Returning to Asia where changes abound
Posted by admin in News
The News Review:
- Returning to Asia where changes abound
- A Long Weekend? How About a Whole Year?
- Beyond the beaches – Thailand – South East Asia – World – Travel -…
- Sex workers target businessmen in Hong Kong; 44 robbed in 3 years
- Vietnam Investment Review – Timeout
- Premier League is turning on TV audiences all round the world
Returning to Asia where changes abound
Seattle Times – Nov 4, 2007
Thailand shares borders with Malaysia Myanmar Laos and Cambodia. Its culture is unique in that it’s the only country in Southeast Asia that wasn’t colonized by the Western Europeans. History: Bangkok was a small village on the Chao Phraya River until Burmese armies destroyed Ayuthaya the capital for 400 years in 1767. Thai rules moved the capital to Thonburi on the west bank of the river opposite present-day Bangkok… It was hot crowded and polluted but this was my first morning in Asia and I felt like I had landed on another planet — just as I hoped I’d feel after leaving Seattle one day and arriving on the other side of the world at nearly midnight the next. Sweating after just 20 minutes of walking breathing exhaust fumes and dodging little three-wheeled vehicles called tuk-tuks we stopped inside an air-conditioned 1950s-style art deco hotel called the Royal to ask directions to Khao San Road headquarters at the time for backpackers and budget travelers. The marble lobby and wide wooden staircases told me this hotel was out of our price range but I decided to inquire about the rates anyway remembering that I read how you could negotiate the price of anything in Bangkok even hotel rooms. The desk clerk quoted the equivalent of $40 in Thai baht. “Could you give me a discount?” I asked. He offered me the room for $27 and we checked in later that afternoon. This morning back in Bangkok almost 20 years after that first trip we walked over to the Royal to see what a difference two decades had made.
A Long Weekend? How About a Whole Year?
New York Times – Nov 4, 2007
“nce kids have made that transition from parents to peers being the most important people in their lives there is resentment about being pulled away from a peer group and activities” said David Elliot Cohen author of “ne Year ff: Leaving It All Behind for a Round-the-World Journey With ur Children” (Traveler’s Tales $14. While it can be challenging to keep kids on an educational track while living out of hotel rooms it can be done. The Bagan family enrolled in a public charter school program and used home-school materials from K12 (.
Beyond the beaches – Thailand – South East Asia – World – Travel -…
The Age – Nov 4, 2007
But beyond the beaches (unarguably enticing) and the shopping(again excellent) there’s an intriguing local culture to explore. Across Thailand tourists are discovering short courses are one wayto get beyond the superficial: foreigners can now be found hunchedover hot woks learning Thai cooking; digging elbows into sweatystrangers while attempting Thai massage; or punching their waythrough a Thai boxing lesson. Like Thai travel overall short courses are simple to arrange;ask at your hotel or scan the noticeboards in tourist spots. Withprices significantly cheaper than the equivalent program inAustralia the only difficulty lies in choosing an activity anddeciding how much time you are willing to spend away from yourfavourite poolside position to do it. For Sarah Mercier a stint of bad weather enticed her and afriend away from Koh Samui’s beaches to learn Thai cooking. “Myfriend and I had baked a lot together so we thought we’d trycooking. ” They booked into Samui Institute of Thai Culinary Artsfor its professional-looking set-up and because vegetarian optionswere available.
Sex workers target businessmen in Hong Kong; 44 robbed in 3 years
International Herald Tribune – Nov 4, 2007
ther victims discovered cash and other valuables missing when they awoke in their hotel room she said speaking on condition of anonymity in line with policy. Police were aware of the problem and of the possibility that some type of date-rape drug may have been used she said. She said police were giving crime prevention advice to bars and hotels in the area and working with the immigration department. In one of the most high-profile cases a senior Finnish policeman Kari Juhani Koivuniemi died of a heart attack in a luxury hotel after being given the drug Rohypnol in 2003. A woman thought to have been a mainland Chinese prostitute was suspected of giving him the drug but she was never found. Wan Chai was once one of Hong Kong's most notorious districts for sex and drugs but has undergone a makeover in recent years. It remains a popular place for U… sailors tourists and overseas businessmen. Although prostitution is legal in Hong Kong many of the women are either illegal immigrants from mainland China the Philippines Indonesia and Thailand or moonlighting from their day jobs.
Vietnam Investment Review – Timeout
Vietnam Investment Review – Nov 4, 2007
But Celadon International CE Paul Stoll writes the government needs to do more to support the industry. South East Asian nations such as Thailand the Philippines and Indonesia were well-known rest and recreation destinations partly inheriting their reputation from the Vietnam War. Economically these countries subsequently became so-called ?sweatshops? producing cheap consumer products. China and India followed. However these countries also have beautiful tropical environments exotic cultures and lifestyles – everything that travellers seek. Combined with bigger aircraft cheaper airfares and improving infrastructure South East Asia has become one of the world?s most popular tourism destinations… But tour operators have started to invest in such facilities. You can now travel the Mekong from Ho Chi Minh City to Phnom Penh on a colonial steamer – a great experience. Back on land in the absence of an efficient hotel rating system genuine four-star hotel tourism is non-existent. This reflects in room rates averaging $100 in Hanoi and $110 in Ho Chi Minh City for five-star hotels and $70 in Hanoi and $80 in Ho Chi Minh City for so-called four-star hotels. Those supposedly at three-star level command rates of an average of $50. There are of course hotels benefiting from locations commanding significantly higher rates. Average room occupancy for the so-called deluxe hotels of around 80 per cent countrywide also yields good returns.
Premier League is turning on TV audiences all round the world
Daily Mail – Nov 4, 2007
Every sport regards Asia as the unconquered market. Everyone islooking east. Why else do you think Arsenal and United were kickingoff at Saturday lunchtime? It was to suit TV audiences in ChinaKorea Japan Thailand and Malaysia. Forget the idea that theclubs’ midweek Champions League commitments had much to do withit. Neither Arsene Wenger’s nor Sir Alex Ferguson’s sides play untilWednesday night while Chelsea and Liverpool who play 24 hoursearlier on Tuesday night kicked off on Saturday at 3pm and 5. But this is how football scheduling will be increasingly skewedand it is not such an extraordinary leap to assume that the 12… Two thousand watched the match on a giant screen. ‘It beats theChampions League because those games are on too late for us towatch’ said 35-year-old hotel worker and Manchester United fanSuntorn Wandeerak. In Hong Kong it is 8. 45pm and Arsenal devotees pack into the IcyBar. Tommy Lo chairman of the city’s Gunners’ supporters clubsays his members are lapping up the early starts: ‘If they continueto start early we are going to have to find a bigger place towatch. ‘The whistle sounds at 9.