The Globetrotters eNewsletter
eNewsletter Archive

Meeting news from our branches around the world.

Our first speaker was Phil Koniotes , who showed us some stunning glimpses
of Antarctica. Phil explained that on his trip he had the great fortune
to enjoy 4 sunny days, which is extremely rare and meant he was able to
take some fantastic photographs. His pictures of icebergs, many of which
come in strange shapes and spectacular proportions were breathtaking,
particularly those of the aptly named Paradise Bay. His photo’s also covered
the inquisitive penguins that inhabit this region, which come up to investigate
their human visitors. Photos of the penguins included their nest building
antics, which involves the penguins stealing pebbles from each other’s
nests to build their own. Phil also told us about the Post Office which
handles 40,000 cards each year, which depart with the prized Antarctic
postmark. This was a fascinating talk with some superb photographs.

Our second speaker Mark Elliott came to Globetrotters rescue after our
original speaker Juliet Coombe was involved in an accident in Australia
and was unable to return to the United Kingdom. Mark’s talk was about
the Kilum Forest in what he described as the most corrupt country on the
planet, Cameroon, in West Africa. Mark’s mission had been to photograph
the elusive Bannerman’s Turaco bird, which only lives in this part of
the world. His photos took us via a local tribal war and a photocall with
a local Chief. He showed us a local festival where the people dress in
costumes and actually become that person or spirit, Mark discovered how
literally they take this when one character relieved him of his umbrella,
his neighbour explaining that this character was called “The thief!”
Once up into the forest Mark and his guide trekked for a day and for one
fleeting minute espied the elusive bird. His guide was ecstatic, despite
living there, it was the first time in seven years even he had seen one.

London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind
the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each
month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back on Saturday
1^st September. For more information, you can
contact the Globetrotter Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the
website: "http://www.globetrotters.co.uk">www.globetrotters.co.uk

Hello Globies! Our next meeting will be April 6th at The Wings Theater,
154 Christopher Street. 4:00pm sharp. We have yet, another exciting guest
speaker. Mary Russell, an import coming over from Dublin to speak to us
about her travel to the middle east, specificallyBaghdad and Damascus!
Mary is a travel writer, whose latest book will be published by Simon
and Schuster on June 1. Mary will be giving a slide talk to the London
Globetrotters in June, and we get the sneak preview this April! Her books
are “The Blessings of a Good Thick Skirt”, “Please Don”t
Call it Soviet Georgia”, “Amazonian” and, in June: “Journeys
of a Lifetime”. Mary has travelled to the Sahara and the Finnish
Arctic, the Eastern Caribbean, Southern Africa, Moscow, Tbilisi, Dublin
and Donegal.

Last year, she spent three months travelling around Syria on foot, by
bike and local transport. Last November, Mary returned to Damascus and
from there travelled overland to Baghdad. These two cities have strong
historical ties and her slides and talk will be about both places, with
up-to-day descriptions of what it”s like to travel in an Arab country.
(She was also in Israel last year, obviously she has a great interest
in the middle east!) Mary always travels solo and by shoestring. The last
two chapters of her next book “Journeys of a Lifetime”, are
about Syria.

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theater, 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. As always,
$8.00 for members, $10.00 for non-members.

The last Toronto GT meeting was on Friday, March 15 at 8 p.m. at the
Woodsworth Co-op Penthouse, (PH) 133 Wilton Street, Toronto. (Wilton is
a very short E-W street south of and parallel to Esplanade, east of Jarvis
- just around the corner from St. Lawrence Market). Presenter: Bruce Weber

Topic: “SAMPLER OF YUCATAN”

For information on Ontario meetings, please contact: Svatka Hermanek: "mailto:shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca">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.

The April 13 meeting will be at Cypress Bend Park, which is 4 blocks
from the library at the end of Peace Street. Peace St. is between the
library and the river - it is the only street on the same side as the
library. You will pass several cemeteries before you reach the park. Go
to the end of Peace St. and you will find Cypress Bend Park on the left.
Our travel time talk will be in a lovely outdoor covered pavilion instead
of the library (AARP are dong taxes in “our room.”) Rest rooms
are close by, and handicap accessible. The Texas branch of the Globetrotters
Club will have a potluck picnic in the park. The city of N.B. charges
$45.00 so we will have a Globie kitty at the March meeting to cover expenses.
If you are busy travelling in March and miss the meeting, c”mon in
April anyway. Committees are forming, so come and sign up if you are interested!
If you only want to talk about travel, come! The Globetrotters Club sparks
my life. I hope it sparks yours. Christina.

Meetings are held at 3pm at the New Braunfels Public Library, 700
E. Common Street in New Braunfels, Texas. The meeting ends at 5 p.m. If
you would like to continue travel talk on a more informal basis, we plan
to adjourn to the Hoity-Toit, a local New Braunfels establishment. If
anybody would like to enquire about meetings or help Christina, please
contact her on: "mailto:texas@globetrotters.co.uk">texas@globetrotters.co.uk

This packed flower market is on one street and gets phenomenally busy.
It starts at around 8am on Sundays only and closes up around 1pm, so get
there early. Here you can buy everything from tiny cacti, bedding plants,
garden gnomes, terracotta pots to shrubs and palm trees. Close by there
are coffee shops, pubs, antiques shops, and restaurants so it is a great
place to browse on a Sunday, maybe buy some herbs and have lunch.

The market is in Columbia Road (between Gosset Street & the Royal
Oak pub), in Bethnal Green, E2. The nearest tube is Old Street tube/rail/
26, 48, 55 bus. Open 8am-1pm Sun; closed Mon-Sat.

Next month: Leadenhall Market

Buenas dias de Buenos Aires, todo del mundi! Can’t believe how far I’ve
travelled and where I have been in the last four weeks! It seems no time
since I was sitting in Pucon, Chile and writing to you about all the things
I had done in Bolivia and here I am in Buenos Aires. The time has flown
and been full of highlights so I shall just have to be as concise as I
can or this email will be a book in itself.

After leaving Pucon, we had the trip from hell to get started on the
Carraterra Austral (Southern Highway) and the first really bad weather
of the trip. It poured! And blew! and the ferry was so many hours late
that we thought we would have to retrace out route and enter Argentina
near Bariloche (they told me later that this area was famous for its cherry
brandy chocolates - damn!) but at the last minute we caught the ferry.
Then got the next ferry which was also running late and spent the whole
night trying to find space to sleep in the truck, whilst on the ferry,
and then while our intrepid drivers drove through the night to make to
next planned camp at dawn. We put up our tents in the rain and crawled
into them and didn’t come out til noon.

There was a spectacular glacier nearby (which probably explained why
it was so cold!) and the rain continued. Next day was more of the same
but the rain held off for short periods and that included when we stopped
to set up camp beside a gorgeous lake, and the third day was a repeat
too with no let up at camp time. I was cooking that night and had the
privilege of sleeping on the truck but first I had to get everyone else
off, as no one wanted to go out in the rain. Last day on the highway and
the day was clear and bright and we could finally appreciate why our driver
was so keen to come this way. Stunning! Amazing! Beautiful! No words can
tell you how lovely it all was. Fields of lupins, wild llama, birds, cattle,
not very many people and even less traffic, blue skies and sunshine. Well
worth the three days of rain and perhaps appreciated even more because
of them.

We crossed into Argentina for a few days to visit the Patagonian area
of El Chalten and Calafate that are known for their mountains and proximity
to the Perito Moreno Glacier and Lago Argentino respectively. I went hiking
in El Chalten and managed a long days walking so my ankle must be all
but healed as it still aches when I am tired. And we took a tour out to
the glacier and it was thoroughly worth seeing. I took loads of pictures
so - you have been warned!

After this wee sojourn, I went back to Chile for the best part of a week
so that we could visit the National Park of Torres del Paine. It was spectacular,
glorious and any other superlative you can think of. I tried to do a hike
there that out leader claimed was ´not technically difficult´
but only got half way as he failed to qualify his statement with ´but
it’s all uphill¨. Great day though and I had a great picnic view when
I stopped to have my lunch.

After Torres, it was back in the truck and head further south for Tierra
del Fuego. By this time the days were very long and even though it was
cold at night, the days were sunlit and generally warm, so, eating at
10pm was not unusual. The mornings were cold and the early starts were
not always welcome but the scenery changed every mile so it was always
exciting to get further south. We took a ferry across the Magellan Straits
and onto Tierra del Fuego, crossed into Argentina half way across the
island and got to Ushaia with no trouble at all.

More camping and a boat trip around the harbour to see the wildlife
and the shores of this remote place. It is a pretty place, with multicoloured
houses and built around the bay at the foot of the mountains that ring
it. The weather there changes by the minute and is never the same for
long and the people I met were friendly and from all over Argentina. Because
of the unstable nature of the peso here, things were much cheaper than
a month ago so I did a bit of shopping. Great fun and not something I
have done a lot of this trip. Honest!

After all this it was time to head north and we got to Buenos Aires in
four days of very long drives with only a visit to a penguin colony as
distraction. The country could not have been more different to the Chile
Patagonia we were used to. The land was flat and no mountains or trees
to break up the horizon. The roads were generally good but like outback
Australian roads were long and straight and seemed to go on forever.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. BA was a welcome break and despite our concerns
for the ongoing political problems there, we encountered no violence except
what we saw on TV. A city tour, a group meal for two birthdays, a Tango
show and it was time to move on. I could have spent longer and would liked
to have visited Uruguay, but the need to move on and the lack of a visa
made that impossible. We left BA in sunshine but the rains soon caught
us. It cleared for the evening but at 5am the heavens opened and once
again, my being on the truck saved me from the fate of my co-travellers.
The tents fell over as the torrential downpour undermined the pegs and
soaked everything: soggy people, sleeping bags and possessions straggled
onto the truck. We skipped breakfast in an effort to out run the storm
and finally did so at about 2pm that day.

We got to Puerta Iguazu and stayed in cabanas as everything was too
wet to use. It took about a week before everything was thoroughly dry
as we have well and truly hit the tropics now and evening and morning
rain are the norm rather than the exception. The Iguazu Falls are spectacular
from both sides of the Brazil/Argentine border and I feel privileged to
have seen the big three: Niagara, Iguazu and Victoria. All amazing but
I have to give the honours to Victoria Falls. After Iguazu, it was time
to head for Rio. Another three long days driving to get to the town of
Paraty, where we all got to chill out a little (and clean the truck, our
clothes and repack and reorganise ready for the next leg of the journey).
And now we are in Rio. It”s hot. It”s humid and it”s Carnival!
Watch this space!

Thanks Jacqui and keep us posted! If anyone would like to contact Jacqui,
her e-mail is: "mailto:jacquitrotter@yahoo.com">jacquitrotter@yahoo.com

What have you seen on your travels? Drop a line to "mailto:Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk">the Beetle!

Atom Crater, a former work colleague of the Beetle has recently returned
from a work trip to Bangladesh. This month and next, we include some of
his observations.

Weather report: When we arrived it was very cool, below 20 during the
day and nippy in the evening. I made the great mistake of going out one
evening without a sweater and felt really cold. But it’s now warming up
– winter’s over. It’s still comfortable (mid 20s) but a brisk walk
during the day does make you sweat. But the evenings are now sweater-less.
The dry season will last until May.

Rickshaws: You simply can’t begin to describe Dhaka without mentioning
the rickshaws, which are everywhere, absolutely everywhere. I heard the
other day that there are 800,000 in this city of 10-13 million. They occupy
a large proportion of the city’s road space, moving like a swarm of brightly
decorated yellow and red insects. They irritate motor vehicle drivers
like hell, but are a very efficient, low cost, environmentally acceptable
(except for the choking passengers! see air pollution below) mode of transport
in a city that is absolutely flat. They manoeuvre with remarkable skill,
squeezing into impossible spaces, and operate their own informal tidal
flow system, riding when they choose against the traffic in order to avoid
congestion. As well as passengers, you see them transporting vegetables,
sacks of rice, bags of cement, building materials, timber, bamboo, filing
cabinets, furniture, And they’re not confined to cities and towns, but
are also the dominant form of transport in the rural areas.

Auto-rickshaws: And then there are the auto-rickshaws, which zip around
emitting a fierce crackling sound and pungent grey exhaust. The World
Bank has just published a report that blames them (along with buses and
trucks) as the principal source of the appalling air pollution.

Wheel brushes: The Flying Pigeon bicycles (made in China) have a cunning
feature: two small brushes are attached to the mudguard stays, front and
back, which clean the dust off the rim of the wheels as they turn, thus
keeping them sparkling clean. Is this a local adaptation or does it come
from China? Would it catch on UK?

Hooters: Another traffic impression (traffic - and t-jams in particular
- are a major fact of life here): drivers hoot continuously, their fingers
twitching in quasi-Pavlovian response to the fact that there’s something
in front of them, or approaching from the side, or coming too close behind,
or ….what the hell, let’s hoot anyway! As with many things, it’s
so reminiscent of Indonesia, where we had to teach Yayat, our driver,
to stop this habit before it drove us crazy.

More about Dhaka in April’s e-newsletter. If you would like to contact
Atom Crater, please e-mail the Beetle and she will pass on any e-mails:
"mailto:Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk">Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

Day 1. Depart Europe via Frankfurt, Lufthansa flights are cheapest, then
overnight flight to Seoul.

Day 2. Land around noon at Incheon Airport. Take the Airport limousine
bus into downtown Seoul, about 90 mins. After checking in to your chosen
accommodation, Yeogwans are good value simple accommodation go for a walk
to help ward off the inevitable jetlag.

Day 3. To get a first impression of Seoul you can take a city tourist
bus that goes around the city, stopping atthe major sights and areas.
A day pass costs 5000 Won ( US$ 6 ). In the afternoon go to Namsen Park
and ascend the Seoul tower for a birds-eye view of the city and to help
get your bearings.

