Fred's Blog
  • Fred's Blog
  • Guest Blogs
  • Memoir Showcase
    • Shane Joseph 2022-1 (M)
    • Roger Knight 2022-1 (M)
    • Leslie Groves Ogden 2022-1 (M)
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2022-1 (M)
    • Shirley Read-Jahn 2022-1 (M)
    • Patsy Hirst 2022-1 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-1 (M)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-1 (M)
    • Sharon Hayhurst 2022-1 (M)
    • Syd Blackwell 2022-1 (M)
    • Syd Blackwell 2022-2 (M)
    • Patsy Hirst 2022-2 (M)
    • Roger Knight 2022-2 (M)
    • John C. Rogers 2022-1 (M)
    • Thomas Laver 2022-1 (M)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-2 (M)
    • Sue Bavey 2022-1 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-2 (M)
    • Lally Brown 2022-1 (M)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-3 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-3 (M)
    • Susan Mellsopp - 2022-1 (M)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-4 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-4 (M)
    • Susan Mellsopp - 2022-2 (M)
    • Jackie Lambert 2022-1 (M)
    • Valerie Poore 2022-1 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-5 (M)
    • Susan Mellsopp - 2022-3 (M)
    • Mike Cavanagh 2022-1 (M)
    • Mike Cavanagh 2022-2 (M)
    • Malcolm Welshman 2022-1 (M)
    • Nick Albert 2022-1 (M)
    • Denis Dextraze 2022-1 (M)
    • David McCabe 2022-1 (M)
    • Lizbeth Meredith 2022-1 (M)
    • Jill Dobbe 2022-1 (M)
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2022-1 (M)
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2022-2 (M)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-5 (M)
    • Jennifer Rae 2022-1 (M)
    • Jennifer Rae 2022-2 (M)
    • Mitos Suson 2022-1 (M)
    • Patsy Hirst 2022-3 (M)
    • Jennifer Rae 2022-3 (M)
    • Therese Marie Duncan 2022-1 (M)
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2022-1 (M)
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2022-2 (M)
    • Kelly Reising 2022-1 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-6 (M)
    • Syd Blackwell 2022-3 (M)
    • Susan Mellsopp - 2022-4 (M)
    • Denis Dextraze 2022-2 (M)
    • Patsy Hirst 2022-4 (M)
  • Fiction Showcase
    • Shane Joseph 2022-1 (F)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-1 (F)
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2022-1 (F)
    • Keith Moreland 2022-1 (F)
    • Lindy Viandier 2022-1 (F)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-2 (F)
    • Robert Fear 2022-1 (F)
    • Lindy Viandier 2022-2 (F)
    • Janet Stobie 2022-1 (F)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-3 (F)
    • Philippa Hawley 2022-1 (F)
    • Daisy Wood 2022-1 (F)
    • Valerie Poore 2022-1 (F)
    • Lynn C. Bilton 2022-1 (F)
    • Sue Bavey 2022-1 (F)
  • 2022 Showcase Guidelines
  • Info
  • Author Page
  • 2021 Authors Showcase
    • John L. Fear 2021 - 1
    • Sue Bavey 2021 - 2
    • Valerie Poore 2021 - 3
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2021 - 2
    • Mitos Suson 2021 - 1
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2021 - 1
    • Donna O'Donnell Figurski 2021 - 1
    • Dolores Banerd 2021 - 1
    • Lynn C. Bilton 2021 - 1
    • Sverrir Sigurdsson 2021 - 1
    • Sharon Hayhurst 2021 - 1
    • Liliana Amador-Marty 2021 - 1
    • Sue Bavey 2021 - 1
    • Karen Telling 2021 - 1
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2021 - 1
    • Liesbet Collaert 2021 - 1
    • Susan Mellsopp 2021 - 3
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 6
    • Shirley Read-Jahn 2021 - 1
    • Jackie Lambert 2021 - 1
    • Valerie Poore 2021 - 2
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2021 - 3
    • Jennifer Rae 2021 - 1
    • Chris Calder 2021 - 1
    • Valerie Poore 2021 - 1
