Category: Sidebar

Over half of Cuba's 2 million visitors come from
Europe, so it perhaps makes sense that tourists visiting Cuba's biggest
tourist beach resort, Varadero, some 3 hours east of Havana can now use
the European currency, the euro. Of course, you are still welcome to pay
for good and services in US $ or Cuban pesos. News reports say that even
small Cuban children have started to ask for euros!

Ever wondered who were the most corrupt countries in
the world?

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) lists those countries
which are perceived by suppliers as requiring the most bribes of businesses.
The countries that currently do worst on this score are Russia, China,
Taiwan and South Korea, with Sweden and Australia faring the best.

At the end of May, beginning of June, the UK was in party
mode to celebrate 50 years of the Queen on the throne. Two public holidays
added to the weekend lead to four days of celebrations. Street parties
were held across the UK and thousands went to Buckingham Palace in the
evenings for massive rock and classical concerts.

The English Tourist Council predicted that around one
third of Britons took part in a Golden Jubilee event of some kind over
the long bank holiday weekend. Also to celebrate the event there was almost
2,000 beacons lit across the UK and many more in all of the Commonwealth
countries. The fact that the jubilee coincided with the start of the World
Cup gave an extra boost to the festivities and resulted in far fewer (about
1.5 million people) people going abroad to take advantage of the 4 day
holiday.

A team of explorers acting on a tip from a mule-handler
have discovered the ruins of a lost city, Cota Coca, some 50 kilometres
southwest of Machu Picchu in the Andes. Cota Coca is likely one of the
places to which fleeing Incas retreated from the Spanish in 1532, before
their total defeat about 40 years later. The team believe that the site
has remained untouched for more than 500 years. British writer and explorer
Hugh Thomson said the site, more of a settlement than what we would understand
as a city, was in a “remarkable state of preservation”.

Mr Thomson, a co-leader of the expedition, said: “You're
only going to find a new Inca site once in your life.”

Britain's Royal Geographical Society says Cota Coca's
“constructed area” is more than twice as large as any found
at the other Incan ruin whose discovery was announced just a few months
ago. “This is an important discovery, because it is a sizeable centre
of good — quality late — Inca masonry,” said John Hemming,
a well — known Inca expert and former director of the Royal Geographical
Society.

Not a lot of people know that John Lennon and Yoko Ono
were married in Gibraltar, or that Prince Charles started his honeymoon
there with Princess Diana. Gibraltar is, at the moment, a 3 square mile
piece of independent territory in southern Spain overlooking Morocco with
some 30,000 inhabitants.

The original settlers came from around the Mediterranean:
from Malta and Italy. Both Spanish and English is spoken in Gibraltar
and most of the population are, unlike Britain, Catholics. Back in the
18^th century, Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain.
Spain now wants Gibraltar back! In 1969, the people of Gibraltar included
a proviso in its constitution that Gibraltar will only be returned to
Spain if is population vote for this in a national referendum.

The Gibraltarians feel very passionate about not becoming
part of Spain and Spain has been practicing all manner of restrictive
practices towards Gibraltar, including causing a 3 hour wait to make a
100m drive across the border, even bribing ferry companies to move a few
miles across into Spain to provide services to Tunis.

One has to consider the irony of this latest Anglo-Spanish
diplomatic scuffle; true, Gibraltar with its geographical position almost
at the mouth of the Med is well strategically placed, but equally, let's
not forget that Spain maintains two separate territories in Morocco, which,
strangely, Morocco wants back.

You may have read recently about one of Buddha's
fingers being brought from Thailand to Taipei in Taiwan. This got the
Beetle wondering about other parts of Buddha and where you can see them.
It is possible to see the casket containing the left incisor of the Buddha
in the sacred temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The Beetle queued up for some
time to walk past this sacred relic — it was certainly an experience!
It seems that there are three of Buddha's teeth in existence: one
in Sri Lanka, one in China and one in Thailand.

Buddhists in Sri Lanka celebrate “Buddha Tooth Festival”
which begins on 1st of August every year and lasts for twelve days. Every
night during the festival, grand parades can be seen starting from 8:00pm
until 11:00pm. The Chinese tooth was found by a monk in 475AD and hidden
in what is today Nanking, in China. In times of war, it was taken to Beijing
and placed in a stupa. In 1900 when Beijing was invaded, the stupa was
destroyed, and monks found the tooth in the rubble. In 1964, the stupa
was rebuilt and the tooth placed in the pagoda of Beijing. The third tooth
is alleged to have passed into Tibet and transferred to India during the
Cultural Revolution before its final resting place in Thailand.

If you have a travellers tale that your aching to tell.
Then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website
and share it with the world. Travel Sized Bites

India and Pakistan. Due to the risk of conflict between
India and Pakistan, the FCO's advice is that they still recommend
against all but essential travel to India. British nationals already in
India should consider their need to remain in the country, but we no longer
advise they should leave. Our advice for Pakistan also no longer recommends
against all travel. But we continue to advise against all but essential
travel. Because of the continuing high level of security threat internally
in Pakistan, those who decide they must still travel should have confidence
in the security arrangements made for the entire visit. We further advise
all British nationals in Pakistan to leave unless they have a compelling
reason to stay, and similarly have confidence in their security arrangements.
The situation is likely to remain uncertain for some time. We will keep
our travel advice under constant review and will not hesitate to change
it if necessary.

Tina is a segment producer for a TV show called “Radical
Sabbaticals” which airs on the Fine Living Network in the United
States. The show features passionate, inspirational stories about successful,
professional people who have walked away from their careers to pursue
a dream…i.e. the CEO of a multi-million dollar company who left to become
a wine maker. They could also be on an open-ended sabbatical We are also
looking for people who have also given up their career to move to Europe
to pursue their dreams. If you could refer any people or stories to us,
it would be greatly appreciated. Your response would be greatly appreciated.
Tina can be reached at (818) 755-4800 ext. 207 or click here to email Tina.

The Science Museum is vast and is a great place for both
children and adults and there are many interactive displays that capture
the imagination as well as being educational. However, it is so big, plan
your day by identifying specific areas of interest so as not to spend
too long – museum fatigue can set in fast! It is free, and the nearest
tube is South Kensington. You could combine the museum with some therapeutic
shopping at nearby Harrods or Harvey Nichols. Visit the website or tel: 0870 870 4771. Weekends
are the busiest time since the admission fee has been scrapped, so try
and visit during the week, if you can.