London

In February we have a talk by Nathan Millward – Postie Bike across America and a second talk which is to be confirmed (as the previous speaker had to cancel) and in March we have talks from Daniel Evans – Footsteps Beyond the Pond and Alan Palmer – Trek in the Kameng districts of Arunachal.

Chester

Chester meets on Saturday March 19th with two talks  “Eritrea” by Pat Jones and Traversa: “A solo walk across Africa to the Indian Ocean” byFran Sandham

Toronto

In Toronto, tentative topics for the next meetings on Fri., Mar. 18 and May 20 (4th Fri.) are “The Wonders of Dubai” by Bob and Sue Roden; “Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, with Friendship Force” by Mort Sider and Marilyn Weber; “Down the Rhine” by Jay Wopperer and Linda Schmieder; and “Japan with Friendship Force and Kaetaro” by Bruce Weber.   What else?  …Volunteers?

Keep up to date with London and Toronto meetings on the brand new website: www.globetrotters.co.uk and find out about the Chester meet ups on their own site: www.chesterglobetrotters.co.uk

The Globetrotters Club would like to wish all our eNewsletter readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

The eNewsletter will be returning in the early 2008, until then why not read some of our most popular articles from past issues.

1. Murder and Horses by Daniel Wallace
2. The Beetle Goes Diving in the Similan Islands
3. Meeting News from London
4. Mac’s Travel Reminiscences
5. Rio de Janeiro ‘Cidade Maravilhosa’ or ‘Reasons to be cheerful in Rio’ by Tony Annis

Continue reading Season's greetings from the Globetrotters Club →

December 2007 London Meeting

At our last London meeting before Christmas, we were treated to two excellent talks.

David Waldman told us about his trip to visit the Nandi of the Rift Valley in Kenya. Inspired to visit by athletes such as Kip Keno, David wanted to discover why this pocket of Kenya has produced over 50% of the long distance running world championship and Olympic medal winners since the 1960’s.

David discovered that running is not just a hobby or a sport, but an occupation, a possible escape from the poverty where those not gifted to run do jobs like breaking rocks or selling tomatos for $3 a day. Despite having no facilities at all, David found whole families who can all run world class marathon times. The runners do a 20km run in the mornings and another 10Km at night, their gym if you can call it that is a rock attached to either end of a metal bar. “Train hard, win easy” is their motto.

Those that make it to Europe can make more money from one race than the average Kenyan makes in a lifetime. They return to buy some land, build a house and farm, though once their running days are over many unfortunately descend into alcoholism. David had set out with the idea that there is a genetic reason for the running dominance, without doubt the altitude helps, but from early on they are out rounding up their cattle, they are doing the sheepdogs job.

And when a neighbouring village come to steal cattle they literally run after them with bows and arrows. There seems to be some degree of natural selection too, those that can run get the girls and produce more runners, the rest remain on the shelf.

Our second speaker was Jo Huxster, who should have been joined by Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent, who was ill. “Tuk to the road” was the story of Jo and Ants 12,500 mile, 12 countries in 14 week trip by Tuk Tuk from Bangkok to Brighton in aid of the Charity MIND.

Anyone who has taken a ride in one of these vehicles around an asian city will know it can be a bum numbing experience. Jo got the idea a couple of years previously while on holiday in Thailand.This was not going to be any old Tuk Tuk though, this was a custom built bright pink Tuk Tuk, which they christened Ting Tong, which actually means “crazy” in Thai.

They had decided on the northern route, via Laos, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Germany and Belgium. So on 28th May 2006 they set off from Bangkok, crossing the Mekong into Laos, once the paperowrk issues had been resolved. Once in China a slight hitch occured when they discovered they were not allowed on the nice fast dual carriageways, instead they had to use what amounted to cart tracks which ran frustratingly alongside the main roads.

They had to race across China, as they only had a set amount of visa time, Jo particularly enjoyed the drive across the Gobi Desert. They had been fretting about the Kazakh border, but two girls in a pink Tuk tuk got taken to the front of the queue and they were soon crossing the green Kazakh countryside, one day they had to cover over 700Km as there was nothing inbetween. On their map the Kazakh M36 road to Russia was a nice fat red line, however the reality turned out to be one a track dirt road through fields.

The Russian police broke all records for pulling them over, they were stopped 35 times in 2 weeks! Ting Tong stood up to its journey quite well, however the shock absorbers that had taken 10 Chinese all night to repair broke again, but luckily a Ukranian mechanic was able to do the job on his own in a couple of hours, so they were soon on their way again. Once they crossed into the EU it was a case of pedal to the metal and head home, via the Channel Tunnel, arriving in Brighton on 3rd September. Globies raised in excess of £100 in a collection for MIND at the meeting.

If you want to learn more about Jo’s trip, buy the book or donate to the charity you can visit their website http://www.tuktotheroad.co.uk

By Padmassana

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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on (+44) 020 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

November 2007 London Meeting

Our first speaker was Phil Koniotes who took us to southern Africa to see the vaired wildlife, particularly the bird life of the area. Phil and his wife Linda took in parts of Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia on their trip. Phil explained that to see the animals and birds at such close quarters they had to endure long hard days of travel to remote areas, this included what Phil described as one of the most boring bits of road on the planet, the Caprivi strip. But it was worth it for the wonderful photos of Fish Eagles, snorkelling Elephants and an extremely close up picture of a Hippo.Their trip was not all hardship, after flying into the Okovango Delta they stayed in tents with en-suites and enjoyed floodlit evenings by the side of waterholes.

Our second speaker was Jules Stewart whose talk was called Spying for the Raj. This was the fascinating story of how the Himalayas were mapped, during the period of The Great Game. The Pundits were trained in the art of taking an even stride length, whatever the terrain before being sent out to measure distances using sets of Mala beads to keep count, with 8 removed to make an even 100. The Pundits would be gone for up to 4 years before returning with their information.

By Padmassana

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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on (+44) 020 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

October 2007 London Meeting

The meeting was a full house to hear Globetrotters President Janet Street-Porter give this months opening talk, Janet called her talk “4 Trips in 40 minutes”, she began with Estonia, talking about the excellent and moving Occupation Museum in Tallin before exploring outside of the capital, to the beach resort of Parnu with its art deco Scandic hotel and windswept beaches.

Across the Globe to Papua New Guinea (PNG), where she was invited to open British Council sponsored Film Festival, in a country that does not have any cinemas! She had no idea how dangerous PNG, especially Port Moresby is, when she asked if she could go shopping. No shopping, but Janet did get to meet tribal people who still sort out their differences with bows and arrows and axes. She along with the British Ambassador were dressed up in tribal dress and make up, before being given a pig as they departed.

Australias Larapinta Trail which begins in Alice Springs, was her next destination, taking 7 days to walk what is one of her favourite trails, though the annoying flies meant dressing in head gear and posting lunch letterbox style. The walk takes in places like Simpsons Gap.

Lastly Janet took us to Central Spain to the area around Aracena, a 1.5 hour drive from Seville with its Moorish castles and 13th Century Churches.The villages having a deserted cowboy feeling in the intense summer heat.

Many thanks to Janet for providing a very entertaing talk and for continuing to be our President.

After the break it was time for Ashley Butterfield, a Globetrotters Life Member. Ashley’s talk was called “Not the Magic Bus”, a reference to a new company running trips from the UK to Australia in relative comfort, well to be honest complete luxury compared to the first trips Ashley ran! Ashley got the travel bug early in life when at 12 he was encouraged to cycle from Yorkshire to London, though he cheated after Grantham, getting a lift from a Lorry diver.

After leaving school at 15 he worked for Wallace Arnold, though just in the office and soon got bored with working out how many miles the company’s busses were doing to the gallon. At 19 he left with £120 to hitch hike to India, arriving in India with £70 left, £64 of which then went on a boat back to Marseille. At this point he along with a friend bought a share in a bus which they took to India, though it kept breaking down, it had to be towed off the ferry and was refused entry into Germany because of its near bald tyres.

This was quickly remedied by a diversion into Belgium to a man who cut enough of a tread pattern to allow them back over the border! They eventually got to India and sold the bus which was on its last legs and destined for the scrap heap. Ashley decided using public transport for his trips would be easier and started running trips by rail and bus to India, he reckoned it cost £25 to get to Istanbul, he was always up for trying to make some extra money, including buying playing cards in Afghanistan and selling them in Turkey for which he spent a night in Jail.

Inbetween he worked for KFC in Earl’s Court and one day spotted a new Travel agency opening over the road, Trailfinders, He set up Asian Rover, a company which sold individual legs of the trip to India on trains and busses so that people could travel at their own speed and sold the trips through Trailfinders, he was 25% of Trailfinders business when they began, when he had to stop the trips in 1979 because of the Iranian revolution he was back to being 0.000005% of their business!

