Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Some Krabi Hotel Discounts

Tourists nowadays are well aware of the huge discounts offered by hotels all over the world. The discounts offered are not restricted to any specific category of hotels. This makes it imperative for tourists belonging to all budget ranges to look out for offers to save money. Visitors to Krabi province in Thailand too should explore options before booking rooms for their holidays. Here are some too-good-to-resist Krabi hotel discounts.

1. Sofitel Phokeethra Krabi Resort & Spa, Klong Muang: This five-star hotel has reduced its tariff from $265 to $153 for the season. The resort located on the private beach is surrounded by tropical vegetation and limestone cliffs. The excellent facilities at the resort include three restaurants, five bars, a large swimming pool, cooking school, exclusive library lounge, fitness center, spa, Turkish bath, children's playground, and conference facilities, as well as a number of outdoor, beach activities and specialized tours.

2. Railay Village Resort, Railay: The 4-star resort is completely isolated from the crowded beach by limestone cliffs and can be accessed only by boat. The ultimate privacy and luxury offered by the resort is most enjoyed by honeymooners and couples seeking a romantic holiday. It is also a perfect base for those seeking water sports adventures to nearby islands. The special tariff for the season is $85.

3. Amari Vogue Resort, Tubkaek: The 5-star Lanna-style resort offers a picture-perfect setting for a tropical beach vacation. The plush rooms with magnificent sea and land views are too good for words. These are well complimented by Sivara Spa, restaurants and pool. The current tariff is $109 instead of $188.

4. Anyavee Tubkaek Beach Resort, Tubkaek: This new 4-star resort is really enticing to those seeking seclusion. While the resort has all facilities to engage their guests within its grounds, it also offers ample opportunities for those interested in water sports. The present tariff is just $185 in place of $320.

Krabi hotel discounts make holidays even more enjoyable.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Railay Beach, Thailand

Railay Beach, Thailand, also known as Rai Leh, is a popular seaside resort on the Andaman coast in Krabi, Thailand. One of its main attractions in addition to its beautiful beach is the presence of towering limestone cliffs.

Railay Beach Excited tourists in Thailand, with its unique access. As a peninsula, cut off from the mainland by sea and mountains, can only be achieved through a long-tail boat. Regular services from Phi Ao Nang, Krabi, Koh Lanta, KohPhi and Phuket.

Tourists prefer Railay for two reasons - its tranquility and incredible rock climbing opportunities. While its secluded nature attracts families and honeymooners, the limestone formations lure the backpacking crowd. Railay has accommodation options to cater to these two groups.

Rayavadee Premier Resort on Phra Nang beach is the best accommodation Railay has to offer. Being the lone resort on the beach, it offers complete privacy for its guests. In the mid-range, Railay has a number of accommodation choices, most of them located on its west side. Railay's budget accommodations, though not many, are found along its eastern side. The neighboring Ton Sai beach, located barely 10 minutes away, has more choices in this segment.

Railay beach has a variety of restaurants and bars to cater to the needs of the tourists. Most of them serve the local cuisine that is both tasty and affordable. The west-end of Railay has a few hi-end restaurants, some of them located on the beach.

Rock climbing is one of Railay's main reasons for popularity in the world tourist map. However, the steep limestone cliffs are not suitable for beginners. Avid rock climbers flock to Railay to enjoy the thrill and breath-taking sea views from the cliff tops.

Railay Beach Thailand also has limited possibilities for divers and snorkeling enthusiasts, as marine life and coral reefs are not as attractive or diverse as in other Thailand beaches. The sea caves along Phra Nang beach offer ample opportunities for kayaking enthusiasts.

Five Star Chauffeur Service - Offered By Centara Grand Beach Resort

Centara Grand Beach Resort is situated in Krabi, Thailand. Best known for their accommodation and food services, the hotel has recently introduced five star chauffeur services for its guests and visitors. It offers chauffeur services at affordable rates. Interstate links services are available with experienced chauffeurs. All the cars are comfortable and clean. In this article, I will specifically throw light on their newly introduced chauffeur service.

The resort offers chauffeur services that include air transfers, day trips, formal and social events, weddings and corporate hire. All the chauffeurs are highly experienced and skilled in their work. They offer all the late model cars, these cars are very comfortable and clean. Chauffeur services are available with interstate links.

All the chauffeurs are well learned in routes of Krabi and the near towns and suburbs. They offer air transfers to all the airports in Krabi. They try to make the journey from the airport and to the resort or vice versa as comfortable as possible. For airport departures, they always try to reach the concerned place for pick-up, ten minutes earlier. They suggest the pick up time as their chauffeurs are well aware of the traffic and other concerns. For airport arrivals, the chauffeurs reach the airport before the plane lands. They keep knowledge of all the airline flights, so they will know if the airline is delayed or early.

