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.
Mac has been reading and researching again! The following travel tips are a culmination of his recent reading.
Luggage tags: these can easily be lost. One potential solution is to put your address inside your suitcase or to put some distinctive marking with a permanent marking pen on the side of the suitcase, such as a circle, or triangle. On that advice, I have put a big cross on each area of my baggage. I hope someone will think maybe there is religious stuff inside, that I am a missionary or something and won’t steal my naughty magazines inside. (Only kidding!)
Getting lost – directions: one person suggested when you go to theme parks or such like, he goes to the right, then to the left and so on and return in reverse. Now why didn’t I think of that! (Globetrotters membership Secretary Kevin takes his compass with him on his trips to Japan to ensure that he exits subways in the right direction.)
Showers: if you don’t have shower clogs, one person suggests putting a hand towel on the bottom of shower tray and standing on it . Another person suggests that when you enter your hotel room you should turn on the shower for a few minutes which will get rid of the build up of spores that cause Legionnaires disease.
Taxis: one person suggested on leaving a taxi, to leave the door open while you are getting your bags out of the boot/trunk., this way the taxi can’t drive off before you have had a chance to make sure you haven’t left anything behind.
Travel on Sundays: I often travel on Sunday but one person recommends not travelling on Sundays as most train and bus times are infrequent or destinations are limited and many stores and businesses close early or are not open, such as money changers.
If you would like to contact Mac, he is happy to answer e-mails: macsan400@yahoo.com
The Texas Branch of the Globetrotters will hold its next meeting January 10th at the New Braunfels library, 600 Common St New Braunfels Texas.
Christina (with Wiggling Wanda – the club’s travelling mascot!) is out of the country on a “Santa Mission Trip” in Tokyo and Bangkok, and will have a lot to share about this heartfelt adventure.
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!
For more information about the Texas Branch: please contact texas@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates at our website (click here) or call Christina at 830-620-5482
If anybody would like to enquire about meetings or help Christina, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk
Trevor from the UK writes to tell us of his experience booking flights through the internet based travel company lastminute.com. He says:
Be very careful before booking flights through lastminute.com. I recently booked two flights a week or two in advance of travelling and elected to collect my tickets via the e-ticket mechanism. My account was duly debited for two tickets and I received confirmation to the effect that the e-tickets had been issued. So far so good. We then arrived at the airline check-in desk on the morning we were due to fly only to be told by the airline that they only had one e-ticket on the system and had no record of a second e-ticket ever being issued.
We were unable to contact lastminute.com (the only obvious way of contacting anyone at lastminute.com seems to be via an online web form) and we were faced with the choice of either;
A] Abandon our holiday
B] Pay the airline to issue the other e-ticket
C] Go by myself and leave my wife in England [ just kidding… 🙂 ]
We took option [B] and I contacted lastminute.com to obtain an explanation and a refund for the second e-ticket that we were charged for but never received. I received an email informing me that my wife’s name was too long (longer than a piece of string, presumably) and so they hadn't issued the second e-ticket. No explanation as to why I hadn't been informed of a problem prior to turning up at the airport, or even an apology. The best they could offer was to “request a refund via the airline on [our] behalf”.
We're still waiting for our money, and I'm now considering legal action.
Caveat emptor, as they say.
If you want to contact Trevor, he can be e-mailed on: trev_gs@blueyonder.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 8,000 people currently 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
Rank Country (GDP per capita)
The pilot’s safety briefing was interrupted by a loud squeal. “Was that a pig? If it makes a mess you’ll have to clear it up when we reach Hagen” he said indignantly to the woman with a large bulge under her coat. The pig squealed repeatedly as we took off but was quiet for the rest of the 45 minute flight – another small incident in travel around Papua New Guinea, the land of the unexpected. The previous flight to Tari had been over 4 hours late: “As the weather was unusually fine, we took the opportunity of using the aircraft to visit poorly-served airstrips before sending it back towards Hagen” the fat controller eventually explained. At Tari we watched the Spirit Dancers, Huli wigmen dressed up in all their finery with head-dresses of Birds-of-paradise feathers and cloaks of Cuscus skins, performing their dance to help overcome problems such as serious illness. Higher up, in the moss-covered forest, a King-of-Saxony Bird-of-paradise performed a similar dance, bouncing up and down on a thin branch, swaying his bizarre elongated head feathers and singing just as tunelessly as the Hulis.
The Central Highlands Highway was now open to regular traffic, thanks to recent patrolling by police vehicles. It had effectively been closed for years by the presence of “rascals” who stopped and robbed any who dared to use it. Now it was possible to drive from Tari to Hagen in 8 hours instead of at least 20 on the safe route. We took part of this when we travelled from Hagen to Lake Kutubu, mainly in the back of a lorry masquerading as a Public Motor Vehicle. The “5 hour” journey took 8 hours and included another pig on board, very well behaved this time. We climbed up and down mountains, mainly through a semi-cultivated landscape, dotted with patches of forest, before dropping down through hills covered with young forest. My backside felt thoroughly tenderised after bouncing up and down on the wooden plank cum seat as we hit numerous potholes. We got off at dusk and had to wait for a boat to take us to Tubo Lodge on an island in the picturesque lake. The jovial local headmaster explained the meaning of time: “I know that if you say you will meet me at 7.00, you will be there at 7.00, not 6.59 or 7.01, but if a Papuan says 7, he will arrive at 9.”
We took a birding trip to the mainland with bare-footed Robert as guide. We had a good time until it started raining in earnest, so we returned to where the canoe had been left. “The others have taken it to the village, we will walk there.” “How long will that take?” “It depends how fast we walk” – we had heard this before. It took an hour, without stopping, as we slithered along the muddy path which looked as though it had not been used for weeks – a wrong assumption as we met four children who were walking to a village some 10 km away where the school was. They would live there during the week and walk home for the weekend. I was happy to accept Robert’s helping hand, such as when we crossed streams on slippery rocks, but my companion stubbornly refused all offers. He fell into one stream, soaking both feet – no, I didn’t say that. In the village, the men played touch-rugby and the children touch-basket ball. The men all lived in a single longhouse, each with their own fire next to their bed, and the women and children in their own family houses.
After returning to the lodge, we proceeded to the other side of the lake to see the bleached skulls and bones of the locals’ ancestors, laid out on a ledge beside a chalk cliff. Their glory had been to be killed by the Japanese in World War II. Later, we ate delicious small crayfish, speared by boys standing precariously at the front of a small wooden canoe. One of the local women had a fever, probably malaria; we gave her some pills to help – the nearest pharmacy was at least 6 hours away. In the early hours I spent a long time in the rain trying to see a very rare bird, Wallace’s Owlet-Nightjar, which called only once or twice every 10 or 15 minutes. He won, I had to leave at 05.30, to go home. The first step was to get the guys out of bed to take me by canoe to the other end of the lake, an hour’s journey in the rain. There was no sign of the vehicle to the airport: “The man allotted to arrange this forgot to do it”, said Penny in a matter of fact way. We walked it in 45 minutes, in time for the 30 minute flight to Hagen, followed by an hour in a jet to Port Moresby, 6 hours to Singapore and 12 hours to Heathrow, where my bag failed to appear, one hour to St Pancras, 3 hours to Sheffield and bus home, only to find there was no-one in and my key was in my bag still in Singapore…
Plenty of news about our friends Ryanair.
Despite their difficulties with court cases with the European Union about state aid, (whether Ryanair received unfair state subsidies at its Belgian hub of Charleroi) Ryanair has announced two new European bases in Rome and Barcelona. The new bases would start from January 28 and February 5 2004 respectively, adding 12 routes to its rapidly expanding network.
And the bad news: Ryanair is to close all its recently-opened intra-Nordic routes due to weak demand and switch capacity to destinations outside the region. They plan to end flights from Sweden’s Skavsta to Oslo in Norway, Tampere in Finland and Arhus in Denmark from January 14 2004. Ryanair added in a statement it was also shutting its flights from London to Ostend in Belgium, Maastricht in the Netherlands and to the French destinations of Reims and Clermont.
The good news: new routes will be from London Stansted to Linz in Austria, Bari in Italy, Erfurt in Germany, Jerez in Spain, and from France’s Charleroi to Calladolid in Spain.
