All posts by The Beetle

Kenyan Matatus

Travellers to Kenya will know that a ride in a matatu (minibus) can be a hair raising experience.  The last time the Beetle was in Kenya, a fellow traveller reported that he was on a matatu that crashed, because the driver was drunk and there were so many people on board that two occupants died. In response to a law published last year by the Kenyan government to fit in safety belts and speed governors as a measure to curb increasing road accidents, Kenyan matatu (minibus) operators are rushing to beat a government deadline to fit safety equipment on their vehicles.  But the chairman of the Matatu operators Association Simon Kimutai says only 10% of the vehicles have complied with the new rules.  Commentators say that Kenya's public transport system is heading for a crisis when the new laws become effective this month because so few matatu owners have complied.  The new law requires the matatus to sport one colour and have a yellow strip and matatu drivers and conductors will have to wear uniforms and badges.  Let’s hope that this does bring some safety to Kenya’s roads.

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.

Mac's Travel Tips

We are sorry to say that Mac is not very well, but he is still e-mailing strong and recently sent the Beetle a collection of Mac reminiscences about some of his travels in 1992.  Here we have thoughts and experiences on Malaysia, India, Komodo Dragons and Singapore.

Kula Lumpur, Malaysia: Malaysian children are singing in the church across the street from my four star, oops, excuse me, I mean four dollar hotel.  It is sweltering hot and they are singing: “Dashing through the snow in a one horse open shay.”

When I stepped outside my Hotel Shelly in Bombay one night (it is along the water front) I heard on a microphone “Humpty Dumpty. Number eight.”  They were playing Bingo and calling number in English manner, I guess, outside the pier of a membership recreation club.  An Indian gentleman came up to me in a chilled beer bar and complained to me that his son worked for American Express and they were taking advantage of him and having him work more than eight hours a day.  I told him I would speak to them about that.  Ha!  I later saw Indians picketing American Express for unfair labour practices.  The other side of the coin is, according to the Americans that the Indians do not work as hard as the Americans and that they are used to goofing off in Indian firms and expect to do the same in American firms.  I am trying to stay neutral. I can’t solve all the worlds problems!

25 Nov 1991, Singapore: a cable car with wonderful views of Singapore takes you to Sentosa Island.  The wax museum (I like wax museums, I learn my history there) shows the founding of Singapore and about the War years and is well worth the $1.80 US it costs.  It is called Pioneers of Singapore/Surrender Chambers.  It always intrigues me, the foreigners living in Singapore were dancing the night away in formal clothes at the Raffles Hotel and then in a few hours, they were prisoners of the Japanese.  They had not expected the Japanese to attack down the Malaysian peninsula but rather from the sea and certainly not that fast if they did.

I just found out that if in Malaysia I had told them I was a Senior citizen I could have travelled at half price on the train.  The Singapore Senior Citizen rate at their zoo, however, is for Singaporeans only.  I tried to look Singaporean, but strangely, it didn’t work.  They charge $7 U.S.  I am used to zoos being free but it is a good zoo.  

Komodo dragons: the largest is about the size of a crocodile and can eat a horse.  They thought they were extinct and then they found some on an Indonesian island, Komodo, hence their name.  Left over from past ages.  I also saw Meerkats which are like mongooses and they all got to see me.

Sign in subway in Singapore: No Durians allowed.  Durian is a fruit that is delicious tasting but has a terrible smell to it.  Many hotels and places will not allow you to bring in Durian (they smell like farts) or as a British Colonial descried Durian “Like eating a garlic custard while standing over a London sewer.” I gave some stuff to Catholic Church in Kula Lumpur and the priest and his students took me out to eat Durian.  One girl said her grandmother was addicted to it.  Announcements on subway in Singapore (and they have a beautiful one) were in four different languages (all saying No Durian I guess).

An Iranian seaman sat next to me on bus from Singapore to Kula Lumpur, Malaysia.  He was eating almonds he had brought from Iran.   He said he had been in twenty countries, but not the United States, as they would not let him in.  He said that the Revolution was bad, everyone is unemployed.  There had been so many Iranians at Ueno train station in Tokyo, Japan, each morning when I was there.  They would congregate there hoping to get a day job from Japanese looking for cheap labour for the day.  It was odd.  I am American and they were Iranians, but they approached me to go site seeing with as if we were old friends.  He was a marine engineer (the guy on the bus). Oddly enough, I met a marine engineer (three different ones) on three different tour buses in different places.  You think of seamen spending their time in bars but all three I met were avid sightseers.

While waiting for a bus in Singapore, I met an American school teacher that joined an International Pen Pal Club just to have contacts while travelling.  He was amazed to find the pen pal he had in Indonesia lived in a beautiful eight room house that had a waterfall in the house.  At pen pal places he says he usually pays a nominal amount as he stays for long periods.  He paid $85 a month at one place on East Coast of Malaysia.  It was a place he had fallen in love with.  Name is something like Khoutan.  One of the pen pals he visited was in Brunei.  He had never heard of it before (not all school teachers are smart!)  It is oil rich.  He says that some wealthy Brunei will charter a whole public bus just for himself and the people that were going to take that public bus are just out of luck with no advance notice.  Today I guess it would be internet pals.

If you would like to contact Mac, he is happy to answer e-mails: macsan400@yahoo.com

Country Statistics

Rank Country Name Internet Users as
% of Total Population
1 United States 53.23%
2 Norway 52.40%
3 Iceland 51.82%
4 Sweden 50.70%
5 Finland 43.86%
6 Denmark 42.97%
7 Netherlands 42.55%
8 Canada 42.03%
9 Singapore 40.46%
10 Australia 40.14%

Source:

Volunteer Spotlight Youth Services with Iko Poran, Brazil

Iko Poran society is a Brazilian association of private non-profit , non-political, non-denominational organizations guided by the principles of democracy. The mission of our organization is to promote volunteer programs that have a positive impact on their communities and surrounding and promote a beneficial exchange between cultures. Volunteer work varies according to project. For more information see our website at http://www.ikoporan.org/ or email rj@ikoporan.org

Youth Services with TIPACOM, Peru

TIPACOM a program that helps babies, children and teenagers living in extreme poverty, mainly in Villa El Salvador as well as other pueblos jovenes in Lima. TIPACOM has developed many projects including training programs for young people. The organization also works to promote health awareness and aid the sick. Volunteers can work in any of these areas and are encouraged to organize other social project in pueblos jovenes. Those with background in Administration are needed as are English teachers. For more info, email tipacom@hotmail.com

Funny Signs by Mac

Mac is not responsible for finding these signs, he saw them on the internet and thought they may be amusing for readers of the Globetrotters e-newsletter.  Please, no complaints about being patronising, this is just for fun. 

Spotted in a toilet of a London office: TOILET OUT OF ORDER. PLEASE USE FLOOR BELOW

In a Laundromat: AUTOMATIC WASHING MACHINES: PLEASE REMOVE ALL YOUR CLOTHES WHEN THE LIGHT GOES OUT

In a London department store: BARGAIN BASEMENT UPSTAIRS

In an office: WOULD THE PERSON WHO TOOK THE STEP LADDER YESTERDAY, PLEASE BRING IT BACK OR FURTHER STEPS WILL BE TAKEN

In an office: AFTER TEA BREAK STAFF SHOULD EMPTY THE TEAPOT AND STAND UPSIDE DOWN ON THE DRAINING BOARD

Outside a second hand shop: WE EXCHANGE ANYTHING – BICYCLES, WASHING MACHINES, ETC. WHY NOT BRING YOUR WIFE ALONG AND GET A WONDERFUL BARGAIN?

… and the best one…Notice in health food shop window: CLOSED DUE TO ILLNESS

Spotted in a safari park: ELEPHANTS PLEASE STAY IN YOUR CAR

Seen during a conference: FOR ANYONE WHO HAS CHILDREN AND DOESN'T KNOW IT, THERE IS A DAY CARE ON THE 1ST FLOOR

Notice in a field: THE FARMER ALLOWS WALKERS TO CROSS THE FIELD FOR FREE, BUT THE BULL CHARGES

Message on a leaflet: IF YOU CANNOT READ, THIS LEAFLET WILL TELL YOU HOW TO GET LESSONS

 … and finally…

On a repair shop door: WE CAN REPAIR ANYTHING. (PLEASE KNOCK HARD ON THE DOOR – THE BELL DOESN'T WORK)

There's a Frog in My Salad

An airline passenger discovered the a frog perched on a slice of cucumber while on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Wellington in February. “Naturally there was a bit of consternation by the passenger who called back the attendant,” Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry quarantine general manager Fergus Small said.  The flight attendant removed the salad and the 4 cm (1.6 inch) whistling tree frog, which was killed by quarantine staff when the aircraft landed.  Qantas was not immediately available for comment but a spokesman told The New Zealand Herald newspaper the airline had since changed its lettuce supplier and introduced “additional procedures into the salad supply process.”

Singapore Pilot Booted Out

A foreign pilot who infuriated Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew by leading a rare union revolt has been told by the government he can no longer live in Singapore as a permanent resident.  Captain Ryan Goh Yew Hock, a Malaysian citizen, was singled out by Lee as the main instigator in a November 2003 vote by pilots to sack their union leaders for caving into wage cuts and layoffs imposed by state-controlled Singapore Airlines.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said Goh, who has lived in Singapore for 26 years, had been told that his entry and re-entry permits that are necessary for permanent residents would be cancelled.

The leaders of Singapore's government have said “confrontational industrial relations” are a threat in a country where the government, employers and unions traditionally co-operate closely and where industrial action is rare.

Queen Mary 2 Criticisms

Spotted by Mac who wrote in to say: I read in yesterday’s Travel section of the Washington Post that a couple taking the Queen Mary 2 had picked out cabin but a few days before sailing were notified that they had been upgraded to the Deluxe Deck 8.  They found out the upgrade was really a down grade although four decks up.  There was a 150 person lifeboat outside their window.  They said “it was like a tractor trailer blocking their view.” They looked in brochure and noticed a tiny asterisk at bottom page of brochure that some cabins had obstructed views. They were not able to change back or change.  They wrote that while the Queen Mary 2 does fulfil the promise of being the longest, tallest, grandest ocean liner ever most of the cabins on Deck 8 (deluxe deck) are behind lifeboats. While most of you wont be booking passage on the Queen Mary 2.  I wonder if one when booking on a ship gets to see layout of cabin with obstructed views. The few times I was on ship I had not view but was out of cabin except for sleeping up on deck so it did not make much difference.

Globetrotters Travel Award

Under 30? A member of Globetrotters Club? Interested in a £1,000 travel award?

Know someone who is? We have £1,000 to award each year for five years for the best submitted independent travel plan. Interested?

Then see our legacy page on our Website, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent travel trip and we'll take a look at it. Get those plans in!!