Tricky Situations
 

I've been in a number of various tricky situations especially when travelling but always managed to get out of them somehow or another, how about you?

An example for me would be one time in Cairo when I decided to see the pyramids at night but they were closed. I ended up riding a horse without a saddle around the back of pyramids with a very unofficial guide from the slums. All was mostly ok, until a dog came out of nowhere and chased us so we had to go for it.

Obviously by the time this was sorted we are quite deep into the desert looking back at the pyramids when he started asking for more cash and tried to take me to his brother's brothel. From there we went to a series of shops where I was the only customer etc.

The only thing that saved me in hindsight was the fact that I had not paid a taxi driver who was waiting for me at the entrance of the pyramids.

Re: Tricky Situations
 

To be fair to the Egyptians, I never found Cairo in the least bit dangerous (presidential rallies aside) even at night. Worst case you might have got a bit of a hiding for your cash, which could probably have avoided by just promising him a few extra quid to take you back.

A local brothel does sound horrific though. :lol:

Edit to add my own tricky situation:

I was stopped by the police in Riyadh driving back to my compound after meeting my then girlfriend in the diplomatic quarter. She was of Venezuelan origin so decided that because she didn't really look western enough, it would be better to go in full (including face covering) abaya regalia.In my naivety I went along with this.

Of course I soon realised that a western guy driving with someone dressed like this in the car was attracting more attention. I got followed by a couple of cops all the way out to the compound and stopped just before going in. Thankfully where the guys pulled us in was close enough to the compound that the soldiers on the gate got nervous and came out to tell the local cops to move further away. I took this opportunity to drive inside.

I'm sure the bastards hung around for days after hoping to catch me.:p

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Yup. I agree. I’ve never had an issue there after years of multiple visits and always taking street taxis etc.

I even lost my wallet in a taxi once and was able to get it back several hours later intact.

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Despite travelling widely I can't claim to have ever been in a tricky situation. With people, that is. I have a spider story or two but you probably don't want to hear them.

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I took a dodgy street taxi in Jeddah once. The guy made me sit in the front seat as he didn't want to look like an illegal taxi near the airport. I should have seen the signs right then.

Naturally, he started talking how much me liked me etc and wanted to get it on at my hotel and kept trying to touch me (I didn't let him at all). To make sure he did actually take me to the hotel and not some rat-hole in KSA, I basically went along with him and when got to the hotel, jumped out and told security who had a quiet word with him...

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You should have gotten his number for Miss Anne.

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I was working in Nigeria for a month about 10 years ago. Meals, etc, were provided but didn’t have any money to pay for beers, alternative food to the disgusting meals the hotel tried to feed us with, so they agreed to give me a per diem in local currency.

Ended up having to go to a bank with a driver in his old Corolla, who could only get parked one block away.

I didn’t think to bring a bag with me, so ended up having to carry a quarter of a million Naira in smallish bills in my arms down a busy street.

Amazingly made it without any attention beyond lots of “what is this stupid white boy doing?” incredulous looks.

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When my brother was travelling with a friend in Asia, he got into a tricky situation in Malaysia.

He got drunk with a group of girls (ofcourse) and decided to roam the empty streets as a group looking for a booze shop around 3am.

A moped pulls up and two small and mangy looking men jump off both carrying machetes and both try to mug the group. Birds run off screaming whilst my brother and his pal both stand there trying to reason with the muggers (not having anything on them anyways)

Luckily the girls screeches alerted a group of road workers around the corner who proceeded to chase the muggers armed with spades and pickaxes!

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My sister and I were robbed in Ho Chi Minh City in 2011. We hired a couple of cyclos to take us from a restaurant back to our hotel. About halfway back they pulled into an alley and told us to hand over our money. My.sister stupidly handed over her purse and lost about $500 USD but I got off lightly since all I had with me was $20 USD. The rest of my cash and cards was locked up in the safe in our room.

On another trip with the same sister we got arrested in Krakow for not paying the fare on the tram. A few days later we were sitting in front of the Opera House in Vienna when dozens of riot police went past. They had closed off the streets just meters from us because a bunch of protesters were getting out of hand.

Moral of that story is don't travel with my sister.

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Trickiest and most awkward (other than my last visit to the UAE) was trying to get in to Israel with a passport full of stamps and visas from places like Libya. I was only there for a day trip from a holiday in Cyprus. I was taken to a little side room and thought I would have to spend the whole 24 hours waiting to get the plane back to Cyprus, but they must have been satisfied with what I told them (the truth about working in these places) and they let me in. It was over in maybe 10 minutes but felt like a lifetime, with the whole coach party waiting for me!

