, I'm not sure if the guys really appreciated it. Whoever woke up first in the morning put this song on at full volume so all three cabins could hear, often with the video. Who doesn't love waking up to hot guys with popsicles? At night we had dance parties to it. You can be sure the neighbours loved us. 


Put Your Hands Up For Detroit - Fedde le Grand
When I was on the island of Phuket, in Thailand, my friends and I stayed in Patong beach with some people that we'd met while being scammed into paying for the same bus ride twice. We were threatened by thugs wielding broken table legs, it was quite the adventure. We went out to Patong's main party area, Bangla Road, with these fellow scammees (?). We spent the night bar hopping and I swear this song was playing all night, everywhere. It wasn't really, but it seemed like it through my Sang Som induced haze. I spent the next year or so wondering what the hell this song was. I had the beat in my head all the time, but I couldn't remember any of the words so of course I couldn't look it up. Then one day I was perusing YouTube for new music and I clicked on this video. I don't think I've ever been that excited about a music video where women are dancing in their underwear. Gotta love it when that happens. 


Low - Flo Rida
Thailand, 2008: this song was everywhere. It was an assault on my ears and I couldn't escape it. It was playing on the radio, in clubs, at the full moon parties. We heard it blaring from almost every car that drove past (I'm not exaggerating). I'd be laying in bed and hear it drifting in through the window. Me and the girls I was with still laugh every time we hear it. Apple bottom jeeaans, boots with the fuurrr. 

Roxanne - The Police

In reality, this song reminds me of any hostel bar, anywhere. But I'll go with Loki Hostel in Lima, Peru in April of 2010. It was the the last week of my South American backpacking trip, I was running out of money and I'd decided to spend it (the last of my money and my trip) laying low in Lima. Laying low isn't exactly easy when you choose to stay in one of the best party hostels. I won't go into details, but I will say that Loki is crazy and those large bottles of Cuzquena go down pretty quickly when you're playing the Roxanne drinking game over and over in the hostel bar. 



I'm including these last few songs because they will always remind me of my time spent living in East Africa this year. Plus I think more people need to know and appreciate African music. You don't have to understand what they're saying to enjoy it. 

Mzungu Kichaa

Mzungu Kichaa means "crazy white man" in Swahili. He's a Dane that was raised in Tanzania and sings in Swahili, the official language throughout East Africa. His style of music is called Bongo Flava and it is unique to the coastal area of Tanzania. I met him at a Canada Day party at a Canadian High Commission residence in Dar es Salaam, where he was performing. My friends and I enjoyed his music so much that we bought his album on the spot and went to see him perform again a week later at the Beat Festival, where we were introduced to even more incredible East African artists, like Dela and Yvonne Mwale.  
I don't like this song any more than Mzungu Kichaa's other songs but this video was filmed in Dar es Salaam, the city I lived in, and it makes me feel a bit homesick. 

NWA Baby (Ashawo Remix) - Flavour
This song comes out of Nigeria, but it was HUGE in Kenya when I was there. It was one of those songs that played numerous times per night in every bar. We had it on repeat in our backpackers in Mombasa and I was so happy when I found it on someone's iPod at the floating bar in Lamu (where the customers get to be the DJs). When you're surrounded by the unfamiliar it's nice to find something that you can agree upon with everyone around you. 

Kigeugeu - Jaguar
This is another one of those songs that was playing everywhere while I was in Kenya. The song is basically about everyone from your friend to the pastor screwing you over, but we'll just ignore the meaning and enjoy it :)



I could include so many more songs on this list. In fact I'm thinking of more as I type this (Madonna anybody?), but I think this will do for now. To most people these are just songs, but to me they are Thailand, Bolivia, Kenya. They are my memories.