This is my first request to your excellent newsletter. I'd like to know if anyone knows of anywhere in Tibet where a young (23) year old guy could go to learn overtone chanting. Have you any ideas/sources/reports of young people. I'd love to know, and I can then pass the message on: di.hinds@ntlworld.com
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 Forum section of the Website: Mutual Aid
I went to St Moritz for a week in February – on a course in a place called Randolins in Survetta, a little way outside the town – not skiing. Randolins is a not for profit organisation that caters mainly for groups, such as children on ski camps or adult learning. It's a very nice place, simple, but comfortable – definitely not your 5 star kind of place. It has shared rooms and you have to take part in the chores, so things like going and getting the food for each meal and wheeling it down to your building on a trolley, washing up, laying tables etc. If you are looking for a group venue, it's not a bad place.
St Moritz is in the Upper Engadine. Can't comment on skiing, but can say a few things about the town. It's quite small, easily walkable, very posh with a very high fur coat count and is pretty expensive! There are two parts to St Moritz: there's the dorf which means village and this is above the lake. This is where the posh hotels, restaurants, shops etc are. St Moritz-Bad is about 2km away southwest down on the lakeshore and is not such a pretty place, lots of concrete flats and other buildings.
The name of St Moritz
has an interesting story attached to it: the story told to me was
that Maurice (later turned into Moritz) was a Christian and came
from Egypt. He served in the Roman army under Julius Caesar
and led a Theban legion for the Roman empire and fought in the
Alps. He refused to obey the order of the Emperor Maximian
and sacrifice some Christians to the Roman gods because he was
himself a Christian. On hearing this, Maximian ordered
Maurice's regiment to be decimated – i.e. every tenth person
killed, and this went on until no-one was left. And so
commanding officer Maurice became a saint. Legend has it that
the rock used by Maurice to lay his head on so that he could be
beheaded is at St Moritz. Like England's St George,
St. Maurice is a patron of knights and soldiers. From the
12th century, due the similarity between his name and Maurus, he
was depicted as a Moor, so he became the black saint.
Even after Roman times, St. Moritz was known during the Middle Ages for its mineral springs and healthy climate and it became the first alpine winter sports and tourism centre in Switzerland. It also hosted two Olympic Winter Games (1928 and 1948.) It became the famous ski and alpine sports centre that it is mainly due to the British, who went over in the 1860s and liked it so much they went back and stayed an entire season, and the word was spread.
To get to St Moritz is very easy, you can take a train from Zurich. I flew from London to Zurich on Easyjet (AKA Sleazyjet) and that was a good price at around £75 including taxes. Swiss Air and BA all fly there too from the UK but are more expensive. There is a train station underneath the airport at Zurich and you can take a train from here to the main train station in the centre and go to Chor, change there for St Moritz. The whole train journey from Zurich took about 3 1/2 hours.
There are plenty of taxis outside St Moritz train station and the drivers seem to speak every language in the world between them. Swiss Italian and Swiss German seem to be the predominant languages – and be warned, whilst many Swiss people are amazing linguists and speak good English throughout, if you were thinking (like me) to practice your German, think again, Swiss German is quite different.
Swiss trains are a delight – always on time, clean, and I especially like the double decker trains. Whilst the airport is non smoking throughout – a fairly recent change, I think, the Swiss do allow smoking on trains, so be careful about which compartment you get into, if you are a non smoker. I got on an intercity from Lucerne to Zurich and inadvertently sat in a smoking section, which by the time I realised, was too late to move as it was packed full.
Buying a Swiss rail pass makes a lot of sense. I paid £105 for a pass that allowed me free travel on three specified days. The days do not have to be consecutive. The pass also allows you to receive substantial discounts on other trips. You can buy rail passes for different lengths of trip.
I also went to Lucerne or Luzern. Beautiful! It's about 4 hours from St Moritz by train – and only an hour or so by the fast intercity train from Zurich, which also goes direct to the airport as well, which is pretty handy. It is situated on a lake and has lots of history. The river Reuss separates the old town from the newer, although that seemed pretty old to me too! Then it flows into the lake. The town is also very easy to walk around and was my highlight on this trip to Switzerland. The train station is very close to the edge of the lake and close to the Art Museum and within easy reach of the hotels by foot.
I stayed in the Hotel Krone which is a Best Western and is in the Old Town, it was very nice and has free internet and the people there were very nice.