Ashley had a “Complaint” book along on his trips for passengers to let off steam about the discomfort etc, one entry from an American Circuit Court Judge probably summed up the trips “If I could I would send the worst criminals on one of Ashley’s trips rather tah jail, but it would probably be deemd a too cruel and inhuman punishment”!

By Padmassana

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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on (+44) 020 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

September 2007 Meeting Report

Globetrotters new season began with a talk from Globie Jeanie Copland about Tanzania and her sponsored climb of Kilimanjaro. The first part of Jeanie’s talk showed us the sights including the migration across the Serengeti of Wildebeest and Zebra, the spectacular Victoria Falls and the Zanzibar music festival.

Part 2 was Jeanie’s sponsored climb up Kilimanjaro in aid of VSO. Jeanie took the Marango route up Kilimanjaro, she showed us the lodges where they would sleep and meals prepared by their porters each evening, it was surprising to see that there were almost as many porters and back up staff as people taking part.

At Gilmans Point, 5681 Metres is the Ice Cap, temperatures can be -20 and it was from here they set out for the top of Africa’s highest mountain.

After the break our second speaker was Bradt guide author Thammy Evans who gave us an insight into Macedonia, where she lived for a number of years.

Originally she had just intended to update an existing guide book, but after attempting to seek one out, she found that she would have to write one herself from scratch. Macedonia is a place for the outdoors type with impressive mountains, Caves and large lakes such as Lake Ohrid with its inky black waters.

Thammy also showed us the Mosques, of which the country has plenty after 500 years of Ottoman rule, it also has many Monasteries. Macedonia still has traditional crafts such as blanket making and its own version of wrestling. Macedonia only has a couple of railway lines, but is served by a bus network. As yet none of the no frills cheap airlines go there.

By Padmassana

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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on (+44) 020 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

July 2007 Meeting Report.

As is the custom the July meeting was given over to “Members slides”, though in the 21st century the majority have gone digital. This year we didn’t quite manage to take in all continents, no talk on South America, but we still saw plenty of interesting places.

Nick Preston set the ball rolling with a trip to northern Thailand, showing us the temples, elephants and the Mekong river in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai.

Sylvia Pullen took us further east to Samoa, introducing us to the wonderful beaches, lush vegetation of the islands flora and fauna, to the church going people who mix in ancient beliefs and dances.

Sue Baker’s talk was on Yunan in China, the town of Dali where her daughter has a guesthouse (www.dragonflydali.com), located near the lake shore, we saw buffallo in paddy fields and shops selling baskets, it looks a nice spot.

Jacqui Trotter then took us to one of Padmassana’s favourite cities, Istanbul, gateway to the east over the Galata bridge, super photos from the Galata Tower over the city. The colourful spice market, a trip up the Bosphorus and she also got to see the Wirling Dervishes.

Next up was guest speaker Raja, who came to tell us about the IPPG, International Porters Protection Group in northern India (http://indiaporter.tripod.com/). The porters carry loads up to 30kg over high mountains despite being ill equipped, lacking decent footwear, clothing and shelter. The group is trying to raise money for a shelter where the porters can shelter and receive medical attention. It will cost around US$4500 for the 5 months each year when it will be open.

After the interval another guest speaker, Peter showed us his trip to Ghana, where he made puppets and used them to tell stories to schoolchildren.

Francesca Jaggs took us back to Asia, Laos to be exact, this brought back very recent memories for Padmassana, as he had flown back from Vientiane only the night before the meeting. Francesca’s trip took in Vang Vieng and the wonderful temples of Luang Prabang and the Buddha cave at Pak Ou, before she headed to Vientiane.

East now for John Goddard’s trip to Papua New Guinea, after receiving a legacy, visiting the less accessible north coast, where the odd tribal war is not uncommon. Its not always the safest destination to visit, but rewarding for those that make the effort.

Back to Europe for our last speaker David Boyd, who showed us the walking paths in the greek Cyclades, these used to be the main trade routes, but have become overgrown with the advent of roads. Some beautiful photos of the vistas this quiet corner of Greece offers.

Unfortunately there was no time for Jeanie Coplands talk on Tanzania, am sure we will get to hear a much longer version later in the year.

