The Beetle’s second favourite museum in London is the National portrait Gallery. At the moment, this is a terribly fashionable place to be seen as it currently hosting a Mario Testino exhibition, attracting the likes of supermodels and Madonna. It costs £6 per ticket, (like gold dust) which can only be booked through the booking agency, Ticketmaster. When the Beetle manages to get tickets, she will report back on it! That aside, the rest of the NPG is absolutely free. The beauty of the NPG is that it combines art with a wonderful pictorial history of the UK, through portraits of kings, queens, courtiers and leading figures through British history. A visit here can easily take up an entire day looking around – so, if you plan it right, you could spend a couple of half days, combined with visits to nearby St Martins in the Field, the theatres in nearby St Martin’s Lane, a visit to Trafalgar Square, a walk along the Mall or down to Embankment. The closest tubes to the NPG are Leicester Square and Charing Cross. Weekends are the busiest time since the admission fee has been scrapped, so try and visit during the week, if you can. Details are as follows: NPG Website

Music and travel have been synonymous since the hippies took their music along with them in the sixties. Certain pieces of music have the ability to remind of places we have been and the experiences we enjoyed there. Here are my top 5 that evoke cherished memories of my travels.

Istanbul – “Mea Culpa” by Enigma, it was the first time I had heard this piece, as it woke us from our sleep as well pulled into Istanbul in a January snowstorm. It was a wonderful way to arrive in a place I had long wished to visit.

Iran – “Silk Road, God is Good” from Lonely Planet. This haunting piece will remind anyone who has travelled in the Middle East, but for me particularly of Iran, of the early morning call to prayer resonating from the towers of the ornate mosques.

Yangshuo – “Linger” by The Cranberries. One of my abiding memories of this lovely Chinese town is this song wafting out of virtually every Restaurant and backpacker hotel in the place. Whenever I hear this song on the radio at home it always evokes memories of China.

Australia – “Highway” by Gond Wana Land from the album, “Let the dog out”. Our bus driver played this super album as we crossed Australia’s Red Centre, the didgeridoos providing a fitting accompaniment to the landscape that passed outside the window.

France – “Anni Rose” by Tulka from the Buddha bar album by Claude Challe. This piece will always be a reminder of happy days and warm evenings in the south of France, while doing an Astanga course.

Write in and tell us your musical memories and associations! the Beetle

This is the first of a series of seven looks at the seven wonders of the world. The list was started in the second century BC and the wonders we know today were finalized in the Middle Ages. Only one still in existence, after some 4,500 years, and visible today is the great pyramid of Khufu at Giza in Egypt. It is 756 feet long on each side, 450 high and comprises 2,300,000 blocks of stone, each averaging 2 1/2 tons in weight.

Despite not having the scientifically accurate instruments of today, no side is more than 8 inches different in length than another, and the whole structure is perfectly oriented to the points of the compass. It seems likely that the pyramid was a tomb for a Pharaoh. Even in ancient times, thieves, breaking into the sacred burial places, were a major problem and Egyptian architects became adept at designing passageways that could be plugged with impassable granite blocks, creating secret, hidden rooms and making decoy chambers. No matter how clever the designers became, though, robbers seemed to be smarter and with almost no exceptions each of the great tombs of the Egyptian Kings were plundered.

Until the 19th century, the pyramid of Khufu was the tallest building in the world. A Greek traveller called Herodotus of Halicanassus visited Egypt around 450 BC and included a description of the Great Pyramid in a history book he wrote. Herodotus was told by his Egyptian guides that it took 100,000 slaves twenty-years to build the pyramid.

The site was first prepared, and blocks of stone were transported and placed. An outer casing (which has disappeared over the years) was then used to smooth the surface. Although it is not known how the blocks were put in place, several theories have been proposed. One theory involves the construction of a straight or spiral ramp that was raised as the construction proceeded. This ramp, coated with mud and water, eased the displacement of the blocks that were pushed (or pulled) into place. A second theory suggests that the blocks were placed using long levers with a short angled foot. Stones were lifted into position by the use of immense machines. The purpose of the structure, according to Herodotus's sources, was as a tomb for the Pharaoh Khufu (whom the Greeks referred to as Cheops). Scientists have since calculated that fewer men and less years were needed than Herodotus suggests.

Next month: the Lighthouse at Alexandria

Food (curry): The simple unexpected truth is that Indian/Bengali food in England is much tastier than the food here. Not sure why that should be, but the local curries are surprisingly bland and lack the savour of spices to which our palettes have become accustomed. More than that, there are remarkably few ‘Indian’ restaurants – I’d expected it to be like Malaysia where you can pop into a kedai serving a range of curries with roti and rice. But they don’t seem to exist, at least here in the suburban (sic) delights of Gulshan. So we’ve eaten mostly Thai and Chinese (there’s a large Chinese population here in all branches of business) more often than local. But travel to the districts has been a real gastronomic pleasure: delicious fish, chicken, mutton, more fish with delicious vegetables, rice and paratha.

Mango tree: Mangoes not yet in season unfortunately. My room looks out on a splendid huge specimen, weighed down with flowers. It will deliver a bumper crop if only small a proportion of the flowers set. Our agro-economist tells me that the fruit is ready to eat 70 days after flowering.

