Tag: February 2003

It has certainly been an interesting month here in Mikindani, and also
in Dar es Salaam. One of Trade Aid’s new ideas for Mikindani is
to start up a local group who can produce Batik T-shirts. But what is
this I hear you ask. Batik T-shirt printing is the dying of a T-shirt
with certain areas left undyed, this enables you to produce a variety
of patterns.

It was at the beginning of December that the journey up to Dar began,
at the oh so sociable hour of four o’clock in the morning. After
a back breaking sixteen hours in one of the Trade Aid Landrovers, being
bounced and battered along a Tanzanian “road” we finally arrived
in Dar Es Salaam, oh what a relief. After a day to settle in, and make
extensive use of the bar and air conditioning at the Seaman’s mission
[where we were staying] it was down to work. My brief was to look into
the process of Batik T-shirt production, and to see if it would be feasible
in Mikindani.

The Batik T-shirt printing takes place in an indoor market/shopping
centre where the products are also sold. There I met the head of the organisation
that prints the T-shirts and the head of production, who oversees the
entire process.

The process begins when the parts of the T-shirt that are not to the
dyed are covered in a special sort of wax. This can be applied through
two methods, either using a brush or a wooden print. As far as Mikindani
and the Boma is concerned it is my opinion that the print method would
be the best, as it would produce work for the local carpenters.

Once the wax has been applied and dried the T-shirt is then dyed. A
mixture of hot and cold water (17 litres) dye, caustic soda and sodium
powder are then mixed together in a stone bath. The T-shirt is then repeatedly
lifted in and out of this mixture until the dye has fully soaked into
the material. After which it is then taken out of the water and hung to
dry. The wax then has to be removed; this is done by placing the T-shirt
into a vat of boiling water, where it is then stirred around until all
of the wax has been removed. The T-shirt is then finished and can either
be worn, or more colours can be applied by using the wax to cover the
previous dyed areas and any areas that need to be left clear. This should
certainly prove to be something that Trade Aid and the Boma can make good
use of, and it should also benefit the local groups who can get involved.

For more information on the work carried out by Trade Aid in Tanzania,
see their website www.mikindani.com

Anna and Magda wrote in asking for help with voluntary placements in
Australia: we are two girls living in Germany, age 19, just finished our
A-levels (Advanced school leaving certificate). Our reason for writing
is, that we would like to do a voluntary practical year in Australia.
WE would be very grateful if you could give us further help in this. Best
regards Anna and Magda.

The Beetle responds: As you are both under 30, you are most likely eligible
to apply for a working visa in Australia. So maybe if you contact the
Australian embassy in your country, they can advise you about this. Roughly
speaking, you are not allowed to do a “professional” job, so
you are only allowed to do casual work such as potato, fruit picking or
short term work. No one piece of work can be over 3 months either.

The Beetle suggests that you search on the internet using the words
“voluntary work Australia”. This is a good site to start with:
Volunteer Search in addition,
the April 2002 Globetrotter e-newsletter 2002 had an article by conservationvolunteers
email conservationvolunteers
about conservation volunteer opportunities. There’s also always
the WWOOF organisation, see: Wwoofing, which caters for people who
want to work on organic farms. There’s also:

Working Holiday MakersAustralian Department of Immigration
and Multicultural Affairs.

ATCV (Australian
Trust for Conservation Volunteers) accepts Australian and foreign volunteers
for a wide range of conservation projects throughout Australia.

Australian Jobs Guide by Nomads World features visa information,
job packages, agencies and a harvest guide for fruit picking/harvest work.

Diving in Australia has an employment database.

Pelican Point Windsurfing in W. Australia has employment
opportunities for instructors.

The Cape Tribulation
Tropical Research Station accepts volunteers for conservation projects.

Travel Jobs Network,
a service for Australian and New Zealand job seekers.

TNT Magazine
has an excellent section on finding temporary work in Australia.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Beetle received an e-mail from the parent of a college student,
studying in L.A. They wanted to know where their daughter and two friends
could go on an inexpensive package for their spring break April 12-18,
2003. Hawaii maybe?

The Beetle agreed that Hawaii, (but not Oahu – which can be a
little touristy and expensive, when the other islands have far more to
offer) would be a great option. It is possible to buy reasonably priced
fly drive holidays around the Hawaiian islands, where our reader’s
daughter and friends could share a room at a very nice hotel at a good
price. With only 6 days, I would recommend either the Big Island alone
or alternatively split between Kauai and the Big Island. If a car and
swish hotel is too expensive, then it is possible to find moderately priced
accommodation on the Big Island, so this should cut the cost, but a car
is definitely a must!

