Aug
21
A Romantic Wedding Destination In The Golden Triangle
Filed Under Romantic Travel, Thailand | Leave a Comment
By Peter R Stewart
A Romantic Wedding Destination could be The Four Seasons Tented Camp in the Golden Triangle on the borders of Thailand. It is perfectly legal to get married in Thailand, Read more
Jan
19
Most Popular Travel Destinations in the World
Filed Under France, Most Popular, Thailand, Travel Trends | Leave a Comment
Every country is beautiful in its own manner and is really worth visiting, but there are some countries that attract much more tourists than others.
There is the list of the 5 of the most visited countries of the last several years
1) France (76.7 million visitors a year)
2) Spain (51.7 million visitors)
3) U.S. (41.9 million visitors)
4) Italy (39.8 million visitors)
5) China (36.8 million visitors)
This is the data of 1998
1) France (70 million visitors)
2) Spain (47,7 million visitors)
3) United States (47 million visitors)
4) Italy (34,8 million visitors)
5) United Kingdom (25,4 million visitors)
The top 4 has remained the same since the end of the last century, but fast developing and becoming more and more popular China replaced the United Kingdom on the fifth place. You can also see that china is going to overcome Italy in amount of tourists. You can also see that the total amount of tourists has increased – people became to travel more.
Read more
Sep
21
Venice: The Floating City
Filed Under Europe, Thailand, Venice | Leave a Comment
For a millennium, Venice has provided inspiration for artists and writers. This coveted city is made up of 118 islands linked by 453 bridges. Each corner of town exhibits individual architectural magnificence, the city combining as one to form a spectacular theatrical stage set.
Beautiful churches adorn the banks of the Grand Canal as she snakes her way through the city. This main artery is at the centre of a myriad of canals running throughout the town.
The lifeblood of Venice is its tourism, a magnet for over 12 million visitors a year. Catering for this influx of visitors, the cities population of 70,000 people continue their daily lives, working the bars, cafes and restaurants.
Despite all this however, it seems that Venice is slowly sinking at the rate of approximately 2 inches every century. Terrible floods in 1966 caused much doom mongering and many people feared that Venice was about to be taken off the map.
The threat to remove funding for vital restoration projects gave serious cause for concern and prompted an urgent response to save the city. It was feared imminent flooding could completely destroy the city; preventative measures were high priority.
The efforts of the past two decades have had considerable success. Reduced pollution, shipping and the restoration of natural sandbanks have all contributed to the cause.
The first settlers of Venice were those fleeing the Barbarians around 400 AD. To create solid foundations for their buildings they drove timber into the mud and began creating a community for their people.
The city’s emblem, the winged lion, derived from Saint Mark the Evangelist. The first significant church of Venice was built in the ninth century to house the relics of Saint Mark, and his emblem was soon adopted.
Venice’s trade brought great wealth and prosperity to the city and for many centuries it continued to grow. The city thrived on its colonies and invested its riches wisely. Churches and palaces became commonplace, as were museums to house many newly acquired works of art.
For the past couple of centuries however, the obvious lack of development space meant the city found it difficult to advance further. Wars with Turkey were a drain on the resources and so Venice was content to consolidate.
Despite this, Venice does not rest on its laurels. Every visit offers something new, a fresh experience to take home. Each region of the city has an individual charm, giving the sense there is always something special around each corner.
Sep
19
Traveling in fast forward – Bangkok, Thailand in 24 hours
Filed Under Asia, Thailand | Leave a Comment
After arriving in Bangkok at around 3am, I found that my room was unavailable due to it being flooded, not the best way to start my 24 hour adventure but not enough to slow me down. After a power cut and a couple of hours waiting I finally got my room, I didn’t really have enough time to sleep much after the delay, so I had to settle for just a couple of hours.
I got up at 8.30am and felt surprisingly refreshed, it’s not often you have to survive on only 2 hours sleep but at the same time it’s not often you get the opportunity to explore an environment and culture that’s completely new to you. I took a look out the window and just gazed at the concrete jungle that is Bangkok.
For the troubles of the night before, the hotel graciously gave me a free breakfast and a few other nice treats. I enjoyed a few fruits that I’d never had before; I’m quite the food lover so even simple things like that were interesting to me. It’s amazingly humid and very hot, 30 degrees at just 9am in the morning. Luckily for me and the other Hotel guests having breakfast, there are half a dozen huge fans cooling the area.
After finishing up my breakfast I head out into the unknown. I have no idea where I’m going or what I want to do which is part of the fun, it’s sometimes nice to have no plans or schedule, just the freedom to do whatever crosses your path.
It doesn’t take much time for me to meet some of the locals, there are street vendors everywhere and they can be very persistent, with an emphasis on very. It’s a little intimidating at first but after a good 5 hours of shopping I was a pro.
The Pantip Plaza was the first real building I stumbled into, it was full of cheap gadgets and huge amounts of DVD’s (all no doubt perfectly legal). I moved onto Siam Square next and watched a game of street football which was cool. The temperature was edging 35 degrees at this stage and this seemed even more surprising when I looked up and spotted a huge dark cloud forming right above me.
It didn’t take long for the rain to come and what a display it was. I’ve never encountered such a massive display of thunder and lightening in my life. Everyone scurried through the shop awnings and backstreets to take cover, it was impressive watching the speed at which the street vendors set up protection from the rain, this was obviously something they had learned to put up with. It felt like I was wading through millions of people as I made my way back to the hotel, it was cramped before the rain arrived but now it was just crazy.
After a nice dinner, I did some more looking around. I found some cool t-shirts and plenty of great presents for when I eventually got back home to my singapore clinic. While haggling over prices was new definitely new to me, I ended up enjoying it. It’s not something I could really be bothered with all the time but for that one day it was really fun.
My 24 hours in Bangkok was nearly over. I had to get some sleep before my early flight to London, especially after missing out the night before. It was a shame I had to leave so soon but I’m looking forward to coming back another time and exploring more of Bangkok, especially their many beautiful temples and other tourist attractions. 24 hours certainly wasn’t long but it was enough to give me a taste for Thailand and all the fun and excitement it offers.
About The Author
Rene Smith is a travel guru who lives and works in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Visit http://www.christchurchholidays.co.nz for more articles, reviews and all the information you’ll ever need to know on Christchurch, New Zealand.
