RIDDLE: What do Schultz's 1000 Places [worldwide] to See Before You Die, Villani's 100 Best Art Towns in America, the American Association of Retired Person's list of the 15 best retirement towns in the US, and Time's list of the 5 best repertoire theatres in America have in common?

ANSWER: Ashland, Oregon

EXPLANATION: Population 20,000 (6000 university students). Nine theatres and sixty art and antique galleries in a scenic valley with year-round outdoor recreational opportunities draw 500,000 tourists a year, 25 per resident compared with 4 per resident to London.

On Interstate 5, 350 miles north of San Francisco, 300 miles south of Portland, an anomaly among the dairy farms, fruit orchards, vineyards in and between the Cascade and Siskiyou mountains that forms the Rogue Valley. It began as a stage stop, became a timber, mining and railway town, and has taken on a New Age ethos. Weather is generally mild, although summer days can be hot. Precipitation averages 19″ per year almost entirely between December and February.

The downtown (all eight blocks) could serve as the set for Our Town. It centres on the block-on-a-side triangular Plaza and adjacent Lithia Park, which becomes more natural as one follows its creek into the mountains. Only one building is over three stories; it and 28 others are on the National Register of Historic Places. The town owns both a fibre optic network and a ski resort at nearby Mt. Ashland. A commission awards a bronze plaque to the “tree of the year.” There never will be a shopping mall in Ashland. McDonalds went broke.

Not that you will starve. Do not limit yourself to the Plaza, East Main and North Main. There are 90-odd restaurants (an astounding one per 225 residents): usually two or more choices for most cuisines including Chinese, Deli, English, French, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Seafood, Spanish, Thai, and Vegetarian as well as bakery, coffee, fast food, ice cream and sandwich shops and microbreweries, pubs and sports bars. Several have been featured in Gourmet Magazine.

You won't have to camp out (although you can). However, reservations are essential despite over sixty B&B's in turn-of-the-century Craftsman and Victorian homes that characterize the town and some twenty hotels and motels, including several in the downtown area.

The Shakespeare Festival is the big draw. Each February through October 60-70 actors backed by 400 staff (50 costumers alone) offer about 775 performances of eleven plays in three theatres. The goal is “fresh and bold interpretations of classic and contemporary plays in repertory, shaped by the diversity of our American culture, using Shakespeare as our standard and inspiration.” It started in 1935 when Angus Bowmer, drama teacher at the then state normal school proposed using the town's abandoned Chautaqua to stage Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night. The town council stipulated boxing matches to cover the expected deficit, hoping Bowmer would not accept such an undignified linkage. Bowmer found the idea in keeping with the bawdiness of Elizabethan theatre and accepted. Ironically, the plays covered the deficit of the boxing. The Festival has continued ever since, with a few years off while Bowmer served in World War II. In 2007, the Festival will present As You Like It, On the Razzle (a variation on The Matchmaker aka Hello Dolly), The Cherry Orchard, Gem of the Ocean, and Tartuffe in the modernistic Bowmer. Three new American plays, Rabbit Hole, Tracy's Tiger, and Distracted will be in the intimate New Theatre. Romeo and Juliet, Taming of the Shrew, and Tempest will be in the half-timbered, outdoor Elizabethan.

There are half-a-dozen other theatres in town, about a dozen live music venues, and a band shell in Lithia Park where events are frequent. The Brit Festival in nearby Jacksonville features internationally known blues, folk, jazz, popular, operatic and symphonic artists. The January Blues Festival, February Nature Film Festival, March Chocolate Festival, April Independent Film Festival, May Mountain Bike Festival, June “Feast of Will,” July Independence Day celebration, August book fair for local authors, September Flea Market, October Halloween Parade, November Festival of Lights, and December Dickens dinner and carolling reflect some of Ashland's many personalities.

Ski day or night, snowboard, ice skate, skateboard, bicycle, swim, play tennis, golf, or volleyball in season. Run with the Hash House Harriers. Joust with the Society for Creative Anachronism. Take in the Schneider Art and Science Works museums. Explore antique shops, art galleries, and boutiques. Indulge yourself at one of five spas. Spend a quiet hour or two in the town or university library. There are three book publishers and half a dozen booksellers-no chains of course.

