Answers to Flag Quiz

1 Bahamas	2 Brazil	3 Croatia	4 Germany	5 Iceland

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To see your story in cyber print, e-mail the Beetle with your travel experiences, hints and tips or questions up to 750 words, together with a couple of sentences about yourself and a contact e-mail address to Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

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Complaints from international visitors to the United States about hostile treatment by immigration officials have prompted them to clean up their act, the official in charge of border controls has said.  The complaints, many from Britons travelling for business or pleasure have forced the agency to institute a code of conduct to ensure officers treat visitors with respect.  Complaints had come from all over the world, but the department was particularly struck by the number from Britain.  One of the major issues is said to be the handcuffing, detention and deportation of some potential visitors who had committed “minor technical visa violations” previously, such as briefly or unwittingly breaching a 90 day permission to stay. “While we must — and will — secure our border against terrorists, we must treat all travellers professionally and courteously,” said the agency.

But meanwhile…

By subjecting most visitors to scans of their faces and fingers, the United States will this week expand a mass surveillance system that threatens freedom and race relations, a privacy watchdog says.

Now most visitors entering the United States will have to put each index finger in turn on a glass plate that electronically scans it, and to have a digital photo taken.

The United States says its US-VISIT program — already in place for travellers requiring visas and now being rolled out more widely — will add an average of just 15 seconds to entry checks and will enhance security.

It says the biometric data will be stored in databases, along with personal information such as full name, date of birth, citizenship, sex and passport number, and can be accessed by border, consular, immigration and law enforcement officials.

London-based rights group Privacy International said in a recent report that the scheme relied on flawed technology and opaque, error-strewn watch lists on which innocent people could find themselves wrongly identified as security threats.

Ryanair are advertising jobs: http://www.careerjet.co.uk/jobs_ryanair.html  We at Globetrotter Towers are idly wondering whether benefits include free flights located in the bathroom.

New routes added Ryanair airline announced last month it would begin flying on Oct. 31 to Riga from London, Frankfurt, Germany, and Tampere, Finland, after the Latvian government cut airport taxes in an attempt to lure more tourism and make Riga International Airport a regional hub.  It is Ryanair's first venture into one of the 10 new European Union member states.  Commentators have wryly noted that it is not clear who is most excited about the new route into Riga, travellers into Riga or Latvians looking to travel out.  Uhh… didn't Michael O Leary say that Ryanair would not be expanding into the new EU accession countries?

No unions, please  Ryanair is about to get into another spat, this time with SAS.  Ryanair is not unionised and promises to pay more than union rates if its employees negotiate their contracts directly with the company rather than join unions for collective bargaining.  Most SAS workers do belong to a union.  Swedish trade union HTF recently handed out sick bags to passengers flying on Ryanair from Nykoping, what Ryanair refer to as Stockholm, some 160 km south west of Stockholm as part of a wider campaign organized by the International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF). The white bags were printed with claims that Ryanair staff had to work longer and for lower pay than rivals.  Speaking at a Stockholm press conference, Chief Executive, Michael O'Leary said that Ryanair paid more on average to staff and that its rules on the maximum hours staff could work were the strictest in the industry. “We are an embarrassment to a lot of trade unions,” he went on to say.  According to O’Leary, Ryanair staff earn an average of EUR50,582 a year, more than staff at airlines where staff are unionized, O'Leary added.  O'Leary also said Ryanair would sue Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter unless it retracted reports critical of some aspects of Ryanair's safety record.

Yet more pay as you go service Ryanair has been looking for ways to introduce new services they can use to boost revenues while keeping fares low.  Their latest attempt is to introduce in-flight entertainment such as movies, chart videos, cartoons and sitcoms on all its flights, but passengers will have to pay GBP£5, EUR7 (USD$9) per flight if they want to access movies, cartoons and television shows on the portable units, which will not be built into seats as on full-service carriers.  Ryanair said the system will be trialled initially on five Stansted based aircraft from November. If successful, it will gradually be rolled out across the airline's entire fleet over the winter.  Ryanair needs three percent of its passengers to use the units to cover its costs.  Each plane will initially carry 24 entertainment units which would be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.  The units, which look like a small laptop, are the brainchild of former aircraft baggage handler Bill Boyer who sold the idea to his then employer, Alaska Airlines.

Boyer later founded APS, based in the industrial city of Tacoma, south of Seattle. Ryanair is now APS's biggest customer.

The entertainment units are Ryanair's latest push to tap new sources of non-ticket revenue. Ryanair passengers are also charged for drinks and food. “At the moment the ice is free, but if we could find a way of targeting a price on it we would,” O'Leary earlier told an airlines conference.

