border crossing

Good, Bad, Ugly: Border Crossings

August 30, 2011 By Jillian

Border crossings are like legends. Travelers circulate tips, advice and helpful hints amongst each other in the hopes that they will spare another from the experience they had. For us, border crossing days were stressful — we felt our most vulnerable with passports in hand, cash in pockets and at our most vigilant against scams, cons and thieves, who always appear at their most intimidating at border crossings. So here’s our round up, after 50 countries, the good, bad and ugly of our border crossings.

Good: Kazakhstan – Uzbekistan

I had trepidation about Central Asian border crossings after going through the lengthy and painful visa process. Needless to say, Kazakhstan- Uzbekistan was our first train border crossing and it was clear we had nothing to worry about when the conductor took us under his wing. Although the form was in Russian and Kazakh and his wife spoke very, very little English, we somehow filled in the customs and immigration forms. When the immigration police arrived to our berth, the conductor smoothed over the process, his wife responding to questions for us and shooing the immigration people away as quickly as possible. I think we made great cover for their contraband tea. (Read the post!)

Bad: Argentina- Chile

It took us six hours to cross from Argentina to Chile. I’m not joking, we literally left Mendoza, arrived quickly at the border and waited. And waited, and waited. We watched two movies on the bus, we got off, walked around, read, entertained ourselves, went for food, came back, read some more, it was a never ending wait to cross the border. The scenery was lovely, but had I known we’d spend the whole day waiting in line I would have gone for a hike! We weren’t able to contact our couchsurfing friends who were waiting to pick us up in Santiago, so when we got off the bus at nearly 11pm, we were anxious about finding them and/or finding a place to sleep. By the time we got a SIM card, loaded it and made the call it was nearly midnight. Unable to reach them our anxiety level increased until from across the bus station they called out to us! Serendipity!

Ugly: Kazakhstan- China

As you can tell it was a rough couple of weeks in Central Asia. We spent only two nights in Almaty when we realized we had to get out of Kazakhstan. The regulations were unclear as to whether we had to register. By our understanding we were already registered, having flow in and gotten our visas in the U.S. Everyone else told us we were wrong, and after pushing and shoving at immigration in Almaty, we determined they were right. With not enough time to process our registration before we would face a penalty, we booked a ticket to China and basically fled. Arriving at the Kazakhstan border, we held our breath and quickly passed through customs. China was another story. Relieved and excited, we arrived at the Chinese border post amazing at the organization and the English signage. After charades and lengthy discussions with the immigration agent, we were searched and our laptop and my passport were taken from me. Immediately I made a big to-do, mostly because I didn’t like my passport out of my sight. I refused to go through the last security checkpoint without my passport or computer and eventually after complaining to everyone I saw, my passport and laptop were returned. The whole situation was uncomfortable. It was the first and only time my passport left my possession, albeit unwillingly, and I was incredibly fearful.

This column of ishouldlogoff.com aims to answer those questions that we always get asked. What was your favorite this, or your worst that. Every week we aim to highlight a new topic and will do so until we run out of ideas. If you have an idea for a Good-Bad-Ugly post, feel free to tell us in the comment section below or send us an email. To read all of them, click here.

Photo: Kickin’ Back at the Border

May 5, 2011 By Jillian

Every time I see this picture I’m reminded of the Old Spice Ads. You know, the ones that start with a line like “Ladies, take a look at your man, now at me…” This border guard is definitely not that actor, but for some reason his posture and intensely serious yet playful expression remind me of the commercial.

We met this guard at the border crossing between Lesotho and South Africa. Unlike other border guards his interest in us wasn’t for a bribe or to get to know us, he simply wanted his picture taken. He chatted it up with Danny as the rest of us got our passports stamped, and eventually asked Danny to take his picture. You can’t say no to a border guard, but we didn’t expect him to get into such a position. Posing like an MTV star, the border guard leaned back in his chair. Provocative and yet lazy at the same time.

This guard’s job was to raise and lower the boom allowing cars to pass between the countries, but I suspect if given the chance he’d love to stare in to a camera and say something to the ladies. He made us promise to bring him the picture if we ever crossed that border again.

This photo was taken at the Van Rooyen’s border crossing between South Africa and Lesotho.

To see more of our favorite photos from around the world check out our travel photo page. Let us know your favorites and we’ll include them in our photo of the day series.

