GO!

LEAVING AUSTRALIA

Crossing water always costs far more than travelling across land so getting out of Australia and up to Singapore will be your biggest transport expenditure all the way to Europe. If the land route through Burma were reopened you could travel by land all the rest of the way from Singapore.

If you don’t intend to go through Indonesia you can fly direct from most Australian capital cities. Some sample full price air fares are:

Sydney - Singapore	$267.
Sydney -Bangkok	$344
Sydney - Delhi	$422
Perth - Singapore	$221
Darwin - Singapore	$194

Travelling by ship can be quite a bit cheaper than air but fares are dependant on the berth you take. The cheaper berths naturally tend to be booked up well ahead, the fares listed run from a six berth to a single berth cabin on Chandris Line. Other possible shipping lines are Centaur and Singapore Australia Shipping, there may also be irregular charter ships.

Sydney - Singapore	$192 to $256
Fremantle - Singapore	$120 to $184

Flying direct to Indonesia the cheapest flight is from Darwin to Bali by the Indonesian airline Merpati. Catch with this is there is only one flight per week and it tends to be very heavily booked, like three months ahead. TAA are the general agents for Merpati in Australia, plan ahead. The paucity of Merpati flights may be due to the Indonesian policy of restricting the number of international flights into Bali - a good thing too. There is a more than good possibility that other international carriers will only be allowed to fly into Djakarta further restricting the flights into Bali.

Darwin - Bali	$ 88
Sydney - Bali	$219
Sydney - Djakarta	$194

Occasional ships run from ports in Australia to Indonesia, you’ll only find out when and where by nosing around. An average sort of example would be Sydney to Surabaja on Java for about $80.

Starting from Darwin is quite the best way of travelling through Indonesia, that way you get to see a good chunk of Australia too. If you can plan ahead it is easiest and cheapest to get the Merpati flight direct to Bali, or to Kupang and a connecting flight to Bali. An easier flight to get on is TANs three times weekly flight to Portuguese Timor on behalf of Aeros de Timor. It’s easy to get in but due to the vagaries of local transport Timor can be a hell of a difficult place to get out of.

Darwin - Bacau, Portuguese Timor

$ 45

So you’ve escaped, now what?

PORTUGUESE TIMOR

Portuguese Timor is the nearest country to Australia but remarkably little known perhaps because it’s easy to get into but difficult to get out of. In fact transportation is much simpler between Portuguese Timor and Australia than it is between Portuguese and Indonesian Timor. Additionally. scare stories about the unpleasantness of the inhabitants frighten people off. I suspect that a lot of these are associated with the undeniable difficulties of transportation. The Northern Territories tourist board is a useful source of information on Timor.

HISTORY: Another of those last outposts of Portuguese colonialism, Timor was held by the Portuguese at the same time as the Dutch were subduing the rest of Indonesia. Spasmodic skirmishes took place between the Dutch and Portuguese during their colonial periods and for some time Timor was governed from other Portuguese colonies - Goa in India or Macau near Hong Kong. Naturally the Portuguese presence today is not appreciated by the Indonesians but as in other parts of the world, such as Angola, the Portuguese are reluctant to let go. The Indians got rid of them remarkably easily in Goa.

TRANSPORT: .The airport for arrivals from Darwin is at Bacuau, the second town of Portuguese Timor. From there transport to Dili, the capital is either a day long bus ride costing about $1 or a short flight by De Havilland Dove costing about $US10 - only ten passengers at a time. In Dili your problems start. If Zamrud are in business you’re in luck and can fly by Douglas DC-3 to Kupang for approximately $US18 or all the way to Bali, with many stops en-route, for $US50. If not you’ve got some hard travel ahead. From time to time shipping services, or even flights, operate to Oe-Cussi, a small Portuguese enclave in Indonesian Timor. If you can’t take that then it’s a combination of trucks and buses all the way. Either way somewhere along the line you’re going to have to sling your pack on your back and do some walking. If you’re lucky only a few kilometres but a lot of people come back with tales of 50 kilometre marches. This is where the hassles come in, scarcity of transport puts the prices up and long walks can end up with border extortions if you want to cross. If you’re worried then give Timor a miss, plan far enough ahead and get that direct Darwin to Kupang flight. Without doubt Timor is the hardest travelling all the way from Australia to Europe.

ACCOMMODATION AND FOOD: The strong Chinese element in Timor ensures a supply of good cheap hotels and eating places. If you are staying any length of time you can get a beach house at Dili for about a dollar a week, including a guard, pay him to do some guarding. Good Portuguese beer.

CLIMATE: As north Australia; in the wet season, November to March, it’s very wet.

MONEY: 31 Escudo - $A1. No black market.

VISAS: Apply to the Portuguese Embassy, they cost $A3.20 - you can also get them in Darwin. When crossing into Indonesian Timor the onus is on you to ensure your passport is entry stamped. Hassles later if it isn’t.

INDONESIA

Indonesia must be one of the most interesting countries you pass through and Bali will definitely be a case of not saving the best for last. The islands of the chain are each different and each has its own attractions. The southern islands tend to be drier and less tropical than Bali and the northern islands. Alfred Russel Wallace, a predecessor of Darwin, drew his ‘Wallace line’ through Bali - dividing Asia from Australasia. Best known of the southern islands is Komodo, famous for its ‘dragons’ - actually just giant lizards.

Bali is still Indonesia’s chief tourist attraction and one could hardly ask for a more pleasant introduction to the type of cheap living you’ll get used to all the way to Europe. Go soon though - the charm of Bali shows every indication of being rapidly eroded by tourism. Every town seems to have some artistic speciality but particularly worth seeing are Mas, the centre for woodcarving and Ubud, the artists colony where many foreign and local artists operate. Then there’s Trunyan, supposedly the oldest village in Bali, and the nearby volcanoes. You can climb Batur or Agung which is over 3000 metres high and last erupted in 1963. South of Kuta is Uluwatu with a fantastic temple perched a hundred metres above the water on a cliff face. Temples are scattered all over the island, Gua Gadjah - the elephant cave is an ancient cave monastery near Denpassar.

It’s the people who make Bali the total experience it is, somewhere you’re bound to see one of the Balinese dances. Best known is the Ketchak, telling a tale from the Ramayana in which Rama resues his kidnapped wife with the help of Hanuman and his monkey army, from which comes the name monker’ dance. It’s a reminder that Bali is still a Hindu country, the Moslem influence never crossed the channel from Java. The best feature of the Ketchak is the crowd of people who provide sound effects and fantastically synchronised actions.

The Tjalonarang is a spectacular confrontation between good, the comic lion Barong and evil, the witch Rangda. Within the dance is the dance of the kris where supporters of the Barong, unable to stab the Rangda attack themselves while in a trance. The Legong is a dance performed by young girls accompanied by the traditional Balinese orchestra - the Gamelan. Other Balinese entertainments are the Wayangs - shadow puppet dramas and of course, cock fights. Many Balinese keep fighting cocks find you can often see them sitting by the roadside watching passers by - in order that they don’t get bored between fights. You’ll often see an owner giving a little mouth to beak resuscitation between rounds.

Java is the most populous and developed island of Indonesia and the central part has spectacular volcanoes and beautiful scenery Surabaja, the southern port of Java, is uninteresting but visit nearby Mt. Bromo. Jogjakarta, or Jogja, was the centre of resistance to the Dutch in the 19th century. The palace built for the Sultan of Jogja in 1755 is worth seeing but the prime attractions are 30 kilometres to the northwest at Borobodur. One of South East Asia’s great Buddhist temples, Borobodur was begun in the 8th century and took over a century to complete. The central stupa consists of four square terraces surmounted by three circular ones and the main stupa. Reliefs carved in the galleries of the terraces trace the life of Buddha and his followers. Walk the galleries clockwise, going the other directions pays respect to evil spirits. Two burial monuments stand slightly east of the main temple. Built a century later and dedicated to the Hindu gods, Prambanan stands 15 kilometres east of Jogja. The various temples contain statues of Shiva, Durga and Ganesh while the reliefs tell the story of the Ramayana.

Djakarta, the capital, is not a very pleasant city. Destroyed by the Dutch and rebuilt as Batavia it shows much Dutch influence, particularly in the filthy canals built in imitation of Amsterdam. Even more evident is the heavy hand of Sukarno in the monumental drives, unfinished giant mosque and the eastern european like statues. You can always pass an afternoon in the excellent museum and the old wharf area is interesting. The 100 hectares of the Bogar botanical gardens were founded in 1817 and have a fantastic range of plant life, about 50 kilometres from Djakarta.

Sumatra, the largest, least populated and most primitive of the chain is also the least spoilt. It’s possible this neglect is caused by the Sumatran seasons - the wet when travel is difficult and the wetter when it’s impossible. You can travel right through to Medan and take a boat across to Malaya. From Telukbetung it is possible to get a boat to Krakatoa mid-way between Sumatra and Java. When it exploded in 1883 the Krakatoa volcano killed over 30,000 people. Palembang and Djambi are not terribly exciting but Bukittinggi is a beautiful mountain resort with an interesting matrilineal society where the oldest woman in the family is boss. Near here grows the Raftlesia - largest flower in the world, named after Sir Stamford Raffles of Singapore fame and bigger than a cabbage. Bengkulu south of Padang on the coast was his headquarters during the brief period of British rule in Indonesia - an old fort still stands from that period.

Prapat on the shore of lake Toba has good beaches and from here you can catch a boat out to Tomok on the island of Samosir in the lake. The Batak tribe on the island are noted for their hospitality and their peculiar houses with large roofs stretching out over the house fronts.

HISTORY: Towards the end of the 7th century powerful kingdoms began to appear in Java and Sumatra. A number of these came to power over part or all of the archipelago and even spread their influence up into the Malay peninsula and founded Singapore. Hindu and Buddhist areas developed, but the spread of Islam, - arriving in the mid 15th century, weakened the final Hindu-Buddhist dynasty and broke the country up into a number of smaller Moslem states ruled by Sultans. The Moslem religion came to Indonesia secondhand, by way of Indian traders, and had mellowed from the fierce brand initially exported by the Arabs. A powerful Moslem state, centred on Malacca in the Malayan peninsula, gained control over much of Sumatra but in 1511 it fell to the Portuguese.

The Portuguese were the first Europeans to come in search of the spice trade, they were followed by Spanish, British and Dutch. From this tangle the Dutch emerged in control but the spread of their power was by no means as peaceful as the earlier Hindu, Buddhist and Moslem influences. The Dutch East India Company destroyed Djakarta fearing its prince was allied with the British. Based at their reconstructed town, named Batavia, the Dutch gradually and forcibly spread their power over all of Java and southern Sumatra by the end of the 18th century. A brief and successful period of British rule as a result of Napoleon’s collapse in Europe, only turned the Indonesians even more against the Dutch. Renewed Javanese resistance broke out in 1825 which the Dutch finally quelled by seizing and exiling the Javanese guerilla leader who had agreed to come to a meeting for negotiations. The Dutch company never succeeced in capturing Bali and in 1849 signed a pact with it. In 1871 the British withdrew their protection of northern Sumatra and the Dutch spent the rest of the century trying to add it to their empire. In 1899 the Netherlands government finally took over from the, by now chaotic, Dutch East India Company and within ten years had control over all of Sumatra and Bali.

The Indonesians held little love for the Dutch as a company or a government and a number of independence movements sprang up. Finally towards the end of the Japanese second world war occupation, Sukarno, who was imprisoned by the Dutch at the time of the Japanese invasion, declared Indonesia independent. Four years of struggles with the Dutch were to follow before final independence in 1949. Weakened by the war and the subsequent struggle and without a government structure such as the British had left in India, independence was not easy for Indonesia.

Sukarno, at first Indonesia’s saviour, nearly bankrupted the country through a series of grandiose plans and developments and the ill-advised “confrontation” with Malaysia. His downfall in 1965 with the subsequent massacres of suspected communists, proved to be the low point of post-war Indonesian history. However an improved situation and some degree of political and economic stability now exists. There’s still a long way to go.

TRANSPORT:

Kupang to Bali: From Kupang several ways are available for getting north to Bali. All three Indonesian airlines - Garuda, Merpati and Zamrud fly this sector but tend to be fairly heavily booked. Zamrud is probably the most interesting, least reliable airline - they have the unfortunate habit of shutting down fairly frequently. Never believe they’ll be flying until your plane is actually in the air!

Garuda - Kupang to Bali, three times a week by Fokker F-28 Fellowship for $US38.

Merpati - Kupang to Bali four times a week for about $US36. One of these is the heavily booked Vanguard flight from Darwin. The other flights are by HS-748, one of them via Flores.

Zamrud - An indefinite number of times a week by ancient DC-3s with as many as three stops en-route. In flight by Zamrud is entertainment all by itself and it costs no more than one of those shiny jets!

If you’re patient and lucky it’s possible to travel by ship from Kupang to Lombok, a short ferry ride from Bali, or to Surabaja from where you can backtrack to Bali. The shipping service is irregular and can take about two weeks but is quite a fun trip - cost is about $US12. There is talk of a regular Bali-bound service being started, going by Komodo to see the dragons.

Island Hopping to Bali: If you’ve got the time and spirit you can island hop all the way to Bali. Approximately 800 to 900 rps will take you from Kupang to Ende on Flores. Flores has a large number of volcanoes both live and extinct, Mt. Keli Mutu has three lakes in its crater where chemicals in the soil have changed each lake to a different colour. Overland through Flores or hire a boat and travel along the coast. From Labuhan on the end of Flores is a short boat hire across to Komodo where the famous dragons live. Another short hop takes you to Sumbawa where again you overland it from one end of the island to the other. An even shorter boat ride takes you across to Lombok from where a daily ferry makes the four hour crossing to Pedang Bai in Bali at a cost of 500 rps.

Bali to Surabaja: A twelve hour bus ride costing 1000 rps, inclusive of the ferry from Bali to Java. Some of the bus services run overnight, some in daylight - a beautiful and interesting ride - so go in daylight. The buses leave very early in the morning and you’ll probably be more comfortable if you get one of the small modern mini-buses.

Surabaja to Djakarta: A variety of possibilities are open for this section. You can take the train for about $US2 or 3 depending on student discounts, direct to Djakarta. That train has a reputation for being slow and uncomfortable certainly when we went on it the train was as filthy as anything in India and managed to arrive about 10 hours late! So go via Jogjakarta, which is a city not to miss in any case. Total cost via Jogja will be very little more than going direct from Surabaja. If you’ll later be travelling on trains in India you might prefer to give them a miss altogether in Indonesia . The bus services are generally good and cheap although the driving can be a little hair rising.

Djakarta to Singapore: Fly or ship, scheduled flights cost about $US80. There’s a once weekly charter flight for about $US60 which most of the flying freaks take. Information about tickets can be obtained at the youth hostel in Djakarta. Pelni lines are the shipping company for most services to Singapore, they have offices in Djakarta and are handled by travel agents. Irregular services operate direct to Singapore from Djakarta and various ports in Sumatra. The usual route is by the weekly ship to Tandjunpinang, an island about 70 kilometres south of Singapore. It takes about 36 hours and costs 4700 rps deck class, just unroll your sleeping bag on deck and make yourself at home. On all Pelni line ships your ticket includes food - fine if you can contemplate life on fish heads and tails - if not bring your own food. From Tandjunpinang frequent launches operate to Singapore for about $A 12. Total cost to Singapore comes to about $US30 - approximately the same as the direct boat services. If you’re travelling east get to Tandjunpinang the day before the ship leaves to Djakarta. Although you can, sometimes, make it from Singapore in time to catch the ship before it leaves in the afternoon, if you miss it you’ve got a week to wait.

Other Flights: There’s a fairly comprehensive domestic flight network in Indonesia. Some sample fares are:

Bali - Surabaja	5700 rps
Bali - Jogjakarta	7400
Bali - Djakarta	16000

Djakarta to Medan: The alternative to the direct Djakarta to Singapore trip is to travel up through Sumatra to Medan. Largest and least populated of the Indonesian islands, Sumatran travel can be slow and uncomfortable but very rewarding. Allow at least a week travelling time and more in the rainy season. As in Java you can, with effort, get student discounts on some buses and trains. From Djakarta, Pelni run a weekly ship up the coast to Medan at a cost of 4000 or 6000 rps depending on whom you believe. There’s also a slightly cheaper shipping service up the other coast as far as Pedang.

If you’re travelling by land the first step will be to Pandjang, a 22 hour train ride costing about $US2 inclusive of the ferry from Java to Sumatra. From there you’ve got a variety of routes open to you - whichever path you take the total cost to Medan should fall in the $US10 to 15 bracket. Typical route would be from Pandjang to Palembang, about 10 hours by train for approximately $US2 then train or bus to Djambi and bus to Bukettinggi. An alternative would be to get off the Palembang train at Perabumulih a couple of hours before Palembang and catch a train to Lubuklingan, about $US1 and about 8 hours. A long bus ride then takes you up the coast to Padang and Bukittinggi. From Bukittinggi it’s another bus ride via beautiful lake Toba to Medan. Medan is noted for its rip offs so keep your hand on your money. Three boats a week run from Belawan, the port near Medan, to Penang in Malaysia - cost is $US7.

Local Transport: In Bali the ideal transport is a motorcycle. Lots at Kuta beach from about $US2 per day - cheaper by the week but bargain. The bikes are Honda 90s or 100s and you must have an international driving license valid for Indonesia. Bemos, the little three wheel pick ups, are cheap and convenient throughout Indonesia. The bemo to Kuta beach from Denpassar costs 50 rps but make sure you’re on one of the regular services and not personally chartering it! A chartered bema is the cheapest transport around Bali for a group of people - $US5 to 10 for a day.

