Alhabib is from the Tuareg people in Libya and sent us this fascinating insight into the Islamic festival of Ramadan.

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. It is during this month that Muslims fast and when Muslims concentrate on their faith. It is a time of worship and contemplation. There are fairly strict rules about how one can live during the month of Ramadan: during the Fast of Ramadan, Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink during daylight hours and smoking and sexual relations are also forbidden during fasting. At the end of each day, the fast is broken with prayer and a meal called the iftar. In the evening following the iftar, it is customary for Muslims to go out visiting family and friends and the fast is resumed the next morning

As the holy time of Ramadan approaches, everyone is very happy and starts to prepare for it. The women in the home usually prepare special meals for the month of Ramadan. Everyone is happy and anticipating the coming of this holy month. Ramadan begins after watching the crescent shaped moon at midnight or even later. During this period, Muslims start their day before early dawn and eat a meal, called the Sahour. This is sufficient for fasting for the day. After that, they begin the worship and call to God for forgiveness. All Muslims must fast between the hours of dawn and dusk.

Before sunset the women prepare delicious savoury food. At sunset , when the call to prayer to Al Magreb is made, all the family gather round the feast to eat. They begin with some dates and some milk (this is the sunna of the prophet Mohamed ) and then begin the Magreb prayer. After praying they return to eat and drink. There is lots of visiting going on and much time is spent with friends and all houses are open to receive any guest from anywhere.

After eating the Iftar (breakfast), much worship and prayers take place during the month, and at night, when the call to prayer for the evening Aisha begins, people go to the mosques to pray evening prayers. They pray the Al Traweh prayer and this continues every night. On the 27^th night, the Greater Night (Alila Alkabira ) which is called (Night of Al Gadr), the holy Koran begins to descend from heaven to prophet Mohamed. On this night people recite the Koran all the night until dawn so as to be close to God.

After the end of the holy month of Ramadan, the holy Bairam comes. In the Morning of the first day of the lesser Bairam, the people get out to the Plazas to pray the Feast prayer. It is two bows: after praying, each person begins to greet each other (Alsalam) happily and to wish him a merry feast. After the Feast after the holy month, the lesser Bairam continues for three days, all of it to visit friends and family and everyone is happy.

If you would like to contact Alhabib about Ramaddan or Libya, he can be reached by e-mail on: tenerecotour@yahoo.com

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

After her memorable barbecue in Itaunas, Brazil, Iris and her overland group make their way to Caravelas.

We moved on to a place called Caravelas which was right by the sea, a nice little Pousada (hotel) as they call them in Brazil, with a little dip pool and nice little rooms, with the sea just seconds away. It was here that I decided to get rid of a load of outstanding postcards and so took a trip into the little town to find a post office and send them off. I do hope they all arrived safely because I was advised it might be better to wait until Salvador as rural post offices are notoriously sleepy places, but when I got to the post office, I found it very efficient and the staff of two extremely helpful, and I was able to get directions to a stationery shop so that I could buy more envelopes to post off the rest of my postcards at a later date.

I dare say recipients who receive the postcards initially noticed that the envelopes were stuck down with sellotape in a very haphazard fashion! Well, it was only after I had bought the envelopes and came to stick them down that I realized there was no sticky on them! Apparently this is the norm in Brazil and one has to either buy a glue stick to stick them down or use the facilities at the post office! We have decided that this is probably because it is so humid in Brazil that any sticky on the envelopes would soon deteriorate and stick themselves down before they were used, if you see what I mean.

We stayed in Caravelas for just two nights and then moved on to Caraiva, which is a small island just the most incredibly small boat journey from the shore, it took the boatsmen all of two minutes, I would think to row us across. And this again was an unspoilt place with no built up roads, and the island itself was on a coast line which was reached only by a very basic mud track road which sent us all lurching and bumping around inside the truck as it negotiated potholes, ruts and ridges in the road and at times had difficulty getting through narrow openings and sharp bends and some bridges that looked as if they wouldn't take a horse and cart, let alone an enormous truck!

