Tag: November 2002

A reader asked about places to stay in Cape Town. Cape Town is my favourite
SA city and Durban second. I travelled in SA many years ago but here are some
suggestions.

The SA government tourist bureau had reasonable trips to the game parks. Go
to your city library and check out all the budget books on SA get city maps
from SA tourist bureau in your country. Find the location of places that
interest you on map and write right on map the address, price, etc. I loved SA
and think you will too. Do not be afraid of it.

The Jo’burg City Tourist Information Centre was wonderful. They gave
me a map and marked on it the location of places to stay in my price range, how
to get there by public transportation and I believe even phoned. I think I had
taken some used postal stamps along and asked if anyone there collected stamps
and gave them to them. While I stayed at the YMCA conveniently located next to
Botanical Garden and I think took both sexes and also included breakfast there
were many reasonable place to stay and with the good rate of exchange one can
go more upscale if they wish. Also when I left SA I asked at the Tourist Bureau
if they had any posters with animals I could have. I still have some hanging in
my room.

Johannesburg and maybe even Cape Town had free bus tourist trips on Sunday I
think sponsored by Chamber of Commerce each Sunday a different one. I brought
elephant hair bracelets to bring back to States as gifts. They take hair from
an elephants tail (a rather dangerous job) and make a bracelet. If you wear
this you will never be attacked by tigers (not in South Africa – but
maybe where there are tigers!) and they don’t weigh much in luggage. Some
make these bracelets out of plastic and pass off as elephant hair. If you light
a match to them I think the plastic will burn.

I took a reasonable several day sightseeing trip of Kruger Game Park (bigger
than some states like Connecticut) that I booked in railroad station at SA
tourist bureau there. If any globetrotters have had any military time I usually
ask tourist bureaux the location of any military clubs. They are good sources
of information, reasonable food and drinks and sometimes you being a visitor
members will invite you to their homes of tell you of reasonable
accommodations. As I mentioned in SA it was MOTH clubs (military order of tin
hats from WWI), Comrade Clubs (British oriented), in Australia Returned
Servicemen’s Clubs (all military veterans clubs have some people that
were never in military!).

The Carlton Center (tall round skyscraper commercial building in
Johannesburg had Soweto town sightseeing trips conducted by a tribesman in a
pink bus. Money went to town of Soweto to help them out: reasonable and
certainly unusual. In a nutshell go to the State run Tourist Bureaus or
government tourist bureau in airport, find out public transportation into town.
Have them mark on map location of their suggestions.

Happy Travelling TSgt Wilfred L. McCarty Rtd

If you would like to contact Mac, a 78 year old retired military, and
extremely well travelled to boot, he is happy to answer any questions even if
his information may be out of date. Mac can be e-mailed at macsan400@yahoo.com

---

Chinese marriage was systemized into custom in the Warring States period
(402-221 B.C.). Due to the vast expanse and long history, there are different
customs to follow in different places, although they are generally the same.
Visitors still get chances to witness traditional marriages in the
countryside.

In the ancient times, it was very important to follow a basic principle of
Three Letters And Six Etiquettes, since they were essential to a marriage.

Three letters include Betrothal Letter, Gift Letter and Wedding Letter.
Betrothal Letter is the formal document of the engagement, a must in a
marriage. Then, a gift letter is necessary, which will be sent to the
girl's family, listing types and quantity of gifts for the wedding once
both parties accept the marriage. While the Wedding Letter refers to the
document which will be prepared and presented to the bride's family on the
day of the wedding to confirm and commemorate the formal acceptance of the
bride into the bridegroom's family.

Six Etiquettes

Proposing: If an unmarried boy's parents identify a girl as their
future daughter-in-law, then they will find a matchmaker. Proposal used to be
practiced by a matchmaker. The matchmaker will formally present his or her
client's request to the identified girl's parents.

Birthday matching: If the potential bride's parents do not object
to the marriage, the matchmaker will ask for the girl's birthday and birth
hour record to assure the compatibility of the potential bride and bridegroom.
If the couple's birthdays and birth hours do not conflict according to
astrology, the marriage will step into the next stage. Once there is any
conflict, meaning the marriage will bring disasters to the boy's family or
the girl's, the proposed marriage stops.

