The British are coming!
The thought of British package tourists returning home en masse wearing conical straw hats and clutching Mao Zedong statuettes instead of Spanish straw donkeys and sombreros boggles the mind, but such a scenario is just around the corner. With foreign package-holiday firms looking to make inroads into the mainland market as a lucrative alternative to more traditional, over-visited European locations, Hainan (above) is to become the first mainland destination to receive that most parodied and bemoaned of international travellers (along with Germans and Americans): the British holidaymaker. Airtours, a subsidiary of MyTravel (which operates its own charter planes), has started taking bookings for two-week, all-inclusive holidays that will see charter-jet loads of weary passengers (it will be a 15-hour flight, via Bahrain) disembarking in search of sun, sea and sand starting in May next year. Like almost every hotel on the island, Airtours is marketing Hainan as the Hawaii of China, although the lack of tiki lounges, volcanoes and hula girls might leave many scratching their heads. It's hard to imagine Hainan turning into another Costa del Sol overnight, but if you want to visit before the mass market invades, make plans for this year.
Jazz cruising
Trendy Hua Hin boutique resort Aleenta (above), a couple of hours' drive - or a 30-minute flight - south of Bangkok, is selling two catamaran cruises to tie in with the Hua Hin Jazz Festival, which runs from June 2 to 4. The first is a day-trip around the Khao Sam Roi Yod National Park and its 'hard-to-reach pristine beaches', with the emphasis being on sunbathing and lazing around (a picnic is the most energetic activity). In the evening, the 80-foot vessel embarks on a more active voyage involving two DJs, free-flowing booze and a late return. Prices for the two trips are 4,500 baht ($890) and 7,000 baht a person, respectively, or 8,000 baht for both (inclusive of all food and drink), but visitors may be more interested in the three accommodation packages on offer. Including both cruises and two nights at the resort, these are priced at 24,000 baht for two people in an ocean view room, 27,000 baht in a pool suite and 27,900 baht in a Frangipani Wing suite. Flights are not included. For more on these packages, see
www.aleenta.com (click on 'jazz party boat' in the bottom left-hand corner). To find out more about the Hua Hin Jazz festival, visit
www.morethailand.com/hua_hin_jazz_2006.
Buying time
You have to wonder if these people shouldn't be charged for dealing in stolen goods, but judging from the number of 'sold' labels in its catalogue, Cabin Class Collectibles (
www.cabinclass.com) seems to be doing a brisk trade. Under the categories of the Galley, the Terminal, the Cabin and the Cockpit, the company offers 'a journey into the wonderful world of transportation memorabilia'. Just have your credit card handy. A hand-painted American Airlines hat box from 1940 will set you back US$180, a 1960s Air Jamaica cup and saucer can be had for US$43 and a complete set of AeroMexico cutlery, individually priced, should break the ice at dinner parties. As well as objects presumably filched over the years from various airlines, visitors can also browse steamship and railway swag, such as timetables (from a time when such things were works of art), ashtrays and even the odd uniform.
All mapped out