Wednesday 19 December 2007

Destination Focus: The Edge of the Planet


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We wish you a TOP Christmas - and if you don't celebrate Christmas, then Happy New Year! And if you don't celebrate New Year some time soon, then Greetings from Planet Earth!

This month's Destination Focus:
Barely on the Planet

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Coming in mid-January: DESTINATION FOCUS: MYSTERIOUS ISLANDS

Saturday 1 December 2007

December 2007 - Latest Stories and Destinations

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Global Travel Writers

GTWBringing the world to your readers

The award-winning Global Travel Writers team bring you their latest offerings for December 2007

Stop Press: Just off the plane from Korea, Sally Hammond is now packing for Hobart.

Think outside the square. GTWers have decades of experience covering such diverse subjects as music, culture, cuisine, lifestyle, technology, aviation, sport and tourism business. [see themes]

* J O U R N E Y S *
Australia : Europe : Iceland : Thailand
India : Cambodia

coastal artBrushstrokes by the Bay: Melbourne's Coastal Arts Trail on Port Phillip Bay, from Brighton to Mentone, celebrates pioneer Australian artists. At different times of day, you can see the same hues, colours and moods which inspired Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and others. [PG]

All-Star qualia Opens

Australia has a new star on the luxury resort scene. qualia, a truly Australian resort on the Great Barrier Reef which deservedly claims to set a new benchmark in Australian tourism. GTWer Karen Halabi was one of the first journalists to visit the newly opened resort in the Whitsundays which is owned by the Oatley family of international yachting and wine fame. “Watch this space”, says Karen, “I predict qualia will soon be winning awards as well.”

The GTW Team
Glenn A Baker
Graham Simmons
John Borthwick
Karen Halabi
Philip Game
Roderick Eime
Sally Hammond
Sheriden Rhodes
Thomas E King
Tricia Welsh

GTW Trivia:
All together, the Global Travel Writers have over one million stock travel images.

EMAIL

bulgaria"Europe is not designed for speed”, said Romanian philosopher Andrei Pleşu. He may well have had the Danube-Main-Rhine rivers in mind. When swollen waters strand a cruise ship in the Bavarian city of Würzburg, it becomes an exercise in "What if...?" [GS]
Cambodia GolfHip Thai Resorts: From industrial chic at Indigo Pearl to barefoot charm at luxurious Trisara, Thailand boasts the hippest new boutique resorts. Staffed by warm, efficient Thais, they put out the welcome mat the moment you arrive. [SR]
IcelandA New Kind of Cool: Icelanders, let it be known, are not adverse to a good time. Even an official tourism guide for the 'Capital of Cool' declares, "the nightlife scene in the city centre at weekends is one of hedonistic mayhem". [GAB]
TajPutting on the Taj: The Taj Group has several palace hotels in northern India. The Umaid Bhawan at Jodphur, is still partly occupied by the Maharajah. Udaipur's Lake Palace, a glistening white edifice floating like a mirage on Lake Udaipur once featured in a James Bond movie. [KH]
AngkorSiem Reap: Simply Remarkable:
In 1860, French naturalist Henri Mouhot, while searching for rare orchids, found something hidden for 500 years under the dense forest growth: the ‘universe’ condensed into one magnificent temple. [TK]
BudapestThe Last Mahouts: Thailand's changing environmental laws and increased mechanisation means the traditonal mahouts, or wild elephant catchers, are dying out. We meet the last mahouts in the famous elephant city of Surin. [RE]
For more stories see: Global Travel Writers
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Saturday 24 November 2007

Global Travel Writers Latest Offerings for November 2007

Global Travel Writers

Bringing the world to your readers

The award-winning Global Travel Writers team bring you their latest offerings for November 2007

Stop Press: John Borthwick winner (again), Sally Hammond, Sheriden Rhodes, Glenn A Baker, Roderick Eime finalists in Australian Society of Travel Writers Annual Awards [read more]

< J O U R N E Y S >

"The strangely shaped whitewashed spire of Stanjel shows up from some distance as you drive from Nova Gorica to Sezana in western Slovenia, where hilltop towns a few kilometres away in Italy dot the horizon." Sally Hammond in Slovenia

Following the collapse of Communism in 1990, Hungary faced the task of finding a new identity. Unlike other Eastern Bloc countries, Hungary has "capitalised" on its Communist past. Graham Simmons Finds Attitude in Hungary

The first-ever international golf tournament in Cambodia in November/December 2007 focuses attention on a nation that’s never been associated with the great game. Thomas E King notes Cambodia’s New Golf Challenges

Some believe Australia's Lord Howe Island is the last true tropical island paradise. UNESCO World Heritage listed since 1982 and blissfully isolated and delightfully remote, you decide. Roderick Eime is convinced.

My heart almost stopped when the western face of Mount Vihren in Bulgaria dropped into a void below me. Far below, the grassy slopes had been 'improved' with messages spelt out in stones: Vladimir loves Olga. Philip Game draws breath in Bulgaria

More stories from the old Soviet Eastern Bloc: Bulgaria, Slovenia, Estonia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia and Latvia.


New EuropeRoderick Eime catches up with Michael Palin during his whirlwind book tour Down Under. In New Europe, Palin explores the former Eastern Bloc with some startling results.
Bamboo
Sally Hammond released her latest book last month, Bamboo. A food lover’s and traveller’s delight, Bamboo puts China in your hands with tips and inside knowledge on travelling and dining in the ‘land of dragons’.


For more stories see: Global Travel Writers

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Sunday 4 November 2007

Thais that unwind - Spa & Resorts - Activities & Interests - Travel - smh.com.au

From industrial chic to barefoot charm, Sheriden Rhodes surveys Thailand's hippest new resorts.

I'm showering under a huge industrial steel pipe. To get the water flowing you turn the valve wheel and a strong flow of warm water gushes out. Behind me, rows of sun lounges and umbrellas are neatly arranged around a pool where the air and water temperature meld into one. A gushing waterfall lures swimmers and, once underneath, pummels away aches and pains. Meanwhile, a funky-looking pool attendant with a big smile and trendy shades delivers a cold towel, icy water and cubes of cool rockmelon to our spot in the shade.

Read the full story

Thursday 1 November 2007

Destination Focus: The Australian Outback


Bringing the world to your readers

The award-winning Global Travel Writers team
brings you this month's Destination Focus:
The Australian Outback

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Our Destination Focus: Southern Africa mailout last month provoked a good deal of interest.

Coming in mid-November: DESTINATION FOCUS: SOUTHERN EUROPE

Sunday 28 October 2007

Bamboo: A journey with Chinese food

Bamboo – a journey with Chinese food, by Sally Hammond & Gordon Hammond. Release date: October 2007, rrp $35, paperback.

TAKE A REGIONAL FOOD TOUR AROUND FASCINATING CHINA, SAMPLING THE DELIGHTS OF THIS COLOURFUL COUNTRY.

Bamboo is a food lover’s and traveller’s delight, with magnificent photography by Gordon Hammond and Sally’s entertaining insights of this ancient land.

East to west, north to south, here is a taste of China’s huge variety of regional cuisine set out in easy to follow recipes accompanied by gorgeous recipe shots.

Bamboo puts China in your hands with tips and inside knowledge on travelling and dining in the ‘land of dragons’.

Although some of the recipes in this book may call for a trip to a Chinese market or Chinatown to collect some ingredients, but it will be worth it. More likely you will plan to do even more.

‘Why not go to this fascinating country and see and taste for yourself?’ says Sally.

Wednesday 10 October 2007

Global Travel Writers Prominent in Australia's Top Travel Writing Awards

GTW member, John Borthwick, clearly ASTW’s most awarded travel writer and photographer

The Australian Society of Travel Writers celebrated their annual awards in a gala ceremony in Melbourne this month.

Again, the members of the Global Travel Writers group featured amongst the finalists in almost every category.

2007 TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR – BEST AUSTRALIAN STORY OVER 1000 WORDS

Finalist: Sheriden Rhodes

2007 TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR – BEST AUSTRALIAN STORY UNDER 1000 WORDS

Finalist and Winner: John Borthwick

2007 TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR – BEST INTERNATIONAL STORY OVER 1000 WORDS

Finalist: Glenn A Baker

2007 TRAVEL WRITER OF THE YEAR – BEST INTERNATIONAL STORY UNDER 1000 WORDS

Finalist: Roderick Eime

2007 TRAVEL BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD

Finalist: Sally Hammond

John Borthwick was a multiple category finalist and winner in 2006, with both Roderick Eime and Sheriden Rhodes featuring amongst the finalists.

With John Borthwick’s category win in 2005 and many prior, he is clearly Australia’s most awarded travel writer and photographer.

Visit the Global Travel Writers’ website at: http://www.globaltravelwriters.com

Tuesday 9 October 2007

Latest from Global Travel Writers for October 2007

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The award-winning Global Travel Writers team bring you their latest offerings for October 2007:

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Our Destination Focus: Southern Africa mailout last month provoked a good deal of interest.