They provide their services for corporate hire. They are conscious of the punctuality that matters in the corporate meetings and conferences, that is why they always try to be punctual and prompt.

Wedding cars they offer include 7 series BMW. The wedding cars are decorated in accordance with the wedding colors and themes. These decorations are done with flowers and ribbons. Wedding services even include a bottle of champagne. Full wedding transport packages are provided. Chauffeur and car services are also provided for social events such as sports functions and night outs.

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Tiger Muay Thai Camp Review (Phuket, Thailand)

This is a review for Tiger Muay Thai & MMA in Phuket, Thailand. I turned up and originally planned and paid to stay here for 1 week... 1 week turned into 2 weeks. Then I came back for a month.

Pricing
The cost for training is about average for a Farang training in Thailand, and is as follows:

Half day 300B
Full day 500B
Week 2500B
Month 9000B
3 Months 24000B

A strong recommendation I will make, is that if you are coming here on a budget and/or have not done much intense training before, then only pay a week or so in advance. Time and time again people pay up for 3 months in advance, then only train a few times a week. Pay a week in advance and then see how much you think you will train before shelling out loads of cash in advance.

Payment is accepted via cash or credit card (Visa & MasterCard).

Accommodation

Rooms vary from 2,500B (small room with fan) to 20,000B+ (room with air con and all modern facilities and a swimming pool)/month. I was paying 12,000B for a very nice double room with cable TV, Wi-Fi, hot electric shower etc. at a place just down the road called 'The Nature House'.

My advice for accommodation is to only pre pay a few days or a week to start with. As you may find something much cheaper or if you already have a cheap room you may not like it and wish to upgrade.

A good (but not exhaustive) accommodation list is available on the TMT website.

Food

Eating in the local area can be anything from 40B a meal to 350B+ depending on where and what you eat. The cheaper meals tend to be Thai food (generally consisting of rice or noodles dishes), western food is much more expensive. A restaurant called Mama's is one of the cheapest around here and has a solid reputation. They also have cheap rooms available (9,000B/month).

Whatever you do, DON'T pay in advance for the food plan at the gym. It is overpriced and many people end up missing meals. There are plenty of other places to eat, variety is more fun than eating at the same place every day.

Training

As well as Muay Thai, the gym offers classes in MMA (mostly no gi jiu jitsu and sparring), Western Boxing, Krabi Krabong, Yoga and Circuit training.

In all honesty, the Muay Thai classes are overcrowded, and you will unlikely be recognised and given individual attention unless you stay a long period of time, or pay extra for private sessions. But you can still get a good work out.

The western boxing classes are good, with two world champions and a stadium champion instructing. But can still get very busy.

The MMA classes I have mixed feelings towards. The mornings are just no gi jiu jitsu (which is taught to a fairly decent level by Ray Elbe) and the afternoons are fairly intense sparring. And they do have a nice cage to train in. However no wrestling is taught.

If you want to do MMA here then my advice is to get the best of it by training the morning no gi BJJ class and then do the Muay Thai or Western Boxing class in the afternoons.
The gym also hosts seminars often (most of which are free) with visiting fighters. Whilst I was there Royce Gracie, Alberto Crane and Roger Huerta gave seminars!

Facilities

Tiger Muay Thai has some of the best facilities in all of Thailand. At the time of writing they have 6 rings, a MMA Cage, a weight room (with plenty of benches, shelving, the weights of the machine and get a really good workout), another area with lots of different kettlebell weights and spinning bikes, and many heavy bags. They are also a great extension.

Location

Phuket is a huge tourist destination. However, Tiger Muay Thai in the neighborhood of Chalong, which brings in most of the distractions of cut position (beaches, bars, night clubs, etc.), but these areeasily accessible by taxi or if you rent a scooter for 3-4,000B per month.

I'd recommend a scooter if you are staying for any period of time (just be careful, there are some 10,000 accidents a year in Phuket alone involving bikes).

With the freedom of a bike you can access the food and clothing markets, Central Festival shopping centre (including cinema), Beaches, Bars & Clubs, the local Zoo, the aquariam, Elephant trekking, Snake shows etc!

Equipment Shop

The price of most things in this shop are jacked up. Shop around unless there is something really specific you want here.

Personal Comments

Your time at Tiger Muay Thai will be what you make it. It can be a serious training camp or you can come here with the best of intentions yet get caught up in boozing most nights and spending your days on the beaches... or you can do a bit of both.

This place is aimed more towards the casual trainer on to avoid holidays with a lot of money, so if you are very tight fist, you can easily spend a lot of money.

I have many friends and I enjoyed it and had to provide all the different classes, but after a while 'I was on site and crowded commercial gym tired and decided to go to Dragon Muay Thai just down the road ...

