How Many Countries Has Pie & Bovril Been To?

[DiegoDiego]

Djibouti also has military bases from five countries. It's a pretty expensive place to visit.

[welshbairn]

2 hours ago, bluearmyfaction said:

This was in 2013 so just in time, really.  Was able to visit St Catherine's Monastery in Sinai with buses guarded by armed police.  Not sure that's possible now, even without Covid. 

I went there when it was under Israeli occupation. Had tea with the Archbishop and the Israeli commander while my mate was trying to flog his car that had broken down getting there, unsurprisingly. It was a flourishing trade, think the Bish and the army guy had a deal where the latter would get his boys to fix the cars and/or transport them out and they'd split the profits.

Edited September 1, 2020 by welshbairn

[bluearmyfaction]

Uruguay.

[Hedgecutter]

I've been to Bolivia.  

They recommend building your way up to La Paz gradually due to the altitude, so naturally I flew in from Schipol (via Lima).   My first experience of the place was waiting in the immigration line at La Paz airport and one of the two Aussie girl travellers standing right in front of me said to her friend "I feel dizzy" and simply collapsed to the floor.  Her friend started screaming the place down for about 5 secs before she herself suddenly collapsed in a heap, smashing her head off the wall and requiring further medical attention. 

I was fine until I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night panting for breath.  F***ing scary tbh, and the fact that every street in La Paz seems to involve walking up a steep slope really didn't help matters.  Place I stayed:

Absolutely superb country though.  Would thoroughly, thoroughly recommend.

 

Edited September 8, 2020 by Hedgecutter

[paul-r-cfc]

I've been to Bolivia.  
They recommend building your way up to La Paz gradually due to the altitude, so naturally I flew in from Schipol (via Lima).   My first experience of the place was waiting in the immigration line at La Paz airport and one of the two Aussie girl travellers standing right in front of me said to her friend "I feel dizzy" and simply collapsed to the floor.  Her friend started screaming the place down for about 5 secs before she herself suddenly collapsed in a heap, smashing her head off the wall and requiring further medical attention.  I was fine until I suddenly woke up in the middle of the night panting for breath.  F***ing scary tbh, and the fact that every street in La Paz seems to involve walking up a steep slope really didn't help matters.
Absolutely superb country though.  Would thoroughly, thoroughly recommend.
 

The holiday I had booked for the summer went through Peru then straight into La Paz. Dunno how aclimitised we would have been by that point.

[Hedgecutter]

56 minutes ago, paul-r-cfc said:

The holiday I had booked for the summer went through Peru then straight into La Paz. Dunno how aclimitised we would have been by that point.

Would have been fine.  I only felt a bit dodgy for a night because I'd come in straight from sea level to spend a night in a hotel at >3600m.    After that I was perfectly fine and stayed in Potosi* for a night or two which is even higher (>4000m).  I got an overnight bus from the Altiplano down to Chile and when I arrived in Antofagasta it was like breathing liquid air, which was a really weird experience.

*I liked meeting the underground devil worshippers who make paper mache models of the devil and throw coca leaf and bottles of pure alcohol on his lap most days to keep him happy along with his fags.  Still makes me chuckle:

Edited September 8, 2020 by Hedgecutter

[paul-r-cfc]

Was gonna extend the Bolivia stay to go and see the Salt Plains but STA dying on their arse has put thag holiday very much on the back burner.

[Adamski]

Updated to cross off the countries people have mentioned over the past couple of weeks. There’s quite a few still on the list where I know people who have visited, but no claims yet on P&B. I think Kosovo is the only remaining European outpost. 

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Iran, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mozambique, Nauru, Niger, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Venezuela

Edited September 9, 2020 by Adamski

[DiegoDiego]

Updated to cross off the countries people have mentioned over the past couple of weeks. There’s quite a few still on the list where I know people who have visited, but no claims yet on P&B. I think Kosovo is the only remaining European outpost.

I've been to Kosovo a few times. I'll also claim Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon and Uzbekistan.

[Highland Capital]

31 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

 

I've been to Kosovo a few times. I'll also claim Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon and Uzbekistan.

What was Kyrgyzstan like?  Watched a few things about it and it looked quite interesting.

Also, I'm surprised no-one has been to Iran, Fiji or Afghanistan yet.

[Hedgecutter]

On 08/09/2020 at 15:49, paul-r-cfc said:

Was gonna extend the Bolivia stay to go and see the Salt Plains but STA dying on their arse has put thag holiday very much on the back burner.

To the best of my knowledge, STA didn’t run trips themselves but instead simply booked you on things organised by GAP adventures/ Intrepid Travel and the likes.  

Edited September 9, 2020 by Hedgecutter

[DiegoDiego]

What was Kyrgyzstan like?  Watched a few things about it and it looked quite interesting.
Also, I'm surprised no-one has been to Iran, Fiji or Afghanistan yet.

I've literally thrown a stone into Afghanistan from the Tajik side of the river. I was actually planning to go to Mazar-i-Sharif but it's very difficult to get a visa for anywhere other than Wakhan.

