Have you ever feared for your life

Stavros Murphy wrote: »

Yes. I shan't bore ye with the details.

Well, that was one thrill of a post to read!

My own: Being forced to buy huge amounts of hashish by Moroccan drug dealers in Morocco after they threatened to kill me. They said call the police if I want, they wont give a fúck. 2 days later I had a knife pulled on me by some homeless Moroccan dudes who then proceeded to steal everything I had

Also, going on buses/taxis up the Himalayas on these TINY NARROW roads, 10,000ft high... absolutely terrifying. This one taxi driver we had was stoned out of his tree and insisted on driving REALLY FAST up these tiny narrow roads in the middle of the fúcking Himalayas, was convinced we were going to swerve off. It was misty as fúck too.

Almost drowned as a kid but thats not that exciting.

When I was 18 yrs old, I was out with my mates. Anyway, at the end of the night outside of a nightclub, one of the lads bumped into a chap who he didn't like. Bad blood between these two for months at this stage and the inevitable happened, they started into it. There were only 4 lads in my group and 2 girls so we were seriously outnumbered. I sent one of the girls into the nightclub to call the security out and we tried to help out the mate who was boxing. The security came out in a serious hurry and the whole thing fizzled out.

Now, for us to get home, we had 2 options - walk through enemy territory to a taxi rank or call one of the lads' older brothers and come get us. We decided to call home and walked to a phone box (1995 - no mobiles) Myself and one of the girls headed off and left the rest behind. The phone box was only a 2 minute walk from the nightclub so we thought we would be safe enough. Just as we were approaching the phonebox we noticed a couple of lads in hoodies approaching from the other side. I noticed them as mates of the lad my buddy had been boxing with so I had a feeling there could be some bother. I was with one of the girls so was afraid for her safety obviously. We got to the phone box and I told her to get inside. I took off my jacket to get ready for business. Next thing one of the sh1theads pulls out a claw hammer from under his jacket. I swear to Jesus, I nearly crapped myself. Talk about blind panic.

I couldn't run as my girl mate was in the phonebox. I couldn't fight as there were two against 1 and they had a hammer. So what the fúck could I do. I bluffed. I called out to the lad with the hammer and the conversation went like this -

Listen fúckbrain, put down the hammer and don't be a complete ape. Are you really willing to use that on me. If you are, go ahead. But, if you do, you had better do a good enough job that I will never be able to come back at you. Because if I do, I will bring all my mates and my uncles and we will come into town and burn your family in their beds. Then we will go to after your cousins and your grandparents. We will not stop until we are finished with every last one of ye.

He was a cowardly little pr1ck because he put the hammer back under his jacket and they both walked away.

I have never been so frightened in my life........

Can I just ask out of curiosity, what's being dead like?

It was very strange as I went into anaphylaxis, my heart went to 205 bpm before cardiac arrest and my tongue and throat were completely swollen. I could hear everything and my mind was racing. I could hear the ambulance men going from concern to all out 'save your ass' mode.

It was so scary but then I kind of just felt very peaceful, its hard to describe, it was like desperately trying to keep a hold of something until you realise you can't hold it anymore and you feel remorse but also a certain release as holding that thing was really painful and now your muscles can relax and there is a sense of warmth and relief.

That is about as close as I can describe, its just really really strange.

Sounds so peaceful yet scary as hell at the same time........

Yeah its very weird and this may sound morbid, but I used to really fear death, I mean I would get a panic attack thinking about it, but now, I don't fear it as much. Don't get me wrong, I love being alive but this incident has made me really change my outlook on life; I used to be lazy and didn't push myself whereas now I have goals that I set myself and I want to look back on my life with pride. I used to think I would live to 80 or so and there was plenty of time to achieve but it really puts the frailty of live into perspective so you need to live every day like it could be your last.

I was also extremely lucky as there was a lot of things that just fell in place that day that ensured my survival. If any of these circumstances didn't happen, I wouldn't have survived. I'm not religious but I really think there was somebody looking out for me that day.

About 2-3 years ago I was tubing in Laos when traveling through Asia. I was really looking forward to the crazy jumps/slides/swings you could do into the river. When we arrived most of the jumps were closed. 14 people had died that year. I didnt ask how or what happened but i figured if someone died that's reason enough. It was the rainy season as well which meant that the river wasnt a lazy flow anymore but more of a real river.

After a while I noticed it was all of the highest jumps that were closed, but the slide was open. I have to admit, that looking back on it, tubing is a terrible idea when its rainy season. The videos you see on youtube are all when the river is calm. Most of the bar/pubs on the river are closed because they dont want people going down the river. Its only the 1st four pubs that were open. It was dusk before we got to the 4th bar.

After a "few" drinks i decide to go down the slide, into a dive when in mid-air and i hit the water. Nothing feels better, my mind blanks and im loving it. Its one of the most peaceful times ive ever experienced. Underwater, just being carried by the river. about 60 seconds go by and im out of air. Time to go to the surface, im deeper than i had thought and its taking sometime to get to the surface. F*ck, im really out of air now. I figured if i was ever in this situation i would panic. But i didnt, its surprisingly calming, im probably going to die. It felt like an hour but i finally get to the air. I'm shocked. I spin around trying to see where the slide is. I can just about see it through the trees. I have rounded a bent underwater. The river is strong, but stupidly i figure i can swim against it back to the slide (i trained hard for a triathlon before we left so would have been a strong swimmer). After another 5 mins of trying to swim back, i have gotten nowhere, im in the middle of the river, i have nothing left, the tank is empty, i have to stop.

By now the slide is gone, im being carried by the river. I realize i have to get to the river bank. One last push. When i felt earth beneath my feet, i nearly cry, i get to the bank and i drop. Im out of energy, im a little drunk but have been sobered by the fact that i nearly drowned, its getting dark. Im not joking now, this was straight from an episode of Bear Grylls. Im in a woods its dark. I can hear the river to my right and the only way i know where i am going is that to get to where i was i need to travel back up stream. I can hear snakes. I am more than afraid of them, I really am terrified but the sound doesnt even register, i know its a snake but for some reason im not concerned. I keep traveling upstream through this forest, im starting to panic. Its pitch black, i can just see the outline of the trees. Then I hear it, the most beautiful sound, some yank girl roaring at the top of her voice. Im close, and energized. I know where to head towards.

I make it back to the pub/bar, there are lanterns lit all around it, people singing, drinking, dancing. My then girlfriend, now fiancee, and next month wife was outside with a few people we had met traveling sitting on a picnic bench, she was worried sick, nearly crying. She freaked at me, i just kept saying im alright, over and over while hugging her. One of the lads we had met handed me a bottle filled with bees and vodka. That was the best dawm drink i ever had.

TL:DR I nearly drowned

mike_ie wrote: »

Vang Vieng by any chance? Used to work in a bar there - in high season a tourist would be pulled out of that river downstream every week, especially in rainy season when the river was going full bore.

Was thinking about this thread and in hindsight I must be on the last of my nine lives. Was in the metro station when I was a teenager when this happened just shy of my birthday. Missed the metro that was actually bombed by about 30 seconds and got off light with some temporary hearing damage. It was only a long time afterwards I had the thoughts of "Oh ****, I could have been killed" though, so not sure if it counts.

Ya it was in Vang Vieng. Even after that happening Id still recommend going doing it. If the river has a lazy flow id say you'd have a great time it was just far too strong a flow that day. Its not hard to imagine that many people have died there.

Missing a train that blew up is insanely lucky.