There are lots
of bridges across the River Reuss, it reminded me a little of
Ljubljana, especially with some of the dragon symbols, some of my
friends said Stockholm. One of the most famous is the Chapel
bridge built in the 14th century as a part of the city's
fortifications and named after St. Peter's Chapel, which is
located nearby. It has paintings on it including some info on the
city's patron saints, St. Leodegar and our friend St.
Maurice. There's also a very splendid 17th century
baroque Jesuit church. I really liked the water spikes that
act like a lock to regulate water levels like in a canal. and
you can see the remains of water mills.
There are lots of old squares and beautiful buildings with pictures on the walls, red spires and steeples. The Weinmarkt is one of these old squares, and is by the Hotel Krone – very pretty. There's also a great restaurant, and not too expensive (for Switzerland!) in the cellar of the town hall, or Rat Haus that has its own micro brewery inside – great beer, and good food, especially the Braui special which has lots of different types of pork and sauerkraut. It is also a good place to go and talk to local people, as everyone seemed really friendly.
On my final day in
Lucerne, I went to the tourist information centre at the train
station and asked where I could go in the mountains. They
suggested a trip to Rigi Kulm, so, using my rail pass, instead of
paying 79 Swiss Francs, it cost me 29 Swiss Francs. It was a
great adventure! I took a boat across Lake Lucerne, and then
a funicular or cog wheel train up the mountain to the top of Rigi
Kulm, about 1,800m, so not too high, and then the cog wheel train
to the half way point and a cable car down to Weggis back down by
the lake, and the boat again back to Lucerne. It was a
wonderful half day trip, where we could see above the clouds, the
mountain tops poking through, then there was the lake and the green
of the alpine pastures leading up to the mountains. There are
a couple of other mountain type trips you can do like this whilst
based in Lucerne.
Then I took the train from Lucerne back to Zurich airport, the direct trains run at 10 minutes past the hour and it took about 1 hour.
I’d definitely recommend Lucerne as a base for 2/3 days to explore.
Three crewmembers found dead on a South Korean freighter that washed ashore in Shimane Prefecture on Sunday may have died after inhaling toxic gas generated from rotten squid organs, local Japan Coast Guard (JCG) officials said. Three crewmembers were found dead in two storage rooms of the freighter and its skipper was unconscious in one of the rooms. JCG officers found rotten internal squid organs in storage rooms where the three men were found dead. Investigators suspect that the three crewmembers died from either an oxygen shortage or inhalation of carbon monoxide that had been generated from the rotten squid organs. The coast guard office said carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide were detected in the cabin.
Where?
St Helena is situated in the South Atlantic Ocean, 5° 43' west and 15° 56' south, 1,200 miles from the south-west coast of Africa, and 1,800 miles from the coast of South America. The nearest land is Ascension Island, which lies 703 miles (1,125km) to the north-west. Cape Town lies some 1700 miles to the south east. In other words, it’s pretty remote!
St Helena Island land is only some 47 square miles or 122 square km, ten and a half miles or 17km long and six and a half miles or 10km wide. St Helena Island has two other British Overseas Territories: Ascension Island which lies 703 miles to the north west and Tristan da Cunha, which lies 1500 miles to the south west.
It was uninhabited when it was first discovered by the Portuguese explorer, Juan Da Nova on 21 May 1502. The name St Helena is derived from the fact that the day Juan Da Niva discovered St Helena, it was a festival day, of St Helena, mother of Emperor Constantine the Great, so he named the island in her honour. The Portuguese kept quiet about St Helena’s existence and used it as a convenient stop off place for ships returning home from the east to stock up on fresh water and fruit. For a little over 80 years only the Portuguese visited St Helena until in 1588 Captain Thomas Cavendish, captain of the H.M.S. Desire, called at the island on his voyage round the world and stayed 12 days there. After this time, English and Dutch merchant ships began to stop off for provisions and repairs.
As might be expected from this period in history, disputes soon arose between the Dutch and the English over sovereignty of St Helena. In 1659 the British East India Company placed a garrison on the island and started the first permanent settlement. In retaliation, the Dutch invaded in 1673 forcing the English out. The island was recaptured by the English and held by the British East India Company until 1834 until it was brought under the direct government of the British Crown.
In the Eighteenth century over a thousand ships called annually. Following the opening of the Suez Canal and the advent of steam the island slipped into oblivion and remained as sort of time warp with its elegance period buildings , relaxed atmosphere and virtually crime free community.
