Risky forms of Transport?

My other suggestion would be British trains. It seems like one of those crashes every other week.
For a country with such a history of public transport things are a little out of whack.

I've had the pleasure of a couple of Indonesian ferries and can see how those things go down so much. We set from from Padand harbor one night in a large ferry heading for Siberut island. There was a fierce storm blowing and the boat was fully loaded with people and cargo. We get a mile or 2 offshore and the captain decides he's going to stop and see what happens to the weather. So we're out there bobbing around like a cork in a urinal. I went up to the bridge to see what was going on and to my surprise there were about 25 people in there, no electronic instruments ( or any kind of instruments ) at all! A bunch of people were having a heated debate as to where we should head for, pointing and gesturing. Then someone grabbed one of the square wooden window frames, pulled it out, stuck his head through and pointed out to sea. This gave me untold confidence.

During the overnight voyage it appeared that almost all the locals had vomited somewhere on board, not only that, they announced its arrival for a good hour by hacking and spitting.

The next moring it was sunny, calm and pleasant, but I do remember when the boat was rolling from side to side the night before and we were on the rear deck......the thought of every man for himself came across my mind.

Happy and safe travels

-Nic

Chose chicken buses just for the heck.

Saw people riding on top of buses in India and decided that I have to give it a go, as you do. Loved the experience, just have to keep an eye out for low hanging wires and branches, otherwise huge loads of fun.

Second class tickets on Indian trains also excellent, lots of entertainment +++++ (so good, but very confining, personal space an issue).

Indian Airlines, very exciting landings, never seen the tip of a wing of a plane come so close to the ground as we banked. Loved the tape holding everything in the right place.

Have become a firm believer in fate, or destiny!!!

Hi Jenz,

Your story brings to mind a felow I met in Hampi India. He was a young German named Helger and looked like Boris Becker with dreadlocks. He was my neighbour and we had shared a bjang lassi together. Anyway I spent a week in Hampi and took off for Arambol, a small village in northern Goa. After 3 weeks i bump into Helger in the street and noticed he had a red line running horizontally across his neck. I asked him what that was and he said that he had been on the top of a bus sleeping, when he suddenly sad up and almost had his head ripped off by a cable!!!

Its fun but it sure can be risky sometimes.

-nick

The worst for me so far was a dolmus (Gr. 'stuffed') in Turkey. Good thing I hadn't checked out the BUS PLUNGE website before the trip!

See http://users.lanminds.com/tcs55 . (Black humour alert, times ten).

- good travels, KC

Garuda Indonesia--it does not qualify as an "airline". Scarier than Indonesian ferries AND tuktuk roofs in Burma. Right up there with CAAC.

Flew it from Bali to Tokyo in 91. Bali-Jakarta no problem (all of one hour). Took off from Jakarta on a night flight. Fell asleep (amazingly). I dreamt I heard a voice saying we were going back to Jakarta. Woke up. It was no dream. We were five hours out, and they were turning back with some kind of mechanical trouble. I asked, why can't you just land the plane in Manila? The steward laughed, "MANILA?" and back we went to Jakarta.

Stuck in Jakarta airport from 6 am to noon. Started getting itchy. Scratched. Got REALLY itchy. Found little duos of red bumps all over my legs.

BEDBUGS IN THE BLANKETS!!!!

‡

I was coming back from Morocco once and I got an overnight train from Algecirias in Spain to Paris. It was a nice train, but out fellow travellers left alot to be desired!! To cut a long story short, our compartment was broken into, document bag stolen (very slick job), and I spent the night being woken up with various dodgy faces presseed to the compartment glass, and tapping. There was no train staff to be seen, so I decided to look in the toilets for the stolen bag, which I found with all doucuments minus money. Got quite a bit of hassle on the way thru the carraige. Eventually got to Paris where there were a number of people being taken away by armed police farther up the train. I subsequentely found our that this train is a favourite for running drugs from Morrocco into Europe. Ah sure it was all a bit of fun in retrospect.
brian@yazip.com

I agree with the matatus although I don't remember many that had only 20 people. They were such a source of fatalities that they had to pass a law limiting the number of people in them. They have police checkpoints to monitor the crowding. I suppose it's good that you are packed in so tight that you can't really see out to know just how bad things are.

steve

yes, they're just crazy - especially the ones in the middle for nowehere!

we made one trip towards the Masai Mara in a converted mini-minivan (no other way to describe it) with a rickety roof. inside were ourselves (4), other passengers (10), the driver (1 - though didn't always feel like it!), and his 3 mates on the roof. oh, and 7 chickens. plus three milkchurns. and our backpacks were on the roof.

part way there, three of us asked if we could ride on the roof for some fresh air (and a nutritious intake of dust, naturally). bloody good fun if anyone fancies giving it a go! basic lessons in Maa followed, plus several marriage proposals LOL.

meanwhile, down below in cattle class, our male companian had convinced the locals that we were his wives. compensation in the form of Tusker beer was extracted later that night :