Supporting Burma

Title – Supporting Burma
Source – Tourism Infocus
Date – Autumn 2008

Burma and it’s deep seated problems feature regularly in this blog, we try and do our bit to raise the profile of the terrible problems the country faces; problems which can almost all be laid directly at the door of the illegal and brutal military regime which has ruled the country for over 60 years. A regime who will do anything to cling on to power and who don’t think twice about using torture, extra judicial killing, threats against women and children, imprisonment and depraved violence including rape as a weapon of war, to keep control. Control over a country they have turned from a beacon of light in South East Asia; from the a country rich in resources; from a country with an industrious people who once made it the ‘rice bowl’ of South East Asia; to a basket case; to a country that spends less then 50p per capita per year on health care and education combined; to a country that can’t feed itself; to a country that desperately needs foreign aid but refuses to accept it; to a country where an already devastating cyclone is turned into a tragedy of such magnitude that most still don’t comprehend it; to a country rated as one of the world poorest.

We have written to many companies and individuals over the years giving our opinion on Burma and trying to convince them that investment in and tourism to Burma, just exasperates the problems, by providing funding to the military regime to allow them to continue their oppression. We have had some success; in one notable case persuading a well known travel company to remove Burma from their brochure and website and in its place put a link to the Burma Campaign UK website. We have received many letters in response, some have been positive, people offering to support the various campaigns, some negative generally from companies using the age old excuse of ‘freedom of choice’ as an argument for them selling trips to Burma.

We believe in freedom of choice and we agree that travellers should be able to make up their own mind where they travel to. But freedom of choice is only ‘freedom’ if you have all the information to make an educated ‘choice’. Travel companies that promote Burma use words and phrases like; ‘Shangri-La’, ‘unspoilt paradise’, ‘peaceful, spiritual Burma’. Have any of these people been to Burma and spoken to real Burmese? Do the Burmese describe Burma as ‘Shangri-La’ or is it closer to ‘hell on earth’?

Burma is undoubtedly one of the world’s most beautiful countries, the various ethnic groups in Burma are undoubtedly some of the world’s friendliest, gentlest and most spiritual people, but they are prevented from being themselves by these dictators. When people tell you that you can travel to Burma and use ‘local’ facilities that fund ‘local’ people and not the ‘government’, they show their abject ignorance of Burma. The ‘government’ control everything and areas they don’t have complete control over, they will simply not allow you to travel to. Any money you spend in Burma will provide the government with funding and almost anything you spend will be on hotels, guesthouses, transport etc that is sanctioned by the government for tourist to use. For a Burmese person to get this sanction to provide services to tourist, they need a licence which involves paying off the local ‘government’ or being in their pocket.

I am a strong advocate that tourism to Burma indirectly funds the brutal oppression. If the tour operators put that in their glossy brochures would anyone go? Probably not if rather than a picture of the serene Pagan temples, they showed the forced labour building the roads to allow tourists to visit them or pictures of one of the world’s largest child armies that helps to prop up the military junta…

There are many organisations which support the struggle for a free Burma. We recently wrote to Tourism Concern to offer our support of their excellent campaign and they chose to publish an extract of our letter, posted here for your attention. At Beyond The Blue (Safe Gap Year) we will not dictate where you should go and where you should not go. We choose to educate rather than dictate. We have yet to meet anyone who has decided to travel to Burma once they have all the facts made available to them.

For further information, please visit The Burma Campaign UK and Tourism Concern websites.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

‘Yom Kippur riot’ in Israeli city

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Title – ‘Yom Kippur riot’ in Israeli citySource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 9th October 2008

It would be wrong of me to write in this blog that the riot that started with someone driving a car on the Yom Kippur religious holiday in Israel was simply the result of a cultural faux pas. There are clearly very serious tensions and deep rooted problems in this part of the world and the fact that it was a person of Arab origin driving on a Jewish religious holiday undoubtedly contributed in a very substantial way to the resulting riots.

But this situation illustrates in the strongest way how cultural awareness and cultural sensitivity play a very important role in safe travel.

