The value of world travel.

I was born in a British colony in southern central Africa, and my family traveled all over that region to all the other colonies, British, German, South African , Portugese. So I learnt at at an early age about foreign travel and different cultures. Besides the imported European cultures in those colonies, I also was submerged in the African cultures and languages that bombarded me on a daily basis. So when we emigrated to New Zealand when I was 5 years old, I was not fazed at all by the move and the changed culture I was confronted with. It was a big adventure. In fact I started Elementary school in New Zealand. Really the only different thing I was confronted with was a new and strange people and culture, the Moari. The facial tribal tattoos, the language, the food. The music and the dancing. I just filed it away in my memories.

we eventually moved back to Africa 3 years later, via a cruise ship passenger liner, with several stops at harbors in Australia. Another new experience, with a new indigenous people, the Aborigines. And new animals, kangaroos and koalas. One of my strongest memories was sailing into Sydney harbor under the bridge and seeing the iconic opera house still under construction.

arriving back in Rhodesia, I was met by my old nanny, a plump, smiling Ndebele woman who drew me into her arms in a soft, comforting, loving hug, that took me back 3 years to memories I had all but forgotten. Enrolling back into school, I was shocked to find I had to repeat one year, because the school educucation level in Rhodesia was not as good as in New Zealand. But I loved being back in Africa. The smells, the people, the animals, the weather. It was home. There is nothing better than home.

my parents got divorced, and I found myself once again relocating to a different country and life, living with my father in an apartment on the beach. It was tropical, monkeys in the trees outside my 3rd story window, salt air, crashing waves on the beach. My most precious possession was a beat up old surfboard which I learnt to ride on the waves. I was tanned dark brown, my hair was bleached due to the salt water. I almost lived on the beach. I became a life guard. I didn‘t realize I was living in apartheid South Africa, I was oblivious. It was paradise on earth, for me. Not so much for the black native peoples, Zulu, Xhosa, Ndebele, San, Tswana. The races were separated, unlike in Rhodesia, where everyone mingled together. Even the whites kept apart, mostly by residual hatred and distrust from the Boer war that ended 70 years before when the British won and the Afrikaner lost. Not only did I learn the history of South Africa, and the Afrikaner, the white African tribe, in school, but I learnt first hand why they hated and distrusted the English, and came to understand the Spartheid system by living in it. But not being oppressed by it.

‘Then, by life’s quick and sudden changes, I was back in Rhodesia, in the middle of the civil war that had been simmering for 15 years, which was why we had moved to New Zealand in the first place. Now I was old enough to be drafted into the defense force, so I proactively joined the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Intaff), which was a paramilitary unit which worked in the communal tribal areas deep in the bush. I would never have seen this part of Africa and people if not for the war. So even in the worst possible event like a war good things happen. The Batonga tribe was so isolated, and primitive, still defended themselves from slave raids by Arab slave traders who sailed up the Zambezi river from Mozambique to steal their children and men. To do that, the parents scarred their children’s faces and knocked out their front teeth, to make them ungly and unwanted by the raiders. By the time the war ended in 1980, they weren’t doing that to the children, tribal memories had faded, slave raids had stopped After the British arrived, and the Batonga began trusting the British.

The next move I made was to the United States, 5 weeks after the war ended, and Mugabe took control of now Zimbabwe. It became a Marxist Communist political government. My country had disappeared. California was again a very different place than what I was used to and had experienced. Sure, it was 1st world like New Zealand, Australia and even South Africa and how I lived in Rhodesia. But different. I met a different native indigenous people, the Native American. Many different nations, in Oregon, Washington, California, Arizona, Nevada and Colorado. As I moved around the country, I came across more, in Utah, New Mexico. Man, this country was huge. California was different than New York. The western states were different than the Midwest, or the eastern seaboard states, the north very different than the south. The accents changed, the cultures changed, race relations changed. Even within a single state, like California, Southern California was almost a different country than Northern California.

I joined my wife’s business, and we went overseas to Europe to find the products we needed. We traveled to Germany, both Nortthern Germany, and Southern Germany. In the North, we visited Berlin, and experienced the town as tourists, visited the wall, and check point Charlie, reliving the Cold War. We went into East Germany, and even though it was reunited with west Germany, it was different. Not as vibrant, the people were more subdued. We drove all the way to Hamburg, and then down south into Bavaria, to Munich, and even more South, crossing into Austria. The Alps were spectacular.the people and architecture were more rustic and they moved at a slower pace. We saw more traditional lederhosen worn, and the language was different. We prepared by learning greetings and other common phrases, only to find out they spoke low German in Bavaria and high German in Berlin and Hamburg. Oh well, we survived.

we traveled to Venice, Italy by train, winding through Switzerland to get to Venice, and the taxicab was a vaporetto, a small boat that sailed the canals of Venice. Beware the Italian men, who liked and appreciated my wife’s buttock cheeks, pinching them when the opportunity presented itself. Venice was very romantic, with little sidewalk cafes at every Street corner, and no cars. It’s a pedestrian town.

we also went to Paris, France. It was a week after the 9/11 attack, and there were banners hanging out of windows, draped over buildings, stating how sorry for Americans They were.It was amazing. The French people were so nice to us. The hotel rooms were tiny, and very expensive. The food was good, but also expensive. The metro subway was fun to travel on, musicians getting on and off the whole time, playing music to the passengers for tips. The train stations also had musicians playing for tips, and Africans just begging. The French beggars , actually all the European beggars we saw, knelt on the ground, with their forehead touching the ground and their arms extended out hands cupped in front. Not like American beggars, with a cardboard sign asking for money.

Then we went to Czech Republic, flying into Prague, and immediately driving out of town and into the mountains close to the Polish border. That was where the factories made our products that we needed. Small quaint villages, with prices much more reasonable than big city prices for hotels, food, beer was cheaper than a bottle of water, ( and it was really good beer). The people were friendlier, but we tried for years to learn the language, and couldn’t, because everyone we met wanted to practice their English skills on us.

we visited Poland, a very nice country, poor in the mountains, but really good food, and cheap. Meaning inexpensive, good quality. The freeways were excellent, but beware of speed traps when you leave a town. The traffic cops will get you!

Lithuania was where we go for Amber. Right on the Baltic ocean, small cities are loaded with galleries selling Amber jewelry, Amber soaps and cosmetics. Tall pine trees line the beach in a 1/2 kilometer strip, and if the wind is blowing, when you walk through the strip of forest to get to the beach the creaking of the trees sounds like they are whispering and softly talking to you. It is magical. There is so much history in each of these European countries, they are so old, and steeped in wars, and battles, with different cultures claiming the land as theirs, that it is endless in the stories that can be told about every town, every castle, that you come to, that it is impossible to tell every one of them. They are all so interesting.

Then we changed gears and visited Asia in pursuit of our product. Pearls, gemstones and jade in Hong Kong. First we went when it was still a British colony, but British in name only. It was Chinese in flavor, in language, in culture. The first time we went, the plane landed at the old airport, which was quite an experience. From a high altitude, the plane dived down suddenly and terrifyingly to land on the runway positioned between tall residential apartments. Then it closed down and the new airport opened up. No more crazy landings, no terrifying landings. Millions of people squeezed onto a small strip of land, Kowloon, and a smallish island with a cable car to the peak. An amazing place. In 1999 the colony reverted back to China, and the country changed forever. One of the things I remember about hole in the wall restaurants in Hong Kong was that when you entered the restaurant, because it is so hot and humid, the air conditioner installed in the opening above the front door would drip water on you, and in consequence of that, in authentic Chinese restaurants I’ve been to in America also mount air conditioners above the front door so that condensation water drips on you, bringing the Hong along experience home to you . Macau is another European colony in China that I’ve been to. The European country was Portugal. On my first trip there I took a rickshaw driven by an old man in a coolie hat. We entered the city from the dock in old world colonial glory. Just one year later there were no rickshaws around anymore to ride.Macau reverted back to China in 1997.

‘Macau is not the same anymore. It is a skyrise city of casinos.

‘Thailand was another Asian country I visited. I went to Chang Mai to buy Hills tribe silver. We rode an elephant across hills, rivers and forest trails. It was so beautiful, the people were friendly. We met ladies that had stretched necks because of metal hoops placed around their necks as children and increased overtime until their necks were really long. Another woman I met had red teeth caused by chewing beetel nuts. These people were indigenous tribal members living in the northern provinces of Thailand.

The last country in Asia we have been to is the Philippines. It is a country made up of over 1,000 islands situated in the South China Sea, located on the equator. It was very hot, and we went in November, which is winter. I could not survive it in summer. As it was I had heat stroke while I was there. I went to Cebu City on Cebu Island, the handicraft capital for the Philippines. It is a 3rd world country on steroids. The general population is extremely poor, and the rich are very rich. The people are so friendly.

‘Jumping back to Europe we went to Turkey. It was on my bucket list. It was amazing, so old and historic. I shopped for trinkets in small shops in the ancient fortifications that surround the old city. I passed coffee shops where men sat at a table smoking tobacco from a hookah. Intricately worn rugs were hanging on a wall, or rolled up, on display for sale. The Grand Bazaar was a delight to shop in, and the humor broke out as I was welcomed with cheerful inquiries as to where my horse was, as it was obvious to the vendors that I was an American in my Levi jeans and cowboy boots and hat. The spice market also drew my attention, with barrels of curry and Turkish delight candy everywhere. Istanbul was a delight. Our hotel was very quaint, with the shower head positioned over the toilet, to save on space. The facade of the building was the original exterior of a building from 2,000 years ago. Unbelievable!

so after traveling and experiencing all these countries, I have seen and experienced a lot. Most of the people are friendly and nice. And I’ve gone back time after time for business, and go back to the same towns, stay at the same hotels, eat at the same restaurants, do business with the same factories, adding new ones each time. The people get to know us, in some cases learn English so they can communicate with us, introduce their children to us, Add us into their lives. This is what world travel is all about, and one of the bonus’ We have gotten out of our travels. The other bonus is the interesting subjects we bring to the conversation, and lastly the memories we have for the rest of our lives.