Today we will visit Durban which is a city situated on the east coast
of South Africa. It has a sub tropical climate opposed to that of Cape
Town, which is Mediterranean.

What has Durban to offer the tourist or visitor? Along the beach front
are many hotels and blocks of holiday flats. This area is called the Golden
Mile.

Hotels on the beachfront have magnificent views over Durban Bay and
the Bluff to south. Along Durban's beaches jetties have been built
out into the sea. They have the effect of turning the long golden beaches
into small bays, which can be protected by lifeguards during the holiday
seasons.

Durban is well known for its sharks. All the beaches are protected by
shark nets that have been installed about 300 metres off shore on the
outside of the breaker line. It is very interesting to watch the Natal
Sharks Board out in the bay each morning tending the nets and removing
any fish that have become entangled during the night. If they are still
alive they are released otherwise they are taken to the shark boards offices
to the north of Durban where they are dissected for research purposes.

The “ Golden mile” is always a hive of activity with the
many restaurants, pubs and bars to be visited. At night many people come
down to the beaches to relax and enjoy the atmosphere or just to party.

Durban is also famous for it Rikshas. A Riksha for those who don't
know is and African man who wears a very fancy head dress made of beads
and cows horns and bits and pieces of cheap jewellery and feathers and
other odds and ends. The Riksha also has a cart with two large wheels
and a seat where two adults or three kids can fit into. For a small fee
you will be taken for a ride along the beachfront with this man wearing
his head dress pulling the cart. The ride can get quite exciting when
the riksha picks up a bit of speed and leaps into the air balancing his
weight and yours like a seesaw. When he does this without warning the
passengers are thrown backwards and think they are going to fall out the
back of his cart. Not to worry! There is a small jockey wheel at the back
that stops the cart falling over and you falling out.

There are many other things to do in Durban other than just swimming
and tanning. Although most of the action takes place along the beachfront
there are other areas where there is much to do. The two main roads in
Durban are Smith Street and West Street. Both of them are one way only
with West Street going towards the beach and Smith away from the beach.

The main shopping areas of Durban are found along these streets.

There are also many sports facilities with the main arenas being Kingsmead
for cricket and the Shark Tank for rugby.

Most people will have heard of the Comrades marathon. This marathon
is run between Durban and Pietermaritzburg each year, one year up and
the other year down. It is a gruelling race that is normally run in hot
weather and it attracts 1000's of people. The race is 89 kilometres
long and follows the old road between Pietermaritzburg and Durban. The
next Comrades Marathon will be held on the 16th of June 2003 and will
be the down run i.e. Pietermaritzburg to Durban.

The scenery between Pietermaritzburg and Durban is beautiful. The old
road wends its way through the valley of a thousand hills. As far as one
can see there are just hills. Vegetation is lush and if the province has
received rain very green. In Pinetown a small town between PM Burg and
Durbs there is a beautiful waterfall. Its called the Howick falls and
although not very big is quite spectacular.

Durban also grows various varieties of tropical fruit. Fruit such as
Paw Paws, mangoes, avocado pears and of course bananas. Their avos are
to die for. On the occasions that I have visited Durban I have always
made an effort to get a grass wash basket full of green avos to take home.

If you drive out into the country areas surrounding Durban you will
come across many farms growing sugar cane. This is one of the main products
grown in the area. Durban is known as the sugar capital of South Africa
and you can see many large silos where sugar is stored. A tour of the
refineries is very interesting as they show you the entire process from
where the cane is pulped to where the white sugar is finally packaged
to be shipped.

Durban is one of South Africa’s premier holiday destinations.
Visit in July and watch the Durban July horse race.

Geoff Fairman writes an ezine called Turtle Essays that concentrates
on Cape Town and its surrounds. To subscribe send a blank email to TurtleEssays-subscribe@turtlesa.com

or read the ezines online at http://www.turtlesa.com

Globetrotters should be extra careful when booking flights with travel
agents in the UK. High street budget travel agents, Trailfinders are,
like most other companies, happy to sell you a ticket for any destination
in the world and try to get you to cough up for their in-house insurance
at the same time. They of course earn commission on this.

This Globetrotter booked a ticket through Trailfinders to Bali. I booked
it well before the Bali incident and am due to fly to Bali at Easter.
I was offered insurance, which I declined as I have my own. At a recent
London travel show I enquired about the two different Trailfinder policies
on offer, one annual and one single trip.

When I rang to ask to book the Trailfinder insurance a couple of weeks
later, I was told that Trailfinders would not insure trips to Bali or
any part of Indonesia. Whilst I totally understand the reasoning behind
this, Trailfinders should not be offering insurance over the phone and
at Travel shows and then reneging when people try to book it.

After the Bali bomb many companies in the travel trade took the step
of contacting clients with existing reservations to Bali offering them
money back or a change of destination. Trailfinders did not do this and
now as time for final payment looms, the horrible truth of the situation
is becoming apparent to UK travellers.

U. S. Soldiers Home Mac: during a century of travel (well 78 years!)
both in and out of service I have travelled to over 150 countries (I count
both North and South Dakota as countries) and for some reason have jotted
signs and happenings that I thought funny at the time (and now wonder
why). So here is the perfect opportunity to share some of my anecdotes.

Beijing, China. The Imperial Palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing
has 9,000 rooms. We agree that if we got lost and separated from each
other we would meet in the Hall of Heavenly Purity (if they would let
us in) At the time I was there the military did no wear rank on their
uniforms (don’t know if this still applies or not) You could kind
of get an idea of who outranked who by the number of pockets they had
on their blouse of uniform. Someone with four pockets would have their
baggage carried by someone with one pocket or no pockets.

In the hotels the orchestras (In the Peace Hotel in Shanghai I think
they had some of the members or orchestra from the 30s) would play songs
they thought we would like. Oh Susannah from a couple of decades ago seems
to be making a comeback as well as Turkey in the Straw and Auld Lang Sang.
At the end of each number the players would put down their instruments
and applaud us in the audience. We could hardly wait for the Tuba player
to unwind from his Tuba to applaud us. Everyone in our tour group caught
colds (from the dust) except those that had taken Vitamin C for a couple
of weeks before arriving in China. Mr Wu our guide referred to the Royal
Bank of Canada (George from Canada wanted to get some money) as the Loyal
Bank of Canada. One of the military said that when he was in China years
before he took a piece of the wall and had a name plate put on it and
sent it to movie actress Carole Lombard as he had read that she collected
rocks. She threw it back. No she wrote and thanked him.

Our Chinese guide in Wuxi kind of had a high opinion of himself (unusual
for Chinese) and though he was hip in Western ways. He liked to show off
and showed us how he was proficient in Tai Chi (shadow boxing). Blonde
vivacious Liza asked him to dance with her. He said No that he could not
dance with a client but that he would arm-wrestle her Ha. He told long
involved stories about the Kingdom of Wu and Dragons and such. George
whispered: I wonder what he would say if we told him we didn’t want
to hear any more dragon stories? If I were going to China today I would
probably take my own plastic chopsticks. In Japan they have disposable
chopsticks but in China they have plastic ones that you hope they wash
after several others have used them. If going to China start a walking
program at home. Walk around the block then next day further as in China
even on escorted tours you are going to be doing more walking than you
possibly do at home. Build up you let muscles before leaving home. I put
as many Chinese stamps on letters sent home as possible for stamp collectors
back home as their stamps are so colourful and unusual. While there their
coffee was not very good so taking instant coffee along helped. The hotels
had thermos bottle of hot water for tea in your room, which they replenished
every morning and this was handy to make coffee with.

Kneehow (phonetic) in Chinese means hello. In China Carol who was from
England and had a beautiful voice would sing slightly risqué Cockney
songs and George would sing “My old lady and the lady next door went
down the river on a barnyard door singing Ki Yi Yippie Yi ” and nonsensical
songs. Miss Cha who was trying to learn English (she had taught herself)
wanted to learn some of these songs so she could sing them to her next
tour group. As some were risqué Carol said. “My dear I don’t
think you really need to learn these songs” Les would give his excellent
imitation of Peter Sellers imitating an Indian and his accent was hilariously
correct. We should have been a USO troop. We laughed all the way across
China. If you are in high altitude eating onions will help combat altitude
sickness.

Next month, Mac discusses his travels through India. If you would like
to contact Mac, he can be e-mailed on: macsan400@yahoo.com