We’ve never had it so good, travelling around South East Asia, particularly Thailand, with increasing numbers of opportunities to take low cost flights.

Thai Airways International recently announced that it would form a budget airline, Sky Asia, with five domestic partners to fend off competition from a crop of new low-cost carriers. Sky Asia will start operations in the second quarter of this year.

Thai AirAsia, to be launched next month, will also compete with privately owned domestic Thai carriers such as Phuket Air, www.phuketairlines.com Bangkok Airways www.bangkokair.com and PB Air www.pbair.com that has several routes in Thailand including: Lampang, Phetchabun Roi-et, Sakonnakhon, Nakhon Phanom Krabi, Nakhon Si Thammarat and overseas: Danang, Luang Prabang, Bagan.

Another Thai domestic carrier, Orient Thai, http://www.orient-thai.com launched a no-frills airline last month with a one-way ticket to Chiang Mai at half the current Thai Airways market price. Its other routings include Bangkok to Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, South Korea

Malaysian based Air Asia www.airasia.com says that it is Asia’s first low fare no frills airline to introduce “ticketless” travelling, and has flights within Malaysia and to Singapore and Thailand.

Indonesian based Lion Air currently flies to 32 destinations, including four regional flights connecting Jakarta with Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Singapore and Ho Chi Minh City. They plan to start selling business class seats underlines its attempt not to position itself as a low-cost carrier. They say: “Our air-fares may be the cheapest, but we reduce costs through the choice of aircraft – single-type MD82, which are bigger than the Boeing 737, commonly used by other domestic airlines.

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And gets propositioned on the way… read on!

I got to Buenos Aires in pouring rain from sunny London without mishap. My hotel was ok, in the historic area of Buenos Aires and cost around £12 a night for bed and breakfast, and it has a bathroom too, so not bad. This is a good time to visit Argentina as prices are very low – most meals are under £5 and a giant bottle of beer just £1! I wanted to visit a tango show last night but was just too tired around midnight, the time it is all supposed to kick off. Plan to take a city tour of Buenos Aires.

Went to a place called Puerto Madero and it reminded me of all the regeneration that has taken place in Docklands in London. There were very few people and a lot of brand name American eateries, so, I was a little disappointed. I walked back to town where the real people live, but my poor feet hurt after that! On the plus side, it could be classified as training for my forthcoming Patagonia trekking!

The local beer is good and it is now sunny, in sharp contrast to the day I arrived, so prospects are promising. Then headed by bus to El Calafate in Argentina. I am having great weather – sunny, dry unusually windless, and hot, even by my standards! I was even down to a plain shirt and wished I had packed my sandals. I did a 8-9 hour trek from a place called Refugio Pehoe on the lake of the same name (pronounced correctly as “pewe”. to glacier Grey. It was a very scenic walk compared to the one done the other day to Torres (or more accurately “torture”. del Paine which is featured on the all of the postcards here. I reckon this one was a bit tougher than the Machu Picchu trek in Peru, although that was nearly 5 years ago and my age is definitely beginning to show in my knee joints. Maybe it’s just a matter of time before I start considering Saga holidays!

We met some travellers who had to forego their plans as there was no accommodation at the next two destinations we are heading to, the only other option being to set up your own tent! Having roughed it for the last two nights I am not ready for a repeat performance. The alternative was 180 US dollar per night hotel with everything priced in good US $ – the cheapest item on the menu being a coca cola at only $4! Taking of prices, I was shocked at the London prices of everything in the Torres Del Paine National Park. Still, it didn’t stop me from having 2 bottles of Chilean red last night at £8 each. The idea was to stun myself into a deep slumber in the tent and not notice the gale winds and rain.

One thing I have been disappointed about is not being able to gaze at the night southern sky. Chile has some of the best skies for star gazing – but it has been too cold or too cloudy or both! I am beginning to feel quite worn out now and looking forward to taking a hot shower and sleeping in a proper bed! Sleeping bags are not for people like me who toss and turn and sleep in the spread-eagle position!

On a bus from Puerto Natales, I met an unemployed doctor from Spain. As a result of having a fluent Spanish speaker on the team, we were able to find a hotel room very quickly and cheaply, and sorted out our transport – or more accurately dis-sorted! I decided to abandon my very much desired plans to go on into Chile via Coyhaique and head north through to Puerto Montt on the scenic Carretera Austral, now nearly completed, connecting the upper part of Chile to the remote Southern part. This is a lasting legacy started by General Pinochet. It is said that he wanted it named after him but this was met with a fair amount of opposition.

From Puerto Montt, in Chile, we went to the small but pretty and very touristy, town of El Calafate in Argentina. We visited the Perito Glacier, (a natural wonder that grows by 2m a day) almost immediately after we arrived. It was hot and baking there, but a bus ride one hour later, it was rainy at the glacier. This is Patagonia, so the weather remains ever changing after all! Our Spanish doctor refers to El Calafate as a “tourist trap”. apart from the Perito Moreno, there are other excursions but all priced in US $ and upward of $200! We could move on to our next planned destination of Fitzroy, another “must see” place, but nothing to move on from there til Saturday when we head for the Chilean border once again – and then there is no way of connecting to the Carratera Austral with any certainty!

So, the three of us decided to leave town and take a plane, considerably cheaper than taking the bus over 4 days to Bariloche – another very touristy place renowned for its Swiss like setting and more importantly for me, chocolates! We rented a car at Bariloche airport and although not planned, we managed to tour the whole of the Argentinean lake district in 24 hrs – something that would normally take at least 3 days! With our Spanish doctor friend, we did some intense travelling and did not sleep in the same bed twice. When we all split, I missed our new friend’s animated conversation: drink coffee … dug.. dug… dug…, visit x click, click, click….. and his favourite phrase: “we have 2 possibilities”…. to which I would reply: “what about?” The response would be: “we have 3 possibilities… you decide”. He had all makings a 1st Division civil servant or indeed Local Govt officer, if only he could make decisions! We became good mates and did a list of countries we will travel together in the future – almost all except Britain and USA! A real Globetrotter in the making, rucksacks and only economy class for the “authentic experience” – not sure if it meant not hiring cars!

I did things not “programmed” like hire cars, and which our Spanish doctor friend drove like an aspiring Italian Grand Prix driver in a red Fiat Punto replica. This even gave time to visit the island of Chiloe, S America’s 2nd largest) – did in half a day (instead of whole day) by special negotiation. The place where we stayed In Castro also did the tours, ran the Tourist office, the taxi company ..the lot!

Arrived back in Buenos Aires – in broad daylight in sharp contrast to the previous week when (thanks to Taris our Spanish travel companion and now fast friend) we seemed to be getting to our destinations in the middle of the night with no accommodation fixed! It was a bit of a relief to be in BA after a 15 hr bus journey (very comfy sleeper – got up fresh as a daisy and wished our air flight had been of the same standard – meals, night cap fizzy champagne etc. from Neuquen (Arg).

This time in BA, we opted to stay in the slightly posher part of town. I didn’t realise the unexpected benefit until we left a Thai restaurant about 1am. We ran into a stunning, vivacious, voluptuous raven-haired beauty who we initially mistook to be a typical friendly Argentine but she made proposals about providing massage and other services by gesticulation as we didn’t understand Spanish, but we got the drift all right!

One of my travel companions muttered something about going to sleep as he was dog tired whereas I tried to explain that my Redbridge Council zero-budget (Hem is a UK civil servant!) for entertainment and socio-economic research would not allow such indulgences. Only moments earlier I was reflecting on the night time economy as the Environmental Executives of BA municipality, who were furiously flushing the pavements and clearing garbage just yards away. And then to be presented with this provocative proposal – my thoughts of returning home had me thinking of gaps in the Skills Matrix, the reliability of National workforce data with excluded key sector professionals in the all important tourism and culture industry; was she entitled business start up advice and grants, etc, etc – enough of work talk.

On serious note: life is pretty tough for most people after the near-collapse of Argentina’s economy 3 yrs ago and a great many try and cope with everyday life by doing two or three jobs and even reverting to desperate means.

Not one for taking taxis for the “authentic experience”, I found myself taking the underground metro. It was amazing to find that that TV screens suspended over the platforms showing all kinds of stuff – one in particular was a Miss Brazil (previous night I am sure it was Miss Argentina) parading on a catwalk – starting with a glasses, full business suit and the mandatory army officer hat – starting to strip of each apparel at a time – Did she take everything off? No Se, I don’t know. I was on the fast and frequent train by the time she got down to her essentials! Visit Argentina – its a great place to enjoy yourself !

