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10 Great Things to do in Bangkok
Need to know how to spend a few days in Bangkok? Here are a few great things to try. 1. The Chatuchak Market has 8000 stalls in it and spreads over 35 acres. In it you’ll find everything - even a tortoise (to eat). You’ll more than likely get lost so visit www.chatuchak.org to help you plan your ‘day in the maze’ 2. Climb the Sathorn Unique Tower . Once upon a time a 49 story skyscraper was being built in the heart of Bangkok, but then a financial crisis hit and the building was never completed. It’s now abandoned but if you pay off the security guards at the bottom they’ll let you climb to the top where the views are spectacular. 3. Splurge on a dinner at one of Bangkok’s most talked about restaurants, Vertigo . Its located on the 61st floor of the Banyan Tree Hotel . Reservations are essential. 4. Take a candle-lit dinner cruise on the Chao Phraya River onboard the luxurious Grand Pearl . Drink cocktails, enjoy the buffet, live music, the passing sites like the Grand Palace and the dazzling lights of the city. 5. The floating market. What better way to shop but by boat. The famous Damnoen Saduak market , near the city, still offers a truly authentic experience with wonderful food cooked on floating kitchens. 6. For a bit of flower-power visit the Pak Khlong Talat , the city’s biggest flower market. Get lost amongsts the dazzling colours and captivating smells. Open 24 hours. 7. When you need a breather, head to Rama IX Park . This 200-acre park is the largest green space in the city and was built to celebrate the King’s 60th birthday in 1987. 8. For amazing street food head to the Chinatown area. It runs for about a kilometre adjacent to Charoenkrung Road. If you visit in February during Chinese New Year, you’ll really see it at its best. 9. For an electric evening, visit Asiatique . Its open from 5pm and features more than 1,500 boutique shops, a massive choice of restaurants, a Ferris wheel, night market and cabaret shows. 10. Take a bicycle tour the ancient city of Muang Boran . And one bonus thing ... Feel like a dance? Then head to the Tapas Room Nightclub. It has a Spanish villa feel and plays the best funky, Latino house music in Bangkok. There is an entrance fee but you get one free drink with that.
Read the listing7 of the Biggest Travellers Mistakes
The biggest (and most avoidable) mistakes that travellers make. Falling in love with a ladyboy, missing your flight and falling down the hotels stairs and breaking all your limbs are big mistakes too, but these one’s are generally avoidable.... 1. Handing your most vital possessions to a stranger. When you go through security, you usually have to place your jewelry, iPad, camera, laptop, keys, medication, phone, belt and probably more - in that tray. Chances of it getting lost or nicked are pretty high so put all your valuables in a thin pack or pouch inside your hand-luggage so that you can do it hassle-free. 2. Free champagne? Next time you book a deluxe getaway celebrating a certain occasion such as a birthday, don’t forget to let the hotel know about the special event! Inform the front desk at check-in or e-mail the general manager before you arrive. Hotels often provide a free upgrade or do something extra to make your stay memorable so that you’ll take photos, tell friends, and return for future celebrations. 3. Don’t be a scaredy cat Don’t rule out a trip based solely on a travel alert or a travel warning. They are often influenced by politics and are written not just for travellers but for diplomats who end up in places and situations that everyday tourists do not. Many security experts say that travel warnings should be taken with a pinch of salt. Sometimes a place really is too risky to visit though so check with authorities beforehand. 4. Failing to visit the one place on your cruise itinerary that was your top priority. Many people choose a cruise for that one port of call they’ve always dreamed of seeing. Then, thanks to it being closed or rough seas or something, the ship cancels the port call. If your life’s dream is to see the Acropolis, book a cruise that starts or ends in Athens, rather than stopping there mid-cruise. 5. Getting stuck paying for rental-car damages you didn’t cause. Don’t just check your car at pickup for scratches and dents. Be sure to photograph any damage you see (outside and inside the car) and get a written record of the state of the car at pickup. Only return the car when the office is open, and request a written record that you returned a damage-free car. 6. Assuming your passport is valid You checked the expiration date on your passport to make sure it precedes the date of your flight home, but you forgot that certain countries require that passports be valid for six months past the date of your flight home. Check up on the country’s exit requirements before you leave! 7. No white shoes please Nothing marks you as a tourist more than your brand-new white shoes and camera around your neck. Comfy footwear is a must, but the goal is to blend in, so pack broken-in shoes and buy new ones upon your return. Similarly, pack old clothes that you’re ready to throw out; leave them behind at your destination to make room in your bag for clothing you buy locally.
9 Great Wine Regions around the World
From it’s birth in Europe, wine cultivation has now spread to all 7 continent of the world. South Africans are spoilt for choice, but where else in the world offers top-class wine regions? Here are 9 of the lesser-known best ones. From it’s birth in Europe, wine cultivation has now spread to all 7 continent of the world. South Africans are spoilt for choice, but where else in the world offers top-class wine regions? Here are 9 of the lesser-known best ones. 1. Alentejo, Portugal With more than 250 wine producers in eight regions, Alentejo is one of the biggest wine-growing regions in Portugal. November is a good time to visit for the ‘Festa da Vinha e do Vinho’ in Borba where small tascas (inns) tempt passersby with wine from enormous clay pots. 2. Santorini, Greece The island is home to nine indigenous grape varieties that include the famous Assyrtiko. What's unique about wine-making on Santorini is how the young vines are twisted to form a wreath with the grapes growing in the center to protect them from the harsh winds that blow down the Aegean in the winter. 3. Maipo, Chile The valley of Maipo is the birthplace of the Chilean wine industry, producing mostly reds including Cabernet, Pinot Noir and Carmenere. Concha y Toro is where visitors can be shown the original "devil's cabinet," the Casillero del Diablo, which gives its name to a well-known brand. This is the cellar where the owners used to keep their best vintages. They told workers it was possessed by the devil to deter theft. 4. Okanagan, Canada British Columbia's unusual climate has turned Canada into a wine producer and the Okanagan Valley is home to the majority of its wineries. Despite the extremes of the weather, the hardy vines of the Okanagan Valley have thrived. Lakes protect the vineyards from spring frosts while coastal mountains strip away the Pacific Ocean's moisture and keep rainfall low during summer. 5. Bento Goncalves, Brazil The region's wines, mostly Merlot, complement perfectly the traditional rodizio meat grills that dot the towns. The wineries are concentrated in the Vale dos Vinhedos area. 6. Mendoza, Argentina A dry, almost pest-free climate underscored by controlled irrigation from the Andes' snow melt is the perfect climate for their red wines. Their Malbec here is very well known and Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blancs are also popular too. 7. Rioja, Spain La Rioja is the prime wine region of Spain; the typical grapes are Tempranillo, Grenache, Graciano and Mazuelo. There are white wines bearing the Rioja name but still it's the reds that are best-known around the world. They must be drunk after at least three years; five is preferable, but seven to eight is ideal. They can be tasted in the grand traditional estates like Lopez de Heredia or the new boutique wineries like Baigorri. 8. Moselle Valley, Germany The Moselle is the most scenic tributary of the Rhine, a trip on the river reveals the terraced patterns of some of the steepest vineyard slopes to be found anywhere. The almost vertical gradients make working in vineyards dangerous -- but they reap rewards in the exceptional quality of their Rieslings. 9. Vayots Dzor, Armenia According to the Bible, Armenia was the first wine-producing region in the world, since it was on the slopes of Mount Ararat that Noah planted the first vine after the flood. Archaeologists agree -- at least on the long tradition: a 6,100-year-old winery was discovered not long ago. The local Areni variety has been unchanged for centuries, being highly resistant against disease with a thick skin that helps shield it from cold extremes. The easiest wine-growing region to get to from the capital, Yerevan, is Vayots Dzor, where a microclimate ensures 300 sunny days a year.
It's a Bleisure
What used to be put plain and simply as "a business and pleasure trip” has now been conveniently rolled into one fun word - Bleisure. The bleisure travellers are the new ‘tribe’ of fun business travellers. To get their best work done, they say, they are shunning the all-work-and-no-play hamster wheel of a business trip and mixing it up with a bit of relaxation time. Whether its a morning spent at a Turkish bath before a big meeting in Istanbul or a gelato and a wander through the mesmerising streets of Rome before a conference call, acclimatizing to the country they’re in not only helps them to be more relaxed, inspired and motivated when it’s work time - it also gives a better understanding of the city they’re in, which is a plus when engaging with your foreign counter-parts. Conversations-starters like “Those hairy Turkish men give a great back massage”, will put everyone at ease at the start of the meeting. (Or not). In a recent poll which consisted of every single business traveller in the entire world ....... no, not really but a poll was taken consisting of a lot of business travellers - the results were that 60% of them incorporated leisure into their business trips nowadays. And 30% of them said that they had added at least two non-work related days to their trip to see the local sights. The largest group of bleisurers are between the ages of 45-54 and the second largest age group are the young, always-connected crowd - the 25-35’s. Hopefully establishments, both business-orientated and not, are taking note of this rise in bleisure travellers as it offers a great opportunity to increase revenues from business travellers extending their trips.
Learn a new thing every day
You can guarantee that every trip that you’ve ever booked through a travel agent - The GSA magazine was used as a reference for your holiday. You might be surprised to learn that The GSA Travel Marketing Magazine has been around for 37 years. It revolutionised the life of many travel agents in Southern Africa and because it was such an integeral part of their daily lives, it eventually became one of the text books used in Travel & Tourism courses around South Africa. You can guarantee that every trip that you’ve ever booked through a travel agent - The GSA magazine was used as a reference for your holiday - be it visa information, flight info, travel insurance, car hire or ideas on which game lodge or guest house to use. So after all these years of just being a company serving the travel industry, we’ve decided to open our doors to the public and we are so excited to have you, the consumer, as part of our lives now too! Our website is full of travel information so start browsing now and feel free to click on the “Chat with the GSA” at the bottom of the homepage if you have any queries. You will also find a link to Travel Ideas on our site, this is our sister magazine full of stories from the around the world. We are also starting a web log. More commonly known as a blog. Things you can look forward to reading in our web log.......(blog) 1. Everything travel, including random travel articles like “Places around the world where you’re most likely to get sunburnt” 2. Updates from “The Visa Vrou” - she is very clued up on visa information. When she isn’t on the phone to a Consulate somewhere in the world, she is putting up the visa information onto this website. Basically she has no life outside visas. 3. Other stuff Follow our blog and lets shake things up a bit!
Skiing: Zen and Now
I’m trying to picture doing the ‘downward dog’ whilst strapped to a ski and going 100km/hr... I could be envisioning this wrong. I’m trying to picture doing the ‘downward dog’ whilst strapped to a ski and going 100km/hr. Sounds unpleasant. But I could be envisioning this wrong... (Reads up a bit about the new trend of yoga-ski holidays) Yes I was wrong. Yoga-ski holidays are retreats filled with skiing and snowboarding but then yoga fixtures throughout your stay too that will help with your warm up, cool down, balance, subtlety, co-ordination and of course, your zen. There’s an aray of yoga-ski holidays to choose from, ranging from advanced and intense holistic getaways, to chilled beginner yogi experiences. It sounds magical, so I browsed the web and found few of the yoga-ski holidays experiences out there: Val Thorens in France offer yoga hikes, snowshoeing and gentle walks through the snowy terrain - with Pranayama Yoga incorporated (thats the breathing yoga).These half day sessions start with stretching, hiking, and a couple of breaks in between for various salutations. The other half of the day can be used for skiing till your hearts content! Hotel Rosa Alpina, a beautiful 5 star Relais & Chateaux family run hotel in the charming village of San Cassiano, Italy , offers wonderful days starting with breakfast - before heading out onto the slopes. A leisurely lunch on the mountain, more skiing and then evening yoga classes followed by a hearty dinner. Now how perfect does this sound: Champagne & canapes on arrival, unlimited beer, wine and cooldrinks, a log cabin, hot breakfasts and 4-course dinners, massages, sunny balconies overlooking the mountains. And oh, of course, guided yoga sessions throughout your stay. The White Room Chalet in France offers this. There are a hundreds more experiences out there, so just Google “yoga-ski holidays” and start exploring your options. Ohhhmmmm! For more information on Ski Holidays, visit our Ski Guide . Planning a ski holiday with children? Read our 10 Tips for planning a Family Ski Holiday .
Travel APPS you can use offline
No signal? No Problem. We've uncovered the best travel apps to use offline. 1. City Maps 2 Go Can’t find a wifi spot? No problem, with City Maps you can get offline maps, routing and city guides and save all the places that you want to go in map collections. You can also book attraction tickets, experiences and guided tours from the app. Find it on the istore or android store . 2.Google Translate Simple misunderstandings can get you into hot water, like my friend Bob once innocently said to the hotel concierge in France “Can I take advantage of your chambermaid”. That didn’t go down too well but he of course meant can she come to his room to clean it ! Anyway to keep safe Google Translate lets you download many different language packs for offline use, making for quick and usually correct translations. 3. Gogobots Gogobots slogan is ‘Explore, Plan and Book - anywhere in the world’ . The website looks great so visit it for all the finer details but in a nutshell there are reviews on everything around the world from a great meal having been had to beautiful garden disovered. You can also click on your style of travel, so if you’re a backpacker, a spiritual traveller, adverturer, family going abroad or even a luxury traveller - there is specifically chosen travel info for you. Hotels, recommendations on where to go, restaurants, tips, events in an area ... this app has got it all. And it works offline. 4. Guide Pal At Guide Pal they’re all about curated city guides from relaibale sources. Their experts reveal the hard-to-find, top-quality places loved by locals. Explore their expert guides for inspiration and collect all your favourite places in your own beautiful digital guides, which you can then refer to when needed. 5. Tripit Enjoy the benefits of Tripit by following these 3 simple steps 1. Forward all your hotel, flight, car rental and restaurant confirmations etc to: plans@tripit.com 2. They will transform your emails into an itinerary so all your plans are in one place 3. View your itinerary at any time on any device, even when you are offline. Now that sounds handy! 6. American Red Cross First Aid A trip to Egypt once turned a bit hair raising for me when I landed myself in hospital with what felt like bursting insides. Turns out it was food posioning but trying to explain my symptoms to the non-English speaking doctors was a nightmare. There was lots of charades involved. I wish I’d known about this app called American Red Cross First Aid . Its a free app with step by step instructions for dealing with several of the most common health emergencies. The video training is a nice touch, helping you prepare in advance rather than being thrown in the deep end when there’s a problem. h APP y travels!