With effect from 16 May 2015, the British consulate in Chiang Mai will no longer offer service to UK nationals. A notice posted up on the Bangkok British Embassy’s website says the consular office in the northern Thai city will close on that date and British nationals will need to contact the embassy for emergency assistance or consular services.
The deputy-mayor of Vientiane has announced local artisans will be building sand statues to mark next week’s New Year festivities. Saythong Keodouangdee says statues representing white elephants and other Southeast Asian symbols will be erected on the city’s Mekong riverside beach.
A key river bridge on a new international highway that will eventually connect Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City was officially opened on Monday. Tsubasa Bridge is the longest structure of this genre in Cambodia and spans the Mekong River in the southwest corner of the country.
Thailand’s national tourist bureau says 500,000 foreign tourists are scheduled to fly in for next week’s annual Songkran Festival. Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) boss Chuthaporn Roengronasa told media representatives an extra 300 charter flights would be arriving from the week commencing Saturday 11 April.
The tourist bureau in the Cambodian town of Siem Reap says up to 500,000 visitors are expected to attend New Year festival celebrations next week. Chheuy Chhorn is the office’s deputy-director and he says judging by statistics from previous years the number of visitors is set to increase from the 400,000 who joined in last year’s festivities.
Global hotelier Best Western expanded its presence in Myanmar last week with the opening of a new property in the former capital of Yangon. Last Tuesday, the group welcomed its first guests to the Best Western Chinatown Hotel.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Culture says it is accepting bids for the restoration of a historic palace in Mandalay. Nyo Myint Tun is an official with the national museum bureau and he told media reporters Mya Nan San Kyaw Palace needs major repair and renovation work.
Last week, Vietnam Airlines celebrated the launch of its new service to London’s Heathrow Airport. When Flight VN55 from Hanoi landed at Heathrow last Tuesday, airline officials were on hand to present arriving passengers with flowers and vouchers for duty-free outlets.
Vietnam’s aviation bureau has issued an order stating all aircraft operated by domestic carriers need to have two flight crew in the cockpit. The edict from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) mandates that the chief cabin attendant needs to be in the cockpit if one of the pilots steps out when an aircraft is airborne.
A Singapore based low cost carrier has released a statement saying it will begin serving a new Malaysian destination next month. The Tigerair statement said the airline would offer a four times a week service to Ipoh with effect from 29 May 2015.
Yesterday saw the start of the Lampang Old Town Festival. The northern Thai town is holding the five-day cultural extravaganza to showcase its timeless charms and the fact little has changed here in the past century.
A former French colonial prison on Vietnam’s Phu Quoc Island has been given a new lease of life as a national monument. Deputy-prime-minister Vu Van Ninh headed up a group of dignitaries at the ceremony held last Friday to celebrate the prison’s new-found status.
On Monday, Vietnamese low-cost carrier Jetstar Pacific inaugurated two new routes. The first route is international and connects Hanoi and the Thai capital city of Bangkok. The second is domestic and links Ho Chi Minh City and Tuy Hoa.
Luxury hotelier group Absolute Hotel Services has announced it will open a second property in Chiang Mai. A statement released by the group says the U Chiang Mai’s sister property is set to welcome its first guests in the latter half of next year.
A leading global hotelier group has just released a statement saying it will open a luxury resort on Vietnam’s Phu Quoc Island. The announcement by Meliá Hotels International is further testament that the country’s southern island is fast developing into a destination of choice for international travellers.
US taxpayers are facing a bill of almost US$250,000 for their first lady’s recent trip to Cambodia. Michelle Obama only stayed at the swanky Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra in Seam Reap for two nights, but her US delegation booked rooms, suites and offices for 14 nights.
Passengers travelling from Bangkok to South Korea with Thai AirAsia X will soon be able to buy tickets for one of the best fun parks in Asia. From 1 May 2015, the budget airline will offer tickets for the Lotte World Adventure Park on board its services to Seoul’s Incheon Airport.
People visiting the Thai seaside resort of Pattaya will soon be able to fly here from five other locations in the country. Local carrier Kan Air says that from 10 April 2015 it will be flying to Pattaya U-tapao Airport from Chiang Mai, its hub airport in the north of the country, plus Bangkok’s second airport and three other airports in the eastern Isaan region.
Pattaya Players has arranged three comedy evenings for this weekend. The Thai seaside resort’s theatrical group is staging a series of artful comedy skits at the Eastern Grand Palace tonight and tomorrow plus an extra evening at Ben’s Theatre in Jomtien on Sunday 29 March.
Municipal authorities in Ho Chi Minh City have enacted a new regulation that requires all taxis to be fitted with GPS tracking devices. The edict is effective from 1 July 2015 and any driver found driving a taxi after this date without the modern equivalent of a tachograph faces a heavy fine.