Bangkok’s back story: cooking biking chatting with monks
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The News Review:
- Bangkok’s back story: cooking biking chatting with monks
- TRAVEL IN BRIEF 29/12
- Enjoy a new you in the new year
- The annual vintage-car parade in Hua Hin reveals some extraordinary…
- My Life in Travel: Mark Durden-Smith
- WHERE’S GREAT FR ’08
- The Associated Press
Bangkok’s back story: cooking biking chatting with monks
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Pittsburgh Post Gazette – Dec 29, 2007
All in just the first half-hour. Van Kessel 57 a mountain biker and topographer started his tours 20 years ago mainly for locals. Work brought him to Thailand. He fell in love with Bangkok but was discouraged by its reputation as a polluted gridlocked city. n his bike he began exploring the footpaths alleyways and canals between the main thoroughfares. What he found was a world hidden from most outsiders neighborhoods where life goes on the way it has for decades much of it in peaceful surroundings more akin to rural villages than a modern city. Leaving Chinatown we peddled along backstreets until we reached one of the piers along the Chao Phraya River the 231-mile waterway that divides Bangkok’s commercial district from its quieter suburbs… Take a clue from the monks wandering the streets at dawn with their begging bowls. Even here in the oldest part of Bangkok known as Rattanakosin home to the Grand Palace and most of the ancient temples chilling out comes easy. A few suggestions:• Check into a waterside hotel and take a break from taxis and traffic. Calm yourself instead by getting around via one of the public ferries that ply the Chao Phraya River. Riverside-hotel options used to be limited to luxury properties such as the historic riental where rooms are $300 and up. Now travelers on more modest budgets can go first-class in one of the new European-style boutique inns popping up among the old Chinese shophouses along the piers at the north end of the river within walking distance of the historic sites. It’s here that I found the Aurum River Place (.
TRAVEL IN BRIEF 29/12
VietNamNet Bridge – Dec 29, 2007
Ticket price ranges from VND440000 to VND890000 per person. Caravan tour to Malaysia for TetThe HCM City-based Viking Travel and Media Company is arranging a 10-day caravan tour for a group of 25 cars from HCM City to Malaysia for the upcoming Lunar New Year festival or Tet. The tour will start in HCM City on February 8 or second day of the Lunar New Year and head to Cambodia Thailand and Malaysia covering the total road length of nearly 4900km according to Tran Xuan Hung director of Viking Travel. Hung said the caravan tour would be escorted by Thai police upon arriving in Thailand and would join a welcoming party hosted by tourism agencies in provinces in southern Thailand. He added that Malaysia?s Ministry of Tourism would issue certificates to each member of the group to admit them into the country. Viking on Tuesday saw off a Malaysian caravan group of 17 cars which have helped Viking arrange inbound tours for three other caravan groups from Malaysia next year. 2007 boom year for local MICE marketThis year saw a dramatic increase in the Meetings Incentives Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE) market… Russian companies have invested in five projects in Binh Thuan in the fields of trade resort and tourism. Palace Sai Gon Hotel gets 4-star ratingThe National Adminsitration of Tourism has given a 4-star rating to Palace Sai Gon Hotel at 56-66 Nguyen Hue Street in HCM City?s District 1. pened in 1968 the 144-room Palace Sai Gon Hotel is one of the hotels run by the Bong Sen Joint-Stock Co. In 2007 the company invested more than US$1. 4mil to upgrade the hotel?s facilities. As a result the hotel received some 21500 foreign and local guests in 2007. Most guests came from France and the US.