Presenting betrothal gifts: Once birthdays match, the
bridegroom's family will then arrange the matchmaker to present betrothal
gifts, enclosing the betrothal letter, to the bride's family.

Presenting wedding gifts: After the betrothal letter and betrothal
gifts are accepted, the bridegroom's family will later formally send
wedding gifts to the bride's family. Usually, gifts may include tea, lotus
seeds, longan, red beans, green beans, red dates, nutmeg, oranges, pomegranate,
lily, bridal cakes, coconuts, wine, red hair braid, money box and other stuff,
depending on local customs and family wealth.

Picking a wedding date: An astrologist or astrology book will be
consulted to select an auspicious date to hold the wedding ceremony.

Wedding ceremony: On the selected day, the bridegroom departures with
a troop of escorts and musicians, playing happy music all the way to the
bride's home. After the bride is escorted to the bridegroom's home, the
wedding ceremony begins.

Different from the West, the colour red dominates the traditional Chinese
wedding. Chinese people tend to use or wear red to add a happy atmosphere to
such a festive occasion.

At dawn on the wedding day, after a bath in water infused with grapefruit,
the bride puts on new clothes and wears a pair of red shoes, waiting for the so
called good luck woman to dress her hair in the style of a married woman. Her
head will be covered with a red silk veil with tassels or bead strings that
hang from the phoenix crown. She waits for her future husband to escort her
home, with married women talking around her about how to act to be a good
wife.

On the other hand, the bridegroom prepares himself to receive his wife. He
gets capped and dressed in a long gown, red shoes and a red silk sash with a
silk ball on his chest, the groom kneels at the ancestral altar as his father
puts a cap decorated with cypress leaves on his head to declare his adulthood
and his family responsibility.

Then the bridegroom sets out to receive his bride. Usually he is escorted by
a crowd of his friends and musicians who play joyful tunes the entire trip.
Dancing lions, if any, precede the troop. In ancient times, a bridal sedan
chair (or a decorated donkey due to poverty or bad traffic) would be used to
serve the bride. A child carries a bridal box among the people, reflecting the
bridegroom's expectation to have a child in the near future.

The most interesting part of the reception really takes place at the
doorstep of the bride's residence, heavily guarded by the bridesmaid or
sisters of the bride. It is customary for the bridesmaid to give the bridegroom
a difficult time before he is allowed to enter. Usually wisdom and courage and
his friends will help the bridegroom to succeed in his “trial”.
However, there is one more situation he has to negotiate with the bridesmaid
and sisters of the bride – to distribute among them red packets containing
money – in order to take his bride home.

Before the bride departs to the bridegroom's home, the good luck woman
will lead her to the sedan chair. On her way to the chair, a sister of hers
will shield her with a red parasol and another will throw rice at the sedan
chair, at the back of which hangs a sieve and a metallic mirror that are
believed to protect the bride from evil. The bride has to cry to show that she
does not want to leave her parents.

Then firecrackers will be set off to drive away evil spirits as the bride
sits into the sedan chair. All along the way people make great efforts to avoid
any inauspicious influence. For instance, the sedan chair is heavily curtained
to prevent the bride from seeing an unlucky sight, e.g. a widow, a well or even
a cat. When the parading troop arrives at the bridegroom's, firecrackers
will be set off to hail the bride's arrival. Before the sedan chair a red
mat is placed so that the bride will not touch the bare earth. By the threshold
a flaming stove and a saddle will be set up, the bride is required to sidestep
or step over them to avoid evils.

The wedding ceremony is the focus of interest. The bride and bridegroom are
led to the family altar, where the couple kowtows to Heaven and Earth, the
family ancestors and parents successively. Then they bow to each other and are
led to the bridal chamber. The ceremony proceeds under a director's prompts
and applauses of the audience.

Then there will be a grand feast for relatives and those who help in the
wedding. The newly wed couple will resume drinking wedding wine. Generally they
are required to cross their arms to sip wine. They also will toast their
guests. Guests voice their good wishes for the couple even though the
bridegroom is trying to be humble while acting embarrassed.

Teasing games in the bridal chamber: After night falls, the teasing games
start. Usually all young men can participate except for the bride's married
brothers-in-law. Those funny and silly games will ease the tension, since in
ancient times the newlyweds never met each other before the wedding! Most of
the games require the shy couple to act like wife and husband. The festive
atmosphere also promotes closeness among all the family members and the
community beyond. There also will be other activities conducted by the
bridegroom's mother after the roaring laughter fades into the darkness.

Preparing the bridal bed: A good luck man, usually having a nice family,
will help to install the bridal bed in the right place in the bridal chamber on
a selected day before the wedding day. Before the wedding, a good luck woman
will arrange the bridal bed and scatter symbolic and lucky fruits on the bed.
Nobody is allowed to touch the bed until the couple enters the bridal chamber
after the wedding ceremony. Children will then be invited onto the bed to bless
fertility of the couple.

Dowry: Usually the bride's dowry shall be sent to the bridegroom's
family by the day before the wedding day. Sometimes the bride’s escorts
will bring the dowry. A traditional dowry normally consists of items such as
jewellery, embroidered beddings, kitchen utensils and furniture. The type of
the dowry is always changing except for the basic, symbolic items. For example,
dozens of years ago, a sewing machine, a bicycle, and a recorder were musts in
a marriage. Now, they are totally out of fashion.

Bride's Return: Traditionally, the newlyweds are to return to visit the
bride's parents one or three days after the wedding. They will be hailed
with a banquet, and it is the bridegroom's turn to suffer the
well-intentioned teasing of the bride's relatives and friends.

Traditional marriage customs lost their popularity due to the collapse of
feudal marriage customs and their complexity. However, traditional marriage can
still be seen in the countryside, despite innovations. Now, traditional
marriage customs are revived in some places, and they are attracting many
prospective couples.

paula7141@yahoo.com.

---

The Miss World competition is still to go ahead on 7 December. Although 5
delegates have withdrawn: Miss Costa Rica, Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa
and Panama there are still over 100 delegates to “compete”. The
Nigerian Government, desperate to play down the controversy surrounding Amina
Lawal's sentence, (having a baby out of wedlock (no penalty imposed on the
father)) has given assurances that it would intervene to save her once the
legal process has been exhausted.

Amina Lawal, meanwhile, is said to have asked participants not to boycott
the Miss World contest because “a lot of resources had gone into
organising the pageant and it should go ahead”. She reportedly told
press: “I heard of the boycott threat, but I just think they should come
because nothing happens without God's permission”. She also added
that she has not been pressurised into speaking against the boycott.

Muslim groups are annoyed that part of the pageant is being held during the
holy month of Ramadan. An official of one Muslim group in the city of Gusau
said protesters were planning “black prayers” and a “spread of
plagues of curses and bad luck on the Miss World organisers and
participants”. (Perhaps they could organise some positive prayers and
good thoughts for Amina Lawal.)

ThisDay, a Lagos based Nigerian newspaper recently published an article
which said that the Prophet Mohammed would probably have chosen to marry one of
the contestants if he had witnessed the beauty pageant, which Nigeria is
hosting next month. This sparked off riots by thousands of Muslim youths who
have rampaged through the suburbs of Kaduna, burning tyres, attacking churches
and setting fire to buildings. Schools and businesses are closed, but
meanwhile, Miss World soldiers on.

Update: after four days of violence, relief and civil rights workers say
that more than 200 people are now known to have died in violence between
Christians and Muslims in the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna. As the
disturbances reached Nigeria’s capital, Abuja (and how many of you
thought that Lagos was the capital of Nigeria) the venue for the Miss World
competition has now been changed to London. It is estimated that more than
1,000 have been injured and more than 11,000 made homeless in the clashes.
Civil rights activists said more than 20 churches and 8 mosques have been
burned down in the city as well as a number of hotels.

The competition is scheduled to go ahead on 7 December, but in London.

President Obasanjo needs Muslim support when he goes to the polls in a
couple of months’ time and does not want to jeopardise his chances of
being re-elected. Where does this leave Amina Lawal? A vocal supporter of a
contest that shows women in states of undress? Until Miss World has come and
gone? And then what? How can this be allowed to happen in the
21^st century?

---

Can anyone help Jill: For the last eighteen months I've been trying to
find out exactly what was the sterling travel allowance (Exchange Control)
which British citizens were allowed to take out of the U.K. in July 1964.

H.M. Customs and Excise have come up with five possible answers but
basically admit they don't know; the Treasury have no comment – I seem to
have exhausted every possible avenue, having endlessly trawled almanacs,
newspapers, the Web etc.

A Globetrotter member – Rene Richards reports – it was £25
in the early 60's reaching £50 in 1970– however I know from a
contemporary Cunard document of 1961 that it was £50 then, so did it go
down and if so when?

The novel for which I need this is due for publication by Penguin in 2003
and we're reaching final copy-editing any moment now, so any help would be
most gratefully received – so, offering my thanks in advance.

If you feel you can help Jill, she can be contacted at jill@laurimore.fsnet.co.uk

---

During the medieval period the Cotswold area underwent a startling
transition from small scale agriculture to large scale wool production. This
shift, most noticeable by the 15th century, enabled wool merchants to realize
tremendous profits with the aid of the “Golden Fleece” produced by
Cotswold sheep.

The “gold” in this case refers not to the colour of the fleece
itself but the tremendous economic value it possessed. The prosperous wool
merchants put back some of the money they earned into their local communities,
often by building manors for themselves, but just as frequently by endowing
their parish churches.

The “wool churches” of the Cotswolds are among the most elaborate
and architecturally attractive in the entire country due to the largesse of
successful wool merchants. Many of these magnificent buildings are like
mini-cathedrals, complete with fanciful carvings, elaborate ornamentation and
funereal monuments inside the church. Taken as a whole, the parish churches of
the Cotswold area constitute a superb collection of architecturally important
historic buildings. And to those who enjoy medieval architecture, the Cotswold
churches offer an unparalleled experience.

It is perhaps dangerous to single out just a few Cotswold wool churches for
special mention, as so many deserve a leisurely visit, but mention should be
made of a few personal favourites. The church of St. Peter and St. Paul at
Northleach is one of the finest wool churches in England, with the lavishly
carved south porch worthy of special note.

As with most wool churches the magnificence of Northleach can be traced to
the endowments of a few wealthy patrons. In this case the donors were Thomas
Fortey (d. 1447 ) and his son John (d. 1458). With its decorated parapets and
soaring pinnacles Northleach is reminiscent of a fairy tale castle as much as a
parish church.

Another personal favourite would have to be St. Peter at Winchcombe. Not as
fanciful or striking as Northleach, Winchcombe is of slightly later date and
has suffered at the hands of Victorian restorers. Yet despite this, the church
has a peculiar charm, due in part to the survival of a profusion of gargoyles
populating the parapets. These gargoyles, both in human and animal form,
provide a wonderfully whimsical touch amid the architectural beauty wrought by
generations of craftsmen.

I would also be remiss if I didn't mention St. Mary's at Fairford.
The first glimpse of the church rising above low pasture land to the west is
likely to make unsuspecting visitors stop in their tracks and stare (as I did).
The ornamentation of the tower is reminiscent of lace, so extravagant is the
stonework.

The magnificence of the carving may seem out of place in this quiet market
town, but it gives a fascinating glimpse at what life must have been like when
the “Golden Fleece” brought prosperity to this region. Fairford is
unique in that it possesses the most complete set of pre-Reformation stained
glass in the country. As a final, whimsical, touch, look for the carven effigy
of a pet cat just outside the main entry.

For more on the Cotswold region and its magnificent wool churches visit:
http://www.the-cotswolds.org/top/english/intro.html

Source: Britainexpress.com

---

The planet has 6.157 billion people, of whom, 4.5% are in the US, and 1% in
the UK.

• 30% of the world’s population is less than 15 years old, but in the
  US this is 21% and 19% in the UK.
• The world’s birth rate of 21 per 1,000 people is higher than the US
  rate of 14 and the UK’s 12.
• 7% of the world’s population is at least 65 years old, compared
  to
• 13% in the US and 16% in the UK
• Life expectancy at birth is 64 years, compared to 77 in the US and 78 in
  the UK.
• Of the 407 million internet users, 36% are in the US and 5% are in the UK.
  (Don’t forget, the US has c.250 m people, compared to 64m in the
  UK.)

Source: Simon Briscoe, The Financial Times, 27/7/02

---