Perhaps many people recognise the name St Helena in connection with Napoleon. Napoleon was confined to St Helena in 18l5 after his defeat at Waterloo. Residents of St Helena call themselves “Saints.” Things to do on St Helena include visiting the Plantation House, the residence of the Governor where one can photograph the giant tortoise reputed to be more than 150 years old, Longwood House where Napoleon was kept until his death in 1821 and is maintained by France as a museum.
Ascension Island has a military airstrip that can be used by civilians, but there is currently no civilian airport, so the only way to get there is by boat. The UK Royal Mail Ship, the RMS St Helena, built in Glasgow, Scotland in 1990 provides cargo and passenger services. It has a passenger capacity of 128 people.
The British Royal Mail ship sets off from Cardiff in the UK, calling at Tenerife and Ascension Island, and Cape Town. There are usually 4 voyages from the UK, 15 voyages from Ascension and 10 from Cape Town each year. Once a year the RMS calls at Tristan da Cunha – a Dependency of St Helena. Most people travel via Ascension Island or Cape Town. The travel time for the RMS St Helena is 2 days from Ascension, 5 days from Cape Town and 14 days if travel is direct from Cardiff, UK. If you are interested in taking the boat, take a look at: www.aws.co.uk or e-mail reservations@aws.co.uk or enquiries@solomons.co.sh
According to Mac, who has looked into freighters, most freighters won’t take passengers over 75 years of age, as they have no doctors aboard, and he a little over this. He has culled some information from reading an account of freighter travel to St Helena.
Plans are afoot to cut transatlantic fares to as little as £66 return. Passengers travelling to the U.S. and Canada could enjoy the type of low-cost fares that have revolutionised European air travel. Executives at Cologne-Bonn airport in Germany say they are in 'serious' talks with several American airlines to offer budget return flights to the U.S. for just £66 starting by 2005. The flights would be open to tourists anywhere in the world – as long as they have access to the Internet – though UK customers would first have to get to Germany. 'The plan is for all tickets to be sold online – no refunds, no frills, no fancy lounges and trimmed back in-flight entertainment and meals. Locations being touted include New York, Boston and Washington together with mid-western U.S. cities and destinations in Canada.
The town of Knysna in the western Cape of South Africa lies a scenic 500km east of Cape Town along the Garden Route. There is the option to drive all the way into town, but a far more interesting way is to take the Outeniqua choo-Tjoe train that departs from George. If you are lucky your train will be pulled by a steam engine. Once you have left George’s shanty towns behind the scenery is wonderful, sweeping curves where if you peer out of the window you can see the engine going round the bend ahead. At Sedgefield the line passes over a scenic bridge, under which flows an inlet from the Indian Ocean on your right. The train takes a couple of hours and costs approximately 120 rand.
Knysna itself has much to offer including trips into the surrounding countryside where you can hike, abseil and go mountain biking amongst others. At the waterfront area there are lots of touristy shops and restaurants to while away some time. From a jetty at the waterfront it is well worth taking a trip out to the Knysna Heads. Knysna itself is in a lagoon protected from the ocean by a narrow inlet where the surrounding hills almost meet. The trip out is on one of the worlds most advanced ferries, even though it does have the appearance of a bathtub!
The boat actually has three legs that can be put down on the sea floor so that it is lifted up like an oil platform. This can be used in rescues and also to drop passengers off at places where there is no jetty. The “Heads” are a raging torrent even on a semi calm day, they have claimed hundreds of ships and thousands of lives over the centuries, so much so that if you intend to take a vessel through them you have to inform the shipping insurers Lloyds of London. The boat staff keep up an interesting flow of information as you cruise, not only about their very interesting boat, but also about the nearby nature reserve and about what you are seeing.
After all this activity it is hard to beat a meal at “Bosuns” a pub come restaurant, which does excellent bar and sit down food for around 80 Rand, including a drink.
East of Knysna is the Tsitsikama National Park, which is located right next to the ocean. From the beach you can follow a lovely boardwalk through the forest called the “Mouth Trail”, which eventually comes out at the spectacular Hangbrug suspension bridge, from where you can gaze onto the crashing Indian Ocean waves. On the way back to town you can take in the adrenaline junkies Mecca of the Bloukrans bungy jump, this is currently the world’s highest bungy with a drop of 216 metres, reputed to be the longest seven seconds of your life as you free fall, are there any Globies out there who can confirm this, as this one has no intention of finding out!
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If you had to guess: where and what do you think is the US’ second oldest tourist attraction after the Niagara Falls?
