All posts by The Beetle

Mutual Aid

Need help? Want a travelling buddy or advice about a place or country – want to share something with us – why not visit our Mutual Aid section of the Website: Mutual Aid

Anyone any suggestions for Arjun? He write in to us: I am from Kolkata, India with a great dream to travel the entire world. But my financial condition does not allow me to make it happen. Yet I will try someday to make my dream come true. Please give me some ideas on how can I make it possible. I have mountain trekking experience in the Indian Himalaya. I can be contacted by e-mail on: sahaarjun77@rediffmail.com

Another request for information from Lena: I will be travelling by myself to Dajeerling, North India. How can I co from there to Nepal? Is it safe to travel there and travel alone? If you have any information please respond. Is it possible to enter China from this part of India.? What about Sikkim and Buthan? I am a teacher and a photographer and I would like to travel and take photos. I do not have much experience travelling in Asia. Last year I went to Kolkata to volunteer in a school and then I went to Darjeeling for a short time. This time I would like to travel more and I would value any suggestions from you. If you think you can help Lena, please e-mail her on: lenainavon@comcast.net


Whisky from Pakistan

If travelling in Pakistan and worried about the absence of alcohol, look no further. Whilst Pakistan is predominantly Muslim, about 97% according to one source, which does not approve of drinking alcohol, the Murree Brewery Co Ltd (established in 1860 to produce beer and spirits, mostly for British colonial troops) is set to produce a 20-year-old single malt whisky. The malt whisky is due to go on sale in July to non-Muslims and its makers are not expecting huge sales. Mr Javed, the General Manager proudly announced, “Our product will match the best Scotch whiskies in the world.”


Singapore Airlines Ad

A row is brewing over the renewal of the Singapore Airlines advertising contract, worth in the region of SGD$50 million (USD$33 million). The current image projected by Singapore Airlines in all their ads is of an Oriental girl wearing a tight fitting sarong kebaya uniform, created by French designer Pierre Balmain. Singapore Airlines have said that it will not give up the iconic image and uniform of its Singapore Girl flight attendants. Critics say it is sexist and outmoded and the images are passé and largely intended to serve male passengers’ fantasies of desirable, subservient Oriental women.


Welcome to Nepal, ooops, we mean Peru

Royal Nepal Airlines has apologized to Peru after mistakenly putting a picture of Peru’s tourism icon, Machu Picchu, on a poster under a slogan “Have you seen Nepal?” This was noticed by Peruvian mountaineer Ernesto Malaga, who was visiting India last month, and saw the poster hanging on a wall in the airline’s office in New Delhi. Peruvian authorities requested explanations from the airline via the embassy. “The airline … offered apologies to Peru for using the picture of the Machu Picchu Sanctuary on a poster to promote their country and assured that the lamentable error has been corrected,” the statement said.


Serbia’s PR Campaign

In this e-news, we have Nepal advertising Machu Picchu, more news of mistaken identity – this month Serbia’s first PR campaign since the end of the Balkan wars in the 1990s has gone horribly wrong. The commercial called “Serbia – Moments to Remember” which was not received well by Serbians for being boring, misleading and showing Serbia as a land of rolling hills, churches and nature reserves full of wildlife, but no people. Worse than that, CNN used the soundtrack for a Kazakh tourism ad as backing music o the Serbian advert by mistake. Serb viewers also spotted that one medieval church featured prominently in the ad was not Serbian but Romanian, on the wrong side of the Danube river on Serbia’s eastern border. Officials said they will edit the commercial to highlight the fun side of Serbia, including the vibrant cafe culture and nightlife of the capital Belgrade.


Gay Friendly Travel

A recent American survey of over 2,000 gay travellers, 21 and older, found that San Francisco was the top “gay-friendly” destination, followed by Key West, Fla.; New York City; Fire Island, which is part of Long Island in New York; Provincetown, Mass.; Los Angeles; Miami-South Beach, Fla.; Las Vegas; New Orleans, and Palm Springs-Palm Desert, Calif. Nearly half of gay and lesbian travellers said that whether a destination has a “gay-friendly” reputation matters when they are making leisure travel choices. A place where “they can hold their partner’s hand in public” without fear of harassment was cited as an example of something that more than half of gay men and more than two-thirds of gay women look for when they are choosing a destination, according to the survey.


Smelling Good: India’s Police

Police in India’s Western state of Gujarat are to wear new uniforms impregnated with the fragrance of flowers and citrus to help improve their image. “Most policemen look hassled, drenched in sweat after coming from any scene of crime,” said Somesh Singh, a designer at the National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad that drew up the uniforms on request of the state government. “They are surely not the best person one would like to meet, but if they smell good and fresh one might as well approach them,” said Singh. The cotton fabric will not only have a fragrant finish, but also an optic technology to make the uniform glow in the dark so officials can be located easily.


