New Zealand travel photojournalist Peter Anderson gives the lowdown on his latest book, which details memorable moments on his 25 years’ of globe-trotting. SUZANNA PILLAY writes.

REMEMBER to be a traveller, not just a tourist when you travel to foreign lands. It’s a motto which has served New Zealand travel photojournalist Peter Anderson well in 25 years of travelling, and is clearly reflected in his new book Cons, Fools and Friends.

Whether it is describing the atmosphere of a remote village in Peru or the bustling streets of Ho Chi Minh, Anderson’s natural curiosity and respect for the many diverse worlds he has visited is always apparent in his rich, keenly-observed writing.

A prolific writer with travel articles published worldwide, Anderson turns his attention this time to personal encounters and experiences with an array of interesting characters and places he came across during his travels.

“I have been writing a lot of travel articles over the years but almost all have been factual, highlighting places to visit and what to see, information which you can now get easily on the Internet. I wanted my book to be different and decided to add one of the most important elements in travelling — the people. These include the good, the bad and the ugly, hence the title Cons, Fools And Friends,” said Anderson in an interview with Life & Times.

Although the book does not cover all 75 countries Anderson has visited over the years, he believes he has included most of his memorable moments.

One of the more amusing tales he shares with readers is how he is teased by a 70-year- old shepherd in Anogia, Crete after he unsuccessfully tries to mount the old man’s donkey for a photo. The traditional Cretan way of riding a donkey is to sit sidesaddle on a wooden saddle, which Anderson finds difficult to do. The amused shepherd eventually helps Anderson mount the donkey but gently ribs him about his fitness level by agilely dangling upside down on a nearby olive tree.

The encounter ends well with the two parting as friends, and the old man giving Anderson a gift of hand-carved Greek worry beads which he still has in his safekeeping.

Another quirky episode is how he came to share drinks with the Russian Mafia at a hotel bar in St Petersburg.

“Part of the custom of the bar was to serve a shot of vodka with my ‘happy hour’ beer. After my fifth beer, there were five vodka shots beside me. The reason why I had not touched them was because I read in the newspapers that some people had died from drinking homemade vodka,” recalled Anderson.

As fate would have it, the Mafia boss in charge of the hotel happened to be there with his girlfriend and noticed the untouched vodka.

“After requesting that I take photos of him and his girlfriend, he insisted that I drink the vodka as it was the Russian national drink, which I did. When the Mafia say you drink, you drink!”

Not all of the people he met during his travels have been stars. In Rome, while boarding a train to Venice, Anderson and his wife Farida were conned out of 10,000 lira (RM26.32) by an unscrupulous porter; in Karachi, a taxi driver took the couple on “a scenic route”, and in New York City, Anderson was mugged. Further bad experiences happened in Vienna where the pair encountered a hostile hotel landlady and a dodgy car rental agency charged them US$1,500 (RM5,211) for a mysterious, small scratch on the car they rented.

Some of the book’s highlights include meticulous descriptions of his favourite journeys. Two of which he describes at length include a 500km trip up the Batang Rajang river in Sarawak and travelling along the Karakoram Highway from Rawalpindi in Pakistan to Kashgar in China, where he revels in the beauty of the Hunza Valley.

“The scenery is just out of this world, with beautiful mountain ranges and valleys.”

One of the more poignant moments in the book is Anderson’s visit to the Hungarian city of Budapest, in search of his roots. His great-grandmother Baroness Emmuska Orczy, author of The Scarlet Pimpernel, was born in Tarna-Ors, 80km East of Budapest in 1865. Although Anderson visits the fairy-tale city of Budapest, sadly he doesn’t quite make it to Tarna-Ors because of time constraints.