Answer, Mammoth Cave in Kentucky. It is not only a world heritage site, but the longest cave in the world with more than 360 miles (580 kilometres) of connected tunnels.
Guided tours have run here since 1816 and 4,000 year old mummies have been found in the cave, and you can still see petroglyphs of snakes and humans on the walls.
The cave was discovered at the end of the 18th century when a man shot and wounded a bear then followed it into the entrance that is still used today. The mummies became travelling shows. Today, you can take a Violet City Lantern Tour, a three-hour, 3-mile (4.8-kilometre) hike without electric lights. Hikers use kerosene lamps to light the cave’s steep, dark paths, just as visitors did 150 years ago.
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The winner of last month’s guidebook on the Azores is: Joan Haladay, congratulations!
This month, win a Trailblazer guidebook on Tibet Overland. See www.trailblazerguides.com for info on Trailblazer Guidebooks.
Some people have said the quiz is difficult, we say do some research: try google.com or Ask Jeeves, if you need help with the answers.
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World airpports top 10
| Rank | Country Name | Airports |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 14,720 |
| 2 | Brazil | 3,264 |
| 3 | Russia | 2,743 |
| 4 | Mexico | 1,848 |
| 5 | Canada | 1,417 |
| 6 | Argentina | 1,359 |
| 7 | Bolivia | 1,093 |
| 8 | Colombia | 1,091 |
| 9 | Paraguay | 915 |
| 10 | South Africa | 741 |
Source:
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When travelling, it’s hard enough to remember where you were yesterday, let alone the phone number of that fabulous girl you met in Hong Kong, or the postal address of your Uncle Bertie.
But now there’s no excuse for losing touch, with Planet Reunited a website with the ambitious aim of keeping travellers connected,. With as many as 4 out of 10 backpackers losing their address books or diaries while travelling, it’s the ultimate travel accessory to keep in touch with old and new friends.
With a shuddering sob Helen collapsed on the ridge and burst into tears.“I cannot take another step,” she sobbed. “Oh, I know it’s all vanity and pride!”
She was referring to the summit, looming in full infuriating view an hour’s slog above us. “You go on,” she said with quivering lip, “I’ll wait for you here”.
“Forget it, I’m not going up without you and frankly I’m not that bothered about the summit. And for goodness sake stop crying. You’ll need that energy for the descent”.
So that drew a line under our climb of Stok Kangri in Ladakh, surely one of the Himalayas most accessible 20,000 foot peaks. The error that day was to have taken the summit head on across the moraine from our advanced base camp, which was set up on the wrong side of the glacier. Had we crossed the glacier and pitched our tent on a platform below the start of the climb, and then headed off diagonally left across the moraine towards the ridge… who knows?
It doesn’t matter: I repeated the mantra to myself on the silent trek back to base camp and down the trail to Stok village at the road head, the last stop before picking up the jeep to Leh. Success, failure – every mountaineer knows these are mere words, devoid of significance. The summit is a trap cunningly laid by our ego, designed to keep us bound to the wheel of samsara.
What’s that, you failed to summit Stok Kangri? There it is, the very word of shame and humiliation, enslaving us to our egos. It’s all rubbish, of course, we reassure ourselves. What really matters is the camaraderie, the days spent with good companions in the inspiring environment of the high mountains. The summit is a bit of icing on the cake. It adds nothing to the experience apart from a false sense of prestige, derived from the Latin praestagium, meaning illusion. The summit, in fact, is a mere illusion.
Oh yes.
So it was that the following August found us starting off once more from advanced base, this time camp properly sited on the far side of the glacier, plodding manfully across the moraine straight towards the summit ridge.
Two hours into the climb and “Oh, God,” Helen moaned, collapsing once more on the ridge, in fact the very same spot as the previous year. “It’s such a long way…”
Not again, I thought with inner rage, an eye fixed on the beckoning summit.
“All right, have a little rest. Have a drink of water, catch your breath, count to ten – but we’ve got to carry on because the weather is looking pretty naff.” Bands of mist rolled up from the valley, intermittently obscuring the snow-capped summit. It was obvious we would have to move smartly if we were to enjoy any view at all from the top. Helen began rummaging in her day sack and what happened next left me gaping in stunned disbelief.
“What on earth do you think you’re doing with that?” “It’s all right,” she smiled. “It’ll boost my morale”. But – lipstick! We’re nearly twenty thousand feet up in the Himalayas and you… “There we are.” She zipped up her sack, smacking her brightly rouged lips. “Let’s go.”.