Take a backstage tour. Bring a picnic to the free “Green Show” of music and dance just before summer evening plays. Come during the June Hot Air Balloon Festival in Grants Pass, or in September for the Pendleton Rodeo, and make a day trip to Crater Lake. Visit the town's two wineries-and others in the surrounding Rogue Valley Appellation. Artisanal foods, particularly cheeses, chocolates and fruits are popular gifts. Raft, kayak, or jet boat the Rogue River, itself divided into wild, scenic, and recreational sections. Fish, sail, or swim the local lakes. Hike part of the 4400-kilometre Pacific Crest Trail that runs along the southern edge of town north to Canada or south to Mexico.

Photo credits: Photos 1 and 4 courtesy of Ashland Chamber of Commerce. Photos 2 (T. Charles Erickson) and 3 (David Cooper) courtesy Oregon Shakespeare Festival.

About the author: David is professor emeritus of Behavioural Science and of Humanities, California State University, and author of over 100 books and articles including Why We Fight: Theories of Human Aggression and Conflict (2005). He has been a Fulbright Scholar in Cyprus and Ukraine, a Malone Scholar in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, worked in Australia, Singapore, and Morocco, and visited over 100 countries. He is co-founder and treasurer emeritus of Wildlife on Wheels, which provides live wild animal education programs to 100,000 Los Angeles basin children each year. He is married and has one child. Picture was taken of David and his family in the Raffles, Singapore (which is not the place it used to be, unfortunately.)

For more information, see: www.ashland.or.us or www.ashlandchamber.com, www.abbnet.com (B&B's), www.sorc.com (hotels and theatres). www.filmsite.org/afi100films.html (film festival), and www.osfashland.org (Shakespeare Festival). Information is readily available f rom a booth on the Plaza during the summer and all year from the local newspaper or the Chamber of Commerce is off the Plaza.

Forbes Magazine Most Dangerous Destinations 2006 (in alphabetical order) and the previous two years. It's interesting to see which countries have consistently been on Forbes' list over the last three years: Afghanistan, the DRC, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Somalia and Zimbabwe – four out of seven countries that are in Africa.

Burundi and Pakistan made it on to the list for two years in 2004 and 2006, and the Sudan and the Ivory Coast made it on to the list for two years in 2005 and 2006. Newcomers to the 2006 list include Georgia, Chechnya and PNG, whilst Yemen, Krygystan and Togo all made brief one year appearances but do not appear in 2006.

Where would be on your list? The Beetle's list would include countries like Iraq and Afghanistan which she hasn't been to, but would seem sensible to avoid, given the amount of conflict taking place there – the risk of being captured and beheaded or the embarrassment (and cost not to mention inconvenience) of having to be rescued by the SAS; please don't go! Only Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea which she has recently visited three times would get her veto – this is not a nice or safe place but the rest of PNG is a complete delight.

On further thought, it seems a little unfair to say that an entire country is worthy of being on the worlds most dangerous list – with the possible exception of Iraq and Afghanistan, where the Beetle personally believes that tourists should not go – until it is safe and there really is peace. The Beetle used to live and work in Karachi in Pakistan and has travelled the country extensively, and would rate the majority of Pakistan as being a warm and very beautiful and welcoming place – Karachi is hard going and the North West Frontier does feels lawless. Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar similarly felt unsafe, as did Nairobi to the Beetle.

Where would be on your list? Write in and let the Beetle know.

• Forbes Most Dangerous Destinations 2004
• Afghanistan Burundi
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Haiti
• Iraq
• Liberia
• Pakistan
• Somalia
• Zimbabwe
• Yemen

• Forbes Most Dangerous Destinations 2005
• Afghanistan
• Cote d'Ivoire
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Haiti
• Iraq
• Liberia
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Zimbabwe
• Kyrgyzstan
• Togo

• Top 5 Cruise Destinations: 2006 Forbes Most Dangerous Destinations 2006
• Afghanistan
• Burundi
• Cote d'Ivoire
• Democratic Republic of the Congo
• Georgia
• Haiti
• Iraq
• Liberia
• Pakistan
• Papua New Guinea
• Russia (Chechnya)
• Somalia
• Sudan
• Zimbabwe

Travellers and holidaymakers risk contracting a potentially life-threatening disease in Europe this year. The 'Tick Alert' campaign is warning UK travellers about Tick Borne Encephalitis (TBE), a viral disease contracted via the bite of an infected tick. It can lead to meningitis and in serious cases result in paralysis and death, with about one in 30 cases proving fatal.

The warning identifies 16 central and eastern European countries where the TBE infected tick population is officially endemic and therefore poses a high risk to visitors who have not been immunised or taken bite prevention precautions.

This includes many of the new popular European holiday destinations such as Croatia, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Slovakia, where there is a growing travel market.

TBE-infected ticks are found typically in rural and forest areas from late spring and throughout summer. At-risk groups include all visitors to rural areas of endemic countries, particularly those participating in outdoor activities such as trekking, hiking, climbing, cycling and camping.

A number of measures can be taken to reduce the risk of infection: these include using an insect repellent, wearing trousers and long-sleeved clothing to cover all areas of exposed skin, regularly inspecting for tick bites and carefully removing any found. The disease can also be transmitted by the ingestion of unpasteurised milk which should be avoided.

However, the Foreign Office advises that visitors to TBE endemic regions seek advice from their local surgery or clinic – well before travelling.

Further information on the endemic regions of Europe and latest advice for travellers is available at www.masta.org/tickalert

The World’s Worst Dictators

Source: http://www.infoplease.com/toptens/worstdictators.html

Prepared by David Wallechinsky for Parade after consultation with Human Rights Watch, Freedom House, Amnesty International, and Reporters without Borders.

Mac has not been very well, but is still e-mailing strong. In this edition of the Globetrotter e-newsletter, Mac talks about a Japanese tea ceremony he attended whilst based in Japan shortly after WW2 and also the beginning of his five and a half year stint as a soldier in Japan in the 1950s.

Nikko Kanko Hotel Lake Chuzenji, Nikko National Park, Japan Japanese Tea Ceremony: you sit on the floor with legs tucked straight back under you with you sitting on top of them. This is pure torture after ten minutes. Little nephew Jimmy McCarty is the only American I have seen that can do this with ease.

The hostess very slowly washed a tea cup (bowl of elaborate design) pouring water into it from a bamboo dipper, then pouring water into a gold and silver utensil and fiddled around (slowly) wiping this and that slowly. It all means something. It means she is slow. The tea was made from green powder and was special ceremonial tea. Small cakes were passed around. The hostess who was wearing a beautiful spring kimono bowed to you and you bowed in return as she gives you the cake. In bowing I tried to get weight off my legs and tried to stretch them by kicking them straight back. Very sneaky! I bowed three times but it still was not enough relief. I bowed more often and more times during entire ceremony than anyone in attendance. I even bowed when no one was there bowing and presenting something to me.

The Japanese must have thought I was either very polite or else not all there. The others weren't fooled one bit. An unwed middle aged lady from one of the Scandinavian Embassies suggested we share a cup of tea as it looked like there was going to be extra guests and not enough cups.

She whispered that since this was Japan where men come first. I drink first. I drank from one side of cup and then handed it to her and she drank from the other side. I then whispered to her and informed her that we had just gotten married (someone told me that a Japanese man and woman alternately drinking from the same cup are married on completion of alternating.)

She looked perplexed like she was in agony and then looked around to see if any Japanese had noticed. Ha! They had and were smiling. She then remembered it was sake (rice wine) and not tea you shared and whispered: “Sake, sake.” I answered: “Thank you, thank you.” She then saw the humour in the situation and giggled for the remainder of the tea ceremony. We were not invited back.

The flower arrangement in the tokonoma was a simple bud and leaves. It was explained that it is best to sometimes to not have things too beautiful. We have the same policy in our barracks.

