Typhoon hits Asia

Typhoon disrupts flights

Typhoon Utor, which has lashed the Philippines and Hong Kong in recent days, is now causing problems in other parts of Asia.

Malaysia Airlines had to reschedule flights from and into Kota Kinabalu and Hong Kong as Utor moved on from China's southern coast.

Budget airline AirAsia also cancelled several flights connecting Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Philippines to Hong Kong, Macau, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

The weather condition also forced Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific to cancel several flights.

A cargo ship sunk off Hong Kong during fierce storms.

Malaysia's meteorological department said Utor was the cause of heavy rain and high winds in Sabah in the past few days.

Considered the worst typhoon to hit the Philippines this year, Utor killed six people and displaced over 30,000 families, causing landslides and floods and disrupting power and communication links.

Starbucks expands to Vietnam

Starbucks expands to Vietnam

MIKE IVES | Associated Press

HANOI, Vietnam – Starbucks Corp. will open its first Vietnam café early next month in Ho Chi Minh City as part of its strategy to expand across Asia, the company said.

The Seattle-based chain will be entering a country of coffee lovers that already has an established market. At least two popular homegrown chains have dozens of locations nationwide, and family-run sidewalk cafés dot the streets and alleys of larger Vietnamese cities.

Starbucks said it operates more than 3,300 stores across 11 countries in China and the Asia-Pacific region, but its Vietnam cafés will celebrate the country’s “coffee culture and heritage.”

“We are looking forward to serving our customers in Vietnam in an authentic and locally relevant way,” Jinlong Wang, president for Starbucks Asia Pacific, said in a statement.

Vietnam is the world’s second-largest coffee producer behind Brazil and already provides high-quality beans for Starbucks stores in other countries.

The company said it has designated a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Maxim’s Group as its licensee in Vietnam.

French colonizers introduced coffee to Vietnam in the nineteenth century, but coffee here typically is stronger than European espresso and can be served with tea.

Starbucks, named after a character in Herman Melville’s nineteenth-century novel Moby Dick, opened in 1971 and has nearly 18,000 retail stores in 60 countries.

Vietnam finds banned anorexiant in Chinese weight loss supplement | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Vietnam finds banned anorexiant in Chinese weight loss supplement

November 6, 2011 about Health

The Vietnam Food Administration has found sibutramine in a batch of Cishi Qingguo Capsule products imported from China.

The Vietnam Food Administration announced on October 27 that it found sibutramine – an oral anorexiant banned by the Health Ministry – in a Chinese-made weight loss dietary supplement sold on the Vietnamese market.
The administration has seized the batch of Cishi Qingguo Capsule products imported by Delta Vietnam Medical Equipment Joint Stock Co. based in Hanoi from its store.
In April 2011, the Drug Administration of Vietnam (DAV) banned the circulation of drugs containing sibutramine and ordered hospitals to stop prescribing the products. It also ordered drug manufacturers, importers and distributors to recall the products from nationwide stores.
According to the DAV, sibutramine increases the risk of heart attacks and strokes in patients with a history of cardiovascular disease.
Sibutramine has been withdrawn from the market in countries and regions, including Australia, Canada, China, the European Union, Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

By Nam Son, Thanh Nien News

Vietnam finds banned anorexiant in Chinese weight loss supplement | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Chartered flights to central Vietnam on the rise | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update

Chartered flights to central Vietnam on the rise | Look At Vietnam - Vietnam news daily update: "VietNamNet Bridge
- The number of chartered flights to central Vietnam is jumping between now and
the Lunar New Year (Tet) holiday compared to a year ago, according to the
Danang-based tour operator Vi-tours and the aviation authority.



Vitours director Cao Tri Dung estimated local and foreign
airlines had 12 to 15 charter flights from China,
Hong Kong, Taiwan,
Korea and elsewhere in Asia
to Danang International Airport
alone in the period, with more than half of them catered to by Vitours.



Dung told the Daily on the phone on Monday that the number
of chartered flights to the region in the period would triple or quadruple that
in the year-ago period. This substantial increase is attributable to the fact
that more foreign travel agencies are choosing central Vietnam as a new destination for
their guests, coupled with a recovery of global travel demand.



“They (foreign travel agencies) charter flights for their
customers to Phuket and Bali in previous years and now is the time for them to
visit central Vietnam,”
Dung said. He added this region was able to meet requirements for accommodation
and entertainment, as it was now home to many luxury properties and
UNESCO-listed heritage sites, including the former imperial capital of Hue and the Phong
Nha-Ke Bang
Caves in Quang Binh Province.



Dung said over half of the chartered flights to central
Vietnam were operated by Vietnam Airlines from such markets as Korea, Hong Kong
and Japan, and the rest by TransAsia Airways of Taiwan and other foreign
carriers.



The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) said
Shanghai Airlines had suspended services to Danang
International Airport,
but this did not result in a reduction in frequencies of chartered flights to one
of the four international airports in central Vietnam. The others in the region
are Phu Bai, Cam Ranh and Chu Lai airports.



CAAV demonstrated that Russia’s
Vladivostok Air had kicked off their chartered flights from Vladivostok
and Khabarovsk to Cam
Ranh International
Airport in Khanh Hoa Province.



About one month ago, Vietnam Airlines started a series of
more than 40 flights chartered by the international travel firm Vietlink from Hong Kong and Danang until early May next year, using the
184-seat Airbus A321 aircraft.



Dung of Vitours said over the past years, Vietnam Airlines
and other carriers had operated their medium-sized aircraft with 160 to 180
seats for the chartered flights to and from Danang with an average load factor
of 70%.



Dung said the visitors using chartered flights often stayed
four to five days exploring services and destinations in central Vietnam,
and spent much money on services and products there.



Attracting visitors to central Vietnam on chartered flights
promises a bright future because the number of scheduled flights to the region
remains limited. Singapore’s
SilkAir now has four weekly flights to Danang while Vietnam Airlines has
launched its daily HCMC-Tokyo service with a stopover in the central city.



Dung said Vitours had invested US$40,000-50,000 this year on
promotion and support programs in order to bring more chartered flights to
Danang, or double the amount the company spent last year.



- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Vietnam Tycoon Lures China Companies With Cheap Labor (Update1) - BusinessWeek

"March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Vietnamese property developer Dang Thanh Tam, one of the country’s richest men, is trying to lure companies from China to his industrial parks with the promise of cheap labor costs.

Tam’s Kinh Bac City Development Share Holding Corp., Vietnam’s third-biggest publicly traded property developer, has attracted companies including units of Japan’s Canon Inc. and Sanyo Electric Co. Tam, 45, was one of Vietnam’s richest men at the end of 2009 based on his stock holdings, according to Thanh Nien newspaper.

Vietnam has begun to export more higher-value goods to the U.S., with global camera equipment companies shifting some production from China, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. Manufacturers can benefit from a weakening dong in Vietnam, which competes with China for the export of footwear, garments and furniture, amid pressure for the yuan to strengthen.

“Production costs in China are becoming more expensive,” Tam, Kinh Bac’s chairman, said in an interview, citing higher labor costs in the world’s most populous country. “The transportation costs in China are also becoming very high.”

The company operates industrial zones in and around the capital Hanoi and the northern coastal city of Haiphong, Tam’s birthplace. Two of Vietnam’s three largest ports, Cam Pha and Haiphong, are in the north, according to the Vietnam Seaports Association.

Diversifying From China

Japanese companies often regard the north of Vietnam as an extension of the Chinese economic zone, and may diversify production by adding output in Vietnam rather than moving altogether from China, according to Yoshida Sakae, managing director of the Japan External Trade Organization office in Ho Chi Minh City.

“The north is very near China and it’s easy for companies in China to move to,” Tam said yesterday. “Kinh Bac wants to focus more on the northern provinces of Vietnam.”

China’s Guangdong province, the nation’s richest region by gross domestic product, said yesterday it will raise the minimum wage by 21.1 percent to help resolve a labor shortage. More than 50 percent of manufacturers in the province, China’s manufacturing hub, are experiencing a lack of manpower, according to a Hong Kong Trade Development Council report released March. 16.

