Pwopah scary places

[Ted Max]

Let's have some Ross Kemp/Danny Dyer "World's Toughest Places" threat-level travel porn.

Where have you been that properly scared you? Not, "I felt a bit uncomfortable once in Barrio Gotica in Barcelona" but, "shit, I/we need to get out of here, fast" type situations/places.

I'm a bit of a pussy so don't have much to offer myself, but hoping for a bit of a vicarious thrill, yeah.

PS Military and football stories over there, please ============>

[El Pibe]

Nohthing to report really.

I went to Sarajevo before the tourists turned up, but just found a very friendly, hedonistic place, rough around the edges and full of holes.

Getting from A to B in Guatemala was certainly unnerving given the ludicrous levels of banditry at the point of an AK, but again it was utterly incident free.

I think the most scared I've ever been was walking up the volcano in Gran Canaria in 50 degree heat without nearly enough water, only to find that what we thought were towns turned out to be abandoned half built resorts/hotels.

I was very grateful to get to civilisation.

Clearly I need to get out a bit more.

Does New Cross count?

[Huguenot]

Does it have to be a human threat?

I was so scared I almost vomited in a tourist bus two wheeling it up the whipping hairpins of a Himalayan cliff side with 2 unlimited thrashing on the jury-rigged stereo... whilst the wrecks of previous holiday heroes lay 3 inches to our right and 3,000 feet below.

[david_carnell]

Does getting lost in bear-infested woods in Transylvania whilst sh*t-faced on cheap vodka count?

No, on reflection, probably not.

[*Bob*]

I was on an empty local bus with my then GF in St Lucia, going through a particularly isolated stretch. At the top of a hill, the road was blocked by a couple of men wielding machetes. The bus drew to a halt. I steeled myself for a grisly end as the bade the driver wind his window down.

One of the men then lopped the top off a coconut, popped a straw in it - and passed it through the window.

The bus driver then detoured a few miles off his route to drop us right outside our destination.

[KidKruger]

I got caught in the hills of Eastern Burma in a territory then under control of the Mon National Liberation Army.

Unfortunately it was the Burmese Army who found me, camped up on a hill clearing with dirt bike, camouflage tent, camouflage backpack, camouflage sleeping bag, camouflage trousers, binoculars and big lens camera.

They couldn't speak much English but they could say 'you, spy'.

Straight to the army camp where they swiftly converted a road entry sentry hut into my gaol. 3 days and a couple of beatings later they let me go, sans camera gear. Very wild west..

Fantastic food though from the camp chefs though !

[womanofdulwich]

Wow KK you are a right one aren't you??

Are you coming out to us as a spy/ ex- spy?

[woodrot]

I have been jailed & deported from Belarus. At no point were my pitiful wails and pleas for the British consul heeded

['bout now]

Detroit, with a local "dude" and ex junkie showed us the less than touristy side of the Motor Town. One way street, stuff going down, guns and reverse, quick......

The Bishop 1.30 Sunday morning, any Sunday morning.

[????]

=================================================================> :)

[steveo]

david_carnell Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Does getting lost in bear-infested woods in

> Transylvania whilst sh*t-faced on cheap vodka

> count?

>

> No, on reflection, probably not.

Being drunk with bears is way better than just being with bears

And Kruger, top story. Why the hell... etc?

[Marmora Man]

Two occasions:

1. Long long time ago as a young midshipman I went ashore in a small port in Indonesia. With friends we ate from a street cafe and expected to pay a few Singapore dollars each for our meal. Instead we were asked to empty our collective wallets by the cleaver wielding chef and a few of his mates. We started running and were lucky to rum immediately into a large group of drunk, hairy arsed old fashioned sailors who decided to look after their "young gentlemen" [the official description of midshipmen]. Result - we watched from the sidelines a fairly bloody battle and later defended the sailors from any charge of returning onboard drunk.

2. On a visit to Gaddafi Libya in about 2006. I arrived at Tripoli airport expecting to be met by the company's agent. A polite Libyan found me on airside and insisted he was my host - not speaking much of the language I followed and got into his car. We drove at very high speed, past the hotel I expected to be staying at and out I to the countryside - no answers to my questions, no news of where I was going, nothing! About an hour later I arrived at a compound in the countryside where it turned out I had been "kidnapped" by a rival agent and that my fears of having been really kidnapped were allayed. Nevertheless, for the 60 minute duration of the drive I was wondering what my future held.

