How Might A Change Of Laws On Sex Affect Your Holiday In Indonesia?

Flag of Indonesia

The flag of Indonesia is a band of red above white.

 

What is the danger? Apart from deliberately having extra-marital sex, there's the risk of accidentally breaking the law and the trap. The tourist goes to a bar, a beach, a restaurant, anywhere, and meets an attractive person who says they are single, divorced or widowed.

Whether they are a local person or a fellow tourist, the love of your life, or a passing interest, pushes things further. Up pops a video camera's witness, or a spouse's detective with spouse in tow. 

You are subject to blackmail. Or a year in jail. 

Do you chat to a girl in a bar? Do you allow a group to befriend you? 

The person beside you on the bus will be warning you not to talk to the person sitting in front of you who tries to strike up a friendly conversation. I had this when I was single. Everybody was warning me in countries such as Turkey not to talk to another person.

The whole time you are wondering what will happen if the friendly person gives you a peck on the cheek. What about a goodbye hug and kiss, at the disco, after a day travelling together, or even bye-bye at the airport?   

What if you are not travelling, but a travel agent? You only need newspapers to report that one person claims to be imprisoned or blackmailed or forced into marriage, or to claim that, and your travel brochure for a business in London has to be reprinted. Your travel rep is laid off. Your aircraft's flight is cancelled because of falling bookings.

So you are a tourist and you are not worried. But you go on holiday and one of your group, a fellow passenger, your tour guide, is arrested. That puts a damper on your holiday.

Never mind. Besides, you are married. It is only a day or two stopover. You are planning on a round-the-world flight tour for your honeymoon. Round the world to New Zealand or Australia can be cheaper than a direct flight. So I was told by a fellow passenger on Singapore Airlines.

But other tourists are worried about one country. That leg of your trip is cancelled. The whole of your tour is in jeopardy.

People may book holidays up to a year ahead. People might deliberately cancel and go elsewhere. Or they might just have a nagging feeling that a particular country is not a good place to visit. The reason has been forgotten. But the negativity remains. 

I believe that is the reason for 'gut feelings', 'instincts'. You read or experience a bad event. You forget the event. But you are left with an uneasy feeling about person, or country. 

Could anything good come out of this for the tourist? They might cancel the law because of its possible or real effect on tourism. You might then be out of danger, no risk, but be offered bargain holidays. 

Useful Websites

https://www.flightcentre.co.uk/flights/round-the-world-flights/trip-planner?

Two Tips on Pronouncing Romanian before your trip

Problem
You can recognize Romanian words on the page, but can't say them. Words such as not, which is nu, or good which is bun, like the French bon, look easy. But when Romanians speak, you can't catch what they are saying.

Answers
I
One reason is that lots of words end with the little I with pointed  hat,

which is the same as an a with the hat

Which is a silent vowel like the e ending the English word vase.

SH!
Sh - don't tell anybody. The letter s with the comma underneath is like the two letters in English, SH. Just think of the comma as the extra letter h which is not pronounced h but chances the s into SH!

I find the easiest way is to learn using Duolingo, the free language learning website. I play the sound of the word by tapping on the sound symbol. If I have time, I play it twice or three times and practise saying it. That's how Romanian children learn to speak their language, by hearing it and repeating it.

Tips
TOURISM & TRAVEL & FLIGHTS
http://romaniatourism.com
https://www.blueairweb.com/company/about-us (Romanian airline, page includes flight query box)
https://www.budgetair.co.uk/flights/europe (They go to Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania and many more
https://www.cheapflights.co.uk/find-flights/to-
http://www.lastminute.com/flights/
www.ryanair.com

When I log in from the UK I get companies based in the UK. When I log in from another country, such as Singapore, I get a host from that country. Similarly, you will find a host website in your country.

Sometimes it is cheaper to book flights from another country. This is easy, especially if you have a home of business in another country.  Or you might ask your host company to book the flights for you if they get better bargains and deals, rather than booking for yourself and then claiming back the money from them.

LANGUAGES
https://www.duolingo.com/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author, speaker and language teacher. I teach English, and other languages with a Latin or Cyrillic alphabet. Please share links to posts. 

Malta's Famous Arch Collapses Into The Sea

Malta's famous arch which collapsed in March 2017.
Photo by Angela Lansbury, 2015, copyright.
All rights reserved.

Problems
Malta's famous arch has collapsed into the sea. What can photographers and tourists do now?

Answers
This is not a new problem. The same thing happened to an arch in Australia. If you already have a picture, even if you don't, you can take a picture of the remains of the old arch and compare it with one showing the arch as it was.

The arch in Malta is one of the landmarks on the lesser known and smaller island of Gozo. The only money-making enterprises I could see were charges for car parks and the restaurant overlooking the adjacent blue pool, which is still there.

The restaurant overlooking the pool beside the fallen arch on the island of Gozo, Malta.
Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Several possible solutions:

1 Build a reproduction of the old arch nearby in a theme park for people to be photographed on the reproduction.
2 Build a Malta in miniature showing the arch as it was.
3 Encase the whole thing in protective glass with concrete supports and buttresses and install a fake piece in the middle, with windows into the original layers. (This would cost a lot. It would also destroy the 'natural' feel. But you can attract visitors to the Grand Canyon and other landmarks in the USA and China and worldwide with bridges and landmarks installed this century or last century.
4 Install an exhibition of before and after photos, from professional and mature photographers, local people and tourists.
5 Recreate the arch with either a ladder and viewpoint, or walkway up a slope to one side at the back. Use the same or another artificial arch with a waterslide into a swimming pool.
6 Create a last landmarks exhibition with all the fallen arches and other landmarks of the local area through the ages and similar items worldwide.
7 Run a competition for reproductions of the arch, made from rocks, plastic, plasticine, Playdough, toothpicks, lolly sticks, cereal boxes, plaster of Paris (with a sponsor or two from toy companies or craft companies). Show some of the original in an exhibition and photos of the others.
8 Create a model of the arch in a children's playground with safety barriers and a slide.
9 Run an annual event when a beach fair is held, with prizes for the best tee-shirt featuring the arch.
10 Make a local rock cake or meringue in the shape of the arch or a flat cake with a photo of the arch in edible icing horizontally, or vertically.

Stories
The similar arch in Australia fell. It was a popular walk along the top from the nearby cliff, out over the sea for the view and selfie photos. I heard that a couple had got stranded on the end. They had to be rescued.

What a drama. Not knowing if the rest of the arch would collapse. No food or toilet. Unable to get back to home or work.

Real Stories and Fiction
The story was nationwide sensation. According to the person who told me, this event caused more problems for the people involved. (I was unable to find the facts on the internet - so this is just a rumour. However, as the saying goes, why let the truth get in the way of a good story: Here's a drama I or you could use in a short story, or novel:

This is how the Chinese Whispers version goes. The couple were supposed to be at work. Their employers did not know the people were off work - people who not at home sick, or at work, or out delivering or making business calls. (One company or two - if you are writing a novel - your choice.

Their respective families did not know the couple were not at work. At least one of the couple was married, and the spouse saw them on the TV news. One of the couple may have lost a relationship, a marriage or reputation.

You could make this into a short comedy. A short joke or anecdote. A short story or novel.

You could write a tragedy. A short story or a novel.

Or a cautionary tale. Safety for travellers.

Tips
You will find advice on many sites for hiking and climbing areas. Most of the advice applies to a long stroll along flat ground and tourist spots as much as remote areas. The rules are helpful whether you are walking in the woods, the countryside, or along a clifftop or beach.

Notice what the devices for evacuating an aircraft include: something to support you in the sea, a whistle and a light. A lifeboat has extra items. But if you are on your own you need food such as Kendal Mint cake. You would not take chocolate covered mint cake in sunshine because it would get sticky. I once read that Hershey chocolate was developed for soldiers in hot countries who needed a chocolate bar which would not melt in the pocket or backpack.

1 Always take a phone, and a charger.
2 Leave details of where you are going, and/ or photograph your route. You might take photos you would not make public, but which will be on your website or in the network 'clould' if emergency services or family are looking for you.
3 Carry food and drink.
4 Take clothing for hot and cold weather, in the hot day and cold night.
5 Wear or carry something you can wave or use as a signalling device.
6 And use the toilet before not after taking a long walk. You never know how long it will be before you get back.
7 Guides off a trail should have walkie talkies to keep track of the group.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Guess What These Place Names mean: Bury St Edmunds; Beaume de Venise, France.

I always try to check place names because it helps me to remember them, draws my attention to the spelling and points to places to visit, landmarks in the area. You might consider whether studying geography and history from books and the internet is a distraction from real life and work, a welcome entertainment, or a vital part of understanding the world.

Bury St Edmunds
Here are this week;s delightful discoveries. First I found in the Sunday Times (the British one, not one in Singapore) that the Place Bury St Edmund's is the burial place of Englands king Edmund, who was later made a saint, which brought the area huge amounts of medieval tourism.

Beaume de Venise
The second delightful discovery was when I ordered a glass of sweet muscat wine, Beaune de Venise. I knew muscat was a grape. That muscat wine is always sweet. But what did the name Beaune de Venise mean? De is French for of. I sent my sleuth's looking. I have a family member who is studying wine for an exam on wines of the world, level 4, examined by the Wines and Spirits Education Trust.

(I am toddling along behind. I passed level one, equivalent to an NVQ and requiring alone about 20 hours study and answering multiple choice questions after each chapter in a large booklet, following by a day of lectures, tasting and a final multiple choice exam, about 30 questions.)

My sleuth found out all sorts of history, going back through blogs on wine, getting academic permissions to read university articles not available to the public, and encyclopaedias on wine and history, including Jewish history. We read about the Italian popes in Southern France. The Jews in the area. The taxes paid.

The motto is q u e ben be u r a ... d i e u  v e i r a

I translate that at first glance as: who(ever) drinks well will see god.

The summary of the story of the origin of the word: Beame - an old word for cave. V e n i se was from the Latin, meaning a P r o  V I N C E, of Rome.  In Roman times. The word Provence means province of Rome.

So Beaume de Venise is the cave of the province.

I shall also always remember not just the wine but the meaning of the word Provence, a region of France, near the Italian border.  I envisage the Italians marching over the border to their province and having a nice glass of sweet wine from Beaume de Venise, the cave of the province.

Sweet wine has less alcohol converted into sugar. I thought that if you are a Roman soldier you deserve a drink, but you don't want to drink spirits and water it down or get over intoxicated. Tomorrow you have work to do. But tonight you can have a glass of sweet wine with your dinner, Beaume de Venise.

However, looking at the label, I am shocked to see that it is 15%, which to me is very high alcohol. No wonder you normally get a small portion of sweet wine at the end of a meal with your dessert. I thought it was because you had already had enough to drink or because the wine was expensive and the restaurant wants to give you less and they can get away with it because you are already full.

Misleadingly, the French words Vin Doux n a t u r e l do not mean wine which is soft or sweet and natural, nothing added. On the contrary, it means fortified wine, wine with added alcohol bringing it up to 15%.

Most wine I drink which is sweet is only 13%, sometimes 12 and a half per cent. Oo-er! Good thing I wasn't driving home.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, photographer, researcher, author, speaker.