What makes travelling so appealing? Centuries upon centuries storytelling has been one of the fundamental ways of human expression. Fathers passed their wisdom to their sons in a form of stories; mothers taught daughters their craft also in a form of stories. From generation to generation we have passed on our traditions and the way of living through our stories. And travelling oftentimes yields some good travel stories.
I believe that humans are inherently curious creatures, constantly in need of fresh perspective. Most of us enjoy meeting new people, finding out something new about various cultural traits, participating in new activities. Most certainly many people view travelling as a good opportunity to show off on their social media. Or some could experience a so called ”FOMO”. But regardless these questionable attitudes, it is hard to argue the point that travelling can be a highly rewarding experience.
Experiences gained during journeys can be of varied nature. But they all have one thing in common – the more risk, struggle or danger was present in the situation, the more exciting the travel story becomes. Ultimately, any difficult or dangerous situation does not seem as such after the fact.
You might be interested in reading other travel stories.
People often say that when I grow older I will have so many travel stories to tell my grandchildren. And that is true. The way I lead my life, each new day is very different from the one before. Therefore, at this point my mind is library of my own stories and the stories of others.
And some of these rather unique travel stories I would like to share with you.
Travel Stories from Brazil – An Experience I Never Thought I Would Have
Imagine feeling a powerful attraction towards a young man with whom you have not had a proper contact yet. But for some reasons the idea of him has a magnetic and alluring influence on you. This is the way I had always perceived Brazil. With their reputation as being sexually liberated, sexy Portuguese language, Rio Carnival, films and music – Brazilians managed to create a fascinating imagine of their country.
When I travelled in South America Brazil was my last country to visit. ‘A dessert after a full course meal’, – as I called it.
I was ecstatic when I arrived there! But my excitement did not last long. Right after I crossed the border from Uruguay the problems began. Firstly, there were plenty of cars at that border crossing, but no one would stop for me for quite some time. Second, a very sketchy man invited me to join him on his ride. Third, the countryside looked too poor.
In a few hours’ time, when I finally began looking for a host, I understood: ”I was in trouble”. It seemed that people found my question absurd. They seemingly could not imagine how they could invite a stranger into their house. I tried my best to be as charming and as unsuspicious as I possibly could.
But what I learnt about human mind is, there is nothing on earth you can do to prove the opposite once a person is suspicious of you.
So, not only finding a host was nightmarish, it was also potentially dangerous to wander around alone.
Turns out, Brazilians are not as easy-going and friendly. And during my entire stay in Brazil I felt rather alienated and unwelcomed.
The Man Who Delivered Me a Unique Experience
In the midst of development of my rather unappealing reality, I met Roberto. When I was hitchhiking near Paraguayan border, he and his friend Felipe picked me up. They did not talk to me during most of the ride.
‘’Are you from Argentina or Paraguay?’’ – Roberto asked me in Portuguese when were about thirty kilometres away from our final destination.
It always amused that South Americans mistakenly thought I was from somewhere there. ‘’No, no, – I responded, – I am from Georgia, a small country in Europe’’.
They seemed genuinely shocked. Felipe spoke some English, so a very lively conversation ensued. I found out that Felipe used to live in the UK, but he was temporarily back in Brazil; and Roberto had his own business in metallurgy.
Felipe told me that Roberto had offered to put me up at a hotel for the night, and the next day he would drive me wherever I was planning on going.
It was still early in the day. And I rejoiced at the idea of having almost a full day of rest and peace. Undoubtedly, I accepted the offer.
It seems that for Roberto it was important not to put me up just anywhere, but he wanted me to have all the comforts. They drove me to a 4-star hotel. After checking me in Roberto suggested that he would pick me up in the evening and to take me to dinner.
His Subsequent Offer
Robert came to pick me up right on time. This time it was only him and his little son. Since he did not speak any English we had to communicate through a translator. I noticed instantly that he was not very keen on asking me about my journey.1 We mainly talked about him and laughed at things that his son did.