You really wanted to know this, didn’t you: you can now buy Ryanair gift vouchers: for more info, see: http://www.ryanairvouchers.com/They say you can choose from 135 routes across 16 different countries (does that include flying into the wrong country – Beetle?) and that for every voucher bought Ryanair will make a £1/€1 donation to charity
Alhabib is from the Tuareg people in Libya and sent us this fascinating insight into the Islamic festival of Ramadan.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Muslim calendar. It is during this month that Muslims fast and when Muslims concentrate on their faith. It is a time of worship and contemplation. There are fairly strict rules about how one can live during the month of Ramadan: during the Fast of Ramadan, Muslims are not allowed to eat or drink during daylight hours and smoking and sexual relations are also forbidden during fasting. At the end of each day, the fast is broken with prayer and a meal called the iftar. In the evening following the iftar, it is customary for Muslims to go out visiting family and friends and the fast is resumed the next morning
As the holy time of Ramadan approaches, everyone is very happy and starts to prepare for it. The women in the home usually prepare special meals for the month of Ramadan. Everyone is happy and anticipating the coming of this holy month. Ramadan begins after watching the crescent shaped moon at midnight or even later. During this period, Muslims start their day before early dawn and eat a meal, called the Sahour. This is sufficient for fasting for the day. After that, they begin the worship and call to God for forgiveness. All Muslims must fast between the hours of dawn and dusk.
Before sunset the women prepare delicious savoury food. At sunset , when the call to prayer to Al Magreb is made, all the family gather round the feast to eat. They begin with some dates and some milk (this is the sunna of the prophet Mohamed ) and then begin the Magreb prayer. After praying they return to eat and drink. There is lots of visiting going on and much time is spent with friends and all houses are open to receive any guest from anywhere.
After eating the Iftar (breakfast), much worship and prayers take place during the month, and at night, when the call to prayer for the evening Aisha begins, people go to the mosques to pray evening prayers. They pray the Al Traweh prayer and this continues every night. On the 27th night, the Greater Night (Alila Alkabira ) which is called (Night of Al Gadr), the holy Koran begins to descend from heaven to prophet Mohamed. On this night people recite the Koran all the night until dawn so as to be close to God.
After the end of the holy month of Ramadan, the holy Bairam comes. In the Morning of the first day of the lesser Bairam, the people get out to the Plazas to pray the Feast prayer. It is two bows: after praying, each person begins to greet each other (Alsalam) happily and to wish him a merry feast. After the Feast after the holy month, the lesser Bairam continues for three days, all of it to visit friends and family and everyone is happy.
If you would like to contact Alhabib about Ramaddan or Libya, he can be reached by e-mail on: tenerecotour@yahoo.com
After her memorable barbecue in Itaunas, Brazil, Iris and her overland group make their way to Caravelas.
We moved on to a place called Caravelas which was right by the sea, a nice little Pousada (hotel) as they call them in Brazil, with a little dip pool and nice little rooms, with the sea just seconds away. It was here that I decided to get rid of a load of outstanding postcards and so took a trip into the little town to find a post office and send them off. I do hope they all arrived safely because I was advised it might be better to wait until Salvador as rural post offices are notoriously sleepy places, but when I got to the post office, I found it very efficient and the staff of two extremely helpful, and I was able to get directions to a stationery shop so that I could buy more envelopes to post off the rest of my postcards at a later date.
I dare say recipients who receive the postcards initially noticed that the envelopes were stuck down with sellotape in a very haphazard fashion! Well, it was only after I had bought the envelopes and came to stick them down that I realized there was no sticky on them! Apparently this is the norm in Brazil and one has to either buy a glue stick to stick them down or use the facilities at the post office! We have decided that this is probably because it is so humid in Brazil that any sticky on the envelopes would soon deteriorate and stick themselves down before they were used, if you see what I mean.
We stayed in Caravelas for just two nights and then moved on to Caraiva, which is a small island just the most incredibly small boat journey from the shore, it took the boatsmen all of two minutes, I would think to row us across. And this again was an unspoilt place with no built up roads, and the island itself was on a coast line which was reached only by a very basic mud track road which sent us all lurching and bumping around inside the truck as it negotiated potholes, ruts and ridges in the road and at times had difficulty getting through narrow openings and sharp bends and some bridges that looked as if they wouldn't take a horse and cart, let alone an enormous truck!
Anyway, we spent an enjoyable three nights there. I wasn't prepared to enjoy it to begin with because we had such a trek round the island to find our accommodation only to find the place we were supposed to stay at was inexplicably closed, and so it was a race to find the best accommodation available and as usual, Judith and I got left behind in the crush and rush by the younger members of the group to get themselves sorted (there’s no concession on this trip for the aged among them) and so in the end it meant that we were housed in a small Pousada across the road from the rest of the group, but we did pay Reais 5 less than they did per night and got a really nice two-bedded (one double bed and one single bed) room and it took us quite some time to assure our landlord that Martin, who had come to act as interpreter for us, didn't want to share the double bed with one or both of us!)
We also found our landlord had donkeys who came by to spend the night just outside the grounds of the Pousada in a square area formed between two buildings. During the evening, we went to the landlord’s restaurant for a meal and noticed the gate to the Pousada and its grounds had been shut, so we carefully closed it behind us. We met a Brazilian lady at the restaurant, who seeing our difficulty with the menu, came to assist us. It turned out she had spent time in USA and spoke really good English and she turned out to be an artist of sorts, her speciality being designing patterns for materials, and her husband’s speciality was making jewellery and they travelled around on public transport selling their wares. We spent a pleasant evening with them before going back to bed, and then as I looked out over the grounds, once we had got to our room, I noticed we had inadvertently left the gate open and the donkeys, who had arrived to spend the night in the lee of the buildings, had entered the garden and were about to feed off the plants! Well, some of my friends and family know I am not too happy dealing with large animals, but without thinking I went straight down and shooed these three big animals out of the garden and they obeyed me so willingly, I felt quite proud of myself as I closed the gate behind them. (I didn't want to have to pay for all the plants they might have eaten and that spurred me on, I think)
We spent a pleasant couple of days in Caraiva, exploring the beaches and finding everyone so friendly and helpful. Most of the group descended on a particular restaurant for breakfast and to spend the day there while they frolicked on the beach and in the sea, and I just wandered from place to place, studying my Spanish and just contemplating the ocean. There were plenty of places to eat in the evening, mostly serving fish, and we met our Brazilian friends each evening and spent some pleasant times with them. They were in Caraiva to display their wares, and weren't too hopeful of selling much as they were relatively expensive compared to the normal tourist junk, but the lady was just pleased to practice her English and we were relieved because we weren't too keen to learn Portuguese. I had studied it a year or so ago, but I had then decided to concentrate on Spanish and so forgot most of what I had tried to learn!
We then went on to a place called Porto Seguro, which is in the middle of the mining area of Brazil where many precious stones and metals are found and whilst there visited their museum with exhibits from all over the world depicting stones in their raw state and in their polished state, and showing all the various minerals and metals extracted in the region together with the machinery etc to do it with and it truly was a very fascinating exhibition and I spent a couple of hours there. Porto Seguro is an unspoilt town with narrow streets and colonial buildings, unfortunately many of them in bad need of renovation, but it also made a pleasant stopping point for us on the way to Salvador.
Spotted by our webmaster, Paul. If you are planning to travel in Europe by train, then the links below will take you to the English language versions of local rail journey planners. The majority of these provide timetable, ticket and booking facilities.
| Belgium | http://www.b-rail.com |
| Denmark | http://www.dsb.dk |
| Finland | http://www.vr.fi |
| France | http://www.sncf.fr |
| Germany | http://www.bahn.de |
| Italy | http://www.trenitalia.com |
| Ireland | http://www.irishrail.ie |
| Luxembourg | http://www.cfl.lu |
| Netherlands | http://www.ns.nl |
| Spain | http://www.renfe.es |
| Sweden | http://www.samtrafiken.se |
| UK | https://www.thetrainline.com/ |
| Eurostar | http://www.eurostar.com |
What is it: rabies is an acute, and occasionally fatal virus almost always transmitted by dogs, jackals, foxes, skunks, cats, bats, mongooses, and farm animals. Rabies is found on all continents, except Antarctica and Australasia. Doctors have estimated that 2% of dogs in Bangkok are rabid – no, the Beetle did not know that either.
How do I get it: the rabies virus is transmitted in the saliva of an infected animal by biting or licking an open wound. The virus is usually carried by Half of all people bitten by an infected animal will develop rabies.
What happens if I get it: it can take weeks, months and sometimes years to develop, although the usual incubation time is 2 to 8 weeks. Symptoms can include loss of appetite, muscle aches, sore throat, headache, paralysis, spasms of swallowing muscles, delirium, convulsion, and, in worse cases, coma and death. Sometimes, odd behaviours manifest themselves in the form of aggression, agitation or anxiety
Diagnose and treatment: samples of saliva and blood will determine rabies. A course of rabies vaccinations will cure you. A pre-exposure vaccine is available for travelers visiting high risk countries. Seek medical help as soon as you have been bitten. The earlier you can receive rabies injections, the better, even if you have received a pre-exposure course of injections.
How can I avoid contracting rabies: if you are visiting a high risk area, arrange to have rabies vaccinations. In any case, avoid contact with all animals, whether domestic or wild. If you are bitten, wash the bite with soap and water and then with alcohol or iodine to reduce the chances of becoming infected.