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Ingleton, North Yorkshire - A Cave Lover's Dream

Ingleton, North Yorkshire is a tourist area, well known for it's beautiful walking trails and caves. It is also perfect for biking, hiking and bird watching.

"Ingelton waterfalls trails", is a remarkable natural location. It is known for having the best scenery and waterfalls in Northern England. This four and a half mile combination of trails is breathtakingly beautiful. It is no surprise that England has declared this park to be a special sight of interest. There are many rare animal and plant varieties to see here. Opened in the late eighteen hundreds, this park quickly became very popular, and remains so today.

"White scar cave" is one of the largest caves in all of Britain. The ceilings at some point reach to one hundred feet, and are covered with thousands of stalactites and stalagmites. You will be lead through these caves, which were discovered in nineteen twenty three, by a student, by a very well informed guide. This is truly a remarkable place to see and explore.

Settle-Carlisle Railway will bring on the most scenic trip through Britain. Ride on historic trains and stop by restored stations on your way to "Carlisle.

"Ingelton pottery" is the oldest operating pottery in this area. Here you may watch the work progress into works of art. There are also workshops and tours available. You may even purchase a piece of this beautifully hand thrown pottery before you leave.

Ingleton - North Yorkshire is a beautiful area, with many things to see. There are many shops and places to eat. There is also an open air market every Friday. There are also many other fun and interesting things to see and do in the surrounding towns.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

Getting to Koh Phi Phi, Thailand

If you want to go to Koh Phi Phi in Thailand then I hope you have your sea legs because there is no airport on the island and the only way you are going to get there is by boat. You can take the slower and cheaper route and take the public ferry or if you are in a hurry you can charter a speedboat. You will cut your travel time in half, but it will cost you more than double.

As I said, the cheaper way to travel to Koh Phi Phi is via the public ferry. Whether you are leaving from Phuket or Krabi, there are ferries that make the crossing to Phi Phi on a daily basis. The ferry from Krabi leaves from the pier in Krabi town 3 times a day (10:30, 14:30 and 16:00) and the trip takes about 90 minutes. The cost is just 250 baht which is less than $10.

Ferries from Phuket also take about 90 minutes, but will cost you almost double or 450 baht. They leave from Rasada pier daily at 8:30 and 13:30. In either case, the ferry will drop you at Tonsai Bay in Koh Phi Phi and if your hotel or resort is located elsewhere on the island you will need to arrange for transport from there to your hotel. This isn't too difficult as there are many longtail boats at Tonsai willing to take you to most any point on the island.

If cost isn't a factor and you just want to get to Phi Phi as quickly as possible then your best bet is to charter a speedboat. This is undoubtedly the quickest way to get to the island as well as the most convenient. Speedboats can make the crossing and have you back on land on Phi Phi in as little as 45 minutes. Even better, many speedboats can drop you on the beach by your hotel so you can shave even more travel time off your trip.

You can expect to pay somewhere in the neighborhood of 1000 baht per person for this luxury. Costs can be somewhat higher than that during the high season and depending on your ability to barter with the speedboat captain. You can also cut the cost per person quite a bit if you have a larger party. There are speedboats that can accommodate up to 20 passengers and if you can fill one of these your cost might be close to the same as taking the ferry.

If you plan on taking a speedboat then plan on leaving by 16:00 as the speedboat captains prefer to get back before night falls. You can get a speedboat from either Phuket or Krabi.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Mozambique Guide and Flights to Mozambique

Mozambique is a truly undiscovered gem, that is slowly becoming a must see for tourists. During decades of civil war the country was plummeted into poverty and adversity and tourism practically ground to a halt. Since continued peace from 1992, more and more people have been visiting the country.

Mozambique has become known as a beach paradise with a long coastline of flawless beaches with warm water. The beaches are clean and safe and very popular, depending on where you go. Another aspect Mozambique is becoming well known for is for diving. Due to the warm clear water and coral reefs more and more divers are flocking there. Many actually do their diving certification while on a trip to Mozambique which is both fun and affordable. This highlights another reason for Mozambique becoming more popular, that is, that it's quite affordable in comparison to many other 'more established' tourist places.

When visiting Mozambique try to make the effort to go inland as this will open your eyes to other aspects of the country, such as its extreme poverty and hardship which is good to know to form a well balanced opinion of a place. The official language is Portuguese and this heritage is also reflected in the food. The food is not identical to Portuguese food, but has been adapted over time to be unique to Mozambique. However it is similar enough to be identified as being related. Expect the food to be mainly seafood (shellfish) and often quite spicy. (The Mozambique food is famous for its Peri peri).

There are quite a few flights to Mozambique from South Africa. Most will leave from Johannesburg, which has the main International Airport (OR Tambo). The airlines will be different depending on exactly where you are flying into. Typically the most often used airlines are South African Airways, Pelican Air and LAM Airways.