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.

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!

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.