Air pollution: The lack of rain exacerbates the air pollution. It is acknowledged to be one of the world’s worst capital cities (Taipei, Jakarta, Lagos??), caused by dust and traffic fumes. I’ve had a sub-clinical cough ever since I arrived. There’s a permanent haze spread over the city – and it was a real relief to get out into the countryside for our project town visits. Since so many city journeys are made in open rickshaws, this is surely more than an inconvenience and must be a major public health hazard.

Arsenic: poisoning from ground water drawn from shallow aquifers is a major problem in B’desh. It is has no taste, so one is not aware of being affected (no-one has given an explanation why this problem is so particular to B’desh – yet there must be one; presumably something to do with geology). In mild form it causes unpleasant skin disease; prolonged exposure causes cancer. Only the large towns and cities have piped water supply derived from lower strata. So the vast majority of the population – including our project towns – gets its water from shallow tube wells using hand pumps. The harsh reality is that there are not the resources to ensure safe water supply for the masses – our project funding won’t stretch that far even for our 12 towns. Shallow wells are progressively being supplemented by deep wells – but not only is drilling more expensive, they also need electric pumps; hence the cost escalation.

Islam: A big surprise is how low key it is – whether in Dhaka or the small towns – compared with Indonesia or Malaysia You’re barely aware of the sound of mosques, or of mushollas in offices, or workers breaking off work to pray; yet it is clearly profoundly institutionalised in national social and political life. And there seem to be very few mosques, compared with the one-in-every-kampung in Indonesian small towns. We (the mission) surmise that Islam can afford to be less demonstrative here because it is more confident and better established; whereas Indonesia and Malaysia form the Muslim geo-political frontline in Asia, and there is a corresponding emotional need to make a loud declaration of faith in the face of the heathen hordes on the horizon. Having said that B’desh is surrounded on all sides by non-Islamic states: mostly India, with a tiny frontier with Burma.

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

Contrary to popular opinion, it is possible to travel independently around China. However, having said that, it has to be one of the most frustrating countries to travel in as the script is impossible to read for us Indo-European language speakers. Here is a trip that gets around mostly through flying, so it is a little easier to see the best parts of China this way and without having to use the services of a guide. Travelling in China in this way, you will need to arrange flights and accommodation and the rest you can fill in as and when you arrive at places.

Fly into Beijing and settle in your chosen hotel – there are plenty of good tourist class hotels. Spend 2 whole days in Beijing. Sites to see include the Forbidden City, Tian’anman square, the Temple of Heaven etc. You can take guided day trips to the Great Wall of China, the Ming Tombs and the Summer Palace.

Fly from Beijing to Xian, the Imperial capital between 1,000 BC and 1,000 AD. Spend a couple of days in Xian: see the Terracotta Warriors, the Small Wild Goose Pagoda and there are some hot springs close by. It’s usually quieter to visit the Warriors in the afternoons.

From Xian, fly to Shanghai, explore Shanghai for a couple of days, walk down the Bund, the main road by the harbour, visit the Yu gardens and the old city etc. Ask your hotel to book a day return train ticket to Suzho, a place in China made famous for its silk production. Explore the old town, stock up on silk clothes etc and return to Shanghai.

Fly from Shanghai to Guilin, arrive at the airport, arrange to be met by your hotel and ask them to book a day cruise down the River Li. This is the most beautiful journey – distinctive rounded hills, and you can get a chance to see life as it used to be many centuries ago. If you have more time, it is possible to take longer cruises down the River Li where you can sleep aboard. Your hotel will be able to advise. There are also some caves in Guilin: the Reed Flute Caves that are worth a quick visit.

Fly from Guilin to Canton, explore around and take the train from Canton to Hong Kong and finish your tour here after having spent a few days exploring around.

6th April Kevin Morgan kicked off with a wonderful slide show of dolphins, whales and other marine and bird life ranging from Antarctica to the Bahamas! We all left feeling wiser and almost confident of being able to distinguish bottle nosed dolphins from spinners! His slides finished with an evocative tape of the sounds made by whales.

After the break, Cass Gilbert showed us some fabulous pictures of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan (and other places ending in “stan” that the beetle cannot spell!) Amazingly, he completed this incredible journey by tandem, through parts of the old Silk Route, past ancient cities, churches, mosques, and markets, occasionally, with his female tandem partner cycling in veil and long trousers, much to the bemusement of many locals.

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, except that due to public holidays, May’s meeting will be on Saturday 11th May at 2.30pm. June’s meeting will be held at 2.30pm on June 8th.

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

On May 8-10, the UN will be hosting the most important children's event since the 1990 World Summit for Children. We will gather at 4pm to start the march at 4:30pm on May 8 and converge on the United Nations Headquarters in New York. This will be followed by a rally and candlelight vigil, to end around 7:30pm. For detailed information on the march, please visit our website. The event will be a memorable experience for everyone involved and a clear message to the world. We hope that we can count on your participation and support to make this event a stunning success. If you have any questions, are planning to participate, or would like to help out in the final preparations for the march, please click here to contact us.

For those who cannot attend the New York rally, you can sign a petition against the use of child labour, to help kick Child Labour out of the world. Particularly timely, this petition asks that no child is employed in the football industry and the production of other FIFA-licensed goods and all children removed from child labour are rehabilitated and given opportunity to receive education. Please take a couple of minutes to read and sign our World Cup Campaign Petition.