Hey Mustache! And other Funny Stories

Sometimes the little things are the funniest

Stories are the best way to explain things ...

    There have been some big stories resulting from our trip, and events sometimes take on a life of their own.  But also, there are the little moments that make things special or at least funny.  

    As an example, I was in a elevator in Cape Town and a couple of Asian guys get in.  They smile and look friendly.  

    So I say to them:  "Hello, how are you?"  

    And the one guys answers back ... "Chinese"

    Okay, so I follow up with another comment "So are you here on vacation/holiday, or are you here for work?"

    And he answers ... "I don't know"

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

    Another time, we were at the Pyramids in Egypt, and everybody is trying to hustle you to make a buck, they want you to buy their stuff, and they can be very aggressive.  The best option is to try to ignore them, if you engage them in conversation, you can't escape.

    So we just keep looking straight ahead when they ask us to buy stuff or whatever.  It feels rude to do that, but you cannot get drawn into their schemes.  They are accomplished con artists and they won't let up until you buy something.  And there were no other tourists around, so we are serious targets for everyone. 

    So this guy comes riding by on a camel and he wants us to pay for a ride on his camel.  Not gonna do it.  We ignore him.

    He finally shouts out "Hey Mustache!"

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

    Since I have a rather obvious and prominent mustache, it seems to be a target of hecklers or admirers, take your choice.  We had just been laughing about how the locals seem to notice the mustache.  

    Here in Turkey, a mustache is a proud masculine badge of manhood.

   So we are walking down the street and they are really after you to come into their restaurant or buy their goods, and low and behold, another guy shouts - "Mister Mustache!  Come and see my rugs!"

Do you know where Oregon is?   

    Here's another anecdote - Everyone wants to know where you're from.  They always ask us:  "Where you from?  Are you German, Australian, English, Canadian, American, French?  you name it.  In fact, today some guy walked up and said "Hey Scottish!"

   So at our Hotel, the guy working the front desk here in Istanbul says, "where are you from?"

    I answer "I'm American" (it's easier to say than I'm from the United States)

    And he says - "what part?" 

    Here's a tip for any potential travelers:  Nobody knows where Oregon is.  They might know New York, or California, or maybe Texas, but nobody knows about Oregon. 

    So I tell this guy:  "We come from a state called Oregon ... (and I always ask them) Do you know where it is?"  And nine times out of ten they have no idea. 

   And he answers "Oregon, cool, I know where that is"

   And I'm thinking bull hockey "You know where Oregon is?

   And he says, "Yeah Oregon, like the Oregon trail, like a bunch of Indians and sh*t"  HA HA HA!

Be careful When you pay people 

   So we were in Senegal and trying to find a restaurant in a town we were not familiar with.  We drove around and got lost.  We knew the name but had no address.  

    By the way:  People in foreign countries are not big on addresses.  They don't use maps.  They just say, turn left at the cow and turn right at the tree and then turn right again at the brown goat. (I'm serious, you get these kind of directions)

   So we finally give up.  We offer to pay some young dudes on a motocycle taxi (they have motorcycle taxis everywhere) to lead us to the place, and they say "talk to Abdul" and he finally shows up and says "of course I know where this restaurant is", and I pay him like a dollar to direct us and we will follow him. 

    Fiona and BouBou say, "you shouldn't have paid him in advance" but I'm thinking in a rather naive way, he said he would take us there.  How hard can his be?  So we drive around in circles and this looks bad and we finally come to a bogus cafe and he points and says this is it.

   Only this is not it.  What, are you making this up?  Do you really know where you are going?  And BouBou starts giving this guy a hard time, like "You moron!  This is not the right place!  You are just guessing!  Take us to the correct place!  Right now!"

    And the guy is totally intimidated, and says, "yes I know the way, follow me" ... and takes off at a high rate of speed.  We try to follow him, but he is moving fast, and we cannot keep up with his morotcycle, and ... he gives us the slip ... he vanishes!

    And Fiona and BouBou say, "we should have never paid him in advance!  This is a rip off!"  And I'm thinking, I was the fool who paid him ... Oops!

    So we had to struggle and drive around to find the place, and once we did ... the meal was actually pretty good!

One final story - Mayhem on the airplane

    So we are on the way from Dakar Senegal to Istanbul.  It's a long overnight flight we finally land the plane.  They have to taxi a long way to the gate.  It takes a while. 

    Passengers on the plane begin to stand up and take their bags out of the overhead bin, and we are still moving!  We have to taxi a long way, and everyone is standing up and moving around and it is crazy!

   The flight attendant tells them to sit down and remain in their seats, but they are not hearing this, it is bumpy and chaotic.  

   There are bags and people jostling around everywhere.  We hear the captian come on the intercom "Flight attendants please prepare for landing and cross check"

    And Fiona says, "I don't what cross checking is, but it ain't gonna happen with this bunch!"  It was hilarious!  When they finally stopped the plane at the gate, half the people almost fell down.  I was amazed nobody got hurt!