Former Globetrotters Committee member Stuart was recently based in Cambodia whilst working for Voluntary Services Overseas. In this article, he gives us the benefit of his experience and tells us his top tips.
Transport
Tuk tuk (seats 2) – $8 a day (sunrise to sunset) for the central temples (Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Ta Prohm), $15 to go to Banteay Srei, they may want and extra $1 to go to Neak Pean but this is a bit cheeky.
I recommend Kinal as a driver – very gentle person, speaks a bit of English, drives slowly and carefully, has a nice new tuk-tuk. Tel: 012 909 730.
Alternative is to go by moto for about $5-8.
There are 2 boat options – new Japanese boat or old boat. The new one has just started and they had a promo deal on for July and Aug of $30 o/w but the normal price is $55, which is comparable to flying. It’s about the same time as the old boat. Guesthouses in Siem Reap can arrange tickets. It has an air-con downstairs with nice seats, free meal and drinks, normal volume films and a covered deck with chairs. They also pick you up and take you to/from the boat at both ends. Additional perks include life jackets and lifeboats, which are not to be found on the old boats.
The old boats are normally $25 o/w but they dropped their prices to $10-15 in the face of competition from the new one but they may well go back up again once the promo period is over. Old boats all seem to be quite similar – “bullet boats” or “express boats” or “rambo boats”. Basically a metal cylinder with cramped air-conned interior and VERY loud videos (Khmer comedy or kung fu – bring ear plugs). Trick is to get a seat away from a speaker and not too close to the back (engine noise and industrial strength aircon). Probably not for claustrophobics as the only 2 doors are small and what would happen in the event of an accident doesn’t bear thinking about.
Alternatively, sit on the roof – take plenty of sun cream, water and a scarf (2-3000 riel for a kroma – checked Khmer scarf, from any market) to cover body parts that will get roasted/soaked regardless. Once the thing gets going it is very fast and exposed. There is no barrier at the outside edge of the boat, only a ledge to walk along and a rail at shoulder height to hold onto, so if you need to go to the loo (inside) during the 5-6 hour trip (cf. drinking lots of water tip above) then don’t fall in on the way as they probably won’t stop to pick you up. Put valuables in plastic bags to avoid them being drenched.
However, if you want to take photos then the roof is the place to be. There is a Vietnamese floating village just at the Siem Reap boat boarding place which is very photogenic. Once in the lake itself the scenery is not great as the banks are far away. The stretch from Kompong Chhnang to PP is scenic as the banks are close and there are lots of other boats fishing etc.
Food & Accom
I haven’t tried too many places but can recommend Soup Dragon (run by an ex-VSO) and Blue Pumpkin (also does good bakery things). Watch the restaurants near the temples – they’re much more expensive than elsewhere (as are the drinks stands – buy in Siem Reap and leave them in the tuk-tuk). I’m not sure but I think some places have 2 menus – one for foreigners and the other for locals. The alternative is to stock up on picnic things in Siem Reap.
Top tip: you can swim in the very nice pool at the Angkor Village Hotel for free – just be discrete about it.
There are loads of places to stay in all price ranges. We stayed at the Green Garden Home guest house, which is a little out of the centre i.e. a 5-10 min walk to the market. Quiet garden setting with rooms from $10-25.
Shopping
Don’t bother buying souvenirs here as they’re much cheaper and better quality/selection in Phnom Penh. One thing you might want to get is the Angkor guide book by Dawn Rooney which gives you the detailed low down on each temple. $2-5 for a photocopied version, available everywhere. There are also 2 little visitors’ guides available in guesthouses which have up-to-date maps and listings.
Temples
This year the Government has introduced photo passes – you get taken into a little room and have your picture taken (free – or you can take a photo along if you prefer/have one to hand) for putting on your pass. $20 for 1 day; $40 for 2-3; $60 for 4-7. 3 days is nice and not rushed at all, you probably need 2 minimum if you want to get to Banteay Srei/not hang around; it probably is possible to cover most of the main sights in a day if you happen to be Japanese. Reserve one of your days for a sunrise/set visit – recommended.
There are loads of temples to see and they’re spread over a huge area but recommendations are:
We didn’t make it to the Roulos group (the earliest temples), Phnom Kulen, the river of 1000 lingkas (apparently very good once there’s been enough rain to cover the carvings) or any of the other minor places.
