T H I S+W E E K Burma or Bust By Joshua Cohen A charmed traveler in China takes the hard road to a forbidden border. D E P A R T M E N T S The Surreal Gourmet By Bob Blumer A fruity, non-boozy, end-of-summer smoothie > Mondo Weirdo By Don George Strange bedtime tales from Thailand, Peru and Ecuador Passages A Simple Gift By Robert J. Matthews A touching encounter with a leper in Nepal Readers' Tips and Tales Great Railway Journeys - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Your virtual travel agency - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - LA S T+W E E K Tuesday, August 19, 1997 Sleeping with elephants By Don Meredith Earth-shaking encounters in Kenya A full list of all Wanderlust articles

M__O__N__D__O____W__E__I__R__D__O__________ STRANGE BEDTIME TALES FROM AROUND THE WORLD. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A few weeks ago we introduced a new theme in Mondo Weirdo with the question: What's the strangest place you've ever slept? Wanderlust Editor Don George wrote about one of the strangest places in his own travels -- a stony sixth-floor stoop in an apartment building in Siena -- and asked Wanderlusters to send him their own tales. Since then we've received some eye-opening bedtime stories, three of which we post below. Please continue to send your tales to wanderlust@salonmagazine.com. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Head-butt hotel a few years back, while drifting around Thailand, I slept in a hotel not far from the Laotian border and close to a Thai military base. My Thai-induced calm was destroyed when I read the notice in the room reassuring me that "a bolted door means sweeter dreams." All night there were intermittent crashing noises from upstairs. It turns out the hotel was an a R&R joint for the local militia, who were playing soccer with the hotel's hookers on the roof, post-business. I only stayed the one night. -- Jeff Apter - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Men in black I searched the memory circuits and came up with TWO: four of us had just finished an extreme ski expedition in the Peruvian Andes. We were back in our base camp at about 15,000 feet. My friend looked up and said, "Oh-oh, this looks strange." The rest of us looked in amazement as 60 men in black outfits and rifles approached us with incredible dexterity and speed. They came into our camp and surrounded us, and one of them -- in broken English -- asked us who we were. We told them, then asked them the same question. It turned out they were the elite of Peru's military: "escuela de commandos." We ended up joining them in their camp for a couple nights. I still remember curling up into my high-tech sleeping bag, looking up at the stars and listening to the footsteps of a Peruvian Commando walking within two feet of my head every few minutes as he did the night watch. I was on a solitary hike in the Four Corners area of the U.S. and came across an Anasazi ruin in mint condition. It was built high on the cliff overlooking the San Juan River. It didn't take long to slip back in time 1,000 years and imagine being one of these deft cliff-dwelling people. I rolled out my sleeping bag in the kiva -- the central "high energy" area of the dwelling. Deco, my Aussie/border collie compadre, fell into his shepherd instinct, attentively listening to coyotes howling and deer passing through the brush below. That night I dreamed about being in a ritual of moving into adulthood -- lots of fire, ceremony, mystery. I remember waking up early and watching the pictographs of birds and beasts on the cliff walls coming to life as the reddish glow of the sun illuminated them. -- Doug Greene - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Jungle fever i'll never forget my first night in the jungle in Macuma, Ecuador, visiting some missionary friends. I was 13, and the missionary kids who lived there regaled me with cautionary stories: Sleep slightly off the floor, so the snakes and spiders won't bite you, but you don't want to be too high off the floor 'cause then the vampire bats might decide to take a taste of you. Oh, and even though it's 90 degrees and sticky at night, you probably want to stay in your sleeping bag to protect your body -- neck to toes -- from those bats. I finally fell asleep, listening to a thundering jungle rain beating on the corrugated tin roof, but awakened periodically to check for jungle invaders! Yes, I made it safely through the night. -- Anne Woodyard Sept. 2, 1997 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - How about you? Do you have a weird travel tale to share? Send it to wanderlust@salonmagazine.com. And join our Table Talk discussion on travel and food.

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