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The Beetle visited Papua New Guinea (PNG) last Christmas and here is an account of Port Moresby.

Getting to PNG the first time was not straightforward, although I have since learned that it is much easier to fly from London to Singapore – about 12 hours, and then take a 6 ½ hour Air Niugini flight (twice a week) from Singapore to Port Moresby. Because last year I intended to spend some time in Australia on the return leg back to London, I flew into Brisbane, transferred up to Cairns, a short hop, and then a 1 ½ hour flight from Cairns to Port Moresby. The international airport at Port Moresby is modern, has a shiny floor, a tourist office that I never saw open (on the 4 occasions I went through it) and is a great place to people watch! Whilst waiting for my diving buddies, a week into my trip, I met and chatted (in pidgin) with a charming man from the highlands who was (seriously) wearing his full traditional costume, which consisted of a lot of feathers, not much in the way of clothing and painted marks on the face, arms and torso. He looked both dignified and quite splendid. He was the type of figure you might expect to see on a postcard, only I met him for real!

Finding a budget place to stay for a weeks’ diving proved a little difficult. I would have liked to have stayed at the Loloata resort – primarily a place for divers, but it was way out of my budget. Eventually, John and Chrissie at PNG Dive recommended the Magila Motel to me. OK, it was a little basic, a concrete based room, but it was clean, safe and had a bed and a shower – perfectly adequate – and was well run by a determined Scottish lady, her two dogs, husband and local and Philippino staff. What really made the Magila motel welcoming to me, and I was there alone, was that it has an outside area with tables and benches and a telephone. I ate all my meals outside in the shade of the umbrellas, and struck up conversations with anyone else eating at the same time – I was impressed by how incredibly friendly people were.

The telephone was the focal point of the place and attracted good natured queues. (None of the international mobile telephone companies are willing to establish a network in PNG, so no cell phones work, with the result that public telephones are well used facilities – remember those times?) As people waited, they sat at the table, drank a beer or two and started conversations with anyone around, and I was no exception, being something of a curiosity, a white English female, all alone for a week and only present from late afternoons onwards. After a week, I think I must have met every single person staying in the Magila, a mix of transient one night stays by people coming to town from the highlands for business and returning the next day, to a former member of the government who had won a scholarship to study for a business degree in Australia, and was in Port Moresby for a business appointment, the leader of the opposition, very jolly, who seemed to be largely revered because he had won a huge amount of money gambling… an Australian expat and local wife staying for a month or so on a budget, “doing a deal” on a timber plantation his parents used to own and lots of people who just dropped in for a beer and a rest.

Most expats I met were Australian – makes sense at it is so close. One regular visitor to the Magila, a wiry hardy man, originally from Cornwall, but a naturalised PNG citizen (on account of having stayed there for over 30 years) popped in from where he was working across the road to have a beer and meet up with his mates, introduced to me as local gold dealers and various bigwigs discussing all manner of business ideas and opportunities. He and his various friends were great company and told me lots of stories on how life really is, about rascals – a favourite topic of conversation, coupled with the amount and latest tales of bribery and corruption – some of it really quite shocking and a lot of it chuckle type common sense. While I was there last year, the local press ran stories about a large and prominent building in the centre that was started three times. The first two times, the building contract was awarded to a construction firm which ran off and stole all of the money before the work was even started!

A lot of bad news is written about Port Moresby, but I can honestly say that I did not at any time feel threatened, at risk or in danger. I had a great time and felt as if I had had the chance to talk with a lot of people, all of whom were fascinating (to me, with their different stories) and at the same time generous, kind and sincere. It’s the kind of place where people come down from the highlands or the coastal areas, looking for work; unemployment is massive, so, there are a lot of people with nothing much to do. This type of problem is not exclusive to PNG, and of course, as a visitor, you have to be streetwise.

There are some things for a tourist to see in Port Moresby, and my favourite by far is PNG Arts. It is an enormous warehouse, just crammed full of all types of handicraft, ranging from phallic shaped salt and pepper shakers to masks, ceremonial daggers to picture boards to tables, carved 2 metre long wooden crocodiles and more. All of the items are made by local people, from the Triobriand Islands (highly prized) to the Highlands, many of them are produced by co-operatives, so at least you know you are supporting the local economy. All of it was eminently affordable, although there were some quite pricey, beautifully carved and intricate pieces. I spent over than half a day just browsing around the dusty objects for sale and could quite happily have sent much more time there.

It is quite a magnet for the expats who come to buy presents to take back when they go home. I got chatting to one of the men who worked there. He was a fascinating Canadian man who has been in PNG for over 30 years, who went there as a bet, from his native Canada, back in the 1960s. He wryly told me about the bet, how all his friends should have gone with him, but one by one, they all dropped out, so he came alone, and has stayed ever since, dabbling in gold mining, timber and coconut plantation management and ended up at PNG Art. I couldn’t resist it, but I bought a whole load of souvenirs from PNG Art and had them crated up and shipped home. My friends (Padmassana included!) were extremely sceptical and joked that I would never see them. But 5 months later, 2 large wooden crates arrived by parcel post, incredulously delivered by a man who said he’d never handled anything from PNG before! It’s a great place, and sadly, it was very difficult to find souvenirs in Rabaul or Kavieng, so I was glad that I had made the visit there and had something to show and give to my friends from PNG.

Other things to do in Port Moresby include a trip to see the Houses of Parliament, there’s some botanical gardens, although I did not visit them, some WW2 remains.

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What is it:Schistosomiasis, also called bilharzia (bill-HAR-zi-a), is a disease caused by parasitic worms. They currently infect over 200m people each year, and the number of people infected increases.

Where am I most likely to catch Bilharzia? Africa: Southern Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, Lake Malawi, the Nile River valley in Egypt, Latin America: Brazil, Suriname, Venezuela, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Caribbean: Martinique, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, Saint Lucia (risk is low), Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Yemen, Southern China, Southeast Asia: Philippines, Laos, Cambodia, Japan, central Indonesia, and the Mekong delta.

How do I get it: by paddling, swimming, washing or drinking fresh water. Fresh water becomes contaminated by Schistosoma eggs when infected people urinate or defecate in the water. The eggs hatch, and if certain types of snails are present in the water, the parasites grow and develop inside the snails. The parasite leaves the snail and enters the water where it can survive for about 48 hours. The schistosoma parasites can penetrate the skin of persons who have contact with the water.

What happens next: within several weeks, worms grow inside the blood vessels of the body and produce eggs. Some of these eggs travel to the bladder or intestines and are passed into the urine or stool.

What are the symptoms: symptoms of schistosomiasis are caused by the body’s reaction to the eggs produced by worms, not by the worms themselves. Within days after becoming infected, you may develop a rash or itchy skin. Fever, chills, cough, and muscle aches can begin within 1-2 months of infection. Most people have no symptoms at this early phase of infection.

How do I cure it: your doctor will ask you to provide stool or urine samples to see if you have the parasite. A blood test has been developed and is available but for accurate results, you must wait 6-8 weeks after your last exposure to contaminated water before the blood sample is taken. Safe and effective drugs are available for the treatment of schistosomiasis. You will be given pills to take for 1-2 days.

How can I prevent getting Bilharzia:

• Don’t swim in infected water
• For washing or bathing, use water that has been heated to 50^oC or more for at least 5 minutes or water chemical disinfected.

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Meeting news from our branches around the world.

A recent New Zealand study of almost 900 passengers has shown that up to one in 100 long-haul fliers could develop blood clots, and wearing compression stockings, taking aspirin and travelling business class may not help.

The press release says: “New Zealand researchers tested almost 900 passengers who took long-haul flights over a six-week period. The subjects travelled for at least 10 hours and each flew an average of 39 hours. They discovered nine cases, four of pulmonary embolism and five of deep vein thrombosis (DVT), which involves the formation of blood clots which can cause death if they invade the lungs or brain.

Seventeen percent of the passengers in the study by the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand wore compression stockings to aid circulation. Thirty-one percent took aspirin to thin the blood and reduce the risk of thrombosis”. The conclusion is that all air travellers are at risk and not just those in economy class. The team carrying out the research even suggested renaming ‘economy class syndrome’ to ‘traveller’s thrombosis.’

During recent court action, victims have blamed cramped aircraft cabins for their blood clots and argued that airlines have known of the risks for years but failed to warn people. A British court recently agreed with the airlines, which claimed that DVT was not an accident under the 1929 Warsaw Convention that governs international air travel.

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