    • Mike Cavanagh 2021 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 5
    • Roger Knight 2021 - 3
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2021 - 2
    • Joanne Guidoccio 2021 - 1
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2021 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 4
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2021 - 1
    • Shane Joseph 2021 - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp 2021 - 2
    • Denis Dextraze 2021 - 2
    • Syd Blackwell 2021 - 2
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 3
    • Roger Knight 2021 - 2
    • Margaret South 2021 - 1
    • Denis Dextraze 2021 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp 2021 - 1
    • Roger Knight 2021 - 1
    • Shane Joseph 2021 - 1
    • Syd Blackwell 2021 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 1
    • Adrian Sturrock 2021 - 1
    • Cherie Magnus 2021 - 1
  • 2021 Showcase Guidelines
  • 2021 Guest Blogs
  • 40 years ago today
  • 2020 Authors Showcase
    • Vernon Lacey 2020 - 1
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2020 - 1
    • Liliana Amador-Marty 2020 - 1
    • Alison Alderton 2020 - 1
    • Lizzie Jewels 2020 - 1
    • Robyn Boswell 2020 - 4
    • Lally Brown 2020 - 1
    • James Robertson 2020 - 2
    • Ronni Robinson 2020 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 6
    • Denis Dextraze 2020 - 5
    • Syd Blackwell 2020 - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp 2020 - 2
    • Robyn Boswell 2020 - 3
    • Val Poore 2020 - 1
    • Mike Cavanagh 2020 - 3
    • Helen Bing 2020 - 3
    • Neal Atherton 2020 - 1
    • Susan Joyce 2020 - 1
    • Leslie Groves Ogden 2020 - 1
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2020 - 4
    • Elizabeth Moore 2020 - 2
    • Denis Dextraze 2020 - 4
    • Patty Sisco 2020 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 5
    • Syd Blackwell 2020 - 1
    • Frank Kusy 2020 - 1
    • Malcolm Welshman 2020 - 1
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2020 - 1
    • Susan Mellsopp 2020 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 4
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2020 - 3
    • Denis Dextraze 2020 - 3
    • Robyn Boswell 2020 - 2
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 3
    • Helen Bing 2020 - 2
    • Roger Knight 2020 - 3
    • Amy Bovaird 2020 - 1
    • Patricia Steele 2020- 1
    • Elizabeth Moore 2020 - 1
    • Helen Bing 2020 - 1
    • Mike Cavanagh 2020 - 2
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 2
    • Denis Dextraze 2020 - 2
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2020 - 2
    • Roger Knight 2020 - 2
    • Mike Cavanagh 2020 - 1
    • Robyn Boswell 2020 - 1
    • Irene Pylypec 2020 - 1
    • Denis Dextraze 2020 - 1
    • James Robertson 2020 - 1
    • Andrew Klein 2020 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 1
    • Roger Knight 2020 - 1
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2020 - 1
  • 2020 Guest Blogs
  • 2020 Showcase Guidelines
  • 2019 Authors Showcase
    • James Robertson 2019 - 6
    • Val Vassay 2019 - 2
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 6
    • Dawne Archer 2019 - 1
    • Susan Mellsopp 2019 - 3
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 6
    • James Robertson 2019 - 5
    • Sarah Owens 2019 - 1
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 5
    • Dolores Banerd 2019 - 1
    • Val Vassay 2019 - 1
    • Helen Bing 2019 - 4
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 5
    • Tina Mattern 2019 - 4
    • James Robertson 2019 - 4
    • Robyn Boswell 2019 - 3
    • Helen Bing 2019 - 3
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 4
    • Adrian Sturrock 2019 - 2
    • Jill Stoking 2019 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 4
    • Tina Mattern 2019 - 3
    • Cherie Magnus 2019 - 1
    • Roger Knight 2019 - 3
    • Susan Mellsopp 2019 - 2
    • Robyn Boswell 2019 - 2
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 3
    • Catherine Berry 2019 - 1
    • James Robertson 2019 - 3
    • Nancy McBride 2019 - 2
    • Tina Mattern 2019 - 2
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 3
    • Susan Mellsopp 2019 - 1
    • Mike Cavanagh 2019 - 1
    • Helen Bing 2019 - 2
    • Nancy McBride 2019 - 1
    • Malcolm Welshman 2019 - 1
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2019 - 1
    • Patty Sisco 2019 - 1
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 2
    • Adrian Sturrock 2019 - 1
    • Tina Mattern 2019 - 1
    • James Robertson 2019 - 2
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 2
    • Roger Knight 2019 - 2
    • Liliana Amador-Marty 2019 - 1
    • Celia Dillow 2019 - 1
    • Helen Bing 2019 - 1
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 1
    • Robyn Boswell 2019 - 1
    • Kelly Reising 2019 - 1
    • James Robertson 2019 - 1
    • Roger Knight 2019 - 1
  • 2019 Showcase Guidelines
  • 2019 Guest Blogs
  • Competitions
  • 2018 Travel Highlights
  • 2018 Travel Stories
    • Robyn Boswell 2018 - 5
    • Apple Gidley 2018
    • Lindsay de Feliz 2018 - 5
    • Helen Bing 2018 - 3
    • Julie Watson 2018
    • Anisha Johnson 2018
    • Philip East 2018
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2018 - 2
    • Mike Cavanagh 2018 - 3
    • Ronald Mackay 2018 - 5
    • Malcom Welshman 2018 - 2
    • Celia Dillow 2018
    • Syd Blackwell 2018 - 5
    • Lee P. Ruddin 2018
    • Cat Jenkins 2018
    • Anierobi Maureen Ogechukwu 2018
    • Dede Montgomery 2018
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2018 - 2
    • Parishka Gupta 2018 - 2
    • Angie Clifford 2018
    • Emma Yardley 2018 - 4
    • Roger Knight 2018 - 2
    • Mark Boyter 2018 - 2
    • Laurel Casida 2018
    • Mike Cavanagh 2018 - 2
    • Alison Galilian 2018
    • Colleen MacMahon 2018
    • Zahra Makda 2018
    • Ronald Mackay 2018 - 4
    • Susmitha Subramanya 2018
    • Lindsay de Feliz 2018 - 4
    • Aleksandra Krysik 2018
    • Swarnabha Dutta 2018
    • Delores Topliff 2018 - 2
    • Sourabha Rao 2018
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2018
    • Swatilekha Roy 2018
    • Syd Blackwell 2018 - 4
    • Robyn Boswell 2018 - 4
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2018
    • Parishka Gupta 2018
    • Helen Bing 2018 - 2
    • Madeline Sharples 2018
    • Joe Dodkins 2018
    • Andrew Klein 2018 - 2
    • Roger Knight 2018
    • Rob Johnson 2018
    • Anu Devi 2018
    • Lu Barnham 2018
    • Amy Bovaird 2018 - 2
    • Helen Bing 2018
    • Emma Yardley 2018 - 3
    • Lindsay de Feliz 2018 - 3
    • Robyn Boswell 2018 - 3
    • Alan Passey 2018
    • Ben Stamp 2018 - 3
    • Susan Mellsopp 2018 - 2
    • Alyson Hilbourne 2018
    • Sunny Lockwood 2018 - 2
    • Syd Blackwell 2018 - 3
    • Ronald Mackay 2018 - 3
    • Brigid Gallagher 2018 - 2
    • Martha Graham-Waldon 2018
    • Mark Boyter 2018
    • Kristen Caven 2018
    • Neyda Bettencourt 2018
    • Robyn Boswell 2018 - 2
    • Logan Wood 2018
    • Ben Stamp 2018 - 2
    • Emma Yardley 2018 - 2
    • Wenlin Tan 2018
    • Tom Czaban 2018
    • Claudia Crook 2018 - 2
    • Lindsay de Feliz 2018 - 2
    • Dolores Banerd 2018
    • Piyumi Kapugeekiyana 2018
    • Stephanie Dagg 2018
    • Gabrielle Chastenet 2018
    • Bonnie Jean Warren 2018
    • Rasa Puzinaite 2018
    • Patricia Steele 2018
    • Ronald Mackay 2018 - 2
    • Syd Blackwell 2018 - 2
    • Louise Groom 2018
    • Malcom Welshman 2018
    • Delores Topliff 2018
    • Claudia Crook 2018
    • Robyn Boswell 2018
    • Amy Bovaird 2018
    • Emma Yardley 2018
    • Ben Stamp 2018
    • Jesus Deytiquez 2018
    • Ria Chakraborty 2018
    • Brigid Gallagher 2018
    • Jules Clark 2018
    • Nancy McBride 2018
    • Susan Mellsopp 2018
    • David Greer 2018
    • Lindsay de Feliz 2018
    • Aditi Nair 2018
    • Mike Cavanagh 2018
    • Frank Kusy 2018
    • Andrew Klein 2018
    • Ronald Mackay 2018
    • Syd Blackwell 2018
    • Sunny Lockwood 2018
    • Robert Fear 2018
  • 2018 Guest Blogs
  • 2017 Travel Highlights
  • 2017 Travel Stories
    • Matthew Dexter - 2
    • Sandra Walker
    • Rishita Dey
    • Lisa Baker
    • Patricia Steele - 2
    • Sue Clamp
    • Debbie Patterson
    • Jill Stoking - 2
    • Robyn Boswell - 2
    • Cherie Magnus
    • Mark Boyter - 2
    • Rita M. Gardner
    • Alex Curylo
    • Graham Higson
    • Jill Dobbe - 2
    • Amy Bovaird - 3
    • Elizabeth Moore - 3
    • KC Peek
    • Lucinda E Clarke
    • Nancy McBride - 2
    • Frank Kusy - 2
    • Yvonne Kilat - 3
    • Mike Cavanagh - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp - 5
    • Mather Schneider
    • Syd Blackwell - 5
    • Gundy Baty - 3
    • Elizabeth Moore - 2
    • Jill Dobbe
    • Heather Hackett
    • Bob Manning - 2
    • Mark Boyter
    • Jackie Parry
    • Matthew Dexter
    • Amy Bovaird - 2
    • Gundy Baty - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp - 4
    • Susan Joyce - 2
    • Syd Blackwell - 4
    • Yvonne Kilat - 2
    • Bob Manning
    • Elizabeth Moore
    • Yvonne Kilat
    • Olivia-Petra Coman
    • Susan Mellsopp - 3
    • Gundy Baty
    • Syd Blackwell - 3
    • Paul Spadoni
    • Phil Canning
    • Jill Stoking
    • Robert Fear
    • Anna Coates
    • Kelly Reising
    • Syd Blackwell - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp - 2
    • Sine Thieme - 2
    • Alison Ripley Cubitt
    • Angie Clifford
    • Philippa Hawley
    • Nancy McBride
    • Robyn Boswell
    • Mike Cavanagh
    • Amy Bovaird
    • Susan Mellsopp
    • Patricia Steele
    • Susan Joyce
    • Peggy Wolf
    • Sine Thieme
    • Syd Blackwell
    • Frank Kusy
  • 2016 Travel Highlights
  • 2016 Travel Stories
    • Robyn Boswell
    • Elizabeth Moore - 5
    • Susan Joyce - 3
    • Bob Manning
    • Jackie Parry - 2
    • Mike Cavanagh - 2
    • Lisa Fleetwood
    • Mark Boyter - 2
    • John Rayburn - 5
    • Mark Boyter
    • John Rayburn - 4
    • Elizabeth Moore - 4
    • Mike Cavanagh
    • Graham Higson
    • Philippa Hawley
    • Jill Stoking
    • Nancy McBride - 2
    • Susan Joyce - 2
    • Lucinda E Clarke
    • Elizabeth Moore - 3
    • John Rayburn - 3
    • Jill Dobbe
    • Richard Klein
    • John Rayburn - 2
    • Jackie Parry - 2
    • Elizabeth Moore - 2
    • John Rayburn
    • Jackie Parry
    • Elizabeth Moore
    • Kelly Reising
    • Susan Joyce
    • Nancy McBride
    • Stewart Brennan
    • Frank Kusy
  • Behind the Scenes
  • 2015 Travel Highlights
  • 2015 Travel Stories
    • Val Vassay
    • Doug E. Jones
    • Matthew Dexter (2)
    • Beth Haslam
    • John Rayburn (4)
    • Susan Joyce (2)
    • Jackie Parry (2)
    • Lucinda E. Clarke (2)
    • Jill Dobbe
    • Francene Stanley
    • Richard Klein (2)
    • John Rayburn (3)
    • Julie Haigh
    • Frank Kusy (2)
    • Nancy McBride (2)
    • Anne Durrant
    • Lucinda E. Clarke
    • John Rayburn (2)
    • Nancy McBride
    • Sarah Jane Butfield
    • Jackie Parry
    • Kelly Reising
    • Gareth Nixon
    • John Rayburn
    • Jeremy Parris
    • Matthew Dexter
    • Susan Joyce
    • Richard Klein
    • Frank Kusy
    • Robert Fear
  • Daily Diary
    • February Archive
    • March Archive
    • April Archive
    • May Archive
    • June Archive
    • July Archive
  • Reviews

Big Ben and the Marco Polo brigade by Frank Kusy


Sumatra, 1989

It was while sampling a delicious martabak sayur (vegetable spring roll) from a street cart warung in Bukittingi that I bumped into my old friend Steve from the Trailfinders tour.

‘You look shattered, Frank,’ he said with his familiar grin. ‘Are you still burning the candle at both ends, “going off the beaten track”?’

‘No, mate,’ I said. ‘I just got no sleep last night owing to an insomniac next door and a guy building a house right outside my window at 2am. What are you doing here, anyway?’

‘Oh, I always come to Bukittingi between tours,’ said the twinkle-eyed tour leader. ‘It’s got the cool hill-station air, it’s got fantastic food like you’re having right now, and it’s got this ace clock tower in the square that looks just like Big Ben. It reminds me of home.’

I gave a wry smile. Yes, I had seen that clock tower earlier. It had reminded me of Nicky…and of how much I was missing her.

‘Bukittingi also has lots of interesting little cafes which only close at midnight,’ continued Steve. ‘Look, there’s one in particular that you got to put in your book – it’s called The Coffee House, and it’s a real one-upmanship place, full of “real travellers” going on about who’s done the most daring  trip recently. Unless you’ve just crawled off a 60-hour horror bus from Yogya, you’re ashamed to even sit down!’

‘Oh, you mean the Marco Polo brigade,’ I laughed. ‘Yeah, I came across a lot of them in India. Their gig is to cover as much distance as possible in the shortest possible amount of time. A 40-hour journey across China, sleeping in a luggage rack, is bread and butter to them.’

‘You should write a book about real travellers,’ said Steve, flicking a stray mosquito from his close-cropped brown hair. ‘I could give you lots of stories.’

But I didn’t need Steve’s stories. I found enough of my own in The Coffee House.

‘How’s it going?’ I asked the waif-like young German girl sitting by the window. She was nursing a banana lassi. It looked like she’d been nursing it for hours.

‘I am living on five dollars a day in Indonesia,’ she intoned slowly.

Wow, that was impressive. I was having trouble getting by on ten. How was she doing it?

‘Oh, I am eating at warungs all the time. I stay in the cheapest room in town, and I am not seeing very much.’

‘Erm…why did you come here in the first place?’ I asked, puzzled at her obvious lack of enjoyment.

‘Oh, that is easy,’ she said. ‘I vont to say that I’ve come to Indonesia!’

Over in a corner, I saw two travellers in kaftans and funny ethnic hats having a heated debate as to who had had the most extreme travel experience.

‘I’ve got malaria,’ said the first guy. ‘Look at the scabs on my arms and legs.’

‘I’ve got guardia,’ countered the second. ‘I’ve been farting and shitting so long, I can’t feel my arsehole no more.’

That annoyed the first guy, who now had to go one better.

‘I got amoebic dysentery on a 36-hour bus journey to Kathmandu,’ he said with a controlled hiss.

‘That’s nothing,’ grinned the second guy. ‘I had a six-month bout of hepatitis in the Himalayas.’

There followed a hilarious exchange which reminded me of the Four Yorkshire Men sketch from Monty Python.

‘I spent a year in a Buddhist retreat in Manali, living on a bowl of rice a day.’

‘I spent two years meditating in the Kashmiri mountains. Three grains of rice a day, that’s all they gave me.’

‘A rat ate my underpants in Pokhara.’

‘An iguana bit me on the bum in Penang.’

‘Right,’ said the first guy, drawing himself up in his chair to put paid to the matter. ‘I was swimming off the coast of Goa one day and a shark came along and bit off my leg. I had it sewn back on by a witch doctor, but he put these tiny little crabs in my ear that ate half my brain. Then, to top it all off, a bear bit off the back of my head in Dharamsala.’

There was a moment’s pause as the other guy digested this information.

‘Yeah, I know that bear, man,’ he said at last. ‘It ate my girlfriend back in ’83.’’
  

Excerpt from Off the Beaten Track: My Crazy Year in Asia by Frank Kusy. Universal Amazon link: authl.it/21z 

 
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

​Copyright © 2022
Proudly powered by Weebly