Enjoy a new you in the new year
Walesnline – Dec 29, 2007
Set against the stunning backdrop of the Brecon Beacons Peterstone Court Hotel and Spa couldn’t be further from the hustle and bustle of city life. After a busy week juggling work and children in the lead-up to Christmas my friend and I couldn’t wait to get away and unwind for a couple of hours. And the intimate and relaxed spa at this historic hotel hit all the right spots. The spa in the cellars of the Georgian building is quite small but has a great layout and the warm decor makes you feel relaxed from the moment you step through the door. There is a swimming pool but because it is outside you will find it closed during the winter months. Inside there is a gym room Jacuzzi sauna and fabulous relaxation room that is dimly lit and lusciously decorated – perfect for relaxing with a book or just to close your eyes and forget about it all. The treatments used at Peterstone are Ytsara from Thailand and Circaroma an award-winning contemporary range… There is a swimming pool but because it is outside you will find it closed during the winter months. Inside there is a gym room Jacuzzi sauna and fabulous relaxation room that is dimly lit and lusciously decorated – perfect for relaxing with a book or just to close your eyes and forget about it all. The treatments used at Peterstone are Ytsara from Thailand and Circaroma an award-winning contemporary range. The ingredients are 100 per cent organic and the 45-minute Circaroma facials gave us the “me” time we so craved and left us feeling relaxed and pampered. The hotel which has 12 bedrooms quite rightly prides itself on its food. Avant-garde and distinctive in its style Peterstone remains loyal to its Georgian heritage but complements the old with funky details and modern touches. We spent a Sunday there but both of us agreed we would love to return again for a weekend break.
The annual vintage-car parade in Hua Hin reveals some extraordinary…
๒ดà¸à¸° ๒à¸à¸à¸±à¹à¸ – Dec 29, 2007
A couple of klicks up the road was an ancient Morris Minor that was moving so slowly there should have been a man walking in front of it carrying a red flag. Is this what happens when ancient cars leave their shelters only for some to die by the road and others merely to limp along it? Mercifully only the weakest. Yet pulling into the Sofitel Hotel driveway was a sight to behold. Dozens of the rarest most loved buffed and polished vintage cars were on display in all their glory having made the long trek from Bangkok on December 14. The purpose? To take part in the annual Vintage Car Club Rally to raise money for charity and to celebrate His Majesty the King’s 80th birthday. Hence there were 80 cars on parade… Photographers car owners hotel guests and tourists swarmed over it posed in front of it all making cooing noises. Smith – slim mild-mannered and unruffled – had spent a great deal of time and money not only in restoring the car but getting it out here in the first place. For one reason or another it’s incredibly difficult to import vintage cars into Thailand. But somehow Smith managed it and the Darracq quite rightly led the parade around town the following afternoon. Like pet dogs and their masters who slowly come to resemble each other over the years so too do car owners come to represent the vehicle they have spent so much energy restoring. The MG owners had flat caps as did Smith. A delightful university lecturer was as genteel as the ancient vehicle of which she’d made a replica and now drives around the campus.
My Life in Travel: Mark Durden-Smith
Independent – Dec 29, 2007
Worst hotel? When I was backpacking I think I must have stayed at a rat sanctuary on the border of Thailand and Malaysia. I could hear scuttling all night. Best hotel?The Kurland Hotel in Plettenberg Bay South Africa. It’s like a little country-house hotel with log fires in the rooms and you can watch the sun go down over beautiful valleys. Best meal abroad?We sat down at a brilliant restaurant called Tristan in Puerto Portals Mallorca without knowing it had two Michelin stars. There was a water menu; we chose a bottle from Fiji which cost 16. First thing you do when you arrive somewhere new?Even though I’m not a smoker I like to light up a cigarette it makes me feel that I’m on holiday.
WHERE’S GREAT FR ’08
Daily Star – Dec 29, 2007
Every year there is a new must-see resort idyllic island or hip hotel to visit. Every year there is a new must-see resort idyllic island or hip hotel to visit… Spend your first day soaking up the vibe of Bangkok before moving on to Sukhothai taking a bike trip to explore the landscape of rural Thailand. Deal: Galapagos Adventure costs £1792 and includes flights with Iberia a 10-day Intrepid tour and nine nights’ accommodation. Treasures of Northern Thailand costs from £896 per adult including flights with Thai Airways. To book call 0844 557 9275 or visit.
The Associated Press
International Herald Tribune – Dec 29, 2007
Nobuto Ikehara Japan 12 for Sidorenko's WBA bantamweight title. 11 At Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Hollywood Fla. (ESPN2) Edison Miranda Puerto Rico vs. David Banks Portland regon 10 super middleweights; Jean Pascal Canada vs. mar Pittman Philadelphia 10 super middleweights… 29 At Bangkok: Daisuke Naito Japan vs. Pongsaklek Wonjongkam Thailand fourth fight 12 for Naito's WBC flyweight title. 1 At Monroeville Pa. (ESPN2) Monte Meza Clay Rankin Pa.