At some point during the dinner he said: ”If you want to stay longer here and rest, you can do so, as long as you want . I will pay for it. And if you want to live in Brazil I will help you with everything you will need”. I welcomed his offer of staying a few days longer and told him that I would think about the amount of days and let him know in the morning.
In the morning he told me that he had spoken to the hotel management. The check-out date was in a week. ”If you wish to stay longer, they will keep pushing it each day”, – he added. He also gave me some cash for small expenses. And he did so for the next ten days every other day.
People have put me up at a hospitality venues many times before. There is nothing outstanding about it in my experience. But I could not fathom why he was so eager to spend a large amount of money on a relative stranger. What made his actions evermore baffling for me is that I did not sense at all that he felt attraction or sexual desire towards me.
- This generally means that his decision to help me had very little to do with the fact that I am a traveller. And that his motivations were of different nature. ↩︎
Ultimately I Figured Out Why
I have met hundreds of men during my journey. Only a handful of them had treated me as a traveller, or a curious individual, if you will. In vast majority of cases there always are some sexual undertones. Even if they don’t show and don’t voice it, I can see it in their eyes. I know what is on their minds.
I wished to know why the case with Roberto was so different. So, when we met the next time I asked him a series of questions that I prepared in advance. Not realizing that I was testing him, he told me all about his life.
In 2021 he made an attempt to start a new business project. He miserably failed, lost everything and ended up owing money to potentially dangerous people. As a consequence of his mistake he lost everything, and even his family members did not want anything to do with him out of fear.
For the next year and a half he was a homeless man.
”How did people treat you?”, – I asked.
”They avoided mainly. Nobody wants anything to do with a dirty homeless man”, – he said.
”So, how did you manage to get out of this situation?”
”I was asking people for jobs. I was willing to do just about anything”, – was his response.
So, one day his fortunes changed. He met a man, Jose, whom he asked for some work. This man happened to be a general manager of Bank of Brazil. Jose was caring and willing enough to give him a job, a place to stay in the basement of his house, new clothes, and food. This way Roberto managed to get back on his feet, learn from Jose how to do business successfully.
Conclusions
After hearing his story it became clear as day – Roberto was trying to reenact the situation with Jose. This man literally save his life, gave him a second chance. And now Roberto is full of passion and desire to help others, to be ‘Jose’ in other people’s experiences.
He told me that he tried to get four homeless men from the streets. But his efforts were futile. One of the men robbed him, and three others went back to alcohol and drugs.
He even tried to convince me to stay longer after I had declared that I was leaving.
Afterall, he needed my presence there more than I needed to be there.
Travel Stories from China
When I travelled to China for the first time, my goal in the country was rather simple – I had to cover about 5000 kilometres in a matter of a week. My plan at that moment was to go to the Far East of Russia, get on a Trans-Siberian train and travel all the way from Vladivostok to Moscow. So at that moment China was more of a transit country for me.
The plan was simple, but my journey became increasingly challenging once I crossed the border from Kazakhstan to China.
My experiences there were rather nightmarish. And in the country where all the hope and life energy was literally sucked out of me, police was the only compensating force.
My First Encounter with the Chinese Police
My first night in China was only the beginning. I stayed outside and had no sleep at all. It was December. The temperature was -10 degrees, so I caught a severe cold.
The young who picked up on my way to a town called Turpan expressed worry for me, because I was going on to hitchhike through Gobi desert. He decided that he was going to ask for an advice from the local police. Normally I try to avoid encounters with the police and deal with my problems on my own. But this time I decided to let him have it his way.
In Turpan we approached the police officers and he explained them the situation. After a few phone calls they told me that they would put me on a train to Hami – a city located 400 kilometres away in my direction.
I arrived in Hami at 1 a.m. Two other police officers stopped me at the exit and asked for my documents, and then to follow them. They guided me to a small police station adjacent to the station.
One police officer began asking me numerous questions about who I was and what was I doing in China, etc. He seemed to be curious on a personal level. Finally he asked the question:
‘’Where are you going to sleep tonight?’’
My prospects were grim and the only plan I had was to go to the hotels and ask them to let me stay indoors until the morning. He said that no hotel would agree to such a thing, and suggested that I slept at the police station. He took me to another building: it was very warm, clean and quiet. I was shown a room with two sofas.
