The most dangerous encounter on my travels

When you tell people that you are going to travel solo and as a woman no less, people usually have something to say about it. For some, it sounds like an incredible brave adventure that they wish they could do, and for others it sounds dangerous and irresponsible. I tend to prefer talking to the latter people, but the other ones seem to sneak into conversations.

Since I have done extensive solo travel, I now have plenty of experience in what it really is like out there and I can tell you a thousand times over that travelling, either solo or with others, will restore your faith in humanity. There have been more times where I got help from locals and other travellers than not and rarely felt it was dangerous.

It may take a little time to let your guard down and trust people, since we are so conditioned to see how people are out to scam you, or take advantage, or have ulterior motivations, but when you do let your guard down and learn to listen to your intuition the majority of people out in the world are none of these things.

Along my travels there was one thing that I came across a few times that did raise those red flags and put me into a sweat not knowing what to do.  I never thought the most dangerous thing would be street dogs, but it was!

Now most street dogs are harmless during the day, mostly, but when darkness falls they turn into extremely territorial animals. I still remember the few times that I came across them at night and it immediately takes me right back to how scared I was.

I am a dog lover, and have never had a fear of them so the first time this happened I was totally taken aback. I was in Thailand and was walking down the alley to my hostel, where I had walked to and from numerous times. But this night, the dogs that didn’t care less about you during the day, started running towards me barking, growling and showing me their teeth. I had no idea what to do, the panic level was at DEFCON 5, and this dog was right at my legs.

All the thoughts were running through my brain, do I be aggressive back or do I ignore it? What reaction will come out of the dog if I do one of these options? Will he bite me and actually attack me? Do I need to wait for it to bite me to defend myself?!

I ended up ignoring the dog and walking much faster to my hostel. It worked, but my heart was going a mile a minute. It was only a small zone of area that the dog was “protecting” but it is extremely scary when you have to walk through that zone to get to where you need to go.

Another time this happened was in the early morning in Mandalay, Myanmar. A friend and myself were walking in the empty streets, having just arrived by train, looking for somewhere to stay. We were walking on the street and as we entered this one intersection, we quickly realized that we entered a dangerous dog territory.

We quickly were surrounded by 5 street dogs, all angrily barking and showing their teeth to us. Again my heart started racing and panic filled us. We both decided to ignore them and quickly get out of their territory, which we did.

It was not until later in my travels talking to locals that I was told what to do, after telling them about my experiences.  I was told to keep some small rocks in my pocket if I am walking around at night, and if a dog charges me, I was to throw the rocks at it (this what the locals do).

Even if you don’t have any small rocks, making the motion of pulling “them” out of your pocket and throwing “them” at the dog will help it back off.  I have not come across these types of dogs since learning of this technique, but I do tend to pick up a few small rocks and put them in my pocket now when I am walking at night, just in case.

Have you ever had that “danger” feeling while travelling? What was it from and how did you deal with it?