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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

The winner of last month’s East & Southern Africa
Quiz was Thomas Simoneit who lives in Muenchen
Germany. Well done – your book is in the post (subject to delays
we are currently experiencing.)

We have Charlie Loram’s Trailblazer Guide Book on Trekking
in Laddakh, which he has kindly donated as a prize for the winner of this
month’s quiz. And what is more, Charlie has set this month’s quiz:

Tom from North Carolina wrote in to tell us about his
time in Tibet: we (a small group of 8) had the usual difficulty with our
visa delaying our entry to Tibet from Katmandu by a day even though this
was planned and paid for in advance. We had to pay a second time and our
original visa fee was eventually returned. Chinese officialdom also confiscated
my Swiss army knife before I was allowed to board the airplane to Lahasa.

We toured the country in a small bus with Tibetan driver
and Chinese guide both very pleasant. In addition to Lhasa, the capital,
we also visited Shigatse and Gyantse, the next two largest cities, really
small towns. This meant long rides (10 hours one day) travelling on dirt
roads with no guard-rails but great scenery – neat farms, spectacular
lakes, snow-capped mountains with steep drops and yaks.

We ate delicious food outside at a “one table”
roadside place at very low prices. All the Tibetan people were very gracious
and pleasant. At one lunch stop (two tables) while our food was being
prepared we observed the ladies of the town in a Tug-of-war contest being
cheered on by their men. The four ladies in our group were invited to
participate.

Other than the scenery, the highlight of the visit was
the Potala Palace in Lahasa where we spent an entire day climbing all
types of steps and ladders to the thirteen levels of that seat of the
Dalai Lamas. That is why Tom now has a bionic left knee.

The CNN website cites Robert Young Pelton’s book The World’s
Most Dangerous Places and say that the top 10 most dangerous countries
are: Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Colombia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Yemen,
Southern Philippines, Algeria, Angola and South Africa.

Rob from New York (yes, he of hiking in Grand Canyon)
recommends the L’Hosteria da Isidoro near the Coliseum in Rome. He says
that you sit down and ask for the tastings and basically they just keep
bringing trays of pasta to your table until you say uncle. The pasta and
risottos are excellent and have a great variety. If your table can eat
15 of these trays, then you get your meal free. The most he has been able
to eat is 9.

Want to tell us about your favourite coffee corner
or watering hole? Then contact the Beetle: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

Peggy from San Francisco wrote in to tell us about travelling
in Northern California: it’s a terrific time and the crowds have vanished
and the summer fog replaced by mild weather. A trip up the Northern California
coast is a journey into forests of giant redwood trees and along a beautiful
wild coast. Take a soothing walk through the Roosevelt Forest. This forest
of 800+ year old giant redwoods is the largest remaining old-growth redwood
forest and a truly magical place. A little further north you can hunt
for agates, jasper and jadeite on Agate Beach in Patrick’s Point State
Park. In Redwood National Park you may have eagles, osprey, hawks or ravens
soaring just over your head and see Roosevelt elk from less than 15 feet
away. A Native American museum tucked among the trees is just one of the
hidden treasures of this area. The North Coast of California has many
inns and, for the adventurous, there’s lots of public parks among the
trees and along the coast for camping. This wild and lovely side of California
is only a 4 to 6 hour drive north of San Francisco.

Peggy has kindly offered to give advice to anyone interested
in exploring the North California Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and the
Sierra Nevada Mountains. If you would like to take up Peggy’s offer, please
contact her at: peggy.werner@gte.net

From Ben and Elfriede from Texas would like to share with
us their experiences with the 5W
Group that is HQ’d in England. They have just got back from a 2-month
vacation in Europe. “We stayed primarily with members of “Women
Welcome Women World Wide“. What a great way to travel and meet
new people! If you’re doing genealogy research, they can usually direct
you to the libraries, etc. All of our hosts provided excellent accommodations,
food, and also advised us or showed us the best sights to see in their
communities.

Usually husbands and/or children are welcome too. We highly
recommend the 5-W Group. We stayed with couples that included a lawyer,
a civil court judge, a criminal court judge, a home economics teacher,
a deep sea diver, a professor of Russian literature whose husband is a
professor of Russian history, a doctor of chemistry, a young couple who
are both dentists, and also an owner of a travel agency. The 5-W Group
sends a booklet listing the name, e-mail address, home address, phone#,
age, profession, type of accommodations, religion, and interests (some
of which include genealogy) of over 3,000 women world wide.”

Click
here for information.

The Beetle say thanks a lot, Elfriede Ben – sounds
like you had a great time! Has anyone got any other info and good experiences
they would like to share? If so, contact the Beetle on: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk