Getting Ready for Your Trip to the Philippines.
Let’s assume you’ve done your regular prep-work: made provisions for paying your bills back home + having the means to monitor all your banking activity online, clearing out your credit cards, securing your travel documents, securing your home and pets, having a medical exam + getting the necessary vaccinations if you need it, putting your memberships on hold, dealing with all your mail for the duration of your vacay, etc.
Pay special attention to:
The forum will include participants from 57 countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and provide a platform for Islamic tourism industry players to strengthen cooperation and forge closer economic ties.
Tourism Malaysia director-general Mirza Mohammad Taiyab said that immense tourism business potentials could be tapped from this huge Islamic market at the four-day event scheduled for October 8-11.
Sedona Hotels International calls for triple celebration as Hotel Sedona Manado was awarded Indonesia’s Leading Resort while Sedona Hotel Yangon and Sedona Hotel Mandalay were nominated Myanmar’s Leading Hotel at the World Travel Awards 2011.Hotel Sedona Manado winning this award on its first nomination within two years of operations is remarkable. Mr Vincent Tan, Senior Vice President of Sedona Hotels International said “We are honoured to receive this award which signifies the international travel industry recognition of Hotel Sedona Manado as Indonesia’s Leading Resort. We are committed to continue contributing to Indonesia’s travel and tourism industry and to raise Manado’s profile on the global tourism scene as an attractive dive and leisure travel destination.”
Set against a backdrop of Manado’s renowned diving and fronted by a dazzling private lagoon, Hotel Sedona Manado offers endless recreational opportunities. The sprawling 24 hectare resort is a tropical paradise with lush greenery, spacious rooms and memorable dining experience. Within the resort’s manicured grounds, Martha Tilaar Salon and Day Spa pampers with ancient Javanese beauty rituals.
Hailed by the Wall Street Journal as the travel industry’s equivalent to the Oscars, the World Travel Awards are the most comprehensive and prestigious awards program in the travel industry. The awards recognize excellence in the world’s travel and tourism industry and are voted by travel professionals from 167,000 travel agencies, tour and transport companies and tourism organizations across the globe.
This July, the annual Singapore Food Festival is back for the 15th year to charm your taste buds with its unique blend of local food. From Laksa, Hainanese chicken rice to the chili crab, sample the ten must-try local favorites of Singapore for the best experience of Singapore food and culture.
Consecrated in 1962, Cuc Phuong is the oldest national park in Vietnam. Cuc Phuong, 120km south of Ha Noi and under the administration of Ninh Binh Province authority, spreads its land area of 22,200 hectares into the territory of Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa and Hoa Binh Provinces.
The terrain of Cuc Phuong includes a valley of 25km in length and 10km in width flanked by forested limestone mountains in the northern part of the Truong Son Range. The mountains around the national park rise up to 636m above sea level and surrounded by vast areas of forested plain. The mountains of Cuc Phuong National Park are of karst and marine formations which are estimated of 200 million years old. There are a myriad caves in the mountains of Cuc Phuong and some archaeological artifacts found in the caves show that Human Beings started inhabiting here some 7,000 – 12,000 years ago.
Cuc Phuong is located in the tropical monsoon climate area with temperatures ranging from 5 Degrees Celsius to above 35 Degrees Celsius and humidity from 60% to over 90%. The average annual rain fall is over 2000 mm.
Rain water in the park area follows a complicated drainage mechanism absorbing through the limestone and emerging on the lower slopes of the mountains as springs and geysers. The only permanent water source of Cuc Phuong which supplies constant amount of water is the Buoi River which gets the water from the Ma River and rinse out again into the same river.
Cuc Phuong has amazing diversity of flora and fauna. The vegetation of Cuc Phuong National Park is dominated by rain forests on limestone. In some places, the forest is stratified into five layers. Due to the terrain, the stratification is often unclear and broken. There are about 1983 species of trees in Cuc Phuong including Terminalia Myriocarpa, Shorea Sinensis, Tetrameles Nudiflora, Euphorbiaceae, Poaceae, Fabaceae, Rubiaceae, Asteraceae, Moraceae, Lauraceae, Cyperaceae, Orchidaceae and Acanthaceae etc...many of which could be used for medicinal purposes (433) and many are edible (229).
Many species of trees at Cuc Phuong are listed in the Red Book of Vietnam. There are also elements of flora originating from Himalaya, Myanmar and Malaysia found at Cuc Phuong.
Extensive surveys have identified three vascular plant species which by far are only found in Cuc Phuong: Pistacia Cucphuongensis, MelastomaTtrungii and Heritiera Cucphuongensis and not anywhere else in the World.
Cuc Phuong is home to over 2000 insect species, 110 reptilian and amphibian species, 65 fish species, 117 mammal and some 313 bird species, 280 species of butterflies. There are even the endangered Delacour Leaf Monkey, Trachypithecus Delacouri and the vulnerable Owston's Civet Hemigalus Owstoni at Cuc Phuong. Recently, the Leopard Panthera Pardus has been recorded at Cuc Phuong. Due to illegal poaching and contracting habitat areas at Cuc Phuong, the last individuals of some mammal species have disappeared such as Tiger Panthera Tigris and White-Cheeked Crested Gibbon Hylobates Leucogenys...There are about 40 species of bats at Cuc Phuong.
The bird species at Cuc Phuong National Park include some are listed as endangered ones such as the Short-tailed Scimitar Babbler Jabouilleia Danjoui.
To protect the flora and fauna systems of Cuc Phuong, some 650 people of the local community was relocated to the outside of the park area in 1990. Still there are some 2000 people living inside the park area along the Buoi River marked for relocation. There are also over 50,000 people living scatteredly in the buffer zone of Cuc Phuong who are dependent on the natural produce from the park. Threats to the bio-system of Cuc Phuong range from people collecting firewoods, collecting mushrooms...to illegal logging and poaching. Also Cuc Phuong has turned into a tourist destination and could fall victim of irresponsible travel and bad travel management.
Recently Ho Chi Minh Highway Construction is cutting off some 150 hectares of Cuc Phuong from the main area which could result in destroying the habitat of some species; and in the long terms wastes, smoke and noise as well as commercial activities along the highway could pose huge environmental issues to the park.
Cuc Phuong has been the training and researching site for students and scientists whose study area involves archeology, geology, biology, geography...Various projects related to biodiversity conservation have been established at Cuc Phuong including the Endangered Primate Rescue Centre (EPRC) which rescue primates confiscated from illegal trades, breed them and release them back to their habitat; the Owston's Civet Breeding Project and the Turtle Conservation Center as well as co-operation with international organizations in the related fields for researching the bio system of Cuc Phuong and raising environmental awareness programs among the public...
Paradissa Travel do offer eco tours into the Cuc Phuong National Park. But as part of responsible tourism, we only have small tour groups of fewer than 12 travellers with activities of wild safaris, bird watching and eco trekking. All tours are escorted by our environvental awareness-trained tour guide accommpanied by a professional tour guide provided by the park authority. All travellers are briefed on the environvental issues at the park, rules of the park and agree to follow rules while in the area.
The forum will include participants from 57 countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and provide a platform for Islamic tourism industry players to strengthen cooperation and forge closer economic ties.
Tourism Malaysia director-general Mirza Mohammad Taiyab said that immense tourism business potentials could be tapped from this huge Islamic market at the four-day event scheduled for October 8-11.
As of Thursday, half a million Bangkok-ians will have access to 15,000 access points throughout the Bangkok metropolitan area. The municipal administration are attempting to alleviate some of the strains caused by rising fuel prices by allowing people to conduct business and transactions over the internet. This pilot program will run 1 year and each access point will allow people to connect to a blazing 64kbps pipe.
Though slightly better than dial up, one has to wonder how much bandwidth anyone will actually get. Nonetheless, this is a step in the right direction and should give WiMax a run for its money since this service is being offer for free. Next time Bernice is in Bangkok, I'm sure she'll have a pleasant surprise :).
Anyone living in range of one of these hotspots? Please do let me know how it works out for you. The Bangkok administration has been handing out access cards at most shopping malls and public places.
Fare (Please pay at the Airport Shuttle Counter)
Contact Information
Fare (Please pay at the Limousine Taxi Counter)
Indonesia Country Code : 62
Jakarta Area Code : 21
Dialing Guides to Call to Jakarta, Indonesia:
1. From your Cell
To Land line
Dial: + 62 + 21 + Number you wish to call.
To Cell phone (e.g you are about to call 0811234567 or 08189101112)
Dial: +62 + 81 + the rest of numbers or +62 + 85 + the rest of number
2. From Land Line to Land Line
E.g If you and the person you want to call is live in the same area (code) just dial the phone number, but if you are in Jakarta and need to establish a call to Bandung
Dial : 022 + Number you wish to call
3. From Land Line to Cell Phone
Dial precisely to the numbers that you are given without area code, don't forget to start dial with zero
Below are other cities in Indonesia area Codes :
Balikpapan 54
Garut 26
Palembang 71
Bandar Lampung 72
Jakarta 21
Pekanbaru 76
Bandung 22
Jambi 74
Pontianak 56
Banjarmasin 51
Malang 34
Samarinda 54
Bogor 25
Manado 43
Semarang 24
Cilacap 28
Mataram 37
Surabaya 31
Cirebon 23
Medan 61
Surakarta 27
Denpasar 36
Padang 75
Ujung Pandang 41
If the city you are looking for is not stated above, please call 24/7 Indonesia information service at 108.
From land line : 108; Cell phone : 021-108. Indonesia information service will help you if you find any difficulties on dialing guides or you can ask for company's address or phone number to the operator.