After racking up many travel kilometres and experiencing a dizzying array of countries and cultures, a frequent question Anderson is asked is to name his favourite place to visit. “I always say that my favourite journey is the next one. Honestly, it is difficult to do because it depends on what you are looking for. Tuscany is simply beautiful, I enjoyed my stay there and Marrakech is a photographer’s dream. Similarly, the Karakoram Highway has some pretty amazing scenery of its own. But if it’s variety you want, the scenery in New Zealand is hard to beat because it is relatively compact and has everything from glaciers, to scenic mountains, interesting wildlife, just to name a few.”

Another reason to envy this seasoned traveller is his invincibility to jet-lag, altitude sickness and other travel-related diseases. Amazingly in all of his 25 years of travelling, he has fallen sick only twice. A minor incident involved food poisoning from consuming a dodgy chicken sandwich in Pakistan, to a more serious scare of suspected leishmaniasis (a parasitic disease transmitted by a certain species of sandfly) in Venezuela. Fortunately, this was ruled out when it was discovered that Anderson had no fever.

“What was interesting about the incident was that although I was bitten by sandflies earlier while wading in the Orinoco river in Venezuela, my legs and feet only swelled 12 days later. The insect repellent which I had applied to my legs had washed off in the water. From my right leg, knee down I counted a total of 182 sandfly bites. Until today the reason for the swelling is a mystery.”

Obviously a lesson for travellers from the incident is to always use insect repellent. Aside from this, his travel tips for prospective travellers include “to travel as light as you can.”

“Don’t carry a big, heavy bag. Learn to pack light. Mix with the locals where you can, and try to learn a few local words. If you show some interest in the language, it is amazing how people open up. Always read about the place before you travel and use the Internet to surf for good deals and relevant information on places of interest. Then make a list of places you want to see. Lastly, try the local cuisine which is one of the things I enjoyed on my journeys.”

Anderson has also published several books including Discover Malaysia, Discover Borneo — Sarawak, Sarawak — Natural Heritage, Golfing Malaysia (with Juan Carlos), Traditional Malaccan Malay Costumes, Wonderful Memories — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s Visits to Malacca and is contributing author to The Viva List Latin America. He is currently working on a coffeetable book on Malacca commissioned by the state government.

• Cons, Fools and Friends, published by Marshall Cavendish, is available at all leading bookstores. It will be officially launched this evening by New Zealand High Commissioner David Kersey.

Have Swiss Army Knife will travel

Q: Apart from the usual travel essentials like money, credit cards, passport etc, what other items would you carry while travelling?
A: I never travel without a Tilley’s hat (washable, easily packed and protects my head from both the heat and rain) and a Swiss Army Knife.

Q: Which country is the easiest to get around?
A: New Zealand, because it is not crowded and it has got good directions. Most of Europe is easy to get around too and it is easy to drive in the United States.

Q: Which country has the best cuisine?
A: For me, France and Italy, because I like their cuisine. I also like Sarawak laksa and Moroccan Tagines.

Q: Which countries would you like to visit next?
A: Cuba, Laos and Ireland.

Q: Which is the most environmentally-friendly place that you have visited?
A: My Green Award goes to Bundanoon in New South Wales, Australia, for banning bottled water.

Q: Which is better, Asian or Western hospitality?
A: Asian hospitality is very good. The service is fantastic in India, Pakistan and Malaysia. South America is great too, particularly Peru and Chile. The best hotel I stayed in is the Amansara in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Q: What music do you listen to?
A: Pink Floyd, Enya, Rolling Stones and Fleetwood Mac.

Q: What books do you read?
A: I like reading books by Isabel Allende and books on places that I visit. The best book I’ve read this year is Allende’s Sum Of Our Lives. For light reading, Dan Brown. I’m waiting for his latest book to get into paperback. Currently, I am reading Night after Night: New Zealanders in Bomber Command by Max Lambert, which is a story about the New Zealand Bomber Command in World War 2. The book is of special interest to me because my father was in the bomber command.

Q: Film?
A: Last movie I saw was Slumdog Millionaire, which I enjoyed. I’m not really a big movie buff.