In the rest of Indonesia trishaws are the most common form of city transport - always settle your price before starting. In Djakarta betjeks, motor scooter rickshaw hybrids, are more common, still fix the price first. In Djakarta use the buses, they’re frequent and one price regardless of distance.

ACCOMMODATION: Apart from Djakarta you can get a good, clean double for about 400 rps or less throughout Indonesia.

Timor - Kupang: Wisma Selma but be careful of theft.

Bali - Denpassar: Adi Vasa is really nice, conveniently located just across the road from the Three Sisters restaurant and run by a pleasant young guy

Kuta Beach: You can’t miss here, almost every place is friendly, pleasant and about the same price. You may not have electricity but you will get bananas and tea twice a day for free.

Java - Surabaia: The Hotel Transito, also known as the Bamboo Den, is pleasant and has a good but slightly expensive restaurant. Otherwise try the Christian student centre which is even cheaper and has few Christians to worry about.

Solo: The Central Hotel.

Jogjakarta: Hotel Jogja about 300 rps a double or for 400 the Asiatic. Other Jogja hotels are the Aachmat, the Kota and the Indonesia.

Djakarta: Finding good and cheap accommodation in Djakarta is nearly impossible but Hotel Wisma Deluxe at 5 Djalan Djaksa is a youth hostel at 300 rps per person, has good cheap food and is also useful for travel information. Near Koti station try Hai Kok or on Djalan Djatibaru try the Losman Sudi Mampir. We stayed in Hotel Pharmi also on Djatibaru for 1000 rps a double - nothing special.

Sumatra - Palembang: Hotel Segram, Amar or Aziani

Padang: Tega Tega Hotel or Hotel 33

Bukittinggi: Hotel Grand

Prapat: Pago Pago Inn or Losman Sudi Mampir

Medan: Irama Hotel

Throughout Indonesia you can stay in smaller villages either free or at nominal cost. If you aren’t invited to stay even before you stop then ask for the Kepala Desa - the village headman.

One thing you’ll have to get used to in Indonesia is the toilet position you’ll be adopting all the way to Europe. A toilet is two foot holds and a hole in the floor. Don’t worry you’ll soon find squatting quite natural and it’s physiologically better for you - half the constipation in western civilization is caused by our habit of performing bodily functions from a sitting position. You’ll also get used to Indonesian washing facilities - a large water tank and a plastic dipper. You scoop water from the tank and pour it over your head, don’t climb in the tank!

FOOD: Really good, particularly in Bali. At Kuta beach just follow the crowds, to Mamas for her smorgasbord for example. Don’t miss the crushed ice fruit drinks, my mouth still waters just thinking of them. In Denpassar try the Three Sisters and the Delicious restaurant. In Jogja the Colombo is good. Most major towns have Chinese restaurants, market stalls are generally safe, cheap and appetising.

Basic foods are nasi goreng - fried rice and nasi tchampur - rice combination. My personal favourite was tjap tjhay - fried vegetables, you pronounce it chop chai. Gada gado is a salad served with a peanut sauce and satay is a kind of kebab. The king of Indonesian dishes is rijstaffel- rice dish - it consists of a vast assortment of different things with rice. Try it.

MONEY: 580 Rupiah = $A 1. There is no black market to speak of since they have managed to stabilise the currency. Money dated earlier than 1960 is no longer valid. You get a better rate in Djakarta than anywhere else in the country - but beware the Djakarta pickpockets. Indonesia is one country where Australian dollars are recognised and welcomed.

VISAS: Visas for Indonesia are easily obtainable in Australia for $2.60 but remember that extensions after the month are subject to a ‘landing fee’ of about $US20. You can extend it in Bali but if you are going to be there for more than a month, and you should be, it may be easier to pay it to start with. If you are travelling east get your visas in Singapore. In Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia they put you through all sorts of minimum money, short hair, and non-refundable-tickets-out hassles. They are supposed to in Singapore too, but are so busy they have not got the time to do it.

CLIMATE: Monsoon season in Indonesia is about November to February, it starts and ends later the further south you go. Best time of the year climatically is April or May when the monsoons have just finished and the weather is warm and dry.

THINGS TO BUY: The only place you might find nicer things to buy is Afghanistan. Batik is beautiful throughout Bali and Java, the best is probably from Solo and Jogja. Some people say that Solo, traditionally the second city for batik, is now better/cheaper than Jogja. Batik T shirts are really nice but check the quality, they vary enormously. Wood carvings and paintings in Bali are good although a lot of stuff gets churned out for undiscerning tourists now.

LANGUAGE: A national language, Bahasa Indonesia, is being promoted to supplant the many local dialects. It is quite a simple, easy to pick up language but English is fairly widely spoken.

good morning	selamat pigi	chicken	ajar
good afternoon	selamat siang	eggs	telum
good evening	sclamat sore	bread	roti
how much?	bcrapa hargo?	sugar	gula
where?	dimana?	milk	susu
yes	ja	coffee	kopi
thank you	ferima kasih	boiled water	air minim
excuse me	permisj	noodles	bakmi
do not understand	tidak mengerti	soup	sop

As we often add s to make a word plural, the Indonesians write the word twice. Gada Gado effectively means salad salad or salads. You often see things written mathematically as squared - gad02.

one	setu	six	enam
two	due	seven	ludjuh
three	tiga	eight	delapan
four	empat	nine	sembilan
five	lima	ten	sepuluh

The train ride from Djakarta to Surabaja had been an uncomfortable and lengthy experience. Even Indian trains hadn’t managed to run quite so far behind schedule. We left the station feeling rather dispirited and met the inevitable horde of trishaw jockeys. Bus to Bali seemed to be the one message on their minds but after lengthy consultation we found one rider who understood a. we didn’t want a bus to Bali, b. we wanted to go to a hotel, c. he knew where the particular hotel we wanted was............ so he took us straight to the bus station.

SINGAPORE

A groovy place once you’ve got in, everything from the incredible Bugis Street transvestites to cut price cameras, crazy Tiger Balm gardens to those wham bang Chinese movies. Singapore, the name means lion city, started its modern period in 1819 when Sir Stamford Raffles, who was quite a cat, concluded a treaty to establish a trading post there. Today its per capita income is second only to Japan amongst the Asian countries. A lot of this income comes from the very same purpose Raffles saw - trading. Singapore is a buying and selling centre and just about everything can be bought here - and at a discount. Tourism is also a big deal, annual arrivals of overseas tourists by air and sea alone is now over half a million.

Unfortunately Singapore’s approach to tourists is ambivalent. The clean up Singapore campaign is excellent in that Singapore is just about the only place between Greece. and Australia where you can drink water from the tap and that the streets are so clean you can be fined for dropping a cigarette end. It also means clean out certain types of foreigners - Singapore wants tourists who arrive by air, clutching Samsonite luggage and handfuls of dollars. Most important they’ve got to have short hair. If your hair can remotely be described as long they’ll probably want to see considerable proof of your financial viability and/or a ticket out of Singapore - preferably for that afternoon! This unfortunate attitude seems to be contagious in South East Asia, so hassle avoidance means a haircut - or a short hair wig which some people find very successful.

Once in, Singapore is a very pleasant place and, as everywhere. the people are great. Don’t miss the Tiger Balm gardens, also called Haw Paw Villa they’re actually a Chinese advert for one of those national cure ails - like Vincents. Just across from the gardens is a daily show called Instant Asia, it features everything from Indian snake charming to Thai boxing, an interesting if banal synopsis of several cultures you’ll be passing through. The Bugis Street show is sort of an open air nightclub. usually full of drunk servicemen. Overpriced, so look - don’t buy. at midnight you have plenty to look at. Apart from that Singapore’s real charm is the polyglot population with its variety of Chinese, Indian, Malay and other areas.

TRANSPORTATION: When you want to leave take a bus over the causeway into Malaya. Or take a bus or train to Kuala Lumpar or Penang, services are good and reasonably cheap - you can train direct to Bangkok. If you want to fly up to Bangkok get a ticket through to Calcutta or Kathmandu and just stopover, saves about $US20. You can also ship out to Ceylon for approximately $US100 or to Madras in India via Penang. These sort of services are irregular so you’ll have to check them out at source.

Within the city the bus services are frequent but not as cheap as in other eastern cities, get a bus route map from the tourist centre. Taxis are reasonably cheap but as everywhere make sure the meters are zeroed. In Singapore trishaws are now for tourists only.

ACCOMMODATION: Slightly expensive by eastern standards the ‘bottleneck’ hotel is the Racecourse Road Hotel at 138 Racecourse Road, There’s no sign or anything outside but next door is a travel agent who specialises in travel to Australia and also handles the weekly Djakarta charter flight. Personally we thought Raceoourse Road was a little grotty but cheap at $S4 for a double.

The Jalan Besar area is a good place to look for nicer Chinese hotels and there is also good food in this area. They’re all about the same price but the Palace Hotel at 407 Jalan Besar is particularly good value for $S7.50 for a double.

FOOD: Excellent just about everywhere, any of the small restaurants will provide good fried rice or similar for about $S1. The fruit drinks available from stalls everywhere in the city are excellent and very necessary on those long hot days. The little polythene bags they dispense these drinks in intrigued us throughout South East Asia.

MONEY:$S3.25.= $A1. There is an excellent currency market behind Raffles Place - called Change Alley and you can get just about any money you want and at very good rates. This is the place to get your Burmese Kyats or Indian Rupees.

VISAS: Not required for commonwealth or U.S. visitors but if you are one of those unwanted ‘hippies’ you may have severe limits placed on your permitted length of stay. Very often this can later be extended with proof of purchasing power or a ticket to some place far away.

CLIMATE: Despite its proximity to the equator, Singapore is not as humidly uncomfortable as other cities - for example Bangkok. The rainiest part of the year is November, December and January. even then it is not unbearable.

THINGS TO BUY: You can buy just about anything in Singapore but don’t bother with things you can get in countries you’ll pass through later. Technical goods are the things to buy - Japanese cameras and electrical equipment in particular. Stock up on film for the whole trip, bulk discounts can be obtained, and get films you’ve already taken developed here. If you’re buying a camera or other expensive items, shop around and don’t be afraid to bargain. Clothes are also cheap but you won’t want to carry a new suit all the way to Europe with you? Raffles Place is a bit of a tourist trap.

Chicks can pick up easy money working for the escort services - they’re quite respectable. Remember all local phone calls in Singapore are free.

LANGUAGE: English is the linking language for Singapore’s mixed nationalities and widely spoken.

On Jalan Besar was a motorcycle shop run by one of those Chinese millionaires. Supposedly he had interests all over Singapore but his true love was this two wheeler dealer. Each day of the week he would roll up in a different type of Italian exoticar. We could lean over our balcony and say “Hmnn,-Lamborghini, must be Tuesday.”

MALAYSIA

Malaysia is one of the most beautiful countries you'll pass through and its people incredibly friendly. It’s also fairly advanced and motorised, you really should hitch through Malaya if only to meet the people.

Kuala Lumpar is a fairly featureless modern city except for its crazy rail way station - as fine a piece of Victorian baroque with eastern overtones as you’ll find anywhere in the world. Between Singapore and Kuala Lumpar is Port Dickson a pleasant seaside resort and Malacca, Malaya’s most historic town. Each of the European powers that held Malacca have left architectural evidence of their presence. There’s a find Dutch town hall and the remains of a Portuguese church and fortress.

Penang, the island in the north east where Malaya’s second city Georgetown stands, has some of the finest beaches in the world. It’s reached by ferry from Butterworth on the mainland. Go the the top of Penang Hill for the view over all of the island and visit the snake temple. Just near the Thai border, north of Penang, the islands of Langkawi are an interesting resort area. The hill stations in the central highlands are attractive and a popular escape from the summer heat, Cameron Highlands is the best known.

The east coast is far less developed than the west and the Chinese influence, so strong in the west, has hardly touched the traditional Malay way of life. Transport is much more haphazard and at present it is not possible to cross the centre by land from Penang. You can travel all the way up the east coast from the south or cross from Kuala Lumpar to Kuantan. The attractions of the coast are its beautiful beaches and the relaxed way of life. During May to September giant turtles come ashore to lay their eggs on the beach at night, south of Kuala Trengganu.

HISTORY: Malayan history has almost always been an offshoot of other countries. Buddhist and Hindu empires in the Indonesian islands both exerted their influence over Malaya and later the Thais had a hand in the pie too. The Islam conversion of the Indonesian archipelago also reached Malaya but in 1511 Malacca, the chief Malayan kingdom, fell to the Portuguese. In 1641 it was taken by the Dutch and in 1795 went through changes again, this time to the British. Not until the late years of the last century did the rest of the Malayan states, ruled by Sultans, come under British control.

During Malaya’s empire days many Indian and Chinese peoples came in, changing the racial make up of the country, Independence from Britain finally came in 1957 and in 1963 the Federation of Malaysia was formed, consisting of the Malayan peninsula, Sabah and Sarawak in north Borneo and Singapore. In 1966 Singapore withdrew from the federation over a difference of opinion about its basic aims. Much of the 1960s was clouded by the ‘confrontation’ with Indonesia, partly caused by the Indonesians’ coveting North Borneo. The downfall of Sukarno ended that particular problem although communist guerillas still operate sporadically near the Thai border.

TRANSPORT: Leaving Malaya you can get a train direct from Penang to Bangkok. If you’re hitching you’ll have trouble, unless you get a ride right across the border, as there’s a wide no-mans land between the two countries. There is a fairly frequent shipping service from Penang to Madras in India and the boat service across to Medan in Sumatra is the cheapest way into Indonesia. There are also boats from Malacca across to Sumatra. If you want to see East Malaysia you can travel deck class to Kuching from Singapore for about $US10.

Travel within Malaya is a breeze. There’s an excellent, comfortable and cheap network of trains and buses. Between the major towns there are also long distance taxis at similar prices to the buses. Kuala Lumpar to Singapore, for example, costs $M10 to 15 depending on the luxury of the bus or taxi you take. It’s a shame to waste them but hitching in Malaya is just too good to miss. Malaya must be one of the best countries in the world for hitching and it’s a tremendous way to meet the people.

In the towns taxis and betchaks are good, as are the bus services. There’s a free ferry service 24 hours a day from Butterworth to Penang. Getting out to the small islands off the coast on both sides of the country is quite easy. A daily morning ferry service runs from Kuala Kedar near Alor Setar to Langkawi for example.

ACCOMMODATION: You can usually find cheap hotels in Malaya for $M3 to 5 for a double. As in Thailand cheapies tend to be noisy in small towns due to their dual function as brothels but are clean and habitable. YHA hostels are widespread in Malaya and cost about $Ml per person per night. There are hostels in the Cameron Highlands, Koto Bahru, Kuala Lumpar, Kuantan, Malacca, Penang and Port Dickson.

The New China Hotel in Leith Street, Georgetown is the freak hangout for Penang and the ‘bottleneck’ for all Malaya, $M4 to 6 for a double. You can stay free in Sikh temples, there’s one at the Cameron Highlands turnoff. If you’re hitching people will often offer to put a roof over your head at night - they’re good people.

FOOD: Is much the same in Malaysia as in Indonesia. Satay-kebab dipped in peanut and chilli sauce is a popular local dish. On the whole, however. Chinese food is probably your best bet as it is always good and cheap.

MONEY: $M3.25 =$Al. Malay dollars are completely interchangeable with Singapore dollars. Malaysia is the one place in the world where I have had difficulty in unloading U.S. dollars.

CLIMATE: Monsoon season is November to February. it starts earlier on the west coast but lasts longer on the east. Malaysia is fairly wet year round.

VISAS: As in Singapore you are not required to have a visa but your stay will be limited if you are an undesirable.

BUYING: Malayan Batik is good but not that good if you have come from Indonesia. Penang is a free port and some say cheaper than Singapore or Hong Kong, the choice of goods doesn’t tend to be so large though.

LANGUAGE: Malayan is fairly easy to pick up and closely related to Indonesian, you’ ll find English spoken almost everywhere.

good morning	selamat pagi	where?	di mana?
good afternoon	selamat tengah hari	i don’t understand	saya tidak faham
good evening	selamat petang	good	baik
good night	selsmat malam	bad	tidak baik
how much?	berapa harga?	rice	nasi
too expensive	mahal sangat	tea	teh
thank you	terima kasih	drinks	minuman
yes	ya	no	tidak
one	satu	six	cnam
two	dua	seven	tujuh
three	tiga	eight	lapan
four	empat	nine	sembilan
five	lima	ten	sepuluh

Travelling by thumb through Malaysia we spent a day in a Land Rover with an Indonesian mining engineer named Golden Hoff. Golden was an incredibly good guy and our Malayan ride was a real culinary trip as we sampled every local speciality along the way. We thought Golden Hoff was a really far out name - until we visited a Djakarta airline office and spoke to someone whose name tag prominently announced ‘Wham Bang Valihali’.

THAILAND

A calm pleasant country with friendly people - we certainly found them so. Due to its fertility and relative freedom from population pressures Thailand is also a well fed country. Very much one big city and a lot of primitive country - Chiang Mai the second city is a village in comparison to Bangkok.

Seeing Bangkok is chiefly a question of seeing Buddhas - standing, sitting, emerald, stone and even solid gold. Undoubtedly the most awe inspiring Buddha is the reclining one in Wat Po. Like a beached whale he entirely fills the building, nowhere can you stand more than five metres from him. And who else do you know with mother of pearl inlaid soles to their feet? The main bot - most important building in a wat, at Wat Po is surrounded by 394 sitting Buddhas.