Coming in mid-October: DESTINATION FOCUS: SOUTHERN EUROPE

Saturday 29 September 2007

Mfuwe, Malawi and Mozambique

Graham Simmons travelled to South Luangwa National Park near Mfuwe in northern Zambia. Here, at “Mushroom House” (just re-opened as a luxury safari lodge), he talked with Kaweche Kaunda, son of Zambia’s first President Kenneth Kaunda.

African history was made at “Mushroom House”, meeting place for Kaunda Snr and his Cabinet. This was also the site of the secret meeting in 1976 between the ANC’s Oliver Tambo and South Africa’s Oppenheimer team of white industrialists – a meeting that drove the very first wedge through the wall of apartheid.

After sinking a beer or three at Mfuwe’s Flatdogs Safari Camp, Simmons headed overland to Malawi and thence Mozambique, riding precariously on the back of pickup trucks. His first sojourn in Mozambique lasted about ten minutes before he was deported for lack of a visa. He retraced his steps and re-entered Mozambique at the visa-issuing border post of Mandimba, some 150 km to the north.

The far west of Mozambique is the jumping-off point for one of Africa’s great train rides – the Cuamba to Nampula non-express. The main raison d’être of the train line is to allow trackside vendors and passengers to exchange their wares. Many merchants ride the train just to buy produce along the way and then sell it at a profit on the coast.

The super-atmospheric island of Ilha de Mozambique – home to Africa’s oldest European buildings and an amalgam of Portuguese, Arab and African cultures – came as a must-visit stop. When decent infrastructure is in place, Ilha will become the hottest place on the international tourist circuit – until it overheats and travellers move yet elsewhere.

Simmons wound up this trip in the Mozambican capital Maputo. Imagine Longa tribal culture overlaid with Portuguese colonialism, again overlaid with Marxist-era buildings now crumbling and now with modern condo development. There is no holding Maputo back!

For the time being, Mozambique comes as a series of sensory sensations – vibrant colours, great food (what else would you expect in an ex-Portuguese colony where the original piri-piri sauce was invented?) and lively, pulsating music. This country is a destination about to realise its destiny.

Tuesday 25 September 2007

Destination Focus: Southern Africa


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The many and varied lands of southern Africa are never far from the headlines, yet continue to deliver some of the most rewarding travel experiences anywhere on the planet. The Global Travel Writers offer your readers their own unique perspectives.

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Sunday 9 September 2007

Latest from Global Travel Writers for September 2007


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The award-winning Global Travel Writers team bring you their latest offerings for September 2007:

For more stories see: Global Travel Writers

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Our Destination Focus: India mailout last month provoked a good deal of interest.

Coming in mid-September: DESTINATION FOCUS: SOUTHERN AFRICA

Saturday 1 September 2007

You spa what you eat - Spa & Resorts - Activities & Interests - SMH Travel

Sheriden Rhodes gets covered in herbal treatments, then finds the same ingredients in her lunch.

A heady waft of coconut and lemongrass fills the air. Birds flit to and fro among the thick, jungle-like foliage. I've arrived at the Earth Spa by Six Senses at the luxurious Evason Hideaway in Hua Hin, Thailand. Here, the mud-brick domed treatment rooms appear to float in a lily pond while softly spoken Thai therapists pad silently about the tranquil tropical setting.

Sunday 26 August 2007

Destination Focus: India


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As India celebrates 60 years of independence, the Global Travel Writers team brings you some unusual perspectives on this astonishing kaleido-country

For over twenty features from this great country
see Global Travel Writers website


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Coming in mid-September: DESTINATION FOCUS: SOUTHERN AFRICA

Ahead of Koh Samui's tide | NEWS.com.au

FLOATING in the western Gulf of Siam like a tropical, bonsai Tasmania, Koh Samui is only 25km long by 21km wide, but it draws one million visitors each year and there are 9000 aircraft arrivals. If you once visited Samui as a beach-hopping backpacker, be prepared to witness change with a mega C.

Numerous subdivision-with-seaview estates, bristling with expat villas, have made northeast Samui look like the home suburb you may just have left. But beyond these "villa people" and the long-established tourist zones, much of the island remains snoozy.

John Borthwick

Saturday 25 August 2007

Over the top in India - India - South Asia - World - Travel - smh.com.au

Exterior view of the Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur.
Exterior view of the Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur.