Helen is six feet tall and she is maddeningly unaffected by altitude. Once suitably made-up off she marched at a sprightly quip, unheeding of my protests about the importance of keeping a slow and steady pace. We negotiated the handful of slightly exposed spots on the ridge and three and a half hours after leaving out tents we found ourselves on the top of Stok Kangri, with just enough sunlight left for a couple of snapshots of K-2 on the horizon, before the mist billowed over the summit.
Jules Stewart is leading a Ladakh trek and ascent of Stok Kangri on 17th-31st July 2004. Details are available on 0207 2294774 or e-mail: Jjulesstewart@aol.com
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The Effects of Logging on the ‘Pygmies’ in the Congo Basin Congo Basin, presentations and launch of a major new photographic exhibition on the Ba’Aka ‘Pygmies’ of the Republic of Congo at The Royal Geographical Society.
Date: Wednesday 28th April 2004
Time: Doors open and reception 6.00pm
Address: The Royal Geographical Society, 1
Kensington Gore, London SW7 2AR
Admission: £10.00
Tickets: Freephone: 0800 970 1014
Web: Rainforest
Foundation
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That night the local tribe was going to perform a ceremony that would involve singing and some sort of dancing, and Adam Baines and I were invited go along. The tribe held hands and formed itself into two circles, one inside the other, both facing inwards.
One circle moved to the left and the other moved in the opposite direction and at the same time started moaning. This singing or sort of moaning continued as the circles moved slowly in opposite directions. I started the tape, the moaning continued, the bullfrogs joined in, the jungle added its chorus, the circles turned.
Adam and I stood there bemused, as the minutes went by, with nothing more happening other than the continuous circling and moaning. I joined the tribe, held hands and moaned with everybody else, circled with everyone else and, I think just like everyone else, wondered what the hell was going to happen next.
I was beginning to think that this whole ceremony was being put on for our benefit, as a sort of show for these strangers from the outside world. I stepped out of the circle and stood back with Adam whilst continuing to watch this ritual. Adam asked me what the ceremony had done for me. I replied that I had always dreamt about holding hands with strangers, walking in circles, moaning out loud under the stars in the Amazon rainforest! Adam tried everything to stifle his laughter.
We both concluded that this show was being put on for our benefit and, deciding to call it a night, thanked our hosts and walked back to our hut, leaving the tribe still moaning under the full moon. As we reached our hut the moaning stopped and we smiled at each other as we went in, but the last laugh was to be on us. We slipped into our sleeping bags being careful not to let any mosquitoes under our nets and I fell gently asleep after such a busy day.
I awoke to my shoulder being shaken by one of my moaning friends who said it was Party Time, and that this hut was the party hut. We were to sleep in the next hut with others that did not want to dance the night away. I looked at Adam stumbling about when he was woken as I had been. We grabbed our belongings in our arms, everything falling out of everywhere, and moved huts in pitch darkness.
We staggered to the next hut, which was totally full off about fourteen hammocks, mostly containing a couple, to find the only place we could sleep was under someone’s hammock. The music started, not the moaning of a couple of hours before but the loud music called Forro, which was coming from a ghetto blaster running off a car battery and which was overlaid by the noise of dancing feet.
The Forro, a corruption of the English ‘For All’ came from the North East of Brazil,. As the British who built the railway there sometimes had parties for which the invitations were ‘For All’. It was now my turn to feel like moaning as the music blasted into the night from all of twenty yards away.
The Indian in the hammock above Adam started to do the horizontal samba with his woman and the swaying and groaning made me see the funny side of life. Or would have, if the mosquitoes hadn’t been eating me alive and something I’d rather not know about slithered over me. A hellish night, to end a near perfect day.
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Be warned – if you are planning on flying with Ghana Airways, be warned. Ghana Airways allegedly has something of a reputation for overbooking and not refunding money for seats that are not ultimately available.
Questions were asked in the Ghanaian Parliament about overbooking of seats on Ghana Airways. It was said that whereas overbooking is a normal practice in the airline business to allow for no shows, over sale was an illegal practice employed by travel agents to extract money from customers and inconvenience them in the process – and that there is a difference between over booking and deliberate over-sale of non existent seats
It was explained that in the case of overbooking, the ticket was usually not confirmed so the customer was aware that there were chances of him/her not getting a seat, but with over-sale the Travel Agent usually assured the customer of a seat without consulting the airline.