Passengers Overcome Hijacker

A Mauritanian man hijacked a plane to France and demanded that it go to France. The man was unable to speak French and spoke only Arabic. The pilot told him that he did not have enough fuel to go to France and that they would land in the Canary Islands. Then, over the loud speaker system, the pilot told the passengers, in French, that he would land very hard on the runway and speed up, so when the armed hijacker was knocked over on landing, please could the passengers jump him. They did. “When the pilot landed he deliberately braked very hard. The man fell to the ground and was jumped on by passengers. He fired two bullets but there are no serious injuries,” the Mauritanian sources said.


Have you got a tale to tell?

If you have a travellers tale that your aching to tell. Then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website and share it with the world. Travel Sized Bites


US Prison Pen-Pals

Valentine’s Day has been and gone, and if, like the Beetle you did not receive any declarations of undying love, there’s always some of America’s most desirable felons who are lining up to send you love letters, poems and even proposals of marriage. If that is your cup of tea, take a look at: www.hotprisonpals.com. Inmates, both heterosexual and gay, pay $19 to post their photograph and a short note on the site. Women inmates are also invited to join hotprisonpals, but none has applied so far.

With no access to the Internet, letters are often the only contact U.S. prisoners have with the outside world. “Prisoners have real abandonment issues. Friends and family often stop writing after a couple of years,” said Bangkok based Jason Rupp, a 30 year old photographer who built the Web site in 2003.


BA Going Ryanair on us?

British Airways seem to be going all Ryanair on us. The latest hoo-hah is going to hit travellers with more than one check in item of luggage hard. Passengers flying with British Airways could face an additional cost of $470 if they choose to take an extra bag with them on a return flight. The airline has announced that from February 13, 2007 the cost of checking in an extra bag on a one-way long-haul flight will be $235 (£120). Short-haul travellers will face a $118 (£60) per bag fee, while those taking UK domestic flights will have to fork out $90 (£42) for each additional case.”


Intoxicated Russians Rescued from Ice-Floe

Hundreds of Russian fishermen were recently rescued from ice-floes which began to drift after breaking away from the shore off Sakhalin island in the Sea of Okhotsk. The anglers had been fishing through holes drilled in the ice, a traditional winter pursuit for many Russians. The Emergencies Ministry rescued all 442 people who were adrift, although about 70 had initially refused to leave without their gear. One ministry official was quoted as saying many of those rescued were in a state of “heavy alcoholic intoxication”.


New Bridge for Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is a Unesco World Heritage Site and currently attracts as many as 2,500 visitors a day. A controversial 80-metre (262ft) bridge, due to open in February 2007 will create a new route to the Incan ruins and enable locals to take produce to Cusco in three hours instead of 12. Critics, however, say that the new bridge could have a damaging impact on tourism to the ruins by increasing tourist numbers, which could damage the ruins and lead to an increase in drug trafficking in the region. Unesco inspectors are due to inspect the site later this year to ascertain whether its status is endangered


Buenos Aires Tours

My name is Christina Yang, and I wanted to introduce you to the organization I am volunteering for as I think it would be a great resource for independent travellers to know about.

CICERONES DE BUENOS AIRES is a non-profit organization that offers a free tour guide service. It is a greeter program, to help visitors explore the city through the eyes of a porteño (Buenos Aires resident.) The service is similar to the “Big Apple Greeters” in New York, and as it is a non-profit it is completely free. It is a great service for everyone, but especially for independent travellers because it is essentially a way to make a friend in an unknown place. For more information, visit www.cicerones.org.ar, or you can e-mail at contacto@cicerones.org.ar.


Space Colonisation

Professor Stephen Hawking, the eminent professor of mathematics at the University of Cambridge, author of erudite books recently warned that future generations would need to leave the planet to ensure the survival of the species. He is quoted as having said that space rockets using Star Trek technology like the ‘warp drive’ would be needed to colonise hospitable planets. Professor Hawking also spoke of his desire to go into space, and appealed to the Virgin tycoon, Sir Richard Branson, who is planning a “space tourism” venture, to realise his ambition. “My next goal is to go into space. Maybe Richard Branson will help me,” he said. “Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all out. But once we spread out into space and establish independent colonies, our future should be safe. There isn’t anywhere like the Earth in the solar system, so we would have to go to another star.