It would be difficult to imagine American women meeting once a week to go thorough such a long drawn out ceremony, particularly in view of the fact that it is done in silence except for murmured dozos (please) and arrigato (thank yous.) I was saying Iowa Gozimas (good morning to Japanese I met) until I was told it is Ohio Gozaimas you should say.

Here are some more extracts from my diary of my time in Japan in November 1955.

Aboard the USS Mitchell, Pacific Ocean (I think the USS Mitchell was a ship from Presidential Lines turned into a troop ship.) At 1335 hrs we sighted Japanese fishing boats. It was the first sign of life, outside of our own ship we had seen for eleven days since leaving Seattle. The little fishing boat was approximately three hundred miles from Japan, as we were.

Sunday Tokyo Japan 19 Nov 55: at 0300 saw a light in distance periodically coming from a lighthouse. We had gotten up to go on deck as I wanted to see go into Yokohama harbour, as did others that could not sleep. At 0600 we saw land. The ship's public address system announced that we were entering Tokyo Bay. Yokohama has a Breakwater whose entrance can be closed at night. It has a gate of steel spikes that go down into the water and during the war the Allies were never able to get into the inner Tokyo Bay because of this. The ship's speaker announces: “The ship is moored. Raise the flag”. With ourselves bagged and barracks bags tagged with line number and wearing fatigues we waited to get off the ship. I felt like a refugee with that tag with my name on it. The guy in front of me turned out to be from Seward Nebraska, Edward R Wittrock. After we expressed amazement of living only thirty miles from each other in Nebraska we had nothing to talk about as we didn't know the same people as we both already had been in the service a long time.

In a typical service snafu after they insisted we wear fatigues off the ship, we no sooner got off than we were ordered to go into a warehouse and change into Class A uniform which had been packed and stored in barracks bags and were winkled after being squashed into those barracks bags for about two weeks. They wanted us to look nice for the Japanese on the street. One guy left his briefcase in the warehouse and a Japanese man came running out teeth all smiling to return it to the owner. This was our first experience with the honesty of the Japanese people. Quite a contrast to the Philippines. My buddy nicknamed the Colonel said 67 instead of his last name, first name and middle initial coming off the ship. No one noticed.

Once we were docked the confusion began with me. I was the only one going to Headquarters FEAF, Tokyo, an Airman third class. In those days they ironically would have sponsors assigned to officers and maybe even NCOs but none to airmen third class. I hitched a ride in an Army truck into Tokyo with another airman third class who was driving there. We passed a vehicle with no-one sitting in driver's seat. I then realised he was sitting right hand seat of car. I noticed washing hanging on bamboo poles with sticks through garments sleeves. This required no clothes pens and the wind couldn't blow them down. I was all eyes on the eighteen mile ride from Yokohama to Tokyo. I was told that a bamboo grove is the safest place to be in a typhoon or earthquake but could not find such a grove in Tokyo. I found our mess hall had a bamboo screen, a bamboo counter and there is bamboo furniture in our day room. Much bamboo is used over here, it has many, many uses. I was to spend five and one half years in Japan and later met a woman who wrote a book called The Wise Bamboo about funny things that happened during occupation duty. I would like to reread it.

At first thought, I thought there was a national epidemic over here. I saw so many people wearing what looked like surgical masks over their face. They wear them when they have a cold so as to not spread germs or to avoid catching a cold from others. They look like they are ready to go into surgery or are ready to hold up a bank. They look particularly funny if driving a car. I had to ask strangers where Hq FEAF was as I had no idea except that it was in Tokyo. When I found the Hqs, the first person I met was an American WAC hollering into a phone Mushi, Mushi, Mushi Mushi. She saw my confusion and explained that Mushi Mush was Hello hello. She saw my confusion and tried to help me out in my first few days in Japan. It was the beginning of the most enjoyable five and one half years of my life.

If you would like to get in touch with Mac, he is happy to correspond by e-mail when he is well. His e-mail address is: macsan400@yahoo.com

A passenger jet flying for Ryanair mistakenly landed at Ballykelly Army airstrip instead of at its intended destination of City of Derry Airport, six miles away. The Liverpool-to-Londonderry flight, operated by Eirjet on behalf of the Irish LCC, landed at the wrong airport due to an “error by the Eirjet pilot who mistakenly believed he was on a visual approach to City of Derry airport,” according to a Ryanair statement. Army officers and passengers aboard the Eirjet A320 were reportedly dumbfounded by the mistake. “The pilot apologised and said, 'We may have arrived at the wrong airport,'” said one passenger. “Everyone started laughing and thought it was a joke, then I saw for myself when I looked out and saw Army officers everywhere.”

“It was just unbelievable, I think the Army officers were shocked themselves (as) they were taking photographs,” the passenger added. “It was surreal.”

This is Wickipedia's entry for our friends Ryanair: Ryanair is an airline based in Ireland. It is Europe's largest low-cost carrier, operating 270 low-fare routes to 21 European countries. Over the years it has evolved into the world's most profitable airline , running at remarkable margins by relentlessly driving down costs. Ryanair has been characterised by rapid and continuing expansion, enabled by the deregulation of the air industry in Europe in 1997. Ryanair is one of Europe's most controversial companies, praised and criticised in equal measure. Its supporters praise its commitment to exceptionally low fares, its radical management, its populism, and its willingness to challenge what Ryanair calls the 'establishment' within the airline industry (similar to its American counterpart, Southwest Airlines). Critics, meanwhile, have attacked its trade union policies, and have charged that it practices deceptive advertising.

Some recent statistics show Ryanair coming top of the table. However, see this for some less favourable comments.

Source: AEA member statistics Jan – Dec 2005 compared to Ryanair and Easyjet statistics Jan – Dec 2005.

Meeting news from around the world

Our first speaker was Gavin Fernandes, who showed us life and death at Varanassi. Daily life including everything from bathing, praying, meditating and funerals taking place on the ghats by the side of the river. We saw ash covered saddhus and Bollywood films being made. Gavin also showed us the Kumb Mela, (a grand Hindu Festival and Ceremony, taking place every four years,) where millions of pilgrims go for a dip to cleanse their sins in the Ganges. Gavin got to know some of the Saddhus who allowed him to take photos in return for some copies for themselves.

After the break our second speaker was Alistair Humphreys, who took four and a half years to cycle round the world, covering over 46,000 miles in the process. His route taking him via Europe, Middle East, Africa, by boat to Rio, from where he took a bus down to the tip of South America so that he would be able to say he had cycled the whole way up to Alaska. He took a ship to Siberia and cycled through temperatures of minus 40 in Russia, then down through Japan and along the great wall of China, then back though central Asia, disappointingly having to miss Iran because of visa problems. 46,000 miles over four and a half years condensed into 45 minutes for Globetrotters, well done Alistair.

By Padmassana

Forthcoming meetings:

• Saturday 4th March, Jane Robinson – “The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs. Seacole in Many Lands” and Neville Shulman OBE –Climbing the Equator
• Saturday 1st April (no joke!), Jonathon Kaplan – “A surgical Sojourn in the Mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan” and Anne Mustoe — “The Amber Route”

Full Details can be found on the website London Meeting Page.

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 in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk

We used to have meetings in New York City and New Braunfels, Texas. Regrettably, after having done a superb job, neither organisers are able to give their time to Globetrotter meetings. If you are based in New York or New Braunfels and have the time to commit to pick up where our previous organisers left off, we'd love to hear from you – please see our FAQ or contact our the Branch Liaison Officer via our Website at Meeting FAQ. If you are based elsewhere and are interested in starting a branch of the Globetrotters, please feel free to contact us.

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 and travel presentations are held on the 3rd Friday in January, March, May (4th Friday), September and November at the Old York Tower, 85 The Esplanade (SouthEast corner of The Esplanade & Church) – two blocks east of the Union station. Public parking garage is at the foot of Church Street right next to the Old York Tower at 8.00 p.m.