Film
Film is available cheaply in Siem Reap. Not so sure about quality of processing but can recommend a place in PP which is cheap, quick and good.
If you go for a sunrise/set visit to the temples and you’ve got an SLR then underexpose to get nice silhouette shots.
Take at least 400ASA film for the temples as some of them can be surprisingly dark, especially if it is raining/cloudy – you may find yourself needing a flash at times.
For more information, visit Stuart’s website:http://uk.geocities.com/stuartincambodia
U. S. Soldiers Home, Washington: during a century of travel (well 78 years!) both in and out of service I have travelled to over 150 countries (I count both North and South Dakota as countries) and for some reason have jotted signs and happenings that I thought funny at the time (and now wonder why). So here is the perfect opportunity to share some of my anecdotes.
In the India train schedule they have all these comments on leprosy.
1. Deformity does not mean infectivity.
2. Leprosy affects all faiths (Me. Surely not Catholics)
3. Any doctor can treat leprosy
(I have three suitcases full of notes I have taken about travel, military, yes, three suitcases. I have to get rid of some of the notes. Guess where I am sending them? Ha!
One Sign in restaurant: do not spit
Do not make nuisance
(Indians use this word nuisance often in their signs. Always reminding you to not make a nuisance of yourself (bad form)
One sign reads Deshi chicken eggs 20 rupees
English eggs 12 rupees
I was told English eggs mean the chickens were imported from England. Perhaps the eggs are smaller than Indian chickens.
They have a neat way of presenting your bill in Indian restaurants (even budget ones.) It is put in a folder that looks like a leather stationary folder which you open to look at the bill and no one else can see the amount of your bill. You then put the money in the stationary folder and close it. If you are host no one sees the bill and also they don’t see how little you leave as a tip inside the folder. I, of course like the system.
Sign in store: Vacancy for peon.
The different color turbans the Sikhs wear have no religious significance or other meaning. They can wear whatever color they wish. The man telling me this said he was wearing a black one because he was wearing a black suit.
Next month, Mac discusses Kenya. If you would like to contact Mac, he can be e-mailed on: macsan400@yahoo.com
U. S. Soldiers Home, Washington: during a century of travel (well 78 years!) both in and out of service I have travelled to over 150 countries (I count both North and South Dakota as countries) and for some reason have jotted signs and happenings that I thought funny at the time (and now wonder why). So here is the perfect opportunity to share some of my anecdotes.
In the New Delhi, India YMCA (takes men, women, children etc) a group of travellers travelling together from many different countries arrived. They were part of a project to show different nationalities could travel in peace and work and travel together. There were people from Hawaii, the States, Europe, Philippines etc. By the time they got to India they had formed into cliques and some were not talking to others, and some wanted to share room only with their own nationality etc. None of them trusted the Indian personnel at the front desk and when they found out I had been in India for awhile they came to me with their questions. They asked me if it was safe to drink the water from faucet in courtyard. I had been drinking it with no ill effects and there was a contraption on it that I thought purified the water so I foolishly assured them it was safe. They all got sick. I had been eating with the dining room with them but from them on walked several blocks to the YWCA to avoid their dirty looks!
A friend of mine at the Soldiers Home used to collect business cards so I would try to collect them from all around the world for him. I went into a gift shop in a hotel in New Delhi, India. They had a particularly nice card and so I told a white lie and told them I was a director of a tour group and could I have more than one to give to my clients. I forgot I was going to be in that hotel five days. The next day I was asked when is your tour group arriving? I said “What tour group” I then recovered my self and announced that I had been fired.
An English girl who claimed she had become a Hindu in England told me some of the Hindu temples that required you to be a Hindu (not all) would not let her in as they did not believe her. How do you prove you are a Hindu?
Armd Reg. In prayer that God may bless the souls of those who laid down their lives during India Pakistan War Dec 1971.
