Hanoi Vietnam

Vietnam's bustling capital may be a 1,000 years old, but it's a thriving metropolis with a French colonial soul. A cultural center littered with pagodas, temples, and historic monuments, Hanoi offers plenty for the traveler seeking an authentic yet eclectic Asian experience. The eating scene is colorful with excellent meals available at both street-side stalls and fine eateries. Nightlife won't disappoint with the labyrinthine Old Quarter and the area around Hoan Kiem Lake housing dozens of bars from Western ex-pat establishments to disco-infused nightclubs -- plus the legendary Minh's Jazz Club. There's also a cool and contemporary art gallery scene showcasing young artists along Pho Trang Tien. And if you love to shop, try the funky boutiques on Nha Tho, or Cho Hang Da, the huge Dong Xuan market that transforms into a night bazaar on weekends.
Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi
Hanoi

Dubai Mall New Pictures

Trust Dubai to take shopping malls to a whole new level. Shoppers at The Dubai Mall can now ditch their street threads for a wetsuit to dive with sharks at the Dubai Aquarium and Underwater Zoo within the complex.
Lurking in the 10-million-litre tank are sand tiger sharks, reef sharks, leopard sharks, giant groupers and stingrays, as well as your less scary, regular-size fish. Mall spokesman Arif Amiri says: "Visitors have been fascinated by the sight of our staff divers, who dive underwater to feed our sharks and fishes every day. Now, with the launch of shark dives, we are offering the opportunity for all to have an incredible diving experience in an aquarium environment."

Dubai Mall
Dubai Mall
Dubai Mall
Dubai Mall
Dubai Mall

Singapore Best Pictures 2010

Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok, Jakarta: the four main cities of Southeast Asia, although quite close to each other, offer a wide variety of lifestyle. Our relationship with our city is always a love-hate relationship, too much traffic but affordable, safe city but expensive, great weather but polluted, unsafe but very fun etc etc…
So to measure the best urban living experience in this part of the world, a good real estate magazine “Property Report” has published recently it’s own reader’s survey on what they like and dislike about their cities. They have measured and analysed cost of basic necessities, prices of apartments, rentals, and interviewed architects and analysts. Here is a sum up of the most interesting results.

Singapore
Singapore
Singapore
Singapore
Singapore

Dubai Hotels 7 Star 2010

The Palm Trump International Hotel and Tower, also referred to as Trump Tower Dubai, will be the luxury centerpiece building of the Palm Golden Mile, located on the trunk of the Palm Jumeirah. Initially the tower was shaped like an opening golden tulip, but in April 2006 its design was changed to feature a split linked tower with an innovative open core design.

The Palm Trump International Hotel and Tower will be a 48-storey mixed-use condo-hotel and residence with a 300 room five-star hotel and 360 freehold residential apartments. Some of the amentities include exclusive access to a private beach and yacht club with tennis courts, gymnasium and fitness centre, stylized pools and gardens. The AED 2.2 billion (US$ 600 million) development will be the first joint venture between Al Nakheel and The Trump Organization, who's president and chairman is Donald Trump.

dubai hotels 7 star
dubai hotels 7 star
dubai hotels 7 star
dubai hotels 7 star
dubai hotels 7 star

Dubai Mall 4 Top Pics

Synonymous with exciting shopping adventures, Dubai sits on top when it comes to shopping complexes. Aside from the traditional souks found around Dubai, Sharjah and other emirates, shopping malls in Dubai are, without a doubt, one of the top city attractions. There are more malls in Dubai than anywhere else in the Middle East! There are many who visit Dubai specifically to shop-‘til-they-drop. Many Dubai hotels provide transportation to a number of malls in Dubai exemplifying the importance of shopping in the city. Modern shopping malls in Dubai are distributed in areas all around the city accommodating visitors and locals alike.

Choosing which Dubai mall to explore will depend on if you’re looking for great prices or more upscale shopping and dining. When to go depends on which day of the week it is. On the weekends any Dubai city mall will be jam-packed with people so it’s best to arrive early. Though shopping hours can vary, the most common hours are 9am through 1pm and about 4pm through to 9pm and sometimes later. Fridays are the most important day for prayers and all stores close from 11:30am to 1:30pm. To counter the afternoon lull, most malls in Dubai are open quite late on Friday nights.

Dubai Mall
Dubai Mall
Dubai Mall
Dubai Mall

Speculation and Manipulation, Redux

So the airlines have gotten together to Stop Oil Speculation (SOS). How do I know? Both Northwest Airlines and United Airlines sent me an e-mail with an open letter signed by twelve airlines. They must be serious about this. I have made my thoughts on speculation and manipulation known here and here, and the airlines’ arguments are not changing my mind.

The language used on the SOS web site sounds more like “here’s why you should pay me $15 per checked bag and not complain about it even though I did not hedge my fuel costs appropriately” or "when I asked for deregulation I didn't really mean it," rather than a legitimate complaint. The airlines claim, “Every time you buy products such as food or gas, you are impacted by unregulated, secretive and often foreign commodities futures markets.” They even dropped in an "Enron" reference later, just to make sure you know the markets are evil. This letter is precursor to a request for another bailout if you ask me.

“Unregulated” and “secretive” sounds an awful lot like how airlines price their flights. Ever try to get a deal on a flight out of a small market like Grand Forks, North Dakota, or a major hub like Minneapolis? Good luck. And don’t think the airline is going to tell you when you should buy to get the cheapest fare or how they price their flights.

And don't get me started on why I think they included the “foreign” markets comment.

When it comes to airlines, I am not very sympathetic to their financial problems. CNN Money notes that Southwest Airlines, which also signed the letter, "hedged 70% of its fuel costs at $51 a barrel. As a result of its smart bets in futures markets, the discount airline is paying only about $2 a gallon for its jet fuel." Remind me again which airline is profitable. Right, it is Southwest. Of course, they signed the letter, too, lest they be left out of any government assistance for high-fuel costs.

The worst part of all of this is that large airlines have the ability to work in this kind of market. Southwest showed how to make it work. Farmers, on the other hand, who are seeing similar problems, potentially based on new market speculation, have seen a change in the way the market itself works, as a New York Times article explained in April: "Farmers used to leave the market-watching to traders who work for big grain elevator companies. But with some of those companies now refusing to buy crops in advance because hedging has become so expensive and uncertain, farmers have to follow and trade in those markets themselves."


I don't think the time is right for the government to intervene in either market, but if I were setting the priorities, my first efforts would be to help those who have tried to hedge but no longer have the resources (farmers), as opposed to those who had the chance to hedge and decided not to (airlines). The real speculators here were the airlines. It's just that most of them got it wrong.

japan tokyo city nice pics

japan tokyo city

japan tokyo city
ground

japan tokyo city

japan tokyo city

japan tokyo city

japan tokyo at night

japan tokyo city towers

japan tokyo city

japan tokyo city night view

Tokyo
In the middle of the archipelago of Japan and situated close to the North Pacific Ocean is Japan’s capital, Tokyo, a fascinating and exhilarating city. Even though there are over 12 million people inhabiting this city, you are able to find the futuristic fast-paced, high-tech culture as well as the peaceful, old traditional Japanese style culture and customs.

The mega metropolis of Tokyo actually consists of approximately 23 central city wards and several other cities and islands near Honshu. These 23 wards contain one-third of Japan’s population. That’s 8 million of the 12 million reside in central Tokyo.

Before the 1900’s central Tokyo, then called Edo, was Japan’s political center where leaders established their feudal governments. After years of Edo’s growth, the emperor and nation’s capital moved from Kyoto to Edo and was reclaimed and renamed as Tokyo. Since then many air raids and earthquakes have shaken the city and destroyed many historic and traditional areas, however central Tokyo has prevailed and has developed into what it is today; a clean, busy, bright, energetic, high-tech and efficient metropolitan city.

Tokyo is full of activities and adventure. Whatever type of person you are, Tokyo has something for you. If you like the Tokyo fashion, Tokyo’s busy central districts like Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, and Roppongi are great for shopping. Heavenly temples and Zen shrines are also a must see in Japan. The famous Sensoji Temple in the Asakusa area is a beautiful, spiritual haven where you can discover your luck with the Japanese fortune teller sticks in the temple. Tokyo also has concert halls and traditional performances at Japanese theaters for music and theatre lovers. You can find American Broadway shows translated into Japanese with Japanese performers. Museums and art galleries for the artistic, playful, and serious can also be seen at your leisure.

New architecture goodness being built in Dubai

The stuff that they’re building in Dubai never ceases to amaze me. Here’s the lowdown on two of the latest projects:

The people behind this stunning looking structure are the Dutch firm Royal Haskoning , and they are not just in the business of developing a fantastic looking building they also have a use for it too. To quote from their website (there is no way I could describe it better):

“Our design is radically different, it revolves around a huge void, providing a dramatic and totally original profile. It consists of 2 different parallel rotating structures. On one side is the fast rotating structure, which has a full rotation cycle of 30 minutes. It contains of 36 classic viewing capsules, which are projecting from the side of the Wheel, allowing for maximum panorama.

This gleaming hunk of urban development is about to rise on an artificial, perfectly square island off the coast of Dubai. Engineers in the coastal country are already adept at building islands — Dubai possesses three artificial island developments, including one made of house-sized islets that form the shape of all the continents of the world. With this new development, architect Rem Koolhaas will design an entire city that reflects his futurist philosophy about the “generic city.” That glowing ball you see will be a city unto itself.

Canada Place Pictures

Welcome to Canada Place, Canada's national icon and a hub of activity. Whether strolling the scenic Canada Place pier, watching majestic cruise ships head

Canada Place
Canada Place
Canada Place
Canada Place
Canada Place