I
am currently in London at the WEX guesthouse in Notting Hill, West
London. A huge blizzard hit Great Britain just after New Years and
it set record low temperatures for a few days. I have been visiting
bookshops and publishers in Glastonbury, famous for the Glastonbury
Tor, abbey, and mystical atmosphere. Nearby are Avebury and Stonehenge,
plus other ancient sites. Crop circles tend to appear in this area
every summer. Plenty of good pubs there, as well.
Meanwhile, winter has a firm grasp on the Kempton clubhouse and the
Arizona Clubhouse was nearly washed away in the floods that occurred
recently in Arizona and California. Fortunately, it survived, as did
the pool table and Creature of the Black Lagoon pinball game.
We are in the editing stages now for the DVDs of our November 7, 2009 conference,
which featured Christopher O’Brien, George Erikson, Mark Pinkham, Gary
A. David and Brad Olsen. Another DVD project is our Retro Drive-In double feature
project. Stay tuned for more.
Our new DVD in the Lost Cities & Ancient Mysteries series is Advanced
Technology in Mexico and the Southwest. It features journeys through Arizona
and into Mexico, down to the Toltec capital of Tula and the gigantic pyramid
complex of Teotihuacan. We also go to the strange pyramid of Cuicuilco which
was covered by a lava flow in antiquity, and then to the largest pyramid in the
Americas, Cholula, where we go deep inside the tunnels under the mysterious structure.
We shot footage for our next DVD in Peru in August. We spent several weeks in
the Cuzco area as well as around Nazca and Ica for the upcoming documentary Ancient
Technology in Nazca & the Andes. These works join the first three installments
in the series, featuring fascinating material filmed in Egypt, South America
and Central America. They are all available at: www.adventuresunlimitedpress.com
Keep an eye out for new episodes of the History Channel documentary entitled Ancient
Aliens. The first episode featured Chariots of the Gods author
Erich Von Daniken and me, as well as Giorgio Tsoukalos of Legendary Times.
Giorgio is a WEX member and has made visits to both the Illinois and Arizona
clubhouses. The History Channel has decided to make five more episodes of this
show, and I was contacted to be involved in some of them.
Filmmaker and WEX member Steve Zagata has started the new WEX Twitter page. It
is just getting going, so check it out at www.Twitter.com/Wexclub
When in Amsterdam, check out the Frontier Bookshop which is in the fashionable
Jordaan district of Amsterdam near Anne Frank’s House. Located on a canal
just north of the Westerkirk, the address is Leliegracht 42, 1015 DH Amsterdam.
Tel: (+34) 020-3309151. Visit the website at: www.frontierbookshop.nl
Canadian WEX manager Jim Honey visited the Kempton clubhouse last fall and returned
to Canada with books, DVDs and magazines for his Sangrael bookshop-café-curio
store in Elora. The address is 137 Metcalf Street, Elora, Ontario. The phone
is 519-846-2999. See their new web pages at: www.wexclub.ca
Hawaiian WEX member Patrick Roherty has created a new World Explorer pendant
that is beautiful and classy. Check out the various styles plus his WEX ring
on his special website at: www.worldexplorer.us
The WEX Clubhouse in Kathmandu, as well as the Pilgrim’s Bookstore, are
busy with the new influx of tourists for the Spring trekking season in the Nepalese
Himalayas. My new book, Yetis, Sasquatch & Hairy Giants, has just
been released. Look for it at your favorite bookstore, or buy it direct from
Adventures Unlimited Press at: www.adventuresunlimitedpres.com. Check out the
latest adventure travel news and expeditions offered by our Nepal affiliate Adventure
Pilgrims Trekking at www.trekinepal.com.
Our affiliated bookstore in Kathmandu has the best selection of yeti books of
any bookstore in the world! They are the Pilgrims Book House and Café in
the main Thamel section of Kathmandu, next door to the Katmandu Guest House.
Check out Pilgrims Book House at www.pilgrimsbooks.com
With the current housing crisis, it is a good time for the World Explorers Club
to snatch up clubhouses around the country. Is there a WEX clubhouse to be acquired
in your town in the near future? Maybe it’s up to you to decide—contact
us with any ideas about starting a retail outlet or clubhouse!
Send in your classified ad, too—remember up to 25 words are free for WEX
members. We are always looking for stories or news clippings, so send yours in!
So, whether you’ve been on a beach at a secret cove, traveling across a
desert or trundling down the back streets of London in the winter drizzle, settle
back with a hot drink or cup of soup and prepare yourself for another issue of World
Explorer!
—David Hatcher Childress, Explorer
|