|
Travel News to Use
 Mountain magic
Never experienced the splendor of the Swiss Alps? Chill out. Lying
just 30km from Shenzhen City is Swiss alpine village, or at least a
reproduction of it, in the form of the
OCT East, a brand new resort modeled after Switzerland’s
famous Interlaken ski village.
Set in the mountainous terrain of
Southern China, the resort, which spans 9 sq km of lush green hills
and freshwater lakes, features its own village, a five-star hotel,
golf course and spa. In keeping with the theme, the rooms at the
Interlarken OCT Hotel are even outfitted with their own fireplaces.
And while Jungfrau’s snow-capped mountains characterize the views at
the real Interlaken, travelers to OCT East will be treated instead to
gorgeous vistas of the area’s sprawling tea plantations. Instead of
racing down pistes and landing face first in powder, visitors can
choose to pick tea and tour a tea factory while savoring different
blends grown in the mountain tea valley. Golf enthusiasts can also tee
off at two championship golf courses.
 Impressed? That’s just the first phase of the resort’s development. An
eco-theme park, Knight Valley, is set to open next year, and will be
home to the world’s largest man made waterfall and longest Flume Water
Ride.
Two for the road
If you’ve been hankering for a taste of Incredible India, here’s good
reason to get cracking on planning your trip. Singapore budget carrier
Tiger Airways has announced
new routes from
Singapore
to Kochi and Chennai, commencing in October. The maiden flight to
Chennai (formerly Madras), India’s fourth largest city, takes off on
Oct. 28 and the airline will operate four flights per week to the
cosmopolitan city. Meanwhile, beach combers can look forward to
choosing from three flights per week to
Kochi, a coastal city in beautiful Kerala when service
commences on 30 October.
One-way fares
excluding taxes for both routes start from US$38.80
 Ladies first
The fairer sex
is becoming a force to reckon with and will play a decisive role in
development of the travel, hospitality and tourism sectors in at least
the next 10 years. According to a recent MasterCard study, 4 in every
10 Asian trips are by women travelers and they are making as many as
125 million trips a year in Asia, either alone, with gal pals or on
all-women tours. Women corporate travelers are on the rise as well and
the ladies are exhibiting a demand for more dedicated women services
like spa facilities, brand-name bath amenities and women-only floors
in hotels. Restaurants, hotels, airlines and banks eager to capture
the woman travel dollar, consider this fair warning.
 Bottled up
If the new airport restrictions on carry-on liquids, gels and aerosols
have had you toss out half-used bottles of cologne and perfumes and
expensive elixirs at the door, get it right once and for all. Created
by a flight attendant who wanted to simplify packing for travelers,
Pitotubes are plastic
refillable pump bottles that conform to security regulations. Better
yet, these babies beat out common drug store varieties with their
sleek looks. They also won’t cause messy spills and leaks thanks to
their high-tech pressure-withstanding ways. Pitotubes are sold
individually, or in a kit (US$52) consisting six bottles (two each in
50ml, 30ml and 15mil sizes), a mesh bag and label sheets. Good news
for guys. You get to keep your masculinity intact with male-friendly
blue, silver or cocoa-colored kits.
www.pitotubes.com.
+ Chan Hse May
Home
|