Karen Halabi gets the royal treatment in two hotels acclaimed as the best in the world.

When Bikki Oberoi built India's first boutique hotel 10 years ago, he modelled Rajvilas, in Jaipur, on a Rajasthani prince's fort. When he built Udaivilas in the neighbouring city of Udaipur, he modelled it even more ambitiously on a royal palace. These places leave you feeling decidedly overwhelmed and underdressed.

Friday 24 August 2007

In black and white - North Asia - World - Travel - smh.com.au


Like all of the country, Graham Simmons falls for the 2008 Olympic mascot.
BLOW-UP pandas, pandas on T-shirts, panda balloons, pandas, pandas, pandas. In the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics, China's gone panda-mad - or rather, mad for Jingjing, the mascot for Beijing's forthcoming grand sporting adventure.
(Image: Reuters)


Wednesday 15 August 2007

Oh Zambezi!



Hunting with Lions

Rod is just back from a week in Zimbabwe and South Africa where he spent time with young lions being rehabilitated for release into the wild. One minute they're getting a tummy-tickle, the next they're ripping into a full size buffalo. To round out the trip, he flew in a microlight above herds of elephant and giraffe, and in a JetRanger above Victoria Falls. [ see images ] Stay tuned for more.

Wednesday 1 August 2007

Latest News From Global Travel Writers: Aug



Bringing the world to your readers

The award-winning Global Travel Writers team bring you their latest offerings for August 2007:

We start this month with some more China stories:

  • Karen Halabi visits Shanghai and discovers the modern face of 21st century China;
  • John Borthwick visits Gulangyu, "the Piano Island", off the coast of China's Fujian province
  • Sally Hammond takes a close-up look at Beijing, discussing the lead-up to the Games, where to stay in the city and other things to see and do before and after the Games;
  • Graham Simmons goes on an unlikely search: Finding Green in Taiwan;
  • Roderick Eime finds that in outback Queensland, the streets are paved, not with gold, but with emeralds, rubies and sapphires. Share the miners' Lust for Dust
  • Sheriden Rhodes cheques out the Swiss banking city of Zurich;
  • Philip Game finds the avant-garde in Glasgow and goes road-tripping in Western Scotland
  • Thomas E King tees off on Noosa's Natural Greens and goes Rockin' around Rockhampton;
  • Glenn A Baker finds Mongolia, the "Land of Blue Sky"

For more stories see: Global Travel Writers

When we're not travelling or working to your deadlines, you'll find us here:

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Our Destination Focus: China mailout last month provoked a good deal of interest.

Coming in mid-August: DESTINATION FOCUS: INDIA

Monday 30 July 2007

Destination Focus: China

Performer, XianWith the world's attention on China for the forthcoming Beijing Olympics, the award-winning Global Travel Writers team brings you a diverse range of stories from this, the world's most populous nation:
  • Karen Halabi visits Shanghai and discovers the modern face of 21st century China, where things are changing at a rapid pace.
  • John Borthwick disappears down the Silk Road
  • Roderick Eime tramps the streets of Beijing in search of Mao memorabilia and unearths the secrets behind the buried warriors of Xian
  • Sally Hammond takes a hands-on look Beijing, discussing the lead-up to the games, where to stay in the city and other things to see and do before and after the Games;
  • Graham Simmons breathes the rarefied air of EastTibet
  • Sheriden Rhodes ventures to where the Chinese themselves spend their holidays, on Hainan Island;
  • Philip Game vaults across "Tiger Leaping Gorge";
  • Thomas E King tees off in Kunming
And if what you need is not covered above, Contact us!

Global Travel Writers would like to acknowledge the valuable support from:

Helen WongHelen Wong's Tours

View Helen Wong's Comprehensive Tour Catalogue

Thursday 19 July 2007

Global Travel Writers on Facebook

Yes, we've jumped another social networking bandwagon.



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Wednesday 11 July 2007

Seachange in Byron

Karen Halabi reports from idyllic Byron Bay on the Australian East Coast. She's been checking out the surf, the best eating spots, the best spots to stay and the burgeoning coffee plantations which are making Byron one of Australia's premier coffee growing regions.

Former Sydneysiders Tristan Grier and Kassia Picone are the enthusiastic new owners of the famed Harvest Café at Newrybar in the hills outside Byron Bay on the Australian East Coast. The dynamic duo have just taken over at this must-stop eatery on the northern NSW coast.

They are just two of the people for whom life in Byron has become a “seachange”, joining the throngs of Southerners from colder climes in Australia who are moving north from cities such as Sydney and Melbourne to find their own little place in paradise.

