Michel wrote:
Yeah for Mongolia I was more referring about the concept of "borrowing", not necessarily dishonesty or poverty stricken people tempted by stealing. I was asking because I saw a documentary about a French couple who crossed Mongolia on horses, and they've seen their horses stolen 5 or 6 times during the night. The day after, they had to buy other horses. At the beginning, they explained with a smile that it was typical in their culture to borrow things they needed (thanks to what in anthropology and political science is called primitive communism), but at the end, they disn't sind it funny anymore. I lived near Maliotenam for a year in Northern Québec, and the Innu people were doing the same, but I just couldn't do it or get use to it as a Kawish (white). They don't lock their door so basically everybody is free to get to your place and take some food in the fridge or cabinet without asking. Kind of shocking when kids from school once came to my GF place (she was their teacher) and we had to check anything including the cat who could have been taken away as a new friend. for them.
I found this in the North - I worked north of Yellowknife on the Arctic circle - but I didn't see that in Mongolia. BTW I pitty the french couple - if you've ever been on a mongolian saddle you'll know why. I highly recomend the camels though. I can see how buying a pair of horses every few days would wear on you after a while.
Now of course this traditional borrowing is practiced by the traditionals. The Natives in Uashat just a few km west more "whited" would probably found such attitude unwelcomed, and still, some people seems to profit from this traditional borrowing just as an excuse to steal. Dying habit here, hence I was wondering for Mongolia.
Yeah I didn't see that at all. Some stuff went missing from our gear but it was toilet paper and cleaning supplies and fuel - so it was real live pilferring.
For Poland, after we got the camera stolen, we went to fix the car, a Fiat Panda in Eastern Europe with no Western car at the time... good kuck). Fortunately the Polski national car was an old Fiat model from the 60's maybe, just like the Lada is a Fiat 128 from the 70's.) It took 3 guys 3 hours to find in a scrapyard a piece of rubber that could hold our window. They cut it with a sharpened butter knife and put the window in place by pulling on the rubber surrounding the window with a rope. It worked ! I was sure it would cost a fortune, all these efforts and that they would made me pay 3 times the price. Well, 3 mechanics for 3 hours : it cost a total of 75 cents !
Gotta love a story like that.
We still ha time before crsing the Soviet border so we went to the flea market a few km away where lots of stuff from both countries was sold. I was sure we could find the camera there. I was ready to steal back the camera, runout of the market and get into the car where my GF was aiting with the engine running. Sadly, when I went to o surprise, a table full of used camera, they were all Eastern block model, still they were probably stolen from other tourists. No Olympus there. I'm sure the GF camera would have been on sale there in 2 or 3 days. If not, the stealer just would took the train to Warsaw or Moscow and sell it there for a huge profit.
Yeah tuff to say - but it probably wouldn't fetch top dollar in nowhere's ville poland.
Never saw real coffee at that time in Poland indeed, it was a mixture of burned cereals (well I think that's what it was). And forget about the idea of getting sugar to help swallow it, or milk. I had once sugar, it took them 5 minutes to understand what I was asking for (I draw a cube over a cup with arrow pointing down into it on a piece of paper, the entire train station was trying to help but they didn't had a clue) I loled when a customer suddenly exclaim "ahhhh sugrilla sugrila" (or something that sounds like that).Then the sugar came ah ah, it look like anything except a cube or a little pouch, no wonder they didn't get it. Milk, yikes, I once bought a bottle, in glass, like the ones there was here before the cardbord pint. Yikes, it was a mixture of yogurt/cheese/milk that I spit automatically. And it was still on sale. brrrrrrr.
I kick ass at charades.
Tough time.
Sounds like it..
So as I said, when the Soviets told us Romania was worse than Poland, we just cutted it. 2 months of that was enough. The GF was getting crazy, she just wanted to arrived to Austria as fast as possible, ah ah I wonder why?
GF - you can't live with 'em - pass the beer nuts.
