Charlie Loram, the intrepid trekker/philosopher first visited India in 1992 and visits the Himalayas almost every year. Who else is so well qualified to talk about trekking in Ladakh and to talk about life and the people there. Charlie showed us some superb slides of the area, interspersed with maps of his routes and some of his own philosophy about eco-tourism and the quality of life. You can order a copy of Charlie’s book, Trekking in Ladakh (Trailblazer) online from www.trailblazer-guides.com.Fantastic, Charlie, and we look forward to seeing you again!
Just when you thought things could not continue on such a high, Paul Grogan took over the gauntlet in the second half and entertained us with some of the highs and lows of his adventures kayaking across Siberia with his babe magnet friend. Paul amazed us using slide and video footage (well done to Webmaster Paul!) starting with his moments of getting stuck in mud on the way to the source of the river Amur, flat calm days, sinister watch towers, political bureaucracy, gorgeous girls (!) and getting sozzled on a Chinese boat and waking up finding a very nasty plastic watch strapped to his wrist in exchange for his nice one! Brill!
Next, in London on 3rd November, Tim Burford will look at the varying styles of architecture in his talk on the Castles and Churches of Romania. Tim is a regular at the various London travel shows (along with the Beetle) and has impeccable guide book writing credentials and is author of both Bradt’s Hiking Guide to Romania and the Rough Guide to Romania.
Sebastian Hope will be talking about the Sea Gypsies of South East Asia, finding and travelling with the maritime nomads travelling the coasts of Borneo, Burma, Thailand, Sumatra, Sulawesi and Sulu Archipelago before returning to Sabah to search for Sarani a sea-gypsy chief and his friend. Another author, he has written Outcasts of the Islands about the sea gypsies of SE Asia published b by HarperCollins.
London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotter Info.line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk