Burma's military government has released the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest in Rangoon for the past 20 months. A government spokesman told the Reuters news agency she was “at liberty to carry out all activities, including her party's” from Monday 6^th May.

Aung San Suu Kyi has not had an easy time in her native country, Burma. She is the daughter of assassinated independence hero Aung San, and was held under house arrest from 1989 to 1995. She was placed back under house arrest in 2000 when she tried to travel by train to Mandalay in defiance of restrictions put on her. As a result of this, and Burma's human rights record, Burma has faced international isolation and economic sanctions. Aung San Suu Kyi returned to Burma to nurse her dying mother in 1988 and in 1990 her party was elected to power, but this was ignored by the ruling army. In 1991, she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace. She was not allowed to return to Oxford, England, where her husband, an Oxford don was dying of prostrate cancer as she knew that she would not be allowed to re-enter the country.

If anyone would like to read more about Burma and what has been happening, the Beetle recommends reading a fantastic book by a Burmese writer called Pascal Khoo Thwe, From the Land of Green Ghosts – A Burmese Odyssey, published by Harper Collins. It is an amazing read – see www.fireandwater.com for details.

Saturday 8^th June 2002 – London Meeting by Padmassana

This Saturday we were treated to two splendid talks, about two different areas of the world.

The first by Peter Eltringham entitled, “The Maya World” was on Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. Peter showed us temples from the Maya period (300-900 AD), many of which are being reclaimed by the jungle, to the extent that some even have trees growing on the top of them. We saw photos of huge Maya ceramic pots found in deep caves. We saw local life such as women weaving the colourful local textiles and the costumes being paraded during Holy Week fiestas. Peter showed us the kind of transport you can expect to have to use on a visit to the area, such as small planes, high wheeled 4WD's for negotiating the jungle and the “Chicken busses” used by the locals. Peter finished with some landscapes, turquoise coloured rivers, Fast flowing rivers that can only be negotiated using inflatable kayaks and beautiful blue coral lagoons, which are a divers delight! And once Peter had emerged from the jungles having avoided the deadly snakes, his last picture was of a hammock slung between tow trees on a beautiful tropical beach.

Our second speaker was Mary Russell, although her talk was entitled “Travelling around Syria, digressing to Baghdad”, she started with a story from the former Soviet Republic of Georgia. She told us that in order to get an extension to your visa, you have to “fall ill” the day before it runs out, but only a little bit ill! You then get a sick note from a friendly doctor stating that you are too ill to travel and lo and behold your visa gets a few more weeks added on!

Mary showed us the Syrian capital Damascus, from the plain doorways of the closely constructed buildings, the bakery with its fresh flat bread and the labyrinthine souks. She showed us one super photo of a popcorn seller, whose equipment was mounted to his bicycle complete with an exhaust pipe for the cooking gasses. On returning home from Syria Mary found on her doormat an invitation to visit Iraq. It was just after the events of September 11^th, but despite the uncertainty of the time Mary flew back to Damascus and then took a taxi to the Iraqi capital. Mary explained that to enter Iraq you have to have an AID's certificate, if you don't as she didn't you have the choice of paying US $60 to have the test or US $70 not to! Needless to say she chose the latter. Mary's slides of Baghdad included Saddam Hussain's Palace which he built next to the remains of what was once Babylon, Fountains, the university which is reputedly fifty years older than England's Oxford University, the hospitals full of smiling doctors and tragically ill children. We saw one positive side to the sanctions imposed by the west, Iraq now grows its own fruit and vegetables which in former years it just bought using its oil wealth. Mary's talk was a fascinating insight into two interesting and much misunderstood countries.

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 on Saturday 1^st September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotter Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

Sunrise. A paw-paw coloured ball makes the sky smoky mauve and the tiny clouds burnt pink. The land and sea are the same temperature. There is no wind. The water is still. This is a place of two skies, the modest orange sun and its paint box sky reflected in the floodwaters of Tonle Sap Lake. The birds are hardly awake, but at the water's edge there is a frenzy.

Most of the tourists here at this time have only one motive, to run the gauntlet of locals selling everything from egg baguettes to anti land mine t-shirts and climb onto the roof of a floating aeroplane fuselage without wings that will blast them across the lake and down the river to Phnom Penh. As they are shepherded past the merchants in their chequered krama they might get the idea that this part of Siem Reap is different from the Angkor temples they have clambered over for the last few days. As the boat engines roar to leave the floating village in its wake, a few photos of an upturned boat in a bamboo dry dock or a saffron robed monk under a black umbrella in a canoe are rattled off.

