On the Road
ITT Sheraton is a running a Silk Road package at five of its properties in China until March 31.
Nightly rates (single or double occupancy) are as low as US$70 at their Xian hotel, rising to US$117 at The Great Wall Sheraton in Beijing. The rate includes round-trip airport transfers, buffet breakfast and late check out.
THE Federal Aviation Administration has brought in extra safety rules in Hawaii following accidents involving sightseeing aircraft.
The Hawaiian air tour industry carries about 400,000 sightseers over the islands and near their volcanoes each year. In the past three years 24 passengers have been killed on such flights, most recently when a helicopter crashed in July.
Apart from Hawaii, sightseeing flights at the Grand Canyon have also been plagued with accidents, some of them fatal, in recent years.
Among the rules the FAA has adopted in Hawaii are those making single-engine helicopters carry emergency flotation devices; requiring pilots to operate according to a carefully prepared flight plan accounting for the plane's weight and performance, and prohibiting flights closer than 1,500 feet to the ground or water.
A CONVERTED rice barge 52 feet long will begin plying Thailand's Chao Phraya River for one-or two-night luxury cruises between Bangkok and Ayutthaya.
The barge, the Mahohra Song, with Asian art, Persian rugs, and decks and walls of teak, padua and mahogany, will be operated by the Marriott Royal Garden Riverside hotel in Bangkok. There are four air-conditioned staterooms each with a bath, a large lounge, a dining area with open bar and a forward sun deck.
THE British Government's regular inspection of ferries has become more rigorous after marine safety experts examining the ships found that about 35 ferries, or one of every three operating from British ports, had minor problems with their doors.
The door checks were ordered after investigators from Estonia, Finland and Sweden determined that locks on the huge front door of the ferry Estonia failed during a storm in the Baltic Sea, letting in a flood of water that sank the ship in late September, killing more than 900 people aboard.
AVIS and National Car Rental are phasing in day-running headlights as a standard feature. When the car's ignition is turned on, the lights come on at 80 per cent of full power.
Studies in the United States, Canada and Scandinavia have shown that using headlights at all times reduces two-car accidents; day-running lights have been required on Canadian cars since the 1990 model year.
A CHINESE restaurant in Anderson, California, calls itself The Hard Wok Cafe.
