Mike from the UK says: if you’re desperate for a toilet and can’t find a handy McDonalds, the more luxurious hotels always have toilets in their lobbies – walk straight past reception and you should find them 🙂

Shirley from Kent in the UK saw the following in Bali:

If you have any loose baboons in your pocket, you might want to visit the “monkey exchange” for something smaller! Also, did you know in Bali you can have “antiques made to order”?

Janelle from Roseville, MN saw in a street in Hong Kong at a tailors shop?;…”ladies, have fits upstairs.”

Dee from the UK was in Japan when she saw a vending machine selling cans of “Sweat”. Although it was hot, and the cans were cold – she decided not to buy one!

Tom from North Carolina wrote in to tell us his experience in Rome. He saw a woman ostensibly carrying a baby in her arms (all he saw was a rolled up blanket) and a child about 10 years old approached me begging in a very confined sidewalk area. The pitiful expression on her face would make an old grown man cry. He suddenly remembered warnings he had read – while the tourist digs in his pocket for some coins the kid circles around and slits the backpack or pocket. Fortunately he was carrying his daypack with camera, etc. in front and his

Got any scam experiences you’d like to share with the Beetle? Then e-mail them to: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

Sue (Deputy Chair, London) would like some advice/tips/pointers on where to go and what to do in Buenos Aires at the New Year. Please contact the Beetle with any advice: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

Need help? Want a travelling buddy or advice about a place or country – want to share something with us – why not visit our Mutual Aid section of the Website:Mutual Aid

If you have a travellers tale that your aching to tell. Then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website and share it with the world. Travel Sized Bites

The winner of last month’s East & Southern Africa Quiz was Thomas Simoneit who lives in Muenchen
Germany. Well done – your book is in the post (subject to delays we are currently experiencing.)

We have Charlie Loram’s Trailblazer Guide Book on Trekking in Laddakh, which he has kindly donated as a prize for the winner of this month’s quiz. And what is more, Charlie has set this month’s quiz:

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Tom from North Carolina wrote in to tell us about his time in Tibet: we (a small group of 8) had the usual difficulty with our visa delaying our entry to Tibet from Katmandu by a day even though this was planned and paid for in advance. We had to pay a second time and our original visa fee was eventually returned. Chinese officialdom also confiscated my Swiss army knife before I was allowed to board the airplane to Lahasa.

We toured the country in a small bus with Tibetan driver and Chinese guide both very pleasant. In addition to Lhasa, the capital, we also visited Shigatse and Gyantse, the next two largest cities, really small towns. This meant long rides (10 hours one day) travelling on dirt roads with no guard-rails but great scenery – neat farms, spectacular lakes, snow-capped mountains with steep drops and yaks.

We ate delicious food outside at a “one table” roadside place at very low prices. All the Tibetan people were very gracious and pleasant. At one lunch stop (two tables) while our food was being prepared we observed the ladies of the town in a Tug-of-war contest being cheered on by their men. The four ladies in our group were invited to participate.

Other than the scenery, the highlight of the visit was the Potala Palace in Lahasa where we spent an entire day climbing all types of steps and ladders to the thirteen levels of that seat of the Dalai Lamas. That is why Tom now has a bionic left knee.