Which "off the beaten track" countries have you visited?

Ten of Swords

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118037744#Comment_118037744

@Jeremy Sproket don't post in this thread again

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118037744#Comment_118037744

The usual dig at teachers by you 😂

I would advise getting a new job, I'm not a teacher, I get 34 days annual leave a year.

corks finest

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058212282/which-off-the-beaten-track-countries-have-you-visited

Romania 🇷🇴 in early 90s , Ukraine 🇺🇦 and Moldova 🇲🇩,former Yugoslavia 70s

to this day there’s parts of Transylvania cut off from civilisation for a few months of the year, villages io in the mountains without running water or electricity, quaint but not in January- our mode of delivering aid was oxen , basically peasants living in the Middle Ages ,

caulking their wooden cabins against the winter chill with straw and dung,

country-of extreme contrast - you may pass 6/7 combine harvesters in an area and a few km down the road a chap on his own with a pair of oxen/ water buffalo ploughing a field, worked there 12 years and count my blessings as met really beautiful ppl,

only downside was and is endemic corruption be it from the cops/ local director of the orphanage , local mayor etc etc, we had to bribe everyone to be allowed deliver aid/ money/ material’s, ALL the county’s natural resources of oil, gold , silver have been sold Yeats ago, natural oak forests being stripped for German businessmen and Italian,

haven’t been over in years but Transylvania is well worth a visit, not Brasov or Sibiu etc etc but remote villages etc, it’s stepping back in time .

(they still hide their SIDA ( aids) problem,clinics in Iasi are hard to find , we had great difficulty in delivering aid as the locals wouldn’t even give us directions ( pre google etc)

Romania wants the world to see it as progressive- it is in many aspects but they still hide their problems, and export their most important assets - ppl as the corruption is off the wall and regularly jail ministers and judges/ cops etc but the EU bank roll train keeps going

jmreire

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118038652#Comment_118038652

You will find everywhere in the former Soviet Union massive concrete constructions celebrating everything.... LOL🙂

robindch

Bit late to the party but I've been to around 75 countries. Oddest ones were definitely Abkhazia (the bit of Georgia which Russia helped local separatists carve out; now, essentially a banana-potato-vodka republic), Transnistria (the bit of Moldova which Russia helped local separatists carve out; now essentially a banana-potato-vodka republic), and North Korea.

Funnest times which spring to mind just now were in Lebanon (arrested by paramilitaries for taking photos), Ukraine (threatened with arrest for not bribing cops), Russia (stand-up, finger-pointing argument with a lawyer who insulted Ireland while lecturing me about the need for legal compliance in Russia), bumping into a friend of a friend from West Cork while roaming the streets of Bucharest, wearing a tee-shirt emblazoned with "West Cork".

partyguinness

I suppose Brunei.

partyguinness

I was strolling though Lima about 15 years ago and there I see a lad in a Cork City jersey window shopping.

JackieChang

Burundi and Rwanda

Ubbquittious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118001302#Comment_118001302

Just applied for a jobbeen there hope I get it. Did you go there just for funsies or were you working?

Larbre34

Been to a few OTBT Countries and I've decided they are that way for a reason. They tend to be kips and they give you the shyts or make you a political prisoner.

I stick now to the EU, NATO or countries of the British Commonwealth. A minimum standard of civilisation is pretty well guaranteed.

Liberty_Bear

Kosovo

Azerbaijan

Georgia

Jordan

North Macedonia

Japan

Ukraine

South Korea

Belarus

Was meant to be in Moldova but that got put paid to by Putin

Im heading to Albania in May, people are more than welcome to join me...

Liberty_Bear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/117999465#Comment_117999465

Been to Tijuana, makes Roscommon seem like an inviting place even...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118816685#Comment_118816685

I love Albania!

Just be careful of the drivers😂.But you're probably used to it if you have been to Kosovo and Macedonia!

Liberty_Bear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118816879#Comment_118816879

Kosovo they didnt care lol! You could cross the road and they wouldnt stop..I didnt encounter much in North Macedonia, thought I do remember all the bars were on the Musliim side of the city if memory is correct!!

There are bars everywhere in Kosovo and Macedonia, I never seen religion getting in the way of a good time!

Crazy driving though! Absolute madness, I can't believe I got away with being there for so long and I never got into an accident!

MEGA BRO WOLF 5000

I was in Londonderry a few weeks ago, it's only strange because nobody in Ireland recognizes the place even exists.

Liberty_Bear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118228083#Comment_118228083

You sound like an adventeroous type! There are now loads of airlines going to Romania - Iasi, Sibiu included. Like your recommendation about the villages

Liberty_Bear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118816935#Comment_118816935

How far back did your time machine go?

wolfyboy555

Iran for me. Fascinating place and hands down the nicest people you will meet.

Also a mention for Georgia and Galapagos that were already mentioned.