Phuket continues to place itself firmly on the top list of places to visit, with international standards in service and hospitality. In another thumbs up for the island and its dining options, The Art of Travel book, published in Europe by Mr. Nick Zirkee and Mr. Frns van der Voort, and featuring the world's top luxury hotels, resorts and restaurants for the discerning traveler has just picked the Burasari Resort, Patong for their latest Top list.

Burasari Resort welcomed Mr. Nick Zirkzee and Mr. Frans van der Voort for dinner at Floyd’s Brasserie Restaurant on their recent trip to Phuket to select the island’s top resorts for their upcoming book to be published in 2008.

Commenting on his reasons for selecting Burasari Resort for the new top list, Mr. Zirkzee complimented Floyd’s Brasserie for its professional standard and its excellent presentation in offering a high quality fine dining experience.


Fare Sea Well off Phuket
Phuket Diving Liveaboard have announced their High Season dive cruises, 7 days, 6 nights and 6 diving days aboard the vessel MV Andaman Seafarers to Similan, Kon, Tachai, Surin and the famous Richelieu Rock with its elusive whale-shark. The Seafarer has just come out from the shipyard with a lot of new designs for the diver's comfort, promises the company, and after 6 months at port, the crew is raring to go. Seafarers also promises "gin clear"waters with up to 30 meters visibility for photography. As this is just the beginning of the season, the sites are not yet thronger with crods of mass tourists and as the Marine National Parks are closed from May until October, the reefs have had the opportunity to recover.

Liveaboard dive cruises from November 2007 until May 2008. For more information, visit www.seafarer-divers.com for information about Phuket hotels, kayaking, tours and circuits in Phuket, Phang-Nga and Krabi.



Tech travel


Techfest is the Annual International, Science and Technology festival of the Indian Institute of
Technology Bombay, India. From a fledgling event in 1998, today it has grown to be the largest
festival of its kind in Asia. With a participation of about 30,000 students from over
1000 colleges across India and over 2000 faculty and corporate executive, Techfest
went international in 2004, and has since received enthusiastic response from all
over the world including USA, Australia, Singapore, Iran, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.
Techfest 2008 will be the 11th edition of this highly successful student initiative and will be held
from the 25th to 27th of January, 2008 at IIT Bombay, India. Four thought provoking international
competitions will feature at the techfest this year - Micromouse, Pixel, Blitzkrieg and
Full Throttle: Grand Prix with total prize money of US$ 3500.

Select international teams clearing the video eliminations round will be provided return
airfare to India and accommodation at IIT Bombay.

The last date for registration and submission of videos for elimination and hence consideration of
travel reimbursement is November 20th, 2006. For more details regarding the competition
statement, registrations and any other information please visit the website
http://www.techfest.org/international


Airlines in tight spots
Passnegers who have to put up with cramped seating in airlines are finally having their say, and it's the airlines that are now finding themselves sitting tight. A Distric Court Judge in the United States has permitted three airline passengers to go ahead with their lawsuits against Singapore, Delta and US Airways. The passengers have claimed that cramped seating in the planes of the respective airlines gave them DVT (Deep Vein Thermosis). While a significant number of similar suits have been turned down by the same judge in the past, the judge has said that these particular claims were different, as the passengers had complained of the narrow seats to the cabin crew, but had not been allowed to switch to other seats with more space, which could have helped to avoid the resulting conditions.




Taking off to Taiwan

Tourists from around the Asia-Pacific region have been reported to be heading for Taiwan in big numbers. Australian, Malaysian and South Korean tourist arrivals for the first eight months of 2007 have reached double digits in growth compared to last year, revealed Taiwan’s Interior Ministry, adding that Taiwan received 17.01 million tourists during the eight months, an increase of 3.9%.

With more than 757, 000 visitors, Japan tooped the list of foreign arrivals, representing a grand total of 31.5% of the total number of visitors to Taiwan, followed by China with more that 467, 000 visitors, which made up 20% of the total visitor arrivals.Australians have also been visiting Taiwan in greater numbers, they made up for a significant 18.8% of arrivals in the period.



Spreading the Blues

The Phuket Blues Festival is spreading its musical wings. Come next year, it will be expanded to an international South East Asian blues/rock band informal competition – sort of a “Blues/Rock Idol with 10 or so of South East Asia’s finest acts and the audience will vote for the ones they like the best.
The winner at the end will then play an honorary short set and receive a prize. Confirmed so far are Bangkok’s Soi Dog Blues Band, Ad Here Blues Band and Cannonball as well as The Blues Machine from Pattaya and Boy Blues Band from Chiang Mai. More Thai bands are expected to be added and organisers are looking for candidates from Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. One of Australia’s top blues acts; Salty Dog has already been snapped up.

The Rich Harper Band from Los Angeles which has gathered strong following in Thailand over the past two years will return in 2008, making this festival a blues/rock extravaganza. The band will not be part of the competition, but will close the show with a fiery finale Saturday night.

First held in December 2005, the festival is a charity event, with profits being donated to these organizations dedicated to children’s education: The Phuket International Women's Club and The Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation

For all other details visit www.phuketbluesfestival.com

Travel and Tourism news is sourced from www.smarttravelasia.com, www.etravelblackboard.com and ghcasia.com