As exciting and exhilarating as travelling is in itself, almost as fascinating are the stories that are told and remembered after coming home. Being thrown out of your comfort zone while venturing into new destinations is an excellent way to widen your outlook on life, and learn. Let me share one story from my foreign travels.
Among family and friends, I am notorious for being absolutely terrified stiff by any creepy crawlies, with frogs, reptiles and snakes topping my list of the most frightening and yucky creatures on earth. When I first had the chance to visit Asia, some 9 years ago, I must admit I was a little worried about what wildlife I might encounter there. But, of course, the excitement of going somewhere far away, and experiencing brand new things far outweighed any anxiety on my mind.
My destination was Indonesia, where I was to attend an Asia-Europe teachers’ conference. I arrived late at night, jet-lagged and exhausted after the long flight. It was pitch-dark, and I could hardly see anything but huge lit billboards along the roads from Jakarta airport to the conference venue in Bogor. But when I entered the beautiful conference hotel, all the colour around and the unfamiliar jungle sounds from the garden outside woke me up, and I realized that I really was somewhere quite exotic.
But getting into my room, lo and behold, the first thing I see is a little gecko on the ceiling. Just my luck! There was no possible way that I could fall asleep knowing it was there. What if it suddenly fell down on my face when I was fast asleep! Horror of horrors! The gecko must have known what I was thinking as it started making funny sounds. It sounded as if it was making fun of me and my childish fears with its mocking sniggering sounds.
Just look how tiny it was!
I had no other choice than to go back to the reception, and ask somebody to come and take my room pet out into the garden. My apologetic explanations met with many bemused looks from the hotel personnel but they promised that somebody would soon come to help me. Back in my room, I heard a knock on the door. A short guy with funny protruding ears and a wide smile stood there. I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. And instead of a net to catch the gecko, which I had expected, he was holding a rolled-up newspaper in his hand. He came in, moved a chair underneath the gecko, and before I could do or say anyting, WHAM! The dead body of the poor creature fell on the floor, right behind my bed. Oh no, what had I done? I never asked them to kill it, just to catch it and take it out of the room. How could I ever sleep now, with the death of an innocent wild animal on my conscience? I was convinced that its tormented soul would come back to haunt me at night. What’s more, I thought I could never tell the story to my daughter, who always cried her eyes out at the death of the tiniest insect, let alone anything bigger!
Well, I did manage to sleep, and enjoy wonderful Indonesia, despite this sad story. And since then, I have even learned to tolerate, if not actually like, geckos. During our holiday on Reunion island this Christmas, we usually had at least three of them on our bedroom ceiling every night. The good thing about them is that they keep mozzies and other bugs away!
I look forward to reading your travel stories!
