#Thailand Tourism Festival showcases 5 regions

The Thailand Tourism Festival 2019 takes place from January 23-27 in Bangkok’s Lumpini Park with five ‘tourism villages’ representing the regions of Thailand plus two additional zones:

Central Region Zone – presents the heritage of old Siam through a traditional Thai house and the former rural way of life back in the days through demonstrations, such as, traditional garland making.

Northern Zone – showcases the beautiful hand-woven cotton and silk textiles the region is famous for, presenting the intricate patterns. The zone reflects the artistic nature of the people of the North plus a range of contemporary arts inspired by the region.

Southern Zone – presenting new perspectives of the South that go beyond the beaches and islands including the secondary cities such as Surat Thani and Phatthalung, the hidden gems in major cities like Phuket’s Peranakan and arts in the three southernmost provinces.

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Northeastern (Isan) Zone – brings Thailand’s more vibrant cuisine to life. Food is one major inspiration for travelling to this region, linking it with traditional festivals and cultural values while promoting its three main tourism clusters: North Isan, Central Isan and South Isan.

Eastern Zone – presenting new perspectives of the East under a ‘more fun’ concept through replicas of landmarks most synonymous with the region in combination with three dedicated corners for 3D photography backdrops reflecting the region’s identity.

Perhaps most importantly, there is also a ‘Reduce-Reuse-Recycle’ waste initiative zone to help raise awareness and promote responsible and sustainable tourism through various activities, games and more.

 TAT Studio – provides daily live broadcasts of the TTF 2019 in all formats: news reports, special scoops, interviews plus activities and performances. It comprises a live digital TV studio, a 1672 traveller companion information centre, an ‘Or Sor Tho’ magazine section, and virtual reality games and lucky draws.

Source - TheNation

#Indonesia - Komodo National Park to be closed one year for habitat restoration

The East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) administration has announced its plans to temporarily close Komodo National Park to visitors for one year to increase the local population of Komodo dragons and deer.

“The NTT administration will make [the necessary] arrangements for Komodo National Park,” said NTT Governor Viktor Bungtilu Laiskodat on Friday, as quoted by tempo.co. He did not announce the dates of the temporary closure.

Viktor said that the park's closure was intended to give the provinicial administration easier access in managing the park and developing the dragons' habitat.

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 He said that individual lizards in the current population were not as big as they used to be, attributing this to a decline in the local deer population due to poaching.  

 Deer are the main prey of the carnivorous Komodo dragons, which can grow as large as 150 kilograms and eat about "80 percent of its body weight in a single feeding", according to National Geographic. This means that a 100-kilogram lizard can eat 80 kg of meat in a single sitting.

Viktor said there was a possibility that the lizards could prey on their own kind if the deer population continued to decline.

“Its natural instinct will emerge when [the population of one of the animals] in the Komodo dragon’s food chain declines. If food is abundant, the Komodo dragons will [employ] a different instinct," he said. "This is why the administration wants to manage the Komodo dragon's habitat by temporarily closing the area to visitors for one year.”

Source - TheJakartaPost

#Thailand's infamous 'jet-set monk' convicted of raping a minor

Thailand's infamous "jet-set monk" was convicted of raping an underage girl Wednesday, a court official said, in a case that has rocked an already scandal-mired Buddhist clergy.

Wiraphon Sukphon, 39, earned his evocative moniker after footage emerged of him wearing designer sunglasses with a Louis Vuitton bag on a private jet.

He was extradited back to Thailand from the US last year, accused of the rape and duping donors who had given him money to build what he said would be the world's largest emerald image of Buddha.

The girl was under the age of 15 and Wiraphon is said to have later fathered a child with her.

In Wednesday's ruling, which found him guilty of rape and separating the girl from her parents, the court said he had given the Buddhist faith a "bad reputation".

"He used his monkhood, which Thai people respect," the court official told AFP.

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 Wiraphon's 16-year custodial sentence punishment will be added to the 20-year prison term he received in August after being found guilty of multiple counts of fraud.

The military junta that seized power in 2014 has taken a hardline against monks acting outside the law and authorities have considered introducing digitised ID cards that could track members of the community with criminal histories.

Thailand is mostly Buddhist and the religion is woven into everyday life, but drug, sex and financial scandals have weighed on the Buddhist leadership and forced some high-profile collisions with law enforcement.

In May the abbot of the tourist-heavy "Golden Mount" temple in Bangkok was arrested after $4 million was found in bank accounts in his name. 

Police are also investigating allegations of financial wrongdoing within the National Office of Buddhism.

And early last year, soldiers raided the temple of the mega-rich Dhammakaya sect on the outskirts of Bangkok to detain its controversial abbot on accusations of massive fraud. He eluded capture and remains at large.

Source - TheJakartaPost

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#Cambodia - Tourists flock to military frontier

A wooden staircase with over one thousands steps, built in August 2017 to transport supplies to soldiers on the site of a contentious military frontier with Thailand, has now become an unlikely tourist attraction for many in the Kingdom.

The staircases’ 1181 steps lead to Than Temple at the summit of the Dangrek mountain range – in which Cambodian troops patrol in a long running border dispute with neighbouring Thailand – offering breathtaking views over the national frontier into the Thai countryside.

Located in Samrong town’s O’Teuk Chaol village, Oddar Meanchey province, the wooden staircase was initially built for the benefit of soldiers to transport supplies to the mountain’s peak, but it now also attracts tourists who want to experience the views from the top.

“Soldiers make a bit of money from selling food and beverages to tourists,” Oddar Meanchey provincial Department of Tourism head Thiny Mony Raksmey said.

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Before reaching the temple, tourists encounter a giant ancient grinding stone mill that was carved into the mountain’s rock hundreds of years earlier, as well as the somewhat newer bunkers dug by soldiers as part of the ongoing dispute.

It is recommended that tourists refrain from taking photos or videos of military personnel on the site due to the sensitive situation.

The current Cambodian-Thai border dispute began in June 2008, but it is merely the latest in a century-long dispute between the countries involving the area surrounding the 11th century Preah Vihear Temple in the Dangrek mountains straddling northern Cambodia’s Preah Vihear province and Thailand’s Sisaket province.

Nearby Than Temple on the Dangrek mountain range, tourists are able to combine their tour with a visit to O’Teuk Chaol waterfall and Ta Krabey Temple.

Source - PhnomPenhPost

Bora Bora tops list of trendiest millennial destinations in 2019

It should come as no surprise to Instagram users to see Bora Bora head up a list of top-trending destinations for millennials in 2019.

After looking at the most popular destinations being followed or “watched” by its millennial users, flight tracker and booking app Hopper found that Bora Bora experienced the biggest spike in interest for 2019 (24 percent increase from last year), followed by St. Martin and Aspen Colorado.

Hopper users can set trip “watches” up to one year in advance. The average Hopper user sets up watches up to 90 days in advance of when they would typically begin seriously doing their travel homework.

With more than 1.2 million posts tagged with the hashtag #borabora, and Instagram feeds of beautiful, young influencers posing against palm-fringed beaches and overwater villas, French Polynesia has become a trendy bucket-list destination for globetrotting millennials.

Meanwhile, if you've got a trip coming up, Hopper's data suggests booking a flight now in January while domestic round-trip airfares are at their lowest, before rising back up in February.

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 According to their data, domestic US destinations like San Antonio, Miami and Tampa are most likely to drop in price this month. International destinations most likely to dip in January include Providenciales, Turks and Caicos, Oranjestad, Aruba and Delhi, India.

These are the trendiest millennial destinations of 2019, according to Hopper:

1. Bora Bora
2. St. Martin
3. Aspen Colorado
4. Denpasar, Indonesia
5. Kahului, Hawaii
6. Dublin, Ireland
7. St. Lucia
8. Tokyo, Japan
9. Palm Springs, California
10. Anchorage, Alaska

Source - TheJakartaPost

#Vietnam opens new international airport 50 km from Halong Bay

Vietnam opened a new airport, Dec. 30, on the island of Van Don, close to Halong Bay. Previously, travelers had to reach the magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Site via the capital, Hanoi, a four-hour drive away.

While the Vietnamese authorities have extended visa exemption for nationals of certain countries for stays of up to 15 days until 2021, the country has also opened a new airport, billed as Vietnam’s most modern, located close to the popular tourist destination of Halong Bay.

Business looks good for the junk boat cruises at this magnificent UNESCO World Heritage Site, as Van Don International Airport, which cost around $350 million and is managed by a private company, will allow visitors to travel directly to Halong Bay, without traveling via Hanoi.

Visitors will be able to reach the port in one hour’s drive, thanks to a new highway, compared to previous travel times of three to four hours, depending on the route. Note that domestic flights to and from Hanoi are operated by Vietnam Airlines and VietjetAir.

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Vietnam was aiming for 17 million foreign tourists in 2018. In the end, it welcomed some 15.5 million visitors, up 19.9 percent on the previous year. For 2019, the country’s goal is 18 million international arrivals. The Halong site is just one of the destinations set to help draw visitors, as the country also aims to develop tourism in the wider Quang Ninh province, which has 250km of coastline. Perhaps the beaches of Minh Chau and Ngoc Vung will one day become as popular as those of Phuket or Koh Phi Phi in Thailand. These new facilities, which took barely three years to create, were also envisaged to boost tourism and trade with Taiwan, South Korea, Cambodia and Singapore.

Van Don International Airport expects to see two million annual passengers by 2020 and some five million by 2030.

As well as the airport, Vietnam opened its first international cruise port, specially designed for cruise ships, located in Halong. This new infrastructure, designed by architect Bill Bensley, can accommodate up to 8,460 passengers at once. 

Source - TheJakartaPost

 

#Thailand - Angthong National Marine Park closed for 3 days due to approaching storm

The Angthong National Marine Park, off the coast of Surat Thani province, is closing for three days from tomorrow (Thursday) as tropical storm ‘Pabuk’ is expected to hit the southern Gulf coast.

The decision has been based on weather warnings from the TMD, which says the storm “Pabuk” will bring unseasonal heavy downpours and high waves in the Gulf of Thailand from Thursday into the weekend.

Entry into the national park area will be banned for three days and park officials are asking for everyone’s cooperation. They say the public will be notified if there are any changes to the announcement.

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The Angthong marine park is comprised of 42 islands and was named a national park in 1980.

Though “Pabuk” is expected to be less powerful than Typhoon Gay, which devastated Chumphon and Prachuap Khiri Khan provinces in 1989, it could still cause more damage than the tropical storm that ravaged 12 southern provinces in 1962.

Nearly one thousand people died when “Harriet” cut across Nakhon Si Thammarat through Krabi, Phuket and Phang Nga provinces. Tropical Storm Harriet made landfall in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province, causing a storm surge that wiped out villages in Laem Talumphuk, Pak Phanang District, killing over 900 and leaving over 10,000 people homeless.

Source - TheNation