Job Discussion Forums

[dmb]

What do you most remember about the countries you have visited?
My list

Equador- beautiful women
US- almost getting arrested in Planet Holywood in NY
Canada- a snake in my sandpit when I was a kid
Sri Lanka- motorbike crash
Qatar- the general feeling of being an outsider
UAE- the Irish village in dubai
Oman- a fisherman who spoke perfect English
France- car crash in the Loire valley
Holland- uh... not very much
Germany- the efficiency of everything
Cyprus- seeing the Milky Way
Belgium- getting stopped by a policeman leapfrogging over a parking meter(Yes I had been drinking the local beer)
Italy- a bomb going off while kipping at Rome station
Old Yugoslavia- getting on the wrong boat and finding myself on a nudist beach
Spain- a bullfight(disgusted)
Morroco- being disppointed with Cassablanca
Egypt- scuba diving in the Red Sea
Sweden- how expensive everything was
Denmark- as above
Bulgaria- the Irish breakfast at the Irish pub
Czech- the snowboarding
Andorra- a fight with an ex girlfriend
Switzerland- getting stuck at the airport
Greece- travelling around with a bunch of Italian street performers
Syria- illegally sneaking over the border with a Turkish sheep hustler
Sardina- not being in Turkey when the big earthquake hit
Monaco- how poor I was
Luxembourg- how old everyone was
Austria- immediately leaving because on the train I'd heard there was a Pink Floyd concert in San Marco Square( Imissed it I was a day late)
UK,Ireland and Turkey- Can't decide. too many memories(Actually Scotland winning the Grand Slam- that try by Tony Stanger)


Hopefully many more adventures and travel memories to come.

PS try this activity with your students.Lots of discussion

[Boy Wonder]

UK-Football and Family memories
Italy-Sleeping on beach with 10,000 others in Sicily.
Monaco-How clean everything and everywhere was
Austria- being serenaded at hight by backpacking mexicans whilst in bed.!
Spain- The nightlife of Madrid and FNAC (great place).
Greece-Donkeys carrying lazyAmericans up Santorini island cliffwalk
Sweden-It being -15 degrees and the Vasa museum.
Canada- the South African apartheid era attitude of anyone in uniform.
Bahrain- Drunk Saudi lying comotose on urinal floor of lavatory.
Belgium-Bruges....beautiful.
Germany-Chasing a mugger in a town nr Dortmund.
Denmark-Invited by girl I met in street to listen to speech by ANC.
Poland-6 months of bliss living with dreamgirl followed by one week of
hell living in hotel trying to rescue doomed relationship.
Slovakia- Staying up allnight in drinking den waiting for morning train.
Czech Rep-The cavernous discos in Prague .
Hungary-Going out in Budapest on Tues night..everywhere closed.
Holland-Sleeping in deserted former Army Barracks in small town.
France-The beauty of Alps and the French Riviera.Oh and finding a dead
pigeon under my girlfriends bed!
Qatar-My first sight of legions of abaya clad totally covered women.
UAE- Seeing my clothes get soaking wet after 5 mins walking in sun.
Bulgaria- Being dropped off by bus on wasteground in Sofia at 4am.
Turkey- Cappudoccia at 6am as the sun rose.
Estonia-A 10 hr night ferry journey thru sea of ice.Brown underpant time!!
Latvia- Riga.The biggest market I've ever seen.
Lithuania-Seeing elderly babushka at 6.30am in temps of minus 10 sweeping up bus station in Vilnius and being reminded that people working in plush offices on comfortable salaries who moan about their jobs should be ashamed of themselves.