By Padmassana

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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on (+44) 020 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

June 2007 Meeting Report By Dan Creffield

Juliet Coombe kicked off her very entertaining talk: Black magic: Be a Devil about her travels from South America to South East Asia in search of magic and mystery by pointing out how many supposedly ‘black magic’ customs and superstitions are often no more than practical remedies and traditions passed down from generation to generation.

Why do people traditionally use garlic, she asked (other than in cooking). To keep vampires away! was the response. But more well-informed members also knew that garlic can have antibiotic properties. It also smells pleasant and has a calming effect, she explained.

The same is true of salt – often thrown over the shoulder for good luck – which has a similar antiseptic effect. Voodoo dolls have a reputation for being used as a curse, but in fact their use simply echoes the practice of acupuncture, prevalent in countries such as Haiti.

However, she did find herself mixed up in devil dancing, exorcisms and yes – some black magic. Much of it, though, could be explained away as harmless rituals. Firewalking, which Juliet said she witnessed, often represents purification.

These kinds of rituals served to ease the pain of many communities following the Tsunami disaster which hit many countries in south-east Asia. The ‘devil dancers’ common in Sri Lanka were actually desgned to scare demons away.

She also acknowledged that while much of the ‘magic’ was clearly just wild talk and nonsense, some of the things she witnessed were impossible to explain, and she became more convinced they were genuine the longer she observed some of the rituals.

For example, she said she had seen people walking through fire, placing their hands in boiling water and sticking skers through their skin without actually seeming to do themselves any physical harm or even apparently feeling pain. Ultimately, she concluded, there ARE things which we simply cannot understand.

Our next speaker, James Brabazon, showed us his Sony award-winning film Liberia – Journey without Maps. James spent many months travelling around the lawless state of Liberia with Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), a rebel force formed in 1999 by Liberian refugees in West Africa who opposed the government army led by the country’s former president Charles Taylor.

The conflict threatened the stability of neighbouring Guinea and Sierra Leone. James frequently feared for his life and witnessed murder and horrific violence on a regular basis. Some of the footage showed soldiers – some only barely into thei teens – eating a dead enemy’s heart (not too graphically though, thankfully!). Taylor has since been sanctioned by the United Nations for war crimes, and is currently on trial.

James explained that he originally went to Liberia for three weeks but quickly realised this relatively short amount of time would not adequately capture the scale of human suffering taking place in the war-torn country.

He was constantly astonished by the lifestyle of people in the country. Time was never fixed, he explained, with the term “soon” meaning anything from tomorrow to in a month.

The soldiers clearly lacked much in way of military training, often mixing grenades with fuses of different lengths. Once a grenade went off in a car, killing one man and injuring another badly. James said it was sheer luck that he decided not to ride in the car on that day.

However, he was also impressed by the indomitable spirit of the people, and their willingness to fight on even when the cause seemed hopeless.

By Dan Creffield

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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on (+44) 020 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

May 2007 Meeting Report By Chitvari

Tom Fremantle returned to Globetrotters in May to impart his travel philosophy and to share some inspirations for his journeys. His talk, Journeys in slow motion – lively tales of slow travel was a medley of his trips, including his bike ride from Swanbourne, UK (famous for its Norman church) to Swanbourne, Australia (famous for its nudist beach)! This trip was partly inspired by his great, great, great uncle who sailed to Australia in 1829, and after whom the Fremantle port is named.

Tom told us of books that have inspired him, including Travels with Charlie by John Steinbeck and Travels with a Donkey by Robert Louis Stevenson. However, Tom suggested that travel need not be to far flung places and quoted a further book Travels around my Bedroom by Xavier de Maistre.

He urged us to ponder Homer’s words that it’s not the journey itself but what you bring back with you that matters. When asked for his one piece of wisdom, he replied “that there is an awful lot of doom mongering in the world but travel gives one the privilege of seeing it through different eyes, less cynical eyes and to experience the wonderful support of others” … he then proceeded to give a second gem, “don’t procrastinate!”

Our second talk was by Amar Grover who told of his travels through China and Tibet: Yunnan to Lhasa by road from sub-tropical to Himalayan peaks. He started in Dhali, a beautiful walled town as popular with Chinese tourists as with foreign visitors and which is dominated by the San Ta Buddhist sculptures. Amar described the local nomadic Naxi people, whose women dress in traditional black and blue aprons and who rule the community … inheriting the wealth and choosing their lovers.

