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Bangkok’s Homeless Removed

The Thai authorities have announced their intention to clear Bangkok’s streets of thousands of homeless people ahead of a meeting of world leaders next month.

Where will they go? The Thai Prime Minister and officials have said that some would be sent for vocational training at army camps or shelters, and those suffering from psychiatric disorders would be taken to hospital.

But the Beetle noticed a discrepancy in what is being reported: “Arrested immigrant beggars will be deported, prostitutes will be sent to rehabilitation centres and insane homeless will be sent to mental hospitals,” said Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

“There are no excuses for being a vagabond,” Bangkok’s Governor told The Bangkok Post. “Everybody must have a place to live.”

Give them a chance to go back home first, then put (the rest) together in one place and feed them from the state budget like my previous operation against street dogs,” Mr Samak was quoted as saying by The Nation.

Sahara Photo Exhibition London

Globetrotters Marion Bull is having a photo exhibition at the Horniman Centre in south London, opening 4th October. The free exhibition depicts the dramatic landscape in and around the plateau and the nomadic Tuareg herders, the Kel Djanti, who once inhabited Tassili N'Ajjer, before they were driven out by drought.

There will also be a special concert of North African Berber 'N' Rai music and dance to celebrate the opening of the Sahara exhibition. With a fusion of traditional and modern Algerian music, this exciting and energetic four-piece band is guaranteed to get you out of your seats and up on your feet!

Sunday 5th Oct 2 – 2.45pm & 3 – 3.45pm. Free entrance.

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Free London Museums: Theatre Museum

Five galleries illustrate the history of the performing arts in the UK. The collection includes displays on theatre, ballet, dance, circus, puppetry, opera, musicals, rock and pop. There's usually a daily workshop on performing arts subjects, such as pantomime and making a play.

The museum is found in Russell Street, Covent Garden.
Open: Tue-Sun, 10:00-18:00.
Tube: Covent Garden
Enquiries: 020 7943 4700
Entrance: FREE admission for individuals.

Berlin National Holocaust Memorial

Building work on a national Holocaust memorial in the German capital, Berlin, has begun. The memorial is being built in the centre of the city, close to the Brandenburg Gate and near the bunker where Adolf Hitler committed suicide in 1945. The monument should be completed by May 2005 – in time for the 60th anniversary of the end of the World War Two.

Laos Snippet by Busby

I went on my two month long trip of Indochina. I skulked a bit in Qatar eyeing up the tablecloth-clad gentlemen and in turn being the recipient of their roving eye. Thought maybe not. From Bangkok Railway Station there was a direct train. This leaves every night at 8:00pm or 8:20pm. You can book a sleeper berth complete with curtains to the Friendship Bridge at the Laotian border. Crossing the border is easy – the usual stuff – $20 and a British Passport and you are there. Vientiane is the next stop. One needs to speak a little French to admire Alleys, les baguettes, Les Arch de Triomphe. I walked everywhere – the whole place is less than three square miles.

If you happen to skip the French breakfast, the French colonial attitude and the temperature, go to Luang Prabang. It’s a beautiful place – until they get funding to finish the long runway.

If you happen to be female, make sure you are wearing the right underwear: the Buddhist monks on the top of the hill happen to be very observant

Then there was a little problem. Up the Mekong down the Mekong. Make sure you are fit rather than panting your lungs away along the waterfalls like I did.

After having had such a lovely time, it all went a bit sour: three days after flying back from Cambodia, I spent 40 minutes on the internet in Ko Chang (Eastern Thailand) Internet café. A local man asked me if I wanted to buy drugs. I politely refused. What happened next? The guy kicked me in the face and broke my nose, leaving me in a lot of pain, and bleeding all over the place. A Kiwi traveller called the police who arrived pretty quickly. After 4 hours of investigations and searching my possessions, they decided to find the offender. The court case took on the spot. By 2 a.m. the police and the translator were around and so was my attacker; very professional, except me bleeding all over trying to fix my broken nose. I identified my attacker and then I was taken to hospital where the costs of fixing up my poor nose were paid for. I flew back home to avoid the rest of the nonsense.

If you'd like to contact Busby, please e-mail her on: me@krystyna.com

Say No to Flying Fox

The Pacific island of Guam is known for very high rates of a degenerative disease that looks like motor neuron, Parkinson's and dementia, but cannot be firmly identified as any of them. Researchers believe that this higher than average incidence could be due to eating a bat, also known as a flying fox. The flying foxes feed on seed containing a chemical highly toxic to human brain cells. When humans eat the animals, high levels of the chemical, which had accumulated in the bat tissues, was passed on. Flying fox is a delicacy in many parts of the Pacific, including Tonga, Vanuatu, New Caledonia.

The World’s Top 5 Cleanest Countries

The World’s Top 5 Cleanest Countries

  1. Finland
  2. Norway
  3. Canada
  4. Sweden
  5. Switzerland

New Zealand comes 6th, Australia 7th, the US 11th, the UK 16th.

Source: http://www.aneki.com/lists.html