All the temples in Bangkok are worth seeing but don’t miss Wat Phra Keo, the temple of the emerald Buddha. The courtyard of the wat has an immense fresco painted around it. Wat Arun, the massive temple of the dawn is on the other side of the river. Wat Benchamborpit was built by King Chulalongkorn (remember the King and I?) and is shiny new and full of bronze buddhas, across the road is the Dusit Zoo. At Wat Indra stands a standing Buddha and the solid gold Buddha sits at Wat Tramil.

Bangkok’s prime attraction has become an attraction and little else - the floating market is virtually tourists only. Still worth a look but avoid the guided tours - an expensive rip off. Get a party of ten or twelve together and ‘charter your own boat or take a two baht water bus ride from the terminal of the number 25 bus. If you want to charter your own boat go to the landing at the Oriental Hotel, the oldest hotel in Bangkok and the only one actually on the river. You should be able to get a boat for less than $US10 - the cost of two people on a guided tour.

Visit Chiang Mai in the north for the contrast it offers to Bangkok and for its Mon culture. On the way north visit Ayuthya the ruins of the ancient Siamese capital. West towards the Burmese border is the cinematically famous bridge over the river Kwai. On the way see Nakorn Pathom, only 50 kilometres from Bangkok - the Pra Pathom Chedi here is an absolutely massive stupa. East of Bangkok the annual elephant round up is held each November at Surin, elephant races, tugs of war and even battles.

HISTORY: The Thais came south from China into Thailand about a thousand years ago. They first conquered the Mons, who had spread east from the Irrawaddy delta, and then were conquered by the Khmers, who had come west from the Mekong. By this time the Khmer civilization was already peaking out and after repeated skirmishes with the Thais their capital, Angkor, was abandoned in the 14th century to the jungle that would hide it almost until this century.

The Thais, now the dominant people, built their own capital in Ayuthya north of modern Bangkok . For several centuries Thai history consisted of a series of squabbles and wars with neighbouring Burma - often on the flimsiest pretexts. In 1548 the Burmese declared war on the king of Siam simply to appropriate some of his white elephants! The final conflict took place in 1767 when the Burmese sacked Ayuthya and Chiang Mai. The Thais regrouped, defeated the Burmese and rebuilt their capital at Thonburi. Only a few years later in 1782 they moved it across the river to the present site of Bangkok.

In the 19th century when all the rest of South East Asia was being colonised by the French, British and Dutch, Thailand managed to remain independent. By deftly playing off one European power against another they also managed to enjoy most of the material benefits of colonialization - railroads and industry. In 1932 a bloodless coup converted the country to a constitutional monarchy and in 1939 the name Siam was changed to Thailand, means land of the Free. During the war Thailand opened its borders to the Japanese but took no actual part in the fighting on either side.

Since the war Thailand has become somewhat of an American satellite although efforts are currently being made to dissociate it. Like other South East Asian countries Thailand has some problems with communist guerrila activity.

TRANSPORT: Hitching is fair in Thailand, in some places traffic is very light and you may have long waits. Coming up from the Malayan border to Bangkok you’ll be hard pushed to hitch cheaper than the trains - you’ll spend the equivalent of the train fare on food and accommodation.

Train services are cheap, efficient and comfortable. There is a three times weekly service from Butterworth to Bangkok for about $AS, a dollar less from Haadyai the first town on the Thai side of the border. A similarly priced bus service takes rather longer than the 30 hour train trip. Main towns are linked by buses and covered utilities. We hitched through Thailand using the local buses when we couldn’t easily get rides. Trains also run to other parts of the country - for example Chiang Mai for 90 bahts. Returning from Chiang Mai a riverboat runs to Bangkok from Ayuthya.

In Bangkok the buses are cheap - one price everywhere, frequent and well routed, get a bus map from the tourist office or the railway information office. Taxis are expensive.

Leaving Thailand wings are the things. The general route is to Calcutta and/or Kathmandu with the option of a Burmese stop over. If you intend to visit Bangladesh you can fly to Dacca at the same price as Calcutta. If you’re under 26 and can produce an ISC card you’re eligible for a 25% student discount. Most people fly Thai International (a marvellous airline) or, if they want the Rangoon stop over, Union of Burma Airlines.

Bangkok - Calcutta (via Rangoon) $US107 - $US 80 with student discount

Bangkok - Kathmandu (via Calcutta) $US145 - $US109 with student discount

ACCOMMODATION: Bangkok is one of the more expensive cities you pass through but you can still find reasonable hotels fairly easily. Next to the railway station is Thai Song Greet, cheap at 30 bahts a double, but incredibly noisy from the traffic outside. The good restaurant downstairs is the Bangkok bottleneck point for over landers. Efforts may be made to pad your bill out (if you are male this is) with local talent, beware - Bangkok has developed some heavy breeds of VD.

Rather better accommodation is the Starlight Hotel at Soi 22 Sukumvit - Soi 22 is the 22nd road off the Sukumvit road. Air conditioning and a private bathroom for 40 bahts is reasonable, but during the rush hour it can be a long ride from the centre. Buses are so cheap that transportation in and out is no financial problem. The Atlanta at Soi 2 Sukumvit is about the same level although we hear that bad scenes take place there with the cops on occasion. Around the railway station area are a number of other cheap hotels.

We spent one night in quite a different class of accommodation in Bangkok. The Malaysia, a very flash looking place, was doing some special deal whereby you could have the first night at 40 bahts and thereafter at 60. Our theory was that with Viet Nam Rand R business disappearing a lot of Bangkok hotels are looking hard in other directions for business.

Elsewhere in Thailand you can generally find reasonable accommodation for around 20 bahts a double and very good places for 40 to 60 bahts. As in Malaya cheap hotels can be very noisy in the small hours. You can frequently stay free in Buddhist Wats, so long as you’re willing to let the monks practise their English on you. You’ll be doing that anyway!

FOOD: After Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, Thai food isn’t so striking but coming from India it’s a real gastronomic experience. The best meal we had in Thailand was with a group of Thai students with whom we shared a vast assortment of dishes Chinese style. Even the soup came in one communal bowl with eight spoons! So if you really want to eat well get someone who knows the food. If not just look and choose as Thai food is usually out on display.

As fish and chips are to the English, hamburgers to Americans and meat pies to Australians so is Khao Phat to the Thais. Pronounced cowpat it is a fried rice, peppers and meat concoction that always tastes good. The universal Mee is filling and there are a number of local variations such as Mee Krob.

If you’re permanently hungry the streets of Bangkok are terrific as they’re thronged with people selling food. Try cold pineapple chunks served in a leaf with a toothpick, fried or baked bananas, delicious little cakes and all sorts of wild and wonderful fruits. Two are the mangosteen, white segments in a red shell the size of a small apple, and the infamous durian. Durians have a nice taste but an incredibly foul smell, you can tell when durians are in season with your nose.

MONEY: 28 Bahts to $A 1. As in Singapore there is a good free money market.

VISAS: Valid for a month and it costs $A3.50, you have got to look acceptable when applying for it, and that applies to your photos too.

CLIMATE: Thailand has the familiar three seasons year common to this part of the world. The hot season runs March to May the rainy season May to October and the cool season November to February. Best time is December and January but Bangkok is very hot all year, the temperature rarely drops below 30°C. It generally feels much hotter than Singapore over a thousand kilometres to the south. Chiang Mal in the north is also pretty hot but the altitude and lower humidity makes it a more comfortable place.

THINGS TO BUY: The temple wall rubbings you can get in several places, including Wat Po, are nice. They depict fighting elephants, legendary monsters and the like. Less than 10 bahts on rice paper or rather more in colour on silk. they fold up and can be ironed out later. The weekend market next to the Royal Palace is good for curiousities.

LANGUAGE: Away from Bangkok English is not widely spoken - except by monks - which can be a drag as Thai is a difficult language quite apart from its totally different alphabet. Thai words can have a quite different meaning depending on the tone they are spoken in. The oft quoted example is the Thai word for near, the same word in a different tone means far!

yes	cha	I don’t understand	chun mai kao chai
no	mai plao	how much?	nee tawrai?
good morning	sawat dee	you are Joking	kun poot len
goodbye	lar korn	so it goes	mal pen rai
excuse me	kho tose	please	proad
	thank you	kob koen
one	hung	six	hock
two	song	seven	jed
three	sarn	eight	pad
four	see	nine	kow

Still travelling on the thumb we hopped on the back of a truck in central Thailand, filled with sugar cane and giggling Thai girls. When we couldn’t seem to master the art of chewing cane our Thai truckie stopped and gave a dramatic performance of how one tears off chunks of cane with the teeth and spits the chewed fibres overboard!

BURMA

Until recently almost a totally isolated country, after gaining independence in 1948 Burma followed a policy of non-alignment to extreme lengths. Refusing to accept aid from either side of the fence resulted in a stifled economy and poor growth. A rich agricultural country Burma is still far behind its pre-war levels of rice and other crop production. A poor export record limits the amount of imports the country can afford - most of the cars in Burma are pre-war! Supposedly the hardy band of opium smugglers operating from Burma do equally well smuggling car parts in the opposite direction. The war time Burmese highway running through Burma from India, has unfortunately been allowed to deteriorate.

Rangoon, the capital, has a large number of interesting buildings and temples, most important of which is the huge Shwe Dagon pagoda. Four stairways lead to an upper platform and the spire which Buddhist faithful are gradually covering in gold leaf. The bell in the corner of the pagoda weighs 25 tons and at one time was dropped in the Rangoon river while being carted off by the British. The Burmese were given it back after the British totally failed to raise it. Divers tied bamboo to it until it eventually refloated and was restored to its rightful place. In Rangoon the Shule pagoda and Bo-ta-taung pagoda should also be seen.

Pegu, north of Rangoon, used to be Burma’s greatest seaport and has the Shwemawdaw pagoda and a very fine reclining Buddha over 50 metres long. From Pegu continue to Mandalay about 700 kilometres from Rangoon - another name place? In nearby Mingun is the largest hung bell in the world - apart from a cracked one in Moscow - and the uncompleted ruins of a pagoda intended to be the largest in the world. The Kyaunghmudaw pagoda is modelled after a queen’s breast but the beautiful Mandalay royal palace was destroyed during the last war. Mandalay is also a good place to see a ‘pwe’ the traditional Burmese festival time theatre.

From Mandalay one turns south towards Rangoon and Pagan, the most interesting place in Burma. Famous not so much for the quality of its temples and pagodas as their sheer quantity. As in Angkor succeeding kings each tried to outdo their predecessors in the size and magnificence of the buildings they erected, the remains of over 5000 pagodas can still be seen. As in Angkor this expenditure contributed to the eventual decline of their civilization. The vast Ananda temple is the best preserved and was said to contain a tooth of Buddha, amazing how he travelled around leaving a tooth here a hair there. The Thatbyinny pagoda and the Gawdawpawlin pagoda are other Pagan attractions. Further down the Irrawaddy is Prome where a large sitting Buddha looks over the surrounding jungle. From here the railway runs back into Rangoon.

HISTORY: The Mons, also known as the Talaings, were the first recorded peoples in Burma. Around 800 to 1000 AD, the Burmese - who now comprise two thirds of the population, came into Burma from the north, absorbed the Mons and founded their holy city of Pagan. Aniruddha came to the throne in 1044, conquered much of Burma and Thailand, promoted Buddhism - the Mons had been Hindus, and developed the Burmese alphabet. Buddhism now is followed by nearly 90% of the population although some of the primitive hill people still believe in nats - animal spirits.

Despite these efforts by the 13th century Burmese civilization was declining and was hurried on its way by King Narathihapta who squandered vast amounts of money on Pagan pagodas and in 1287 lost a war with Kublai Khan. Pagan, sacked by Kublai Khan, was said to contain 13,000 pagodas at that time. For a long period Burmese history consisted of a series of petty tribal conflicts and wars with kingdoms in neighbouring Siam. The coming of the Europeans to the east had little influence on the Burmese who were too busy fighting to bother about trade.

Unfortunately the Burmese squabbles eventually encroached upon the Raj in neighbouring Bengal and the British moved in to keep things quiet on their borders. In three moves in 1824 - 1852 -1883 the British took over all of Burma. As in India they built railroads and started steam ship services on the Irrawaddy. Under the British, Burma became the world’s greatest rice exporter and also developed large teak markets. With them came Indians and Chinese who exploited the unsophisticated Burmese and took over much of the business life of the country.

As with other countries in this area the Second World War was seen at first as a liberating godsend, an idea which the Japanese - as in Indonesia soon dispelled. Independence was finally granted in 1948 but it took many years for the government to bring the whole country under central control. Some small warring factions still exist but the contrict is more tribal than ideological. In the north the Kachins and Shans are strong tribal groups still opposed to the Burmese.

TRANSPORT: It is neither allowable nor feasible to enter Burma by land, although it may still be possible to get a ship from Singapore and Penang, Fortunately flying in is quite easy - Union of Burma Airlines allow you to stop-over in Rangoon on their Bangkok to Calcutta and Kathmandu flights, other airlines also stop in Rangoon. It’s possible to fly out of Rangoon direct to Moscow by Aeroflot for a remarkably low price.

The limited and non-extendable visa prohibits much travel in Burma. Most people follow the well trodden loop from Rangoon to Mandalay and back via Pagan. If you can get tickets without proof of money exchange the airlines work out quite cheaply (85 kyats to Mandalay) but generally it’s trains and boats. From Rangoon take the train (17 kyats) north to Mandalay then come down the Irrawaddy by steamer (26 kyats) to Pagan and on to Prome. From Prome you can rail it back to Rangoon. With haste you can complete the loop inside seven days.

MONEY: Burma’s official rate of currency exchange is 4.8 kyats to the U.S. dollar. The free market rate is 15.7 kyats to $US1 so you can see why the black market flourishes and the penalties for being caught are so severe. Don’t risk it, bring your currency in with you and exchange the minimum necessary for appearance sake. Remember that major expenditures, such as airline tickets may have to be made in foreign currency or with proof of exchange. Travelling west you can get Kyats in Singapore or Bangkok, the Singapore rate is probably about 20% better than Bangkok. Heading east you can get Kyats in Kabul or Kathmandu.

VISAS: For an exorbitant $US7 you get a mere 7 day visa with no extension possible. You can also get a rather cheaper 24 hour visa, but flights in and out don’t permit you to really use it.

CLIMATE: When it rains it pours and when it’s hot it’s like an oven. December and January, are the best months. From March to early May you cook and from Mid May to Mid October you swim. The Burmese new year falls on April 13th, in the middle of the hot season, and is celebrated by much chucking around of cold water.

THINGS TO BUY: Nice shoulder bags and Pagan lacquer-ware.

LANGUAGE: One of the nicest things about visiting countries the British once had their fingers in is that although there may be a dozen local languages, so even if you spoke one of them you wouldn’t get very far, English is a second language everywhere. That’s the way it is in Burma, English plus everything from Arakanese to Kachin.

OTHER ASIAN COUNTRIES

Due to the continuing effects of the American charade in South East Asia travel to other South East Asian countries is either difficult, not recommended or impossible. It’s an extra special pity that Cambodia is ruled out at the moment as Angkor Wat is, of course, one of the world’s real wonders. Conditions are always likely to change from week to week so things may open up again soon.

South Viet Nam: Air fare from Bangkok is about $US86 one way, make sure your visa and passports are in order before setting out. The South Vietnamese government is very communist nervous and may refuse admission if you’ve visited ‘wrong’ countries. Saigon, the capital, is the most visited place - but expensive. Other attractions are the hill country resort at Dalat, and beautiful beaches at places like Nhatrang. The ancient imperial capital of Hue, near the North Vietnamese border, was largely destroyed during the war. When things are together you can reach Saigon by land from Bangkok. Roads are good all the way through Cambodia.

Laos: The most visited ‘other’ country is Laos. Visas can be obtained in Bangkok but Laos is having an anti-hippy drive so look good. You may require an exit visa before leaving. Most people don’t go much further than Vientiane, often just to try the Laotian grass, as travel by road can be hazardous. The country, people and culture are similar to Thailand and a visit can be conveniently combined with travel to North Thailand. As with all the ‘other’ South East Asian countries, French is a widely spoken second language. A money black market is operated in Vientiane by the Chinese. For accommodation and food try the International Voluntary Service who are also helpful with facts, near the I.V.S. hostel is a French officer’s mess and restaurant.

Vientiane is quite interesting but Luang Prabang is the cultural centre of Laos, chief attraction is the great Golden Buddha from which the town derived its name. Most common route into Laos is by Thai bus to Nong Kai from where a half dollar will take you across the Mekong by ferry into Laos and on by taxi to Vientiane. It is possible to cross by land from Chiang Rai in north Thailand direct to Luang Prabang. As in Cambodia the American supported regime controls only a small part of the country while the leftist revolutionary force, the Pathet Lao, holds most of the rural area. In peaceful times you can travel by bus and boat from Vietiane all the way south to Cambodia along the mighty Mekong - it forms the border between Thailand and Laos.

Cambodia: Once the home of the great Khmer civilization, Cambodia declined due to continual wars with the neighbouring Thais. The abandoning of Angkor in 1432 was the end of the Khmer period, since when Phnom Penh has been the Cambodian capital. Prince Sihanouk, leader of his country since the departure of the French in 1953, kept Cambodia neutral through nearly twenty years of Indo-Chinese conflict until the inevitable American intervention drove him out.