And finally… their blurb about themselves, Ryanair describe themselves as being like superman, up, up and away, they say.  It took us a week to stopped laughing, and if you don’t believe us, take a look at this: http://www.ryanair.co.uk/about/abouthome.html

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After a long trip via Kuala Lumpur and Phnom Penh finally got to Siem Reap. After dumping luggage straight out to Angkor Wat, spectacular place and surprisingly not many tourists. I had a driver and guide to myself, which meant we went at my pace as I was really tired. Luckily my driver provided endless bottles of cold water, as we wandered around the ruins. I got back to hotel and slept for 12 hours! 

Interesting hotel breakfast including croissant, bacon and chips! I think they had better get a bigger tea urn with me in residence though!  Went out to Angkor Thom, again very nice, but agree with you (Beetle) that Ta Prom is wonderful out in the forest with the jungle threatening to take over, a truly wonderful place.  Went up to see the sunset from a temple on top of a hill, but clouds arrived so had to go back down.  It’s the rainy season just beginning in middle of May and we had a big thunderstorm last night.

Then next day went to Banteay Srei, 30km from Siem Reap, quite interesting, especially with a musical accompaniment provided by a band of land mine victims.  Also took in some other temples as well Ta Keo and Banteay Samre.  A free afternoon after that, so I spent it exploring Siem Reap, a typical backpacker town, good fun and they have cheap CD shops.  Lots of souvenirs available, but only bought a few.

This was a great time to visit, as there were very few tourists, you could see everything and take photos without heads bobbing up in the way.

I wanted to go up in the static balloon over Angkor Wat, but I had to abandon that as we had a spectacular thunderstorm last night, so had a Thai massage instead while the heavens opened.

I was due to just transit Phnom Penh, but Malaysian Airlines cancelled my flight and put me on a later one, so rather than get bored in an airport for 6 hours my Angkor guide rang his mate in Phnom Penh, who picked me up from the airport and got me round the major sights in 3 hours, phew – the time I had between arriving at the airport and leaving for KL.  I visited the Royal Palace, which was closed, the National Museum, which was good as it has some of the carvings that are missing from Siem Reap, then to Wat Phnom and to Tol Sluong genocide museum and killing fields, which is gruesome, but has to be seen. I will never forget the “Skull map” of Cambodia or the cabinets full of skulls.

If you would like to contact Padmassana, he can be e-mailed on: Padmassana@globetrotters.co.uk

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Here’s a little Beetle quiz based on capital cities. See how many you get right! Go on, have a guess!

What is the capital city of the following countries:

1. Bulgaria
2. Ghana
3. Mauritius
4. Tunisia
5. Maldives
6. Yemen

For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.

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he original author of Lonely Planet Cuba announces the launch of Cuba-Pictures.com, a 14-page collection of 126 travel photos of Cuba. All photos in this picture gallery are by David Stanley, who researched and wrote the first two editions of Lonely Planet Cuba, published in 1997 and 2000. Stanley first visited Cuba in 1975, and over the next four years he represented a Canadian tour company on Isla de la Juventud, at Varadero, and in Havana. Since then, he has revisited Cuba dozens of times.

A few of Stanley’s photos originally appeared in Lonely Planet Cuba, while the rest are published here for the first time. They offer a cross section of Cuba, with the emphasis on “real Cuban life” rather than the artificial world of tourism. The images are intended to convey the atmosphere of some very special places, and the warm, friendly people who call Cuba home.

Each page of pictures provides an introduction to a specific area, and all photos are fully captioned. The site also features a map of Cuba, a shopping mall with Cuban music, guides, and films, and a selection of travel links. http://www.cuba-pictures.com is now open to visitors.

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The winner of last month's Moon Guidebook on Peru is: Jane Thomas congratulations!

This month, win a Moon guidebook on Acadia National Park. See www.moon.com for info on Moon guide books.

Some people have said the quiz is difficult, we say do some research: try google.com or Ask Jeeves, if you need help with the answers.

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Near the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London, a place the Princess was always being seen in, not far from her home in Kensington Palace, Kensington Gardens. The water ran and sparkled like a running summer brook through the marble stone and in other parts of this architectural Memorial the water was nearly still as a pond in a country village.

The Queen gave her speech, the VIP’s looked on, the press took pictures, the TV Cameras rolled – all looked pristine and somewhat cold in the Memorial empty of people.

The ceremony over, it opened to the public and suddenly it became what it was meant to be.  The sun shone, the temperature soared, the people filled the memorial, people from all walks of life and different parts of the world; dipping their feet and walking in the cool water.