That night I slept like a baby.
They Did Not Want to Let Me
They woke me up at 8:30 a.m., and brought me some breakfast.
One thing about Chinese police is that when they help someone they always take photos ‘in action’. In that station they had an entire wall dedicated to such pictures. I imagine the picture of me receiving that breakfast is also on that wall now. It was a rather comical situation in a way. Although they were on duty, they could not their curiosity. Meeting a foreigner in such a setting is unthinkable for them. Every other minute another young Chinese man would pop into the room to have a look at me.
While I was eating they said that they would drive me outside of town. I short ride of 15 kilometres turned into a ride of couple thousand kilometres all orchestrated by the Chinese Police.
First, they drove me to another police station. Another police checked my documents again and we switched cars. The new car drove me another 50 kilometres. At a new station they put me in a police van that drove me another 250 kilometres to another police check point. Now, when we were in the middle of the desert, they suggested that they would stop a car or a truck for me.
A police officer who spoke some English explained to me that they were worried and could not let me hitchhike on my own in the desert.
After waiting for about 45 minutes they found me truck. The driver was willing to take me. I travelled with Wu-Yawei for three days and two nights.
I had no idea how fortunate I was.
Chinese Police Paid for a Night at a Hotel
Despite the fact that the Chinese police were so helpful, I still tried to avoid our potential meetings. It was always a long and tiresome process of them checking my documents, asking a bunch of questions, talking between themselves without sharing any information with me, and so on.
But the way the Chinese mentality works is that when a person does not know what to do in a situation, they call the police.
Such was the instance in Suifenhe, the border town near Russia. A truck driver who drove me to the city, called the police because I mentioned that I did not have a place to stay. Police came and took me to the station.
Fortunately for me one of the officers spoke fluent Russian. We had a three and a half hour long conversation during which he genuinely tried to understand why do I travel like this. But just as most Chinese people, he had a very hard time understanding.
He urged me to go to the hotel if I had money. I had some at the time, but it was reserved for my trip in Russia and I was not going to spend it in China. And refused to do it. Knowing that I have money, but would not use it at any cause confused him only further.
Ultimately, the news of me spread rather quickly. Another police officer who was off-duty that night came by to look at me. He said that he would pay for me, and they drove me to the hotel and checked me in.
Police Arranged Me a Taxi Ride to the Vietnamese Border
The second time I visited China, I was travelling to south-eastern parts of the country. After nearly two weeks I was only 320 kilometres from the Vietnamese border. A couple picked me up. As soon as I told them that I was going to Vietnam, the woman got worried, saying that it is very dangerous there. They said that they would call the police for me and they would help me.
I protested, stating that I was not in trouble and I did not want to have to deal with the police, again. The thing was that it was already getting late, and I wanted to get out of the country as soon as possible. An encounter with the police would rob me of my precious time.
But, of course, she did not listen. Right when we passed the toll booth, the police was there waiting for me. I only could roll my eyes at that point.
I knew the drill by then: passport check, questions, sitting around for another hour and waiting for the verdict.
Once again it all worked out in my favour. They ordered me a first shared taxi ride to a town called Mengzi; in Mengzi I had to switch to another shared taxi, which would take me to the border town Hekou. Of course, they paid for it.
This entire encounter took place at about 4 p.m. in the evening. At about 7:30 p.m. I was already in Hekou. I doubt I would have made it on my own.
Chinese Police in a Role of Taxi Drivers
I was travelling towards the city called Panzhihua. It was already dark, raining and rather miserable. A car picked me up at the toll booth station. Very soon I got a suspicion that it was a shared taxi and not a ride in a classic sense. I decided to not say anything yet, because my impression of the man was that he could very easily drop me off in the middle of nowhere if he found out that I was not going to pay him.
My read on the situation turned out to be correct. As when we were approaching the city, he finally asked me whether I was going to pay cash or through WeChat. I said that I did not know he was a taxi; that I was just hitchhiking and I thought that he picked me up for this reason only.
