bizaar encounters in the bazaar

[Mark Manley]

Many of us will have had a strange or unusual encounter with either locals or other travellers when out on the road. How about sharing your experience with the rest of us.
I will start by describing an unusual meeting I had with some local men while having a tea in the cafe the hides beneath the spans of the Si-o-se bridge in Isfahan, Iran. I was invited to join a group of six or so men who were drinking tea, having a smoke and a chat.
The first thing that I noticed was that two of my hosts were police officers, one of whom had a prisoner handcuffed to him. It was explained by the one man who spoke English that the prisoner had just been convicted of fraud and sentenced to six months in clink, he was being escorted from the court to prison and had stopped off for a tea and smoke before starting his sentence.
I was told that due to the bad economic situation in the country that many people had resorted to fraud to make ends meet, there seemed to be no stigma attached to this, or resentment between prisoner and escort.
After about 15 minutes it was time for them to finish their journey to prison and there were handshakes all round, the police officers left hand going up and down with the prisoners right as he said goodbye to his friends.
A memorable and highly unusual encounter.

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[Lolo]

A little village in Poland. It was so hot we stopped on the side of the road to eat melon. We ended up with a crowd around the bikes. No idea what they were saying but one bloke kept laying his hands on the bike and looking up to the sky. They were very friendly and waved us off. Quite wierd

[Alun]

I sat next to a guy on a flight to Naples who told me he was smuggling Marks and Spencers sausages into Italy. And it was true, he was, two suitcases full of them. He gave me a lift from the airport to the Amalfi Coast, offered me a room for the night and cooked me sausages for breakfast. A very pleasant start to a climbing trip.

This thread has also reminded me to resurrect the 'Dusty' story I've yet to complete on another thread.

[davsato]

not an 'on the road' story, but the most bizarre travelling tale ive got was on a flight home from tenerife. i sat next to a young guy who was obviously jewish, i mean the really jewish type (hassidic is it?) with bad eyesight, big hat, little white waistcoat with tassles on under an immaculate suit, big bushy beard etc. straight out of fiddler on the roof. i knew he spoke perfect english because i was behind him at the boarding gate, but all through the flight he wouldnt say a word to me or the stewardesses or anyone. of course he couldnt eat the non kosha meal but hadnt informed the airline about it so when it came along he gave the lot to me and got some crackers out his bag to nibble on with some water. he was as nice as pie, polite, not standoffish, i understand not eating the meal (dont blame him there!) but ive no idea what the not talking was about.
(would have been funny if he sat next to a sausage smuggler with a case full of pork?)

[herman]

Sat on a beach in Goa we were fascinated by the dexterity of the woman selling fruit from a platter balanced on her head. With one deft movement the fruit was chopped,bagged and served in seconds to her grateful public. We then got to thinking how on earth does she clean that shiney tray so well? so we watched. She simply walked to the nearest herd of sacred cows,presented the tray,tray was licked clean,fruit restacked and off to the next customer. Went right off melon after that.

[MidnightSerenity]

herman wrote:

Sat on a beach in Goa we were fascinated by the dexterity of the woman selling fruit from a platter balanced on her head. With one deft movement the fruit was chopped,bagged and served in seconds to her grateful public. We then got to thinking how on earth does she clean that shiney tray so well? so we watched. She simply walked to the nearest herd of sacred cows,presented the tray,tray was licked clean,fruit restacked and off to the next customer. Went right off melon after that.

Well it must save on washing up liqiud I suppose!! :silly: Very eco-friendly!!