TICKET COLLECTOR !

During childhood, few people escape measles . And the " Collection" fever !
I had a collection of match-box labels and one of picture post cards. Along the years, the stuff vanished, but not the hangover .

When traveling became frequent, I started collecting the admission tickets issued at various sightseeing spots, much to the discomfiture of the ever practical spouse. And I achieved quite a handsome collection ! Recently, I spring-cleaned the trove in the shoebox and discarded the very old, illegible and tattered slips, retaining only those I couldn't bear to throw away.

Sharing some here :

This ticket was for one of the many canal cruises we have taken in Amsterdam. Depending on the agency from whom we purchased the trip, the tickets varied from small, functional printouts to pamphlet sized mini posters. This one is somewhere in between, with a nice picture and a helpful list of the stops . As it is a card , it will not get torn or dog- eared easily, hence retained it .
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This is a fairy large ticket, issued for a stroll in the sacred Monkey Forest in BALI The first time we visited the same place, two decades ago, all that was given was a small brown slip with the price rubber-stamped on it. This colourful slip is from the most recent trip. Note the line-up of ads. at the bottom . Good revenue.

Also from Bali, this shiny round ticket ( front & back) is for a Cultural Park. The picture is a sticker that can be peeled off and stuck on a car windshield or the suitcase, as souvenir .
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I like this one from THAILAND because it gives salient data about the image in this shrine, like a mini ready- reckoner.
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The above three are from Singapore. Every visit yields a new design of ticket for the same places. Ever changing . The Card ( front & Back) is the Day Pass for Sentosa , which has, down the years, used various motifs like The Merlion, the Monorail, Orchids , Fireworks etc on its tickets. The Butterfly Park ticket is 13 years old.
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The Three Day Pass to Angkor Archeological Site , personalised with the visitor's mug shot,( to prevent blackmarketing by touts) issued by the Cambodian Government's tourism department that calls itself "Apsara Authority".
Obverse and reverse of the ticket for a ride up in a tethered balloon over Angkor Wat. The top angle view of the Angkor Wat Complex shown on it is beautiful. And I do love those helpful guidelines given at the back ! No, we dint "bring any explosions" to the balloon.

The Angkor National Museum not only gives you a ticket ( the small tab), it issues a "passport" as well. The booklet contains information about the artefacts in the museum and also a page to get your visits stamped, so that on each successive visit you are entitled to discounts. See below :
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China to Tunisia oneway ticket 5 Dirhams only ! This is the ticket for the Buggy that transfers visitors between different sections of the sprawling IbnBatuta Mall ( Dubai) . It is the biggest themed mall in the world celebrating the famed adventure-traveler Ibn Batuta's sojourns, with six "Courts" ( sections) recreating the places he visited viz: Andulasia, Tunisia,Egypt,India,China and Persia.
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EGYPT has massive monuments, the tickets to which are quite small. Above are four illustrated tickets to four mega temples .
The ticket to three tombs in The Valley of the Kings is checked off, one edge for each tomb entered. On a packaged tour itinerary, time is too short, the lines are too long, so I doubt if anyone can really cover three tombs. As evidenced, we did two. The famed mask of King Tut on the ticket is just for decoration ! His tomb is closed to visitors.
The Pyramids ticket is for entering the narrow burial chamber inside the Khufu pyramid .

Ticket to see the mummies in the first floor of the wonderful Museum of Egyptian Antiquities, Cairo, is additional to the main entrance ticket to the museum.
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ARCHEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA issues two kinds of tickets, one for protected monuments ( Pride of India) and one for World Heritage Sites. There's a difference in fare too.


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( more to come.....)

Comments

Rajesh said…
Wonderful collection. I have seen last two of this.
Lakshmi said…
Great to see you back! Love all the tickets. We had the GWK sticket ticket till recently. All these tickets refreshed our tour memories.
:-) I could add quite a few to this.

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