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The Beetle
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Visit the Qingzhou Buddhist sculptures, London
At the Royal Academy from 26 April—14 July. This exhibition shows 35 of the best-preserved figures, carved from limestone (around 550—577 AD) out of the 400 or more Buddhist sculptures found in 1996 in a field in the Shandong province in eastern China. According to early written sources the area in which the sculptures were…
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The Beetle
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Letter from Mikindani, Tanzania: Sometimes it.s Hard to be a Woman by Nicola Brisley
This is a letter from Nicola telling us about her time as a volunteer for Trade Aid in Mikindani, in southern Tanzania. After eight months in Mikindani I am preparing to depart with a mild sense of apprehension about returning to cold and grey Old Blighty, finding work and somewhere to live and dealing with…
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The Beetle
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Animal Facts
The zebra is a member of the horse family and no two zebras have the same pattern. Stripes help confuse predators chasing the zebra, making them misjudge distances. Source: STA Travel
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The Beetle
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UK airline news: Easyjet buys Go
There were five low cost airline carriers in the UK: Easyjet, Go, Buzz (owned by KLM), Ryan Air and BMIBaby. Easyjet has just announced that it is paying £374m ($524m) for its rival, Go, (which used to belong to British Airways before they sold it to a Venture Capital fund). The consolidated airline will still…
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The Beetle
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Free Concerts in London
Cultural Co-operation are putting on free concerts featuring 300 musicians from 25 countries. The concerts are scheduled as follows: Kew Gdns on 29/30 June. Regents Park on 6/7 July Greenwich Park on 13/14 July. For full details and a voucher to enter Kew Gdns for free on those days, you can either: Ring the hotline…
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The Beetle
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Tiny Autonomous Town Discovered on the Swiss – Italian Border By Eric Dondero R.
In early April I took a Eurail/backpacking trip solo through Western Europe. I had the opportunity to travel throughout Switzerland. I gained a great deal of knowledge about Swiss bank accounts and procedures for securing greater financial privacy. I also passed through the tiny independent Principality of Monaco on the French coast near the Italian…
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The Beetle
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Dakar and Dhaka!
Thomas from Munich wrote in to say that he read the Beetle’s story about the confusion between Oman and Amman. The same thing happened to an African friend of his who went back to his home country with his family of 4 people. He booked a flight to Dakar in Senegal or so he thought,…
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The Beetle
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Follow Up on Korea, by Young of California
Young, a Korean American, living in California saw Globetrotter Kevin’s Korean itinerary in March’s Globetrotter e-newsletter whilst visiting Korea for a week with his wife and daughter after a trip to Tibet and Sichuan, China. Young has a few hints and tips he’d like to pass on to us, particularly more interesting as Korea will…
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The Beetle
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North Korea Encourages Tourism
Funded by the United Nations Development Programme, The Secretary General of the World Tourist Organisation, Francesco Frangialli, has signed agreements in North Korea, to help develop North Korea's tourism potential. The World Tourist Organisation has been involved in projects with North Korea since 1989 – including giving the Communist state assistance in developing the Mount…
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The Beetle
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Costa Rica Volunteer Programme
Rachel works for a non-profit conservation organization in the US, The National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation. She is are offering Volunteer positions at our field station in Costa Rica where we have a sea turtle conservation project. Any volunteers would be doing nightly beach patrols to look for turtles as well as participating in…
The Globetrotters Club
The travel club for independent travellers.