Category Archives: enewsletter

Write for the Globetrotters monthly e-newsletter

If you enjoy writing, enjoy travelling, why not write for the free monthly Globetrotters e-newsletter! The Beetle would love to hear from you: your travel stories, anecdotes, jokes, questions, hints and tips, or your hometown or somewhere of special interest to you. Over 8,000 people currently subscribe to the Globetrotter e-news.

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

Increase in Membership Fees in the EU

For a while now postage costs to the EU countries have been rising and has now reached the point where they are on a par with the costs for our other members worldwide members (USA, South America and Australia). We feel that it is unfair for one member to subsidise another and have decided to abolish the EU price band.

The new fees will be effective from the 1st June 2004 when the following fees will apply:

  • 1 year subscription £18.00 (around €27)
  • 2 year subscription £34.00 (around €51)
  • 3 year subscription £48.00 (around €72)

If you would like to renew or extend your membership or have been thinking of becoming a member then join or renew before the 1st June, to get the current rate.

Get the current rate

Tip of the Month

From Mac: one of the users of Internet Cafes overseas suggests that you leave a list of e mail addresses with a relative or friend in your home town that has a computer and just write one e mail to that person and have that person forward to those on e mail addresses you gave them. The person who receives e-mail from you is glad that you are having a good time and this saves you time at the cybercafé.

An Insider's Guide to Thailand by Randy Gaudet

I have been living in Thailand since 1989.  I have travelled extensively throughout the Kingdom and wanted to share my wonderful experiences of Thailand with others.  I talked with many travellers here in Thailand and saw a need to take visitors away from the normal tourist areas filled with large tour buses and groups. The biggest complaint I heard from visitors is “there is no real Thai culture… it’s staged for the tourists”.  This is because they keep following each other around using their guidebooks and never see the real Thailand.

In the course of setting up a travel agency here in Thailand, it took about 2 years of research to find the areas that were safe and could handle visitors.  I spoke with village headmen, temple Monks, Hill Tribe villagers, National Park officials and local bird experts.  I then had to train staff that would take care of our clients with excellent service and provide correct information about Thai and hill tribe culture, Thai food, Buddhism, birds of Thailand, etc.

I lived in a remote area of north Thailand at Wat Thaton temple in the town of Thaton on the Burmese border for more than 3 years.  I taught English to Monks, novices, high school students, the Thai Army, local and tourist police.  I also did hill tribe programs by taking a small number of tourists to hill tribe villages to spend the evening.  All the money for the trek went to the villagers.  I bought clothes for the children, medicines and blankets for the families.  I paid the villagers to build a bamboo schoolhouse and paid a teacher to teach Thai at the school who could speak their language.  I taught them how to dispose of waste properly, keep the children and village clean and to use spoons instead of their fingers when eating which was a big source of their health problems.  I provided vegetable seeds and logan and lychee fruit trees for planting.

This was fine until I left the temple then the school stopped and the health problems returned.  I talked with the Abbot of the temple and he now has a school for the children at the temple.  He has a nurse looking after the children and takes those to the clinics that have problems.

While I was there I help start a guest home where travellers could stay in a Lisu hill tribe village and go trekking in the jungle and visit primitive hill tribe villages in the area.  This was not easy, as the villages we visited didn't want visitors as they wanted to maintain their lifestyle and culture.  They have seen other villages that accepted tourists turned into a village without harmony and their culture was gone forever. These villagers were farmers and didn't want to look at tourism as a source of income.

I understood the problem as I have seen what a tour operator can do to a village. To most tour operators in Thailand money is first and they don't care about the hill tribe people or their way of life.

I stayed in these villages and met with the village headmen many times. I learned about their culture, way of life, religion, and do's and don'ts. We then came up with a plan that worked out well for the villagers and our clients.

For the Jungle portion of the trek I had to teach the guides to use different trails so it could grow back.  They make a hut out of bamboo and banana leaves for sleeping and I taught them not to clear-cut and not to return to an area for at least two months.  No more hunting of birds or wild animals.

Without the local culture we would not be able to give our clients the experience they are looking for. We also encourage our clients in helping the local people we visit.

Next month, Randy talks about the difference between tourism and eco-tourism, and provides us with some guidelines about the kind of questions we should be asking ourselves when visiting Thailand or going on any kind of eco-trip.

Randy who was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1948 has lived in Texas for more than 20 years and in Thailand since 1989 can be contacted by e-mail on: allthai@all-thailand-exp.com.  For more information on trips to Thailand, see: http://www.all-thailand-exp.com  

Being Careful: Bulgaria

From the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office: You should be aware of the risk of indiscriminate attacks by terrorists in public places, including tourist sights, throughout the world. Although there is no recent history of either domestic or international terrorism in Bulgaria, we believe there is an increased general threat to visibly British institutions and organisations from global terrorism as there is in all other countries in this region.

Crime levels are roughly comparable to the UK. Organised criminal groups are active in casinos, nightclubs, prostitution and elsewhere. Much local violent crime is the result of turf battles between criminal groups. You should beware of groups of young pickpockets (often children) in city centres, especially busy shopping areas and underpasses. Thieves and pickpockets also target holidaymakers at Black Sea coastal resorts. You should leave passports and other valuables in a hotel safe or other secure place. (You are strongly advised, however, to carry a copy of the information pages of your passport as proof of identity).

Car theft is commonplace. Thieves target prestige and four-wheel drive models, but any unattended vehicle is at risk. If possible, you should use alarms and other visible security measures.

Fave Website

www.thetravelrag.com

A great resource that has travel stories, photos, accommodation reviews, travel book reviews and commissions travel writing.

Meeting News from London

Meeting News from London

London meeting Saturday 6th March 2004 by Padmasana

This month our first speaker was Anthony Lambert, who talked to us about “Railways on the wild side”. Anthony took us on journey around the globe starting in Patagonia. In Peru we saw trains that travel at altitudes where oxygen is carried on board for the passengers. The train across South Africa’s Garden route may not be that wild, but is certainly beautiful, Padmassana was there at Christmas. The Hejaz railway in the Middle East is certainly wild and until a few years ago a bit lawless. Anthony showed us trains of India serving remote tea plantations and probably the wildest of them all in Pakistan up the Khyber Pass.

Our second speaker was Globetrotters own resident Aussie, Jacqui Trotter. This was part two of Jacqui’s year long trip around South America, where she travelled for the most part with a group by overland truck. This time she showed us Argentina, firstly in Buenos Aires, where she visited Eva Peron’s tomb and explored the colourful Boca area, famous as Maradona’s birthplace. She was lucky enough to visit the fabulous Iguaçu Falls from both the Brazilian and Argentine sides, before visiting a very non descript Brasilia. Jacqui showed us Rio de Janeiro, the Sugar Loaf mountain, Christ statue and the Rio carnival where she partied until 3am with the locals. Her journey continued through Brazil and finally into Venezuela from where she flew back to reality and the Globetrotters committee!

Next month, on Saturday 3rd April, John Douglas will be talking on Norway’s Arctic Highway, followed by Karen Neale after the break talking about an artist’s journey through World Heritage cities and a 5 month Churchill scholarship on drawing and painting.

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

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Serengeti Safari by Jennifer, NYC

I decided to go on a safari in Africa – not so unusual. However, all of the travel information I was able to dig up in preparation for this life experience talked about the game drives during the day and the typical you’ll see this many giraffes, this many zebra, this many lion, etc. I was not able to find information on what it was like being out there in your tent in the middle of the night. But I went anyway – not knowing. As it turns out that was my favourite part of the trip.

It’s October, we arrive in Tanzania and eventually make it to our camp deep in the Serengeti – Kusini Camp run by Fred and Carol, who are two of the coolest people my husband and I have ever met. We go out for some game viewing which is great fun, as expected. Evening starts to roll around, we have a great dinner, and then relax by the fire. As we are sitting around the fire listening to Fred’s crazy hunting stories we hear a slight noise to our right. As we look over, the Masai tribesman, who is monitoring the perimeter of the camp for wild animals shines a light on the stone bird bath not but 10 feet away. There is an enormous Cape Buffalo drinking from the birdbath. A magnificent sight up so close. This is when I knew that night time was going to be the best.

Shortly after, the Masai tribesman with rifle in hand, escorts my husband and I back to our tent – fully equipped with a small walkie talkie in case of an emergency. As we settle down for sleep we notice the unbelievably unique quiet surrounding us. It’s deafening quiet, however amongst the quiet you can hear the sounds of Africa. I can’t stand it anymore. I jump up, grab the spotlight provided, and start to survey the land around us through the thin mesh windows of the tent that separate us from them. Under the magnificent light of the stars in the black sky I am able to see an elephant slowly moving toward our tent. He arrives in only a minute or two to graze on the grass surrounding our temporary canvas residence. He is loud when he eats and a bit clumsy fooling around in the bush. But graceful and so close I could smell his dank leathery breath. I know he could charge at any minute if I went out and got in his way, but I feel safe inside and am able to watch him from only a few small feet away.

Later, I wake up to what I consider a roar, and it wasn’t my husband! This immediately provokes me to get out the spotlight again. This time I cannot see anything, not even a set of yellow eyes, but I can hear the roar from time to time. You just know he’s there. I set up shop by the opening to my tent waiting for him to emerge. I slept right there on the wooden floor but never saw him. In any case, this was surreal enough.

The next night I could barely wait to head back to the tents. This time I was ready and wanted the entire wild kingdom at my doorstep. While I lay there I could hear a lion again. I think he came back – maybe he liked it there as much as I did. I kept listening until I finally fell asleep. Fred was able to confirm my suspicions in the morning – there were lions in our camp.

We headed on the 4th day to a different camp in the Western part of the Serengeti – Kira Wira camp on the Grumeti River. During the night at Kira Wira I was also able to feel the excitement of being out in the wilderness. Again I awaken halfway into the night. This time to watch a hippo casually stroll by our tent and then head over to my Aunt’s tent nearby. The big fellow sauntered through the bush. I couldn’t believe it – up until this point I had only seen their heads in the water.

In the morning our Kira Wira friend came to wake us up with our usual coffee and tea just at sunrise. As he began to leave our porch he was confronted by a small herd of about 10 Cape Buffalo that came to graze by our tent or try to stay safe from the lion and lioness that may start to get hungry again. We were able to watch these buffalo in the faint morning light. They were only a few feet away looking falsely harmless and eating their breakfast.

Our last night we began our tent ritual by sitting on the bed with all of the tent windows zipped open looking out at the darkness. A large bat landed on the meshy “front door”. As it hung out there we watched its quick tiny movements. All of a sudden a long very furry blob leapt up on the door and grabbed the bat, whisking it away into the night. It all happened so fast we are still not sure what kind of 3 foot Civet or Janet it was that had been lurking nearby but it was an amazing close to our last eerie evening.

While the game drives were awe-inspiring across Tanzania, as I am sure they are all over Africa, I have to say that by far the most exciting part of the trip was not knowing what kind of visitor I would have each night and how close they would venture to mingle with this crazy New Yorker.

Kusini Camp info:

P.O. Box 427, Arusha, Tanzania

tel: +255 27 2502143

fax: +255 27 2508273

kmkjmz@optonline.net

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Meeting News from New York

The March meeting has been cancelled as Laurie, the New York Chair will be away on business in LA. If anyone would like to help Laurie or stand in as Deputy, please e-mail her on: newyork@globetrotters.co.uk

For details of forthcoming meetings email newyork@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates, click here at our website.

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theatre, 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 .

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