To banish the onset of winter blues, the Globe Guides team go in search of inspirational sights, spiritual celebrations and animal antics taking place across the world in November.

The 5th of November is Guy Fawkes Night, named after one of the Catholic conspirators who tried to blow up the King and Houses of Parliament in the sixteenth century, and is one of England’s biggest festivals. Justine Shapiro finds herself in mortal danger at the Burning Barrels festival in the town of Ottery St. Mary where the locals have their own unique take on the celebrations: char barrel throwing. In this bizarre display of heroic stupidity, men (and women too!) run around the town with burning barrels on their backs and thousands of onlookers dodge the flames.

Meanwhile, Ian Wright comes up against another fierce sight at the Surin Elephant Roundup in the northeast of Thailand when he joins a tug of war between one elephant and a hundred men. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever see more elephants in one place than at this celebration of their strength.

There’s no better month to visit the sacred Rajasthani town of Pushkar as in November it hosts not one but two major events. Megan McCormick joins the throngs as they gather for the annual Pushka Puja at the town’s captivating lake, one of Hinduism’s most sacred sites, where she has her year’s sins washed away. She then heads into the desert for the Camel Fair where people come from all over India to parade, race and barter their animals and gets stuck into the complicated buying process.

After sweltering in the dry desert heat, the team head south in search of serene beach bumming. Justine Shapiro bypasses the established capital of hippydom, Goa, and sets down at Varkala on the eastern coast of the state of Kerala for seclusion and a great beachside massage. Megan McCormick finds one of the world’s best tropical beaches, Unamatuna, nestled next to a fishing village on the south coast of Sri Lanka, while Aragum Bay is perfect for surfing.

Ian Wright heads north to Nepal for trek in the world famous Himalayas. Not only is it a great way to see some magnificent scenery but you get a dose of Nepalese culture on your way up – Ian receives a blessing from the spiritual leader of Tembokshe, a Buddhist temple way up from civilisation and makes an offering to the Hindu gods when he finally reaches 13000ft and a place affording him a view of grande dame of mountains, Mount Everest.

Credits

NARRATOR
NINA SEBASTIANE

TRAVELLERS
JUSTINE SHAPIRO
IAN WRIGHT
MEGAN McCORMICK

TITLES & GRAPHICS
PAUL PLOWMAN

TITLE MUSIC
IAN RITCHIE

ADDITIONAL MUSIC
COLIN WINSTON – FLETCHER
MAKO SAKAMOTO & JESPER MATTSSON
JON WYGENS
NINA MILES & JONATHAN MILES

MUSICAL DIRECTOR
NEVILLE FARMER

FACILITIES
SUITE
THE VOICE & MUSIC COMPANY

ONLINE EDITOR
MATT ROBERTS

DUBBING MIXER
JOEL BALDWIN

EDITORS
NICK REED
STEVE ELLIS

PRODUCTION ACCOUNTANTS
RICHARD MILLER
HENRY BAUMER

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTS
ALEX MARSHALL-THOMSON
JULIAN MARSHALL

POST PRODUCTION MANAGER
LIZ RICHARDS

PRODUCTION MANAGER
SONIA BORGES

SOUND
ROGER WHITBY
CHRIS PICKHAVER
TIM WATTS
OLIVER MACHIN

CAMERA
TIM KNIGHT
LYNN MITCHELL
NEIL HARVEY
IKI AHMED
DAVE MILLER

PRODUCERS
BINI ADAMS
MAIRE DEVINE
ANGELA JAIN
ANA MONZON-MONZON
LORA GALANTINI

DIRECTORS
STEPHEN LENHOFF
SARAH BARCLAY
LORRAINE CHARKER
CARL HINDMARCH
LUCY COOKE

SERIES PRODUCER
NEVILLE FARMER

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
IAN CROSS

Produced by
Pilot Film and Television Productions
© MMIII