The Worst Journey in the WorldAspley Cherry Garrard was the youngest member of the Scott Polar Expedition when he and two others lost their tent to the winds of a night-time snowstorm. They spent hours in temperatures below -70°F stumbling about the ice floes hoping they'd bump into it as it was their only hope of survival.
OK, so that was bad, but we reckon you've had worse. We know how hard you lot are.
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chthonic, Thu 7 Sep 2006, 12:40)
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China - 24 hour train journeyI couldn't get a sleeping berth and got stuck in a regular carriage for 24 hours. Right-angled PVC seats, flourescent lights burning all the time, screeching traditional music on speakers and EVERYONE in the carriage smoking and coughing up green'uns on the floor.
It was bad enough for the first few hours, but when night came on it was impossible to sleep in an upright position. People were crammed in like sardines and the floor was smeared with spit and fag ends.
The noise, the smoke, the spitting, the hundreds of Chinese faces staring dully like you were a zoo exhibit ... the lack of sleep and the leg cramp. It went on and on and on. Just when you thought you couldn't stand it anymore, you realised there was another ten hours to go.
And the Chinese are not really into dental or physical hygiene. Their breath could have stripped paint, their armpits hummed - and they farted a vegtable compost worse than either of those. Noise, light, discomfort, paranoia born of staring ... the stench of humanity bottled up in a smoky carriage. Only seven hours to go ...
NEVER again.
(, Thu 7 Sep 2006, 14:18, Reply)
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