[mahmud]

Sometimes you see danger but its magnitude doesn't hit you until someone else points it out. I was 26-27, I had my vaccines done, I had some cash and I am African by birth, so none of these "problems" that Western expats were facing could touch me, it is my third-world and I will be fine!

Yyyyyeah, nice try. My new girlfriend with a woman's common-sense was quick to point out to me the danger I was in. I had dabbled in business with the locals and I might have taken a side in a neighborhood civil-war that was going back for decades. It would have taken a $20 bribe from someone to pin some contraband on me and send me off to Hanoi Hilton for good.

etc, etc.

[Radix]

Reading your second comment in this thread leaves me wondering if it would be safe for an american to travel the same as you did. I had wanderlust a few years ago and reading your post makes me want to go wandering abroad again. I would go to South America, but out of curiosity, is Africa or the Middle East safe for Americans?

[Edited for better communication]

REPLY: Ah, so then in a sense, it isn't safe. It would be awful to go out the way you did but remain a tourist. :)

[kiddo]

I'm American. I spent a year and a half traveling through Asia, Australia and NZ. Then another 6 months in South America. There are tons of people, Americans included, doing the same. In general it's extremely safe.

[whatusername]

watch out for the drop bears in Australia though. Those guys are vicious!

[mahmud]

I was deliberately courting excitement. You can safely stay in the tourist circles and be A-OK.