[Annette Curtain]

I went to Bognor Regis once & then caught a train back to Littlehampton.

As I came out of the phone-box a very drunk man jumped off the top of it, landing on me and breaking my ribs.

However, I must admit I knew the man quite well, so it wasn't a total shock.

Luckily, a very kind cab driver had witnessed me sh*tfaced trying to call my mother, and after screwing the mouthpiece back into the handset, he managed to convey my location.

My Mother duly arrived somewhere in the vicinity, and I made my getaway by diving into the open back of her mini clubman estate.

Does this count ?

[StraferJack]

2 women of my acquaintance described an evening dancing in The Hamlets (might have turned into the Vale by then actually) and were invited back to the International Cocktail Lounge on LL (now Hisar)

back room

2 am

they were the only women there...

[the-e-dealer]

I went up the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The next year they put guard rails in.

I went up a tower in India - Closed next year as Dangerous.

I went up the World Trade Center and well two weeks later!

I dont go up towers anymore!

[????]

StraferJack Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> 2 women of my acquaintance described an evening

> dancing in The Hamlets (might have turned into the

> Vale by then actually) and were invited back to

> the International Cocktail Lounge on LL (now

> Hisar)

>

> back room

> 2 am

> they were the only women there...

Come on, spill the beans, I have my suspects

[StraferJack]

the missus and a friend of hers

[Annette Curtain]

Didn't fancy St George's tower one foggy day last week TED ?

[the-e-dealer]

Well my Train DOES go NEAR it!

[Otta]

StraferJack Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> 2 women of my acquaintance described an evening

> dancing in The Hamlets (might have turned into the

> Vale by then actually) and were invited back to

> the International Cocktail Lounge on LL (now

> Hisar)

>

> back room

> 2 am

> they were the only women there...

Think it became The Vale in 2003, but The New Hamlet Inn probably fits the bill for this story better. Very odd place on a weekend night!

[Otta]

In 2010 we went with our then 9 month old daughter to Venezuella for a friend's wedding. Not what I'd call an enjoyable trip for the most part (although it had some great moments).

My wife had already read about the kidnappings in Caracas (which there are lots of), and was totally paranoid before we even got on a plane.

We were staying in La Victoria, where my friend's wife's family live. They welcomed us like long lost relatives, and that side of things was great. They also provided an apartment for my wife & I, and another couple we know very well. As they dropped us there and left, the bride's cousin (who's English was limited) said "Daytime, you go out, fine. Dark, you go out, you get shot". Then he left, and we say looking at each other wondering what we'd gotten ourselves in to.

All the shops served you through iron bars, and it didn't help that my Spanish is pretty limited. There was very little nightlife that I saw, except for one bar which I genuinely would not have felt comfortable going in, it was full of very hard looking men who eyed you with suspition. Theyt also assumed we were white Americans, so that didn't go down too well!

After the wedding we all went to the coast and stayed at this very nice hotel, but every compound was surrounded by high walls and barbed wire, and gaurded by armed men.

Nothing happened to us whilst we were there, but I was mighty releived to get on the plane home, and even that came after a horrid airport experience, as their customs officers are more like military (they may actually be military, I'm not sure, I'm just glad I wasn't trying to get anything naughty on the plane!).

Having said all that, we met some truley lovely people who took us in to their home and treated us like family, so I do have some great memories from the trip, but there was always an undercurrent.

[RosieH]

Trapped in a packed lift between the 6th and 7th floors of the Habana Libre hotel. The phone and alarm had been ripped off the wall, and floors 3-10 of the hotel were unoccupied, so there was no one to hear us banging and shouting.

Quickly became hot as hell, with a particularly panic-stricken bloke trying every switch in the control panel, resulting in the lights going out. Condensation pouring down the walls. People trying to prise the doors apart with their fingers.

Genuinely thought I was going to die, soaked in the sweat of 10 strangers, and just didn't want to be the first to faint (the humiliation seemed somehow worse than the inevitable death).

After 25 minutes, a propos of nothing, the lift just started working again. Got out at the next floor, sat in the stairwell on my own and allowed myself a little cry. Then I went to the bar and got shitfaced on rum.

[the-e-dealer]

Is that in Peckham?

[RosieH]

the clue's in the title

[the-e-dealer]

ok found it ! Habana Libre - Noble Square - Chicago, IL