November 2001

Important Travel Information

LAOS

Registration of Every Traveller.
According to Lao National Tourist Authority and the Tourist Police every traveller needs to be registered before entering Laos. We will automatically take care of that for you without any further costs. But in order to do so we need the following: Dates of every traveller at least 2 weeks before arrival (best way is if you hand in the dates with the reservation): - Nationality - passport number - first and last names - date of birth - Gender. The authority of Laos will charge us for every non-registered traveller with US$25.00 which will have to be invoiced to the customer that travels with us.

VIETNAM

Increased Airport Tax, Hanoi.
The Airport Tax for international flights has now been increased to US$14.00 per passenger. We will be pleased to send you information about Airport Tax in Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia.

MYANMAR

Trips to Ngapali.
Warning! The beautiful Ngapali beach in Myanmar is heavily booked during the main season.

New attractions

CAMBODIA

Cambodia by Steam Train
A new tour programme for groups of minimum 15 persons to travel Cambodia in a very exotic but safe way. For further information or itineraries, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Hotels & Restaurants

There have been many re-openings this year in Siem Reap but the Pan Sea Angkor Hotel 4/5* is an especially outstanding example. The centrally located Hotel, built and designed in the traditional Khmer-Style, is a stylish starting point for tours to Angkor. Even though the 52 large rooms are designed in the Khmer-Style they offer every standard of a luxury hotel.

Manoluck Hotel reopened.
After several month of renovation at the Manoluck Hotel in Luang Prabang, it has finally been completed. From this season onwards it will be ready to welcome tourists again. New rates may be obtained from us.

Travel

New Route Haiphong - Danang
With immediate effect Vietnam Airlines will operate the route from Haiphong-Danang-Haiphong three days a week. It departs every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday by Airbus A320. It is especially considerable for the connection between Central Vietnam and Bay of Halong.

Philippine Airlines will resume services on the HCM City - Manila run from 15th March after more than two years of suspension. The airlines will have three weekly services on the route.
Since the opening of the route Hochiminh City - Tokyo, flights on this route have a seat occupancy of 70%-80% and have up to now maintained a high rate. Passengers are mostly traders and tourists. According to the market surveys, the demand for air transport between Vietnam and Japan will rise sharply in the near future thanks to the increasing number of Japanese tourists to Vietnam (estimated 140,000 Japanese in 2001), especially the growth in trade and investment of Japanese business people in the country.

Royal Air Cambodge suspends its operation.
Effective from 16 October 2001 Royal Air Cambodge (RAC) suspended operations. However, Siem Reap Airways and President Airlines still operate their services.

Cambodia's Siem Reap Airways international will launch a daily Siem Reap-HCM City service on 25th March, 2001. The new service was designed to meet the growing demand of tourists who are interested in "the culture and lifestyle of HCM City" Pan Sea Hotel, Siem Reap.

Social

Mekong Club

Address: P O BOX 820, HP9 2JG, England
Tel: +(44) (0)973 231 446,
http://www.mekongclub.net

The Mekong Club is an informal, non-political, non-commercial association, primarily concerned with promotion of the cultures of the "Mekong Region" (i.e. Viet Nam, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and adjacent regions) in the UK. The Club will act as a forum for exchange of information and experience by:

• The promotion of social and cultural events, tutorial groups and other meetings
• Maintenance of a world wide web page and an address list for circulars on 'events and ideas'.

Membership is open to all, but it is envisaged that the club will be of particular interest to:

• Expatriates from the Mekong Region living in the UK, with particular encouragement given to 2nd and 3rd generation family members.
• British (and other European) citizens wishing to maintain in contact with people and issues in the Mekong Region.
• Visitors from the Region needing temporary support whilst in the UK.
• Citizens in the Mekong Region, wishing to develop contacts in the UK.

The Club will be organised by a chairperson, secretariat and webmaster, with a single, annual business meeting combined with a social event. The secretariat will be responsible for financial stewardship, with a "minimal" fund consisting of contributions for individual events and newsletters. An annual membership fee of £5 is envisaged per adult. For further details, please write or telephone the above number.

Mekong Club Application:

I/We …………………………….. would like to join the Mekong Club

My/Our address is: .......................................................................................................

.........................................................................................................................................

Please find enclosed the payment for membership of £5 and my/our voluntary contribution of £… Total: £…. (Cash or cheque payable to Mekong Club)

Posting Address: P.O. BOX 820, HP9 2JG.

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