I've seen Iran from both Turkmenistan and Armenia and it's long been top of my list to go, but politics means that independent travel for Brits hasn't really been possible.

Kyrgyzstan is pretty great, it's a very easy introduction to the region and you don't need to be a hardened traveller to have a good time.

The Central Asian republics are a lot more different from each other than most people probably think. Kyrgyzstan is still heavily influenced by nomadic culture, you see a lot of horses. Bishkek is a pretty standard Russian city and the second city, Osh is actually Uzbek. The small towns are what I loved, like Arslanbob and Toktogul but most people go for the scenery which, to be fair, is quite incredible, especially when you start hitting 4000m towards Tajikistan.

[paul-r-cfc]

To the best of my knowledge, STA didn’t run trips themselves but instead simply booked you on things organised by GAP adventures/ Intrepid Travel and the likes.  

Yeah, the tour was with G adventures. Been in their tours twice before through STA.

 

My flights and stuff were done through STA however and tbh, I'd be happy to take the money at this stage and then I can rebook the tour later on if it things have calmed down.

 

[Kmeister]

I've been to St Vincent and the Grenadines, so that can be crossed off the list.

[Northboy]

On ‎09‎/‎09‎/‎2020 at 16:45, Adamski said:

Updated to cross off the countries people have mentioned over the past couple of weeks. There’s quite a few still on the list where I know people who have visited, but no claims yet on P&B. I think Kosovo is the only remaining European outpost. 

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Republic of the Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Dominica, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Gabon, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Iran, Kiribati, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Mali, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Micronesia, Mozambique, Nauru, Niger, Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, São Tomé and Príncipe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Sudan, South Sudan, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Uzbekistan, Venezuela

I did Venezuela about 12 years ago. Of all the places I've been this is the one where I've felt most uncomfortable. I was staying in a nice big hotel in central Caracas and they were showing world series baseball on a big screen in the bar. Not really my thing but the locals were well into it and I wasn't keen on venturing out. At some point in the evening four local cops strolled in, sat down and laid their guns on the table. The bar man kept them supplied with beers for the next couple of hours which I'm pretty sure they didn't pay for. When the baseball finished the got up, put the guns back in their holsters and left.

[DiegoDiego]

I did Venezuela about 12 years ago.

Venezuela? Completed it, mate.

[welshbairn]

On 12/09/2020 at 12:42, Kmeister said:

I've been to St Vincent and the Grenadines so that can be crossed off the list.

That's admirable dedication to the forum.

[Dunfermline Don]

Has Papa New Guinea been mentioned yet. I used to work on cruise ships so it’s probably cheating a bit. The ships football team played a local side in PNG. One of the opposition was only wearing one boot. We asked if he had lost one but he replied ‘No I just happened to find this one!’

Also been to Fiji and when we went to play a football team there the other team had 15 players and no goalie due to a wee mixup with the port agent. It was an interesting match!

 

[tarapoa]

On 31/08/2020 at 20:20, Highland Capital said:

Was that as strange as is made out?  Was watching a thing on Netflix the other day about it.

I'd like to see the Netflix thing. Gutted that 7 pages in someone mentioned Turkmenistan before me, as I regard it as a rare experience, especially given what my work needed to do to get me a visa.

I was sent there in 1998 with colleagues from Moscow and Karachi. The latter spent his whole dollar allowance on a gas cooker from a place called Florida Bar in Ashgabat, where we went after arriving late on a Friday night. The in-flight film on the Turkmen Airways flight from Birmingham was Turkmenbashi the president's face and the national flag repeating ad nauseum. Only 7 people got off in Ashgabat, with the rest of the flight carrying on to Delhi.

We had to go and work out in the west of the country, 6 hours drive from the capital and near the Caspian, and did 16-hour shifts as I had a Brazil v Scotland ticket and was informed by my employers that as long as the job was finished I could go.

Just made it out in time, but it's a f**ked up country. !

Two days after the Norway game in Bordeaux I was on my work travels again to Ecuador, but that's another story (and the inspiration for my AbMad/P&B username).  Life was much more exciting in my late 20s !

Since these countries have both been mentioned - I will go for Macau.  Afternoon boat trip from Hong Kong ten years ago.............and unbeknown to us beforehand we arrived half way through the Formula 3 Grand Prix, which is the biggest day of the year there. Looking over a narrow channel from a park in Macau to the images of life occurring in mainland China was strange - given I've never been to the PRC.

[Tight minge]

5 hours ago, tarapoa said:

I'd like to see the Netflix thing. Gutted that 7 pages in someone mentioned Turkmenistan before me, as I regard it as a rare experience, especially given what my work Since these countries have both been mentioned - I will go for Macau. 

Got detained by immigration in Macau when leaving for overstaying. I used to travel over regular and left the time before on the ‘wrong passport’ by mistake. Had a bit of explaining why I had two British passports, but got it sorted in just over an hour.