In Phnom Penh the royal palace and the national museum are worth seeing. The museum houses an excellent collection of Khmer art. Phnom Penh is a definite second to Angkor during the good times. Reaching its height under King Suryavarman during the 12th century, Angkor disappeared into the jungle for over four centuries until rediscovered by the French in 1860. Over a hundred years of careful restoration work is now disappearing back into the jungle. At the height of Khmer power, Angkor was the centre of an empire that covered present day Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and even reached into Malaya. Angkor Wat itself is only a small part of the total ruins, in all they spread over more than 100 square kilometres and include the Bayon, Angkor itself and Angkor Thorn. Siem Reap is the town from which Angkor is usually visited, here you could hire push bikes for visiting the ruins. Maybe next year.......

Outside of South East Asia things aren’t so difficult but some countries are still inaccessible or rarely visited.

Bangladesh: Flat, green and wet so don’t visit Bangladesh during the rainy season. Things are still somewhat chaotic since the split with Pakistan and transportation can be haphazard and very slow. It’s slow at the best of times due to the natural hazards of floods and river crossings. Chittagong is a rather un-interesting seaport and Dacca, capital and city of a thousand mosques, is the usual visiting place. The easiest way to make a short visit to Bangladesh is to take the flight from Bangkok to Calcutta via Dacca. Stop-over in Dacca or carryon by train from there into India. Cost is the same to Dacca or Calcutta so there’s no saving by terminating in Dacca. Remember that relations with Pakistan are still very bad, if you get Bangladesh stamped in your passport you’ll have to get a new passport in Delhi before entering Pakistan.

Sri Lanka (Ceylon): Beaches and Buddhism, Ceylon attracts by being like India but without the hassles. Getting there is an easy, twice a week, four hour ferry ride from Rameswaram. A train/ferry combined ticket to Kandy costs $US2. No visas are needed and a black market exists but be careful when changing money on it. Kandy in the central highlands is the most interesting city, Colombo the capital has little to offer. Anuradhapura, en route from the Indian ferry landing point to Kandy has Buddhist ruins that remained hidden by jungle for even longer than Angkor. Founded in 437 BC they were deserted in the 9th century AD and not rediscovered until 1845. Unfortunately restoration has been conducted with considerably less care and expertise than the French lavished on Angkor. Food and transportation tend to be similar to India and there is also a bus network. The climate is interesting in that the monsoon comes in opposite seasons on each side of the dividing mountain range. To keep dry just cross to the other side.

Sikkim and Bhutan: These small Indian protectorates sandwiched between India and China in the Himalayas are difficult to visit. India is very touchy about anything to do with China and the border with China, so a pass to visit these countries usually requires a blood relationship to the local Maharajah or some equally pressing cause. Enquire in Calcutta for Bhutan, Darjeeling for Sikkim or Delhi for either and be prepared for a long wait.

NEPAL

Nepal has become so famous as a hippie haven that people hardly realise that it has so much to offer. The approach to Kathmandu is over lush, green hills like the Swiss Alps, only with monkeys in the trees, and glimpses of the Himalayas as a bonus. Kathmandu itself must rate as one of the dirtiest holes in Asia - but a cheap and fascinating hole. Every other building is a temple and every other day a festival.

For a small valley. there are an amazing variety of things to see - apart from the facility of getting cheaply stoned. Usual starting place in Kathmandu is the central Durbar square, a cool place just to sit and watch the world go by. Most of the cheap hotels and restaurants, hash shops and bicycle hire places are close to the square. The old royal palace is off the square and here in 1846, a Rana family squabble led to a rather unpleasant massacre of all and sundry. Outside his entrance, the Hanuman Dhoka, sits the monkey god, on a pedestal wearing a red cloak.

If you are looking at Hanuman, then on your right is the temple of the Kumari Devi, the living Goddess. She is actually a young girl selected as a goddess for her exceptional purity and replaced at the first sign of puberty. Being a goddess is no big deal as no-one wants to marry an ex-goddess and life can be pretty lonely after you retire. If you come at the right time of day. she may even appear on the balcony. The police station is across the road, - which might account for the presence of a Khailo Bhairab, or God of Terror.

There is a little shrine on the road down to the Camp Hotel, which from the amount of blood on the ground around, must be a temple to Shiva. You will be unlucky, (or lucky?) if in a week in Kathmandu you don’t witness at least one animal sacrifice in the streets. About ten metres from that shrine is the Barber Temple. The barbers squat on the ground around it ready to administer short back and sides. One slip and you are ready for the other side of the street.

Across the river is Swayambhunath, grooviest place in the whole valley. Perched on top of a hill visible from anywhere in the valley, Swayambhunath is a Buddhist stupa with the typical circular mound surmounted by a spire. Claimed to be over 2000 years old there are records of Asoka, the Indian Buddhist-emperor having been there in 250 BC, but clearly much of it is later. Legend has it that the valley was once a lake and it was drained from this point.

Park your bike at the bottom and climb the steps up the hill. You will soon realise why it is called the monkey temple. Down the centre of the steps runs a metal bannister which the monkeys treat as a slide - they come down one at a time, upside down, piggy back, and in convoys. The best free entertainment in the valley. On top of the hill is the stupa and a hodge podge of shops and temples. The eyes painted on the four sides of the spire are supposed to watch the valley for righteous behaviour - from the look of them, they are more interested in unrighteous behaviour. The main temple has a gigantic prayer wheel inside, a couple of twirls and you are guaranteed your nirvana.

On the other side of Kathmandu is Patan, on his visit Asoka built four stupas at the corners of the town, - grassy humps mark where they were. As in Kathmandu the town centre is Durbar Square and ‘has a wild assortment of temples and buildings. One is to valley patron Machendra, he is Red Machendra here and in Kathmandu, white.

The valley’s third town, Bhatgaon, is 15 kilometres from Kathmandu and is the most primitive of the three - no electricity. A temple packed main square includes one with a series of erotic carvings on the struts. Bhatgaon’s principle attraction is the Nyatpola pagoda, with five tiers on a five tier base, it is the highest pagoda in the valley. Each of the base platforms has a pair of mythical beasts ten times as strong as the pair below, the two giants on the bottom platform are ten times stronger than any mortal.

On the Bagmati River, which is to Nepal what the Ganges is to India, is Pashupatinath, the most holy Hindu temple in the valley. Dedicated to Shiva it contains a famous lingam, unfortunately non-believers are not allowed inside, but you can sit on the other side of the river and look in. Hop back on your pushbike and ride to Bodnath, a very large stupa surmounted by a spire with eyes like Swayambhunath. Around the stupa are little shops selling handicrafts from the Tibetan refugees who fled to Nepal in large numbers. Still further are beautiful waterfalls at Sundarijal, an old Saddhu who lives near here sometimes bathes in the icy water. Go to Changu Narayan just beyond Bhatgaon to see the beautifully preserved two tier temple with its interesting carvings. Kirtipur is a very old, somnolent village - here one particularly despotic Rana had the lips and nose cut off every male over 12 years old - except those who played wind instruments of course. Then there is Buddha Nil Kantha where a statue of Vishunu lies on a bed of snakes and the trip out to the Tibetan border, if only to say you have seen it.

Kathmandu’s main sight is, of course, not manmade. Towering above the hills that surround the valley are the Himalayas. If you are rich, or even if you are not but can scrape the bread together, take the Royal Nepal Airlines flight around Everest. It leaves early in the morning as the mountains cloud over later, takes about an hour and costs $US20.

Walking is something else you should do here, the walk up to Nagarkot combines that with a good view of the Himalayas. Nagarkot is about 15 kilometres beyond Bhatgaon (and several thousand feet higher) and is a three to five hour walk depending on how fit you are. Stay overnight and get a fantastic view of the whole sweep of the mountains at sunrise. The tourist board can give you a mountain profile which helps to identify the various peaks. Everest is quite a long way off and without this you can’t positively pick it out.

Tashi’s Trek Shop Restaurant has a large notebook in which you can write the story of your trek, or be put off by others’ while you eat. A halt hour spent there reading about picking leeches off your ankles and living on cold rice will keep you in town. If the little stroll up to Nagarkot has whetted your appetite but you don’t want to be too adventurous the tourist office can suggest treks. Three weeks walk will take you to the Everest base camp.

HISTORY: Nepalese history is really non-history. While things were happening elsewhere they weren’t in Nepal, which accounts for the way the country is today! Although Nepal is related culturally and through religion to India it is also curiously isolated from it. The rise of the Moslem religion in India never climbed over the mountains into Nepal. Nepalese Hinduism still contains elements of Buddhism not found in India. Nor did the later British empire extend its power into Nepal; although Nepalese support of the British army during the Indian mutiny led to the long association of Gurkha regiments with the British.

The Nepaleso certainly didn’t try to do anything about their isolation, even Marco Polo commented on the lack of desire to let foreigners into the country. It took a revolution and the building of the Rajpath road up from India in 1954 to open what is in many ways still a medieval country to tourists. Modern Nepalese history dates from the arrival of Indians forced out of their own country to Moslems in the 16th century. They gradually gained control over all of Nepal and the same dynasty is still in power today. For over a hundred years the king was a mere puppet for the ruling Rana family who were both repressive and backward. In 1951 a quiet revolution brought the king back to real power although the Ranas are still strong.

An indication of the backwardness of Nepal is that slavery was not abolished until 1926! Nor was suttee, the practise of burning the living wife with her deceased husband stopped until 100 years after the Indians prohibited it. Today Nepal is in the midst of a tourist boom - unfortunately. Its buffer position between India and China makes it very important to the Indians; the Nepalese also play the Chinese off against the Americans in a successful quest for foreign aid.

TRANSPORT: Coming from Thailand you can fly directly into Kathmandu and save the bus ride up from the border plus a fair chunk of Indian train travel. Not a bad thing to do. You can also fly in or out to various places in India - Patna for example. For the earth bound amongst us it’s a bus or truck up from Birgunj, an uncomfortable ride due to the constant twists, turns, ups and downs for over 200 kilometres. If you’ve ever ridden a see-saw for twelve hours you’ll know the feeling! Make sure you get deluxe seats, they cost 24 rupees against 20 for the standard seats, deluxe means they’re within the bus wheelbase and they’re worth the extra, If you get bored of the crush in side you can always sit on the roof for awhile.

In Kathmandu the transport of choice is the pushbike, The valley is sufficiently level and compact to make riding a pleasure, but get your bike early in the morning as the better ones tend to be snatched up leaving the old nails for the late risers, There are bike shops all over town and they cost 2.50 to 3.00 rupees a day. You can also hire motorbikes but only by the hour and nothing like the bargain they are in Bali. Outside of the valley it’s fly or walk. Pokhara is a week’s walk or a $US12 flight, there is a road through to Pokhara by now and from there it may be possible to continue into India as an alternative to the normal route.

ACCOMMODATION: Lots of cheap hotels in Kathmandu so you’re bound to find something you like. The Camp is a bit better and more expensive than others at 20 rupees for a double. Shresta Lodge, Kathmandu Lodge, City Lodge and G.C. Lodge are all in the 10 to 14 rupees a double range - some even have hot showers! Quo Vadis has a dormitory and there are many other cheaper, and more basic, hotels. You can get down to 4 to 6 rupees a double. If you’re staying for a longish period you can get really cheap rooms or even a complete house, at Swayambhunath village or at Bodnath.

In quite a different accommodation class at least have a look at the Royal hotel, run by Boris who is Kathmandu’s best known personage. Expensive with the E capitalised but you might be able to afford a drink in the Yak and Yeti bar. If you’re ever near the Annapurna hotel, not in it I trust, have a look at the trees across the road: Those dark objects hanging there aren’t some weird Nepalese fruit. They’re bats and at appropriate times of the day they all take to the wing.

The other two towns in the valley are not very hot for accommodation, If you walk up to Nagarkot to see the sunrise you can book dormitory beds at the Everest Lodge for 5 rupees. In Pokhara there’s a government guest house or the Annapurna hotel. Birgunj, the town at the Indian border where everyone seems to spend the night before the bus ride up or on the way down, is so miserable I wouldn’t recommend anything. I had a meal there which was so bad I heaved it (still on the plate) onto the floor of the kitchen and no one was surprised.

FOOD: Kathmandu menus promise far more than the food actually provides, much better than India but care is needed because Nepal is the centre for hepatitis, Never trust the water in Kathmandu, unfortunately that old H₂0 standby, Coca Cola, is imported from India and expensive. The Nepalese excuse for tea, that other H₂0 standby, must be the worst in the world. Some good places are:

The Camp hotel - their restaurant is quite good, particularly try their tomato soup, next door is a good little restaurant.

The Chi and Pie - further down that filthy road from the Camp towards the river for tremendous pies and cakes, lemon meringue pie in Kathmandu somehow seems strange and wonderful!

Tashi’s Trek Shop - has its ups and downs, the food can be reasonably good or very awful.

The Mandarin - must be the best cheap restaurant in the valley, excellent Chinese food even if 17 to 20 rupees for two is comparatively expensive.

Aunt Jane’s - also-slightly more expensive but the food is reputed to be particularly safe, there are a couple of Aunt Jane’s around.

The Frosty Yak - ice cream.

Other restaurants are the Amber for Indian food, the Royal for Tibetan and lots more. The food in most places is pseudo-European - anyone for Buffalo steaks?- but some things are Quite good. Porridge on those cold Himalayan mornings is outasight! Outside of the valley the choice is very limited - rice, rice or rice.

MONEY: Officially 15 Nepalese Rupees=$A 1. There was a fairly readily available black market in Kathmandu but the government has clamped down. There is probably not much more than one rupee premium on the black over the official rate. The best deal we got was on a double exchange, converting black Indian Rupees legitimately into Nepalese Ruppes at the border. Watch the border money changers with full attention as their system of arithmetic is positively amazing and you can guess who gets the best end of the deal. Work it out for yourself before handing the money over. You can also get Indian Rupees in Nepal at a good price.

VISAS: $A2 for a two week visa, easily extendable, visas can be obtained on arrival at the airport. Coming by land most people pick up their visas at Calcutta or Delhi. Remember the visa only covers the Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan valleys, if you want to trek off to more out of the way places, you have to apply for permission in Kathmandu. No Nepalese Embassy in Australia, if you want a visa before departure you have to go through the Nepalese Embassy in Japan.

CLIMATE: The time to go is the cool season after the monsoons, October to February. The weather then is just about perfect, warm during the day, cool at night and the valley is beautifully green. June, July and August are the wettest months.

THINGS TO BUY: Tibetan and Nepalese handicrafts are generally available but we were not very impressed by them - kind of crude. You could always buy a prayer wheel.

LANGUAGE: Nepali is the local language, but English is widely spoken in the valley.

The Camp hotel was described in one magazine as “upper class hippie”, which perhaps it was, after all it cost 20 Rps instead of the more normal 10 to 14. It certainly did not cost the $US5 a night the tourist board’s hotel guide listed it at and which two clearly un-hippie middle aged Americans were paying. Well they’d asked if they could have a room for 5 dollars hadn’t they, the proprietor explained.

One of our friends was talking to an older American on the flight out of Kathmandu. Was it really true that there were people smoking marihuana all over the town our friend was asked? His questioner found it hard to believe as he’d never seen any of those drug crazed freaks running round goggle eyed! Which must prove something as a large proportion of the overlanders in Kathmandu seemed to be very-permanently. very-stoned.

On our way up to Nagarkot we caught up with an American couple we had seen on the bus out of Kabul. They were a little crazy, the girl had traded her camera in Benares for a Sitar - not the most portable musical instrument. “What time did you set out from Bhatgoan?” we asked and were told they’d left at about 10 a.m ....... “yesterday”. They were so spaced out they’d spent the whole first day floundering through rice paddies unable to keep on the road.

INDIA

India can be incredibly depressing - vast, crowded and chaotic, the utter hopelessness of the country detracts from the incredible things you see. No solution seems big enough for the problems - a country best seen in small samples.

Sample Benares, now renamed Varanasi, the religious centre of India since prehistoric times and the most interesting town in India. Hire a boat, a rupee or two each for a half dozen people, and drift down the Ganges at dawn. A beautiful sight as the bathers on the steps down to the river, ghats, immerse themselves in the holy water. A bizarre sight as they burn their dead on the same river banks.

The Durga or monkey temple is stained red with ochre, since Durga is another name for Kali - Shiva’s destructive wife, stand on the wall and look in. The other well known Benares temple, the golden temple, is near the Ganges. Buddha preached his first sermon in nearby Sarnath. Temples erected there have been deserted since the decline of Indian Buddhism a thousand years ago.

Benares is also a centre for silk weaving and sitars. Every silk weaver made lis making/will make a sari for the Queen and every sitar manufacturer was personally instructed by/learnt with/taught Ravi Shankar!

Travelling to Agra, detour to Khajuraho where there is a collection of temples, one with statues and reliefs that would upset the censor in Australia. The Taj Mahal in Agra was commenced in 1630 by Shah Jahan, heartbroken by the loss of his wife Mumtaz Mahal. It took 22 years to build so spare the time to see it under a variety of lights. One of the best views can be obtained from across the river. The incredible detail of the building, flowers inlaid in the marble, is striking. The massive Agra fort was another of Shah Jahan’s works. His penny pinching son, Aurangzeb, imprisoned him there in 1652 - to stop his architectural extravagances? He died in 1665 in a room from which he could see the Taj.

The deserted city of Fatehpur Sikri, a perfectly preserved example of a Moghul city, stands about 30 kilometres from Agra. Built by Akbar, Shah Jahan’s illustrious predecessor, it was deserted due to the difficulties of obtaining fresh water. On the road to Delhi stands Akbar’s impressive tomb.

Delhi was captured by the Moslems in 1192 and Babur, first of the Moghuls, later moved his capital to Agra and then Lahore. Shah Jahan returned the capital to Delhi but the British ruled from Calcutta, after the Moghul’s final fini in 1857. Delhi has been capital again since 1911. The sights of New and Old Delhi are scattered so take the tourist board bus tour.

Another Shah Jahan special the Delhi Red Fort once housed the Peacock Throne, carried off to Persia by Nadir Shah in 1739. Inscribed over the Diwan-i-Khas, hall of private audiences, where it once stood is that famous Persian couplet:

“If on Earth there is a Garden of Bliss

It is this, it is this, it is this”

The son et lumiere at the Red Fort provides a painless introduction to Indian history, stand up for the catchy tune at the end! Across from the Red Fort in the heart of Old Delhi is the huge Jami Masjid Mosque - guess who built it?

A British built, planned capital, New Delhi was formally inaugurated in 1931. In the heart of New Delhi, near Connaught Place, is the Jantar Mantar. Astronomer-emperor Jai Singh built five of these complex observatories in the early 1700s. The Lakshmi Narayan temple in New Delhi is a new Hindu temple full of lifesize models and pastel colours. See the tomb of Humayun to the south, before visiting Agra, it has the same Moghul tomb form as the Taj but from a generation earlier.

The Qutub Minar, begun in 1193 to commemorate the capture of Delhi, is an 80 metre high tower in the ruins of the Quwwat ul Islam mosque. It tilts after an 1803 earthquake, The base of the Alai Minar, standing close by, was intended to be exactly twice the size of the Qutub. When the ruler building it died in 1312, so did his crazy idea. In the courtyard stands the iron pillar - a column of cast iron so pure it has never rusted. At least a thousand and possibly two thousand years old, scientists have no idea how iron of such purity could be made with the technology of the time.

Other towns include Jaipur to the south west. Founded by that astronomer -emperor, it is renowned for its pink stone buildings, particularly the Harva Mahal, Palace of the winds. Further south is India’s chief port and industrial centre, Bombay. Continue on to Goa, full of interesting buildings and churches including the Bom Jesus where St. Francis Xavier has his tomb. At Christmas each year the Goa beaches become the world freak convention centre. Other north India attractions are the Buddhist rock caves at Aurangabad, Ellora and Ajanta, the lake palace at Udaipur and the golden temple of the Sikhs at Amritsar.

On the other coast, south of Calcutta by 500 kilometres, is the centre of the Orissan era of Hindu culture. In Puri and Bhubaneswar are temples covering a five century time period from the 8th century AD, but see Konorak. On a lonely stretch of sand stands the massive Black Pagoda or Sun Temple. In the form of a chariot for the sun god this massive edifice is only a small fragment of the total complex - everything else is gone. As with all the best Hindu temples the erotic sculptures are extremely explicit. The true south of India is the most deeply Hindu - the Moslem influence never made itself so strongly felt in the remote parts of the country.

Strongly influenced by the British in their colonial days are the hill stations. To places like Darjeeling, north of Calcutta, officials of the Raj would go in summer to escape the heat of the plains. Kashmir in the west was developed by the Moghuls for a similar purpose and continued by the British. Still predominantly Moslem Kashmir is the chief stumbling block to amicable relations between India and Pakistan. Srinigar, ‘the Venice of the East’ is the chief town of Kashmir - the local Maharajah, during colonial days, wouldn’t allow the British to buy land so summer visitors adopted the uniquely British solution of houseboats on the many lakes and rivers. They’re still there today, cheap and comfortable in a pleasantly Victorian fashion. Kashmir is a beautiful , mountainous area with inspiring views of the Himalayas. Srinigar also has the elegant Shalimar gardens laid out by visiting Moghul emperors.

HISTORY: India’s historical importance is ensured by the two great religions that had their birth there. It is unfortunate that today religion in many ways hampers the progress India desperately requires for survival and is the rubbing point between India and Pakistan.

The inertial effect of religion is nowhere more clearly seen than with India’s sacred cows, they spread disease, clutter already overcrowded towns, consume scarce food (and waste paper) and provide nothing. Indian unity is also hampered by the multiplicity of languages but the number one problem is still the sheer number of Indians.

It was the great Buddhist emperor Asoka who first unified most of the sub-continent during the third century Be. His empire broke up after his death and it was over a thousand years later before the rise of Moslem power again re-unified the country. The first Moslem contact with India was in the 8th century AD but total control did not develop until the 13th to 14th century. The great Moghui empire, reaching its height under Akbar from 1556 to 1605, ruled all of India. As this period of Indian history came to its climax, its European nemesis appeared. The Portuguese appeared first, occupying Goa in 1510 and not finally relinquishing it until they were booted out in 1962.

During the 1600s the British, in the shape of the East India company, gradually insinuated themselves into the country by playing off one local ruler against another. Aurangzeb, the last strong Moghul emperor, died in 1707 and by the mid 1800s Britain controlled most of the country. The Indian mutiny in 1857 led to the East India company handing over control to the British government.

This century much of the history of India has been tied up with the path to independence from Britain. Led by Mahatma Gandhi the Indian policy of peaceful resistance eventually resulted in independence in 1948. Although the British left India with a well developed government structure and communications network - the largest and most outdated railway system in the world for example - they also gave the Indians an unfortunate taste for bureaucracy. Indians are the world’s leading welders of red tape, rubber stamps and quadruplicate forms.

Since independence India’s history has been a tightrope walk above mass starvation. Progress from year to year is a prayer for a good monsoon and thus a good harvest. The government’s birth control programme, the two child family billboards are everywhere, still has minimal impact in the small villages that form the bulk of India’s population. Periodic confrontations with Pakistan further sap strength needed in other directions - the after effects of the Bangladesh strife has still to be sorted out. The refusal of the once dominant Moslems to accept a secondary role in independent India led to its partition in 1948 into India and Pakistan. A substantial Moslem minority still lives in India.

TRANSPORT: Trains baby. Your ‘real’ travellers do it third class, but only once thanks. The next time I go to India I intend never to see a railway station. The trains are slow, crowded, dirty, uncomfortable and any other unpleasant adjective you can find. Your problems start with getting a ticket, especially if you want student concessions which make it 50% cheaper than cheap. At a small station you apply for your student concession to the station master, in a larger town there may be a special office just for the issuing of concessions.

Clutching your student concession you go to the ticket office, join an interminable queue and wait. Having got a ticket you go to yet another office to reserve a seat or sleeper. Reservations are essential, they don’t guarantee but they do increase your chances of having a place to sit.

When your train comes in, the real fun starts. You run up and down the platform looking for your name on a piece of paper stuck to the window where your seat is. It is permissible to wave your arms around, scream and shout, everyone else will be so you might as well get in on the act. Sounds crazy? It is.

Of course the train will be hours late arriving and leaving and even later at its final destination. The connecting services you’re foolishly hoping to catch, you will inevitably miss. You arrive at your destination covered in coal dust, a once only experience.

Some sample fares and projected travel time (without student discount) are:

Delhi - Agra	7 Rps.	3 hours
Delhi - Amritsar	16 Rps.	12 hours
Agra - Lucknow	12 Rps.	10 hours
Lucknow - Raxaul	22 Rps.	22 hours
Delhi - Benares - Raxaul	35 Rps.	36 hours

Layout the extra 4 Rps. for sleeper reservations at night, with luck you’ll only be uncomfortable instead of very uncomfortable. On one leg down to Calcutta we were actually comfortable so it can’t be that bad. In Delhi there is an office in Baroda House where you can book all your reservations and concessions in one go, a rare display of efficiency. On the plus side time tables are clear and concise at every stations.

There is also a network of fairly cheap internal air routes with tickets available on student discounts. Some bus routes are available, particularly from Delhi to the hill stations in the north. Hitching is possible and you can often travel comfortably and cheaply with microbus travellers looking for fare paying passengers.

One interesting aspect of Indian travel you’ll find is the Sikhs. Once the warrior caste, the Sikhs have turned it into a near monopoly of taxis and buses. The martial spirit is still strong as they slash through the crowds of push bikes and rickshaws.

In towns taxis, trishaws and scooter taxis are all cheap. The taxis and scooter taxis are metered but make sure they’re zeroed, do it yourself if necessary. If he says the meter is broken tell him you will find another taxi. He’ll fix it fast.

Bombay is the principle port on the west coast and from here you can travel to Kuwait via Abadan and from there into Iran. The trip takes about 10 days and costs less than $US1 00. Occasional boats go to Mombasa in Kenya for about $US40 but proof may be required of on going reservations or a large bank balance. A similar price to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, but not in winter when the ships are laden with Mecca bound tourists. A coastal service from Bombay runs down to Goa and may be better than the trains.

India/Pakistan Border: There’s only one land crossing point between the two countries, between Amritsar and Lahore. Turn up and walk across fighting your way through a jungle of red tape that can take all day. In ‘72 the border was only open on Thursday mornings, three hours per week, by now it may have improved. To cross the border you need a “road permit”. Obtainable either from the Pakistan embassy or the Swiss embassy in New Delhi, depending on how relations stand. Coming east get it in Lahore or Kabul, I’d advise Lahore as we saw people being turned away with Kabul permits. Less conventionally you can fly across the border with Afghan Airways, about $US15 for a ten minute flight by 707!

ACCOMMODATION: Like everything else in India the railway stations are a good starting point, railway retiring rooms are generally OK ~ only for train travellers. Government Tourist Bungalows, Government Guest Houses and Oak Bungalows are widespread and tourist offices can give you a list. These date from the days of the Raj when they were used by British officials touring the country, range from fair to good. Tourist ‘scouts’ from the hotels will be looking for you at every station when you arrive so you never have trouble finding some accommodation. Always check for amenities like fans and in mosquito areas look for mosquito nets.

Calcutta - The Salvation Army Hostel at 2 Sutter Street is clean, comfortable and since you get breakfast thrown in, good value at 16 to 20 Rps a double. The Modern Lodge just round the corner is cheaper but drab.

Benares - A Government Tourist Bungalow near the Cantonment station for 8 Rps a double but the station is rather far from the centre of town. At 10 Rps a double with private bathroom (!) the hotel KMM is good and central. Slightly cheaper is the Sri Venkatswar or for rock bottom accommodation in Benares get a houseboat on the Ganges.

Delhi - New Delhi is a bad place for accommodation, lots of extortionate boarding houses at the south side of Connaught Place, 8 to 10 Rps for a dormitory bed. The tourist office on the Janpath can supply a list, the British Embassy also has a file on cheap accommodation. Hotels on the north side of Connaught Place are far better, value. Around the Old Delhi railway station are a number of good cheap hotels particularly on Chandni Chowk.

Agra - A tourist bungalow or try the Kailash hotel near the Cantonment station or the Taj Cafe at the Taj Mahal.

Goa - Toursit cottages at Colva beach or various places around the post office.

FOOD: Can be miserable, India is where you lose weight on this trip. Caution is needed with street stalls and cafes as they may not always be too clean. Officially Hindus are vegetarian but in fact are very relaxed about it, after seeing the flies congregating on meat in a butchers’ you’ll understand vegetarianism’s appeal. Food is curry everywhere with unleavened bread - chappaties, and bean soup - dahl. Pastries and sweet cakes are cheap and good, Indian desserts are served in real silver beaten super thin which you eat

In north India try Tandoori food, cooked in the traditional clay ovens, go to the Moti Mahal in Delhi. The Indian coffee house on the south side of Connaught Place is good and Delhi’s freak bottleneck. In Benares the Mandarin, across from the railway station and the station restaurant are good. Railway station restaurants are a little more hygienic than other eating places, if slightly more expensive. The food is not much better but your stomach is more likely to stay together! We remember one fantastic breakfast in Raxaul station, we arrived late in the morning to find the only thing left was toast. So toast it was. Twelve of us (all met on the train) and we devoured plate after plate of toast. Everyone was going to be the last and every time it was all gone in seconds.

MONEY: 10.6 Indian Rupees=$A1. Up to 13 rupees on the black market, Delhi will have the best rate. Attempts are being made to clamp down on the black market and everything now requires proof of exchange or payment in foreign currency. Reportedly this even includes hotel bills. Travellers cheques thieves are endemic in Delhi, either the grab and run or the sleight of hand type, the favourite trick is passing off 1 rupee as 10. Never change money on the streets.

CLIMATE: The monsoon season finishes early October in the west and a little later in the east. For the next two months the weather is extremely pleasant; in December and January it can be quite cold in the north. By April-May the weather gets uncomfortable particularly on the plains, the hill stations and Kashmir are best during that period. July to September everybody will be praying that you get soaked.

THINGS TO BUY: Curiously we did not think Indian goods were as attractive as we had come to expect. Indian clothes, like Indian food, seem to be better in Western countries. If you can find good clothes they will be cheap though. Brass wares are nice but not very transportable, and leather sandals are cheap, but cheaper in Afghanistan. Of course you will have thoughts on silk and sarees in Benares which is also the place to buy a cheap sitar. Painted miniatures are pleasant little keepsakes, but the erotic ones are extremely un-erotic. I n Kashmir, tailors will come to your houseboat and make clothes to measure very cheaply. In New Delhi there are government run shops near Connaught Place which have a wide range of goods, but prices for similar items will be lower in Old Delhi. Lots of jewelry, ivory carvings, water pipes, chillums and other bric brac.

VISAS: Not currently required for Commonwealth citizens, although threatening noises keep being made. Americans definitely require them and they can expect some hassles before they are granted.

LANGUAGES: There are actually several hundred languages in India but 95% of the population speak one of 14 languages and about 50% speak Hindi. English is still the official national language, but when local prejudices can be overcome Hindi will probably become the national language.

tea	chai	please	meharbani se
eat	khao	thank you	dhaniavad or shukria
how much?	kiitnan?	good bye	namaste
when?	kab?	yes	jii
where?	kahan?	bus	bas
good	acha	train	gharri
piss off	jow	station	isteshan
one	ek	six	chai
two	doo	seven	saat
three	tiio	eight	aath
four	char	nine	nau
five	pauch	ten	das

a lakh is a fairly standard large unit - one hundred thousand

In Delhi we went out to dinner one night with an Indian friend who had only returned from London a week previously, after five years away. The next day he contacted us apologising profusely about the meal. “Why”, we asked? “Aren’t you ill too?” came the reply. We both felt fine so I guess our stomachs had become acclimatized to things that Ashok’s westernized system couldn’t yet handle!

Our life in Delhi was a touch of real luxury, we stayed with a paternal friend whose home was well stocked with that old Raj standby - servants. We were completely intimidated. One evening our host was out and we dined by ourselves. After dinner the bearer brought us coffee in the living room, we took the cups from the proffered tray and the cream and sugar immediately disappeared into the kitchen leaving us with black coffee. Next morning we realised that one makes the additions before removing the cups from the tray.

To kill an evening in India, go to a movie. Ideally take an interpreter but you will be able to understand even without one. Indian films are grand spectaculars, with a bit of violence, comedy, singing, mystery and romance, but NO sex. All mixed together - so they tend to be long. In a country where starvation is just around the corner, there is no glamour in being thin, an Indian film billboard looks like the before half of a dieting advert. The films are excrutiatingly funny to a sophisticated film goer. One film on release in 1972 combined, along with all the other ingredients, a strong plug to donate blood. Virtually every person in the film had a couple of pints of red stuff at some point, a slight swoon was sufficient to rush the heroine off for a transfusion.

PAKISTAN

Until 1948 a part of India, many people see it as a less interesting version of that country and travel through as fast as possible. Pakistan actually has a number of interesting things to see - one of them is Lahore; the second largest city of Pakistan and at one time the capital of the Moghul empire. The Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, built by Aurangzeb, was the last architectural fling of the Moghul empire. Lahore also has one of the best preserved examples of a Moghul fort and the impressive Shalimar gardens built by Shah Jahan. A touch of empire is Rudyard Kipling’s Zam-Zam gun from the book ‘Kim’. It can be found on the Mall, near to the government office where east bound travellers must get their road permits to cross the border into India.

Capital of Pakistan is Islamabad, like Canberra, Washington D,C. and Brasilia, a ‘planned’ capital. Until completion the capital was temporarily housed in nearby Rawalpindi - they make a convenient stop en-route to Peshawar. Peshawar is the city of the Pathans, the fierce tribesmen who used to hassle travellers in the Khyber pass. They’re Peshawar’s chief attraction, swaggering around the town with ancient looking carbines and ammunition belts. Today the pass is peaceful although passengers on the bus are asked to pay some sort of road tax, which I romantically assume goes to placate the tribes. Landi Katal, near the border is a centre for goods smuggled into the country from Afghanistan - particularly transistor radio batteries.

To the north lies the Pakistan controlled part of Kashmir and some of the most spectacular Himalayan peaks. The Vale of Swat is one of the most beautiful Kashmir areas; still further north is Gilgit, hemmed in by mountains and reached by the most terrifying flight in the world.

Few overland travellers go south in Pakistan, hot and dry in the summer and it necessitates missing some of the most interesting parts of Afghanistan. The alternative southern route to Iran will take you through Quetta, hardly the most attractive town on earth, it was wiped out by an earthquake in 1935,and is still a very quake prone area: On the coast is Karachi, principal port of Pakistan and outlet for ships to Africa or the Persian gulf. Capital from the time of partition until the switch to Rawalpindi in 1960, Karachi is the economic and industrial centre of the country.

HISTORY: Until 1948 Pakistan’s history was as a part of India and since then has been tied up with opposition to India. The basic contention between the two countries has always centred around Kashmir. Not only is Kashmir predominantly Moslem, the basis on which partition was made, but it is also geographically linked to Pakistan and divided from India. Furthermore it has natural resources which would be valuable to Pakistan but are superfluous and inaccessible to India. If the plebescite promised at the time of partition were ever held it’s pretty certain which way it would go.

Pakistan’s position as a once divided country also caused many problems. West Pakistan was the centre of political power while East Pakistan had the majority of the population, crammed into a far smaller land area, much of it seasonally flooded and provided more than a proportional share of the country’s foreign earnings. Feelings of neglect, bolstered by West Pakistan’s shameful lack of support after the disastrous cyclone flood led to the revolt and independent formation of Bangladesh. Pakistan has not yet reconciled itself to the loss of its eastern half.

TRANSPORT: From the Indian border into Lahore should cost less than a rupee by bus. If you take a minibus or taxi the price depends on your bar gaining power, which won’t be good after a day of border hassles.

The train to Peshawar from Lahore supposedly takes twelve hours but by this time you won’t be surprised if it takes several more. About 14 Rps before student discounts are knocked off. It costs very little more to stop off in Rawalpindi and the total travelling time is actually less as the through train seems to shunt around for several hours in the station. A bus service to Peshawar costs slightly more than third class rail. You can get a magic bus from Lahore direct to Kabul - look for notices in the freak hangouts.

The Pakistan government buses and Afghan post buses from Peshawar to Kabul are reasonable and not too crowded - compared to the buses in Afghanistan they’re bloody marvelous! Cost is not much over a dollar for the day long bus ride. If that’s too much or you want to be different take a local bus to Landi Kotal, a taxi to the border and another local bus into Jelalabad in Afghanistan. It takes no longer as much of the time spent between Peshawar and Kabul is at border and custom posts - you won’t believe how many they can get into (and on) that Khyber pass taxi though.

To take the southern route into Iran the first stage is a 24 hour train ride from Lahore to Quetta. Before student discount the cost is about 30 rupees. Quetta can also be reached from Kandahar in Afghanistan or by an overnight train from Karachi. If you want to avoid Afghanistan, in situations like the cholera outbreak there a few years ago, then this is the way to go. From Quetta a once weekly train runs to Zahedan in Iran. Buses run from Zahedan to Tehran and there’s probably a bus service from there to Mashed or Shiraz as well.

ACCOMMODATION: As in India there are a variety of railway waiting rooms and government guest houses. Youth hostels in tourist areas tend to be more expensive than small hotels. In Lahore try the YMCA near the cannon end of the Mall. Supposedly costs 4 Rps per person but the more you pack in the cheaper it gets, we had five in a room at 2.50 Rps each, clean and pleasant. There are a number of cheap hotels in the station area. In Peshawar the Rainbow guest house, Khyber hotel and the Green hotel are all cheap and spoken well of.

FOOD: As for India.

MONEY: 14 Pakistan Rupees=$Al. There used to be a black market in Pakistan but the official rate appears to be in line with the prevailing rate now. Currency declaration forms have to be filled in on arrival ostensibly to check you don’t change money unofficially. As usual the solution is to under-declare. There is a cash limit below which you may be refused entry, so make sure you declare enough.

VISAS: None required.

CLIMATE: Pakistan has some real climatic extremes, summer heat, winter cold, and monsoon wet. Mid April to mid July can be very hot particularly in southern plains, don’t consider the southern route during this period. The monsoons come mid July to mid september but are not as extreme as in India or South East Asia. The plains are pretty dry even then. December, January and February can be cold particularly in the northern hills.

THINGS TO BUY: Pakistani carpets are very good if lacking the ‘name’ appeal that other countries may offer. If you need a new cricket bat, Pakistan is a good place to get one.

LANGUAGE: As in India English Is the official language and you can get almost everywhere using it. Also as in India there are a plethora of local languages of which Punjabi is probably the most widely spoken but Urdu is more useful and the words here are In that tongue. Urdu is also spoken in parts of northern India. Close to the Afghanistan border Pushtu is spoken and some words in Pushtu can be found in the Afghanistan section.

tea	chai	how much?	kytna?
water	pani	expensive	mahnga
bread	roti	where?	kehan?
bus	motor	that	voh
yes	han	thank you	teshikoor
no	nahin	hello	salaam
one	ek	six	che
two	do	seven	sat
three	tin	eight	ath
four	char	nine	hov
five	penth	ten	das

Wandering through the Badshlhi mosque in Lahore one evening we came upon a studious group of young Pakistanis. The Koran? No, Pitman’s short hand, for the next half hour we slowly intoned “further to your letter of the 7th inst” as practise for their imminent exams!

AFGHANISTAN

A marvellous, crazy country - vast empty deserts, historic old towns and best of all the proud and noble Afghanis. How else can you describe them, they clearly realise that no amount of money or material possessions could ever compensate for your unfortunate handicap of not being born in their fine country. A country to be careful in too, banditry still runs in many veins.

On the bus you may not even stop at Jelalabad the first town in Afghanistan. Kabul. the capital, is becoming a ‘fly in, fly out’ tourist trap, because of all the beautiful things to buy. Use it as a place to wander about, talk and rest in - the parks to the west are nice for a day out.

The valley of Bamiyan is about 250 kilometres away - another of the great Buddhist monuments that attest to its strength in this area. Despite the ravages of time, conquerors and hostile religions, two enormous standing Buddhas gaze over the valley. The larger is 60 metres high and was built during the 4th to 7th century AD. See them in the early dawn from across the valley. Further west are the beautiful lakes of Band-i-Amir. You have to camp there and due to the altitude it can get very cold.

Backtrack to the main road and carryon north to Mazar-i-Sharif. You pass through the mighty Hindu Kush - the Koh-i-Baba or father of mountains. In Mazar is the blue mosque - claimed to be the tomb of the Caliph Ali and revered by Shi’ite Moslems. As in most Moslem countries, Afghanistan is predominantly Sunnite. Near Mazar are the ruins of Balkh, for two centuries it was settled by Greek followers of Alexander the Great.

South from Kabul on the conventional route through Afghanistan, one come to Ghazni, once the centre of an empire, now a grubby little town. Here and there ruins attest to its ancient power. 500 kilometres south of Kabul is Kandahar, home of the ‘Mosque of the Sacred Cloak’. Kandahar is the centre for the Helmand river project which aims to re-irrigate much of this part of Afghanistan which has reverted to desert since Genghis Khan destroyed the Karez underground irrigation system. Outside the town is Chihil Zina, forty steps, carved in a hill side it contains a record of the conquests of Babur, founder of the Moghul empire and provides a good view of the surrounding country.

From Kandahar turn north and 500 kilometres across the Dasht-i-Dargo, desert of death, brings you to Herat. For some reason everyone likes Herat, small, provincial, relatively green and a nice lazy place to lie about in. The Masjid-i-Jami, Friday Mosque, has been destroyed several times, including by old Genghis; the present form dates from the 13th century. Herat also has an old citadel and miles of open bazaar. On the outskirts are four broken minarets from a once great mosque and an even larger ruined minaret marks the site of a madrassa. theological school. A small park nearby, has the beehive shaped tomb of a great Afghani poet and philosopher, its architect was buried in a dog shaped tomb facing it.

HISTORY: Afghanistan’s history as a country is not much over two centuries old, but in the past it has been part or even the centre of great empires. As with all the eastern countries the rise and fall of political power was inextricably tied to the rise and fall of religions. It was in Afghanistan that Zoroastrinism had its start in the 6th century BC. It was in Afghanistan too, that Alexander the Great had his city of Bactria - a name which was applied to the country.

In the 4th and 5th centuries BC Buddhism spread from India into Afghanistan, centred on the Bamiyan valley it remained strong until the 10th century AD. The eastward sweep of Islam reached Afghanistan in the 7th century AD and the whole country is now Moslem. From Afghanistan, Mahmud of Ghazni repeatedly descended to the rich plains of India during the 11th century, but the following centuries saw Afghanistan being ravaged by foreign invaders.

From 1220 to 1223 Genghis Khan tore through Afghanistan destroying all before him. Balkh, Herat, Ghazni and Bamiyan were reduced to rubble and the country never fully recovered from the damage done to the irrigation systems. In 1398 Tamerlane also passed through but no future conqueror could match the rapacity of Genghis, his name is still spoken with awe.

The rise of the great Indian Moghul empire again lifted Afghanistan to great power. Babur, had his capital in Kabul in 1512 but as the Moghuls grew to their full strength in India, Afghanistan became the periphery of an empire In 1747 with European strength threatening the declining Moghul power, the Kingdom of Afghanistan was founded. The 1800s were a period of confrontation with the British, as with Burma they were afraid of the effects of an unruly neighbour to their great Indian colony. Additionally they were worried about possible Russian influence extending to this part of the world. The end result was a series of flimsily provoked and unsuccessful preventive wars in 1839–1842 and 1878–1880. Despite a treaty between Russia and Britain the British came back for one last try in 1919 - and the British are still reasonably liked! Of course the Russian influence is still there but now the Americans worry about it.

Still strongly tribal, relations with Pakistan are often not smooth due to Afghanistan’s claims to the Pathans living there. Until mid 1973 the country was autocratically run by its Pathan king, they controlled the government as well as the Khyber pass. An Afghani student pointed out the wide road which runs from the front of the palace before petering out into a track, as “the king’s runway”. He never had to use it as the military revolt came when he was in Europe!

TRANSPORT: No railways in Afghanistan so on the road, unless you're rich and fly. Afghanistan is one of those ‘uncommited’ corners of the world which both sides want to commit - end result is one lovely road built with Russian and U.S. aid in the mid ‘60s. It connects Kabul with Kandahar and Herat and on into Iran, a good road also runs north to Mazar-i-Sharif. The roads are virtually deserted and quite boring - between the towns there’s nothing much to see except empty spaces with the occasional groups of nomads and their camels. The nomad costumes are brilliant - nomad women are quite unlike the more traditional Afghani women who are usually shrouded from head to toe.

The roads are tollways but if you’ve visions of tossing your coins into automatic toll booths you’ve got a surprise coming. They’re usually marked by a sleepy soldier guarding a pole over the road. You park and in one of the huts find an equally sleepy toll collector. Wake him up and he’ll write out a ticket - it’s probably worth bargaining on the toll!

Kabul/Kandahar and Kandahar/Herat are a good day’s drive so if you’re travelling by bus get there early and claim your seat. Afghanis think nothing of sitting on the roof or hanging on to the back for twelve hours at a stretch. Kabul to Herat should work out at about $US3, you can go through virtually non-stop but stop for awhile in Kandahar.

Getting to Bamiyan isn’t the easiest trip in Afghanistan. The Afghan tourist board runs a tourist bus trip but it’s expensive - you could almost fly there at the same cost. The ordinary bus service is cheap, but leaves at 2 a.m. and takes over twelve hours to get there. The best way is probably to take one of the private mini-bus tours, advertised in some of the freak hangouts. Or get a ride up with a friendly party of Landies - don’t take your own vehicle unless it too is a Land Rover.

If you’re feeling adventurous you can always try the northern route through Mazar-i-Sharif, from there to Herat you just follow the markers. There is a bus service but if you plan to do it in your own vehicle make sure its a strong one. We left Herat on the southern route at the same time as a group in a Land Rover and Microbus set out north. We saw them again in Kabul but they’d covered the last 300 kilometres with the VW in tow and covered less than 70 kilometers one day. The direct central route from Kabul to Herat is only suitable for camels and takes six weeks.

The final ride from Herat to the Iran border at Islam Q’ Ala is a three hour bus ride costing 30 Afs. If you’re leaving by the Pakistan route to Iran you can get from Kandahar to the Pakistan border for about 20 Afs on a truck.

ACCOMMODATION: Finding a place to stay is easy in Afghanistan, the influx of over landers has even prompted the building of cheap new hotels.

Kabul - Our favourite is the Mustafa, new and built around a central courtyard more like a college residence than a hotel. By Afghani standards it’s slightly expensive at 60 Afs a double. Other hotels are the Olfat, Noor, Bamian or the Super Behzad. As usual the kids will be out to meet you at the bus drop to haul you off to their hotel, cheapies can get down to 20 Afs for a double.

Kandahar - The Peace hotel is the current rave and has good food, others are the Kandahar or the Khyber.

Herat - Pardees, Jami or the Kair are all reasonable; better, I hesitate to say good, food at the Behzad and Super Behzad.

Camping - Throughout Afghanistan you can camp comfortably and cheaply in the gardens of hotels. Cost probably won’t be over 10 Afs for this. Lots of hotels, including the Noar, have good gardens in Kabul and if you want to get out of town you can camp at the dam. In Kandahar amongst the hotels with gardens the Spoz Mhay is particularly nice; tea on the verandah and a crazy bathroom, In Herat the Niagara was the favourite camping hotel.

FOOD: Afghanistan is one place where the food is almost bound to get you. We went to bed on our last night in Afghanistan congratulating ourselves on having avoided trouble the whole time we were there, only to wake up in the morning feeling sick as dogs. The last meal did it! The bus ride over the Khyber Pass is not recommended on a queasy stomach.

Culinary delights are not one of the highlights of Afghanistan, but Kabul has a number of interesting eating places. number one being the famous Khyber restaurant. It is next door to the customs house in the main square and run by the Government, supposedly at a vast profit. A good meal for two people will still cost less then $A 1.50. Go there if only to sample their famous apple pie, nothing special about it, just the sheer incongruity of eating apple pie in Afghanistan!

Sigi’s is cheaper and has much more character, tremendous music, really delicious free mint tea and a giant chess board in the central courtyard for travelling Bobby Fishers. Even If you are not eating it is a good place to meet people and sit around. Helal restaurant is also good and cheaper.

With other Afghani food be careful. Never eat fruit unless you have first washed and then peeled it. Afghani fruit, especially melons, can be delicious. Hygiene of the Afghan bakeries is not all one could ask, but many of them can supply extras like hash cookies, try Your Bakery in Kandahar. Afghani tea is always delicious and their coke is good and cheap. Afghanistan will be the first place you see the terrific Arabic Coca-Cola signs - you know what it says even if you can’t read it!

Watch the bread (nan) being made, a sight not to be missed. You buy it straight from the bakery and if you arrive early, get it hot from the pit. The bakery will have about a half dozen men, each performing their appointed duty. The oven is a circular hole in the ground, narrower at the neck than the base. The bread, like an oval pancake about a half metre long, is stuck against the side of the oven. When ready it is peeled off the oven wall with a shovel like instrument and piled on the road in front of the shop. A particularly clean place may have a piece of rag between the bottom bread and the road. Bits of charcoal in it to attest to the genuineness, cost - a couple of Afs.

MONEY: About 100 Afghanis=$A1. No black market but if you are heading east Kabul is the place to get your money for the countries ahead, either in the change areas or direct from the banks. The rate is no better than the black rates operating in the countries, but you need cash before you get to a major city. Changing money in Afghanistan is a trip in itself. Before they will change travellers cheques they have to compare your cheque with their specimens and since the specimens are often years out of date you often find yours chucked back as obvious forgeries. For this reason you may find it easier to change cash, even that can be a considerable hassle in the banks, but there is always a guy on the street who will give you just as good a rate as the banks in half the time.

VISAS: Free and valid for one month the visa requires 3 or 4 photos depending on where you get it, There is no Afghani embassy in Australia.

CLIMATE: Very hot in the summer, June, July and August and very cold in the winter, January, February and March. Don’t forget that Kabul is high up - over 2000 metres - you can get snowed in during winter. Coming up to Kabul from the hot Indian and Pakistani plains can be a shocker.

THINGS TO BUY: Afghanistan is one of the best places to buy things, especially clothes, that you’ll pass through. Afghani embroidery can’t be beat but check the quality, You can buy embroidery panels to have made into shirts or dresses elsewhere. Everything imaginable is in Kabul but prices tend to be lower in other towns. Embroidered clothes are best in Kandahar and the famous Afghan coats are said by some to be best in Ghazni. Afghan sandals are strong and cheap and if you have no scruples about wildlife you can get incredibly cheap fur coats. In Herat get an Afghan suit made up in bright colours instead of Afghani grey-white and with western style trousers. They cost about 150 to 200 Afs and are very cool to wear. A big, cheerful German had a bright red suit made up, which he brought back to the hotel and put on to show us. All the Afghanis lounging around proceeded to roll around clutching their stomachs with laughter. Beyond us until one of them explained that no “man” would wear red!

If you’re into jewelry Afghanistan is noted for lapis lazuli. There is lots of antique rubbish, particularly venerable looking guns, probably made yesterday. Weed, of course, is the big seller in Afghanistan; so long as you only buy in small amounts you’re extremely unlikely to run afoul of the law. Have your last drag before you get to the Iranian border.

LANGUAGE: Afghanistan has two main languages, a Persian dialect very similar to the Farsi spoken in Iran and Pushtu which is also spoken in the Pathan regions of Pakistan. Persian is the language of the government and officials but Pushtu is more generally spoken by people in eastern Afghanistan. The following words are in Pushtu.

Bread	Nan	Yes	?
Tea	Tshai	No	Ya
Hashish	Charees	How much?	Tsumra?
Marijuana	Ganja	Expensive	Ddeer
Room	Khuma	Where?	Tsheeri?
Water	Oobe	When?	Kayla?

and most important in Afghanistan, foreigner - Farangi

It’s worth spending ten minutes to learn your Arabic numerals, or you’ll not even know the value of the coins in your pocket in Afghanistan and Iran.

We rolled up to the Afghanistan border at Islam Q’ala and could find no sign of officialdom. Eventually we found a group of rather stoned looking Americans sitting on the floor in one building, “Where’s everyone?” we asked, and got the obvious answer “gone for lunch”. “How long have you been here” we asked – “about six hours”, “Good grief what have you been doing all that time?” - “blowing a little dope with the customs”. Of course.

IRAN

Another in-between country. People rush through to get somewhere else and hardly pause to look at what it has to offer. Although much of the country is as primitive as everywhere else in the east, Iran has an unmistakable air of progress. The Shah’s policies may be controversial, but he is definitely pushing his country forward with the ‘white revolution.’

Mashed, the first city you reach, is the holy city of Sh’ite Moslems. The religious majority they venerate the prophet’s son-in-law as well as Mohammed himself. The Iman Reza, Ali’s descendant, has his impressive shrine in Mashed, which is considered second only to Mecca in importance and a suitable substitute for the Moslem pilgrimage. Unfortunately in Mashed you will find your infidel presence unwanted. The government is partly to blame as they have promoted Mashed as a tourist attraction which makes the local fanatics even more up-tight. So, despite the leaflets extolling the beauties of the Shrine, all you will see is the dome and tops of the gold minarets - unless you care to adopt Moslem disguise. Any attempt to sneak in to the courtyard or through the bazaar will be firmly turned away.

Tehran is an incongruous, dry dusty and westernised capital city - with some of the worst drivers in the world crowding its streets. Full of European cars and even supermarkets selling every imaginable brand of western food - at a price. There’s little of interest apart from the Bank Meli and some interesting new mosques. At one time, the crown jewels of Persia in the Bank Meli served as the backing for the currency, perhaps they still do. Amongst the various crowns and even a jewel studded globe to use up loose stones, is the Peacock Throne, carried off from India by Nadir Shah.

An easy days travel south of Tehran is Isfahan, the most beautiful city in Iran and surely one of the most beautiful in the world. During the Safavid era in the 16th and 17th century Isfahan, then the capital, was the show piece of the country and great efforts are currently being made to restore it. The centre of the city is the massive Maidan-e-Naash-e-Jahan square, second only to Red Square in Moscow in size. Many of the beautiful buildings around the square were commissioned by Shah Abbas the Great including the Masjid-e-Shah, the King’s Mosque. Claimed to be the most perfect building of the Sufavid era it is covered inside and out with the blue Isfahan tiles and has a double layer dome. The entrance to the mosque completes the end of the square while the mosque itself is at an angle in order to face Mecca.

On one side of the square is the Sheik Lotfollah mosque, constructed for Shah Abbas for private family worship and named after the Billy Graham of the time. It is interesting for its cream coloured tiles. and lack of minarets. Since it was built purely for private worship there was no need for the faithful to be called! On the other side is a pavilion from which activities in the square could be watched - at one time a polo field was laid out in the centre. Around the square are shops, many specialising in the brasswork for which Isfahan is famous, and at the far end is the entrance to the covered bazaar.

The older Masjid-e-Jama or Friday Mosque has fascinating cellars - a helpful official will show you around. The theological school and the bridges over the river with their multiplicity of arches should also be seen. A park in the city has a number of interesting buildings including the Chechel Sooton pavilion. Since the name means forty columns and there are only twenty, a reflecting pond is provided to see the other twenty in! A more mundane explanation is that forty is used synonymously with ‘many’ in Persian - as we say millions.

While in Isfahan go to the Shah Abbas hotel, a beautiful building converted from an old caravanserai, it has a Persian storyteller who is worth a listen. Isfahan has sufficient attractions to make a guide book a good purchase.

A further day south is Shiraz, like Isfahan full of mosques and at one time the centre for the flourishing Persian wine industry. Despite a thousand years of ‘dry’ Moslem influence there are still some pleasant wines in Shiraz. North of Shiraz by 60 kilometres is Persepolis where the Shah recently celebrated 2500 years of the Persian empire. Founded in 518 BC by Darius I. impressive ruins from this centre of the empire still stand. North of Persepolis is the palace and tomb of Cyrus the Great, by the time you arrive there Iran should certainly not be an in-between country for you.

HISTORY: Having celebrated 2500 years of continuous rule in 1971, Iran can claim one of the world’s oldest histories. Cyrus the Great was the first notable Persian ruler, during the 6th century BC. Under his successors Darius I and Xerxes. the Persian empire stretched from India to Europe and even included Egypt. During this period the magnificent complex at persepolis in southern Iran was constructed.

Attempts by Darius and Xerxes, who was defeated by the Greeks at Marathon, to extend the Persian empire into Europe marked the peak of the Empire. Soon it was Europe’s turn to conquer and in the 4th century BC. Alexander the Great invaded Persia and “accidentally” destroyed Persepolis. The Greek influence rapidly dissipated after Alexander’s death but for the centuries following, Persian history was a story of continued conflict with the Romans and later Byzatine empires. Weakened by this interminable scrapping, the Zoroastrian Persians fell easy prey to the Moslem Arabs in 641 AD.

Moslem power controlled Persia for nearly six hundred years but towards the end of that period the Arabs were gradually supplanted by the Turkish Seljuk dynasty, at that time still moving west against the remnants of the Byzantine empire. The Seljuks heralded a new era of Persian art and literature. It was in this period that the mathematician-poet Omar Khayyam worked. In 1220 the Seljuk period abruptly ended in Persia when Genghis Khan swept in and for two centuries he and his successors cold-bloodedly devastated the country.

The decline of Mongol power was followed by the Safavid era, in 1587 to 1629 Shah Abbas the Great performed his architectural miracles in Isfahan to leave a permanent reminder of this time. Unfortunately the Safavid period was followed by another destructive external invasion, from Afghanistan. In 1736 Nadir Shah, a sort of Persian, ‘country boy’, overthrew the decayed remains of the Safavids and proceeded to chuck out the Afghanis, Russians and Turks in all directions. For an encore he then rushed off to do a little conquering himself, returning from India loaded with goodies, but virtually exhausting the country with his warring. The Zand and Qajar periods that followed his departure were not the highest periods of Persian history and in 1926 the father of the present Shah founded the present Pahlavi period.

The remainder of this century has again been a story of foreign influences - Russian, English, German and American. In the second world war, although officially neutral, the large number of Germans in Persia precipitated a Russian invasion. Only after the war were the Russians, (with difficulty and American support) persuaded to depart. Today Iran is firmly aligned with the West and ruled by a repressive but forward looking government. Iran is going through a revolution in industrialisation and agricultural modernisation but at the same time the firing squad remains a favoured instrument of justice.

TRANSPORT: Buses are cheap, frequent and comfortable - especially compared to Afghanistan! If you take the less normal route out of I ran by way of the Persian Gulf and Iraq you’ll find the quality of buses tends to deteriorate further south. But then so do the roads. The three major bus companies are Mihan Bus Tours, Iran Peyma and TBT Iranian; the latter tends to be the most expensive.

From the Afghani border to Mashed is done in two stages, first a half hour bus ride costing 30 rials to Taybad where the Iranian customs and quarantine posts are situated. Don’t even consider bringing drugs into Iran, the penalties are very severe and mashed has an unpleasant new jail for people who’ve tried. Mashed is a 3 to 4 hour bus ride costing 70 rials from Taybad.

On the Mashed to Tehran sector you’ve got a choice of bus or train. Student discounts are available on the train ride but not for the buses. The daily Mihan bus costs about 300 rials and takes 15 to 20 hours, trains are about a dollar more. Some of the buses take the northern route from Mashed, if you’re travelling in your own vehicle definitely go that way. It’s about 150 kilometres further but the road is much superior, plus you travel through lush green countryside on the Caspian coastal plain which is quite unlike the rest of Iran. Turning down to Tehran you cross the spectacular Elburz mountains and pass Mt. Damavand - the highest mountain in western Asia. The other route to Tehran runs south of the mountain range and for most of the distance passes over the featureless great salt plain. Plus point is that you pass through Nishapur and can see Omar Khayyam’s tomb.

From Tehran to Tabriz you’ve again got a choice of bus or train. The bus ticket offices are all around the Amir Kabir avenue. Cost to Tabriz is about 300 rials, Mihan also have a bus straight through to Erzerum in Turkey with an overnight stop in Tabriz. very approximately 1000 rials. With the multiplicity of bus companies it’s worth shopping around . A lot of people take a train straight from Tehran to Istanbul, $US10 and three days. I don’t recommend it, you completely miss out on Turkey - a great country - plus from all reports it’s a trip full of hassles. If you do want to miss out on Turkey there’s a Mihan bus through trip.

For people taking the more odd routes into or out of Iran buses are all there is. If you come in via Zahedan a 36 hour Mihan bus ride to Tehran costs 600 rials. To leave Iran by way of the Arab countries you have to get down to Shiraz. Tehran to Isfahan costs 130 rials and from Isfahan to Persepolis a further 100 rials, 20 rials more on to Shiraz. From there a 250 rials bus ride to Abadan, on the Persian Gulf, takes about 11 hours. From Abadan or nearby Karemshaar, Kuwait is a 24 hour ship trip from where travel to Baghdad is simple. The Persian Gulf can be rough but tickets can go down to under $US3.

Travelling with your own vehicle through Iran you have no problems apart from paperwork. The roads are good almost everywhere, the only short bad stretch from the Afghan to the Turkish border should be surfaced by now. From Tehran a good road runs south as far as Shiraz. Other roads, from Tehran or Mashed to Zahedan for example, are little more than desert tracks. Petrol is all the same, a government monopoly. and at 6 rials a litre the cheapest in Asia. If you are unfortunate enough to suffer a breakdown, then Tehran is the place to get it fixed as they are amply supplied with all European car makes and spares for them.

ACCOMMODATION:

Camping - In its efforts to attract even our type of tourists, the Iranian government has opened a number of excellent government camp sites. You don’t even need a tent at most of them as they have pre-erected tents with beds. They’re slightly expensive - about the same as a cheap hotel - but clean, have hot(!) showers and sometimes cooking facilities.

There’s one in Mashed, well signposted, on the east side of town. Tehran has a private camp site with an excellent swimming pool – invaluable in summer, but a little’ far out of town on the south side on the road to Isfahan. In Tabriz there’s also a good government run site on the east side of town in a beautiful setting. It was very difficult to find, but the friendly manager - he taught us our Arabic numerals and shared numerous glasses of tea in his office, promised there’d be adequate signposts by next year.

Isfahan has two sites - one a central and pleasant youth hostel with camping in the garden. But exorbitantly expensive - like $US1.50 per night for two people. The other site was very cheap, also used by boy and girl scouts, but a long way out of town towards Shiraz. In Shiraz there’s a government site. We were told of several camp sites on the Caspian coast but couldn’t find any of them.

Hotels- I’m not too hot on hotels in Iran but I do know Amir Kabir Avenue is the place to head for in Tehran. The Amir Kabir is the freak bottleneck and has been for some years, costs are about 75 rials a night. This is also the area where all the Iranian bus companies have their offices - in Iran cheap hotels cluster around the bus stops like they do around railway stations in other countries.

FOOD: Learn one word in Iran and that is chello kebab. It is the national dish and consists of rather bland chunks of meat in an equally bland heap of rice. You knead a lump of butter into the rice and side dishes of yoghurt, raw onions and cucumber spice things up a little. More exotic is fesanjan, chicken or duck in pomegranate juice with ground walnuts. Doogh is a yoghurt and mineral water concoction. As in Afghanistan be careful of fresh vegetables, a salad I foolishly ate in Isfahan made that point clear to me! Irani melons are out of this world, they have an incredible variety of them, some unique and delicious. That well known overlander, Marco Polo, thought melons in this part of the world were pretty hot stuff. Melon stalls will offer you samples of the various types to help you reach a decision. Bread is often sold by weight and is very good, even better than Afghanistan. Tea is an Iranian drink you’ll learn to love. You see it everywhere, drunk in tiny glasses it costs 1 or 2 rials a throw depending on the quality of the establishment. Always refreshing and many tea houses provide the extra divertissement of hookah pipes. There is a fantastic ritual in preparing one and a tea house in a bazaar will prepare them for stalls allover the bazaar, small boys rush in and out carrying them to stall holders. If all else fails there is a Wimpey bar in Tehran.

MONEY: About 100 rials=$A1. There may be a very slight black market premium in Tehran but not enough to make it worthwhile. You often find prices quoted in Toman, which is equal to 10 rials. As in Afghanistan you have to remember your Arabic numerals or you won’t be able to tell a 5 from a 10 (or anything else).

VISAS: Only about one dollar and compared to most places easily obtainable - no leave it and hang around for two days stunt - but only valid for 15 days. A longer 90 day visa will run to $A5, there is no Iranian embassy in Australia.

CLIMATE: A hot dry desert country in summer and a cold dry one in winter. In the south in summer, July and August in particular, the heat is extreme. Few people realise that there is excellent skiing less than an hours drive north of Tehran in winter.- it’s cold. I met some rich Iranis skiing in Switzerland once - they only went there to be chic.

THINGS TO BUY: Carpets of course are the first things that spring to mind when you mention Persia. If you’re going to be tempted then try Ferdowski Avenue the centre of the carpet business in Tehran. There’s a government carpet shop where you can be sure of getting a good quality carpet at a fair, if not bottom, price. If price is all important. you may do better in a regional centre such as Tabriz .or Isfahan. Stricter child labour laws are gradually weakening the industry so buy now while children are still exploited!

If you are looking for a carpet the best pile will be wool and the best wool will be Persian - avoid synthetic fibres. A shortage of real Persian wool and imports of inferior substitutes is another reason for the decline in quality. The old, and now rare, vegetable dyes were good but modern chrome dyes are equally suitable - avoid anything with aniline dyes. An ordinary quality carpet will have less than 200 knots per square inch, medium will be 200 to 300 and fine 300 to 400. With superfine the sky is the limit but these will be decorative rather than something to stand upon. Look for false knots tied around four rather than two warp threads. Lay any carpet you’re considering on flat ground and look for bumps or wrinkles. A small bump or wrinkle may flatten with time, after all this is a hand made item so don’t expect machine perfection, but a larger wrinkle may stay.

Other nice things are Isfahan brassware or the miniature paintings we saw in Isfahan. The bazaar also has terrific hookah pipes and printed cloths you could use on a table. For your donkey or camel there are groovy donkey or camel accessories to doll him up with. Of jazz up your tent with tent accessories. One thing definitely not to buy are Mashed turquoises, turn a deaf ear to all the stories you’ll hear about how much they’re worth in the west.

LANGUAGE: Farsi, as the Persian language is known, is spoken throughout Iran and is the government language in Afghanistan. It is also spoken generally in Herat. English is beginning to supersede French and German as the second language in Iran.

Bread	Nan	How much	Chan Dai?
Tea	Chai	Expensive	Na arzan
Water	Ab	Cheap	Arzan
Butter	Karay	Where?	Kochas?
Yes	Balee	Hello	Shalam
No	Na	Good bye	Alvida
Bus	Autobus	Thank you	Mutashakkir

Merci, as in French, is commonly used for thank you.

one	veg	six	sheesh
two	do	seven	hal
three	say	eight	hash
four	char	nine	no
five	panj	ten	da

ALTERNATIVE ROUTES FROM IRAN

The conventional route from Iran is through Turkey but there are a number of interesting alternatives. In a car, or by train, you can travel through Russia. Between Tabriz and the Turkish border is a turn off where cars are loaded onto a train, and transported across the border, for some reason you can’t drive across. From there you can drive across Russia to Europe. Unfortunately this takes a lot of forward planning - visitors to Russia have to plan their itinerary by the day and pre-book all accommodation before their visas are granted. In tourist have a nasty habit of telling you that all their camp sites are full and funnily enough the only alternative will be expensive hotels. Unless you can face these sort of hassles the Russian route is not on travelling west. Going east it might not be so bad as your schedule is less likely to be so changeable.

The other alternative route is south through the Arab countries to the Mediterranean.

Kuwait - An oil rich, super free port. You can stock up here on everything at very cheap prices and get free medical care. Price for blood in Kuwait is probably the highest in the world, sell a pint or two if you are broke. Only hitch is, if you are broke you won’t get in as visas can be difficult, make up a good story about being a student of religions or cultures. In the summer Kuwait can be extremely hot but the youth hostel is cheap and air conditioned. Heading east, Kuwait visas can be obtained in Syria or Iraq. A lot of trucks head north to Baghdad in Iraq so hitching is fairly easy.

Iraq - A very hard line socialist Arab country so watch what you say and never mention arch enemies, Iran or Israel. Despite English interference in the past, English speaking people still seem to be popular. Naturally Iraq is hot in the summer and most of the country very poor. Baghdad sounds nicer as a name than it actually is as a city, modern and uninteresting. You can stay in youth hostels and get student discounts on trains, buses run out to Amman in Jordan and Damascus in Syria. Hitching is possible across the desert to Jordan but hot and hard work. Having an Iran visa in your passport may queer things for you in getting an Iraq visa.

Jordan - People seem to find Jordan an interesting, friendly, place to visit. Erratic bus services don’t matter because hitching is easy. Lots of things to see, especially Aquaba of “Lawrence of Arabia” fame on the Red Sea. Visas are obtainable at the border and open to bargaining on price and period of validity. From Jordan you can carryon to either Syria or Israel. Well not actually Israel, ‘the West Bank of the Jordan’. Apply for a ‘Pass at the Ministry of the Interior in Amman, with ingenuity and perseverance you will get it. Once on the west bank, there is nothing to stop you travelling all round Israel and leaving via Cyprus or straight to Greece. Although the Israelis don’t stamp your passport, a pass to the west bank followed by your being in Cyprus will just as effectively invalidate your passport for Arab countries. From Israel you can go back to Jordan, even if your visa has expired in the interim.

Israel - Much written about and becoming tourist infested. Travel within the country is easy and hitching highly practicable. Working on a kibbutz is a good way of getting to know the country but how much you enjoy it depends on whether you take a Jewish or non-Jewish impression of it. Tourist areas like Jerusalem can be expensive.