Amar told how he encountered the great and much worshipped bend in the Yangtse river at Shiga, where the red army crossed on their long great march (later forming the communist party). He described the “water pipe bridge” that he used to cross the river as he continued to Zhangdian (China’s Shangri La) still 1,600km, four rivers and six rugged ranges away from Lhasa.

Tsakalho was Amore’s first Tibetan town. From here he crossed snow covered passes such as the Gama La pass that with its 180 bends takes one from winter to summer in a matter of hours … unless that is you are walking, as Alexandra David-Neel did in the 1920s (My Journey to Lhasa) while disguised as a simple monk.

Amar arrived in Lhasa, a modern Chinese city and stepped from his jeep (the journey from China to Tibet still has to be by organised tour – although that can comprise two-three people) onto the 104 bus. Lhasa is the city of the holy Jokhang temple around which pilgrims walk the 1km Barkhar circuit (clockwise) … demonstrating that the Tibetan faith remains strong, even against the odds.

By Chitvari

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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on (+44) 020 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

April 2007 London meeting

Despite the hot weather this months meeting was well attended, the members listened to two excellent talks.

Our first speaker was Jessica Boyd who showed us the Zabbelan, or garbage collectors of Cairo. Originally this population of Coptic Christians, who live in an area north of Cairo’s Citadel collected rubbish to feed their pigs.

Nowadays Jessica explained that they are responsible for collecting 3000 tonnes of rubbish each day. The rubbish is brought back to their suburb by the men and the next day the women sort the rubbish so that it can be processed for recycling.

The Kings of this are the families who specialise in plastics; they even have shredders and cleaning processes and employ workers, where there’s muck there’s brass or Egyptian pounds at least. Other groups recycle paper, cloth and even shoes. The Zabbelan are doing what the western world is trying to achieve, Cairo actually has one of the best records for recycling the city’s trash in the world.

However the Zabbelan’s livelihood is being threatened by multi national companies brought in by the government on a commercial basis, one example being that the Zabbelan now have to pay to collect rubbish in some areas, while the government pays a multi national to do the job.

After the break our second speaker was Jonathan Kaplan, whose talk was entitled “A surgical sojourn in the Kurdistan Mountains”. Jonathan showed us the reality of working for an NGO in a war zone as a doctor. Just getting into Iraq meant an awkward journey via Syria and Turkey, his mission to set up a forward treatment centre.

When he eventually managed to meet up with his colleagues from the French NGO AMI, they started work using a tent as a field hospital, treating injured combatants who in some cases had been carried on their shoulders comrades for days over the mountains in order to get treatment.

Jonathan told us he soon learned that there are limitations as to what he can do in these conditions, patients died under the knife, where as in a conventional hospital with proper equipment they may have lived. He realised the injured chances of survival would be greater if he were to set up on the other side of the mountains.

Once in Iraq they set up in a fort, however getting equipment in was another headache as a gung ho US helicopter crew managed to throw out their pallets of equipment along with food aid attached to parachutes, they saw their precious equipment and drugs smash all over the mountain side. But they salvaged enough to start up and were soon treating the wounded. They also treated civilians; many children had to have toes amputated after a frost bitten trek over the mountains.

Before he set off, Jonathan had asked his surgeon father for advice, his father gave him two pieces, Fill your stomach when you can and empty your bladder when you can! Jonathan has written a couple of books about what he termed his questionable career choices, they are The Dressing Station: A Surgeon’s Chronicle of War and Medicine and Contact Wounds: A War Surgeon’s Education

By Padmassana

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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on (+44) 020 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

March 2007 London Meeting

This month Simon Banks showed us his cycling trip to China, showing us how it was in cities like Shanghai and how just a few years later they have become ultra modern, with neon lit skyscrapers. Shanghai now also boasts the world’s fastest train; the Maglev which delivers travellers from the airport to the city. Simon loves Chinese food and advised us to always ask for “Number 31” from the menu, saying it’s always different.

After the break Globies welcomed back Alistair Humphreys – Cycling the world. This was a humorous alphabetical talk, an A-Z dip into his 46,000 mile, 60 country trip around the Globe, taking in delights such as the Salt Hotel in Bolivia and trying to ride his bike with his eyes closed across the salt flats of Salar de Uyuni, just because he could! He also showed us abandoned towns in Russia and the town of Mullet in Albania. You can read more about Alistair’s travels at www.roundtheworldbybike.com

By Padmassna

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. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on (+44) 020 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk