Management and staff at Bangkok’s main airport are preparing for unprecedented numbers of Chinese arrivals ahead of the Lunar New Year festivities. The director of the Thai capital’s Suvarnabhumi Airport says the increase in the number of flights scheduled over the next fortnight will see more than two million Chinese passengers arriving.
Myanmar has mapped out a schedule to conserve historic temples and pagodas at Mrauk-U and get them included on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Mrauk-U was the capital city of the Arakanese Kingdom in the late Middle Ages and architectural structures from its zenith are rated only second to those of Bagan.
Two US sisters have been expelled from Cambodia for exposing their backsides in one of the temples at the holy Angkor Wat ruins. Officials nabbed Lindsey and Leslie Adams with their pants down in the complex’s Preah Khan Temple at the weekend.
The governor of Bangkok has announced that he hopes to give the city’s giant swing ceremonies a new lease of life. The religious rites were a fixture on the city’s annual events calendar for more than two centuries and were staged next to the 21-metre-high swing at the front of Suthat Temple.
The Vietnamese province of Kien Giang is fast establishing itself as a popular tourism destination and has witnessed an unprecedented rise in the number of its hotels. The local tourism bureau reported this week that the number of hotel rooms in the southern province had grown by 50 per cent in just three years.
The Thai national airline has cancelled some routes to Europe in what management claims is a stopgap measure. The president of Thai Airways told media sources that routes from Bangkok to European cities including Moscow and Madrid had been temporarily shelved.
Awards announced in a leading UK travel magazine have placed two Southeast Asian towns as the best places to visit in 2015. Laos’s UNESCO listed Luang Prabang came in first and was closely followed by Myanmar’s temple city of Bagan.
A budding entrepreneur has imported the technology to produce roses that change colour to the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. BS Innovation proprietor Siripong Pattanakitikul brought the know-how of how to grow the mutating flowers from South Korea.
Municipal authorities in the Lao capital of Vientiane have formulated a scheme to conserve a historic quarter close to the Mekong River bank. Authorities say the project will begin at Ong Tue Temple and expand into the streets bounded by Rue Francois Ngin and Chao Anouvong Road.
Thai AirAsia has released a statement saying it will relaunch early morning Bangkok-Phnom Penh flights next month. Flight FD608 is set to depart at 06:30 from Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport with effect from 15 March 2015.
The Thai Transport Ministry has stated it needs more time to evaluate a demand by Bangkok’s private bus operators to increase fares. The companies have asked for fares across the board to be increased by THB3 per journey.
Local authorities in a remote northeastern town in Laos say they will improve infrastructure in a bid to woo tourists into visiting. A spokesperson for Houaphanh provincial officials says the improvements should entice more visitors to Viengxay.
Thailand’s tourism and immigration bureaus have teamed up to offer a Valentine’s bonus for honeymooners and couples about to tie the knot. Couples arriving at Bangkok’s main airport or Phuket Airport can avoid queues at immigration desks by announcing their presence to staff at the two facilities.
Images of a woman drying her underwear at a Thai airport have triggered widespread disapproval and prompted authorities into asking visitors to be polite. The images of the bra and knickers draped over a seat in the passenger lounge at Chiang Mai Airport first appeared on the internet about 10 days ago.
Walt Disney’s most popular characters are preparing to land in Bangkok and will perform their latest production at the city’s premier events venue. Cinderella, Snow White, Prince Naveen and Maximus are among the characters set to wow audiences at Muang Thong Thani’s Impact Arena.
A convoy of 70 vintage cars left Singapore yesterday morning on a Southeast Asia odyssey that will take them as far as Mandalay in modern-day Myanmar. Veteran and classic cars taking part in the rally include a 1924 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost and a 1900s Parigi Italia.
The engine pulling the luxury Eastern & Oriental Express train caught fire near Kanchanaburi yesterday morning. The locomotive caught fire just 500 metres from Kanchanaburi Station and the two drivers together with other rail workers who rushed to help were able to quickly extinguish the fire.
Municipal authorities in Vientiane have announced that another city park is to join the growing list of locations where smoking is banned. Officials in the Lao capital launched the campaign to introduce smokeless zones back in 2009 and Saysettha Park is all set to be the latest addition to them.
Statistics just released show that Cambodia’s air industry is booming and that 5.7 million passengers passed through its three chief airports in 2014. Figures released by Australia’s Centre for Aviation indicate this is a 13 per cent rise when compared with 2013.
The Thai cabinet has voted in favour of a plan to seek UNESCO World Heritage status for a park with pre-historic rock formations. Parliament passed a resolution yesterday saying it would summit Phu Phra Bat Park for UNESCO listing at the organisation’s Paris headquarters next week.