Princess Diana was the “People’s Princess” and this water feature perfectly matches and catches her soul especially when full of visitors, whether they be locals or tourists, rich or poor. 

The perfect opening day was spoilt by a storm the next day that not only blew some trees down but also masses of leaves that blocked the drains and flooded the whole place.  We have a problem in Britain with leaves! In most autumns they land on the rails and cause chaos on the railways and nothing ever seems to fix this problem.  It also seems we always have problems with new constructions! The words bridge and wobbling come to mind!

However it is a great success and it will reopen in the not too distant future and I think: no, I’m sure Princess Diana will be looking down and smiling on seeing the enjoyment on the faces of the people below as they stroll and paddle about this relaxing place on a sunny afternoon.    

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What's your score?

1. Bulgaria: Sofia
2. Ghana: Accra
3. Mauritius: Port Louis
4. Tunisia: Tunis
5. Maldives: Male
6. Yemen: Sana

0 out of 5 – you need to get out more!

1-3 – not bad

4 – very good! You are a Globetrotter!

5 – are you sure you didn’t sneak a look?

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I was pretty taken with Cefalù. I had not expected it to have retained such charm since its advent to practically every tour firm’s brochure. My one disappointment was quite a major one, that the lovely cathedral, with mosaics older than those at Monreale [though nothing like as many,] was undergoing repair, a place of noise and dust with little mosaic actually showing. Never mind, you can’t win ’em all! Somehow I missed the quickest way to the bus for Castelbuono and I arrived in time to see the back of it as it left. It was right by the train station and, as Castelbuono was the very first stop and a train was almost due, I was not too worried. In fact my only worry was during the short train journey when I realised I had not validated my ticket! Fortunately nobody had told me that the station was nowhere near the town and that the walk was up a very long and pretty steep hill. I only had seconds to worry about this, as the fellow passenger who told me went on to offer a lift. We can have been only a little behind the bus!

My lift was to the tourist office who started to look for somewhere for me to stay that night. I quite fancied the idea of a b&b for a change and the price sounded OK until they phoned back to all but double it as I was on my own. No good. The next attempt was the only hotel in the little town, as far as I know, the Ariston. This was remarkably cheap and I left my luggage at the tourist office to carry on uphill to the castle before dropping down to the Ariston. The view, both of the town below and of the hills of the interior in the other direction confirmed the impression that it would be a good walking centre. However there was no time to weigh that up with only two nights left. I returned to the Ariston and the very cheap price came to seem explicable. The receptionist was playing cards with a couple of friends – they called to mind Manet’s famous painting in the Courtauld Gallery at Somerset House, London. Shortly after he had given me the key I heard them – all – leave the hotel and that was it. There was nobody else in the hotel from then until I left in the morning. I do not remember the name of the place where I ate. I suppose you might call it an Italian fast food joint but it was just what I needed – fast indeed but remarkably friendly. I should go again – just above the arch on the right if you want to find it!

So back in the morning to Cefalù on the bus to catch the train on along the coast. I had by now what I thought was probably a pipedream, that it would be great to take a boat out to one of the Aeolian Islands for a couple of hours if timetables permitted – and they seemed to. This time the mistake was not my fault. The departure board in the station had been changed from the time-table from the tourist office and I had to wait well over an hour for the next train – and pay extra for the privilege because it was called an express. It would hardly be reasonable for an Englishman to complain about the train service anywhere but this was actually as bad as ours at near their worst.

Thus I arrived at Milazzo very uncertain whether it was going to be possible to do anything. I discovered that by taking an aliscafo [hydrofoil] I could get just about an hour on Lípari. I am and I was very aware that an hour on Lípari is absurdly insufficient. On the other hand it was nearly an hour more than nothing and allowed a sight of Vulcano on the way – and the sea was like a mill pond. There was really no contest in my mind; I went and I am glad I did – though I should certainly like to go again for longer and see some of the other islands as well.

After the trip, reported in the next edition, I was rather too tired to walk up to the castle at Milazzo but it looked striking enough towering over the town. I was there at a time when the industrial smoke said to spoil the town so badly was absent and it seemed a good place. I stayed at the Central in the Via  del Sole, an ordinary little place with shared bathrooms, cheaper but otherwise much the same as several others. I ate at a sort of shop/cafe at the far end of town from a wonderful spread of antipasti type dishes – very cheaply indeed.

David was a keen walker, particularly on mountains before he developed serious heart problems in 1995. He has now adapted his holidays to what he is able to do and we are presenting his account of 12 days in Sicily over this and the coming months. Next two episodes: Palermo.

Next episode – Aeolians , Messina, Taormina.

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