In early April I took a Eurail/backpacking trip solo through Western Europe. I had the opportunity to travel throughout Switzerland. I gained a great deal of knowledge about Swiss bank accounts and procedures for securing greater financial privacy. I also passed through the tiny independent Principality of Monaco on the French coast near the Italian border.

While in Spain I visited the Andorra Tourist Office in Barcelona. It is located in the mall area of a prominent office complex at the Port of Barcelona. Andorra is located at the very top of the Pyrenees Mountains between Spain and France. It recently won its independence from France and Spain and has since become a tax haven for many Spaniards and other Europeans. Tourists often make a trek to Andorra, 2 hours by train from Barcelona, to purchase duty free goods.

But it was the discovery of yet another tiny tax haven on the Swiss/Italian border that really caught my attention.

Anyone who has ever flown into the Airport at Omaha, Nebraska has had the experience of having to pass through a tiny strip of Iowa after they leave the airport, to get to the city of Omaha. Carter Lakes, Iowa is a geographic anomaly. The town is completely isolated from the rest of the State of Iowa, surrounded by a lake on one side and Nebraska on the other.

Like Iowa, Italy has its own Carter Lakes anomaly in the Alps. Campione D'Italia is completely surrounded by the Lake of Lugano on one side, and the Italian-speaking Swiss Canton of Ticino on the other. The closest point on the Italian border is 11 kilometres away. But the Village has been a part of the Italian State of Lombardy (also home to nearby Milan), for over 7 Centuries.

It is relatively easy to get to Campione. Just take one of the wonderful Swiss trains from Geneva, Basel, or Zurich to Lugano. From Lugano it's just a ten minute ride in a taxi or a rent-a-car to Campione. Or, it's a 45 minute ride – all highway – from Milan.

Its isolation from Italy has given it a very unique status. It is almost like being in another country. It is similar to Monaco in that the town sits on a very narrow strip of coastline surrounded by cliffs. It even looks like Monaco with a Casino, boat docks, and a small palm-lined beach. The population of the town is just over 3,000. The total area is 1.7 square kilometres. Italy administers local governmental functions. However, Campione uses the Swiss banking system, currency, and post office.

It is their system of taxation that outsiders, particularly for those who are interested in financial privacy, may find of greatest interest. Basically, there are no taxes. Campione's only Casino makes enough revenue to support the town. Residents do not pay local municipal taxes, Italian income or VAT (Value Added) taxes, nor are they subject to the onerous taxation from Switzerland.

What's the catch?

Establishing residency in Campione is a little difficult. I speak fluent Italian. So, I was able to converse with some of the locals. They are a little suspicious of outsiders, with the exception of visitors to the Casino. They even seem to be a bit secretive about Campione and it's unique status. They have a good deal and they want to keep it that way. For example, it is not easy to purchase land in Campione or even an apartment, which is the only way to gain residency. Real estate is quite expensive. Though, if you are able to purchase a little land you will receive automatic residency. They say that about 1,000 foreigners now live in Campione taking advantage of its unique opportunities for avoiding taxes and corporate protections.

Libertarians and other financial privacy seekers have searched the world for attractive havens such as Campione. Purchasing a plot of land in the town could prove quite pricey. But this could be a very attractive option for a joint venture?

Note – Eric Dondero R. is the author of the “Worldwide Multilingual Phrase Book” – www.portsidelanguages.com. He is an interpreter in Houston and speaks over 20 languages. He is also active in libertarian politics and is an avid proponent of global freedom.

Young, a Korean American, living in California saw Globetrotter Kevin’s Korean itinerary in March’s Globetrotter e-newsletter whilst visiting Korea for a week with his wife and daughter after a trip to Tibet and Sichuan, China.