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I probably already have it...

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I got married when I went to Japan.

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Given the risks I've taken, remarkably few tricky situations.

Most daunting was probably being detained and questioned for several hours by the military police in Damascus (they were far more interested in my khaleeji bf than me though). We're still not sure why, though it was back in around 2007 when there were radicals crossing into Iraq from Syria, many coming from the gulf. The worst thing was not knowing why we were there (a cigarette seller spotted us looking at a map on the street at 10pm), how and when we would get released and what recourse we had (they were clearly not bound by haebeus corpus).

When I was a teenager, being chased around the old quarter of Jerusalem and publicly confronted by a Palestinian stall-holder from whom I had lifted a strawberry would probably count as most embarrassing.

A boisterous confrontation I had with prostitutes in the lobby of the St. Petersburg Sheraton in the early hours of the morning, which narrowly avoided involving the police, would probably be another example. Except that I have zero recollection of it and have relied only on the testimony of my Brazilian colleague who was too embarrassed to tell me all the details apparently as I was his boss. That was the last time I ever drank vodka (though I think I had consumed a lifetime's worth that night anyway).

I've had quite a few hair-raising experiences around the world but most are unsuitable to recount in this family forum!

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years ago me and my girlfriends (4 of us in total) ended up behind bars in Tunisia. We had been partying in a club and one of my girlfriends started kicking off with some other chick, before we knew it the cops had been called. They asked for our ID's, but of course none of us had any form of ID on us (our passports were back at the hotel). They instructed us to get into their cop cars and took us to a police station which had a number of cells, where we were kept until sunrise. Fortunately one of the high ranking officers took a shine to me ie being muslim and wearing an arabic 'Allah' pendant, and hence let us go with a slap on the wrist.
With hindsight we reckon the officers got a kick out of having 4 foreign females (all desis) in their custody, which back in those days was uncommon to have a group of desi girls on holiday by themselves.

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Back in the 90s, my younger single self was at a full moon party in Thailand. I was no stranger to drugs at the time having previously been involved in the party scene in Essex and London during the early 90s.

Me and a mate went to the party having scored a meth pill each earlier that night on another part of the island, the intention being to do it later night at the actual party.

Thank f### that we were aware of possible consequences of getting caught with drugs, and the practices of the local police, known for their corruption. Anyways, I kept the pill in my underpants figuring that there was no way a Thai doing a random search would start going through a foreigners pants for no reason.

In the taxipickup on the way there, we were stopped and I should have taken that as an omen, but it was no big deal.

We get to the party and have a walk around. It was a well known fact locally that there was a certain establishment up in the hillside where they served up mushroom shakes so we went for one. I distinctly remember ordering two of them, one for me and one for my mate, and asking for them to be strong. Partly because we were expecting to be ripped off and wanted to get our money's worth.

About an hour later me and my mate are walking along the beach absolutely battered. There are Thais letting off exploding fireworks at ground level everywhere. The world is a swirling mass of colour and shapes in endlessly changing forms.

Fortunately we weren't novices, because I can well see how that trip would get the better of many people. Anyway, it was all getting a bit much so I said to my mate to walk down the beach a bit where it was a bit quieter and less mental. It was actually physically difficult to walk as well those mushrooms were so strong.

We get down to some rocks at the end of the beach and we're just sitting having a messed up chat saying how wasted we were. My mate gets a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and reaches out and offers me one.

No sooner had he done this, when about four or five plainclothes police come out of nowhere shouting.

We search you! We search you!

We're shitting ourselves. Somehow trying to hold it together on one of the strongest trips of our lives. It's blatantly obvious to these police that we're wasted. Flying saucers for pupils etc.

All the time I'm thinking about the pill still in my pants, plus the fact that they may try to plant something on me. They're trying to get into my pockets but I'm refusing this, emptying out my own pockets and showing them everything.

They're getting more and more frustrated because it's obvious we're so wasted, and we end up having a bit of a stand off. All the time I'm thinking of the pill which could get me into trouble.

Anyways, after about five minutes the main guy asks me where I'm from. I say the UK. He says he likes Man U. I tell him how David Beckham is a great player. He was massive in Asia at that time.

Literally, as soon as I said that, the whole mood changed and everyone relaxed. The cop then goes on to tell me how we're good English guys and to have a good night.

They walk off, me and my mate look at each other and just breathe out. Then get a taxi out of there.

Mental night.

I'll never let anyone day a bad word about David Beckham after that.

He saved my life.