Mac has not been very well, but is still e-mailing strong. Here’s an account of a trip he made to South Africa some time ago.

In South Africa I had been cutting my own hair but was invited to some wealthy South African friends of a friend of mine home. (They had their own game reserve, plane etc. ) so I thought I better get a better haircut so as to not disgrace my friend. When I went to the barber he took one look at my hair and said. “I see you have been having a go of it yourself. ‘

At a Catholic church in Johannesburg they hear confessions in Sesotha, Padi, Tsnamia, Zulu/Xnoise, Chiceno, English, Afriken, Dutch, Spanish, Italian and French but the priest did not understand my English (thank heavens!) At Notre Dame Cathedral in Pairs they hear confessions in Esperanto. Learning Esperanto is a good way to meet Esperanto speakers all over the world. I have a friend that speaks Esperanto and he goes all around the world spending a day or two with someone he has met this way. Actually all I think he knows how to say is Hello.

A white South African priest in Cape town told me that when they had apartheid he went out to meet an American priest at the airport. He could not find him and finally found him in the black section. When he asked the priest why he was there, the American said the other waiting room read Europeans Only and he was not European. This was his way of making fun of apartheid.

When I was in South Africa, a Canadian lady went on Sabi Sabi Reserve looking for animals. They got up at 5am each morning as we did also. They had a guide who warned them to not stand up if they saw any animals. They did this for three days and all they saw were birds! We were luckier at the Kruger Game Park. Sometimes you are lucky and sometimes you aren’t. If unlucky I suggest you go to the wonderful zoo in Pretoria. I enjoyed it even after being to all the game parks.

At hotel Killarney in Durban South Africa they had a Monks Inn where they have strip shows with lunch. You often see signs Steak, Eggs and Chips. This sign read Steak, Eggs, and Strips. If you see a strip show in a Monks Inn is that a double sin?

At Bergkelder winery at Stellenbosch (a university town in South Africa) I leaned that sweet taste buds are at the front of your tongue and bitter taste buds are at that back of your tongue. I wonder what I will learn tomorrow? Probably that I have a headache.

I went to see the l000 hills near Durban. There are 1000 Zulus living in 1000 hills. I asked the Zulu guide if I only looked at l5 of them (the hills) could I get a discount? He jokingly ordered me off the tour bus. He told us some of the Zulu history. There was a Zulu King named “Follow Me” in Zulu. He got a young girl pregnant. He denied he was the father saying it was a false pregnancy (her imagination. ) When the baby was born the new mother named the baby boy False Pregnancy, in Zulu, “Shaka. ” Shaka grew up to be a warrior and leader of the Zulus. He trained the Zulus to walk barefoot on thorns to toughen their feet (we did the same thing in basic training. ) It was rather a long but true story and one of the lady tourists interrupted this fascinating story to announce that she was cold.

The oldest bar in Capetown is the Firemans Bar. Firemen from ships used to go there. On the wall they have listed a telephone service with charges for answering services. He’s not here: 20 cents. He’s just left: 25 cents. Haven’t seen him all day: 30 cents. Haven’t seen him all week: 35 cents. Who? 40 cents.

In Durban I wanted to go out to the Hare Krishna Centre (there are a lot of Indians that live in Durban and some are very wealthy. ) I had not been out to the Hare Krishna centre in Virginia but decided to see this one in South Africa. I was told to take the Indian bus out from the Indian market. I asked how I would know the Indian bus and was told, “It has Indians on it. ”

En route to Addo Game Reserve 90 kilometres from Port Elizabeth, the guide was telling us the farmers in the desolate area raised goats. The German along with us did not know what animal the driver was talking about. I pointed to my goatee and then he knew. They used to feed the elephants citrus fruit and apples at 4. 30 PM (there is a travel book entitled Elephants arrive at half past four. ) But they have quit doing this as they want the elephants to take care of themselves so they now issued them food stamps. The elephants are smaller at this reserve.

If you would like to get in touch with Mac, he is happy to correspond by e-mail when he is well. His e-mail address is: macsan400@yahoo. com

Institutional Investor magazine’s recently ran its 25th annual survey of its wealthy readers. The St. Regis Hotel in New York was ranked first among the world’s top hotels by Institutional Investor magazine. Survey respondents had average annual incomes of $817,000 and spent an average of 62 nights in a hotel last year, the magazine said.

Following the St. Regis in descending rank were: Park Hyatt Paris-Vendôme; Mandarin Oriental, New York; Four Seasons Milan; Four Seasons Singapore; Four Seasons George V, Paris; Mandarin Oriental, San Francisco; Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore; Peninsula Hong Kong and Four Seasons, Chicago.

World Tourism

The World Tourism Organisation announced last month that the number of tourists around the globe should climb by 4 to 5 percent in 2006 and that tourism grew strongly in 2005 year despite natural disasters and attacks.

World tourism as measured by international arrivals, rose 5. 5 percent in 2005 to a record 808 million arrivals though the pace of growth had slowed sharply from the 10 percent rise in 2004. “Gradually slowing growth is expected to continue,” the World Tourism Organisation said in a statement and that growth was likely to stay above the long-term average of 4. 1 percent thanks to a more robust global economy and an improved outlook in Europe, particularly Germany, one of the biggest groups of global tourists.

The WTO said that terrorism, the effect high energy prices could have on the economy and bird flu could yet threaten tourism. “However, experience shows that (terrorism’s) impact lately has been rather limited and short-lived. Travellers overall have assumed the risk and have been undeterred by external threats. ”

So where is tourism growing the fastest? The answer appears to lie in Africa, up by 10 percent, led by Sub-Saharan countries such as Kenya with a 26 percent rise in arrivals in the first 10 months of the year and Mozambique with 37 percent more visitors in the first 9 months of the year.

Tourism to Asia and the Pacific grew 7 percent in 2005. Countries directly affected by the tsunami which washed away hotels and beachfronts in late 2004 suffered drops; the Maldives received 39 percent fewer tourists while visitor numbers to Indonesia fell 9 percent. And Sri Lanka reported a drop of just 0. 4 percent but that figure could have been skewed by the arrival of aid workers and Sri Lankan expatriates.

Whilst a string of hurricanes hit the southern United States last year clouded the outlook for the tourist market, optimism was starting to return and despite lengthy airport security procedures cause delays on arriving in the US, the number of visitors to the United States rose 8 percent last year.

Last year, in 2005, readers of Conde Nast Traveller magazine – the bible of the travel industry – have recently voted Glasgow as second only to London as a UK tourist destination. It was the 18th most popular city in the world for city breaks in 2003 with 3. 2 million visitors. It was also voted second only to London for its food scene. And, being a resident of this great city, it’s easy to see why Glasgow is so popular. Here’s Charlie’s internet guide of things to do and see whilst in Glasgow.

City of Culture in 1990: virtual tour of his surviving works. Glasgow is a fabulous place for retail therapy and has the glitziest and most stylish of shops, all contained within the city centre.

Glasgow International Airport is on the city doorstep – literally 10 minutes away from the centre, Glasgow West End, centred around Byres Road, is the place to be for small cafes, bars, delicatessens and interesting restaurants. This is where the celebs live! http://www.cnag.org.uk/ggc.htm

The home of Billy Connolly, Glaswegians have a style of humour all their own. It is born out of their tough, industrial history but lives on in what has become a sophisticated, vibrant city one bedroom apartment in the city centre available for short breaks He is also part of Highland Country Weddings Ltd, a Scotland based weddings agency. For free discussion about your own wedding plans and free, no obligation quote, go to http://www. highlandcountryweddings.co.uk/

My arrival into Sydney at 5. 30am on a June Sunday morning did not bode well as a sign of enjoying my week long stay in Australia. After waiting patiently in a queue to get through immigration, I went down to the baggage claim. No sooner had I got there when I got taken aside by Customs and frisked – arms and legs splayed and repeatedly asked what I had in my luggage though it had not arrived. I noticed other arrivals from the same plane look me up and down and give me a wide berth. Did I have alcohol, cigarettes, perfume, or anything else over the limit or anything else that I should have declared?

I had none of these items and the aggressive questioning really irritated me, even more so because I was sitting next to 2 lovely men from Croatia on the plane from Singapore, and they were both carrying about 12 bottles of plum brandy each, from their family trip home to Zagreb, and I was carrying absolutely nothing incriminating whatsoever! The woman asked to see my passport and took an inordinate amount of time flipping each page over and an almost audible tut could be heard as she flicked through. My Customs card was in my passport and she took it out and wrote something on it. I could not quite make out what, but it looked like a number. Talk about having your card marked. She handed my passport back to me and left me without saying a word so I went over to the luggage carousel and waited.

Whilst waiting for my luggage to arrive, I got talking to a lady in a wheel chair and helped her with her luggage when I caught the same Customs woman watching me with a beady look in her eye. I then realised I was in for the long run here at Sydney airport and thought back about why she had descended on me, why she was being so rude and aggressive and why she had picked me out. Maybe because I looked slightly dishevelled after the overnight flight, maybe because my passport has a lot of stamps in it or maybe she just doesn’t like Beetles – who knows, I will never find out.

My luggage arrived, just a small suitcase (with a suit, shoes, couple of books, jeans, jumpers and that really was about it), and when I got to the Customs post, the inspector looked at my Customs form, I noticed the same Customs woman walking towards me and then I was promptly handed back to her with no words, no explanation and taken away into a side area. The whole thing had an Orwellian feel to it.

I was instructed to open my own luggage, but not to touch anything inside. If I hadn’t been so tired, it would have been quite funny, because she was so dramatic, barking orders like I’d just arrived in prison and had to obey without question. Back pack first, then luggage. Item no 1 in my day pack: yummy biscuits from Singapore for the journey I’d planned to make to the Blue Mountains. The female customs official tried to confiscate my chocolate chip shortbread biscuits bought in Singapore for the long airport wait and I’d forgotten to eat them, by claiming them to be ‘food’ – I agreed and said yes, shortbread is food, but they are unopened and totally allowed. I asked her if she wanted one and she sourly said that she could not accept food because it might be poisoned. My day dreaming got slightly the better of me, I’d taken the seven hour overnight flight from Singapore, had no sleep and was far from best form but some childish notion inside me propelled me to an alternate universe where I was watching the Customs woman writhing on the ground having eaten a poisoned biscuit.

The female customs official then got slightly hysterical because I have been to Indonesia not once but twice (and now three times) and she would not listen to my answers. Diving, I kept saying, for diving. She kept telling me that I had been to Bali in December 2004, and I kept saying no, it was 2 years ago in December i. e. 2003, it was like a pantomime act – oh yes you have, oh no, I haven’t. I started to wonder – are you supposed to argue with Customs officials? What happens if they think you are being argumentative, what powers do they have next, even though I am only telling the truth because this woman is mistaken. Then she saw the recent US stamp and then the Myanmar stamp and this sent her into a whole line about why, why, why, why without bothering to listen to my responses which were polite and succinct.

I have no idea whether I was being accused of being an international terrorist or a drug dealer or what, but the woman was fast gathering speed in her distrust of me and there seemed to be some unspoken accusation hanging in the air. I asked the woman, why did you stop me, what is it that you suspect me of? She told me in very snotty and superior tones that she was not at liberty to tell me. So not a good start! And what was so ironic about this whole episode – I was after another 30 minutes dismissed – when I got out of the airport and later picked up a newspaper, I discovered that the whole of Australia was up in arms about the Queensland woman who got caught smuggling 4 ½ kgs of cannabis in her boogie board in Bali, and the suspicion that they had been put there by a Brisbane airport based gang of airport based dug dealer baggage handlers.

It was winter in Oz back then, in June 2005 when I made this trip, so it was like an early autumn day in the UK, cold and windy, briskly chilly but sunny at the same time, if that makes sense. I spent only a week in Australia and visited the Blue Mountains for a few days and spent the rest of my week in Sydney; did the usual touristy kind of things, Darling Harbour, Opera House, the Botanical gardens. I especially liked Darling Harbour which is really lovely to wander around. There are some very nice sculptures in a tranquil area bordered by the sea on one side and tall high rise buildings on the other. It felt a little bit like being in Manhattan. There’s one lovely huge spiral pond type of thing, a bit like an Escher drawing that consists of lots of downward spirals like a snail shell each carrying dribbles of water. That had me fascinated.

I have been to Sydney three times before and have never been carried away by it, and I hope that my airport experience did not colour my view, but I came to the conclusion that the area from Liverpool st upwards to circular quay – about half a km – is architecturally interesting, with a mix of early 20th century buildings and modern high rise, and it too has character. But there are some pretty hideous modern buildings when they could be so amazing – there are so many cities, London included, where modern architecture, in my opinion anyway is done so well. I found the rest of metropolitan Sydney to be pretty dull (sorry Australian readers!) and samey and decidedly lacking character, though found a nice suburb, Surrey Hills, just to the right of central Station which has lots of nice cafes and restaurants and those colonial types of narrow terraced houses with pretty wrought iron balconies. I also kept being ripped off with change, this happened every single day when I would be short changed in shops. I was also over charged by the hotel I stayed in in the Blue Mountains, which again didn’t feel too good; I guess this thing happens everywhere where you are noticeably from out of town, but this is the first time in any country this has happened to me.

What could I have done differently? I really don’t know, maybe it is luck of the draw, but it was not a good experience and the attitude of the Customs official was really uncalled for and quite unnecessary. Have you had any bad airport experiences? Write in and tell the Beetle!

When based in Asmara , Eritrea and off-duty , I was determined to research as much of the history of the country. One of the fascinating facets is readily available on the Internet – just search for “steam-trains. ” But finding the restored trains proved more difficult.

I was extremely fortunate to discover the whereabouts of the old Asmara Railway Station being tucked away off the main eastern entrance road that itself meanders up the fearsome passes that connects to the coastal port of Massawa. No locals were able to direct me, especially given the language barrier. I spoke a few words of Tigrinia and most spoke little if any English.

The little station looks exactly like any old movie, as do the little narrow-gauge rolling stock. There are several steam-engines reposing in a shed. They were built in the Italian city of Breda and some date back to 1937. On my first visit there, I learned that a group of German tourists were due to visit there on the next Saturday. I was luckily off-duty that day, so naturally made my way to the station.

The Germans, an all male group were enthralled and clicked away with every description of cameras and also whirring away with a multitude of video cameras. Fortunately they made no objection to my discreet presence as I too clicked away.

The steam engine puffed up to the carriages with much tooting and then left the station down the mountain passes. At every stone bridge and tunnel, the engine driver obligingly reversed back and forth so that many photos could be taken. At some old halts en route, the tourists were able to disembark in order to take photos at ground level. A fruitful day for them indeed.

Due to the Ethiopian/ Eritrean wars, the railway system got into a serious state of disrepair. Rails and sleepers were used elsewhere for road bridges, buildings or fortifications.

Since the last war ended in 2000, the Eritrean Railway Company got restarted with State assistance. Many aged artisans came out of retirement to show the younger generation exactly how to restore, rebuild and maintain the steam engines and rolling stock.

Many parts of the rail-bed had to be repaired using bulldozers, front-end loaders, graders and labourers, before rejuvenated rails and sleepers could be re-laid.

The Eritrean railway system had originally been built by the Italians during the ’20’s when they occupied Abyssinia (later renamed Ethiopia) and the meticulous stone bridges and tunnels are a lasting tribute to their artisans. Mines had also to be cleared from many places like bridges, tunnels and roadbeds.

It was envisaged that steam-train enthusiasts from all over the world would flock to Eritrea to view the unique narrow-gauge system. This of course depends on the fragile peace between Eritrea and Ethiopia, which lately has seen much rhetoric and sabre rattling between the two sides. The UN-presence has been instrumental since 2000 to preserve the peace.

The Practicalities of Getting to Eritrea

Travelling into Eritrea has for years been extremely difficult. They have had many years of wars with their neighbour and former ruler Ethiopia, so thus have become extremely careful of any new arrivals.

As far as is known, genuine tourists that have booked Red Sea dives will obtain visas. In our flying staff’s case, getting a visa was “easy ” provided one followed the UN procedure. This required :

1. Obtaining a fax/e-mail copy of the arriving crew-member’s passport ;

2. Writing a letter to the UN in Asmara [capital of Eritrea] to which one then attached the copy of the incoming crew-member’s passport;

3. I used to visit the Head of the Travel Dept , who in turn dictated another letter addressed to the relevant Colonel of the Eritrean Army;

4. When this letter was typed and signed, one was ready for the next steps;

5. Make 3 photo-copies in advance of everything, as the army & immigration dept photocopy machines were not serviceable.

6. It was found expedient to phone ahead to the Colonel’s office for an appointment but one often found him out, away or busy.

7. When finally seated face-to-face with a very pleasant Colonel, getting the approval letter was usually done quickly, especially as I used to take along a bottle of South African liqueur or a old novel

8. The final step was to the Immigration Department where there invariably a long queue. Of course they too had an application form requiring to be filled in, so I learned to pre-enter it having made photocopies of that as well, beforehand. Visa periods could go to 6 months, but usually they were valid for 30 days.

If one was lucky enough to get to the counter that day, then the wad of letters and visa application form were handed in and a suitable fee was to be paid in US $ notes-[about $150 was the usual. ] More queues – one at the cashier’s office and another queue back at the Immigration’s Visa counter, to hand over the receipt. It also was not a good idea to have to visit the toilet whilst in the queue.

Now came the wait for the Visa to be issued. If the issuing person was in his office, then the Visa would be typed & signed within a few hours, but often it was best to return the next day. More queuing for your turn to find out if the latest wad of visas, brought down from a upstairs office, contained the one you handed in.

On the next day, after patiently waiting in a long queue, one invariably found a semi-literate clerk who could hardly understand English or even Italian, who could not find any of one’s documents. Knowing a few words of the local language, Tigrinya certainly helps. Thus back to one’s own office to start again. The answer was to present him/her with a spare set of photo-copied letters with passport copy and application form, so that they could compare the person’s picture, name and locate the Visa and hand it over.

Once in possession of the Incoming Crew’s Visa, it was best to scan it, e-mail it to them so as to present it on arrival at Asmara Airport. It was possible for the Immigration department to have the visa on hand on arrival but that took a lengthy wait in yet another queue there.

It was not possible to apply for a Visa at the airport of arrival. Anyone arriving without a visa was summarily deported; being put back onto the aircraft that brought you there was the usual procedure. Thus there were of course additional flight and accommodation costs. This happened once to an incoming crew-member required urgently. Nobody realized in time that the Eritrean Army & Immigration Offices would be closed for public holidays on a Tuesday and the next day as well. So although armed with all application forms, UN and Army letters, and presented to Immigration Officials at the Asmara Airport by me beforehand, that incoming crew-member found himself deported! When flying from Nairobi to Eritrea on Eritrean Airlines Boeing 767, they positioned an officious clerk at the aircraft door to expressly check every passenger to make sure they held valid visas.

Yet another method of visa acquisition was possible; by applying at the Eritrean Embassy. In our case this was in Pretoria but it took a week and cost plenty more than when obtained in Eritrea.

So good luck!

Theo Truter has been a light aircraft pilot all his life, flying all over Africa for the past 5 years doing UN-Contracts and other Contract flying – and before that a mixture of executive flights, safari flights, air charters, flying training and Consulting. That’s how he came to be in Eritrea, from whence his article’s research was made.

Using his camera he’s indulged in a bit of photo-journalism whenever possible & now has also added to his duties being the Editor for a worldwide weekly newsletter called South Africans Worldwide at www. saw. co. za

Saturday December 3 saw the Globetrotters Club celebrate the 60th anniversary of its founding, shortly after the end of the Second World War. In order to mark the occasion a party was held after the monthly London meeting at the Church of Scotland venue in Covent Garden.

During the interval, as well as the usual mutual aid session, club President and media personality Janet Street-Porter said a few words before blowing out the candles on a brightly coloured birthday cake. Janet, a keen walker herself, had clearly enjoyed Terry Richardson’s talk on the St. Paul Trail (see December meeting news), and is always keen to get off the well beaten track. She also made it clear that she was proud to be President of the club, and congratulated it heartily on reaching 60 years.

During the course of the talks, members and guests were given the opportunity to complete a 60 question travel quiz compiled by Gavin Fernandes, the highest scorers receiving prizes for their efforts. Overall the level of knowledge was very impressive, with the top score, a staggering 57 out of 60.

A quick makeover then took place as the Church Hall was converted from lecture theatre to party venue and the wonderful culinary creations of Jacqui Trotter were laid out on the trestle tables. Globies were just about able to contain themselves until this process was complete, though seconds later the tables were all but stripped bare as plates were rapidly filled, over-filled and refilled! Thankfully, however, Jacqui had judged things perfectly and there was plenty to go around.

As well as food, a number of people had brought along wine (with the blessing of the Church!) and the party soon became a little livelier, with committee member Jeanie Copland cutting a fine rug to the music that had by now replaced the slide show.

Congratulations once again then to the Globetrotters Club and all its members.

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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.

The new year kicked off with the usual 4 mini talks from club members. Dan Bachmann who took us to rural Romania and showed us horses still being used to bring wood out of the forests, how sheep are one of the mainstays of the economy, producing not just meat but also milk, which is so abundant that they even use it to do the washing up.

Neil Harris took us into Myanmar to show us wonders such as Pagan, now a UNESCO site because of its 200 pyres. Neil showed us pictures of monks, doing building work and listening to a walkman and another monastery that had cats jumping through hoops. We also saw the more expected sites including Inlay lake and the city of Mandalay.

After the break we headed further east as Steve Golding and Francesca Jaggs took us to Japan, they showed us the beauty of Miyajima and its floating Torri, Kamakura with its massive Buddha, the “Medicine Buddha” of Nara. On Shikoku we saw two sides of the island, pilgrims doing the 88 temples in a week and the very graphic Sex museum!

Last up was Globetrotters Legacy winner Marcin Dabek, who showed us his trip to South America. Not only did he see the sights but also worked on Organic farms staying with local families. Marcin also showed us Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, the wonder of Iguasu falls and the rugged beauty of the Torres del Paine national park in Chile.

By Padmassana

Forthcoming meetings: Saturday 4th February 2006, Gavin Fernandes – Life and Death at Varanasi, a talk/slide show about this holy Indian city on the Ganges in 2001 shortly after the record breaking Khumb Mela Festival that year, where Gavin took the shot that won the TPOTY award and Alistair Humphreys – Round the World by Bike ( http://www.roundtheworldbybike.com ) 4 years, 46,000 miles, 60 countries, 5 continents in support of ” Hope and Homes for Children ”

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2. 30pm the first Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www. globetrotters. co. uk

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