Thirty minutes south of Siem Reap and Angkor is Tonle Sap Lake. The lake provides not only an antidote to temple fatigue; it also gives extra insight for travellers into the strength and tradition of the Khmer empire. The Tonle Sap monsoon cycles had particular significance within the religion of the ancient Khmer. New Year is celebrated in the spring equinox. In March when the sun rises over Angkor's central tower, the flows begin to fill the Tonle Sap, bringing rich fishing harvests that supported the Khmer. The ancient Bayon and Angkor temples depict in exquisite bas-relief how the life along the lake affected all walks of life.

To ensure access to the lake no matter where the shoreline is, the houses of the fishermen, who depend on the waters for their livelihood, are designed to float on the lake's surface. Chong Khneas provides an excellent opportunity to experience the way these lakeside dwellers live. The village is home to 200 Khmer families, 250 Vietnamese families and another 200 who are Muslim. In the still morning, the call to prayer sounds over loudspeakers scattering dozing cormorants.

Everything floats. Students tie their canoes to the rail alongside the floating school. The campaign headquarters for the local politicians, the barber's shop, the gambling dens and boat builders float. The floating barge markets sell local delicacies like Elephant fish, which has developed the ability to last for several hours out of water, in case the fast receding waters leave it stranded in the mud. The boats hang a sample of their wares on a pole to indicate what they are selling.

For US$ 10 you can get on a boat to putter through the impromptu gaps between houses. The boat moves slowly, a bit too fast to take decent photos, but it feels right to see a floating village this way. You can make up your own mind about getting off the boat at the tourist fish farm to see specially bred catfish, as well as a collared gibbon a caged porcupine and a python around a smiling girl's neck. A few sick looking pelicans are chained in the sun for visitors to photograph here too.

Some of the village can be explored on foot via thin roads that are inches above the waterline so ask your motorbike or car driver to give you some time to walk around. While you are strolling, drop in at the Gecko Environment Centre for further information about the environment, people and culture of the Tonle Sap.

In the wet season the village lies at the base of the only hill for miles, Phenom Krom. Shooting across Tonle Sap on an express boat, the hill is the only landmark above the water level as far as the eye can see, so a climb provides great views back towards Siem Reap and Angkor and over the vast lake. Three weathered ninth century towers dedicated to the Hindu deities, Shiva Vishnu and Shiva await you at the top of your 140-metre climb. From here, as the practicing monks chant their prayers, you understand the ancient relationship between the stone towers of Angkor to the north and the life giving Tonle Sap.

David is trying to combine careers in internet, marketing and travel. Travel Writing and Photography is one of several projects he is currently working on. Information about other projects can be found at www.dmfreedom.com . David can be contacted by email at dave@dmfreedom.com

Jason Florio gave us some fabulous insights into life in Afghanistan and entertained us with some amazing stories of his time there.

We will NOT have a July meeting due to all of our summer travel plans and the July 4th holiday. Hope to see you August 3rd.

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theater, 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.

The annual Toronto & Ontario GT picnic on Georgian Bay (in Meaford) is upon us, and will be held on Saturday, July 13th, 2002. As usual, our host will be Vera Blowers, and the address is:

228 Eliza Street, Meaford, Ontario tel. 519-538-5729 Program: Arrive on Saturday around noon, bring some barbecuables/munchies/salads/deserts of your choice to share with others. There will be BBQ in the afternoon, a game of croquet or horseshoes (if that's your thing), a swim in Georgian Bay or you can just sit around and talk travel. The hardy types can pitch a tent and stay overnight, watch the sun rise from the lake, go for another swim, walk through Meaford or do whatever else you might wish to. If you would like to bring and show some new and interesting slides we'll have a slide projector & a carousel available. Directions: From Collingwood: Go West along Hwy 26 to Meaford. On the first lights turn right/north/towards the lake and down the hill to a school that is at the corner of Eliza Street. West on Eliza to #228. From Orangeville : North along Hwy10 to Flesherton (there is a little “jog” West on #10 between Primrose to Shelburne), in “downtown” Flesherton turn right on Hwy 4 and after about 4-5km left/North on #13 to Kimberley and from there on #7 all the way to Meaford. In Meaford on the lights (Hwy 26 & #7) go straight down the hill towards the lake etc. If you can give a ride to someone or you need a ride to get there, please contact me (Svatka Hermanek) by email by Friday, June 28 (I will be away from my computer from that date on) or by phone before July 3 (416-503-2933). I will try to arrange car pools. After this date call Vera Blowers at the above number. Hope to see you there.

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

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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.

The next Texas meeting will be completely open: please come and talk about your favourite place, travels, anecdote or listen to others!

A reminder that Texas meetings will start one hour earlier, at 2pm and not 3pm.

Meetings are held at 2pm at the New Braunfels Public Library, 700 E. Common Street in New Braunfels, Texas. The meeting ends at 5 p.m. If you would like to continue travel talk on a more informal basis, we plan to adjourn to the Hoity-Toit, a local New Braunfels establishment. If anybody would like to enquire about meetings or help Christina, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk