Hyatt Regency Manila has a special room package for Miss Saigon, which is being staged in the city until March. For US$399 (about HK$3,100) per couple, the hotel is offering two-nights' accommodation, two reserved orchestra-side seats, daily buffet breakfast, and round-trip shuttle service to the Cultural Centre of the Philippines, the performance venue.
The package is good for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday night performances. Reservations can be made through Hyatt Worldwide Reservations Centre in Hong Kong, phone 2956-1234 or fax 2956-2151. Miss Saigon opened in 1989 in London and ran for 10 years, and still attracts big crowds on Broadway, with special performances in Germany, Holland, Japan and Australia. The Manila run is its first in Asia.
Meanwhile, the Mandarin Oriental in Manila has a long-stay package for guests planning to take a room for a minimum of 14 days. Room rates start at US$100 per night single and the package includes continental breakfast, local calls and faxes and discounts on laundry and car hire.
The Vittoriano, a national monument in Rome's Piazza Venezia, has re-opened, more than 30 years after it was declared unsafe. The restoration work, which cost the equivalent of $35 million, took three years to complete. Years of water damage have been reversed, and mosaics and marble floors repaired.
A toll-free tunnel in Norway that will allow drivers to avoid the sometimes impassable mountain route from Aurland to Laerdal has opened. The 24km Laerdal tunnel, which links two of the country's popular tourist areas, has taken five years to complete. The construction of the tunnel, one of the longest in the world, has concentrated on safety, with ventilation a central factor. There are 15 turning points and 48 breakdown areas. The tunnel will reduce driving time on the 520km route between the two largest cities in Norway: Bergen in the west and Oslo to the east. Previously, the only way of crossing the Aurland-Laerdal route from November through May was by car ferry, a three-hour journey with four sailings daily.