Muir’s Tours recently launched their volunteer teaching programme in Peru and it is proving to be very popular with Gap Year students. They have now set up another teaching facility in the ancient settlement of Huancayo where you can experience pre Inca culture and hospitality.

For more information, see http://www.nkf-mt.org.uk/volunteer_Huancayo_Peru.htm

Indonesia is the largest archipelago and the fifth most populous country in the world. Consisting of five main islands and 30 smaller archipelagos, it has a total of 13.677 of which about 6.000 are inhabited. It stretches 5.120 km (3.200 miles) between Australia and the Asia mainland and divides the Pacific and Indian Ocean at the equator. The third largest country in Asia in terms of both population and area after China and India, Indonesia’s national territory consist for 84 percent of sea and only for 16 percent of land. The five biggest islands are Kalimantan (539,460 sq km), Sumatra (473,606 sq km), Irian Jaya (421,952 sq km), Sulawesi (189,035 sq km) and Java including Madura (132,035 sq km).

It is a destination which offers diverse interests in a great variety of cultures, scenic beauty of its island, customs and the natural architecture of green paddy fields, all enveloped in a warm tropical climate.

SUMATRA

Sumatra, the archipelago’s second largest island consists of an extraordinary wealth of resources, peoples and cultures. Medan is the gateway for travel to Lake Toba, the world largest volcanic lake. The enchanting Samosir island in the middle of the lake is the best place to observe traditional Batak culture. Adventurous travellers will visit Mt. Leuser National park, one of the richest in South East Asia, with unspoiled ecological systems supporting more than 500 species of birds, 3500 species of plants and housing endangered species such as sumatranese tiger and rhinoceros, elephants, gibbons. Orang utan can be easily approached in Bahorok rehabilitation center, deep in the dense jungle. Surf lovers as well as remote culture seekers will find it all in the unique island of Nias.

JAVA

Java is one of nature’s masterworks: some 120 volcanoes (30 are still active) have spread over the times fertile ashes supporting an extraordinary luxuriant vegetation. Such natural blessings were turned to great advantage by untold generations of Javanese who sculpted rice terraces everywhere it was possible to. The glorious civilization of ancient java – producers of masterpieces such as Borobudur and Prambanan temple, was founded on this agricultural bounty and since the early times, java has exerted an inordinate influence over the surrounding areas. Today over 110 million of people live here, in an area only as large as England. (60% of Indonesia total populations). The political cultural and economic heart of the worlds 5^th largest nation, Java has no peer as a place to visit. Found here is every imaginable landscape and treasure. Java is indeed a microcosm of all the wonders and the burdens of this great island nation.

SULAWESI or CELEBES

Sulawesi or Celebes Island. A glance at any map of Sulawesi, formerly known as Celebes, immediately highlights the island’s strangest attribute; its shape. Variously described as looking like an orchid, a spider or a giant crab, the island four “arms” radiate from a mountainous core. Despite covering an area nearly as large as Britain, no place is more than 40 km from the sea. Most people visit the island to see the Toraja, living in the south province. Their funerals ceremonies, cliff burial sites and soaring roofed houses makes this culture on of the most fascinating in the world. Makasar (formerly Ujung Pandang), Sulawesi largest city is the usual port of entry. Manado on the northern tip offers some of the best diving in the country and is also becoming increasingly popular.

KALIMANTAN or BORNEO

Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo is a huge, thinly populated territory of swamps, jungle, mountains and rivers. Approximately the size of France, Kalimantan’s 10 million inhabitants make just 5% of the country population, most of which is concentrated in coastal cities. If you are looking for jungle and jungle culture, Kalimantan is your destination. The eastern province is the most popular destination with Balikpapan, an oil industry center as a gateway. Board a comfortable houseboat and wind your way slowly up the fascinating Mahakam River into the Dayak people land. Once known as the force headhunters, the Dayak have for long abandoned this tradition but have maintained their unique culture and most still live traditional long houses set on stilts. Banjarmasin in the southern province has certainly the biggest and most authentic floating market in Asia and is a good starting point for wildlife expeditions to Tanjung Putting National Park and the orang utans rehabilitation center at Camp Leakey.

IRIAN JAYA

Irian Jaya is the largest and most eastern province of Indonesia and covers the western half of the island of New Guinea, the eastern part of the island is the territory of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Almost three quarter of the island consist of high mountains. The rest is wide lowlands, deep valley, wide muddy river mouths, swamps and jungle. The primitive cultures of the Irian tribes are of special interest. The Baliem valley in the central part of Irian Jaya is very well known and the natural beauty is enhanced by the people’s faithful adherence to their ancestral customs and traditions.

Well, if you are thinking of holiday trip, or even just information on any travel requirements in Indonesia, please do not hesitate to contact us: abctour_td@cbn.net.id We will be most happy to assist you.

Globetrotters meeting on Saturday 13th September at 2pm

The Texas Branch of the Globetrotters Club will meet Saturday Sept 13^th, 2003, 2pm at the New Braunfels Public Library 700 E. Common Street, New Braunfels, Texas 830-620-5482

The September meeting will Feature a speaker from “Friendship Force International” for more information, see their website: http://www.friendshipforce.org/

If you like independent, adventuresome, fun, daring, exciting, “off the beaten path” travel, this club is for you. Our meeting begins at 2 P.M. Come early so you won't be late! Enjoy handouts, travel talk time, and door prizes!

Dates of future meetings: October 11^th, November 8^th – Mark your calendars.

For more information about the Texas Branch or help Christina, please contact her by texas@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates at our website (click here) or call Christina at 830-620-5482

On the way to Buenos Aires

We only did two visits during the five days it took to drive from Tierra del Fuego to Buenos Aires (BA) and so we arrived in that capital city ready for a rest and some comfortable beds! The only problem was, although our hotel was situated right bang in the centre of BA, we were not only on a street that was a regular bus route, but arrived at a time when major road works were going on all over BA and one set of which were right outside our hotel, so what with traffic all around us, pneumatic drills and revelers in the early hours, it was difficult to get any sleep! And of course it was very hot, but not as hot as it had been apparently, when temperatures had reached 40+. At least our temperatures were more in the high 20s/early 30s.

But BA was an incredible place, with long, extremely wide, roads cutting across it, all with their names reflecting history – names of specific dates such as “Avenida de 9 Julio” reflecting I believe their independence day; others after names of presidents such as “Avenida de Mayo” etc. We were only there for 5 nights, 4 days, and so spent most of it trying to get in as much catching up on emails and see as much of the sights as possible, including a trip to Uruguay for the day.

Of course, we all did our separate things, Judith and I sharing a room and our experiences and in the end we saw a great deal of the capital but not enough as it turned out as a lot of the museums were closed on a Monday (we arrived on a Thursday evening, and were leaving again early on the Tuesday) so our time was rather limited.

Friday was spent recovering from our epic five day journey and just looking around the immediate locality, getting laundry done and catching up on bits and pieces of shopping; Saturday it poured down all day long, but undaunted Judith and I went to see Eva Perón’s tomb (which was very low key, tucked away nondescriptly in one of a great number of rows of mausoleums in a cemetery just off the main central part of BA). But Judith was enthralled by it and had to have her photo taken in front of it, which I obligingly did on my camera as she had forgotten hers and it had been put in the hotel safe as a security precaution!

We also visited a famous part of BA called La Bocca which is really the slum area of BA but which has been renovated in parts and houses a thriving arts community. Many of the walls have murals depicting the history of the area but there are also many art shops and displays to wander around, besides street musicians and wandering artists, and of course the obligatory touristy shops! It had a lot of character and we spent the evening there, having a meal in one of the restaurants and enjoying the experience. To get there we had travelled on the bus and metro and that was quite an experience, especially travelling on the bus as although they do stop at designated bus stops, they will also open their doors and wait for you if you just signal them, but invariably this has to be when they are caught in a traffic jam because very often the public buses seem to be in a great hurry to get somewhere and very often drive straight past bus stops even when people are queuing there.

On the Sunday we went across to Uruguay for the day – taking the local ferry across the River Uruguay that took just under 3 hours. We left our hotel at 8am and took a taxi to the local ferry port, which was teeming with life. First of all we had to purchase a ticket, and went to one of the local ferry operators for this and that took some 40 minutes to be processed and then we had to queue for embarkation and get a stamp exiting Argentina and another stamp for entering Uruguay, and, of course, on the way back we had to then exit Uruguay and reenter Argentina.

But the day was brilliantly sunny and so we sat on deck for the entire outward crossing to Uruguay although on the return journey at 1845 it was too chilly to do this and so we spent almost the entire journey in one of the very crowded saloons, jam-packed with the day trippers, locals as well as tourists.

We went to a place called Colonia. We could have gone to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay but it would have been going from one big city to another, and so chose a “luxury” day trip fare to Colonia, (much nicer than Montevideo, Iris – Beetle) which is an ancient town some 150 km down the coast from Montevideo, which is a World Heritage site because of its old town with some of the original town wall surviving and lots of its old original houses from the 17th and 18th centuries not only still standing but still being used as homes and businesses by the local population, with the proviso they do not alter the structures noticeably.

Our package included a two-course lunch, a guided tour of the new and old towns of Colonia, and of course the return ferry fare. It proved a really rewarding day out, as although it was visited by so many, it was well organized and even the old town did not seem that overcrowded with tourists and one was able to walk around, admire the old architecture and the views along the river and learn something of the history of the place, which was originally settled by the Spanish and then taken over by the Portuguese and became part of Brazil until it got its independence in the 19th century.

Monday was spent in BA, catching up on emails, and visiting the opera house and the presidential palace. Of the opera house, we only got a very brief inside glimpse as it is closed on a Monday for cleaning and normally groups are not allowed in. However, Judith is a very persuasive lady and with her “pretty please” approach, swung us a brief glance inside the auditorium with its plush furnishings etc. Then we moved on to the presidential palace, first of all to look at the archives and catacombs and later to go on a guided tour of the palace itself. Unfortunately, the guided tour was in Spanish only and so most of the time we had to be content to just admire the magnificent architecture and furnishings rather than learn much about its history and unfortunately books in English on the palace weren’t to be had, but of course, we associated it with Eva Peron and looked at it all with her image well in mind!

Next month, Iris tells us of her visit to the Iguaçu Falls.

If you’d like to contact Iris, whether to wish her luck with her trip or to ask questions about her itinerary and places visited, I am sure she would like to hear from you. She can be contacted on: irisej2002@yahoo.co.uk

If you enjoy writing, enjoy travelling, why not write for the free monthly Globetrotters e-newsletter! The Beetle would love to hear from you: your travel stories, anecdotes, jokes, questions, hints and tips, or your hometown or somewhere of special interest to you. Over 7,500 people subscribe to the Globetrotters e-news.

To see your story in cyber print, e-mail the Beetle with your travel experiences, hints and tips or questions up to 750 words, together with a couple of sentences about yourself and a contact e-mail address to Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

The Beetle received this e-mail from a Globetrotters who thought it might be useful to pass on to other travellers. If you find yourself under the weather, there is almost always an alternative remedy to finding the local doctor – but if in doubt, seek proper medical advice.

Easy eyeglass protection: to prevent the screws in eyeglasses from loosening, apply a small drop of clear nail polish to the threads of the screws before tightening them.

Tomato puree boil cure: cover the boil with tomato puree as a compress. The acids from the tomatoes soothe the pain and bring the boil to a head. (Beetle: applying a piece of tomato against bee or wasp stings can help soothe the sting.)

Vinegar to heal bruises: soak a cotton ball in white vinegar and apply it to the bruise for 1 hour. The vinegar reduces the blueness and speeds up the healing process. (Beetle: vinegar can also be used to take the soreness away from sunburn.)

If you have any handy hints and tips for medical problems whilst travelling, write in and let the Beetle know.

I went on my two month long trip of Indochina. I skulked a bit in Qatar eyeing up the tablecloth-clad gentlemen and in turn being the recipient of their roving eye. Thought maybe not. From Bangkok Railway Station there was a direct train. This leaves every night at 8:00pm or 8:20pm. You can book a sleeper berth complete with curtains to the Friendship Bridge at the Laotian border. Crossing the border is easy – the usual stuff – $20 and a British Passport and you are there. Vientiane is the next stop. One needs to speak a little French to admire Alleys, les baguettes, Les Arch de Triomphe. I walked everywhere – the whole place is less than three square miles.

If you happen to skip the French breakfast, the French colonial attitude and the temperature, go to Luang Prabang. It’s a beautiful place – until they get funding to finish the long runway.

If you happen to be female, make sure you are wearing the right underwear: the Buddhist monks on the top of the hill happen to be very observant

Then there was a little problem. Up the Mekong down the Mekong. Make sure you are fit rather than panting your lungs away along the waterfalls like I did.

After having had such a lovely time, it all went a bit sour: three days after flying back from Cambodia, I spent 40 minutes on the internet in Ko Chang (Eastern Thailand) Internet café. A local man asked me if I wanted to buy drugs. I politely refused. What happened next? The guy kicked me in the face and broke my nose, leaving me in a lot of pain, and bleeding all over the place. A Kiwi traveller called the police who arrived pretty quickly. After 4 hours of investigations and searching my possessions, they decided to find the offender. The court case took on the spot. By 2 a.m. the police and the translator were around and so was my attacker; very professional, except me bleeding all over trying to fix my broken nose. I identified my attacker and then I was taken to hospital where the costs of fixing up my poor nose were paid for. I flew back home to avoid the rest of the nonsense.

If you'd like to contact Busby, please e-mail her on: me@krystyna.com

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.

When I was in Hong Kong a Sir Run Run Shaw (his actual name) had donated a wing to the Hong Kong Arts Centre (he had a dysentery problem)

The Jardine Center in Hong Kong has a tourist bureau in its basement. The buildings walls have thousands of round windows. The Chinese refer to it as the house of 1000 assholes.

Hong Kong Chunk King Mansions (anything but a mansion) (has hundreds of cheap budget accommodation.) In the Garden Hotel in it (anything but a garden) the Mama san told a married couple that asked for two towels “one room, one towel.” My towel and room had not been cleaned for a week. Each day she would say washee, washee tomorrow but tomorrow never came. Finally one of my visitors grabbed the towel and took it out in the lobby to show the other guests how dirty it was. The mama san did sleep outside my door each night. I don’t know if this was go guard me or to see that I did not escape.

At the Palace Casino (one of the gambling ships tied to the dock in Macao) when the dealer found out I was an American asked me if I thought the CIA had killed Indiri Ghandi in India.

We were not attacked by pirates on ship from Hong Kong to Macau and the trip was uneventful except while still tied to the dock the Chinese lady behind me got sick and vomited on me.

In Hong Kong Haw Paw Villa Dragon Amusement Park they have a sign “Students in uniform (the students wear uniforms) are not allowed to play video games. (Let’s not disgrace the uniform.)

In Hong Kong I went out to Stanley Military Cemetery. It was just outside the regular prison (still being used) where Japanese kept British and other allied prisoners during World War II. The view of the harbour etc from that site is so beautiful from the prison that it must have been an extra thorn in the side of the prisoners. The sign at their cemetery reads “Here lie men from many countries who gave their lives for freedom. Visitors are asked to behave quietly with respect for those buried here. In particular games may not be played or food cooked”. 69l are buried here including many women and children (98 interned civilians.) One grave reads Unknown Soldier Age 38 years. May he rest in peace. (I wonder how they then determined his age if unknown.)

I met a man in Hong Kong who had been travelling for twenty years. He sometimes takes a Holiday within a Holiday in which he does nothing but rest and then is on the road again. I met him in McDonalds that is behind the famous Peninsula Hotel in Hong Kong at five o clock in the morning. It is open 24 hours a day. He gave me tips on budget places to stay around the world. Some of the places: Lucky Hotel in Bangkok, Private Toilet. Malacca Malaysia: Robins Nest Hotel $4.80 a night. If you know a robin looking for a place to stay.

The abandon ship instructions on the ferryboat to Macao from Hong Kong instructed you to not take your umbrella with you if you have to abandon ship. What if it is raining?

And finally, the time when I was victim to a scam: I was on an organized trip and staying at Golden Gate Hotel in Hong Kong. We were told to have our luggage outside our door at six AM to have it transported for us to the airport. We then got a second call and were told to have out luggage out at five AM instead of six and it would be picked up. It was – con artists made the second call and we never saw our luggage again.

Next month, Mac discusses general travel tips.

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