GTW-er Karen Halabi met them when she was compiling a story for the website on The Best of Byron.

Byron Bay may once have been Australia’s alternative capital but these days its gone very much mainstream, probably a sign of our new found environmental and global warming consciousness.

Byron has also attracted such people as Gregg Cave, co-owner (along with singer Olivia Newton-John) of Gaia retreat and Spa in the Byron hinterland just a short drive from Harvest. Everyone’s here for the same reason – lifestyle; they’re escaping the urban rat race for a simpler more idyllic life in the If you’re interested in a story on Byron, Australia’s answer to …., contact Karen (karen@globaltravelwriters.com) or check out the website at www.globaltravelwriters.com

Monday 2 July 2007

Where are they/where are they going?

The peregrinations of the Global Travel Writers: July 2007

  • Tricia Welsh is just back from Libya, and found this formerly renegade nation a total surprise. She will shortly be reporting on Libya, and also on a new, luxury Nile cruise in Egypt

  • Roderick Eime tramps the streets of Beijing in search of Maoist memorabilia

  • Philip Game takes in some fresh-air fun in Brisbane and goes road-tripping in Western
    Scotland

  • Karen Halabi goes kayaking on the mighty Katherine River, and meets colourful local characters in Australia's Northern Territory

  • Glenn A Baker finds Calming luxury in Lisbon

  • Graham Simmons goes on an unlikely search: Finding Green in Taiwan, and will shortly be reporting on preparations for the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung

  • Sheriden Rhodes finds an unknown gem, Woodwark Bay, in the Whitsunday Passage of Queensland, Australia

  • Thomas E King tees off in India, Hitting Hyderabad Greens, and explores the hidden Gems of Gibraltar, and

  • Sally Hammond takes an in-depth look at the Paris Metro

We'll have more lavish and glorious details on their travels for you shortly.

Sunday 1 July 2007

Pardon My French

Shortly before leaving Australia, committed Francophile and Global Travel Writer, Sally Hammond, tempted fate when telling friends about her planned trip to France.

“I’ve never had a bad meal there,” she asserted with apparent confidence. Fortunately they couldn’t see her fingers crossed behind her back.

So is this going to be the trip to prove her wrong?

With her husband Gordon, the tireless ‘Mad Photographer’ at the wheel, Sally zips off on another adventure – firstly south to Burgundy and Provence then heading west across the country, swiftly dipping into Spain and even more swiftly out again, and then dawdling up the west coast via Gascony, the Dordogne and the Loire.

Among many other things Sally and Gordon trace mineral waters to their sources, learn of donkeys in PJs, tour champagne cellars, a famous cognac house and an underground chateau, and sleep in an 800 year old castle.

Then one lunchtime Sally samples a mystery ingredient which turns out to be a little more than she’d planned on.

So here’s the invitation: “Please come along for the ride,” she says. “Think of it as a ‘tour de France’ – without the bikes.”

Paperback | 2007| New Holland | Cookery, French – France – Description and Travel |ISBN 9781741103960 | $24.95

Monday 4 June 2007

Summer in Siam by John Borthwick

"I walked out the door, a bit dazed. I had ten dollars and two not-quite diamonds, and it was summer in Siam." John Borthwick's first day in Thailand seemed far from auspicious — but it has been uphill from then on. Dropping him in the middle of everything from three-day tribal weddings, elephant polo follies and pristine islands to Pattaya's bacchanalian nightlife, Thailand has kept John and his pen constantly on the move.

One of Australia's leading travel authors, John Borthwick has gathered here the best of his years of Thailand adventures, plus a swag of vivid tales from his wanderings in India, Xinjiang, the Himalayas, Borneo, Bali, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Paperback
Bangkok Books
Bangkok 2006
232 pages
ISBN 974-85129-2-4

Friday 1 June 2007

The Global Travel Writers team bring you their latest offerings for June 2007

For more, visit: Global Travel Writers

Sunday 8 April 2007

The cities at the top of the world


Just Back:

Graham Simmons meets the rugged Khampa people in the wild east of Tibet.

Tibetans feared their culture and lifestyle would be threatened when the railway from north-west China to their capital, Lhasa, opened last July. But Tibetan ways still thrive in some parts of the country.

One such area is the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Ganzi, now a part of China's Sichuan province. Until 1949, this region was a part of Tibet, yet the Chinese authorities have treated Ganzi with a remarkable lack of paranoia.

Graham's story is a feature in The Age. Read it now