Mahatma (Soul) Gandhi is one of my heroes. Mother Teresa is another one (she visited the Soldiers Home. She asked that no collection be taken for her but I think one was.) Gandhi is one of the few lawyers I respect. When he travelled throughout India he often stayed in friend’s homes. In the one he often stayed in Bombay (now called Mumbai) the house has been made into a museum. Along with some of his stuff they have a lending library where you can check out some of the books he wrote. The sign on the desk reads: “Please return out books after reading. For we observe that though people may be very poor accountants they are very good bookkeepers”. At the Jain Temple there was a sign: “Women in menstrual period may not enter”. Our guide says that Jains wear a gauze mask over face so they will not kill any flies or insects accidentally. At the hanging garden the guide explained that Parsees instead of burying dead put them in a Tower of Silence and the vultures eat the meat off the corpse. It takes about twenty minutes. (Unless a fat actor.) Indians like their actors fat so they will look prosperous. (I look very prosperous!) They sometimes make American actors’ pictures on billboards fatter than they are. Paul Newman in one poster looked more like Orson Wells. Back to the Tower of Silence and the vultures. The bones then fall into a pit where lime and charcoal turns them into ashes. I asked how often they do this and was told: “Whenever they die” The Indians are so logical. It was explained to me that there are so few Parsees left that they had to feed the vultures meat in the meanwhile and she looked directly at me or they would become a nuisance in the neighbourhood. There is a water reservoir next door the droppings from the vultures would fall in the water so they covered the top of reservoir and made a hanging garden there. The soil is not deep enough for trees, just bushes and flowers. The Jain religion uses a swastika (a Nazi symbol, only Indians had it first, and the Nazi reversed the symbol) and rice in their ceremony. I will now take up a collection for the vultures.
A rickshaw driver is trying to fix me up with a prostitute. He said she is in the untouchable class. An untouchable prostitute??
Another time I went into a temple and the people went out of the way to welcome me. I asked what kind of temple is was and was told A temple for untouchables, (although I think this was outlawed.)
The other day in India I realized all my coats were missing. My raincoat, nylon jacket, sweater etc. I thought maybe I had left them on the airplane. Then when I went to look for my shoes under the bed and there they all were. My room was so small that I had put them under my bed to get them out of the way.
Some Indians after talking to you when they get ready to leave will say “May I leave now?” I always graciously give them permission
Next month, Mac discusses India again.
If you would like to contact Mac, he can be e-mailed on: macsan400@yahoo.com
For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.
Meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.
Globetrotters meeting on Saturday November 8th.
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!
Date of future meetings: Saturday January 10th 2004
Mark your calendars.
For more information about the Texas Branch: please contact texas@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates at our website (click here) or call Christina at 830-620-5482
If anybody would like to enquire about meetings or help Christina, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk
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Busby tells us some brief travel facts about Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Cambodia in general from her recent trip there. She says: “Phnom Penh is not a very safe place after the sunset. The staple diet of rice, chicken and the greens is a bit of a joke. The ‘green bits’ are often boiled marihuana leaves – not over potent, but they have a noticeable effect in hot temperatures.
“There is a game of ‘saving a turtle’. In front of King Sihanouk’s palace by the river, there are women with kids selling turtles. For $1 you buy a turtle and set it free wherever you want. Of course the women and children caught the turtles and sold them again. Not great, but I didn’t think there was any harm done to the turtles in the process.
“The major thing that bothered me in Siam Reap was the licences to the Angkor area. Not a cent goes to preservation of the area, rather, it is used to pay the Malaysian Government for their supply of oil. Not quite right is it?”
Have you visited Cambodia recently? Would you like to share your travel experiences with the Beetle? We’d like to hear from you.
Becky is a volunteer worker for Trade Aid and is working in Mikindani, Southern Tanzania. This story is a true account of how she experienced a narrow escape and could have been seriously injured in a bus accident travelling from Dar-es-Salaam to Mtwara in southern Tanzania – be warned!
The bus looked typically African; old, battered, dirty and rusting, with more luggage on top than was probably safe and as my brand new Chinese bike was strapped onto the back I sensed then that this was going to be an interesting trip.
I was privileged with a seat by the door where I got to enjoy the flirtations of the bus boys, who always loiter in the doorway, climbing on top of the roof and jumping on and off the bus at random intervals. For 12 hours we lumbered, creaked and bumped our way along and when the road particularly rutted we’d suddenly lunge and tilt precariously in one direction and then realign ourselves as the bus swung the other way I scanned the looks on the faces of the other passengers to search whether I needed to be fearful and not an eyelid was raised. One passenger caught my look of concern as we swayed onwards and I felt embarrassed that he’d witnessed the fear of a ‘mzungu’ travelling aboard an African bus. From that moment on I decided I had no need for fear as if they were happy and this were normal then I should be too!
