Silver Celebration

The Jakarta Post   |  Tue, 04/29/2008 3:07 PM  |  This Way Out

Silver Celebration

Heading to Bali? Then stop in for the 25^th anniversary of the Nusa Dua Beach Hotel and Spa, which was the first five-star hotel in the luxury resort enclave. Home to 381 guestrooms and suites and situated on 9 hectares, including a 150-meter stretch of beachfront, the hotel has no less than five restaurants (including its signature Balinese restaurant, Raja’s) and four bars. Or just try their spa using traditional products.

 

Ride easy

Weaving through Bangkok’s traffic jams may not be your idea of fun but it might just be now, thanks to Conrad Bangkok’s cool new motorcycle service. The hotel recently rolled out two special made-to-order scooters - complete with well-trained drivers and passenger helmets - for the sole purpose of getting guests to their destinations fast – and in style. And with a swanky name like Easy Rider, zipping around on one of these babies is too hard to pass up, even if it might mean sporting helmet hair after the ride. Trips start at 30 Baht.

Air flair

Lovely Penang and its gastronomic offerings such as Penang laksa, fried carrot cake and chendol are now even more accessible with Air Asia’s newly launched routes to the Malaysian city from Jakarta and Medan. The international flights were launched on 30 March this year and mark the airline’s second and third international routes from Penang (after Bangkok). Flights are daily and start from RP279,000, unless, of course you managed to score one of the 30,000 free seats given away to mark the milestone for Air Asia.

For bookings and more information, visit www.airasia.com

Slim pickings

If lugging around heavy guidebooks has always been a bane on your happy trails, Lonely Planet’s ‘Pick & Mix’ digital downloads will probably save you from throwing out your back. The online service lets you “carve out guide books just the way you like”, and save a couple of bucks while you’re at it too. Just pick and choose the chapters you require from PDF versions of guidebooks on Africa, North America, South America, Central America , Mexico and the Caribbean (more guides will be added on to the list subsequently) from www.lonelyplanet.com, download them, print them and you’re ready to go. Prices for different chapters range between US$2-5.

www.lonelyplanet.com

 

Packing it in

Here’s another of those nifty travel thingamajigs you wished someone would’ve come up with earlier. The Anne McAlpin Packing Board helps keep the stuff in your suitcase organized even has it helps you maximize the space within, by creating a second layer and flat surface for clothes. Odds and ends stay put at the bottom while your garments can sit pretty at the top. Better yet, a packing checklist and instructions adorns the board itself, so you’ll always have them right by you while you pack. Anne’s Packing Board fits a variety of luggage and is available in large (for bags 24’’ and above) and small (22’’-24’’) sizes.

From US$17.99 www.packitup.com

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