World TravellerGuide to travelling the world

Asia has some really unique and iconic transportation, much of it born from the need for a cheap and easily available way to get around. If you backpack around Asia, you’re likely to come across at least some of the following modes of transport, and if you’re really lucky you’ll get the chance to take a ride on some of them.

Tuk Tuk
Also called a Trishaw, Auto, Rickshaw, Autorick, Bajaj, Rick, Tricycle and Motoa, the whine of this wonderfully novel transport device is something that as a backpacker you’ll hear all round the towns. It can be especially annoying when you’re trying to sleep of course, but it does offer a nice nippy ride if you want to see the streets of Bangkok, as long as you avoid stepping out in front of one!

Bamboo Train
The bamboo train is found in Cambodia, and springs from the fact that lots of tank wheels were left over there after the war, and the need to be ingenious about transport. It hauls people and goods between Battambang and Phenom Penh. It’s easily dismantled and erected which is rather a good thing as there’s only one track so if you meet another coming the other way, you’ll see the heaving of the bamboo platform off the wheels and the wheels off the track to let the other one pass.

Longtail Boat
Synonmous with the waters and beaches of Thailand, the longtail boat has been the subject of many pictures. Idyllic looking and bright with brightly coloured swags hanging around the front for good luck and a safe passage. The captains bless them daily with offerings. In motion these boats chug and huff and puff along with their large outboard motors salvaged from old cars making them as noisy as any Tuk Tuk.

Elephant
The elephant isn’t really used as a regular method of transport much these days, more just for tourist treks in places like Thailand and India. However, in a few rural areas of Asia they are still used as a working animal although it’s a dying way of life with more machinery coming in. In the Chiang and Mai areas of Thailand there are lots of elephant treks into the jungle and even an Elephant sanctuary. If you do go on an elephant trek make sure the elephants are well looked after before you use that service.

Junk
Found in the waters from Vietnam to Hong Kong, these vessels have been around for centuries, and are a great way to see things such as the Karst formations at HaLong Bay. They do evoke a sense of the far east and stepping back in time rather.

Useful Sites
http://www.netflights.com/cheap-flights-to-bangkok-from-london-heathrow.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok

Ever seen those shows on TV like ‘Customs’ or ‘Border Security: Australia’s Front Line’? – If you have then you’ll know they make some pretty strange discoveries on people when they go through customs…

Two of the biggest threats to security are animals and drugs and smugglers constantly seem to be coming up with new ways to try and get things through undetected. These are a few of the creative smugglers who got caught!

Pythons in your socks
In Norway, a man was caught trying to get through customs with 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos taped all over his body.
The customs officer noticed that there were wriggling movements under the mans shirt, and when he was searched they found he had geckos in boxes tied around his feet, and pythons rolled up in socks that he’d taped to his chest.

Birds in your trousers
Strangely there have been a few discoveries of people trying to hide birds in their trousers.

An Australian chap was caught bringing pigeons through. He had two wrapped in newspaper and tied to his lower legs.

Another fella (this time from LA) was caught because officers noticed feathers on his clothing, and could see birds tails sticking out under his trouser legs. This wasn’t his first time either, they knew that he’d tried it before and had left a suitcase with 14 birds in it in the airport on a previous occasion. This time when he was searched, he was found with 14 song birds wrapped in cloths around his legs.

Fish under your skirt
Sometimes things are discovered during routine searches. Flapping noises were heard coming from a woman’s waist, and when she was searched, she was found to have a purpose built apron under her skirt with pockets containing 51 live endangered tropical fish.

Monkey beneath your blouse
Monkeys have been smuggled under various items of clothing all over the world. One chap in Mexico was caught smuggling 18 small Titi monkeys in a belt under his shirt (sadly 2 died in transit).

On another occasion, a woman trying to smuggle a monkey out of Thailand into the US did so by hiding it under her blouse and pretending she was pregnant.Reptiles in your undies!

Some people seem to take things just a step further than others…
A German man was caught leaving New Zealand with 23 geckos and 20 skinks hidden in his underpants. Meanwhile, a Swedish woman was caught because she kept adjusting herself and scratching, and when searched was found to have 75 live snakes in her bra!
Crocodiles taped to your tummy
Possibly the weirdest story has to be of a Palestinian woman who tried to enter Gaza city with three 20 inch crocodiles strapped to her tummy. Border guards found her size and fat shape strange, and when she was searched, the guard was so shocked at what he found he screamed and ran away!