Page 33 - Nomads Magazine Issue 7

32Po mentioned that he knew of a place we could re live rounds from various rearms, no doubt for a little exchange of American dollars. I had heard of these places but had never experienced it myself so I agreed cautiously. Once we were on the road, I became so engrossed with looking at the images I shot on the back of my camera that I didn’t notice the changing surroundings or lack of surroundings be exact. We were driving for quite a while and I didn’t remember seeing or hearing any other vehicles or people for at least 30 minutes.We were surrounded by a very at open space. On both sides lay a single road with nothing much on the horizon in both directions, apart from what looked like a makeshift shop just ahead. We pulled up in front of the small run down building with a wooden stall. Po jumped out and one of the workers came quickly running over with what looked like a large Fanta bottle full of zzy orange soda. ‘Great!’ I thought, as I was really thirsty due to the heat and being out on the road for so long. Much to my disappointment and shock, the opened bottle actually contained petrol and the worker was walking to our petrol tank, with a lit cigarette in hand. I quickly jumped out and ran a few metres to be a safe distance away. Then I started taking some photos from a safe distance.With that minor scare out of the way, we continued down the road which was gradually becoming a dirt track, towards the horizon. We were now surrounded by elds of long grass on both sides but still no other cars, tuktuks, or buildings apart from a large structure in the distance. From where we were the building looked like an aircraft hangar. As we gradually got closer the ex- citement of the day had worn off and I just wanted to go back to the hotel and collapse.After bypassing the hangar and driving for another good 30 minutes, I started to become concerned about where I would eventually end up. I quickly realised if anything hap- pened to me no one would ever nd my body as the area we were travelling through was so remote, with virtually no landmarks.Just then, a building appeared on the hori- zon but this one looked very different from the last one. It was an old building, falling apart in places with camo nets thrown over parts of the roof as if it was trying to conceal its presence. We turned down the long dirt track that led to the structure and I thought to myself, “Finally I can get this over with and go back to the hotel”. Somewhere in the distance, there was the sound of a dirt bike approaching which was odd as I hadn’t heard any vehicles for a few hours.