The adventure was through Peter Styvensent the cigarette company but quiet why or how I didn’t really understand. Our host and expert was Henrik Taube - outdoorsman and champion dog sledder of Sweden. There was just three of us on the tour me and two girls, and we told it would be cross country style - which translated as only three dogs each and a lot of getting off and pushing and running.

We had great fun in the run up to the tour across lapland from our base near Jukasjavi (The ice hotel didn’t exist back then) on the Tornatrest River. We made and sewed harnesses for our dogs and met the animals on a get to know you bases, I had Slim, Mestos and Tara, slim was magnificent looking dog, but it was Mestos and Tara who were the engine room of the team. We practiced with our team including falling off and everyone and then a team of dogs minus the driver would come hurtling by. We were filmed as “eskimos” by one American couple excited to see the dogs - we didn’t correct them.

We loaded reindeer skins , dog biscuits and shredded reindeer meat for us, sleeping bags (2) and all the kit needed including cooking pots and tripods, rifle and shovels. lines for the dogs to tie to and all the human needs as well.

We camped outdoors under the stars and the Northern Lights graced up with amazing displays - you almost didn’t want to go to sleep in case you missed anything. It was - 20 so we broke down fir tree branches to pile high as insulation from the cold, and then reindeer skins on top of that, sleeping bags one inside the other and fully clothed. The dogs slept in little hollows and in the morning all there was to be seen of them was little humps of snow. Web learnt how to feed them in pack order so they didn’t fight, made coffee in big fire blackened coffee pot, and eat reindeer stew, It was always dogs first - humans second - they were our survival machine.

We lit a big fire at night to keep away the wolves and during one evening. meal we were shocked when one appeared in camp - it turns out to be Slim, one of my dogs - who was very wolf like. It was apparently his party trick, and he had learnt how to get out of his collar to go walk about - he did look so like a wolf.

What an experience - like something out of Len Deighton novel - I picked up the Lada from the airport and in driving snow made my way into Prague - though endless roadworks, cones and flashing lights and yet more flashing lights from the police cars, expecting at any moment to be stopped by the secret police and in a thick Russian accent them saying “dokumenty, pozhaluysta” Instead I arrived at a very pleasant hotel and had a Budweiser, Budvar beer (the orginal not the USA version), and a very nice steak for my evening meal. Not what I was expecting, but maybe I’d been reading to many spy novels.

A very pretty lady made eye contact over lunch, but fearing she was a “honey trap” I didn’t pursue it any further.

I wandered around the square in the snow and sang “ Good King Wenceslas looked out on the feast of Stephen, when the snow lay round about deep and crisp and even, brightly shone the moon that night though the frost was cruel, when a poor man came in sight, gathering winter fuel” in you’ve guessed it Wenceslas Square it was an amazing experience. The straws were just that - straw*, and clocks all they were just astronomical!

This was the first medieval city in all its spender that I can remember seeing and one of the finest of all that I have been to, and not a stag party or hen do in sight. Although still very obviously communist it also had a style and splendour all of its own, and the Prague castle complex was a destination in its own right..

I crossed Charles Bridge to the St Vitus Cathedral whilst I was looking around was made to stand in a line when suddenly a convoy of cars arrived outside, men jumped out and soon they were swaying huge smoke billowing brass devices and a man in a stunning red cloak and a pointed hat and shepard’s crook stopped opposite me, uttered some words and gave me the sign of the cross.

I bowed my head in respect and then he was gone. I didn’t have a speaking part in this movie.

He obviously thought I needed it and maybe I did - it was a nice feeling and I left a little confused by what had just gone on, but I feeling very pleased with myself and the world in general as I made it back to the hotel.

The next day I drove to Bruno in Slovakia and through forests to Castles in the fog and rain. I ate like a king. It was an epic adventure behind the Iron Curtain., but not at all what I expected.

*I still have the straw - I was obviously amazed! It is in the museum collection.

Margret Thatcher is “ un hombre con huevos” - a man with balls (eggs literally translated) the taxi driver told me - laughing at his own joke as he pulled the cab to the side of the road at the start of a track into the mountains and “tu mi amigo un hombre loco” which I took to mean you are a crazy man., maybe he was right? I paid him the cincuenta sucres and heaved the frame rucksack onto my back, it had everything - tent - sleeping bag - kip mat, stove and mess tins you name it and of course all my clothing. He waved me goodbye from the side of the car, maybe he wanted to see if I was really going into the cloud forest.

It was a good days walk in at high altitude and I had no idea where I was going apart from vague instructions to get a cab to the track and turn right at the first finca (farm) you find and then keep going, straight, as it happened they were all the directions I needed.

I was joined on my trek by a Native Ecuadorian, we called them Amerindians, and his donkey, which we called a donkey and we walked along in companionship for several hours chatting away and pointing at things, I had no idea what he was taking about but the gist of it was the roof had blown off the pig shed and the pigs were going to die in the cold of winter. he wasn’t speaking Spanish. It was a sad story, and the donkey didn’t look happy about it either, maybe he shared that shed?

I was starting to blow by this point - a combination of altitude, mountains and a bloody heavy pack, and was secretly hoping the donkey would offer to carry it for me, but just as I was plucking up courage to ask, they suddenly turned off to the left and bid me farewell. After a few more hours I was just starting to get worried about being lost when the “basecamp” of the Rio Mazan expedition came into site - and friendly and familiar faces came up the track to great me.

There are many more stories and information on the Rio Mazan Expedition that you can find in the museum, and a few precious artefacts - including the mess tins, Stonefly A (a unique specimen we found) as well as original posters and postcards.

On the last day of the tour I was chatting to a girl by the pool when two policemen asked if I was Simon - I agreed I was and there was look of relief on their faces. Quick you must come with us to the airport. But what about my bags I asked, they are in the car, and we sped off to airport lights and sirens blazing. They held the plane on the runway and I boarded to ironic claps from the disgruntled passengers. It would never happen today. Apparently the manager of the hotel had seen me go out in the evening but when I had not answered the alarm call had gone to the room and seeing my back packed and bed made assumed I hadn’t come back from the night before and fearing the worse had called the Police who has in turn put out an APB (all persons bulletin) to look for me or my body! I had in fact just got up early, tidied the room (I always do) and went to sit outside to await my taxi - time must have flown by. As fate would have it I ended up in the same hotel 35 years later as part of a group tour.

Thailand was like a page from “Ripply’s Believe it or Not” we had an old battered copy at home and it told of people who had neck rings to make their necks look elongated (Red Karen Tribe) and solid gold buddha of War Tramit (5.5 tonnes) - it turns out it was true. But for me the reclining outsized gold buddha at Wat Pho was like nothing on earth I had ever witnessed before - it was just the scale of it that was so impressive.

Malaysia was different again and notable highlights include the muddy waters of the Kuala Lumpur from which the capital takes its name through to the Batu Caves in Sengalor, also famous for its pewter works, but it is the Island of Penang that takes our hearts.

Penangs George Town was really interesting, and although not at the time has since (2008) become a UNESCO World Heritage site. The locals chewed betel nut which stains the saliva red, but has now been linked to cancer risks.

We have a few artefacts from this tour in the Museum including jade and resin Buddhas, betel nut seed, Royal Selangor Pewter plate, and bank notes and coins of the era.

In fact the museum has an extensive collection of over 675 banknotes from 120 different countries, as well as coins and stamps from almost every corner of the globe.

Later items include a colourful elephant.