Travel Agency

Where we have visited........ where we would like to visit, whether in this realm or another.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by s <3 on September 1, 2009 at 11:27am

It's terrible what one human will do to another, in the name of the law or justice. What do they do with the girls, are the kept in different prisons?

I learned only a few days ago that under the laws in Saudi Arabia the death penalty is only imposed if the family of the victim so wishes, that is something that I had not heard before.

Permalink Reply by Les Derbyshire on September 1, 2009 at 4:17pm

There tend to be far fewer girls in prison. I think this is because in that culture it's traditional for the girls to be in the home, helping their mothers to run the home. The boys are more likely to be out on the street and in the way of trouble and so get picked up more easily. Where there are girls in prison they are generally separate although it was the plight of 'Rosie', a 6 year old girl in a mass cell, that really got the Olongapo project off the ground.

Click here for some illustrations of what was found when the project managed to get into the jails.

Permalink Reply by s <3 on September 1, 2009 at 4:40pm

That is terrible, where do they lay to sleep........ there is nowhere for them.

I guess that's what the girls would do, help their Mums, are they valued there, or are they seen as a liability as is the case in some Asian countries.

Permalink Reply by Les Derbyshire on September 1, 2009 at 4:53pm

Women have a valued place in Filipino society, they're not a liability.

And sleep? Well they lie on the bare concrete floor wherever they can find a place which, as you can see, is not easy.

Permalink Reply by s <3 on September 1, 2009 at 5:14pm

That's good that they value their women.

How the poor souls lay down and sleep is impossible to comprehend. They are treated as bad as the prisoners of war were. Makes the Tenko tv series look like a walk in the park.

Permalink Reply by erika on September 2, 2009 at 9:21pm

I cannot read all the comments here. But I'll tel you of my travelling experience of the Red Cross.

Me and my boyfriend had been in Morocco for two months or something like that. Our money was fineshed. I had asked my mother to send my last pay check to an address in Tanger, and when we got the money we would take a boat over to Spain. The money did not arrive. I think we waited for three weeks in Tanger, spending our last money on a cheap hotel with nice owners. The wife took me to a Hamam one night.

Anyway, as the money never came, we finally had to cross over to Europe.

When we arrived in Gibraltar, we were so poor we had to sleep a night at the Red Cross. Women and Men apart. I slept in the same room as a woman who caughed up her lungs at the same time as she kept smoking, all night. The beds were of military-type. It was very spooky. We made it to Malaga somehow, and when we hitch-hiked and got picked up by a car of youngsters, we had somewhere to sleep. One of the young men offered us to stay in his flat. We were introduced to activists and artists he knew, and we got to work up in the hills, picking olives (they turned out beautiful in the end!) in trees for three weeks, digging and planting (W.W.O.O.F = willing workers on organic Farms??), but had nothing but potatoes to eat. I still love potatoes.

Anyway....> Barcelona > Amsterdam 7 months, Germany one month, Stockholm 2 1/2 months, Umeå a couple of weeks>>>>London (visiting my grandfather and cousins, uncles, aunt)>>>>>>Sydney7 or eight months, bought a van and travelled up coast towards cape York (is that what it's called, the highest tip of Australia?), and we rented an old railway carriage, wodden, for two months I think.

Before we left Sydney, we got married there. And my visa was running out just at that moment, so I had to travel to New zealand to renew it. I visited a friend of a friend in Wellington, took a bus down from Auckland.

On my way back someone..(probably a mixture between me, my boyfriend on telophone in Australia and my friend's friend) mixed up which day my plane was going back. I took a cab from his place, to the bus station. There I realized my mistake, but there was no way I would make it in time, the bus to Auckland airport would take me a day or so.

So I sat on that bloody bus, thinking: there goes aircraft home to Sydney..

When I got there, I would be helped, but the next plane was in three days' time. I had nowhere to go and hardly any money at all. Had spent most of it, because I wouldn't be using it after NZ anyway.

I took my rucksack on my back and went out in the streets, just walked.

When I saw a Red Cross building I went inside and asked if they had a bed for three nights.

They hadn't, but they asked me to sit down.

After a while, Peter came and told me that a friend of his, an older lady, would have me. She lived in a village outside town, on a hill actually. She had a goat (her tenth), a dog and two cats, hens, a fountain and a painting studio. She was very nice.

Permalink Reply by s <3 on September 2, 2009 at 9:33pm

What a wonderful adventure Erika. That is the way to travel and see a country, not saying in 5* hotels that are the same all over the world.

I wonder who ended up with your money that your Mum sent to you......... did some bank clerk press the wrong button and it disappeared?

I love potatoes too :) x

Permalink Reply by erika on September 2, 2009 at 11:50pm

Oh, i missed to explain that: the money reached Morocco just when we'd left. She wasn't sure how to send the money and when she finally did, we couldn't wait longer-

So when we came to Amsterdam I sent her a letter (a new Poste Restante address) and she told me she got frightened that the money bounced back in Morocco (noone picked it up). I think she then sent it to us. It wasn't so much, just for a couple of weeks' work (I used to hop around between different schools and daycares that needed me.)

Permalink Reply by s <3 on September 3, 2009 at 12:16am

Glad that your money did not get lost :)

Permalink Reply by Les Derbyshire on September 3, 2009 at 1:50am

That's a great account Erika and what a journey! That kind of experience is such an education for the mind and builds a store of memories too!

Permalink Reply by Les Derbyshire on December 28, 2009 at 1:35am

May I be permitted a link? I just got around to posting a selection of my USA & Canada photos on my Live Space soit's best to link to them I think.
USA & Canada
I'd recommend viewing them 'full-screen' (that's F11 on a Windows computer, sorry I dont know about a Mac) and opting for the slide show.

Permalink Reply by s <3 on December 28, 2009 at 12:29pm

They are really great photos Les........ I managed the slide show, that's a good way to view, but did not go full screen, but they were quite big, the size of a normal photo.

F11 clears the screen on a Mac! I have just learned that!

The photo of the lake and the island reminded me of King Arthur, I could imagine the sword appearing.... that's if I've remembered the story right!

I hope Percy will not get jealous of that Motorhome....... it was huge...... lovely... you could live in one like that all of the time. I like the way the car it hitched to the back too..... very good. I've never seen that done over here.

Thanks for sharing the photos with us :)