He grew bitter and sarcastic, saying ‘’yes, yes, you foreigners never have money, of course’’. He drilled me for the next several minutes. Ultimately, I grew very tired of the situation and demanded that he stopped the car and let me out.
Not knowing what to do, for I was still rather far from anywhere, I decided to go to the nearest police station. I explained my situation and asked them to drive me to the train station 26 kilometres away. After the usual drill, the officer agreed to do it. On the way to the station he treated me to a meal.
It was another miserable night outside in China, for the train station was closed.
Travel Stories from Mongolia
Mongolia has always been a wild card in my mind. I hardly ever hear anything in the news about it; I have not met anyone who had travelled to Mongolia; and I had met a Mongolian couple only once in my life. Apart from the general information, historical facts and its geographic location I knew nothing about the country.
In this particular case my ignorance worked perfectly in my favour. I found Mongolian people to be quite warm, friendly, hospitable and very caring. During my entire stay there I knew I did not have to worry about where was I going to sleep, or what was I going to eat. The entire trip was quite smooth and seamless.
A Family of Six Hosted Me in Their Ger (Yurt)
I met them through a person who gave me a ride to a town called Arvaikheer. Called Jagii and asked her whether she could host me for the night. Jagii speaks some English and was very excited about the idea of hosting a foreigner and having an opportunity to practice the language.
That night Jagii made a typical Mongolian stew with vegetables, horse meat and tasalsan guril (Mongolian noodles). It was my first time trying out horse meat. And, although, I was not particularly impressed by Mongolian cuisine, I appreciated the experience.
After dinner Jagii’s husband Oghna took me on a short tour around. He showed me his little pyrography workshop and gave me a couple presents.
He also offered me a job as his assistant in the workshop. But I was not really interested in working and had limited amount of time I could spend in the country.
All in all, although I stayed with them for only one night, but thinking about that evening always makes me smile.
A Very Special Quality of the Mongolian People
In our day and age when technologies and internet dominate virtually all aspects of our lives, scamming, misleading and pretending is a normal occurrence. As a consequence of this humans have grown particularly suspicious and borderline fearful of everything, even of their own shadows. But for some unknown reason such is not the case for Mongolian nation.
So far, I have been exposed to 58 different nations of the world, and none appeared as trusting and open as Mongolians were.
I was once hosted in a family of five: parents and their three children. The youngest one was four months old baby. We arrived at their place quite late, therefore, we hardly spoke (they did not even know my name) and soon all went to bed.
In the morning I found out that the husband had gone for work, and me the wife and the kids were home alone. During that morning she asked me whether I could babysit her toddler while she was taking her older children to the kindergarten. It was not particularly exciting to assume such responsibility, but, of course, I agreed. I ensured the baby’s survival for the next half and hour, and after she was back home.
But my mind was completely blown away by the sheer idea that she without any trouble was willing to leave her little baby in the hands of the relative stranger. When in other countries some people do not wish to leave their guest home alone, a mother in Mongolia left a baby in the hands of her guest.
Why Are Mongolians So Open
I have been thinking about possible reasons for this phenomenon. And the only idea that makes sense is the geographical location of the country. Mongolia is sandwiched between two rather big, powerful and closed countries. The country is quite isolated and left to its own devices. It is almost like island in the middle of the continent.
Generally speaking, Mongolian people (except perhaps for Ulaanbaatar) lead much simpler lives, which in my mind contributes to their simplicity. I did not get a sense from the family that hosted me in Arvaikheer that they struggled financially. And it seemed to me that living in a somewhat primitive house was more so a choice rather than need.
The ability to be content with one’s position in life, and not desiring constantly more and more, is the way to peace of mind and psychologically healthy nation.
In the countries like Mongolia, where the weather conditions can be very harsh, people learn how to depend on and how to trust each other. Therefore, for a wandering traveller like myself, being in such country can be emotionally and mentally fulfilling experience.
In Summary
What makes travel stories so fascinating is that they are not merely a way to pass time and to entartainment. Some of these stories can be a learning experience in itself.
It all depends on whether the listener is cabale of extracting anything of value from the story told.