[JosephP]

Here goes:

Taiwan - Kaohsiung Harbour, 3 AM, with 350NT in my pocket, no job, no plane ticket, no place to stay, but feeling oddly confident. Having a nice dinner at a dog and rat restaurant in Douliu. Taking a three day holiday with a gangster and his wife and kids to Taroko Gorge. Drinking Mao Tai with an Aboriginal Taiwanese who was wearing a leopard skin vest and carrying a huge machete. Chinese New Year I was Guest of Honor at a Military prison.
Seoul, Korea - changing money with the old crones in Namdaemun on an absolutely freezing day. Bath-houses six times a week because the place I lived had no "facilities." Piles of vomit everywhere on the footpath starting at around 10pm. Kimchee, baby!
Malaysia - A freaking huge two metre long lizard smashing through the reeds only inches from my shoes. Yes, there be dragons there. Having to hang on the outside of a pink mini-bus flying 100 kph down the motorway and having a guy stick his arm out the window for the 80 cent fare.
Thailand - helping the nurse bathe my newly born daughter. Getting held-up at gunpoint at midnight on a lonely highway. Fried grasshoppers in Sanam Luang. Smoking dope across the street from the cop shop on Khao Sarn Road (right up there with really stupid things one should not do).
Hawaii - Flying along the Hamakua Coast seeing the ribbons of countless waterfalls tumble into the sea. 30 foot Waimea Bay and seeing some of the world's best surfers take spectacular wipeouts.
New Zealand - The intense green of the Waikato. Maori at the Auckland Airport welcoming whanau home with a unrestrained and joyously loud haka.
It's been an alright life so far.

[Will.]

Ok...
UK.
FOG, wet weather, short days, tapioca pudding with red jam, drunks of the younger variety. cramped tubetrains.
France, choucroute garni,
Michelle, Sophie, Valerie, Marie-Claire (No!, not that Marie-Claire), Nathalie, Nicole, (No!, not that Nicole) Claudette, Bernadette, Eveline, Jeannette, Margeurite, A lady on the train to Paris, A girl in a vineyard, A BJ in a cinema, The manual dexterity of a young lady on the metro, Francoise, Mireille, Manu, Dorothee, AND Caroline, Elise and Babette,
This will take forever....

[gtidey]

as Cilla would say "JosephP, wharra trip, chuck!" i liked your taiwan memoirs.

im obviously not as travelled as you lot, in fact just reading this makes me feel like michael palin's ostracised brother, but here goes.

honduras - being the only person (im a divemaster) to see a hammerhead shark off Roatan island in god knows how many years. Linley and I going to one of the local bars (read: corrugated iron hut) to buy cocaine off a woman in her eighties and talking to a guy holding two pistols in one hand who called me Crayon and called Linley Stacey. We didn't correct him. waking up out at sea in a rubber dinghy with no engine holding a bottle of vodka. waking up to find my mate asleep on the jetty, soaking wet and looking like he'd just had a fight with the harbour and the harbour won. and -the- night dive which was more incredible than any sunset or rise i ever did see. just three of us, our own boat, the middle of the night and caribbean.

barcelona - walking down La Rumbla with my mouth literally hanging open due to the amount of incredible looking women.

lisbon - buying fake hash TWICE in one day. being in a bar so full of 15 yr olds that we left after one drink cos we felt too old. (im 20)

france - the inherit miserable bastardness of all french everywhere and the loudness of americans away from home.

america - the utter over zealousness of american airports and the complete agony of having to try and get ppl who have been working behind a check in desk for seven hours to go out of their way even a little to help you get home.

of all my travel memories the ones that stand out the most are all the wonderful people ive met.

as they say; "its the good times in life that everybody can relate to"

[mjed9]

Surely this is just a poor disguise for saying "look at how many countries I have been to"

[Boy Wonder]

Yep.....32 at the last count!!!
Beat that if you can...!!!!
Awesome man!!!

[Magoo]

Nice reply, Boy Wonder. Why not let people know? You beat me by four, by the way

England (1st home)-waking up on Brighton beach, skint, homeless and hungry, then seeing scores of scantily clad young ladies passing by, thereby reaffirming my belief that God really does exist
France-being seduced, aged 18, by the beautiful wife of a doctor who'd taken me home when I was hitching at night. Being interrupted by said doc (nothing happened, BTW ).
Taiwan (Taibei)-permanently black snot; moped crashes; SEXY, yet innocent, Hakka student.
Switzerland-expensive, cliched and dull. Far too efficient-perhaps that's why I love China.
Austria-surprisingly friendly locals-I was expecting a bunch of Hitler prototypes.
Hong Kong-realising why there is a prejudice against the English. In one bar where I worked, I was told to "speak furkin' English', despite the fact that my then gf only spoke Japanese and Chinese. Reason? "You're in the UK, now!" Sheesh I can also see where Ludwig is coming from
China-the usual: women, food, easy life, women, cheap fags, women, amazing scenery, lack of punch-ups, women, friendly locals. Did I mention...? Pity I'm married Or maybe not

p.s. Cheap F a g S, aka cigarettes. NOT Elton John.[/b]