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I was rather disappointed by my trip to the Angel Falls – let’s get the bad news out of the way – it was over priced and pretty basic stuff.
I was there 2 ½ years ago or so. It was not possible to
visit the Angel Falls independently, so we had to join a
tour. The land is owned by the indigenous people, and they
run the tours. We flew from Caracas to Ciudad Bolivar and
then on to Canaima. From there, we joined about 6 others
and took a succession of curiaras, supremely uncomfortable
dug out canoes, but powered by outboard motor, up the
river. The water is an interesting brown colour – the
colour of tea with all the tannin from the land. We ended
up on Rat Island, along with 100 or so other people all in
different groups, and spent the night here (Isla Ratton
– aptly named) which consisted of about 100 hammocks
strung out in the open under a corrugated iron roof (no
sides) and very primitive bathrooms, hurricane lamps etc. A
very early start the next morning, bread and strong black
coffee, for a short walk/climb – not at all
strenuous, to a viewing point across which we saw the Angel
Falls. The entire group sat on ledges etc gazing across at
the Falls for about 30 minutes, took photos and then went
back down the mountain and returned by curiara to
Canaima.
And that was it. It cost an awful lot and we got very little in return. You don’t get particularly close to the falls and the service, food, accom was appalling, considering how much it cost. Now, I’m a backpacker and I don’t mind roughing it, and had hoped it was all going to be a great adventure, but it just felt like a huge rip off. I was glad to be away from the place – it did not feel good.
With hindsight, I would rather have spent longer in the Gran Sabana and Kavak and have been content with having seen the Iguaçu Falls – 100 times more impressive! Alternatively, trekking around the region might have been better.
Whilst the Angel Falls was the enduring disappointment of our trip, our 5 days spent in a 4WD with driver (we were told it was not advisable to drive ourselves) around the Gran Sabana was fabulous – completely recommend this – beautiful landscape, lots of tepuys, lakes, waterfalls, water holes – really, really nice and relaxing, friendly people, easy and reasonable places to stay. Our absolute highlight was a short stay at Kavak and visiting the slot canyon – amazing!
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A growing number of U.S. airlines and online travel companies are outsourcing customer service jobs overseas in a bid to reduce costs. United Airlines is about to source a customer call centre in Nova Scotia. Travelocity will outsource about 300 jobs to India over the next year and expects to save $10 million in 2004 as a result of the change. American Airlines, Northwest Airlines, Continental Airlines and US Airways said they do not redirect any calls from U.S. customers to call centres outside the United States. Delta Air Lines, which outsourced nearly 1,000 jobs last year to three call centres in Bangalore, Bombay and New Delhi India, says it is aware of the potential pitfalls.
The Beetle’s own experience of speaking with e-bookers, a travel booking organisation that has been outsourced to India has not been good. The operatives are charming and polite, but pushy and lack in-depth travel knowledge. They also returned calls at 10pm!
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We’ve never had it so good, travelling around South East Asia, particularly Thailand, with increasing numbers of opportunities to take low cost flights.
Thai Airways International recently announced that it would form a budget airline, Sky Asia, with five domestic partners to fend off competition from a crop of new low-cost carriers. Sky Asia will start operations in the second quarter of this year.
Thai AirAsia, to be launched next month, will also compete with privately owned domestic Thai carriers such as Phuket Air, www.phuketairlines.com Bangkok Airways www.bangkokair.com and PB Air www.pbair.com that has several routes in Thailand including: Lampang, Phetchabun Roi-et, Sakonnakhon, Nakhon Phanom Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat and overseas: Danang, Luang Prabang, Bagan.
Another Thai domestic carrier, Orient Thai, http://www.orient-thai.com launched a no-frills airline last month with a one-way ticket to Chiang Mai at half the current Thai Airways market price. Its other routings include Bangkok to Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, South Korea
Malaysian based Air Asia www.airasia.com says that it is Asia’s first low fare no frills airline to introduce “ticketless” travelling, and has flights within Malaysia and to Singapore and Thailand.
Indonesian based Lion Air currently flies to 32 destinations, including four regional flights connecting Jakarta with Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City. They plan to start selling business class seats underlines its attempt not to position itself as a low-cost carrier. They say: “Our air-fares may be the cheapest, but we reduce costs through the choice of aircraft – single-type MD82, which are bigger than the Boeing 737, commonly used by other domestic airlines.
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The Burmese government has given the go-ahead for the creation of the world’s largest tiger reserve. The reserve is planned to add to the existing Hukawng Valley reserve making the area some 30,000 sq km, which is about the same size as Belgium.
