Where the sun, the sea and the sand blend in perfect harmony

Phu Quoc is a splendid island with crystal clear aquamarine water, idyllic beaches, quaint fishing villages and a serene island-style atmosphere. It is the largest island of Vietnam (about 600 sq. km) and its beauty is often compared to Phuket. It is called the Island of 99 Mountains because there are really 99 mountains covered in green forests with majestic waterfalls.

Also Phu Quoc Island is home to nature reserve with a total are of 37,000 ha. The diverse flora and fauna is unique – there are nearly 929 tree species of which 19 newly-found species are first recorded in Vietnam.

The island has something for everyone – ringed by over a dozen bays and beaches, with an archipelago of islets off its south coast, there is enough to do for a longer stay than you may be planning. Adventure comes in many forms here – from motor-biking the empty dirt roads circling the island to sea kayaking its quiet inlets, scuba diving the coral reefs or simply having a bang-up seafood meal followed by a cocktail on the beach.

The good weather and clear waters start mid November and last until early June. Then the rainy season usually starts and diving conditions are not so good. For more  info click here

Bocas Brava Island, Chiriquí Archipelago

The Chiriquí Archipelago is a marine national park that extends over 14,740 hectares. It consists of over 100 islands, most of which are forested and home to a huge variety of wildlife. Boca Brava Island is lovely, idyllic island, with sandy beaches and clear waters, lots of coconut palms and excellent opportunities for snorkeling.

As a part of the National Marine Park, Bocas Brava Island offers to its visitors an unspoiled natural atmosphere with lots of hiking trails, white sand tropical beaches, and amazing wildlife. The island is home to a number of unique flora and fauna, such as array of orchids, a stunning variety of tropical birds, many troops of howler monkeys and etc.

There is something for everybody – from simply relaxing on a beach to activities such as snorkeling, scuba diving, horse-riding or surfing. Whale watching in the late summer is spectacular as the humpbacks find their way to the warm waters here to bear their offspring.

Ipanema Beach

Ipanema is one of the famous beaches in the world. It is located on the southern region of the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Two mountains called the “Two Brothers” rise at the western end of the beach. It is with do doubt one of the most beautiful urban beaches in the world and one of the icons of the city. 

There are always circles of people playing football, volleyball, and foot volley, a combination sport of volleyball and football originated in Brazil. The little Paris of Brazil, Ipanema is so much loved for its art galleries, art movie theatres and bookshops with coffee flavor.

Incidentally, the word Ipanema is Indian for “dangerous waters” – not so far off given the strong undertow and often oversized waves crashing on the shore. Be careful, and swim only where the locals do.

Upscale Vehicle Parks

In a high desert mountain, east of Los Angeles, meat was sizzling on the grill, and a group of people milled around an outdoor kitchen, sipping red wine and laughing. Some guests were sitting on comfortable chaise longues next to the rock fireplace, while others gazed at the flat-screen TV. It sounds as a party in the backyard of any upscale home but, this was an RV park.

In America the recreational vehicle parks which were rustic campgrounds with dirt roads, wooden picnic tables and a single pay phone are gone. Now many of them, like Outdoor Resorts Rancho California, in Aguanga, in Southern California, resemble country clubs, with their golf courses, clubhouses, swimming pools and tennis courts. Some parks are going even further and adding water slides, spas, restaurants and summer camps for children.

Most of the vehicles are outfitted with granite countertops, satellite television and a washer and dryer, which cost anywhere from $250,000 to $1.4 million. Majority  the upscale ones are in places where there are a lot of second homes, like Nevada, Florida, Texas and Southern California. The Buckhorn Lake Resort in Kerrville, Tex., added covered RV storage last month and will open guest cottages with private patios in the fall.

The lifestyle in these parks doesn’t come cheap. At Aguanga, a concrete pad generally sells for $80,000 to $120,000. A monthly fee of $330 includes daily trash pickup, water, sewer, cable TV and golfing for members. Owners can rent out their lots when they’re not there for $55 a night. However, there are always parties at the lots. People zoom around the park on golf carts, winding around the golf course and palm trees, waving and smiling at everyone. Family and friends who don’t own motorhomes are also invited.

Photos by: Sandy Huffaker

Italy’s Abruzzo National Park

The southernmost part of the Abruzzi is occupied by the Abruzzi National Park (Parco Nazionale d’Abruzzo) with its beautiful beech forests. The park was established in 1922.
The park headquarters are in Percasserori in the Province of L’Aquila. Its present-day area of 44,000 hectares, which is the result of several enlargements, includes 22 towns in the provinces of L’Aquila, Frosinone and Isernia. Thanks to the temperate climate, it is possible to visit the Park all year round!

The Main attraction of Abruzzi are mountains, great during winter periods. Surrounded by peak over two thousand meters tall, the park is covered with beech, black pine and maple forests.

Near the top of the mountains, at 1800 meters in height, the beech wood leaves space to the highlands, where is possible to observe Pino Mugo and many other glacial or endemic species of plants.

Abruzzo boasts the tallest peaks of the Apennine range and the mountains are characterised by deep gorges and large expanses of high plateaux. Inside the Park there are only two lakes: Barrea artificial lake and Lago Vivo.

The park is represented by the Marsican brown bear, Majella by the Apennine wolf, and Gran Sasso-Laga by the Abruzzo chamois.

Here is also good, with Redstarts, all of the region’s six species of Woodpecker (Green, Black, White-backed, Lesser, Middle and Great Spotted) and Western Bonelli’s Warbler choosing to breed in these forests.

Skiing With Your Family

About 50 miles north of Manhattan in the Hudson River Valley, is located the Mount Peter Ski Area and seventy-three years later, Mount Peter, welcomes about 50,000 visitors a year, with a regular clientele from as far away as Long Island. The resort has been there a long time and struggled financially many years, but it never closed. The strange is how this small, mostly family-run ski area remains to the soul, spirit and financial future of the sport.

Such resorts are affordable places of outdoor recreation and prized winter playgrounds where countless children are introduced to skiing or snowboarding. However a small ski area like Mount Peter offers kids freedom. They can take a run on their own, and they can come play in the snow. There’s a freedom for the parents, too.

But in a region where Mount Peter sits, there are snowless winters. At least the owners installed snow guns. The snow making is just a means to an end, a way to get people skiing. People who learned to ski at Mount Peter in the 1960s and ’70s now had children, and when it came time for them to learn to ski or snowboard, they were drawn to the small-mountain environment they remembered.

Photos by: Aaron Houston

The Centre of Jungle Beasts

Lope National Park, hangs from the equator like a trophy flag, covering 1,918 square miles in the center of Gabon that are home to the highest density of large mammals ever recorded in a tropical forest, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society. It is very beautiful and eighty percent of Gabon‘s forest is intact. Spotting our relatives, the gorillas is best achieved by mutual avoidance. Photo by: giles.breton

The males have red, white and blue faces, yellow beards and hugely indiscreet behinds. They hang around alone in the forest except when they need female companionship. This must be a terrible shock to their systems since females travel with as many as 1,000 of their friends and families. These are the largest primate gatherings in the world, but they’re amazingly hard to locate. Western lowland gorillas have never been easy to find because they’re heavily hunted for the lucrative African trade in wild meat and live in a dense forest habitat. Photo by: bernard_in_va

Air France, flies from New York to Libreville, the capital, for about $1,500 round trip. Several airlines fly there from Europe. Visas are required and can be obtained through the Embassy of Gabon. Americans receive a five-year visa for $100. Processing should take under a week, officials say. The Lope Hotel in Lope, has 20 rooms and 3 bungalows, air-conditioning, excellent food and a swimming pool. It offers river excursions and tours. Rates run $60 to $150. Photo by: bernard_in_va

Radisson Blu Resort Les Arcs

Nestled in the heart of ARC 1950, the new extension of the French resort Les Arcs, the four star Radisson Blu Resort Arc 1950 offers opulent accommodations. The resort of Les Arcs offers 239 ski runs over 425 kilometres, and offers other activities include rambling, snowshoeing and dog sleigh rides.

The 198 apartments are decorated in warm shades with wooden furnishings and Alpine paintings, and open onto balconies. Choose among the 6 types of apartments, from one bedroom for 4 persons up to 4 bedrooms for 10.

Amenities: Business Center, Concierge, Disabled Access, Fitness Room, Restaurant, Pets Allowed, Swimming pool.

Gentle slopes for beginners skiers, breathtaking descents for snowriding daredevils, the Olympic speed skiing slope is open to everyone to test their speed.

Annapurna Himalaya

Annapurna is a series of peaks in the Himalayas. The massif is 55km long and highest point Annapurna I stands at 8091m, making the 10th highest summit in the world. It is located east of a great gorge cut through the Himalayas by the Kali Gandaki River, which separates it from the Dhaulagiri massif.

There is also Annapurna II, which does not rank far behind Annapurna I. It is a fully independent peak, despite the close association with Annapurna I which its name seems to imply.

The Annapurna Conservation Area is a emerged as trekking region. There are three major trekking routes in the Annapurna region: the Jomson Trek to Jomsom and Muktinath, the Annapurna Sanctuary route to Annapurna base camp and the Annapurna Circuit, which circles the Annapurna Himal itself and includes the Jomson route.

Pokhara is well know town which is also a starting point for these treks, and is a good starting place for other short treks of one to four days, such as routes to Ghorepani or Ghandruk.

The Mustang district, a former kingdom bordering Tibet, is also geographically a part of the Annapurna region, but treks to Mustang are subject to special restrictions. About two-thirds of all trekkers in Nepal visit the Annapurna region. The area is easily accessible, guesthouses in the hills are plentiful, and treks here offer incredibly diverse scenery, with both high mountains and lowland villages. Also, because the entire area is inhabited, trekking in the region offers unique cultural exposure and experience.

Penang International Floral Festival

Penang International Floral Festival is very famous festival held in an island in Malaysia. This International Floral Festival in Penang is situated in the Penang Botanic Gardens, in one of the most beautiful gardens in the world. This festival is formed each year to display the floral collections through competitions and exhibitions. If you visit special exhibitions and workshops, you shall also get the scope to learn about the new and sophisticated methods which are used by the gardeners to grow these exotic flowers.

The Penang International Floral Festival will amaze you with its collection of flowers varying in color, size, fragrance and breed. Guests will be carried to the wonderland of beauty and aroma, rather the organizers utilize this opportunity to uphold the contribution of international participants bringing in their unique products.

The Botanical Gardens in Penang boast an array of incredibly rare flora. Besides their precious collection of trees, there are hundreds of species that are unique to the country, normally hidden away in its forests and highlands. As well as you will be surprised to know that it was the British regime that got Charles Curtis in 1884 to design a botanical garden at the base of Penang Hill.

Penang  is a state in Malaysia, located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia by the Strait of Malacca. Penang is the second smallest state in Malaysia after Perlis, and the eighth most populous. A resident of Penang is colloquially known as a Penangite.

Skuba Diving In Bunaken

Bunaken is an island, which attracts many scuba diving visitors. The island is a part of the Bunaken National Marine Park and has a tremendous biodiversity in the world. Bunaken is located at the north of the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. The waters of Bunaken National Marine Park are extremely deep (1566 m), clear and refreshing in temperature (27 to 29 °C).

The park has around 70 genera of corals; compare this to a mere 10 in Hawaii. Bunaken National Marine Park is such a treasure trove of biodiversity. A snorkeler or diver may spot over 33 species of butterfly fish and numerous types of groupers, damsels, wrasses and gobies.

Biologists believe that the abundance of hard corals is crucial in maintaining the high levels of diversity in the park. Hard corals are the architects of the reefs, without them, numerous marine organisms would be homeless and hungry. Whether you prefer wall dives, drift dives, night dives, muck diving, critter diving; whether you are an underwater photographer in search of the elusive pygmy sea horse, a fan of big fish; Rays, Sharks, Barracuda, Napoleons, Turtles or just enjoy diving in general, then you will not be disappointed with what you will explore in Bunaken.

Around 20,000 people live on the natural resources of Bunaken National Marine Park. At the  wmoment you arrived in Bunaken you will be charged to enter in the park, it’s a fee system, the first of its kind in Asia, and is being held up them as a model system by marine conservationists around the world.

The Capsule Hotel

Everybody that travels to Tokyo, Japan should experience this unique accommodation, at least once! In the capsule hotel, you will stay in a cell instead of a room. The capsule is usually only 2 x 2 x 6ft long.

Capsule hotels are popular with businessmen who have missed the last train home and for all the people coming to Tokyo on a short business trip. These  hotels are a unique type of accommodation, inspired by the pursuit of efficiency of space and creative spirit of the Japanese mind. For $29, you get a small locker and a capsule and enjoy several facilities like inexpensive restaurant, massage rooms and baths.

Africa Travel Guide

The Republic of  Madagascar is an island nation, opposite Mozambique. Antananarivo is the capital and largest city in Madagascar. It is also known its colonial short-hand form Tana. Due to its geographic position 1400m above sea level, has Mediterranean climate. Tana will surprise you with its numerous stairs up steep hills, palaces, cobbled streets and churches.
 
Tana is basically built on 12 hills and steep steps lead to the main Independence square in the town center. The architecture in the city is a mixture of old wooden houses, modern offices and French colonial style buildings. Most attractive place for foreigners is Zoma. This is a long series of bazaars in which thousands of people selling a very wide choice of handcrafts products.

There you will find huge variety of handcraft works.  Such as hats, bags, carpets, embroidery, dresses, silver jewels, curios, leather goods (crocodile, snake skin), wood sculptures, and many other interesting objects.

All foreigners coming into Madagascar are required to be in possession of entry visas. Passports are, moreover, required to be valid for at least 6 months beyond the date of entry into the country.