[mjed9]

Well as long as we are calling what it is, I have been to a poor 18 by comparison (but still travelling )

Memories

The UK - this is where I live(d) - also in Brighton strangely enough!
France - stealing cheap souvenirs as a kid on a schooltrip
Germany - a big fat woman munching on a sausage sandwich - scarey!
Switzerland - Swimming in clear water
Austria - making snowmen (I was too young to ski)
Holland - a street artist performing the most extraordinary football skills
Norway - slicing my thumb open making a bow and arrow
Sweden - the cold
Italy - jumping 40 foot off a cliff into deep water aged 12
Spain - seeing a statue of the devil in that big famous park in Madrid
Greece - drunk British tourists
Tunisia - camel-riding in the Sahara
Kenya - watching the wilderbeest migration / dawn rise over the Masai
Taiwan - hiking
China (Hong Kong) - the white faces
Grenada - eating fruit on the beach
Brunei - being shocked by the fact they accept British money (I guess I should have known!)
and the USA - looking out of a topfloor hotel room in NY onto a sea of yellow taxis

[Roger]

too much cafeine, nicotine and booze - fleeting and insubstantial impressions, timeless and contourless?

[dmb]

[Sadken]

Croatia - Eating the best seafood I have ever encountered in a castle in Dubrovnik, the view from the castle on Hvar Island, the streets of Split

Spain - Chatting up 2 Irish girls all night, on my own, in a club in Barcelona, doing really well before stumbling out of the late night/early morning drinking den we had found and onto the streets to buy some cigarettes. Found cigarettes, lost den. *beep*.

Switzerland - Standing in a phone booth in Lugano (the most beautiful place I have seen) being smiled and waved at by beautiful Swiss girls. Ended the call and ran after the girls, I never found them again.

Morrocco - Turning up by boat at 8.30pm with nowhere to stay after a catastrophic timetable reading error. I ended up having to stay in a roach infested hostel after some random in the street took me there. As we walked there, some of his mates shouted to me "Do not trust this man, he is very dangerous".

USA - Running down the street in Vegas at 4am, horrifically jet lagged, stupidly drunk and wildly in love with my girlfriend of the time.

Canada - I remember a fizzy lemon flavoured drink and pulling carrots out of the ground in my Aunt's field

France - How amazingly French everybody was.

Germany - Getting into a fight in an underground Hip Hop club when everybody kept trying to grope my girlfriend.

Tunisia - Tattouine.

Slovenia - Getting a discount in a hotel on the back of my family name. Being woken up at 3am by a marching band. Lake Bled.

Slovakia - Being woken up by a man with a gun who demanded to see my passport. Feeling sorry for the kid who only had a photocopy of his.

Russia - Being destroyed by a series of progressively older and more skillful substitutes in a football game after leading at half time. The crowd chanted the name of the kid I was marking as he went round me effortlessly for the seventh or eigth time, clinically finishing every time.

Italy - Wandering around Naples open mouthed at some of the girls. Eating the best Pizza in the world. Buying a copy of the the 28p Current Scum in the grounds of the Vatican.

Poland - Birkenau being horrific. Auschwitz being horribly tourist-y. Krakow being beautiful.

[dmb]

Sadken, you don't seem to have much luck with the girls

[Boy Wonder]

Must concur with sadken in the Naples girl front......
I spent 3 days travelling around the city in awestruck wonderment at the sultry sexy beauty of the girls there.

Compared to Mt Vesuvius...Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast.....there was no competition...it was the highlight of my visit to Italy.

I would swap one Naplolitan girl for all the girls of Thailand.

Thats how stunning they are!!!

[Sadken]

That makes you about the only person I have ever met, besides me, who loved Naples. Everyone else remembers it as a shithole.