The news has pleased conservationists who were alarmed when a 2003 survey revealed only 150 to 200 tigers left. Conservationists say that work must be done to train rangers and stamp out the lucrative trade in tiger body parts and new avenues of income will have to be found for local people so they do not succumb to the temptation to profit from the growing regional demand for tiger products. At $200 per kilo, the profits from even a small tiger could be equivalent to 10 years of income for many in this area.
Tiger skins, heads and claws are often prized as trophies, while bones and internal organs are used in Asian medicines. China is the largest market for the trade.
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And gets propositioned on the way… read on!
I got to Buenos Aires in pouring rain from sunny London without mishap. My hotel was ok, in the historic area of Buenos Aires and cost around £12 a night for bed and breakfast, and it has a bathroom too, so not bad. This is a good time to visit Argentina as prices are very low – most meals are under £5 and a giant bottle of beer just £1! I wanted to visit a tango show last night but was just too tired around midnight, the time it is all supposed to kick off. Plan to take a city tour of Buenos Aires.
Went to a place called Puerto Madero and it reminded me of all the regeneration that has taken place in Docklands in London. There were very few people and a lot of brand name American eateries, so, I was a little disappointed. I walked back to town where the real people live, but my poor feet hurt after that! On the plus side, it could be classified as training for my forthcoming Patagonia trekking!
The local beer is good and it is now sunny, in sharp contrast to the day I arrived, so prospects are promising. Then headed by bus to El Calafate in Argentina. I am having great weather – sunny, dry unusually windless, and hot, even by my standards! I was even down to a plain shirt and wished I had packed my sandals. I did a 8-9 hour trek from a place called Refugio Pehoe on the lake of the same name (pronounced correctly as “pewe”. to glacier Grey. It was a very scenic walk compared to the one done the other day to Torres (or more accurately “torture”. del Paine which is featured on the all of the postcards here. I reckon this one was a bit tougher than the Machu Picchu trek in Peru, although that was nearly 5 years ago and my age is definitely beginning to show in my knee joints. Maybe it’s just a matter of time before I start considering Saga holidays!
We met some travellers who had to forego their plans as there was no accommodation at the next two destinations we are heading to, the only other option being to set up your own tent! Having roughed it for the last two nights I am not ready for a repeat performance. The alternative was 180 US dollar per night hotel with everything priced in good US $ – the cheapest item on the menu being a coca cola at only $4! Taking of prices, I was shocked at the London prices of everything in the Torres Del Paine National Park. Still, it didn’t stop me from having 2 bottles of Chilean red last night at £8 each. The idea was to stun myself into a deep slumber in the tent and not notice the gale winds and rain.
One thing I have been disappointed about is not being able to gaze at the night southern sky. Chile has some of the best skies for star gazing – but it has been too cold or too cloudy or both! I am beginning to feel quite worn out now and looking forward to taking a hot shower and sleeping in a proper bed! Sleeping bags are not for people like me who toss and turn and sleep in the spread-eagle position!
On a bus from Puerto Natales, I met an unemployed doctor from Spain. As a result of having a fluent Spanish speaker on the team, we were able to find a hotel room very quickly and cheaply, and sorted out our transport – or more accurately dis-sorted! I decided to abandon my very much desired plans to go on into Chile via Coyhaique and head north through to Puerto Montt on the scenic Carretera Austral, now nearly completed, connecting the upper part of Chile to the remote Southern part. This is a lasting legacy started by General Pinochet. It is said that he wanted it named after him but this was met with a fair amount of opposition.
From Puerto Montt, in Chile, we went to the small but pretty and very touristy, town of El Calafate in Argentina. We visited the Perito Glacier, (a natural wonder that grows by 2m a day) almost immediately after we arrived. It was hot and baking there, but a bus ride one hour later, it was rainy at the glacier. This is Patagonia, so the weather remains ever changing after all! Our Spanish doctor refers to El Calafate as a “tourist trap”. apart from the Perito Moreno, there are other excursions but all priced in US $ and upward of $200! We could move on to our next planned destination of Fitzroy, another “must see” place, but nothing to move on from there til Saturday when we head for the Chilean border once again – and then there is no way of connecting to the Carratera Austral with any certainty!