When darkness fell we stopped off in a small village for a convenience stop. For some reason I will never be able to understand at this stage of the journey I decided to move and exchanged places with one of the bus boys so that I too could stand by the door and join in the degeneracy of the bus boy humour! ‘No I will not massage your leg!’ ‘No I will not marry you!’ – I can’t quite understand these men’s willingness to marry someone they’ve never even spoken to, maybe there’s hope for me yet! On the road once again it was approaching 8 pm and we were making our way to the top of a very long, steep hill, travelling very slowly as the engine roared and strained under our weight. We stopped for a second, I assumed to change gear and the bus slipped backwards, maybe a dodgy handbrake or the driver not as proficient as myself at hill starts. A couple of the bus boys jumped off to help but we continued moving backwards down the hill – I will never understand what caused me to do what I did next and I didn’t know I’d done it until afterwards but some super-instinct inside me alerted me in that instant I had to get off that bus. A bizarre instinctive force urged me as I threw myself off the steps of the moving bus.
My immediate thoughts
after landing flat on my face (not very Bond like I’m
afraid!) was that I really had proved how idiotic a race we
Brits are! I assumed everyone had watched and would laugh
on my cowering return. But it would appear that fate was
with me that night and I will never doubt my instincts
again. For as I stood and turned to look round the bus was
continuing to move backwards, rapidly gathering speed as it
headed back down the hill and very obviously out of
control. It all happened incredibly quickly and in the dark
I still am not certain of the chain of events, I just
remember hearing the crunching of the sand under the wheels
as they squeaked backwards and watched in amazement as the
bus bowled backwards gathering speed veering towards the
verge and onto the bank below. It was in that moment that I
knew there was nothing we could do but hope and pray as I
stood paralysed and helpless and watched as it creaked and
wobbled off the road, turned over onto its side and banged
to a halt as it slid down the bank, the brakes screeching
and flying up sparks as it finally came to rest.
I approached the vehicle hesitatingly, legs wobbling beneath me expecting it to burst into flames. There were no flames and I’m sure there were screams and shouts but I certainly didn’t hear them at first as I just stood and stared at the wreckage in the moonlight. One by one people started emerging out of windows and the victims made their way towards the road. I wanted to help but couldn’t cope with seeing mangled bodies and people crying out in pain knowing full well there was no hospitals or emergency services within a four hour drive and knowing they would have to probably suffer in silence was more than I could think about. There were women, children of all ages, pregnant women and families. I took the pastoral role of helping people to the road and holding people as they came off the bus – I doubt my reassurances helped but I had to do something. People kept on appearing and eventually I saw bags passed out, radios, loaves of bread, individual flip flops….selfishly I thought about my luggage and wandered over to have a look and there was my bag, and the books that I’d left at my feet on the bus, and my football? I started asking whether anyone was hurt.
Not one person died nor one person was injured which I still cannot fathom. For that first twenty minutes we all wandered around in the dark grabbing those who had sat near us and hugging each other muttering murmurs of thanks. It was 8.30pm in the middle of the forest and hours away from the nearest town or help. Within an hour it seemed amazing to me, that women were settling down their children to sleep, campfires were lit and people sat talking, laughter emerged and I couldn’t help questioning whether I’d invented the whole accident. The scene was one of calm and order? It just pays witness to the hardship and pragmatism of these people as this was all taken calmly in one big stride. We tried to sleep on the dusty road, which was uncomfortable but warm by our fire.
Activity recommenced at first light at 5.30am after an hours sleep, unloading all of the luggage which had been on the roof of the bus. Bag by bag, piece by piece, mattresses, pillows, bags, construction materials were unloaded – my huge basket of shopping, intact. I was trying to ignore my worries of my bike which had I assumed become mangled amongst the wreckage. However my brand new bike was wheeled over to me still in one piece with just a small scratch on the shiny bell to tell the tale. I was called in to administer first aid, which involved giving the last few painkillers I could find, binding aching joints and dabbing calamine lotion on anyone who had pain.
We eventually left the roadside 18 hours later at 3pm the following afternoon, the remaining 40 of the passengers crammed in with all our luggage on the back of an open truck. When I alighted in Mikindani at midnight I was grateful to see the sandy track leading to my home and I pushed my new bike and its contents to the safety of Base House.
Although I was able to find humour in the fact that I had rolled from a moving bus and the fact that there really is no transport comparable to that of the African Bus Journey – it took a number of days to absorb what had happened. Only yesterday a bus from Dar-es-Salaam, on the same road, overturned and 18 people died on the spot. Everyone here has a tale to tell relating to either family or friends who have been involved in a road accident. Lucky does not begin to describe the out come of this accident.
For more information on the work carried out by Trade Aid in Tanzania, see their website www.mikindani.com