Title – The Grand Palace
Date – August 1994
Location - Bangkok - Thailand
The Grand Palace in the centre of Bangkok was for many years the residence of the king and the centre of government in Thailand. Now that the king is a figurehead rather then an absolute monarch and ever since the current kings brother was shot there, ending hundreds of years of it being the royal residence, the palace has been partially opened to the public to show off its extravagance. These guards stand 10 feet tall at the entrance as a demonstration of the power of the Palace.
‘To appreciate a country completely, it’s worth considering visiting both the palaces and the slums.’
Beyond The Blue is a company specialising in organising workshops to help individuals who are planning to travel the world. We help you acquire the information you will need to understand the nature of the country you are visiting. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop covers all aspects of personal safety and teaches those attending how to read body language and better communicate in order to avoid conflict in all its forms.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Snakes
Date – August 1994
Location - Bangkok - Thailand
Many people consider snakes amongst their biggest phobias. Some people even go so far as avoiding whole countries because they have heard the horror stories about the number of venomous snakes that inhabit them. Australia for example has over 140 species of snake of which about 100 are venomous. Yet Australia suffers only about 1 or 2 deaths a year from snakebite out of a population of 21 million!
Admittedly the estimates for the world read a little differently, with somewhere in the region of 100,000 deaths thought to be as a result of snake bite occurring each year; but as the Australian figure suggests, the vast majority of these deaths occur in remote and agricultural areas where people are bitten while working in places like rice fields, where they are bare footed. In ‘developed’ countries like Australia where people wear good modern footwear and no longer have the need to do manual labour without suitable equipment, the death by snakebite rate, is almost non existent.
So by following a few simple rules no one really has anything to fear from snakes. I know how rarely snakes are seen, because as a snake enthusiast I go out looking for them and rarely come across them; even when I turn over branches and stones looking.
Beyond The Blue offer workshops to help you gain the skills and information needed to take a trip to wherever in the world your plans take you. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop provides you with the facts and allows you to get past the myths that are out there; we are interested in providing you with the content and not the headlines.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – The Pier
Date – August 1994
Location - Pulau Tioman (Island) - Malaysia
The piers in Asia are no match for Blackpool or Brighton or are they?
Everyone has different interests and everyone has different likes and dislikes. For some fun and excitement is finding the biggest rollercoaster in the world and riding it with hands waving throughout, for others this pier on Pulau Tioman (Pulau being the Malaysian word for Island) off the east coast of Malaysia, would be the perfect idyllic setting to forget that roller coaster and the city in which it lies even exists.
We don’t consider it our place to tell people what they should enjoy and what not. We don’t condone those who like nothing less then 5 star and we don’t frown upon those who always look for the cheapest they can find in order to sneer at those spending more. We are interested in the diversity the world offers and we are interested in helping others discover their favourite experiences for themselves. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops are designed to help all those people travelling abroad, it is not directed and any particular social group but designed to reflect the needs of all the individuals within the group.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Sunset in Paradise
Date – August 1994
Location - Pulau Tioman (Island) - Malaysia
Sunset in paradise is one of the reasons we leave our shores for far off lands and palm fringed beaches, places where solitude and the sound of the waves are your only companion. There truly are few more serene moments in life then these.
But beware; where there is solitude there is opportunity for people to act in a manner that they may not if surrounded by witnesses. Sunset is the perfect time for criminals to catch you off your guard and away from prying eyes; watch your belongings and watch out for your own safety.
Beyond The Blue run training in travel safety, through our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop. We train individual’s in basic personal safety techniques and prepare them for safe travel.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – No way to harvest coconuts
Date – August 1994
Location - Pulau Tioman (Island) - Malaysia
Evolution is a magnificent entity, it got us to where we are today and we have evolved so far as to actually understand how we got here in the first place. Yet it seems that we still have a little voice in our heads that tells us that our rational brain is not always in charge.
We know that coconuts need to be cut from the palm and that throwing husks of old coconuts at those still hanging is a waste of time, yet we persist in trying. Evolution taught individuals in countries where the coconut is still the most valuable and versatile of crops to climb the trees, with as little effort as we in the UK climb a ladder. So let the locals do the collecting. The saving to your pride will be well worth the meagre sum they will ask for, by way of payment for their services.
Beyond The Blue run workshops for individuals undertaking independent travel. We want those attending our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop not to waste time once they arrive in a new country learning the hard way, when in just 2 days, we will provide you with enough information to avoid most of the pitfalls… don’t climb the coconut tree when you can avoid the risk and buy one for next to nothing and don’t travel and deal with the problems ‘out of the blue’ when we can help you see ‘Beyond The Blue’
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – The Mirage
Date – April 1994
Location – Las Vegas - USA
Las Vegas is a party town and a great place to spend a day or two enjoying all the excesses on offer. It can be done in all sorts of different ways and with different budgets. Just as you can sit at the roulette table playing 50c chips side by side with someone playing US$5000 chips, you can stay in this town in some of the luxury hotels for relatively little cost and eat great food cheaply and if your budget will stretch even play a few hands of blackjack. Get into the right casino and project the right image; you’ll even get all your drinks free, or at most for the price of a tip.
Beyond The Blue has experience of all aspects of travel, we recommend that if your budget will stretch or if budgets are no object, you take the odd opportunity to spoil yourself a little and Vegas is a great place to do that, just make sure you leave your credit card locked in the room safe, so you can’t accidentally bet your credit limit on ‘red or black’.
Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshop can help you with advice on every aspect of your trip and the experiences of our instructors will help you to better understand the excitement that you can expect when you set off.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
Title – Yosemite National Park
Date – April 1994
Location - USA
The wild wild west is truly still alive and well and Yosemite National Park can really give you an insight into what the original pioneers must have felt like; the only difference being that you can now explore it in relative comfort and ease. But to get a real feel you have to set off and hike into the mountains and experience all the great views and wildlife encounters for yourself.
But sometimes comforts will make us complacent. Being in such a wild part of the world, yet having access to all modern amenities can give you a false sense of security and here in the heart of the Rockies there is still a substantial risk from the elements and the terrain, not to mention the bears.
But these risks are perfectly manageable and it’s perfectly feasible to overcome them. Taking advice from local rangers and information provided, will tell you to make plenty of noise to scare off bears before they approach you. As for the environment and the elements these you have to manage through good planning and obtaining good information. Plan within your physical limits and always let people know where you are going.
Beyond The Blue is a specialist training company that runs workshops concentrating on giving you the skills and information to plan and execute your travel safely and with confidence. Our Gap Year and Independent Travel Safety & Awareness workshops help you to manage the risk associated with your planned travel.
Please visit our website at www.safegapyear.com
Image – ©Peter Mayhew