Anyway, we spent an enjoyable three nights there. I wasn't prepared to enjoy it to begin with because we had such a trek round the island to find our accommodation only to find the place we were supposed to stay at was inexplicably closed, and so it was a race to find the best accommodation available and as usual, Judith and I got left behind in the crush and rush by the younger members of the group to get themselves sorted (there’s no concession on this trip for the aged among them) and so in the end it meant that we were housed in a small Pousada across the road from the rest of the group, but we did pay Reais 5 less than they did per night and got a really nice two-bedded (one double bed and one single bed) room and it took us quite some time to assure our landlord that Martin, who had come to act as interpreter for us, didn't want to share the double bed with one or both of us!)

We also found our landlord had donkeys who came by to spend the night just outside the grounds of the Pousada in a square area formed between two buildings. During the evening, we went to the landlord’s restaurant for a meal and noticed the gate to the Pousada and its grounds had been shut, so we carefully closed it behind us. We met a Brazilian lady at the restaurant, who seeing our difficulty with the menu, came to assist us. It turned out she had spent time in USA and spoke really good English and she turned out to be an artist of sorts, her speciality being designing patterns for materials, and her husband’s speciality was making jewellery and they travelled around on public transport selling their wares. We spent a pleasant evening with them before going back to bed, and then as I looked out over the grounds, once we had got to our room, I noticed we had inadvertently left the gate open and the donkeys, who had arrived to spend the night in the lee of the buildings, had entered the garden and were about to feed off the plants! Well, some of my friends and family know I am not too happy dealing with large animals, but without thinking I went straight down and shooed these three big animals out of the garden and they obeyed me so willingly, I felt quite proud of myself as I closed the gate behind them. (I didn't want to have to pay for all the plants they might have eaten and that spurred me on, I think)

We spent a pleasant couple of days in Caraiva, exploring the beaches and finding everyone so friendly and helpful. Most of the group descended on a particular restaurant for breakfast and to spend the day there while they frolicked on the beach and in the sea, and I just wandered from place to place, studying my Spanish and just contemplating the ocean. There were plenty of places to eat in the evening, mostly serving fish, and we met our Brazilian friends each evening and spent some pleasant times with them. They were in Caraiva to display their wares, and weren't too hopeful of selling much as they were relatively expensive compared to the normal tourist junk, but the lady was just pleased to practice her English and we were relieved because we weren't too keen to learn Portuguese. I had studied it a year or so ago, but I had then decided to concentrate on Spanish and so forgot most of what I had tried to learn!

We then went on to a place called Porto Seguro, which is in the middle of the mining area of Brazil where many precious stones and metals are found and whilst there visited their museum with exhibits from all over the world depicting stones in their raw state and in their polished state, and showing all the various minerals and metals extracted in the region together with the machinery etc to do it with and it truly was a very fascinating exhibition and I spent a couple of hours there. Porto Seguro is an unspoilt town with narrow streets and colonial buildings, unfortunately many of them in bad need of renovation, but it also made a pleasant stopping point for us on the way to Salvador.

Spotted by our webmaster, Paul. If you are planning to travel in Europe by train, then the links below will take you to the English language versions of local rail journey planners. The majority of these provide timetable, ticket and booking facilities.

1^st November 2003 London meeting

On November 1^st, we had two very different talks this month. The first was by Amar Grover, entitled “The Hindustan Tibet road”, an old trading route used by pilgrims on their way to Mt Kailash. The area is very mountainous and picturesque, Amar showed us villages and 800 year old temples perched high on cliff tops, some only reachable by use of “Flying fox” pulley systems across the valleys, not for use by those with a nervous disposition. In this Buddhist region we saw monks who perform dances depicting parts of the Buddha’s life. We also saw how hard daily life is with yaks being used for farming. But it was the stunning scenery, which stole the show.

Our second speaker was the ever-popular Tom Freemantle, who delighted us with his talk “Mexico to Manhattan with a mule”. Tom was following once again in the footsteps of a relation who did this journey during the American civil war. Tom met “Brownie” the mule at the Mexican border and after a few tips from the owner set off in temperatures of 100 degrees. Tom’s epic journey of 2700 miles took seven months, Brownie going through seven sets of shoes. Along the way Tom showed us some of the great sights including the Alamo. But it was the hospitality of the American people that shone through. During Tom’s trip September 11^th had happened and it was fitting that the last shots we saw were Tom’s photos of “Ground Zero”.

Next month, on Saturday 6^th December, Paul Goldstein will talk about Africa: An Adventurous Wilderness/The Hunters and the Hunted. Paul has travelled to sub-Saharan Africa over fifty-five times guiding safaris and tours, and photographing. He has climbed Africa’s highest peaks, rafted the wildest rivers and stood toe-to-toe with charging rhino. His passion, for “conservation” for the people and wild-life, is supported by award-winning photography in both BBC and Royal Geographic Photographic competitions.

After the break, John Pilkington will give a talk entitled: Up the Mekong to Tibet about a journey up one of Asia’s longest rivers from the South China Sea to Tibet and beyond. Starting from the rice paddies of Vietnam, John follows its course through the gorges of China’s Yunnan province to where it rises at over 16,000 feet, meeting river people of six nationalities along the way.

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

What is it: rabies is an acute, and occasionally fatal virus almost always transmitted by dogs, jackals, foxes, skunks, cats, bats, mongooses, and farm animals. Rabies is found on all continents, except Antarctica and Australasia. Doctors have estimated that 2% of dogs in Bangkok are rabid – no, the Beetle did not know that either.

How do I get it: the rabies virus is transmitted in the saliva of an infected animal by biting or licking an open wound. The virus is usually carried by Half of all people bitten by an infected animal will develop rabies.

What happens if I get it: it can take weeks, months and sometimes years to develop, although the usual incubation time is 2 to 8 weeks. Symptoms can include loss of appetite, muscle aches, sore throat, headache, paralysis, spasms of swallowing muscles, delirium, convulsion, and, in worse cases, coma and death. Sometimes, odd behaviours manifest themselves in the form of aggression, agitation or anxiety

Diagnose and treatment: samples of saliva and blood will determine rabies. A course of rabies vaccinations will cure you. A pre-exposure vaccine is available for travelers visiting high risk countries. Seek medical help as soon as you have been bitten. The earlier you can receive rabies injections, the better, even if you have received a pre-exposure course of injections.

How can I avoid contracting rabies: if you are visiting a high risk area, arrange to have rabies vaccinations. In any case, avoid contact with all animals, whether domestic or wild. If you are bitten, wash the bite with soap and water and then with alcohol or iodine to reduce the chances of becoming infected.

Former Globetrotters Committee member Stuart was recently based in Cambodia whilst working for Voluntary Services Overseas. In this article, he gives us the benefit of his experience and tells us his top tips.

Transport

Tuk tuk (seats 2) – $8 a day (sunrise to sunset) for the central temples (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm), $15 to go to Banteay Srei, they may want and extra $1 to go to Neak Pean but this is a bit cheeky.

I recommend Kinal as a driver – very gentle person, speaks a bit of English, drives slowly and carefully, has a nice new tuk-tuk. Tel: 012 909 730.

Alternative is to go by moto for about $5-8.

There are 2 boat options – new Japanese boat or old boat. The new one has just started and they had a promo deal on for July and Aug of $30 o/w but the normal price is $55, which is comparable to flying. It’s about the same time as the old boat. Guesthouses in Siem Reap can arrange tickets. It has an air-con downstairs with nice seats, free meal and drinks, normal volume films and a covered deck with chairs. They also pick you up and take you to/from the boat at both ends. Additional perks include life jackets and lifeboats, which are not to be found on the old boats.

The old boats are normally $25 o/w but they dropped their prices to $10-15 in the face of competition from the new one but they may well go back up again once the promo period is over. Old boats all seem to be quite similar – “bullet boats” or “express boats” or “rambo boats”. Basically a metal cylinder with cramped air-conned interior and VERY loud videos (Khmer comedy or kung fu – bring ear plugs). Trick is to get a seat away from a speaker and not too close to the back (engine noise and industrial strength aircon). Probably not for claustrophobics as the only 2 doors are small and what would happen in the event of an accident doesn’t bear thinking about.

Alternatively, sit on the roof – take plenty of sun cream, water and a scarf (2-3000 riel for a kroma – checked Khmer scarf, from any market) to cover body parts that will get roasted/soaked regardless. Once the thing gets going it is very fast and exposed. There is no barrier at the outside edge of the boat, only a ledge to walk along and a rail at shoulder height to hold onto, so if you need to go to the loo (inside) during the 5-6 hour trip (cf. drinking lots of water tip above) then don’t fall in on the way as they probably won’t stop to pick you up. Put valuables in plastic bags to avoid them being drenched.

However, if you want to take photos then the roof is the place to be. There is a Vietnamese floating village just at the Siem Reap boat boarding place which is very photogenic. Once in the lake itself the scenery is not great as the banks are far away. The stretch from Kompong Chhnang to PP is scenic as the banks are close and there are lots of other boats fishing etc.

Food & Accom

I haven’t tried too many places but can recommend Soup Dragon (run by an ex-VSO) and Blue Pumpkin (also does good bakery things). Watch the restaurants near the temples – they’re much more expensive than elsewhere (as are the drinks stands – buy in Siem Reap and leave them in the tuk-tuk). I’m not sure but I think some places have 2 menus – one for foreigners and the other for locals. The alternative is to stock up on picnic things in Siem Reap.

Top tip: you can swim in the very nice pool at the Angkor Village Hotel for free – just be discrete about it.

There are loads of places to stay in all price ranges. We stayed at the Green Garden Home guest house, which is a little out of the centre i.e. a 5-10 min walk to the market. Quiet garden setting with rooms from $10-25.

Shopping

Don’t bother buying souvenirs here as they’re much cheaper and better quality/selection in Phnom Penh. One thing you might want to get is the Angkor guide book by Dawn Rooney which gives you the detailed low down on each temple. $2-5 for a photocopied version, available everywhere. There are also 2 little visitors’ guides available in guesthouses which have up-to-date maps and listings.

Temples

This year the Government has introduced photo passes – you get taken into a little room and have your picture taken (free – or you can take a photo along if you prefer/have one to hand) for putting on your pass. $20 for 1 day; $40 for 2-3; $60 for 4-7. 3 days is nice and not rushed at all, you probably need 2 minimum if you want to get to Banteay Srei/not hang around; it probably is possible to cover most of the main sights in a day if you happen to be Japanese. Reserve one of your days for a sunrise/set visit – recommended.

There are loads of temples to see and they’re spread over a huge area but recommendations are:

• Angkor Wat – can’t come to Cambodia and not see this. There are 2 pools inside the grounds ideally situated for sunrise/set shots. Make sure you’ve got a guidebook that can explain the bas reliefs – the churning of the sea makes more sense once it’s been explained. Stairs to the top are precarious.
• Angkor Thom/Bayon – doesn’t look much from afar but once inside those faces really get to you – a marvel. Don’t forget to check out the bas reliefs here too – lots of apsaras in good condition.
• Ta Promh – overgrown with trees, looking a bit like it’s just been discovered. Atmospheric but difficult to photograph in the rain as it is quite dark.
• Banteay Srei – a trek from Siem Reap but well worth it. Very different from the main temples – it’s made from red stone and the carving is very intricate. It is surprisingly small.
• Pre Rup – on the way to B. Srei and it just seems to appear from nowhere. I particularly enjoyed trying to explain elementary arithmetic to the girl on the top – she wanted to sell 10 bangles for 4000 riel but refused to sell 5 for 2000!
• Preah Neak Pean – because it’s so different – it comes as a bit of a shock after all those crumbling temples. This one is a complex of 5 pools. Very little to it but a change is as good as a rest.
• Others:
• Banteay Kdei – quite similar to the others. Maybe I was getting watted out by this point.
• Srah Srang – the king’s bath but really just a set of stairs and a field!
• Preah Khan – has “enchanting walks”. Shaped liked a huge cross with many of the designs similar to other temples.

We didn’t make it to the Roulos group (the earliest temples), Phnom Kulen, the river of 1000 lingkas (apparently very good once there’s been enough rain to cover the carvings) or any of the other minor places.

Film

Film is available cheaply in Siem Reap. Not so sure about quality of processing but can recommend a place in PP which is cheap, quick and good.

If you go for a sunrise/set visit to the temples and you’ve got an SLR then underexpose to get nice silhouette shots.

Take at least 400ASA film for the temples as some of them can be surprisingly dark, especially if it is raining/cloudy – you may find yourself needing a flash at times.

For more information, visit Stuart’s website:http://uk.geocities.com/stuartincambodia

For details of forthcoming meetings email newyork@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates, click here at our website.

Hi Globies – hope you all had a good Happy Thanksgiving! We have another great slide shows coming up for January 10^th!

Michael Luongo will be talking about Rebuilding the Ruins of Afghanistan – from women who work at re-opened museums to hunky gym rats who worship Arnold Schwarzenegger. Afghanistan has changed in the 2 years since the ousting of the Taliban. A lot more work needs to be done, but new buildings rise from the rubble to punctuate the Kabul skyline, archeological initiatives are helping tourism, and wheelchair programs are giving mine victims a new chance in life. See the Afghanistan you never read about in the papers. We'll look at what there is to see as a tourist in Kabul and we'll also touch on travel to other Islamic hotspots like Jordan, Turkey and Morocco

Venue: as always 4:00-5:30 The Wings Theater 154 Christopher Street. $10.00 for non-members and $8.00 for members.

The NY Globetrotters website: www.globetrottersnyc.com

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theatre, 154 Christopher Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm.

U. S. Soldiers Home, Washington: during a century of travel (well 78 years!) both in and out of service I have travelled to over 150 countries (I count both North and South Dakota as countries) and for some reason have jotted signs and happenings that I thought funny at the time (and now wonder why). So here is the perfect opportunity to share some of my anecdotes.

In the India train schedule they have all these comments on leprosy.

1. Deformity does not mean infectivity.

2. Leprosy affects all faiths (Me. Surely not Catholics)

3. Any doctor can treat leprosy

(I have three suitcases full of notes I have taken about travel, military, yes, three suitcases. I have to get rid of some of the notes. Guess where I am sending them? Ha!

One Sign in restaurant: do not spit

Do not make nuisance

(Indians use this word nuisance often in their signs. Always reminding you to not make a nuisance of yourself (bad form)

One sign reads Deshi chicken eggs 20 rupees

English eggs 12 rupees

I was told English eggs mean the chickens were imported from England. Perhaps the eggs are smaller than Indian chickens.

They have a neat way of presenting your bill in Indian restaurants (even budget ones.) It is put in a folder that looks like a leather stationary folder which you open to look at the bill and no one else can see the amount of your bill. You then put the money in the stationary folder and close it. If you are host no one sees the bill and also they don’t see how little you leave as a tip inside the folder. I, of course like the system.

Sign in store: Vacancy for peon.

The different color turbans the Sikhs wear have no religious significance or other meaning. They can wear whatever color they wish. The man telling me this said he was wearing a black one because he was wearing a black suit.

Next month, Mac discusses Kenya. If you would like to contact Mac, he can be e-mailed on: macsan400@yahoo.com

Mtwara (pop:approx.100,000) is the nearest town to Mikindani, in South eastern Tanzania. It is the administrative centre of the region, was the southern ‘capital’ in Colonial times and serves as the springboard for travel south into Mozambique. It can be reached by air from Dar es Salaam to Mtwara’s own airport, by sea from Dar es Salaam on the MV Santorini or by road from north, south and west. The approach to Mtwara from Mikindani undulates along a stretch of rural country that eventually goes up a long gradual hill. Along the metalled road are the saltpans, and behind them on the right hand side is a large coconut plantation. Just before the hill begins is the turning off to the right, which takes you to the airport, and the road to the Ruvuma River & Mozambique border.

As the road goes up the hill towards Mtwara it runs along an escarpment – great view over the countryside from there – and comes to a roundabout with a monument to the Mwenge or National Torch. If you turn left you approach Ligula Hospital, built with British money in the early 1960s – turn right and it takes you to the market area (more of that later). Straight on and on the right you pass a large open area called the Showground, which seems to be both the local militia training ground and the HGV driving school site. Both activities have been seen there – the militia several times per week. A rag taggle lot of men, women and some no more that children but given a panga each, they would probably not be good to meet! I think that basic training started at about two months ago and they have progressed to the slow march – they seem to spend a lot of time on that activity. The whole platoon was seen setting off to jog down the main road towards Mikindani – some had dropped out by the time they reached the roundabout! At this point the road goes down a long straight dusty hill with acacia trees either side plus an occasional mango tree, and occasional office buildings such as the Tanzanian Revenue Authority, the local government departments, the Air Tanzania local office and Tanesco offices. 2 storeys seems to be the maximum here so nothing too big.

If you continue to the end you come to a T-junction. Opposite is the Catholic church we went to for Joyce’s wedding, turn right and it takes you to the Port from where the MV Santorini departs to Dar es Salaam – turn left and you get to Shangani – the up market part of the town where the wealthy residents live and many of the NGO’s have their offices there too. Shangani also boasts a good swimming beach. But before you get that far there are several streets on either side – none of which have good surfaces. Immediately any expected notion of being in a regional capital is dashed. One is supposed to be a metal road but the surface is dreadful, and there are 3 of the most vicious ‘sleeping policemen’ you could ever imagine. The rest are just mud/sand/dust road surfaces (depending on the season). Driving along the main shopping street feels more like being at sea it is so undulating both backwards and forwards and side to side! Nothing at all is spent on roads. Mtwara is in 2 parts really – the older part being around the tiny Aga Khan Park, mostly built in the 1950’s & 60’s.

The main shopping street in the Aga Khan Park area is mostly Indian shops – with strings of (very old and dry) mango leaves strung across the door for good luck. There is the ‘off licence’, the shop where all the Landrover spares come from that also sells hardware and bottled gas, there is another shop that sells all sorts of imported food Cornflakes, Alpen, Heinz tomato ketchup etc.

A little further on, in the Chiko Ngola area, is the market and the Bus station. Just before you turn into the main street that leads to the market there is a crossroads. On one corner there is a huge Coca Cola bottle, which marks a drinks kiosk! On the opposite corner there is a patch of open ground in front of the Mtwara football ground. On this patch of ground the cashew nut co-operative hangs out – waiting for buyers to approach them. The nuts are sold in 1 kg or ½ kg packs. It is worth pulling up the Landrover on the corner just to see the sight of the most competitive co-operative saleswomen – they are really aggressive and rush over thrusting packs of nuts into the window of the vehicle and pushing each other out of the way! So much for being a co-operative!

Another feature of Mtwara, in common with many towns and villages throughout Tanzania, is the imaginative use of old shipping containers. These are converted into shops, offices, hairdressing salons and bars. They are fitted out with electricity and some are painted with a brick effect design on the front. Mtwara reminds me a little of an American West town, sort of neglected, dusty and rather chaotic. The fuel station that we use is on one of the worst roads – and each time I have been there I have to wait for herds of cattle to be driven along the road before I can leave! It looks just like an American cattle drive! On one occasion there was also a flock of Guinea fowl wandering along the road. You are likely to find very free ranging chickens, goats and cattle wandering around all the streets – with no apparent ownership. It has been known to meet any of these in the Bank car park.

One of the guide books refers to an ‘endearingly time-warped atmosphere’. This Mtwara certainly has despite it trying to portray an air of activity and modern commercialism. There is something very appealing about it!

For more information on the work carried out by Trade Aid in Tanzania, see their websitewww.mikindani.com

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.