South Africa doesn’t have the cheap holiday deals it once had as the rand has increased significantly in value over the last few years. That doesn’t mean you can’t do it on a budget or catch a good deal. Check out our South Africa Country Guide and our DIY Safari Guide. If you’re heading to Africa, our African visa guide may also be helpful!

Not exactly grandtheft auto

November 29, 2010 By Danny

“That’ll be $2,” we were told by the border agent. We asked for what and were told that it was the ‘holiday’ fee because it was a Sunday. Never mind that neither Cambodia nor Laos are Christian countries or that any such fee officially exists, this is the way this border is run and there is no choice given but to participate. Requests for receipts go unanswered as the border agent, wearing his undershirt, can’t even look you in the eye. The bus who arrived the next day, late because of mechanical difficulties, was charged $7 per person.

We arrived to Laos around dusk and were let off of our bus in the dark. Somehow we made our way to the island ‘paradise’ we were set to explore for the next few days. We found Don Det to be so wonderful that we couldn’t stand to wait to leave…so the next day around noon that’s what we did, and that’s when we started to have even more problems.

Once on the mainland I realized we’d left the cell phone behind and called for it to be sent over on the next boat. We’d left it behind at the agency who sold us our bus ticket and the agent still had it, identified it, and said I’d need to pay the boatman…to which I agreed. A few minutes later he called the person with us back and said it was ‘stolen’ in the 2 minutes he was on the phone with me.

Right. Not only was that @$$ probably talking to me while using our phone, but his accomplice, the man standing with me whose phone I was using, repeatedly asked me how much it was worth.

Next up. The bus was late. It should have arrived before 4pm. It didn’t arrive until nearly 9pm, about 5 hours late. Over that time, my friend the cell phone thief has had many beers. It is now very dark and we’ve been waiting on the side of the road for the bus for hours. Around 7pm he decides he is hungry and wants to put us all in his car and we’ll wait for the bus at the restaurant 3km up the road. He is drunk so we say no. He keeps trying. It is dark. I sneak around the side of the car and feel around for….yup….the keys are sitting right in the ignition. So I steal them. We’re not going anywhere.

Is that grand theft auto? Beats me!

I stay out of the ensuing argument, as I have the man’s car keys in my pocket. Somehow though, he realizes we’re not going anywhere and give up. Then decides to light a fire using rice stalks (fresh ones, ya’know, still green and filled with…water) and shake burning sticks at us as they go out. He is upset when we are unimpressed, you wouldn’t have been either. He was still drunk but as Winston Churchill might remark, in the morning he was still going to be stupid.

I ended up hiding the car keys right in front of the driver’s side tire. It was dark and they wouldn’t be seen until they were looked for. It was good I did this because as we were boarding our bus when it did finally come he came in our direction and started yelling and screaming about his car keys. I just told him he was drunk and he should go away. His friend quickly stopped him, we assume because he found the keys on the ground where I’d left them. He may have helped to steal our cell phone, but we got a good laugh at his expense.

IF YOU GO: On the Islands you will find nothing to do but sit in a hammock in a mosquito filled area. There are some waterfalls to look at (nice) and the river dolphins to see if you didn’t do so in Cambodia, but all this will only take you a day tops. When you decide its time to leave your mosquito and roach infested bungalow (cheap, but that is literally the only option) just take the VIP bus in the AM north, don’t take the afternoon bus that is coming from Cambodia.

The scenic route to Cambodia

November 17, 2010 By Jillian

From Southern Vietnam there are two ways to get to Phnom Penh – the easy way and the scenic way. Gluttons for punishment or a sense of adventure, depending on how you see it, we decided to go the scenic way. Three days by boat through the Mekong Delta.

For me the Mekong is one of those mythical big rivers. Like the Nile or the Amazon, the Mekong is the lifeblood of Southeast Asia. Running from its head waters in Tibet 2,703 miles to the South China Sea, the Mekong Delta is the center of Southern Vietnam’s economy. From lively and extensive floating markets, to small villages and Buddhist temples hidden in caves, the area is rich in activity.

Our Mekong Delta tour was pretty much as expected, a tour that shuttled us through tons of places in very little time stopping at everyone’s souvenir shop along the way. Typical on these kinds of tours, we sampled tropical fruits while listening to traditional music (CD: $10), coconut candies (one package: $1), and a rice noodle factory (1 kilo of noodle: $2). And then there was the Burmese Python, which thankfully was free to touch. As you can tell by the pictures, I was slightly freaked out by the whole thing. Slightly is an understatement.