Young has a few hints and tips he’d like to pass on to us, particularly more interesting as Korea will see a massive influx of tourists as a result of co-hosting the next Football (Soccer) World Cup with Japan in a few weeks’ time:

1) Gyeongbokgung is a fine introduction to Korean “old palaces”, a significant part of Korean cultural heritage. An advantage is that there are museums on the grounds as you say. But if I were to pick a single palace for someone with limited time, it would be Changdukgung Palace, which is a beautiful place, especially the Piwon (Secret Garden) part. There are also regularly scheduled guided tours in English. 2) In Gyeongju, most Koreans would consider Sokuram (Stone Grotto) a must see. Last year I had a privilege of seeing it up close (beyond the glass barrier) thorough some contact, and it was a great experience to see the details of the stone carvings. Certainly not as extensive or imposing as the relief in Angkor Wat which came later, but they offer subtle and balanced beauty that you see commonly in Korean art.

3) We took a 3-day side trip from Seoul to Busuksa Temple and Andong in Kyungsangbuk-Do (the province where Gyeongju and also Taegu, one of the World cup sites are located), made easier with the recent opening of “Central Highway”. Busuksa is an old Buddhist temple dating back to the 7th century, and contains the second oldest wooden structure in Korea. Some people consider this temple to be in the most beautiful mountainside setting in Korea. Andong is a traditional town with well-preserved Korean style houses. At the nearby hamlet of Hahoe, we attended the annual festival commemorating the visit by Queen Elizabeth II 3 years ago. The highlight is the mask dance that started as a parody on the ruling class 600 years ago. From spring to fall, there is a performance of the dance every Saturday and Sunday. We also visited the most celebrated of the old private schools for Confucian scholars, Dosan Seowon, dating back to 16th century.

4) For me, the fascination of the Korean landscape and culture can be found in one setting – Buddhist temples. They are typically located deep in mountains, and many of them have survived the ravage of war throughout centuries. They are still the central repository of Korean Buddhistic practice where meditation in the serene setting is an integral part. Try to visit at least one Korean temple – it is vastly different from a Thai temple, typically gaudy and metropolitan. The most famous is Bulkuksa (often overrun with tourists), mentioned in Kevin's itinerary, not far from Daegu and Ulsan where World Cup matches are to be held. Haeinsa and Tongdosa in Kyonsangnamdo, near Busan are also well-known.

5) Visitors will find it difficult to communicate in English in Korea, especially in the countryside, even though we saw the whole country gearing up for co-hosting of the World Cup. Organized tours will be convenient but expensive. Independent travellers will need patience and spirit of adventure, but rewarded with memories of a unique culture, neither Chinese nor Japanese. Korea is much cheaper than Japan, but significantly more expensive than most third-world countries, especially in the world-class city of Seoul.

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

Rachel works for a non-profit conservation organization in the US, The National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation. She is are offering Volunteer positions at our field station in Costa Rica where we have a sea turtle conservation project. Any volunteers would be doing nightly beach patrols to look for turtles as well as participating in a nest protection technique study. In the mornings we do nest surveys on horseback. The cost is $600US per month and this includes your room and board. All transportation is separate and must be covered by the individual. But I can help with arrangements. This opportunity is for the hearty, as it includes a lot of walking on soft sand late at night plus we need people for the complete month. We also have ten-day ecotour packages; Deluxe and Economy. If any of this sounds interesting to your group, please contact me. I hope to hear from you soon.

Pura Vida, Rachel Silverman National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation

http://www.savetheseaturtle.org

Our first speaker was Mark Honigsbaum, whose talk was entitled The Fever Trail, after his book of the same name, which documents the discovery of the Cinchone tree (Cascarilla), which was found between 4,000 & 10,000 ft up in Ecuador. This tree provided the cure for malaria and was brought back to Europe and then planted in other malarial regions of the world such as India and Indonesia.

Mark’s slides however showed us a trip he made to Ecuador in April this year. He travelled into the mountains with a guide following an old treasure hunter’s trail for seven days and a distance of around 30 km’s. His scenic photo’s reflected this stark area that the sun hardly seems ever to penetrate, the mountains seemed to always be covered in cloud. As well as the scenery he showed us the revered grave of an old treasure hunter, where today’s treasure hunters leave an offering.

Our second speaker was Toby Green whose talk was entitled Travels in West Africa to Senegal, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. Toby’s mission had been to find the Marabout, who are shamens and charm makers who can reputedly make you invisible with their ju-ju magic! Toby’s slides were not for the squeamish as they depicted what goes into the making of the charms, such as parts of black cats and used funeral shrouds.

Toby heard of cases where these charms were used to cure snakebites, but this did not stop him coming down with malaria! His pictures showed us the regions green valleys, volcanic cones and waterfalls and scenes of village life including millet pounding and tea making. We saw a photo of a “Magic stone” these stones miraculously come back to the same place even if removed; this has resulted in dead straight roads taking diversions around them.

Toby did finally meet a Marabout who for a price would make him invisible, but he wouldn’t divulge whether he managed it, we’ll all have to read his book, “Meeting the invisible man” to find out.

The next London meeting will be on the June 8th (the second Saturday due to the golden jubilee bank holiday weekend). Speaking will be Peter Eltringham — Travelling in the Maya World and Mary Russell — Travelling around Syria, digressing to Baghdad.

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the ussualy onfirst Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back on Saturday 1st 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

The central monk body has begun teaching computer operations to monks in its bid to electronically archive Bhutan’s rich collection of Buddhist manuscripts, biographies and historical documents.

Twenty monks of the central monk body recently completed a two-week computer operations course conducted by the National Technical Training Authority under its special skills programme. Among the skills taught were using Dzongkha (the national language) fonts with MS Word, typing, editing and formatting in Dzongkha, typing pechas (scripts) and using templates for pechas, printing techniques and an introduction to the internet. With this training the monks will be able to save all the scripts on computers using CDs as back up storage. The central monk body has already purchased twelve computers for the project and will soon buy another eight.

This project was personally initiated and funded by His Holiness the Je Khenpo, His Holiness contributed Nu 1.8 million (£25,289/$36,815 source http://www.xe.com) to the project.

To start with the Drukpa Kagyued text will be compiled. “Some portions of the text have been lost”, said Karma Lhendup of the central monk body, “but we have borrowed the text from Buddhist monasteries in India and Nepal to fill in the missing bits and make corrections where necessary.” He added that other rare Buddhist texts, which once existed in Bhutan but are now lost, will also be borrowed and archived. Important religious texts of other Buddhist lineages like the Nyingma tradition will be compiled at a later date.

“When we complete compiling, our archive will be accessible to the public and those interested in research” said Karma Lhendup.

Keep up to date with news from Bhutan by visiting Bhutan’s national newspaper online at www.kuenselonline.com

This article was taken from the April 2002 newsletter of The Bhutan Society. With thanks to Lucy Hornberger and Kevin Brackley from the UK.

Hello Globies!

June 1st is our next meeting. A timely and interesting topic; Afghanistan. We will NOT have a July meeting due to all of our summer travel plans and the July 4th holiday. Hope to see you June 1st.

See below for a glimpse into Jason's adventure in Afghanistan.

Travels in Afghanistan August 2000 and August 2001 by Jason Florio When I journeyed to the Taliban controlled region of Afghanistan in August 2000 it was by default. I was on my way to Kashmir when I got a call to join a journalist colleague who said, “This [Afghanistan] is where it is happening”. In August 2001 my Afghan journey to the North eastern region was fuelled by a need to complete a picture of a divided country. The North eastern area of the country under the control of the Northern Alliance (who opposed the Taliban,) was a Shangri-la compared to the Taliban held region where I constantly felt a great sense of general and personal paranoia (I was arrested by the Taliban Vice and Virtue police for taking pictures of a football match, and then being accused of spying by their military). I wanted to experience Afghan life without the confines of the extreme Deoband form of Islam practiced by the Taliban.

My first attempt to cross into the Northern Alliance region (2001) from Pakistan by horseback, disguised as an Afghan woman in a head to toe burqa failed. After subsequent weeks of waiting. I finally made it in after landing a flight on an Russian made Northern Alliance helicopter crossing from Tajikistan into the Panjshir valley, the lair of the legendary “Lion of the Panjshir”, Commander Massoud. This idyllic valley is the gateway to the north, and who ever controls it controls the region. Being allowed to roam freely and shoot photographs without the constant monitoring of the Taliban was liberating. Working closely with the Afghan Ministry of Foreign affairs, I was granted permission to photograph on the front line at Bagram as well as deep in the Panjshir valley where multi-national Taliban POW's were held. In addition, I also photographed girls' schools (non-existent in Taliban territory) and fighters en route to the front line.

While waiting for the Massoud interview I was promised by the Ministry upon my arrival, I headed deep into the mountains with five Kalashnikov carrying mujahideen fighters to find the Kuchi nomads. After twenty-two years of fighting in the country, their life style had changed very little. They were still camel-riding transients who showed they were virtually immune to the effects of the war by crossing through the frontline without hindrance from either side. The Kuchi we encountered greeted us with open arms, until one of them thought I was trying to photograph his wife. We were then asked politely to leave in the form of a group of young nomads palming rocks at us. Before heading to the sandy wastelands of the northwest and eventually onto our UN flight back to Islamabad, we finally were granted audience with Massoud, “The Lion of the Panjshir” met us in his fortified bunker office and gave us forty -five minutes to interview and photograph him.

Within a week of returning to NYC on Sept the 5th, commander Massound would be assassinated by Al Qaeda operatives posing as journalist, and the attacks in the US would indelibly link the US and Afghanistan, finally giving the Afghan “Silent Majority” a world voice.

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. Meetings start promptly at 4:00pm and end at 5:30pm. $10.00 for non-members, $8.00 for members.

Where is it? South of France, on the Med

Why would I know it? The French Connection? The Count of Monte Cristo? Beautiful people in the south of France?

How do I get there? It is possible to fly direct, alternatively, get into Paris, by plane or train (Eurostar from the UK) and take the train a grand vitesse (TGV) to cover the 700km from Paris to Marseilles. It only takes 3 hours!

What’s it like? Old, the Phoenicians landed in the natural harbour around 600BC, had a bad rep with drugs and immigrants from French immigrants. Nice harbour with cafes, a castle and a large cathedral on the hill.

Is it safe? Well, it’s a lot different from the image projected by the French Connection! No, seriously, like all big cities, you stick to the good areas at night – there’s been a lot of money pumped into the city to do it up and make it a really attractive place these days!

What’s there to do? These days, it’s got good shopping, vibrant nightlife, try out the bouillabaisse (fish stew), get a tan, mix with the “beautiful people”, eat well, try out good bars, visit the ballet or the opera, buy some soap (seriously, a Marseille speciality!)

Take the ferry to the Château d’If, (famous from the Count of Monte Cristo) from the quai des Belges, otherwise, wander around the Vieux Port, shop, eat, drink….

Would my mother approve? Um, take her shopping, then for a good bouillabaisse, keep her away from the railway station, then, yes!

OK, when should I go? It’s a bit windy with the Mistral during February and March and also October and November. Otherwise, any time, but maybe avoid August – it’s almost national holiday time.

The last Ontario/Toronto GT meeting was held on Friday, May 24th; members Ray & Inge Bates spoke on “Six Months in Asia Following 911” and Dan Ramrose spoke about “Five Months' South American Adventure” and Paul Webb gave a talk on “Eight Weeks in Ghana”.

We are planning our annual GT picnic this summer. Proposed dates include one weekend in July or the beginning of August. The location could be at Meaford (on Georgian Bay,) at Vera Blowers' place or Toronto Island. To be advised when arranged, so stay tuned – we just hope the weather improves a little bit.

Bruce Weber has just left for a month-long trip to Vietnam and the Philippines and he is planning to tell us all about it in September.

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.

Who, you might ask? William Speirs Bruce, let’s call him Bruce, may not be as famous as other Antarctic explorers, such as Scott and Shackleton, but he certainly did his bit for Antarctic exploration!

Bruce was from Scotland and headed up the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition 100 years ago. Bruce wanted a place on Britain's “Discovery” expedition – which was ultimately to be led by Scott, with Shackleton among the crew, but he was snubbed by the organisers, who took so long to make a decision on whether to include him or not, that Bruce made his own expedition. Bruce was actually an experienced whaler, and he had already been to Antartica and had spent almost a year at the meteorological station at the top of Ben Nevis, (cold, brrrr!) training himself in the methodology of recording weather and climate. So, really, Bruce was the best qualified person to be on any Antartica expedition with all his polar experience.

But by launching an alternative expedition to the one he’d been waiting to go on for so long, he annoyed the wealthy and powerful Sir Clements Markham, of the Royal Geographical Society. So Bruce raised funds from the wealthy Coats family of Paisley, near Glasgow, and set off on the voyage he dubbed the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. He took a converted Norwegian whaling ship, which he named the Scotia. Unlike Scott, he had no interest in a race to the South Pole – his priority was to do original scientific research. The aim had been to establish a scientific research station on the continent, but bad weather prevented that.

Instead, they set it up on a sub-Antarctic Island, called Laurie Island, where scientists are still working today.

David Munro, president of the Scottish Royal Geographical Society, in Glasgow, said: “Bruce began to believe that polar exploration was becoming more of an adventure than a science and it was only the science he was interested in.

“From that point of view the expedition was a huge success – they discovered several hundred miles of previously unknown Antarctic continent, collected a wealth of geological and biological specimens and when they came back, published six volumes of scientific reports on their results.” Bruce even took a photo of a Scottish piper dressed in a kilt serenading a penguin on the ice! Apparently, the idea was that they were going to play it jigs, strathspeys, reels, slow marches, etc, and see if the penguin had any reaction.

Some people say that it is because Bruce’s expedition was so well run, that this is why so few people today have heard of him!

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

Congratulations to Christina, Chair of the Texas branch of Globetrotters on her new job on the San Antonio Riverwalk. Because of this, please note 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

Koh Samui Airport, Thailand is good. No doors here! This has to be one of the prettiest airports around. Liz, England

Koh Samui, The most tropical airport ever! The most beautifully in all Thailand:

Sukhothai…I could live there 🙂 Greetzzz Erik Jan, The Netherlands

A site recommended by Erik in the Netherlands, identifies good and bad airports around the world to sleep over night. Canadian Donna McSherry has put together a brill web site called http://www.sleepinginairports.net that allows people to make comments on which airports are good (and bad) for sleeping in. Donna has allowed us to show which airport web contributors feels is the best airport to sleep in:

Best Airport – Hands down, the Best Airport Award goes to Singapore's Changi airport.Unless the Singapore airport were to burn down, it is and will remain the reining mother of all airports that airport sleepers simply MUST visit on their sleeping travels. Airport sleepers worldwide will be brought to tears of joy when they find out all the wonderful amenities available. Several contributors have raved about this airport and I am almost inclined to travel to Singapore, just to camp out in the airport. Best of all, it is comfortable, safe, quiet (so quiet in fact that students study there during exams) and there's even a karaoke bar. One other fun fact about this little piece of heaven is the signs all over the airport that read ” no pets, no skateboarding, no smoking and no studying”. Check out the Singapore Changi web site before you go.

More from Donna next month with the runners up!

Write in and tell us your best airport nominations! the Beetle!

Due to technical hosting problems, we are going to run last month’s travel quiz again for those who did not receive last month’s Globetrotter e-newsletter.

Win a copy of a map and guide of Scotland, courtesy of Harper Collins who make this excellent series of map/guides.

1.The Cairngorms includes some of Scotland’s highest peaks. What stone are they made from?

2.Which Scottish city, on the northeast coast of Scotland is connected with the oil industry?

3. What is the name of Scotland’s oldest University – and the current place of learning of Prince William?

4.In which county is Balmoral Castle?

5.Which polar explorer had a ship called the R.R.S. Discovery?

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