Category Archives: archive

Bali in a nutshell by Shirley of London

This was our first trip to Bali and I have to say that the Balinese are in general the loveliest people, very gentle and welcoming.

Driving out there was a real experience though! It appears that the traffic laws (where there are any) don’t apply to the thousands of motor bikes on the road. It was common to have them coming at you in a one way street!

Prices are fantastic, it cost us about a fiver to tank up a big people carrier, they thought we were mad driving ourselves but once you get used to it and remember to use your horn as much as they do it’s not too bad.

Certainly a destination I’d recommend and will definitely be going back. Kuta is very touristy but get out of town and it’s a whole different world.


Bonfire Night and Guy Fawkes

Joanne is from Canada and works with the Beetle. She has not been in the UK very long. She had never been to a bonfire night!

We explained to her that on November 5th, 1605, the Catholic Guy Fawkes and some fellow conspirators, crept into the Houses of Parliament and stored lots of barrels of gunpowder in an attempt to blow up the houses of Parliament.

He and his associates were caught and taken away to the Tower of London and beheaded. Since this time, each year, on November 5th, the entire country celebrate the foiling of this event (I know, it seems strange!) by having a bonfire with an effigy of Guy Fawkes and we have huge organized and private firework displays.

The public firework displays are always stunning! One of the best ones in London is at Primrose Hill and starts at 7.30pm on the closest Saturday to 5th November.


MEETING NEWS

Meeting news from our branches around the world.


Globetrotter Travel Award

Under 24? 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!!


London:

Sebastian Hope gave us a delightful talk about fishing and the sea gypsies of South East Asia, peppering his talk with anecdotes of friendships he made on his various visits to South East Asia and glorious slides of azure seas and beautiful multicoloured tropical fish. Sebastian has written a book about his exploits called Outcasts of the Islands

After the break which included requests for information on places such as New Caledonia, Iguaçu, Cambodia, Mali and lots of other places too numerous to mention, Tim Burford gave us a talk centred on Romania’s wooden churches. He explained that although many are said to date from the middle ages, most are only a couple of centuries old. Tim went on to show modern Romanian architecture in Bucharest. Tim also explained Romania’s version of the Dracula story and advised us to visit soon as there are plans for a Dracula theme park.

On the 1st December, Jon Hornbuckle will be talking about Chile, Atacama Desert to the Land of Fire. Jon has spent the last eight years travelling world-wide in search of wildlife and cultural experience. Denise Heywood will be talking about Vietnam, descending the Land of the Ascending Dragon from Hanoi (a French Colonial city) travelling south through the great Cham Empire, to the Imperial city of Hue and Saigon, and ending at the Cambodian border – everything except the war!

For the month of December 2001, only, the London meeting will be held at 3pm at the Concert Artists Association, 20 Bedford Street, Covent Garden , the door is at the end of a long passageway next to the Springbok Bar. (This is the opposite side of Covent Garden to the Crown Court, our normal venue)

Other than in December 2001, all 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. 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


New York:

The November New York meeting was cancelled due to clashing with the New York marathon.

Laurie, our New York Chair says “Hello Globies! and Happy Thanksgiving!” Due to holiday parties, travel and cheer, we will not be holding a December Globies meeting.
We WILL resume in January with what promises to be a great line up of speakers!

More to come on that later.

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.


Travel Tips

Sort clothes together and put them in different coloured plastic bags – helps you to find your socks as opposed to your T-shirts and also keeps them clean and dry when your back pack is accidentally dropped in the river/sea or when it rains and it is stored on top of a bus.


Ontario:

As soon as we get information on the annual barbecue we will let you know what happened! 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.


Funny Signs Again….

Back in 1959, when Frank from the US was in Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia on Lebuh Chulia Street he saw a local Chinese Hotel named the Hang Chow Hotel and Restaurant, referred to by some of the other back packers as the Constipation Hotel.