Learning about other cultures should be one of the main reasons for travel and accepting the cultures of the countries you visit is imperative. You don’t have to agree with local cultures, but when you visit another country you have to respect them or go home. You simply can not expect to force your own culture on your hosts and far too often I see tourists trying to ‘impose’ on their hosts the ‘right way’ to do things or how to think. I use the word ‘impose’ rather than ‘teach’ because they tend not to suggest their way is right so much as tell their host that the host’s way is wrong.

There is nothing wrong with having an open discussion about cultural differences, many people across the world want to talk to you about how things are in the UK, but be sensitive to their beliefs and their way of doing things and do not assume that what we think ‘works’ at home should work around the world, because that is simply not true. I personally believe that if all the world followed the British model, the world would be a much much poorer and less interesting place.

At Beyond The Blue we run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops (GYITSA) for those planning travel to any part of the world. We provide not only practical advice such as guidance on Travel Equipment, but also Cultural Awareness to give candidates an introduction to the culture of the countries they intend to visit so they can travel pre-warned and prepared and enjoy all the positive experiences that independent travel has to offer without, so many of the pitfalls.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

Australian tourist killed in Goa

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Title – Australian tourist killed in Goa
Source – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 9th October 2008

Without any further details at this stage it would not be right to apportion any blame yet, but it does serve as a warning once again that destinations change with time and Goa has certainly seen that change; those visiting tend to continue to treat their travel as if it were still a hippy backwater.

Goa is now very much on the tourist trail and is visited by hundreds of thousands if not millions of tourists each year, no longer a sleepy backwater or throw-back to the 60’s, it has changed and with it the threat levels have changed. Where 20 years ago there was a ‘hippie’ drug scene where drugs were almost tolerated, with growth came a more organised and therefore more ruthless drug distribution network. Where organised crime takes over the ruthlessness inevitably follows as the pie grows, more people want to secure a bigger slice of that pie and are willing to do anything for it.

Add to this the influx of ‘local’ workers and migrants to service the ever growing tourist trade and it is again inevitable that tensions will follow. We must also not forget that where ‘rich’ tourist flock, thieves and criminals will also turn up to prey on richer pickings. Together it does not make for a pretty picture.

As always we must add some context to this picture. Hundreds of thousands of tourists go to Goa and have a fantastic holiday without incident, but there does seem to be an increasing number of ‘incidents’ occurring and travellers should be more careful and protect themselves and their valuables and steer well clear of any illegal activities. Don’t be fooled into thinking drugs of any kind are legal or have been decriminalised in Goa and India generally. This is a travellers myth and if anything the penalties are harsher then you will find at home, ask anyone who has seen the inside of an Indian gaol if it is worth the risk...

Also be aware that the police are starting to take a much stiffer stance against crime, but also that they are very aware of the reputation of Goa in the international community and seem willing to go a long way to protect that reputation, both by enforcing the law and in their proactive approach to investigating certain crimes without a preconceived low-profile solution being offered. That certainly seemed to be the case in the tragic case of Scarlett Keeling who was raped and killed in Goa in 2008.

When you travel you can not behave the same way you do at home and you have to accept that countries have their own laws and cultures which you have to abide by. Poor behaviour can often land you in a great deal of trouble; in some parts of the world can place you in extreme danger as respect and ‘loss of face’ is taken extremely seriously in some cultures.

At Beyond The Blue we run Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops (GYITSA) for anyone planning to travel to any part of the world. We examine personal safety theory and techniques as well as conflict resolution skills that help provide solutions to confrontation rather than allowing them to escalate. We also provide specific Destination Advice and Cultural Awareness guidance so travellers can be prepared for all the situation they are likely to encounter on the course of their travels.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

Tourists die in Nepal air crash

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Title – Tourists die in Nepal air crashSource – www.bbc.co.uk
Date – 8th October 2008

We do tend to take flying for granted and yet especially in more remote parts of the world it is only the skill of the pilots which keeps us safe.

Sit at dinner with a group of friends and ask them about flying and it seems everyone has a story, from terrible turbulence to full-scale emergency landing, terrible food to faulty seats and we laugh and joke about the need for life jackets or how much the ‘brace’ position is really going to help us in an emergency. Airline reputations are easily lost and in the era of 24-hour news and the internet every bad experience seems to find it’s way to a ‘forum’ and good experiences tend to go unnoticed.

I have flown into very many different aircraft, undoubtedly flying business class on Singapore Airlines, which regularly wins or comes close to the top of the Airline Awards league table is a pleasure and I felt very safe indeed; the same can not be said for the propeller plane I took in central Papua New Guinea, as I sat in the co-pilots seat the plane was flown by a missionary and we landed on a grass runway which compared unfavourably with some back lawns back here in the UK, I felt distinctly nervous; or the flight we took in Malaysia many years ago when we were surprised when the man in the ticket office also checked us in and later drove the bus out to the 18-seater plane, imagine our horror when the same man turned out to be the pilot? Greeting us on the plane and clearly registering the slight look of concern on our faces he sought to reassure us with the unforgettable line “Don’t worry I have been flying for nearly a year….” Not an auspicious start and when the door would not shut properly and rattled throughout the flight, you can imagine the relief when we finally arrived and the mad dash for the ferry office the next morning to book our return trip…

The point is, many internal flights are run by less reputable airlines, with less well maintained older aircraft and require a great deal of skill to land at less well maintained and more dangerous airports; they are therefore often more dangerous than international flights governed by strict international safety standards and flying into well maintained airports with modern technology; rather than the man with a whistle I encountered in the Solomon Islands who would watch out for the plane (which would circle the island twice to ensure it had been seen) and whistle for the runway to be cleared of the football match or market that was taking place.

Yeti airline is not rated by www.airlinequality.com and this latest incident comes just two years after another fatal yeti crash. This does seem like a tragic accident, reports suggest that weather conditions changed for the worse just prior to landing with a thick fog descending on the airstrip. Sudden and severe weather changes are not unusual and you should as far as is possible do your research on both the airline and the conditions before you travel, to ensure that you reduce the risks as much as possible.

Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop (GYITSA) provides information on personal safety as well as the other areas of travel planning needed to reduce the risk you face when travelling to unfamiliar parts of the world. These include a session on Transport Options and Destination Advice.

Please visit our website at http://www.safegapyear.com/ or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.

Chilling brush with death

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Title – Chilling brush with death
Source – Metro
Date – 8th October 2008

I have to be honest that I am not expert on ice climbing, in fact if I was not enthusiastic about the concept before, I can now categorically say that it is on my list of ten thousand things to do before I die at number 9999 just above wrestling with the box jellyfish...

But I can’t help but admire the sense of adventure, the courage and the expertise shown by these guys in their accent of the frozen waterfalls of Hokkaido island in Japan.

But be warned this really is not the type of activity that anyone but the most experienced should even contemplate and if ever that message was more obvious then have a look at this amazing photograph and the good fortune this pair had despite their experience in this area. Them understanding the risks makes them courageous, anyone who thinks they can undertake this type of activity without meticulous planning and years of experience is foolhardy.

Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop (GYITSA) will not prepare you for this kind of activity, that is a truly specialist area, but we will help you to understand the need to plan your travel and to carry out dynamic risk assessment as you travel to ensure you are reducing the inherent risks to a minimum at all times. Where these climbers will have spent many hours selecting and checking their climbing equipment to make sure it is safe, travellers also need to ensure they have the appropriate Travel Equipment for their trip; where the climbers will have spent time studying the climate to reduce the risks from both bad weather and good (too hot and the ice waterfalls become even more unstable) we examine Destination Advice including climate and the best seasons to travel; and where these climbers got lucky, we will provide you with many techniques and suggestions to help you make your own luck and avoid the many potential problems that can occur along the way when you undertake independent travel.

Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com or join us on Facebook. For a complete list of Blog entries visit our National Press Archive page.