Labor Costs

“Labor costs in some places in China have increased 20 to 30 percent in the past three months,” said Shaun Rein, founder and managing director of China Market Research Group in Shanghai. Wages are “probably double what you have to pay in Vietnam.”

Sanyo Electric last year started operating an optical-parts plant in a Kinh Bac park in a province bordering Hanoi, according to Yuko Hosaka, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for the Japanese electronics maker.

“We chose the location because it was nearby many of our clients’ bases,” she said. “Vietnam’s diligent workers were also among the reasons.”

Tokyo-based Canon makes laser and ink-jet printers and scanners at a Kinh Bac park near Hanoi in Bac Ninh province, where the Vietnamese property company is located.

Weakening Dong

Shares in Kinh Bac, which by market value trails only Hoang Anh Gia Lai Joint-Stock Co. and Vincom Joint-Stock Co. among property developers, have increased 10 percent this year to 64,000 dong, compared with a 4.3 percent gain in the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange’s VN Index.

Kinh Bac reported net profit of 642 billion dong ($34 million) last year, more than double the 286 billion dong it posted in 2008. Tam’s stake of more than 30 percent makes him the biggest shareholder in the 12.4 trillion dong company.

The company may benefit from a depreciating dong, especially as the U.S. pressures China to allow its currency to appreciate, said John Marron, managing director of Midas Clothing Ltd. in Ho Chi Minh City, which exports Vietnamese-made Zara and Converse apparel.

“I’m making better margins now, and the weaker dong has definitely helped,” Marron said. “We pay our factories in dong and we get revenue in dollars.”

Party Congress

The dong has weakened 8.3 percent in the past year after Vietnam’s central bank devalued the currency twice. In contrast, the yuan, which is pegged to the dollar, was little changed in that period.

In Vietnam, a Communist Party congress next year may cause the central bank to use currency depreciation to boost exports and create jobs, Standard Chartered Plc said in a report this month.

U.S. President Barack Obama last week urged China to move toward a more “market-oriented exchange rate,” and the U.S. House of Representatives plans to hold a hearing this month on China’s currency policy.

“Multinational manufacturers in China would want to diversify due to the risk for protectionist measures in the U.S.,” said Tai Hui, Singapore-based head of Southeast Asian economic research for Standard Chartered. “If you are only in China, you might want to have a plan B.”

United discount fare to Vietnam & Hong Kong

Photo by Chuck Kuhn
"United Airlines is providing promotional summer fares for flights between Vietnam and the US, as well as to Hong Kong.

United Airlines offers low fares for Hong Kong, US from HCM City

Northwest Airlines opens route to Vietnam

United Airlines starts to sell tickets for new direct service

Passengers at the United Airlines booking office in HCM City.
The discounted fares for Los Angeles and San Francisco start at US$770, with travel until June 14.

The American carrier is selling a round trip between Ho Chi Minh City and Hong Kong starting at US$138, with travel from April 1 till June 10 this year.

The summer promotion is applied for max stay of four days, and the booking class is L.

United’s regular fares for a round trip between HCM City and Hong Kong are also available, starting at US$188.

The airline operates daily direct flights between Vietnam and the US via Hong Kong. The service was launched in December 2004, making United the first American carrier to fly to Vietnam since 1975.

In related news, Northwest Airlines, a wholly subsidiary of American carrier Delta Air Lines, will discontinue flights to HCM City via Tokyo, effective from March 27, 2010.

Delta became the second US airline to fly to HCM City in June 2009, five years after United. Once Delta stops its service, United will be again the only American carrier flying to Vietnam.

Till the end of 2009, United had transported more than 700,000 passengers in the route. The carrier said it had recorded average yearly growth of 20% in passenger traffic to Vietnam over the past five years."

4 years Universal Studios to open in Seoul

In four years the world's largest Universal Studios is set to open outside of Seoul at a cost of $2.7 billion. With much public fanfare, Disney recently received approval to break ground on a $3.6 billion outpost in Shanghai. Meanwhile Hong Kong's two amusement parks are spending over $1 billion to expand and modernize their facilities.

Attendance may be stagnating in some parts of the world, but a growing middle class with disposable incomes to match is making the Asia-Pacific region a prime target for investors and theme park owners.

"It's an up-and-coming market, and growing quite fast," said Christian Aaen, Hong Kong-based regional director for AECOM Economics, a consulting firm that specializes in the entertainment and leisure industries. MGM Studios and Paramount, too, are scouting around Asia for future projects. PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted the region's market will be worth nearly $8.5 billion by 2012, up from $6.4 billion in 2007.

In Pictures: Asia's Top Amusement Parks

Forbes determined Asia's top theme parks based on attendance figures, which AECOM Economics collects every year.

While data show that local interest in these kinds of leisure activities has been steadily increasing since the 1990s, it was only recently that Asia scored the kind of economic growth needed to justify the existence of such grand--and expensive--designs.

"China will lead the way," said Kelven Tan, Southeast Asia's representative for the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions, an industry group. "The critical mass really came about with the resurgence of China. You need a good source of people; you also need labor and you need cheap land."

That's what the folks behind the just-completed Universal Studios in Singapore are betting. Developers aim to tap the wallets of Singapore's 4.6 million residents, 9.7 million tourists a year and its proximity to populous areas of Indonesia and southern Malaysia. When it opens this spring, it will be the island nation's first bona fide amusement park.

The site on Sentosa Island includes rides and shows based on television programs and movies like Battlestar Galactica, Shrek and Jurassic Park. As part of a ploy to get visitors to extend their stays, the park is part of an entertainment complex that includes casinos, resorts and shopping malls.

Overall spending on entertainment and media in Asia Pacific is set to increase 4.5% each year, jumping to $413 billion in 2013 from $331 billion in 2008, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, with places like South Korea, Australia and China posting the biggest increases.

Outside of foreign brands like Legoland, which plans to open a park in Johor, Malaysia, for 2013, home-grown companies like Genting in Malaysia and OTC Enterprise Corp. in China are aggressively looking to take advantage of the burgeoning market in their backyards.

In some ways, theme parks the world over are all alike. But while many covet bigger and faster rides, Asian amusement-seekers in particular take a shine to elaborate live entertainment. Shows often take a cultural bent, Aaen says, and can feature hundreds of actors and dancers on stage with animals, myriad special effects and high-tech scenery.

In a trendy twist, the performances can even include pop stars. In recent months Malaysia's biggest park, Sunway Lagoon, has highlighted performances by Ne-Yo, the Black Eyed Peas and American Idol runner-up David Archuleta.

Japan's Tokyo Disneyland leads the rest of the region, attracting as many as 26 million visitors a year. But emerging markets like Vietnam and India will start to mature over the next five years, Aaen said, nipping at the heels of their more advanced neighbors.

Skeptics, however, remain. Hong Kong Disneyland is in the midst of a $465 million expansion project. But underwhelming attendance figures, disappointing hotel occupancy rates and a reported $170 million loss in 2009 have left some wondering about the degree to which demand can keep pace with the blind enthusiasm of developers.

In Pictures: Asia's Top Amusement Parks

The city's tourism commission blamed Hong Kong Disney's ( DIS - news - people ) lackluster showing on swine flu and the global financial crisis, holding that it has cycled through just four seasons and is still "in its early years of development."

Undeterred, the city's No. 1 amusement destination, Ocean Park, is sinking $750 million into a massive, multi-year overhaul. Located on the south side of Hong Kong Island, it boasts four giant pandas, an aquarium, a roller coaster with a top speed of 48 miles an hour and an array of special haunted houses during Halloween. The park is especially popular with visitors from mainland China. The city is planning to extend a subway line there in the coming years.

"With the growing incomes in Asia, and the leisure time, this is the perfect product," Aaen said. "People are looking for these kinds of experiences."

HCM City in the top ten expensive Asian cities | Look At Vietnam

According to the Forbes, HCM City ranks the tenth among Asian cities for expensiveness, based on the house leasing prices and the real estate market.

According to Forbes, HCM City people have to pay $1800 to hire an apartment with two luxurious bedrooms for a month. Meanwhile, the per capita income of the local residents is $2800/year.

The real estate market in HCM City, the biggest city and an economic centre in Vietnam, is quite stable in the economic crisis. In the third quarter of 2009, over ten new housing projects were kicked off. The demand for housing is still growing, despite economic slowdown.

In the global financial crisis, the estate prices continue escalating in Asia. The pay for hiring houses and offices in the biggest cities in this continent doesn’t reduce or highly rises compared to per capita income. It is even more expensive to buy house than the pre-crisis period. This October, an apartment in Hong Kong was sold for $56 milion.

Japan’s Tokyo is still the most expensive city. The average price for hiring a luxurious apartment with two bedrooms is $4737. The four cities in the top five are Hong Kong, Beijing, Mumbai and Shanghai.

To make this list, Forbes used data of the Mercer, which has researched of the growth in Asia compared to the rest of the world in the last two decades.

VietNamNet/Forbes/VNE

Top Ten Cities for shopping Asia

Vietnam contributes three names to the top 5 and top 10 lists of the most attractive tourist destinations in Asia of the online travel magazine Smart Travel Asia: Hanoi, HCM City and Hoi An.

Hoi An ancient city enters the top five of Asian cities for festivals and relaxation in 2009, besides Thailand’s Bangkok and Phuket, Indonesia’s Bali, India’s Kerala and Hong Kong.

Among the top ten resort cities in Asia are Vietnam’s Hanoi and HCM City. Hanoi is also one of the top ten Asian cities for shopping while HCM City is in the top ten cities for businessmen in Asia.

Readers of the Smart Travel Asia voted the best tourism sites in Asia based on the following standards: the best cities for relaxation, the best cities for shopping, the best cities for businessmen and the best hotels, restaurants and airlines in Asia.

Hong Kong movie star to visit Cambodia - People's Daily Online

A famous Hong Kong movie star, Jackie Chan, will visit Cambodia and give a lecture in the university here later this year, the official news agency AKP reported on Friday. If the schedule will not be changed, Chan will arrive in Cambodia on November 10 and will stay here for three days, according to AKP. While he is in Cambodia, Chan will give lecture to students at the University of Cambodia the experiences and humanity work that he has achieved and engaged with, and after that he will be awarded with an honorable doctoral degree in humanity, Kao Kim Hourn, president of the University of Cambodia, said earlier. Meanwhile, Chan will also receive an education award from the University of Cambodia for his humanity's work and activities, Kao added. According to the plan, Chan will also pay courtesy calls on Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni, and meet with Prime Minister Hun Sen. Jackie Chan made his first visit to Cambodia in 2004 under the sponsors of the United Nations Children's Fund and the United Nations AIDS Program. Chan is a keen philanthropist and UNICEF/UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador who has worked tirelessly to champion charitable works and causes. Source:Xinhua

Hong Kong & Taipei Travel Deals

China Airlines (tel. 800/227-5118; http://www.china-airlines.com/) has a couple of great web deals up at the moment. First up, Los Angeles to Hong Kong is $600 round-trip, or $689 with taxes. This offer is good for outbound weekday travel between January 24 and April 30, and must be purchased by February 28.
Also from China Airlines, Los Angeles to Taipei is $689 round-trip, or $755 with taxes. This fare is good for outbound travel between January 24 and May 20, and must be purchased by February 6.
Los Angeles to Hong Kong $676, including all taxes
Los Angeles to Taipei $755, including all taxes

| For the economy's sake, Japanese should have more sex

Jim Rogers probably didn't set out to make 500 bankers blush at a recent conference in Seoul. The well-known investor did just that when he encouraged South Koreans to have move babies.
"Anyone who hasn't done it, I urge you to get home and get on with it," said Mr Rogers, chairman of Singapore-based Rogers Holdings, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros in the 1970s. He joked that folks should take a day off, if necessary.
Urging Koreans to procreate is about more than Rogers's love of parenthood: Korea needs to increase its birth rate for the sake of the economy. So do Japan and other key Asian nations, he said.
South Korea's birth rate (1.2 children per couple) is the second lowest in the world after Hong Kong, according to a recent UN report. Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan all have lower birth rates than North Korea.
Such demographic trends are a widening crack in Asia's potential. Nowhere is this issue more acute than in Japan. And if Mr Rogers made Koreans blush, he annoyed some Japanese in 2006 when he said: "If the current birth rate, which is the lowest in the major developed countries, continues, there will be no Japanese. Who will pay the enormous debt?"
That question, demographically minded investors like Mr Rogers will be happy to hear, is suddenly getting more traction in Tokyo. Keidanren, Japan's biggest business organisation, is urging its 1,632 member companies to encourage employees to have more sex.
Just how creepy that sounds was summed up yesterday in a Japan Times cartoon. It depicted a couple lying in bed, lamenting the dark-suit-wearing Keidanren official underneath singing: "Feelings. Nothing more than feelings..."
Yet working too much is, according to surveys, why many Japanese don't have more sex and, by extension, babies. A recent survey by condom maker Durex found that Japanese couples have sex 45 times a year, less than half the global average of 103 times.
Japan's birth rate has been falling since 1972, and in five years, people over age 65 will outnumber children by two-to-one. Add an aversion to increased immigration and Japan is looking at a future without enough labour. So, Keidanren wants workers to have more time off to, well, be together.
That's all well and good, but Japan needs to do much more. Here's an idea: Why not effectively pay families to have more kids?
Keidanren does have a point. Japan is a place where vacation days often go unused and the vocabulary includes a word for death from overwork - karoshi. Things will get worse as the global crisis and Japan's recession deepen.
Toyota Motor Corp will cut half its 6,000 temporary workers by the end of March. As more major companies shed "non-regular" workers, full-time staff will be under greater pressure to produce more.
If this really is the worst global slump since the 1930s, companies also will be under pressure to trim the ranks of the "salaryman," that fabled overworked corporate apparatchik. The notion that employees worried about their jobs will voluntarily leave the office for family time is a reach.
Some companies are pushing the issue. A recent article by Bloomberg News reporter Megumi Yamanaka said that Nippon Oil Corp, Japan's largest refiner, is forbidding staff to work on weekends. Workers also must get permission to stay past 7pm. Textile maker Toray Industries Inc and All Nippon Airways Co are holding "family weeks".

Japan's demographic problems are far bigger than politicians realise. Sexism is part of this story. Because Japan isn't geared toward women having both a career and a family, many delay child birth. Improving Japan's daycare infrastructure alone might increase the number of babies born each year. Politicians should demand that companies offer women more flexible work schedules. Yet cost may be the key problem. A 2006 study by the Cabinet Office found that it costs about 23.7 million yen (9 million baht) to raise a child to age 18. And that's probably a conservative estimate. Still wondering why the number of two- or three-child Japanese families is dwindling?

Japan should offer far bigger tax incentives for having children, particularly for families that have more than two. France, for example, has done just that. Japan should consider generous subsidies for education and daycare as well. The Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry is increasing aid temporarily for small- and medium-sized enterprises subsidising employees who hire a babysitter or use non-government-authorised nursery schools, says the Daily Yomiuri. It's a good idea, but Japan needs to think bigger and throw some serious money at the problem.
An obvious counter-argument is how to pay for all this. With the largest debt among developed nations, Japan has less cash to spare. Yet as the population shrinks, there will be less tax revenue to pay for everything else in the years ahead. Money spent now will save it later.
Nothing less than Japan's future is at stake. As more investors such as Mr Rogers realise it, concerns about demographics in the long run will undermine growth in the short run. That won't help put anyone in the mood.
William Pesek is a Bloomberg News columnist.

Hong Kong Airlines stop flying to HCM City

The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has confirmed that Hong Kong Airlines has temporarily stopped its five flights per week between Hong Kong and HCM City, without revealing the reason.

A former staff member of the Hong Kong Airlines office in HCM City said the firm stopped its flights to HCM City because of lacking the required aircrafts and lower rates of seat occupancy.

This firm had to fiercely compete with Cathay Pacific and Vietnam Airlines on the Hong Kong – HCM City route when the need for air travel falls in the context of global economic slowdown.

Cathay Pacific, one of the world leading airlines, is offering two flights per day between Hong Kong and HCM City while Vietnam Airlines also has daily flights on this route.

Hong Kong Airlines also had to compete with Dragonair, another airway belonging to the Cathay Pacific group, which also provides daily Hong Kong – Hanoi flights.

Hong Kong Airlines now has four flights per week between Hong Kong and Hanoi, on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday.
(Source: TBKTSG)

Hiker chased by hungry monkey falls into Hong Kong reservoir : Nature Environment

Hong Kong - A 46-year-old hiker was recovering in hospital Saturday after falling 20 metres into a Hong Kong reservoir while running away from a monkey trying to steal her food. The woman was hiking with friends on Friday when a large adult monkey tried to snatch a bag of nuts she was carrying, according to a spokesman for the emergency services team who rescued her.
She ran away and tumbled down a steep bank before ending up in the reservoir. The woman was taken to hospital with injuries to her head, arms and legs.
The woman and her friends had been hiking in Shing Mun Country Park in Hong Kong's rural New Territories when the monkey, part of a group of grey macaque monkeys, began pestering them.
Outside its high-rise heart, rural Hong Kong is home to an estimated 2,100 monkeys whose numbers have risen sharply in recent years partly because of hikers feeding them in parks.
In September, a 25-year-old woman was taken to hospital after being mugged by a monkey for a box of egg tarts as she got off a bus in another park in Hong Kong.

Marco Polo Hotels expands in Asia

Sep. 12, 2008 (China Knowledge) - Marco Polo Hotels, one of the world's largest hotel chains, said that it will open a new outlet in Wuhan, Hubei Province on Sep. 15, 2008.

The new hotel, located in Hankou, the commercial center of Wuhan, has 380 guestrooms, providing amenities and services including a fragrance program, iPod surround sound system, complimentary Internet access and Wifi throughout the hotel.

Business facilities include a full-service business centre, a travel desk, and an exclusive club lounge with private meeting rooms. The Marco Polo Ballroom, Silk Room and multi-function rooms can accommodate up to 800 guests.

Currently, Marco Polo Hotels runs 10 outlets in Asian cities such as Hong Kong, Beijing and Xiamen, as well as the idyllic seaside city of Cebu and Davao in the Philippines. The company also plans to open new hotels in Chengdu and Wuxi in 2012 and 2013, respectively.

Bruce Lee's last home in Hong Kong may be preserved as a museum

The Hong Kong home where legend Bruce Lee spent his final years was Thursday off the market as its wealthy owner considered plans to turn it into a museum to the kung fu legend. ( dpa )


The two-storey house in the city's exclusive Kowloon Tong residential district, was due to be sold by its owner to raise money for earthquake relief in China.


Bids of more than 13 million US dollars were received for the 530-square-metre residence in Cumberland Street before entrepreneur Yu Panglin decided to take it off the market.


The house, most recently used as a short-stay "love hotel", may now be turned into a museum to Lee in response to a long campaign by fans of the star.


"I will consider the views of the community and different parties. I may consider donating the property if the majority thinks we should preserve it," Yu was quoted as saying by Thursday's South China Morning Post.


He added: "Money is not my major concern. I just want to contribute to charity."


The development was hailed as "fantastic news" by Bruce Lee fan club officials in Hong Kong who have campaigned for years for a permanent memorial to the star in his home city.


The government's Tourism Commission said it was already looking at turning the house into a museum and had been studying overseas examples such as the Beatles Story in Liverpool and Elvis Presley's Graceland mansion in Tennessee.


Lee - star of films such as Fists of Fury and Enter the Dragon - lived with his wife, Linda Lee-Cadwell, in the house, which he affectionately named the Crane's Nest, in the years leading to his death in 1973.


He died mysteriously at the age of 32 at the peak of his stardom at the home of an actress friend in another part of Kowloon Tong.


Although there is a statue to Lee in Hong Kong, officials in the former British colony have been reluctant to commemorate the city's most famous star, apparently wary of his hell-raising reputation.