There is a constant stream of characters that enter and exit the script as one travels. Travelling solo one makes more of an effort to stock up on chit-chat in case one heads off the beaten western path where the well of proper English conversations might run dry.
You just think of a question to ask someone and then the conversation starts from there. For example at the Pumpernickel Bakery in Pokhara I simply asked a guy whether his banana bread was more bread than cake. An important question when one's tooth is as sweet as mine. The conversation went from there and he was a pretty laid-back Tassie who now lives in Sydney. He had his own travelling story from when he hitch-hiked from Athens to Stockholm on his way to spending some time working in London. The time was 1986 and it turned out to be an adventurous time to explore Europe. Firstly Reagan bombed Tripoli and as he was starting in Athens across the other side of the Med it made sense to see whether it was indeed safe to continue. Next thing Chernobyl happens and again there was a hesitation to move as Europe waited to see what the fall-out would be. Exiting Greece he would have hitch-hiked across what was then Yugoslavia before arriving in Germany at some point. This was pre the fall of the Iron Curtain so he managed to experience the diverging politics of both East and West Berlin. He arrived in Sweden at some point to meet the girl that sparked the escapade in the first place.
I was very fortunate to meet a great crew of people on my jeep tour through Tibet. Such whirlwind tours can inevitably be hit or miss in terms of company but the camaraderie on this trip was great. Most of the people had been on the road for a while so everyone was already wound down unlike on a regular two-weeker where it might take a few days or even a week to switch off.
Roland, Ishmael, Ralf and the DudeI'll introduce you to the people on my jeep as another example. Roland from Germany in fact needs no introduction. Our situations, interests and thoughts are quite identical. He too is on a sabbatical from a large corporation after working for 10 years. He also keeps a blog and enjoys photography and indeed his big picture thinking is not dissimilar from mine. So, if you know me well enough then you know Roland too.
Ishmael is from Tel Aviv and is totally deaf. He had already completed the trek to Everest Base Camp before the Tibet tour and is now on his way to India and then South East Asia before returning to his hotel-job. As I'm a little deaf myself I grabbed him for our jeep to make sure that he wasn't standing around like some fat-kid who is picked last for the soccer team. Incredibly he is travelling solo and so of course we all made an effort to make sure that he understood what was happening, in particular Ralf who received a crash course in sign-language from Ishmael. It turned out that this Israeli was the party guy in the whole group. While we were sitting in the Karaoke bar next to the hotel listening to some very dodgy Tibetan singing. Ishmael left for bed or so we thought. He instead went to a taxi-driver and asked to be taken to a better club. Ralf and I returned to our bedroom not knowing why Ishmael wasn't there. We needn't have worried, he returned a couple of hours later showing us movies and photos of all the women he met in the night-club. Unbelievable. My relationship with Ishmael briefly took a dent that night however. It was our first night in a proper hotel having spent two days in dormitory style accommodation without proper showers or western toilets. When a large group of westerners descends on eastern toilets the result is disastrous. Don't ask me why. I can't understand why people would aim for the shelf or miss altogether when all one has to do is aim for the hole ... one is squatting barely 10 inches from the hole so how people miss is beyond me. Honestly, the scene in the mornings was horrific, I had to summon all my buddhist powers of levitation to make it through the two days. Anyhow, we had arrived at a nice hotel and it turned out that Ishmael had a habit of peeing all over the seat. I can tolerate a lot but I don't care how night-blind someone is, there is no excuse for not sitting down if you have a habit of making a mess. A rare frustration on such a good trip.
When we got to Lhasa we preferred to sit on the veranda of the hotel and drink some beers. Meanwhile Ishmael was off on his own again having another great night in a big nightclub. He came home after 3am. Not to be outdone some of us took his instructions and headed off to find this nightclub the following night. Ishmael decided to go to some carnival or festival elsewhere ... where he was getting his information from I have no idea. We on the other hand were having a good time in the nightclub but something seemed to be not quite right. I'm reasonably open to how different cultures do things but I'm not quite overly comfortable with guys dancing in my face. It's a bit of an invasion of privacy. I was putting the pieces together where others seemed not to be. There were guys buying us drinks and the staff walked around in sailors outfits. The girls were showing no interest and while there was one scantily clad girl dancing on the table at one point it was a case of blink and you would miss her. The guy dancing on the table with nothing but a black tie on top sealed the deal for me. It was definitely Gay night but bizarrely some people seemed not so sure. Regardless, the music was good and everybody had a great night.
It was inspiring to watch Ishmael in action, he doesn't give a hoot. It's like he has a magic lamp and a genie grants him his every request. While we waited hours for our McYak burgers (joke) he gets his in 15 minutes. When everyone wanted to sit on the right side of the plane flying home to see Mount Everest, we ended up on the left with Ishmael on the right.
RalfFinally, there is Ralf. He's Dutch and speaks permanently through English. This might have something to do with the fact that English is the travelling language and he has been on the road for the last seven years. He is great company and dedicates his time to travelling overland to less visited countries. He toured through Afghanistan in 2006 for example. Currently he is on his way to Kazakhstan and every other 'stan' in that part of the world. To earn his travelling dollars he is a professional guinea pig for big pharma companies. While selective of the clinical trials he undertakes he sees them as being the quickest and easiest way to make money for his travels. I would consider him a work-aholic putting his travels before people, however, the guy is unbelievably passionate about travelling and I have to really respect his sense of vocation. He doesn't see himself getting off the road at all. He has finished the first draft of a book so hopefully he'll earn money more safely in the future. For anyone who is interested in travel blogs you can check his out here.
The people have been great so far ... I'm kind of steering clear of the hippy/shanti type traveller for the moment. I have no idea what they are about at all. However, there are so many of them wearing sinbad pants with dreadlocks that I'll no doubt learn more about this particular tribe of westerners in time.
Mind how you go
marco