MTV and Frommer Guides

MTV and Frommer’s travel Guides

MTV has teamed up with Frommer’s travel guide to publish a series of travel guides specifically for young holidaymakers and those studying abroad. The guides offer a unique perspective on popular hotspots such as Ireland, Italy and Europe in general. In addition, further travel guides on Spain, France, England and road trips in the US are planned for April next year. The MTV Travel Guides can also be downloaded in podcast format from Frommers.com and iTunes.


Gorilla Threat

If you, like the Beetle have a yen to go and visit the gorillas, it is disheartening to learn from a recent survey that over 5,000 gorillas may have died in recent outbreaks of the Ebola virus in central Africa. Scientists warn that, coupled with the commercial hunting of gorillas, it may be enough to push them to extinction. One of the most virulent viruses known, Ebola has killed more than 1,000 people since it was first recorded in 1976. Scientists are still working on a vaccine and there is no known cure. In 2002 and 2003, several outbreaks of Ebola flared up in human populations in Gabon and Congo. Outbreaks of the disease in humans have sometimes been traced to the bush meat trade.


Help Your Friends Out

People you care about can benefit from the wealth of information about travel available on the Internet. Help them learn how to do it by forwarding them this issue of the Globetrotters eNewsletter!


Meeting News from London by Padmassana

Our first meeting of the new year was as always 4 mini talks given by club members. Tony Annis was first with his talk about Saudi Arabia – Filming. Tony was involved in making a film about King Abdullah’s life, this included charging camels and the logistics of getting equipment and props into the country. Tony also showed us Riyadh’s “Chop chop square”.

Sylvia Pullen took us to North West Pakistan to the valley of the Kalasha people near Afghanistan. Sylvia explained the Kalasha are Pagan and not Muslim, and may be descendents of Alexander the Great’s army with their light skin tone. We also saw the Khyber Pass and an Afghan village that was less than welcoming when Sylvia and her party tried to visit.

After the break John and Roz Williams transported us to Transylvania, very rural Romania, only reachable down roads that became tracks that became impassable. They stayed at a guest house that uses some of it profits to support the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project, involved in helping the country’s bear, wolf and Lynx populations to survive. We saw close up pictures of bears which are fed small amounts by the project.

David Boyd was our last speaker, taking us to Kruger National Park in South Africa. David had some great photos of Lions, Elephants and some hard to get Leopard shots. David also showed us the camps in the Kruger which range from basic to fairly upmarket.

Many thanks to all our speakers for getting the 2007 talks off to a wonderful start. That was not the end of proceedings as all present then enjoyed Globetrotters traditional New Years party, thanks to all those who brought along food and drink.

By Padmassana

3rd February 2007: Dave Atkinson – Bradt Guide author – will be talking about Bolivia, to coincide with launching their new edition. After the break, Juliet Coombe will be talking about Galle Fort – the lives of the 800 people in Galle fort, Sri Lanka.

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 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk


MeetingNews from London by Padmassana

Our first meeting of the new year was as always 4 mini talks given by club members. Tony Annis was first with his talk about Saudi Arabia – Filming. Tony was involved in making a film about King Abdullah’s life, this included charging camels and the logistics of getting equipment and props into the country. Tony also showed us Riyadh’s “Chop chop square”.

Sylvia Pullen took us to North West Pakistan to the valley of the Kalasha people near Afghanistan. Sylvia explained the Kalasha are Pagan and not Muslim, and may be descendents of Alexander the Great’s army with their light skin tone. We also saw the Khyber Pass and an Afghan village that was less than welcoming when Sylvia and her party tried to visit.

After the break John and Roz Williams transported us to Transylvania, very rural Romania, only reachable down roads that became tracks that became impassable. They stayed at a guest house that uses some of it profits to support the Carpathian Large Carnivore Project, involved in helping the country’s bear, wolf and Lynx populations to survive. We saw close up pictures of bears which are fed small amounts by the project.

David Boyd was our last speaker, taking us to Kruger National Park in South Africa. David had some great photos of Lions, Elephants and some hard to get Leopard shots. David also showed us the camps in the Kruger which range from basic to fairly upmarket.

Many thanks to all our speakers for getting the 2007 talks off to a wonderful start. That was not the end of proceedings as all present then enjoyed Globetrotters traditional New Years party, thanks to all those who brought along food and drink.

By Padmassana

3rd February 2007: Dave Atkinson – Bradt Guide author – will be talking about Bolivia, to coincide with launching their new edition. After the break, Juliet Coombe will be talking about Galle Fort – the lives of the 800 people in Galle fort, Sri Lanka.

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 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk