The Globetrotters eNewsletter
eNewsletter Archive

Muir's Tours is committed to travel with concern for the
environment, the indigenous people and of course our clients.
Our name was inspired by John Muir, the “Father of
Ecology”. We are a non-profit organisation with
proceeds going to various charities. Your custom will provide
us with funds that are passed on to various charities and
projects.

We are looking for any help we can get, but most volunteers
fall into one of two categories. The Casual Volunteer
(CV) who will commit for at least a month and the Long
Termer who will stay at least 1 year. We offer the casual
volunteer on most of our projects food and accommodation at
low cost and practical / logistical assistance with travel.
All CVs must pay their own costs - these are minimal (e.g. in
India US$6 / £4 per day for food and basic accom, US$21
/ £15 train - Delhi / Dehradun / Delhi) together with a
registration fee of US$75 / £50 to help with our
admin costs.

The options are quite varied and the more popular locations
are detailed below.

North India - In Dehradun and Dharamsala we are
developing ways to help the Tibetan people help themselves.
In Dharamsala there is a well established craft workshop and
guest house and we are planning to set up others. We also
need people to help promote the sale of crafts back in their
home country. We want to establish homestays - a short
holiday living with local people - in the areas around
Dharamsala and Dehradun. Research work is needed to identify
additional suitable families / homes.

Near Dehradun in the small village of Rajpur is a home
for Tibetan children (mostly orphans) that have
escaped by foot over the Himalaya from Tibet - we want to
support this establishment by sponsoring individual children
for their education. You can help immediately by suggesting
to friends and relatives that they sponsor a Tibetan child,
most of whom are orphans. If you know someone who is willing
to pay $ 21 / £15 per month to educate, house, feed and
clothe a young Tibetan, please let us know.

North central Nepal - near the Tibetan border in and
around the village of Panglang. There is accommodation
available in a local home and in the tourist periods of March
/ May and Sept / Dec there is the luxury of a riverside camp
at additional cost. The camp is a permanent set up which is a
base for rafting and kayaking. Some prior study of the
language would be required as there are interpreters
available some of the time only, but a limited vocabulary
would not be too great a problem.

Mid central Nepal - near the town of Pokhara in a
Tibetan Refugee Camp. There is accommodation available in a
local home or in the community owned guest house. The camp
was set up in 1962 following the Chinese invasion of Tibet
and is now well established with brick homes, a fine
monastery, a school and a carpet factory. The NKF has English
speaking Tibetan staff permanently in the camp, so Tibetan
language study is not necessary.

Mongolia - famous for it's horsemanship and yet it
nearly lost its most precious horse breed. They are probably
the last remaining wild horse species in the world.
Przewalski horses almost become extinct with some horses
surviving is zoo's. After careful breeding they were
reintroduced in several Mongolian nature reserves. Only the
group in Hustain Nuruu Reserve was successful. We need to
monitor the horses to make sure they are adjusting to their
new environment and to gain a better insight into their
behaviour. You need to be able to work without assistance in
tracking down the harems on horse-back and compiling data on
their whereabouts and behaviour. You will need to help us
encourage conservation awareness in the local communities.

Eastern Nepal - The Makalu - Barun area. We have a
number of projects in this area in conjunction with The
Mountain Institute (TMI) and the accommodation would be in
local homes or lodges normally. Some prior study of the
language would be required as there are interpreters
available some of the time only, but a limited vocabulary
would not be too great a problem.

To find out more, visit Muir's Tours website on: "http://www.nkf-mt.org.uk">www.nkf-mt.org.uk or contact
info@nkf-mt.org.uk

Ask most of the people around you: “where is
Mauritius?” and they probably could not tell you. And
yet the famous writer Mark Twain said: God created Paradise,
and copied Mauritius. I am a Moroccan citizen lady, and by
recent marriage to a Mauritian citizen, and I am now in
Mauritius.

MY WAY is a famous song.

MY WAY OF SEEING MAURITIUS, is another story.

Mauritius is really indeed a beautiful island in the Indian
ocean, near the east coast of Madagascar and South Africa.
The main industry of the country is tourism, and tourists
come from everywhere in the world, and all throughout the
year, as there is really no winter here, and the weather is
always temperate.

The tourism sector is well boosted and organized, and
whatever type of tourist you are, you always have what you
want in terms of accommodation and rates. It is very easy to
get a good accommodation at even 4 Euros per day per person,
in an apartment, studio, bungalow and you can also be
accommodated in 5 stars hotels and suites.

If you browse any search engine over the internet and put
“Mauritius” in your search box, you will be
surprised to the number of information available and to see
the number of companies, selling and servicing the Mauritius
tourist business.

Unlike other places, Mauritius has lots of activities and
places to interest tourists, for example, you get the best of
many lovely beaches, interesting sightseeing tours that will
lead you for example to the unique spot of 7 coloured earth
in the world, situated at Chamarel, beautiful nature forests
and waterfalls.

Mauritius is a cosmopolitan island where there is harmony of
race. On the island, white people, Creole, Hindus, Muslims
and Chinese live peacefully. Each race has its own culture,
and it is very visible while going from one place to another,
seeing the temples, churches, mosques. People in Mauritius
attach great importance to religion.

For the short time that I have been on this island, I have
seen the following:

You should always bargain and never accept the first price
that is quoted to you. Whether it is for the airport taxi, or
whatever goods you purchase, and you will see after the
transaction that it was really worth bargaining.

Lots of native people are attracted to tourists and never
miss an opportunity to make friends with you. It depends of
what you want, but they already know what they want from you!
Many Mauritians are proud to be in the company of blondes!
(Beetle watch out!) Mauritians are very helpful - ask
anything and they will try and help you.

There is also another side of Mauritius, which most of the
tourists do not see: there is another way of seeing
Mauritius, to live as a Mauritian with a Mauritian. You will
see his difficulty for struggling to get his living. The
salaries are low and prices have gone up. The gap between the
rich and the poor has never been as wide as it is now.

Anyway, I am in Mauritius now, and one thing I want to
recommend to you, is that you must not forget to do is to
taste the dhull purri and farata, which is in a sense the
national food, served on the street as a kind of fast food.

Yours from Mauritius

Fatiha Mray.

If you would like to contact Fatiha for information on
Mauritius, please e-mail her on: "mailto:cbspride@intnet.mu">cbspride@intnet.mu

Lahore is located 288 km from Islamabad. This capital of the
Punjab is a city of gardens, parks and educational
institutions with a rich heritage. It is an ancient town rich
in historical monuments, including Mughal architecture.
Lahore is considered to be the cultural capital of Pakistan.

Places of interest include the Badshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort,
Old City Shrine of Data Ghanj Bukhsh, Anarkani Bazaar, Wazir
Khan's Mosque, National Museum, Sikh monument, Minar
Pakistan, the mausoleum of Jahangir, Nur Jahan and Asif Khan,
Shalimar Garden, Jallo National Park as well as (some two
hours drive from Lahore) there is a world's largest man
made forest Chhanga Manga. Lahore is famous for folk dances
(dhamal) with drum beating in a traditional way at shrines
with a totally different essence of mystic surroundings.
Visiting countryside and villages is an excellent experience
near Lahore. Lahori people are very hospitable and this
hospitality leaves unforgettable impression.

Badshahi Mosque

The city next crops up in literature in connection with the
campaigns of the Turkish dynast Mahmud of Ghazni against the
Rajas of Lahore between I00I and I008. Around this time it
established itself as the capital of the Punjab and
thereafter began to play an important and growing role as a
centre of Muslim power and influence in the subcontinent. Its
heyday was the Mughal era from the early sixteenth century
onwards and, as Mughal power began to decline in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Lahore suffered a
concomitant period of ignominy and political eclipse. It was
here, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, that the
Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh declared himself Maharajah of the
Punjab and allowed his troops to desecrate many of the
city's beautiful Islamic shrines- including the Badshahi
Mosque which was, for a while, converted into a powder
magazine. By the time British occupied Lahore in I849, one
writer moved to describe the city as 'a mere expanse of
crumbling ruins'.

Lahore Fort

Nearby, the massively fortified walls of Lahore Fort speak
eloquently of the centuries of passing history that they have
witnessed. The fort antedates the coming of Mahmud of Ghazn i
in the eleventh century, was ruined by the Mangols in I241,
rebuilt in I267, destroyed a gain by Timurlane in I398 and
rebuilt once more in I421. The great Mughal emperor Akbar re
placed its mud walls with solid brick masonry in I566 and
extended it northwards. Later Jehangir, Shah Jehan and
Aurangzeb all added the stamps of their widely differing
personalities to its fortification, gateways and palaces.

The fort encloses an area of approximately thirty acres and
it is possible to spend many hours wandering there, lost in
contemplation of times gone by, trying to reconstruct in your
imagination a way of life that the world will never see
again. The buildings within its walls are a testament to the
gracious style of Mughal rule at its height, in which every
man knew his place and courtly behaviour had been refined
into an elaborately stratified social code. Much of the
architecture reflects this code. From a raised balcony in the
Diwan-e-Aam, or Hall of Public Audience, built by Shah Jehan
in I63I, the emperors looked down on the common people over
whom they ruled when they came to present petitions and to
request the settlement of disputes. Wealthier citizens and
the nobility were allowed to meet their emperors on a level
floor in the Diwan-e-Khas, the Hall of Special Audience-which
was also built by Shah Jehan, in I633.

Shalimar Garden, Lahore

Another magnificent remnant of the Mughal era, also partially
vandalized in the late eighteenth century by the invading
Sikhs, is the Shalimar Garden which stands on the Grand Trunk
Road about eight kilometres to the east of the old part of
Lahore. “Shalimar” means 'House of Joy'
and, in truth, the passing centuries have done nothing to
detract from the indefinable atmosphere of light-heartedness
and laughter that characterizes this green and peaceful
walled retreat. A canal runs the entire 2,006 foot (6II
meters) length of the garden and from it 450 sparkling
fountains throw up a skein of fresh water that cools and
refreshes the atmosphere, making this a favourite place for
afternoon walks for the citizens of modern Lahore. Lahore is
rightly regarded as the cultural, architectural and artistic
centre of Pakistan; indeed, the city is so steeped in
historical distinction that it would be possible to spend a
lifetime studying it without learning everything that there
is to learn.

Hameed's areas of specialisation include documentary
filmmaking, being a conservation leader from the WWF College
for Conservation leadership, graphic design, teaching
multimedia Arts at national college of Arts and he is a
regular travel column contributor to an English speaking
Pakistani newspaper. For more information on travel in
Pakistan, Hameed is happy to answer any e-mails: "mailto:hameed@gandhara.org">hameed@gandhara.org

If you are looking for a friendly, clean cheap backpackers in
Lahore, Hameed recommends the Regale Internet Inn in Lahore.
E-mail: "mailto:Regale_internet@yahoo.com">Regale_internet@yahoo.com

It may be cheap (but not always), but it certainly isn't
clever. And it definitely isn't funny! Flying Ryanair is
not the fantastic low cost and cheerful option that it is
made out to be. First, the low cost airlines (Ryanair, Buzz,
and Easyjet/Go) have made Stansted their main hub.

Stansted is a major pain to get to and from as it is situated
some 68km north of Central London and the principal way, to
get there using public transport, is on the Stansted Express
from Liverpool St in Central London. A return ticket from
Liverpool St in central London costs £23 – not
cheap for the 50 minute journey each way. If you arrive back
into Stansted after midnight, the chances are that you will
have missed the last train, because they do not always wait
for the last flight, so the alternative to travel back to
London is by expensive taxi – we are talking £60+
(or $100+). Now that the Stansted Express no longer runs on
Sundays due to rail works, you have to take a painfully long
coach journey that takes around 2 hours.

Secondly, one of the particularly unendearing habits
practiced by BAA (British Airports Authority) at Stansted is
to be selective as to which flights they decide to put up on
the flight information screens. This lack of info seems to
apply particularly to Ryanair flights. This means that you
could be sitting waiting in the check in area for your flight
check in information to appear on screen and it never does. A
weary frequent Ryanair traveller warned the Beetle that this
happens frequently, so a lesson learned is to occasionally
prowl around the airport to check that your flight hasn't
already started checking in. This happened to the Beetle
going to Trieste, resulting in a late check in, only 15
minutes before the gate closed, reducing the amount of time
available for foraging for duty free chocolate (and other
Beetle fodder) to a minimum!

Thirdly, Ryanair do not give you a boarding pass with a
printed seat number – it is free seating. What a
nightmare, all those people with their sharp elbows.
Dignified British queuing (um, no!) turns out in reality as a
training opportunity for a rugby scrum! Is it really too much
trouble to put seat numbers on a ticket?

Once you have wrestled your way on board, you may think about
reading material to while away the excessive amount of time
spent on the runway awaiting clearance to depart. You'd
be disappointed. There is no reading material whatsoever; no
free newspapers or magazines to read. The staff do hand out a
brochure with pictures of perfumes and silly Ryan Air models
(as if!!) and then when you approach landing, you are
requested to hand them back again! (There really isn't
anything worth reading in them anyway all, unless you like
looking at pictures of grey coloured pearl necklaces.) Buzz,
by contrast have excellent info brochures with information
about your destination, what to see, where to go,
recommendations on where to eat, day trips away etc.

Fifthly, forget on-board entertainment or headphones, music
or films – the only entertainment to be had is to
observe the no frills service you are paying for, for
example, watching the faces of the uninitiated when they are
asked to pay £4 ($6) for a sandwich, and £1.50
($2) for a small and nasty coffee. For her trip to Oslo, the
Beetle took a flask of coffee, much to the envy of fellow
passengers and the annoyance of the air crew. (Buzz do the
best and very drinkable coffee if you have a choice! Also
recommended by our Webmaster!)

Even for someone of limited height, (5'2”), the
seats are cripplingly unrealistically tiny with next to no
leg room. Even the Beetle's knees touched the seat in
front.

Sixthly, presumably also to cut costs, passengers are
responsible for cleaning; whilst I agree with our webmaster
that passengers should be tidy and take their rubbish away
with them at the end of their journey, the Ryanair way is to
have 2 “hostesses” walk down the aisle with a big
bin liner open. You are required to lean over your fellow
passengers and throw your rubbish in the bin liner as they
walk by. Talk about target practice. It is one of my
nightmares that one day, someone will actually use the sick
bag provided (the only object to be found on your seat
pocket) and be too embarrassed to try and throw it into this
walking bin bag, so they'll leave it for me to find,
whilst thinking oh, that's strange there actually is
something in my seat pocket, I wonder what it is!

Seventh: the staff. My theory is that people who work for
Ryanair failed to pass the Aeroflot entrance exams. Rudeness,
ability to glare and make unnecessarily snotty remarks are
all prerequisites for hiring. As for the pilots, flying
Ryanair for them must be their first job out of pilot school.
The Beetle has never, ever had a smooth two tyred landing on
the handful of flights she has been with them.

But my biggest complaint about Ryanair: it's not just the
poor service, which is abominable, it's not the
supercilious staff, the lack of decent coffee or seat
numbers, it's the fact that to cut costs, they often do
not fly into the main airport in a city – and they
don't even warn you about it on booking! The Beetle finds
this practice offensively misleading. For example, if you
want to fly to Copenhagen in Denmark, you actually arrive
into Sweden and have to take a bus journey back into Denmark.

The Beetle recently flew Ryanair to Oslo. It was only after
she had booked the tickets when she investigated how to get
from the airport to the centre of Oslo, that she realised
that Torp airport, where Ryanair fly into is 100km away from
Oslo. At no time was this made clear when booking on-line,
even though the booking was for Oslo. Had this been made
abundantly clear, the Beetle would have gone elsewhere.

Not only is it 100 km away from Oslo, but there is no public
transport after 8pm to Oslo from Torp (and even then, it is a
very expensive taxi ride to the train station) as Torp is a
very small sleepy little town. The Ryanair dedicated coach
cost around £20 or $30 return and took 2 miserable
hours so that a 7.25pm Stansted departure resulted in the
Beetle arriving at her Oslo city centre hotel at almost 1am
– and it is a 1 ½ hr flight and a one hour time
difference. Do the math, as they say! The real airport in
Oslo, where all of the other carriers fly into has excellent
transport connections and takes less than half an hour from
Oslo city centre by train. Never again!

For more info on Ryanair, visit: "http://ryanair.com/">http://ryanair.com/

What do you think? Do you have a fave or hated airline? Want
to get an airport or airline off your chest? Drop the Beetle
a line: "mailto:beetle@globetrotters.co.uk">beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

The tourist season in Oslo starts around the middle of June
and finishes in the middle of September. The
15^th of September, to be precise.

This means that going to Oslo in October is not such a great
idea. The second mistake was not only visiting Oslo in
October but also flying there with Ryanair. A very bad move
as Ryanair lands in Torp, some 100km away from Oslo where
there is only a Ryanair bus to take you the 2 hour journey
into Oslo. Torp airport is small, very small, the size if
Cork perhaps (another Ryanair destination in Ireland) and
there is little to do when your flight is delayed or waiting
for luggage. There is also little tourist info at Torp.

By October, Oslo is beginning to be cold. The first day of
the Beetle weekend, temperatures were around
6^OC and the next day it snowed. If
you don't do cold, this is not the time and place for
you. Take a hat, gloves and a scarf, plus a warm coat and
good walking shoes.

OK, what is there to see: well, the “attractions”
consist mainly of walking around the town (it's small),
seeing the royal palace, the university, the Parliament
building, the town hall, visiting the Arkhus Castle, taking
boat trips, (summer months only), and visiting the 20 or so
museums, none of which have free entrance. That is Oslo in a
nutshell. You will not want to eat, have coffee or go
shopping – it is so prohibitively expensive! Also, the
shops are closed on Sundays and the museums have shorter
opening times so that after about 3pm, on a Sunday, in Oslo,
there is very little to do – so book your return flight
for the late afternoon!

Spending more than a weekend in Oslo might necessitate
considering your finances, maybe a second mortgage: it is
breathtakingly expensive – about 50- 100% more than
central London prices!

The next mistake was to buy an Oslo card. The Beetle could
only find one guidebook in the whole of Stamfords, (the most
wonderful travel bookshop on this earth – funny, that
…), but both the guidebook and the local literature,
of which there was plenty (thanks goodness!) all said that we
should buy an Oslo card and this would entitle us to free
entrance to all of the museums and local transport.

A 2 day Oslo pass costs around £25 or $40 per person.
This allows the holder free entrance into all Oslo museums
and free transport around the city. As museum entrance only
costs around £2.50 or $4, it became a challenge to
visit as many museums as possible in order to get our
money's worth! However, our vfm did not take into account
public transport - when we added in the cost of a day ticket
for the bus, train and tram, (£5 or $8) we just broke
even.

The Kon-Tiki museum is disappointing: small, amateurish with
bizarre exhibits including polystyrene sharks. Very odd. The
Fram museum was one of the better ones: a small-ish A frame
building, built around the original early
20^th century ship used by Amundson
and others in voyages to Antartica. The Viking museum houses
3 10^th century long boats and even
if you are a Viking buff, it'll take you about 20
minutes. The Museum if the Inquisition was plain upsetting.
The Beetle's fave place was Viegland Park, a park a short
tram ride out of town with a collection of sculptures and
statues. The Oslo city museum was dire; about a third of the
exhibits were labelled in Norwegian only! The ski Museum is
one of the most expensive museums to get into –
entrance fee around £7 or $11 but you get to go up to
the top of the old Olympic ski jump. We had to go there to
get value for money and also take in the views of the city!

The transport system is excellent, frequent, clean, modern
and fast. There were many fast food outlets – Kentucky,
Burger King, McDonalds – when you see the prices in the
restaurants, you can start to understand why. Eat well at
your hotel by stocking up on the buffet breakfasts is the
Beetle's advice! The people were friendly enough, but
compared to the last Beetle visit, an embarrassing 15 years
ago, the city was surprisingly dirty, the walls had graffiti
sprayed on, and there were a few people begging on the street
– not at all the clean Scandinavian image the Beetle
had imagined, but then it is a capital city and perhaps
nowhere is exempt from these problems.

If you want to visit Oslo – go in the summer months!
Then you can take boat trips and visit the fjords. For more
info on Oslo, contact the Beetle on: "mailto:Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk">Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

I am an artist and one who, not surprisingly, is drawn (no
pun intended) to the sun, the sea and a beautiful landscape.
Now, obviously, you don't need to be an artist to
appreciate those sorts of things. I, on the other hand, do
like to make paintings of them and it is because of that I
would like to speak of a group of islands that lie off the
north coast of Sicily. They are called the Aeolian islands
and there are seven of them, steeped in history and wound
into the fabric of myth. That, as they say, is another story,
for now I would like to explore briefly only two of the seven
islands and the first of those is called Stomboli.

Arriving at a small jetty, a long beach of black volcanic
sand stretches away to your right and the tangle of tiny
streets of Stromboli village lie ahead. Jasmine and
bougainvillaea ramble over the garden walls, the narrow lanes
are lively with scooters and “ape” a type of tiny
three wheeled truck. Walkers are there, kited out for the
rocky paths to the volcano summit. Behind you the spiky
outline of islets break the blue water.

It takes about an hour, walking along a pleasant road through
fields, from the square in front of a pretty church, at the
top of the village, to the lower slopes of the mountain.
Another couple of hours on a steep but well-marked path
brings you to the peak, 918 meters up and as you arrive the
craters explode dramatically, shooting stones and hot ash
high into the air. This happens every twenty minuets or so
and it's quite safe as long as you stay on the paths,
strong shoes are a good idea, the ground is hot. These
regular explosions give rise to the term ” strombolic
action ” which prevents pressure building up to a major
eruption.

By day the view of the other islands is stunning.
Particularly from the high ridge on the southern side. Night
hikes with a guide, or a night boat trip to the north-eastern
side of the island offer spectacular views of the red hot
lava flows and fiery explosions.

From there you board the ferry and eventually arrive at
Alicudi. On the map, if you've got one to hand, it is on
the other end of the group, the most isolated and the next
island that I would like to speak of. Uniquely car free,
Alicudi is a near perfect cone, over six hundred meters high
and only 2.5 kilometres across. The rugged slopes are covered
with huge prickly pear cactus, gorse, carob, olive and wild
apricot trees. Surprisingly, in times not long past, over a
thousand people lived on this tiny island supporting
themselves by growing their crops on narrow terraced fields.

Over the years that number has dwindled and the population is
now only about one hundred and life is quiet. Mains
electricity arrived no more than a decade ago and the major
water supply is still rainfall, caught off roofs and
collected in wells on the terrace of each house. It is
charming and quaint.

Hawks and ravens wheel high above and bright green lizards
dash away as you explore. The sea is very clean and rich with
fish, shrimp and shellfish, and, so the locals tell me, ideal
for snorkelling although I've never done it but, from the
look of it, I could well imagine.

At night you can see the lights off Sicily's north coast,
20 kilometres away and on days when the haze has evaporated,
about this time of year, the snow covered slopes of Mount
Etna are visible, the black summit streaked with red lava.
Colour seems to be the theme of these islands, it really is a
painters paradise, so much so that you don't need to be a
painter or an artist at all to appreciate it. The imagery
around you is just so strong and peaceful at the same time,
the countryside so unspoiled. It is just one of those places.
I have painted in country that is beautiful to the eye but
putting it down on paper can be very difficult. One finds
ones self inventing, a bit of red here, a bit of yellow
there, not because it's in front of your eyes but because
the painting needs it and so you make it up. Alicudi and the
other islands are not like that in the least, the place is
there to paint. The hand runs riot along with the eye. To my
mind, not only an easy place to paint but a pleasure and pure
joy, if for nothing else but to just sit and look. A tiny
little haven almost at the end of Europe.

Murray Hubick is Canadian, now living in Kent in the U.K. As
an artist his time is divided between work in the studio,
teaching art and as much travelling as possible. He is
currently in the process of organising an art excursion to
the islands for the coming Christmas/New year and would
welcome anyone interested to join him in having an espresso
overlooking the sea in the sun on New Years morning.

Murray is happy to answer any questions on Sicily, so please
e-mail him on: "mailto:murrayr@onetel.net.uk">murrayr@onetel.net.uk

Having decided that my hair was in desperate need of some
care and attention, I decided to be brave and try to get my
hair done. The word for hairdresser in Portuguese is
Cabeleleiro (and no, I still can't pronounce it properly)
and because of that I decided to do the coward's way and
go to El Cortes Ingles where I thought I could wing it. Well
after prowling ladies underwear twice (very glamorous and
quite a lot of men wandering around!), I approached an
assistant and managed to make myself understood and she
directed me to a very smart hairdressing salon.

Well the interesting thing was that not one of them spoke
English so I found one who spoke French and the rest was down
to sign language and pointing at pictures in magazines (I
knew that word at least but as for tint, cut etc forget it).
There is no appointment system apparently in this country,
you turn up and just wait. I got there around 4.00 and left
at 8.00!

I decided I was sick of being my wonderful three shades of
red as it had gone a very strange colour in the sun so
thought I would go back to blonde. This was indicated to the
staff by pointing at an assistant with what I thought was a
nice shade of blonde streak! You are given the usual gown but
you have a pocket on the arm into which they put what
treatment you are having i.e. cut, colour, manicure, pedicure
etc.

The backwash is very high tech; the chair has a series of
buttons on the inside of the chair arm which allows you to
raise the lower part of the chair so you are practically
lying down. All the women are beautifully turned out as you
would expect and as it was all a bit of an adventure, I
decided to go the whole hog and had a pedicure and manicure
as well. This is quite entertaining as the manicurist follows
you around whilst you are having your hair washed, cut,
coloured etc. All in all it was a great experience and my
hair looked brilliant as well as my nails. Cost-wise it was
on a par with where I used to go in Bath, but it was a high
class department store.

Some other interesting things about the city are the fact
that the metro system is small and very efficient. It is also
amazingly clean and considering the seven months of hell I
had using the District Line, someone from LT should take a
look. You never seem to wait more than five minutes for one
either. The trams are good fun. The No.28 is one that does a
circular trip and is very handy if you are down in town with
a heavy bag - Lisbon is made up of seven hills and I live on
one of them! The fare is 1 Euro! I got stuck in a tram jam
the other week which as amusing as it means that no cars can
get by as trams have right of way. There were four No.28s in
a row. Before I got on it, I heard one of the old dears
waiting at the bus stop saying that she had seen four No. 28s
go the other way and none hers - reminiscent of the London
bus problem.

I never fail to be amazed as how silly some of the tourists
are over their personal safety here. When I was wandering
around Feira da Ladra (Thieves Market held every Saturday and
Tuesday), you spot them with rucksacks or big bags on their
backs and it is so easy for pickpockets to lift wallets and
purses from them in crowds. Women in particular seem to lose
all common sense - they wear totally inappropriate outfits
and cause great amusement when you see them bright red and
staggering around in shoes suitable for premieres rather than
sightseeing. There again men who are follically challenged
really ought to wear hats!

We went to the outskirts of Sintra (Lord Byron thought it was
wonderful - gardens, palaces etc etc) with a friend who has a
car and investigated a garden centre. Now this was
interesting. There were the usual pots etc but the plants
were fascinating. Large bougainvilleas, lemon trees, lime
trees, climbing roses, herbs etc. Some plants were the same
as in the UK and others were new to me. I settled for pots
(60p for terracotta 23″ ones!), some herbs, a climbing
rose, something called a plumbago and an amazing large
lavender. Inside it has the usual candles, pot pourri,
plastic flowers etc - it's run by an Englishman
apparently. After we had finished there, my friend took us to
Sintra to try a tearoom. Everything in the tearoom was for
sale, from the plates to the pictures. It was a very eclectic
mix and had that “I think we should whisper”
atmosphere that you find in posh tearooms like Castle Combe!
Anyway they do a mean cream tea, which consists of three
scones (warm), jam and cream, a piece of cake and a tea of
your choice - excellent! Afterwards, to walk it all off, we
wandered around Sintra.

Sintra was where the Portuguese Royal Family used to escape
to in height of the summer heat. There are some amazing
houses/villas as well as palaces on the top of mountains and
in the main square. One of the palaces, the Pena, you
sometimes see on tourist posters - it looks like something
mad King Ludwig of Bavaria would have built. It's all
different designs and colours and quite spectacular to get
to.

I have got involved with a local theatre group - The Lisbon
Players - via my Portuguese teacher. She invited Derek and I
to go to a workshop on Shakespeare's Measure for Measure.
It was a very entertaining evening and by the time we left, I
had been asked if I would like to get more involved with
them. I have now been made Stage Manager for the production
as well as Task Force Director to help them raise funds and
gain a higher profile.

They operate out of a lovely old theatre - Estrela Hall -
that originally used to belong to the British Hospital. It
has a certain faded glamour (dust) and does quite a few
productions each year. We start work on the production in the
next two weeks and then I shall be thoroughly occupied most
Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday evenings with rehearsals
all the way through to Christmas. Obviously it is unpaid but
it means you meet new people, which is great. Shakespeare is
very popular with the Portuguese and is on their education
programmes so you get a good mix of audience.

Sally can be contacted by e-mail on: "mailto:Sallypethybridge@aol.com">Sallypethybridge@aol.com
should you wish to ask her any questions about Lisbon or
Portugal in general.

In the first article I talked about the best ways to avoid
getting bitten by mosquitoes and consequently how to avoid
catching some of the many diseases they carry. Here we will
look at a few of the most common and well known of those
diseases and the consequences of not using your DEET based
insect repellents and mossie nets properly.

Malaria

This is the one mosquito borne disease that eclipses all
others. With up to 300 million cases of malaria reported each
year it kills more people worldwide than any other disease.
It is actually caused by a parasite that is injected into an
individual along with some of the mosquito saliva, and from
this initial point of invasion within minutes heads to the
liver and sets up home where it develops over a period 7 days
– 1 year. When its ready to leave the liver it may have
reproduced into 40,000 parasites all ready to cause fever,
illness and possibly death within a few days. Every year
about a thousand travellers from the UK will get malaria,
unfortunately a handful of who will become seriously ill or
die. The initial effects of the disease are very similar to a
mild viral infection, headache and general malaise, but it
will rapidly move onto severe fever and chills, profuse
sweating, diarrhoea, stomach pain and cough. At this point if
it is not treated correctly it starts to get nasty. Many
people are reluctant to take medications that can prevent
malaria because of stories they have read about in the media,
or something that happened to a friend of a friend. Those
that have had malaria and recovered (which most people do)
have described it to me as the worst case of flu that they
have ever had and definitely not something that they would
want to experience again, these people invariably take their
tablets wholeheartedly and come back for more!

Dengue Fever

Whereas malaria is carried by a night time biting mosquito,
dengue fever is transmitted by a daytime biting cousin. It is
present in Asia, Africa and Central/South America. It
frequently causes outbreaks in various countries but a fairly
recent outbreak in Brazil was massive and present all along
the Eastern coast, it resulted in thousands of cases
including professional footballers and plenty of tourists and
travellers. In otherwise healthy westerners it is rarely
fatal but can be very serious and even the milder cases can
be a very unpleasant experience. It is known in many places
as ‘breakbone fever' because of the severe pain
felt by sufferers, after about 4 days or so you often get a
very fine rash followed shortly by a full recovery. If you
happen to be a child, elderly, immunocompromised or just
unlucky, the disease can move on to what is known as
‘dengue haemorrhagic fever' (DHF for short), this
will generally happen if you have had dengue before and been
careless enough to get it again. There is no vaccine against
dengue fever at the moment although we are hopeful that there
will be a good vaccine on the market very shortly. It is
therefore important for an individual to reduce the number of
mosquito bites received during the day as well as during the
evening.

Note: Insect repellents should always be applied after
sunscreens, and it's worth bearing in mind that DEET
based insect repellents may reduce the effectiveness of your
sunscreen.

Yellow Fever

This virus is carried by another type of daytime biting
mosquito and is present across all of Sub Saharan Africa and
a majority of South America. It is not currently found in any
parts of Asia though the conditions are right, and therefore
all Asian countries are doing their best to prevent its
introduction. Unlike malaria, it is found in even the largest
urban populations and apart from bite avoidance the best way
to prevent catching yellow fever is to have the vaccine
before exposure. The vaccine takes 10 days to become fully
effective, but following this short period virtually 100%
cover is achieved. When you are vaccinated you are given a
little certificate that becomes your ‘yellow fever
passport'. It is the presentation of this document that
allows travel across borders in Africa, South America or
travel to an area such as Asia when travelling from an
infected country. The disease manifests itself initially as
fever and jaundice (hence yellow fever), but again can move
on to become haemorrhagic yellow fever for which there is no
specific treatment except fluids to treat the shock and
internal blood loss. Yellow fever can be fatal in almost 50%
of non-vaccinated individuals during an outbreak, so that
vaccine is well worth getting.

Japanese B Encephalitis

Although very rare amongst travellers it a potentially very
serious disease present throughout Asia, although it occurs
only very, very rarely in Japan. It is caused by a virus
spread via the bite of an infected night time biting mosquito
that breeds mainly in paddy fields. The most commonly
infected animals are pigs and fowl – wading birds etc
so in order to be in an area of risk you need paddy fields
just around the corner and pigs at your feet. Actually quite
a common sight in Asia but it also tends to have seasonal
outbreaks especially at the end of the rainy season, for
example around May in the southern areas of Nepal. If you
think that you may be in these risk areas at high risk times
there is a vaccination course available of two or three shots
but you really should start this course a minimum of 38-40
days prior to travel.

For more information, visit the Nomad Travel web site: href="http://www.nomadtravel.co.uk/">Nomad Travel or call
the Travel Health Line: 0906 8633414 (calls cost 60p per min)
to discuss your travel health queries with a medical.

British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province, is located on the Pacific
Coast. It is Canada's third largest province comprising 9.5 percent of the
country's total land area. The province is nearly four times the size of
Great Britain and larger than any American state except Alaska.

Geography

British Columbia, Canada's westernmost province, is
located on the Pacific Coast. It is Canada's third
largest province comprising 9.5 percent of the country's
total land area. The province is nearly four times the size
of Great Britain and larger than any American state except
Alaska. The population in 2001 was 4.1 million people with
well over half living in the Vancouver/Victoria metropolitan
area. From south to north, B.C. stretches 1,200 kilometres
and as much as 1,050 kilometres east to west. It's
glaciated fjord and island-dotted coastline extends some
7,000 kilometres.

British Columbia, renown for it's spectacular mountains
landscapes, has four distinct regions: the Coast Mountain
Granite Complex in the west, the Rocky, Percell, Selkirk,
Monashee and other sedimentary and volcanic ranges from the
eastern border, an extensive Interior Plateau and a lowland
segment of the continent's Great Plains in the northeast.

The province is blessed with 1.8 million hectares of clean
waterways in the form of rivers, lakes and streams. The
combination of mountains and plentiful precipitation provides
the province with abundant clean hydroelectricity for its
homes and factories.

Climate

The highly varied terrain produces a full range of climate
from regional temperate and coastal rainforests to alpine and
desert climates. The southern interior has the province's
driest and warmest climate with Canada's only defined
desert with the area around Osoyoos receiving less the 10
inches of rain annually. Microclimates, rainshadows in the
lee of some mountain ranges, permanent snowcap regions all
result from the unique topography.

Environment

British Columbia has the richest variety of habitats in
Canada including forests, grasslands, meadows, wetlands,
rivers and inter-tidal and sub-tidal zones. They support the
greatest diversity of plants and mammals found anywhere in
Canada. In addition to their diversity, the populations of
some species in B.C. have global significance. The province
has 75 percent of the world's stone sheep, 60 percent of
the mountain goats, 50 percent of the blue grouse, at least
half of the trumpeter swans and 40 percent of the grizzly
bears and the most bald eagles.

Services

The province hosts world class services ranging from the
urban center of Vancouver and Victoria where over half the
province's population live. Vancouverites enjoy one of
the healthiest lifestyles in the world with outdoor
activities ranging from year round sea kayaking, running,
golf, tennis and even gardening. Skiing at the nearby world
famous Whistler Resort or 4 local mountain resorts is a part
of an active winter scene. The city has world class dining,
shopping, nightlife and tours.

The interior hinterland of the province includes a full range
of outstanding outdoor activity that the varied landscape can
provide. Hunting, fishing, downhill and ski touring, hiking,
riding..there is hardly and activity that can't be found
in some terrain in the province. The medium sized centers
such as Kelowna, Prince George and Prince Rupert carry many
of the services of Vancouver including universities,
hospitals and many other urban businesses.

Tourism

British Columbia's scenic attractions, combined with its
clean, safe image, serve to make it an attractive destination
for Canadian as well as international tourists. In addition,
there are a wide variety of urban and cultural attractions,
ranging from the performing and visual arts, to professional
sports, amusement parks and shopping. Tourism is a major part
of the provincial economy. During 2001, $9.2 billion was
spent by 22 million overnight visitors.

British Columbia's national, provincial, regional and
local parks provide a spectrum of natural beauty,
breathtaking scenery and opportunities for outdoor enjoyment
and recreation. The 807 protected areas (provincial parks,
ecological reserves, recreation areas and other protected
areas), covering 11.4 million hectares, are diverse in their
features and facilities. There are 13,302 campsites, 487
day-use areas, 136 boat launch areas and 3,000 km of hiking
trails within Provincial parks, that serve approximately 24
million park visitors each year. Nearly one-tenth of the
province's parks are wilderness, largely untouched and
accessed by back-packers and mountaineers. Inland and coastal
waters are dotted with marine parks intended primarily for
water-borne users.

The abundance and variety of wildlife in British Columbia
reflect the great diversity of the province's
environment. There are more species in total and more unique
species of birds and mammals than in any other Canadian
province. In British Columbia, the salt and fresh water

resources of the province provide both recreational and
tourism opportunities for such activities as sport fishing,
boating and sailing.

Imagine a holiday in a province where, no matter what your
recreation passion, be it skiing in the summer, rock
climbing, horseback riding, ocean fishing or reading a good
book on the porch of a mountain cabin by a lake, British
Columbia has it all…and more

Steve is a former corporate geologist with an extensive
background in international remote terrain exploration. He is
the President of GeoQwest, a company he started to provide
informed travel through the spectacular wilderness landscapes
of British Columbia. For more information about travel in
British Colombia, contactSteve on: "mailto:snoakes@okanagan.net">snoakes@okanagan.net or
visit his website: "http://www.geoqwestexcursions.com">www.geoqwestexcursions.com

One of the best ways to discover some of the many views of
and from this well known corner of north London can be
located by heading up Highgate Hill, at the Archway junction
of the A1. Since living in the area, I've completed this
route many times and found whether I travel by foot, bus, car
or wearily push my cycle up the steep incline that l always
seem to see something different on my journey. A bonus to
this journey is if it can be made at the beginning of an
August's summer day…

My first thought is that I am crossing a boundary – in
that I am leaving behind the modern and the utilitarian
accommodation of transient London and heading off into a very
slowly changing but more permanently rooted era. An initial
signpost of this change may well be the tall gothic spires
and high roofs of the now renamed Archway Campus, which still
seems rooted in its original purpose of providing medical
care. Or take the caged Whittington Stone, complete with
perched cat on the pavement just before the modern
Whittington Hospital, as a signpost. The statue itself is but
a small 1935 tribute to commemorate the mayoral achievements
of one Richard Whittington, but it talks of a shared history
for London.

At the junction with Dartmouth Road, it could be said that
apart from the volume and nature of road traffic nowadays,
much of the surroundings are as they were at the turn of the
20th century, when London swallowed up villages like Highgate
during its' suburban expansion. St Joseph's Roman
Catholic Church and Retreat proudly stands on its 1888 roots
and marks a good point to catch your breath and look back
across London down towards the Millennium Dome and the
southern cityscape. Cathedral in posture, its copper domes
tower above the nearby Old Crown and the now defunct
Presbyterian Church on Cromwell Avenue. From neighbours who
have a longer association with the area I have heard stories
of horses, their carriages and their drivers heading down the
hill in unconventional styles, as their wheels and legs
attempt to work their way across this busy crossing during
snow and ice.

Along from St Joseph's is another landmark from that
different era, Lauderdale House, which was renovated in 1893
to become a council operated venue. Nowadays it is a popular
location for well attended weddings, craft fairs and views
out across Waterlow Park - whilst the coffee could be better
its' less busy nature is a welcome contrast. Facing
Lauderdale is the imposing Northgate House with is walls
struggling to support a large number of windows and the Ghana
High Commission with its roof top cupola, arching lines and
gated entrance.

The Channing Schools and the art deco Cholmeley Lodge welcome
visitors into Highgate village proper and the high street.
Local shops and businesses seem to stand their own corner
against the undeservedly well located chain restaurants and
ubiquitous estate agents !

Highgate becomes one of those weekend destinations that
creaks at the seams during the Kenwood season or as people
enjoy a summer day. One of my favourite aspects is that the
210 allows me to alight from the bus and almost walk directly
through the front door of The Prince of Wales and to a very
good pint, whatever the choice ! Other local recommendations
include the frustratingly organised Highgate Bookshop, the
Village Bistro and the precariously perched stall of Village
Flowers.

To extend the search for views turn left into Hampstead Lane
and proceed past the always green playing field of Highgate
School and its' numerous red brick buildings. Once passed
the faded blue sign of the mysterious Highgate Golf Club, you
find yourself walking along under broad leaf trees to the
entrances of The Iveagh Bequest at Kenwood – however
rather than enter through the popular stables entrance, head
towards the main gate. I found the simple pleasure of walking
down the sweeping drive, towards the front of Kenwood House
immensely appealing. This neo-classical house, remodelled
during the 1760s to include an archetypal, stately frontage,
was home to the 1st Earl of Mansfield…however it his
heir, the 2nd Earl, that is to be thanked for commissioning
Humphrey Repton's widely enjoyed landscaped garden. This
pleasant perimeter of Hampstead Heath makes for a perfect
spot from which to explore the 37 odd ponds, Parliament Hill
and many superb vistas of the cities of London and
Westminster. Depending on the day's clarity, attempt to
locate Canary Wharf, the ever majestic St Paul's, the
London Eye and the Telecomm Tower at the very least ! And
remember that in spite of busy periods, the main Kenwood
House makes itself available for excellent afternoon teas…

To prolong your pleasure, avoid the exclusive, brash wealth
of the gated Compton, Courtenay and Bishops' avenues and
follow Hampstead Lane further round the heath towards the
still splendid Spaniards Inn and beyond towards Hampstead
itself. For those that wish to return down back down the
hill, the 210 can be caught from almost outside the main
house and a pleasant journey can be drawn to a close in an
unhurried manner !

Matthew is happy to be contacted by email
chair@globetrotters.co.uk or at the monthly London meetings.