Arriving in Naha

I arrived in Naha by overnight boat from Keelung. As I came through immigration at the port there were about 5 men, boys really, dressed in blue uniforms. One asked me where I had been. I told him Taiwan. He then asked me where in Taiwan. I listed of the list of places I had been – Tai Pei, Hua Lien, Tai Jung, Tau Dung, Gau Shung… When I did so one of the others heard me say Tainan and thought I had said Thailand. He took me and led me to a separate room and asked me to sit on a small old-style stackable chair. While the others went through my bag. They were quite excited and I think they thought they had found a drug smuggler. Luckily the leader of the group, who was older, maybe 25 years old, took my passport and, flipping through the pages, saw that I had not been to Thailand. He asked me to again say where I had been and realised what had happened. They apologized and let me pass through. I thought that of I had been to Thailand I might have been subject to a body cavity search. I was pleased that the one who led them was on the ball and had a sensible, non-puppy like, approach to the whole thing. I guess that they have this belief that if you have been to Thailand you must be a drug smuggler.

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