Syria - Another hard line Arab country, under touristed so things are cheap and easy. Buses are cheap and as in Jordan there are long distance type Dolmus taxis that pick people up along the way. Hitching is reasonable on trucks but rather slow. Youth hostels are again the thing in Syria, get a YHA guide for Arab countries.

Lebanon - Extremely easy hitching throughout the Lebanon although things are tense in south Lebanon near the Israeli border. Lebanon is probably the most touristy Arab country and the youth hostels are not so good. A student card is very useful for cheap accommodation. The Dead Sea Scrolls are in the National Museum in Beirut. Coming into Lebanon from Syria take a bus rather than the trains, leaving is just a stroll over the border into Turkey.

TURKEY

A go either way country - some people (like us) love it, others hate it. It is undeniably fascinating, as few people realise the sheer volume of history Turkey encompasses. Civilization after civilization has marched across and each left traces of their passing. There are so many historical sites that they cannot keep them all up and you often find yourself wandering around some site that in any other country would attract tourists by the thousand - alone.

What you see depends on the route taken, of course if you take the direct bus or train from Tehran to Istanbul you will not see a thing until you get there. On Turkish transport you have three choices. The northern route is the easiest and uses the best roads, while the central route is the shortest and fastest. The southern route is probably the most interesting, but there is no reason you can’t combine parts of the various routes.

Whichever way you go, your first stop from Iran will be Dogubayzit. A drear little town in a fantastic setting, soaring into the sky seemingly only a stone’s throwaway is Mount Ararat, the legendary landing spot for Noah’s Ark Mt. Ararat is spectacular not for its size, but because its snow capped peak rises from a virtually flat plain. Overlooking the town is an old Sultan’s palace called Ishak Pasha, look around the ruins and climb the minaret.

If you take the southern route you will turn down to Lake Van before you reach Erzurum. the first large town in Turkey. There are some interesting buildings here including the twin minareted Clifte Minare Madresse. built in the 12th century but the wind blows straight down from the Russian steppes and few people hang around for long. An easy days’ drive to Erzurum from Dogubayzit but the stretch of dirt road is fairly rough.

A few kilometres beyond Erzurum the central and northern routes split. The central route heads directly west through Sivas to Ankara, about two days drive. The northern route goes up over the foothills, through some of the most beautiful country in Turkey, to the Black Sea. About 80 kilometres before reaching the coast there is an old monastery perched on the side of a cliff face, the turn off is very easy to miss. On the coast is Trabzon, a Greek city-state until 1406, it survived due to its function as a trade centre for Persia and Baghdad. From Trabzon the road runs along the coast to Samsun. the other major Black Sea Port. An alternative route from Trabzon is to take the weekly boat, the Ege, to Istanbul. It takes about two days and stops in Samsun long enough for a quick look around .

At Samsun the road turns south to Ankara, the coast roads on to Istanbul are extremely poor. Midway between Samsun and Ankara is a turnoff to the small village of Bogazkoy, near the ancient Hittite capital, Hattatusas. The remains of the city walls stretch for over 10 kilometres with five city entrances still visible. Inside, the massive foundations of Hittite buildings stand alone except for the occasional sheep. Yazilokaya, a natural rock Hittite temple with bas reliefs carved into the rock face is a couple of kilometres away and Alacahoyuk has a tiny museum of Hittite artifacts and more ruins including the Sphinx Gate. If by this time you are really into the Hittites, the museum in Ankara has the best collection of Hittite remains in the world. Samsun to Ankara is an easy day’s ride with enough time to see Hattatusas during the day, there are places to stay or camp in Bogazkoy.

At Ankara the northern and central routes through Turkey meet up again and from here to Istanbul and Europe is again a day’s drive. Ankara is a typical new capital and not very interesting, but don’t rush on to Istanbul, turn south and see Goreme.

Flashing back to Erzurum we will now take the southern route. Less than a hundred kilometres from Dogubazit. at Agri branch south to Lake Van. Lake Van and the town of Van are in one of the most desolate regions of Turkey. It was in this area that the Opium poppy fields used to grow until American pressure turned them to other, less profitable crops. With no poppies to harvest, the locals now turn their attention to other pastimes, like throwing stones at passing cars. Heading west from Van you eventually come to Kayserai, Caeserai of biblical times. In Kayserai are two mosques, only a hundred or so metres apart, one built during the Seljuk era in 1136 and the other during the Ottoman empire in 1580, they make an interesting comparison.

Less than 100 kilometres west of Kayserai is the most interesting sight in Turkey - Goreme. Strong Christian centres existed there until long after the arrival of the Moslem Turks. A centre of volcanic activity, fantastic rock shapes were thrown up and eroded away and in these strange outcrops the Christians built their churches and homes. The rocks are soft and could be hollowed out with pointed sticks.

Inside the churches have fantastic frescoes, unlit over the centuries the paint has not deteriorated as, for example, in Pompeii. The only damage is from vandals who have scraped their initials into pictures. Within the small Goreme valley are several dozen churches, a monastery and a nunnery.

Avcilar, a small village nearby has similar hollowed out buildings where people still live. In Ortahisar is a tremendous citadel carved into a particularly big peak. You can clamber through the labyrinth of rooms to the very top and look out over the surrounding country. The best description of the Goreme area is other-worldly. At a number of sites are the remains of underground cities, one at Ozkonok has a tunnel leading to it several kilometres long. Your persecuted Christians could hide there in times of persecution. On the road from Nevsehir at Aciksary is a whole palace carved out of the same soft stone.

When you leave, take the road towards Konya, once the centre for the whirling dervishes, before the Adana to Ankara road you pass the remains of three medieval caravanserai. One of them is still well preserved, camel stalls and all. Caravanserai were built a day’s camel travel apart, you pass all three in the space of an hour, so they didn’t travel too fast in those days.

The more interesting route from here is to the coast and then north. The coast is full of Greek and Roman ruins, Crusader castles, you name it. From Adana a weekly ship runs along the coast to Istanbul. There are frequent shipping services along the coast and out to the Greek islands and Cyprus. A series of Graeco-Roman ruins can be seen around Antalya. At Pammukale are ruins, an ampitheatre and hot volcanic springs. On the coast near lzmir is the site of Ephesus and further north you come to the ancient site of Troy - just a field today.

Istanbul, the ancient capital of the Byzantinel Seljuk and Ottoman empires, adopted its present name in 1923. The city is conveniently divided into three parts - Asian Istanbul on one side of the Bosphorus and old and new European Istanbul on the other side and separated by the Golden Horn. The most interesting parts of Istanbul are all closely grouped together in old Istanbul.

Oldest and most impressive is Aya Sophia - St. Sophia. Built in 532 AD, it was the principle church of the Byzantine empire for nearly a thousand years but was converted into a mosque in 1453. In 1935 it was changed into a museum revealing the perfectly preserved frescoes, covered for 500 years. Nearby is the blue mosque of Sultan Ahmet, it doesn’t look blue outside, but go inside. The only mosque in the world with six minarets.

The Topkapi seraglio, begun in 1453, is conglomeration of buildings, many of them now used as museums. There is everything from jewelry and weapons to the inevitable hair of the prophet and even the right arm of John the Baptist. Take the conducted tour of the harem and see the spectacular views of the Bosphorus.

The Kapali Carsi. covered Bazaar, dates from medieval times and is one of the largest covered bazaars in the world, Take a look at it - one more bazaar won’t hurt. Wander through the many, mazed streets of Istanbul, you will stumble across the Spice Bazaar, a small, fragrant open market. Take a ferry ride on the Bosphorus and pass under the historic Galata bridge which connects old and new Istanbul, and don’t leave without seeing the great wall surrounding the old city.

HISTORY: A cross roads of history, traces of people in Turkey date back to 6000 BC. The earliest civilization was the Hittites, long believed to be a mythical people, they actually had power over much of Asian Turkey - Anatalia, from 2000 to 1200 BC. The stupendous size of the ruins of Hattatusas indicates the strength of their culture.

Turkey broke up into a number of small states, after the collapse of the Hittites, until the Graeco-Roman period again united parts of the country. Later Christianity spread throughout Turkey - Paul operated from Tarsus in southern Turkey. In 330 AD the Emperor Constantine transferred the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium which he renamed Constantinople, for a thousand years the Byzantine Empire was centred here.

The rise of the Moslem Arab states plus the arrival of the Turkish people from the east, spelt the end for the decrepit Byzantine Empire. Adopting Islam as they travelled west, the first great Turkish empire of the Seljuks, captured Constantinople in 1452. Within a hundred years the empire spread far into Europe under the leadership of Suleyman the Magnificent.

At this time the Turkish empire was modern and aggressive in comparison with feudal Europe. The Janissaries, the first modern standing army gave the Turks a military power unknown amongst the European nations. The Turks treated minority groups, including Christians and Jews, with consideration but their success was based on expansion not industry or agriculture. When westward conquest was halted at Vienna in 1683 the decline set in and Turkey was to become the ‘sick man’ of Europe. As the nationalist ideal swept through Europe after the French revolution, Turkey found itself with unruly possessions in the Balkans and Greece. Attempt to squash the popular risings with cruelty only hastened the decline. In World War I the Turks chose the wrong side and emerged with their present borders.

At this nadir of Turkish history Mustafa Kemal came to the fore. Ataturk, as he chose to be called, had made his name by repelling the Anzacs at Gallipoli. Rallying his army after Turkey’s defeat he overthrew the final remains of the Ottomans and pushed back the allied forces which were preparing to divide up Turkey. Ataturk then proceeded on a rapid modernisation course, the essence of which was a separation of religion from politics, introduction of western alphabet and dress and moving the capital from European Istanbul to Asian Ankara.

Naturally such sweeping changes did not come easily progress has been slow and much of the country is still desperately poor. Hampered by its cold war pawn position Turkey has been far from achieving political stability. Some back pedalling has been made on the limitations on religion but Ataturk is still very much the symbol of modern Turkey.

TRANSPORT: Unless you take one of the straight through bus or train services, travel through Turkey is easiest just from centre to centre. You can even bargain on bus tickets in Turkey and buses are generally quite good. Hitching through Turkey is possible but traffic is light in some areas, driving is generally horrifying and truckies may expect payment. Obtaining a student discount may require a Turkish student card as well as your international card, if you have got an international card you can easily obtain a Turkish one from the student organisation in Istanbul but in the rest of the country it may be difficult. Istanbul is extremely fierce on suspected fake student cards so if yours is at all dodgy never hand it to anyone who looks like he may not hand it back.

Some sample fares are:

Iran border - Dogubayzit - Agri - Erzurum	buses	35 lira
Erzurum - Istanbul	train	120 lira
Trabzon - Istanbul	ship	80 lira
Antalya - Istanbul	ship	197 lira

ACCOMMODATION:

Hotels - Cheap hotels do not tend to be as good a price/quality combination in Turkey as in other countries. Really cheap places seem to have a dozen to a room! In Istanbul, try the blue mosque area, behind the mosque is a student hostel for 6 lira a head, Golden hotel costs 10 to 15 lira a double and other hotels are the Gulhane, Aya Sofia and the Stop. Ask around at the Pudding Shop. In Ankara there is a good youth hostel and the hotel Erzurum is also cheap.

Camping - Camping is excellent throughout, which is just well as the hotels often leave a lot to be desired. BP runs a chain of Mocamps and these are being added to . Their locations are shown on the map which BP will supply on request. Unfortunately their camps are absurdly expensive and should be avoided on that count. At Dogubayzit, your first stop in Turkey, you can camp at Motel Kent. Erzurum has a BP camp place, cheaper than a Mocamp.

If you take the Black Sea route there are a number of camping places along the way. Just inland from Trabzon you can camp behind the Shell station, the manager is great fun, look us up in his guest book. Along the coast are several good sites, the best is just to the west of Unye where you can camp on the beach. There is also an excellent restaurant and cheap motel, full of pet rabbits when we were there. A few miles east of Samsun is another garage/restaurant where you can camp.

Throughout Turkey if you can’t find a place to camp and like the security of having people around, ask garages if they will let you camp. They will usually find a place, share a cup of tea with you and not charge a thing.

Ankara’s best site is at the dam, about 8 kilometres out on the road to Siva and the Black Sea. A pleasant place just to lie around for a few days. You can also camp at the municipal swimming pool or the BP Mocamp on the road to Istanbul. If you go to Gorome there are all sorts of camps in the. vicinity but Urgup is best.

Istanbul has several sites but rather far out of town. Only 100 metres from the BP Mocamp is Camping Londra with equal amenities at half the price. A lot of people with microbuses just set up in the central car park near the blue mosque a few lira to the attendant keeps him quiet and guards your vehicle.

FOOD: In Turkey food suddenly becomes good again. One of the pleasures of Turkish eating is the inevitable invitation into the kitchen to see what’s cooking. Have a look in each of the pots then make your choice, good and cheap. The Turks are particularly good at stuffed food, try stuffed peppers and stuffed aubergines. Stews and kebabs are good but puddings are out of this world. Even if you normally hate rice puddings try it in Turkey. For really good Turkish puddings try the Pudding Shop in Istanbul, near the Blue mosque. It is still the meeting place but recent price escalation make it an uneconomical place to eat very often.

Food stalls and snacks are good too - Turkish sandwiches seem to consist of half a loaf of bread stuffed with peppers, meat, and tomatoes. Pancake things, like Mexican Tortillas sell all over Istanbul for a few cents. Although Turkey is a Moslem country there is a Tuborg brewery in Istanbul. The beer is cheap and good but try Raki to really pin your ears back.

MONEY: 20 lira=$A 1. No black market but be careful of people offering to change money in Istanbul - for the same reason you should be cautious of people offering dope.

VISAS: Not required.

CLIMATE: A southern European climate in the west and a central Asian climate in the east where the weather comes down from Siberia and in combination with the altitude makes for extreme discomfort! Beware of mountain roads being snowed under in winter. The summers never get as hot as countries further east but Spring - April, May and Autumn - September, October are the most pleasant times to visit Turkey.

THINGS TO BUY: Leather goods, clothes, handicrafts, even carpets although the quality is not as high as countries further east. The grand bazaar in Istanbul has a varied collection of goods but is a tourist trap and you will find lower prices outside the bazaar or in other parts of the country.

LANGUAGE: English is widely spoken, as is French and German - foreign languages appear to be spoken in pockets. We had one extremely edifying conversation in a dirty little village in central Turkey with a dirty little urchin who spoke excellent French - far too excellent for my poor language abilities.

bread	ekmek	hello	merhubah
butter	tereyaki	good bye	gule-gule
water	soo	thank you	teshskoor
tea	chai	how much?	ne kadar?
bus	otobus	where?	nerede
yes	evet	expansive	pahah
no	hayir	that	shu
	hotel	otel
one	bir	six	alti
two	iki	seven	vedi
three	ush	eight	sekiz
four	dart	nine	dokuz
five	besh	ten	on

In Kayserai we bought a honey comb in the market and next morning stopped by the road side for a bread and honey breakfast. As usual, despite the fact that there was no sign of human life all the way to the horizon, nine kids soon turned up and sat down en-masse to watch us. They were knocked out when we cut them in on the bread and honey, and insisted that we tryout their two push bikes. When we came to leave two of them shot off on the bikes and the others refused to let us go. A couple of minutes later the missing pair returned through the fields clutching giant sunflowers. We nibbled sunflower seeds all the way to Iran.

INTO EUROPE

Once into European Turkey there are all sorts of routes through Europe. Simplest and fastest is through Bulgaria or Yugoslavia into Austria or Germany. Avoiding short hair visa hassles in Bulgaria adds a few kilometres through Yugoslavia. Unless you are in a big hurry or very short of money do not take the direct route through central Yugoslavia, flat, dull and deadly - go up the coast. The road across to the coast from Skopje used to be exceedingly rough but has been replaced by a modern paved road. The Adriatic coast of Yugoslavia is incredibly spectacular and full of interest. Visit the ancient walled city of Dubrovnik, the starting point of World War I in Sarajevo and the beautiful Plitvice lakes. If you pass through in summer then pause to get an overall sun tan at ‘one of Yugoslavia’s many nudist beaches.

The other European route is down to Athens in Greece, pause at Thessalonika on the way. Greece is another place which everyone has written about, cheap interesting, and very friendly. From Athens you can get ferries via Igoumenitsa and Corfu to Italy. There is a cheaper ferry to Otranto, the more expensive one goes to Brindisi. In Italy you can train, bus or hitch up to Rome and on to France or Switzerland. Or travel across from the heel to the toe of the boot, ferry across to Sicily and from there to North Africa. There is a good road all the way along the North African Coast through Tunisia and Algeria into Morocco. From there another short boat ride takes you to Spain. Of course the Mediterranean is full of shipping services.

Athens can also be reached by island hopping from Turkey. From any convenient Mediterranean port you can get a boat across to one of the Greek islands and from there travel to Athens on the” comprehensive Greek Island service. A typical example would be the ferry from Izmir to Lesvos, Greek-Turkish relations are not the best so it will cost you as much for the few kilometres from the Turkish coastline as all the hundreds of miles to Athens. It is still quite cheap, Lesvos to Athens is less than $US4 for a 16 hour trip. The Greek islands become very crowded during the summer months. If you want peace and solitude you will have to try obscure places or avoid the popular ones during June, July, and August.

There is a good selection of camp sites all over Europe, the cheapest accommodation available. Take full advantage of the excellent tourist offices in every European country. They all have free maps and booklets listing all their camp sites. Greece even has Tourist Police who are there to help tourists find accommodation etc.

So you see the hardest part was deciding to go, wasn’t it?

Even harder will be fighting the urge to go again.