So, the three of us decided to leave town and take a plane, considerably cheaper than taking the bus over 4 days to Bariloche – another very touristy place renowned for its Swiss like setting and more importantly for me, chocolates! We rented a car at Bariloche airport and although not planned, we managed to tour the whole of the Argentinean lake district in 24 hrs – something that would normally take at least 3 days! With our Spanish doctor friend, we did some intense travelling and did not sleep in the same bed twice. When we all split, I missed our new friend’s animated conversation: drink coffee … dug.. dug… dug…, visit x click, click, click….. and his favourite phrase: “we have 2 possibilities”…. to which I would reply: “what about?” The response would be: “we have 3 possibilities… you decide”. He had all makings a 1st Division civil servant or indeed Local Govt officer, if only he could make decisions! We became good mates and did a list of countries we will travel together in the future – almost all except Britain and USA! A real Globetrotter in the making, rucksacks and only economy class for the “authentic experience” – not sure if it meant not hiring cars!
I did things not “programmed” like hire cars, and which our Spanish doctor friend drove like an aspiring Italian Grand Prix driver in a red Fiat Punto replica. This even gave time to visit the island of Chiloe, S America’s 2nd largest) – did in half a day (instead of whole day) by special negotiation. The place where we stayed In Castro also did the tours, ran the Tourist office, the taxi company ..the lot!
Arrived back in Buenos Aires – in broad daylight in sharp contrast to the previous week when (thanks to Taris our Spanish travel companion and now fast friend) we seemed to be getting to our destinations in the middle of the night with no accommodation fixed! It was a bit of a relief to be in BA after a 15 hr bus journey (very comfy sleeper – got up fresh as a daisy and wished our air flight had been of the same standard – meals, night cap fizzy champagne etc. from Neuquen (Arg).
This time in BA, we opted to stay in the slightly posher part of town. I didn’t realise the unexpected benefit until we left a Thai restaurant about 1am. We ran into a stunning, vivacious, voluptuous raven-haired beauty who we initially mistook to be a typical friendly Argentine but she made proposals about providing massage and other services by gesticulation as we didn’t understand Spanish, but we got the drift all right!
One of my travel companions muttered something about going to sleep as he was dog tired whereas I tried to explain that my Redbridge Council zero-budget (Hem is a UK civil servant!) for entertainment and socio-economic research would not allow such indulgences. Only moments earlier I was reflecting on the night time economy as the Environmental Executives of BA municipality, who were furiously flushing the pavements and clearing garbage just yards away. And then to be presented with this provocative proposal – my thoughts of returning home had me thinking of gaps in the Skills Matrix, the reliability of National workforce data with excluded key sector professionals in the all important tourism and culture industry; was she entitled business start up advice and grants, etc, etc – enough of work talk.
On serious note: life is pretty tough for most people after the near-collapse of Argentina’s economy 3 yrs ago and a great many try and cope with everyday life by doing two or three jobs and even reverting to desperate means.
Not one for taking taxis for the “authentic experience”, I found myself taking the underground metro. It was amazing to find that that TV screens suspended over the platforms showing all kinds of stuff – one in particular was a Miss Brazil (previous night I am sure it was Miss Argentina) parading on a catwalk – starting with a glasses, full business suit and the mandatory army officer hat – starting to strip of each apparel at a time – Did she take everything off? No Se, I don’t know. I was on the fast and frequent train by the time she got down to her essentials! Visit Argentina – its a great place to enjoy yourself !
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Holidaymakers are supporting the Travel Foundation, a new charity that is trying to help manage the travel industry more sustainably.
Since the charity’s launch in November 2003, more than three-quarters of holidaymakers who booked a winter or summer holiday with UK operator First Choice have agreed to pay a voluntary donation to the charity.
The Travel Foundation is aiming to raise £1 million a year by 2006, which it says it will spend on projects that help tourism make a positive contribution to holiday destinations.
First Choice is asking its customers to donate 10 pence per adult, and 5 pence per child per holiday booking. Other UK operators, including The Adventure Company (formerly Travelbag Adventures) and Hidden Greece, will soon be providing similar fundraising schemes. Sunvil Holidays is already asking its customers to match its own donation of 50 pence per booking.
The Travel Foundation has already supported sustainable tourism projects in The Gambia and in Cyprus, where all the main tour operators are now offering excursions to the less well-known rural areas to help contribute to the livelihoods of local people. It plans to support similar tourism-related projects in other popular holiday destinations, including Mexico and Tobago, to help tourism make a greater contribution to the local people, environment and economy.
Further information, see thetravelfoundation.org.uk or telephone 0117 9273049.
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