A helping hand
Trip Start
Nov 28, 2004
1
43
57
Trip End
Jun 11, 2005
Glenelg,
South Australia,
Australia
Wednesday, February 2, 2005
My dorm room companions were a mixture of Argentineans, Frenchmen and South Africans - plus one obnoxious Aussie. They have all left to go their separate ways. So that the room now contains a Bulgarian, Denis. He is an interesting case. Fresh off the plane from his native eastern Europe, it's plain to see that he is like a fish out of water. He tries in vain to sleep, to adjust his body clock and at the same time to try to understand what people are saying to him. His English isn't terribly good. He's been sent here alone, all the way to Australia, as part of a course of study to learn about wine growing. And I do feel sorry for him. Most people are here by choice, it's not often you meet those who are not.
Thus he begins to ask a lot of questions on the subject of why it is that so many people from all over the world have arrived here voluntarily. And before long, I have become his guide and mentor. We share breakfast one morning with another international crowd - a pretty girl from Spain, a crew of Irish, and a white and brown Jack Russell named Fred which is an expert on the trampoline. It keeps zinging up into space in my left field of vision just as Denis slowly begins another question and it's not easy for me to keep a straight face... a real Mad Hatter's tea party.
I attract another friend who keeps drilling me with questions too. Mike, an Australian Police officer, or so he says. He is interested in becoming a fully fledged sex-tourist in South East Asia - and he wants the full story. His level of questioning certainly appears to be very police-like. Descriptions of girls of various nationalities and exactly what they will do / will not do. Can I at least indicate the tariff for certain services in different currencies ? What about visas. Border crossings. All the transport options. I begin to fade out. I don't want to be Adelaide's human travel encyclopedia any longer. I wish Denis all the very best as I check out. He is currently in a heightened state of anxiety on the subject of bush spiders. Poor lad.
Next ; Leaving Adelaide, second attempt