Although the area is undergoing dramatic economic development, most of the population still lives by the river’s waters. That’s the real draw to the area, and although we spent most of our time on uncomfortable wooden boats, it was interesting to see life along the river.

Besides being the local “highway”, the river also supports several floating markets, floating residences and a huge variety of floating businesses from fish farming to restaurants and even the border post. That’s right, Vietnamese Immigration is a floating building on the Mekong. We’ve crossed numerous border, a few have been over water, but I’m pretty sure this was our first floating border post. Thankfully the Cambodian officials chose to build their post on land and at least for a little while we were able to get off the boat.

In a van for the last 40km to Phnom Penh, our driver turned on his favorite music- 1998 pop music. Song after song from artists that should never be heard from again (Jamaraquai, Aqua…) we laughed in disbelief as song after song blared through the speakers. Finally we surrendered and by the time we arrived in Phnom Penh the entire van was singing along to such favorites as “Barbie Girl” and “Spice up your life.” Welcome to Cambodia.

If You Go: Two and three day tours are easy and affordable and easy to book in Ho Chi Minh City. You can get around the region independently but it is time consuming. Be prepared for an onslaught of souvenir shops. If you do cross the border into Cambodia, you will have no choice but to pay a $1 stamping fee(bribe)to the immigration officials. Visas for Cambodia can be arranged at the border,but if you do the tour in reverse,you’ll need your Vietnamese visa in advance.

Into the holy land

June 15, 2010 By Danny

Walking into Israel was, in a way, walking from Kansas into Oz. Gone was the bad internet, livestock sharing bus space with us, and people yelling at you everywhere you went because you are the western tourist. In place of these things was flat-screen TV’s, cans of Dr. Pepper, Falafel served WITH hummus rather than plain, and functioning highways. The first step to entering Oz however, is making your way through the twister…in our case that would be questioning about why we would go to a country like Sudan.

Mostly the questions were innocent enough but they did get annoying:

Agent: Why did you go to Sudan?

Me: It was in between Egypt and Ethiopia, it was just a transit visa to get across.

Agent: Why did you stay there 10 days?

Me: Well there is ferry that goes from Sudan to Egypt, that is the only border crossing, and it only goes once a week.

Agent: Oh, OK. Don’t you have a cell phone number?

Me: I had a SIM card in Egypt but it doesn’t work here, you can keep the SIM as a souvenir of having met me if you’d like

Agent: No, I just need the number so that I can have Mossad trace it and see if your a terrorist.

Me: I don’t know the number, we just use it to call taxi’s. You’re welcome to keep it though.

Agent: That will be a problem because you were in Sudan and now you don’t know the number to this random SIM card that you’ve handed over to me and don’t care about and have only had for two weeks.

Me: Any way we can speed this up for a fellow Jew?

Agent: How do I know you’re Jewish?

Me: I can drop my pants and you can see for yourself….

And so it went for three hours before the start of Shabbat, allowing us to catch the last bus north with space on it with only 30 minutes to spare. We arrived to Tel Aviv about one hour before sundown.

The most surprising thing to us about traveling in Israel was just how expensive it was. Our budget doesn’t quite show this expense because we stayed with friends the entire time, but a can or bottle of soda usually cost about $2. Shwarma cost about 3-5 times as much as it did in Egypt and falafel even more. There is no doubt in our minds that Israel is the most expensive country we have been to on this entire trip. It really felt like we were back in the US, save of course for the Hebrew all over the place.

So what did we do in Israel? We spent our time relaxing, going to the beach, avoiding most of the tourist scene, buying jeans (first pair to travel with us on this entire trip) and tons of dead sea beauty products. We relaxed, recharged and just had a nice time catching up with friends.

For those of you who might realize, correctly, that we were actually in Israel for this whole Gaza Flotilla thing, let me tell you what we saw while we were in Tel Aviv….nothing. Everyone was talking about it, many half expected to be in a new war within a week, but we witnessed no riots or protests of any kind during our stay in Tel Aviv. Opinions were diverse and those critical of the operation, like 90% of the rest of the world, were mostly critical of how the military botched a very simple job. The news differed only slightly from foreign accounts in its coverage, not forgetting to remind people of Egypt’s complacency in the matter…a subject many foreign news outlets seemed not to notice.