Category Archives: Main article

Our Friends Ryanair

Director of Ryanair.com Conal Henry announced proudly: ‘Ryanair is the ONLY airline that provides access to all European Grand Prix destinations – all other airlines are the pits!!’  According to them, the best access to Hungarian GP near Budapest on August 15th is via… Graz, Austria, the distance to Hungary JUST 364 km.

What is going on!  The passenger traffic statistics for March 2004 confirm Ryanair has carried 204,187 more passengers in UK/Europe than British Airways. 

Ryanair on 7 April 2004 released its customer service statistics for March 2004.  Ryanair is committed to publishing customer service statistics each month and these confirm that Ryanair is also No.1 for Customer Service.

  • 93% of all Ryanair's 15,798 flights during the month of March arrived on time.
  • Complaints registered at less than 1 (0.49) complaint per 1000 passengers.
  • Mislaid baggage registered at less than 1 (0.64) bag per 1000 passengers.

Just in case you a regular visitor to Brest, in France, Ryanair has decided to discontinue the Brest-London (Stansted) route.

An Insider's Guide to Thailand by Randy Gaudet

I have been living in Thailand since 1989.  I have travelled extensively throughout the Kingdom and wanted to share my wonderful experiences of Thailand with others.  I talked with many travellers here in Thailand and saw a need to take visitors away from the normal tourist areas filled with large tour buses and groups. The biggest complaint I heard from visitors is “there is no real Thai culture… it’s staged for the tourists”.  This is because they keep following each other around using their guidebooks and never see the real Thailand.

In the course of setting up a travel agency here in Thailand, it took about 2 years of research to find the areas that were safe and could handle visitors.  I spoke with village headmen, temple Monks, Hill Tribe villagers, National Park officials and local bird experts.  I then had to train staff that would take care of our clients with excellent service and provide correct information about Thai and hill tribe culture, Thai food, Buddhism, birds of Thailand, etc.

I lived in a remote area of north Thailand at Wat Thaton temple in the town of Thaton on the Burmese border for more than 3 years.  I taught English to Monks, novices, high school students, the Thai Army, local and tourist police.  I also did hill tribe programs by taking a small number of tourists to hill tribe villages to spend the evening.  All the money for the trek went to the villagers.  I bought clothes for the children, medicines and blankets for the families.  I paid the villagers to build a bamboo schoolhouse and paid a teacher to teach Thai at the school who could speak their language.  I taught them how to dispose of waste properly, keep the children and village clean and to use spoons instead of their fingers when eating which was a big source of their health problems.  I provided vegetable seeds and logan and lychee fruit trees for planting.

This was fine until I left the temple then the school stopped and the health problems returned.  I talked with the Abbot of the temple and he now has a school for the children at the temple.  He has a nurse looking after the children and takes those to the clinics that have problems.

While I was there I help start a guest home where travellers could stay in a Lisu hill tribe village and go trekking in the jungle and visit primitive hill tribe villages in the area.  This was not easy, as the villages we visited didn't want visitors as they wanted to maintain their lifestyle and culture.  They have seen other villages that accepted tourists turned into a village without harmony and their culture was gone forever. These villagers were farmers and didn't want to look at tourism as a source of income.

I understood the problem as I have seen what a tour operator can do to a village. To most tour operators in Thailand money is first and they don't care about the hill tribe people or their way of life.

I stayed in these villages and met with the village headmen many times. I learned about their culture, way of life, religion, and do's and don'ts. We then came up with a plan that worked out well for the villagers and our clients.

For the Jungle portion of the trek I had to teach the guides to use different trails so it could grow back.  They make a hut out of bamboo and banana leaves for sleeping and I taught them not to clear-cut and not to return to an area for at least two months.  No more hunting of birds or wild animals.

Without the local culture we would not be able to give our clients the experience they are looking for. We also encourage our clients in helping the local people we visit.

Next month, Randy talks about the difference between tourism and eco-tourism, and provides us with some guidelines about the kind of questions we should be asking ourselves when visiting Thailand or going on any kind of eco-trip.

Randy who was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1948 has lived in Texas for more than 20 years and in Thailand since 1989 can be contacted by e-mail on: allthai@all-thailand-exp.com.  For more information on trips to Thailand, see: http://www.all-thailand-exp.com  

GPS and Geocaching by Padmassana

Many globetrotting travellers now regularly carry a GPS (Global Positioning System) with them when they travel. These superb little handheld devices can be bought for as little as £100, though prices do go up to several hundred pounds for the most sophisticated machines. They show your position on earth in latitude, longitude and altitude, via triangulation from satellites orbiting the earth.

To those of us not blessed with a great sense of direction, especially when exploring a new city, these devices are a godsend. Just “Mark” the co-ordinate of your hotel for example, wander all day and then your little machine will guide you back home in the evening. If you know the GPS co-ordinate of the sight you want to visit, these little boxes can save you time by taking your straight there, as depending on conditions they can be as accurate as 10ft.

Though GPS's are a great piece of kit to have with you they are used in more serious applications. For example Padmassana recently went to a lecture on volcanoes and the lecturer described how GPS's are being used to monitor the height of the land in volcanic areas. The land rising if only by centimetres over a period can signify that magma is building up underneath and indicate that an eruption is more likely and hopefully give the authorities an opportunity to evacuate the area.

To those who already have a GPS, most will know about Geocaching. A global game of hide and seek using a GPS. Globie Tracey introduced Padmassana to this “sport” on a Globetrotters weekend away. On the website www.geocaching.com you type in your postal code (in countries that have this system) and you will be taken to a page showing “Caches” within a 10-mile radius. The Cache is normally hidden and usually has the form of a plastic box with some trinkets in. Most Geocachers leave something and take something. There is always a book to record your visit and sometimes a throwaway camera for you to take a picture. Once back home you can go online and record your visit, this allows the person who planted the cache to know how often it is being found or not as the case may be. Some caches are just one location, but many are a series of clues leading to a final cache. For example you may be given the co-ordinates of a church, where you have to look for a particular grave, then transpose a date of birth into another set of co-ordinates, which take you to another clue and so on.

In some cache’s you may be lucky and come across a “Travel bug”, these are small metal dog tag beetles with a number on. If you decide to remove this from the cache you must put it in the book. Once you get home look up the Travel bug online and see what its mission is, some want to reach a particular destination, others just want to visit as many places as possible. Your mission once you have discovered what the bug wants to do is to help it on its way by planting it in another cache, which hopefully helps it get nearer to its goal.

Since the first cache was “planted” near Portland Oregon in May 2000, the worldwide number of caches has increased to over 90,000 and are hidden in 199 countries. In the UK alone there are around 3000 hidden caches. In just one 7-day period in March 2004, over 64,000 caches were logged as “Found”, which goes to show what a popular pastime this has become. (Figures courtesy of www.fingertech.co.uk)

Now this is where we want all you Globetrotters out there to do your part. I am trying to put together a database of co-ordinates of famous sights and monuments, for example: Buckingham Palace in London is located at N51 30.101 W000  08.487. 

We are inviting you to take part in geocaching in your area – please take two or three readings to make sure they are as accurate as possible, then e-mail the following information 1) The site 2) The address 3) Its co-ordinates 4) Your name to gps@globetrotters.co.uk  Once we have begun to build a database it will be made available to all Globetrotters to enjoy.

By the way, Padmassana released a travel bug on Monday, April 05, 2004 in the UK.   The mission of the travel bug is as follows: to travel far and wide, but my dream is to visit Iran.  I would like to visit caches in England, France, Italy, Greece, Turkey and finally Iran.

Conde Nast Traveller's Next Seven Wonders of the World

According to Conde Nast Traveller’s, the “Next Seven Wonders” of the world feature two concert halls, a museum, two stores, a church and a hotel.  They are:

  • Tenerife Auditorium, a curving, soaring concert hall on Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
  • The Kunsthaus contemporary art museum in Graz, Austria, a blue, other-worldly building with light flowing in from 16 nozzles, dubbed the “Friendly Alien” by locals.
  • The six-storey Prada tower in Tokyo with a facade made from diamond-shaped grids of glass, some concave, others convex, illuminated from within at night.
  • The Jubilee Church in Rome, comprising three concrete shells, soaring skylights and glass exterior walls that fill the church with light.
  • The Selfridges store in Birmingham, England, a futuristic pod of a building with 15,000 glittering aluminium disks covering its wavy walls.
  • Hotel Unique in Sao Paulo, a boat-shaped semicircle, complete with round nautical-style windows.
  • Frank Gehry's Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, known for its acoustics and reflective stainless steel panels.

Is there anywhere you’d like to nominate as the next wonder of the world?  The Beetle would like to nominate the Gherkin, also known as the erotic gherkin, or more properly known as the Swiss Re Tower in the City of London.  Let the Beetle know and we will compile a list for next month’s e-news.

Top Ten travel Tips by Silja Swaby

Silja was our roving correspondent at the ITW show in London in January.  We asked what were the most important travel tips she came away with after having attended some of the talks and walked around the show several times.  This is what she reported back on:

1 Insecticide evaporates quickly, so reapply frequently in heavily infested areas (Paul Goodyer, Staying Healthy on the Road).

2. Sponsorship can cost a lot of money to get, and may not be worth it in the end (James Greenwood, Global Ride on Horse Back).

3. Travel writers should have an angle, or put another way, why should they publish your work? (Travel Writing – Dream Job panel).

4. Whatever your injury check your insurance company will pay for treatment, and if you travel with a group and you go off alone, you may not be insured (Mr. Henderson, Getting the Most from your Grudge Purchase).

5. The three greatest hazards in the jungle are flood, dead trees falling on you and hornets (Ken Hames, Survive the Jungle).

6. Email your CV to yourself if you don’t want to carry copies, especially across borders (The Big Trip panel)

7. You can earn money abroad by taking a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) course (I-to-I TEFL Workshop: Travel and Earn).

8. If you send publishers sheets of transparencies, copyright and caption each one as they may get separated (Travel Writing – Dream Job panel).

9. If you video your trip, take care with sound as wind can obliterate voices (Tarquin Cooper, How to Make & Sell a Film of your Expedition).

10. A disposable nappy is a great dressing for a head wound, it even has holes for ears (James Greenwood, Global Ride on Horse Back).

Silja Swaby is a consultant marine biologist, runs her own business, travels, and writes.  Right now she is looking for a publisher for her book about travelling light, and is planning an expedition with a horse.  If you would like to contact Silja, her e-mail address is: siljaswaby@hotmail.com

Meeting News from New York

The March meeting has been cancelled as Laurie, the New York Chair will be away on business in LA. If anyone would like to help Laurie or stand in as Deputy, please e-mail her on: newyork@globetrotters.co.uk

For details of forthcoming meetings email newyork@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates, click here at our website.

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theatre, 154 Christopher Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm .

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Boxing Day Sports Festival in Mikindani by Matt Maddocks

Having been nothing but impressed with the way the Mikindani Sports Club or ‘Klabu ya Uboreshaji’ (the club’s Swahili name which means improving oneself through sports) was been run, I wanted to reward the club’s members along with others in the village with a day of competitions. Thanks to the efforts of those volunteers with me and several willing helpers on the day, the 26th December brought memories to a vast number of people, both spectators and competitors alike. We held a sports day which included a Bao competition and a football six-a-side taking place on the football ground on Mikindani’s biggest football team.

Bao is a traditional Swahili board game played on a board on which seeds are moved around a series of carved out dishes, the object of the game being to take your opponents seeds achieved by finishing moves adjacent to an opponents seed. Without explaining the ins and outs of the game a skilful play is made through experience, strategic play and being able to think moves ahead of the game which may be compared to chess or draughts. In Mikindani the older generation of males are the most respected group of players so we invited three players from each of the village wards to join up for a knock-out style competition. Proceedings took place under a mango tree and organisation took care of itself as there was a competitive but friendly atmosphere and players were self-affiliating and all joined together, rather enjoying playing along side the best players in the village. As the rounds went by, large crowds were drawn in and the final was quite a spectacle with two players surrounded by a sea of onlookers, both competing for the prize money placed underneath the playing board. The champion was delighted with his title but all players were very humble and delighted with how the competition took place.

While the Bao players ate complementary lunch, final preparations were being made to the football pitches which were small with full sized goals promising lots of scoring and the eight teams (made up from two sides from each of Mikindani’s four football teams) were warming up and stretching off. Matches commenced and those who were not players gathered on the sidelines with large numbers of spectators to watch who was on form and for any nominations for the man of the tournament who would receive some golden football boots! Games were fast and furious as any decent six-a-side should be but again collectiveness and good spirit between teams was evident throughout.

The crowds cheered as we were treated to some dazzling touches and outstanding play from all teams but the final was eventually contended (after both semi-finals going to penalties, the hero goalkeepers held above heads by the rest of the team and a few passionate supporters!) between Cigara F.C and Beach Boys who we were told were the equivalent to ‘Arsenal and Manchester United’; long standing rivals keen to get one up on the other. In a closely fought final Beach Boys won by a single goal and their followers ran on the pitch to congratulate their team just as though they were professional sports men. A presentation ended the day’s proceedings and a team photo of the 2003 winners.

Later that day and the next, several comments from teams and supporters gave their thanks for the day. I was told by some it was ‘the best public holiday ever’, ‘never to be beaten’ and ‘the village was awoken with delight and happiness’. These are exactly the feelings I hoped to bring about and numerous groups in Mikindani were fulfilled, old men, young footballers and families of supporters all had a brilliant day.

For more information about Trade Aid, volunteers and their work, please visit their website: www.mikindani.com

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Meeting News from Ontario

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

Meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

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Mac’s Jottings: Languages

U. S. Soldiers Home, Washington: 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.

I admire those that speak many languages. I don’t. This reminds me of the guy that spread out the blanket for his girl friend and noticing the wet grass said: “some dew”. She replied “I don’t”.

The Japanese are very polite. You can be murdering their language and they will say: “You speak very good Japanese”. You then know you don’t. The French sneer at me if I don’t get the pronunciation right. I would try out a few words of French and would get the sneer.

In India and the Philippines because there are so many languages their leaders sometimes give their speeches in English. This surprised me but I was told they reach more people that way. In Mexico, I don’t speak much Spanish, but I am a very good guesser. I have a booklet that has pictures in it of different objects and no matter what country I am in when I want something I point to the picture. I am a good pointer.

I envy those that speak French as it sounds so sophisticated to me. My French is limited to: “Come and tie my shoe”, “Mow de lawn”, “Chevrolet coupe”. I was asked to leave France. I met some French people individually on a one to one basis having been introduced by someone and even was invited to a French couples’ home (both were school teachers.) They had a copy of newspaper printed the day after D Day when the Germans were printing the paper and gave me a copy, interpreting it for me. It said such things as The Terrorists (allies) have arrived but they will be pushed back. I had copies made and gave one copy to French embassy here.

While we Americans don’t speak very many languages, at the same time I think American are a friendly lot and are apt to invite foreigners into their homes or help foreigners on the street. I also lived in a French couple’s home right after the War. It is a long story but they were very hospitable to me. This was in Biarritz, France and the townspeople did not like us. We thought Hitler was going to go down to Spain to meet Franco and go thorough a train station in Biarritz. Our airplanes were meant to hit the train station but travelling so fast they bombed a path from the ocean right though the town.

On the other hand when the Germans occupied Biarritz they had the elite of their troops there and the French told us so they were so neat when they went to the beach lining their equipment up nice etc.

Next month, Mac discusses his 1990’s travel trip to Malaysia, Singapore, India, and on komodo dragons .

If you would like to contact Mac, he can be e-mailed on: macsan400@yahoo.com

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Meeting News from Texas

The Texas branch has both good news and bad news. The bad news is the cancellation of the April meeting on the 10th. The good news is the speaker for the May 8 meeting has been confirmed.

The Texas branch meets at the New Braunfels Public Library every second Saturday of the month at 2 p.m. There is no charge for the wonderful meeting room and all a/v equipment is provided. The location is convenient for Globetrotters Club members and all travellers in south central Texas. The room is being used by AARP to help folks do their taxes on April 10. So, no meeting.

We have our room back on May 8, with an exciting presentation: we will be hearing about Servas, a wonderful program for travellers who care about World Peace. If you like to travel and care about World Peace, this is a must attend event. Wayne Thomas will be the speaker. I guarantee you life will be enhanced after meeting him.

So, no meeting in April and an exciting one in May. See you then.

For more information about the Texas Branch: please contact texas@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates at our website (click here) or call Christina at 830-620-5482

If anybody would like to enquire about meetings or help Christina, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk

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Our Friends Ryanair

Ryanair has carried out its threat to scrap services between London and Brussels’ Charleroi airport, in an escalation of its battle with the European commission over illegal state aid from the Belgian authorities. In its summer schedule, it was revealed that its eight daily flights between the two cities would end on April 29. Ryanair blamed the EC’s ruling this month that the airline’s landing deal at Charleroi was illegal. Rivals say that the route may have been hit by competition from rival airlines and Eurostar.

Ryanair has banned eight passengers for life for compromising passenger and crew safety by smoking on board. The eight people were on different flights, and all cases have been referred to police.

Never let it be said that we are always horrible about Ryanair. Here’s a website where you can see some positive comments about our friend: http://www.ciao.co.uk/ryanair_com__77254 This website allows you to enter your views, pros and cons about using Ryanair. All three of the pros that the Beetle saw when she looked at it were to do with price – it’s cheap, the cons say impractical deals, no meals on board and a slow website.

For the sake of balance, here’s another website where you can record your own Ryanair misery story: Stories include luggage not being on the same flight as the passenger and all the hassle involved in getting some sort of recompense from Ryanair, money taken without confirmation and comments about the way Ryanair operate – little things, like using premium rate telephone numbers if you want to contact them and lack of e-mail address. It’s sober reading.

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Write for the Globetrotters monthly e-newsletter

If you enjoy writing, enjoy travelling, why not write for the free monthly Globetrotters e-newsletter! The Beetle would love to hear from you: your travel stories, anecdotes, jokes, questions, hints and tips, or your hometown or somewhere of special interest to you. Over 8,000 people currently subscribe to the Globetrotters e-news.

To see your story in cyber print, e-mail the Beetle with your travel experiences, hints and tips or questions up to 750 words, together with a couple of sentences about yourself and a contact e-mail address to Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

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A Hiking Guide to Easter Island by David Stanley

Ask me which Pacific island has the most to offer hikers and I’ll probably answer Easter Island. Here on an island 11 km wide and 23 km long you’ll find nearly a thousand ancient Polynesian statues strewn along a powerfully beautiful coastline or littering the slopes of an extinct volcano. Getting there is easy as Easter Island can be included in Oneworld’s round-the-world Explorer airpass, and a fine selection of inexpensive places to stay and eat awaits you.

The legends of Easter Island have been recounted many times. What’s less known is that the island’s assorted wonders are easily accessible on foot from the comfort of the only settlement, Hanga Roa. Before setting out see the sights, however, visit the excellent archaeological museum next to Ahu Tahai on the north side of town (the term “ahu” refers to an ancient stone platform). Aside from the exhibits, the museum has maps which can help you plan your trip.

The razon-backed ridge on the ocean side of Rano Kau crater.The first morning after arrival, I suggest you climb Easter Island’s most spectacular volcano, Rano Kau, where Orongo, a major archaeological site, sits on the crater’s rim. But rather than marching straight up the main road to the crater, look for the unmarked shortcut trail off a driveway to the right just past the forestry station south of town. It takes under two hours to cover the six km from Hanga Roa to Orongo, but bring along a picnic lunch and make a day of it. (If climbing a 316-meter hill sounds daunting, you can take a taxi to the summit for around US$6 and easily walk back later in the day.) Once on top, you’ll find hiking down into the colourful crater presents no difficulty. It may also look easy to go right around the crater rim, but only do so if you’re a very experienced hiker and have a companion along as shear 250-meter cliffs drop into the sea from the ridge.

Another day, rise early and take a taxi to lovely Anakena Beach at the end of the paved road on the north side of the island (you should pay under US$10 for the 20 km). A few of the famous Easter Island statues have been restored at Anakena and you could go for a swim, although the main reason you’ve come is the chance to trek back to Hanga Roa around the road-free northwest corner of the island. You’ll pass numerous abandoned statues lying facedown where they fell, and the only living creatures you’re unlikely to encounter are the small brown hawks which will watch you intently from perches on nearby rocks. If you keep moving, you’ll arrive back in town in five or six hours (but take adequate food, water, and sunscreen). This is probably the finest coastal walk in the South Pacific.Anakena Beach, starting point for the northwest coastal hike.

Almost as good is the hike along the south coast, although you’re bound to run into other tourists here as a paved highway follows the shore. Begin early and catch a taxi to Rano Raraku, the stone quarry where all of the island’s statues were born. This is easily the island’s most spectacular sight with 397 statues in various stages of completion lying scattered around the crater. And each day large tour groups come to Rano Raraku to sightsee and have lunch. However, if you arrive before 9 am, you’ll have the site to yourself for a few hours. When you see the first tour buses headed your way, hike down to Ahu Tongariki on the coast, where 15 massive statues were re-erected in 1994. From here, just start walking back toward Hanga Roa (20 km) along the south coast. You’ll pass many fallen statues and enjoy some superb scenery. Whenever you get tired, simply go up onto the highway and stick out your thumb and you’ll be back in town in a jiffy.

An outstanding 13-km walk begins at the museum and follows the west coast five km north to Ahu Tepeu. As elsewhere, keep your eyes pealed for banana trees growing out of the barren rocks as these often indicate caves you can explore. Inland from Ahu Tepeu is one of the island’s most photographed sites, Ahu Akivi, with seven statues restored in 1960. From here an interior farm road runs straight back to town (study the maps at the museum carefully, as you’ll go far out of your way if you choose the wrong road here).

A shorter hike takes you up Puna Pau, a smaller crater which provided stone for the red topknots that originally crowned the island’s statues. There’s a great view of Hanga Roa from the three crosses on an adjacent hill and you can easily do it all in half a day. A different walk takes you right around the 3,353- meter airport runway, which crosses the island just south of town. Near the east end of the runway is Ahu Vinapu with perfectly fitted monolithic stonework bearing an uncanny resemblance to similar constructions in Peru.

A fallen statue on Easter Island's south coast.Easter Island’s moderate climate and scant vegetation make for easy cross country hiking, and you won’t find yourself blocked by fences and private property signs very often. You could also tour the island by mountain bike, available from several locations at US$10 a day. If you surf or scuba dive, there are many opportunities here. A minimum of five days are needed to see the main sights of Easter Island, and two weeks would be far better. The variety of things to see and do will surprise you, and you’ll be blessed with some unforgettable memories.

David Stanley is the author of Moon Handbooks Tahiti: Including the Cook Islands http://www.southpacific.org/tahiti.html which also contains a full chapter on Easter Island. His online guide to Easter Island may be perused at http://www.southpacific.org/text/finding_easter.html

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Knysna by Kevin Brackley

The town of Knysna in the western Cape of South Africa lies a scenic 500km east of Cape Town along the Garden Route. There is the option to drive all the way into town, but a far more interesting way is to take the Outeniqua choo-Tjoe train that departs from George. If you are lucky your train will be pulled by a steam engine. Once you have left George’s shanty towns behind the scenery is wonderful, sweeping curves where if you peer out of the window you can see the engine going round the bend ahead. At Sedgefield the line passes over a scenic bridge, under which flows an inlet from the Indian Ocean on your right. The train takes a couple of hours and costs approximately 120 rand.

Knysna itself has much to offer including trips into the surrounding countryside where you can hike, abseil and go mountain biking amongst others. At the waterfront area there are lots of touristy shops and restaurants to while away some time. From a jetty at the waterfront it is well worth taking a trip out to the Knysna Heads. Knysna itself is in a lagoon protected from the ocean by a narrow inlet where the surrounding hills almost meet. The trip out is on one of the worlds most advanced ferries, even though it does have the appearance of a bathtub!

The boat actually has three legs that can be put down on the sea floor so that it is lifted up like an oil platform. This can be used in rescues and also to drop passengers off at places where there is no jetty. The “Heads” are a raging torrent even on a semi calm day, they have claimed hundreds of ships and thousands of lives over the centuries, so much so that if you intend to take a vessel through them you have to inform the shipping insurers Lloyds of London. The boat staff keep up an interesting flow of information as you cruise, not only about their very interesting boat, but also about the nearby nature reserve and about what you are seeing.

After all this activity it is hard to beat a meal at “Bosuns” a pub come restaurant, which does excellent bar and sit down food for around 80 Rand, including a drink.

East of Knysna is the Tsitsikama National Park, which is located right next to the ocean. From the beach you can follow a lovely boardwalk through the forest called the “Mouth Trail”, which eventually comes out at the spectacular Hangbrug suspension bridge, from where you can gaze onto the crashing Indian Ocean waves. On the way back to town you can take in the adrenaline junkies Mecca of the Bloukrans bungy jump, this is currently the world’s highest bungy with a drop of 216 metres, reputed to be the longest seven seconds of your life as you free fall, are there any Globies out there who can confirm this, as this one has no intention of finding out!

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Travel Stats: Largest No of Airports per Country

World airpports top 10

Rank Country Name Airports
1 United States 14,720
2 Brazil 3,264
3 Russia 2,743
4 Mexico 1,848
5 Canada 1,417
6 Argentina 1,359
7 Bolivia 1,093
8 Colombia 1,091
9 Paraguay 915
10 South Africa 741

Source:

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An Ascent (Finally) of Stok Kangri by Jules Stewart

With a shuddering sob Helen collapsed on the ridge and burst into tears.“I cannot take another step,” she sobbed. “Oh, I know it’s all vanity and pride!”

She was referring to the summit, looming in full infuriating view an hour’s slog above us. “You go on,” she said with quivering lip, “I’ll wait for you here”.

“Forget it, I’m not going up without you and frankly I’m not that bothered about the summit. And for goodness sake stop crying. You’ll need that energy for the descent”.

So that drew a line under our climb of Stok Kangri in Ladakh, surely one of the Himalayas most accessible 20,000 foot peaks. The error that day was to have taken the summit head on across the moraine from our advanced base camp, which was set up on the wrong side of the glacier. Had we crossed the glacier and pitched our tent on a platform below the start of the climb, and then headed off diagonally left across the moraine towards the ridge… who knows?

It doesn’t matter: I repeated the mantra to myself on the silent trek back to base camp and down the trail to Stok village at the road head, the last stop before picking up the jeep to Leh. Success, failure – every mountaineer knows these are mere words, devoid of significance. The summit is a trap cunningly laid by our ego, designed to keep us bound to the wheel of samsara.

What’s that, you failed to summit Stok Kangri? There it is, the very word of shame and humiliation, enslaving us to our egos. It’s all rubbish, of course, we reassure ourselves. What really matters is the camaraderie, the days spent with good companions in the inspiring environment of the high mountains. The summit is a bit of icing on the cake. It adds nothing to the experience apart from a false sense of prestige, derived from the Latin praestagium, meaning illusion. The summit, in fact, is a mere illusion.

Oh yes.

So it was that the following August found us starting off once more from advanced base, this time camp properly sited on the far side of the glacier, plodding manfully across the moraine straight towards the summit ridge.

Two hours into the climb and “Oh, God,” Helen moaned, collapsing once more on the ridge, in fact the very same spot as the previous year. “It’s such a long way…”

Not again, I thought with inner rage, an eye fixed on the beckoning summit.

“All right, have a little rest. Have a drink of water, catch your breath, count to ten – but we’ve got to carry on because the weather is looking pretty naff.” Bands of mist rolled up from the valley, intermittently obscuring the snow-capped summit. It was obvious we would have to move smartly if we were to enjoy any view at all from the top. Helen began rummaging in her day sack and what happened next left me gaping in stunned disbelief.

“What on earth do you think you’re doing with that?” “It’s all right,” she smiled. “It’ll boost my morale”. But – lipstick! We’re nearly twenty thousand feet up in the Himalayas and you… “There we are.” She zipped up her sack, smacking her brightly rouged lips. “Let’s go.”.

Helen is six feet tall and she is maddeningly unaffected by altitude. Once suitably made-up off she marched at a sprightly quip, unheeding of my protests about the importance of keeping a slow and steady pace. We negotiated the handful of slightly exposed spots on the ridge and three and a half hours after leaving out tents we found ourselves on the top of Stok Kangri, with just enough sunlight left for a couple of snapshots of K-2 on the horizon, before the mist billowed over the summit.

Jules Stewart is leading a Ladakh trek and ascent of Stok Kangri on 17th-31st July 2004. Details are available on 0207 2294774 or e-mail: Jjulesstewart@aol.com

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A Surprising First Night (in the Brazilian rain forest) by Tony Annis

That night the local tribe was going to perform a ceremony that would involve singing and some sort of dancing, and Adam Baines and I were invited go along. The tribe held hands and formed itself into two circles, one inside the other, both facing inwards.

One circle moved to the left and the other moved in the opposite direction and at the same time started moaning. This singing or sort of moaning continued as the circles moved slowly in opposite directions. I started the tape, the moaning continued, the bullfrogs joined in, the jungle added its chorus, the circles turned.

Adam and I stood there bemused, as the minutes went by, with nothing more happening other than the continuous circling and moaning. I joined the tribe, held hands and moaned with everybody else, circled with everyone else and, I think just like everyone else, wondered what the hell was going to happen next.

I was beginning to think that this whole ceremony was being put on for our benefit, as a sort of show for these strangers from the outside world. I stepped out of the circle and stood back with Adam whilst continuing to watch this ritual. Adam asked me what the ceremony had done for me. I replied that I had always dreamt about holding hands with strangers, walking in circles, moaning out loud under the stars in the Amazon rainforest! Adam tried everything to stifle his laughter.

We both concluded that this show was being put on for our benefit and, deciding to call it a night, thanked our hosts and walked back to our hut, leaving the tribe still moaning under the full moon. As we reached our hut the moaning stopped and we smiled at each other as we went in, but the last laugh was to be on us. We slipped into our sleeping bags being careful not to let any mosquitoes under our nets and I fell gently asleep after such a busy day.

I awoke to my shoulder being shaken by one of my moaning friends who said it was Party Time, and that this hut was the party hut. We were to sleep in the next hut with others that did not want to dance the night away. I looked at Adam stumbling about when he was woken as I had been. We grabbed our belongings in our arms, everything falling out of everywhere, and moved huts in pitch darkness.

We staggered to the next hut, which was totally full off about fourteen hammocks, mostly containing a couple, to find the only place we could sleep was under someone’s hammock. The music started, not the moaning of a couple of hours before but the loud music called Forro, which was coming from a ghetto blaster running off a car battery and which was overlaid by the noise of dancing feet.

The Forro, a corruption of the English ‘For All’ came from the North East of Brazil,. As the British who built the railway there sometimes had parties for which the invitations were ‘For All’. It was now my turn to feel like moaning as the music blasted into the night from all of twenty yards away.

The Indian in the hammock above Adam started to do the horizontal samba with his woman and the swaying and groaning made me see the funny side of life. Or would have, if the mosquitoes hadn’t been eating me alive and something I’d rather not know about slithered over me. A hellish night, to end a near perfect day.

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The Angel Falls by Iona Hill

I was rather disappointed by my trip to the Angel Falls – let’s get the bad news out of the way – it was over priced and pretty basic stuff.

Angel FallsI was there 2 ½ years ago or so. It was not possible to visit the Angel Falls independently, so we had to join a tour. The land is owned by the indigenous people, and they run the tours. We flew from Caracas to Ciudad Bolivar and then on to Canaima. From there, we joined about 6 others and took a succession of curiaras, supremely uncomfortable dug out canoes, but powered by outboard motor, up the river. The water is an interesting brown colour – the colour of tea with all the tannin from the land. We ended up on Rat Island, along with 100 or so other people all in different groups, and spent the night here (Isla Ratton – aptly named) which consisted of about 100 hammocks strung out in the open under a corrugated iron roof (no sides) and very primitive bathrooms, hurricane lamps etc. A very early start the next morning, bread and strong black coffee, for a short walk/climb – not at all strenuous, to a viewing point across which we saw the Angel Falls. The entire group sat on ledges etc gazing across at the Falls for about 30 minutes, took photos and then went back down the mountain and returned by curiara to Canaima.

And that was it. It cost an awful lot and we got very little in return. You don’t get particularly close to the falls and the service, food, accom was appalling, considering how much it cost. Now, I’m a backpacker and I don’t mind roughing it, and had hoped it was all going to be a great adventure, but it just felt like a huge rip off. I was glad to be away from the place – it did not feel good.

With hindsight, I would rather have spent longer in the Gran Sabana and Kavak and have been content with having seen the Iguaçu Falls – 100 times more impressive! Alternatively, trekking around the region might have been better.

Whilst the Angel Falls was the enduring disappointment of our trip, our 5 days spent in a 4WD with driver (we were told it was not advisable to drive ourselves) around the Gran Sabana was fabulous – completely recommend this – beautiful landscape, lots of tepuys, lakes, waterfalls, water holes – really, really nice and relaxing, friendly people, easy and reasonable places to stay. Our absolute highlight was a short stay at Kavak and visiting the slot canyon – amazing!

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Low Cost Carriers In South East Asia Competition

We’ve never had it so good, travelling around South East Asia, particularly Thailand, with increasing numbers of opportunities to take low cost flights.

Thai Airways International recently announced that it would form a budget airline, Sky Asia, with five domestic partners to fend off competition from a crop of new low-cost carriers. Sky Asia will start operations in the second quarter of this year.

Thai AirAsia, to be launched next month, will also compete with privately owned domestic Thai carriers such as Phuket Air, www.phuketairlines.com Bangkok Airways www.bangkokair.com and PB Air www.pbair.com that has several routes in Thailand including: Lampang, Phetchabun Roi-et, Sakonnakhon, Nakhon Phanom Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat and overseas: Danang, Luang Prabang, Bagan.

Another Thai domestic carrier, Orient Thai, http://www.orient-thai.com launched a no-frills airline last month with a one-way ticket to Chiang Mai at half the current Thai Airways market price. Its other routings include Bangkok to Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, South Korea

Malaysian based Air Asia www.airasia.com says that it is Asia’s first low fare no frills airline to introduce “ticketless” travelling, and has flights within Malaysia and to Singapore and Thailand.

Indonesian based Lion Air currently flies to 32 destinations, including four regional flights connecting Jakarta with Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City. They plan to start selling business class seats underlines its attempt not to position itself as a low-cost carrier. They say: “Our air-fares may be the cheapest, but we reduce costs through the choice of aircraft – single-type MD82, which are bigger than the Boeing 737, commonly used by other domestic airlines.

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