Travellop - Travel Blog

The medal for Beijing Olympic Games is elegantly exceptional. Differing from past Olympic Medals, it is the first one that is not made totally of gold. Jade, the traditional Chinese craft standing for the dignity and virtue, was inlaid in the medal endowing it with unusual importance.

On the obverse, the traditional IOC design - goddess of victory Nike and the Panathinaikos Arena is adopted. On the reverse, the Beijing Games emblem is engraved in the jade which is inlaid in the medal. The medal’s design is a good combination of Chinese and Western culture making it a significant piece of artwork in Olympic History.

Tags: olympic medal

India’s growing reputation as a major medical tourism destination is attracting more and more visitors from Gulf countries. And many travel agents are now offering packages combining treatment with a vacation.

Tags: medical tourism

‘Fuwa’ composed of five images; those of a fish, a panda, the Olympic flame, a Tibetan antelope and a swallow - has been created as the mascot for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. The mascot has been designed to convey a message of friendship and peace together with the dream that mankind and nature can live in great harmony.

Each of the five images has been given a nice name - Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini. When these are read together thus ‘Bei Jing Huan Ying Ni’ it is actually Chinese for ‘Welcome to Beijing’. Each image conveys different wishes and meanings: Continue Reading »

Average Data	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June
Average High (F)	33/36	38/42	50/54	67/70	78/82	86/89
Average High (C)	1/3	3/5	10/12	19/21	26/28	30/32
Average Low (F)	13/17	18/21	29/33	43/46	54/58	63/67
Average Low (C)	-10/-8	-8/-6	-2/0	6/8	12/14	17/19
Max (F)	54	64	82	90	99	104
Max (C)	12.2	17.8	27.8	32.2	37.2	40.0
Min (F)	1	5	19	30	39	48
Min (C)	-17.2	-15	-7.2	-1.1	3.9	8.9
Rain (in)	0.1/0.2	0.2/0.3	0.3/0.4	0.8/0.9	1.4/1.5	2.9/3
Rain (mm)	<5	5/10	5/10	20/25	35/40	75/80

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Tags: beijing weather

Date : 12 - 15 May 2008

The 1st Commonwealth Conference on Sport Tourism with the theme “Sport Tourism and Sustainability: Inter-Relationships, Impacts and Issues” is being held in the state of Sabah, Malaysia.

This conference explores the issues associated with the development, management and legacies of sport tourism. It is aimed to provide a platform for discussion to identify and create new approaches to sport tourism development, investment, sharing and exchanging of best practices in the planning and management of sport tourism.

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Tags: sport tourism

The peloton of the Presidential Tour of Turkey took some time to admire the fabulous vue on the bay of Marmaris but they quickly went for serious racing. After 15 kilometers, an escapee of eight riders took shape, comprising: David Cañada (Saunier Duval), Benoît Joachim (Astana), Rouslan Ivanov (Serramenti PVC-Diquigiovanni), Aïtor Perez (Extremadura), Vytautas Kaupas (Mitsubishi-Jartazi), Christoph Meschenmoser (Team Ista), Kuca Zanasca (Centri della Calzatura-Partizan) and Filippo Savini (CSF-Navigare).

It was the right one. The Karpin-Galicia team of race leader David Garcia Dapena took care of the chase. The breakaway got a maximum lead of 7 minutes. With 53km to go, the gap went down to 5.42. At this stage, Benfica started giving a hand to Karpin-Galicia and the advantage of the leaders kept going down: 3.49 with 25km to go, 3.22 with 15km to go. Continue Reading »

Tags: Aïtor Perez, Benoît Joachim, Christoph Meschenmoser, David Cañada, Filippo Savini, Karpin-Galicia, Kuca Zanasca, peloton, Presidential Tour, Rouslan Ivanov, Vytautas Kaupas

The Curonian spit is a long thin peninsula north of Russia’s Kaliningrad. This national park separates the Baltic Sea from the Curonian lagoon. Half belongs to Russia, the other half to Lithuania. The six resorts along the Lithuanian stretch are crammed with hotels, bars and restaurants, while the Russian part is underdeveloped. Now the Kaliningrad region authorities eye to improve the situation. However, the move might have a negative affect.

Although the Russian side of the Curonian Spit is beautiful and serene, there’s hardly anyone here to appreciate it. Very little has been done to accommodate tourists. The government now wants to change that.

Kaliningrad’s governors have ambitious plans to transform this area and attract one million tourists a year.

But for local bird experts this news is worrying. Anatoly has worked for thirty years there at one of the world’s oldest bird-research station. As part of the main migration route, the Curonian Spit is a resting place for our feathered friends.

With millions of them stopping there each year, it’s been dubbed Bird’s Bridge.

He says the tourists will do more harm than good. Continue Reading »

Tags: curonian spit, UNESCO, world heritage

Human habitation of this elongated sand dune peninsula, 98 km long and 0.4-4 km wide, dates back to prehistoric times. Throughout this period it has been threatened by the natural forces of wind and waves. Its survival to the present day has been made possible only as a result of ceaseless human efforts to combat the erosion of the Spit, dramatically illustrated by continuing stabilisation and reforestation projects.

Tags: curonian spit

Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garana met on Wednesday 23/4/2008 with visiting director of the China National Tourism Administration Shao Qiwei.

The meeting took up means to promote cooperation in the field of tourism and to increase the number of Chinese tourists visiting Egypt.

In statements following the meeting, Garana said the Chinese tourism market is promising, adding that the number of Chinese tourists increased remarkably in 2007.
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Tags: Egypt