If you are not too tired in the evening go to Itaewan district, for the
nightclubs, bars and markets.

Day 4.Today you could start the day with a pleasure boat ride up the
Hangang river that bisects Seoul, then spend the afternoon exploring the
Gyeongbokgung Palace. The Palace is made up of dozens of buildings and
museums. If the weather is unkind Seoul has many museums including a Rail
Museum, a Folk Museum and even a Currency museum, hope to see the Euro
in there soon!

Day 5. A day to escape the city, especially if it’s a Tuesday when a
lot of the museums and public buildings are closed. Take an organised
trip 60 Km north to Panmunjon on the DMZ, Demilitarised Zone. This is
an area where the cold war continues. UN soldiers guard this border between
the two Korea’s. You cannot go to this area except in an organised group,
and you have to sign a disclaimer in case you get shot! The tour takes
in the Freedom bridge and third Tunnel. You visit camp Boniface and are
on the borderline between the two countries. An exciting and different
side trip.

Day 6. Time to leave Seoul. Take a bus from the Seoul Express Bus station
and head south for four hours to Gyeongju in the Southeast. Gyeongju is
an historic city containing the best-preserved relics from the Silla dynasty.
This afternoon visit the Stone Silla Cheomseongdae observatory, one of
the world’s oldest and Anapji pond in town or take a taxi and visit the
standing stone buddhas, or the Abalone shaped watercourse south of town.

Day 7. Today take the 40 minute bus ride to Bulguksa temple that lies
east of Gyeongju at the foot of Mount Tohamsen. It is one of South Korea’s
premier tourist attractions, so get there early to avoid the heat and
the crowds. It is listed as a world heritage sight and is Korea’s oldest
Buddhist temple, the complex is made up of over 60 buildings. Contained
within are numerous treasures from the Silla era.

Day 8. Another short trip today, as we take the bus to Gimhe airport
in Busan ( Aka Pusan). The flight to Chejudo Island will take only 50
minutes ( US$ 50). You can alternatively take a ferry from Busan to Cheju
that takes 11 hours overnight, often through rough seas. The difference
in cost amounts to only a few dollars so the flight is preferable. Mid
afternoon arrival in Jeju. Take a walk to the Mysteriously shaped Dragon
Head rock on the edge of town, or go to the Moksukwon road and see the
optical illusion of cars rolling uphill.

Day 9. Take the bus to the Manjang cave area on the east of the island
and explore the world’s longest volcanic lava tubes. Take the bus to Songsun
Peak, so called Sun rise peak. If you want to be there as the sun rises,
then you need to spend the previous evening in the nearby village. Walk
along the beach and if you are lucky you may come across the “Sea
women”. These ladies dive for pearls without the use of air tanks
and are able to hold their breath for two minutes.

Day 10 Early bus to Sankumburi crater, famed for it’s diverse flora.
Then head south to Sogwipo city, the islands second city, and a venue
for this years football World cup. To the west of the city take in Yakcheonsa
Temple, which is made completely of wood, then stroll the 400m to the
Jusanjolli rock formations.

Day 11 Depending on time and tides take the ferry to Mokpo on the mainland,
this trip takes 5 hours. It may be preferable to fly. You may have to
spend the night at Mokpo if the ferry is late.

Day 12 Train or bus to Jeonju, a popular town with temples and pagodas
in parks to the east of the city, including the so-called Two Horse head
Mountain, that has a picturesque Temple at the foot of the mountain.

Day 13. Train or bus back north to Seoul. Arrive early afternoon. Last
chance for souvenir shopping and wandering.

Day 14. Morning at leisure before transferring to Incheon airport for
the flight back to Europe. With the nine hour time difference, you land
the same day, but your body may not agree!

If you would like to contact Kevin, please e-mail him on: "mailto:Kbrackley@yahoo.com">Kbrackley@yahoo.com

Imagine swapping your normal holiday for a surprise trip that could take
you anywhere in the world doing almost anything.

Holiday Swaps offers you the chance to make this year’s holiday
an unforgettable experience.

Are you a UK based group of friends or a family planning an adventurous
holiday this year? Holiday Swaps are especially looking for you if you
are planning a safari, trekking or conservation holiday.

If you have a good sense of humour, enjoy a challenge and would be prepared
to give up your planned holiday for something completely different, then
we’d like to hear from you.

Email: holiday.swaps@bbc.co.uk

Tel: (+44) 0117 974 7840 (24 hrs)

Address: Holiday Swaps, PO Box 791, Bristol, BS99 1DD, United Kingdom.