New or Re-emerging Nations

-This month, the Global Travel Writers team takes your readers to some countries just now emerging from years of war, dictatorship, foreign occupation and/or civil strife. For your other travel editorial needs, search our database now!
Newly re-emerging Nations Thomas E. King visits Vilnius, capital of Lithuania and European Capital of Culture 2009, and finds a stylsh city with a baroque heart trimmed with amber. The intrepid sportsman also roams around a host of new and exciting golf links of Lithuania.	The GTW Team Fiona Harper Glenn A. Baker Graham Simmons Karen Halabi Paul Dymond Philip Game Sally Hammond Sheriden Rhodes Thomas E. King Tricia Welsh Brazil gets the Games! After years of oppressive government, Brazil has bounced back under President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. One of the rewards will be Rio de Janeiro's staging of the 2016 Olympics. Check out this video of Rio's preparations for the Games . EMAIL US
Sheriden Rhodes follows the glitterati and movie celebrities to the beaches of new global hotspots Croatia and Monetenegro
East Timor is not exactly super-ripe for tourism, says Philip Game , but the friendliness of the people helps to overcome any hardships of travel.
Fiona Harper follows in the wake of James A Michener, finding the cruising ground of her teenage dreams in Vanuatu.
As Cambodia emerges from three decades of horror, Sisowath Quay in the capital Phnom Penh is emerging as one of the world's great promenades, reports Graham Simmons.
With ex-President Fidel Castro's health failing and President Raul Castro now turned 78, "now is the time to visit Cuba -- and soon!" says Tricia Welsh
As Scotland gets its first Parliament in 300 years,Sally Hammond visits The Shetland Islands , which consider themselves more Norwegian than Scottish.
For more stories, check out the Global Travel Writers list of articles by Country
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Journeys - August 2009

Thailand spends a huge amount on tourism promotion. But it's money well spent, as the diversity of Thai attractions staggers even the most jaded visitor. The Global Travel Writers team specialises in Thailand coverage - and for your other travel editorial needs, search our database now!
-= THAILAND IN FOCUS =-	The GTW Team Fiona Harper Glenn A. Baker Graham Simmons Karen Halabi Philip Game Sally Hammond Sheriden Rhodes Thomas E. King Tricia Welsh Motto of the month: "Goodness is something that makes us serene and content" - King Bhumipol Adulyadej of Thailand EMAIL
Karen Halabi reports on a diminuitive Thai woman known as Lek ("Tiny"), who has done more than just about anyone else to help the predicament of elephants.
There is no elegant way to climb up onto an elephant. Tricia Welsh learns this very quickly at a Mahouts' Course in northern Thailand.
Thomas E King visits Pai , west of Chiang Mai, now a niche destination with hill tribes, hot springs, elephant trekking and sophisticated boutique accommodation
From the industrial chic of Indigo Pearl, to the barefoot charm of the luxurious Trisara, Sheriden Rhodes seeks out the most stylish new Hip Thai Resorts
Tracks across the Kingdom: Philip Game reports that the State Railway of Thailand has now reached across the Mekong with a new international line to the Lao capital, Vientiane.
New Views from Koh Samui: Graham Simmons looks at the work of the Koh Samui Tourist Police, and asks whether visitors need lessons in the art of being good guests.
For more Thai stories, E-mail Fiona Harper, Gordon Hammond (with a story "White Thai Dinner") or Sally Hammond, our resident specialist on cookery schools in Bangkok
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Journeys - April 2009

April 2009 - There's no financial crisis in the Jungle No doubt about; many people are really hurting in the current financial situation. Maybe it's time to get back to basics - to the jungle or the bush or the hinterland - where life proceeds at a more orderly pace, and the world of derivatives and money manipulations seems very far away.
-= J O U R N E Y S =- Cook Islands : E Coast Malaysia: KwaZulu-Natal : Mauritius : Assam: Falklands: Shetlands Crossing the island of Rarotonga: Fiona Harper reports that all is well in the Cook Islands, a little outpost of Polynesia far off the money-market radar screen.	The GTW Team Fiona Harper Glenn A. Baker Graham Simmons Karen Halabi Philip Game Sally Hammond Sheriden Rhodes Thomas E. King Tricia Welsh Motto of the month: Travel is a way of getting rid of your excess baggage. EMAIL
Jungle Train: To travel on Malaysia's East Coast Railway is more important than to arrive, as Philip Game learns the hard way.
Phinda Bush Skills Adventure: Tricia Welsh finds that an innovative four-day bush skills adventure on Phinda Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa) is a real exercise in getting back to basics.
Delicious Mauritius: Thomas E. King goes island hopping through the land of the (extinct) dodo and the (lively) sega and finds that culturally diverse Mauritius offers stunning scenery, great golf, fascinating history and splendid spas where the emphasis is on total relaxation.
Africa in widescreen: Karen Halabi recommends escaping the economic crisis in a country that doesn't even have an economy - in Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park.
Exploring Assam: Graham Simmons goes exploring the remote Indian state of Assam, finding that it provides much more than just tea and syncopy.
Hawaii of the Orient: Sheriden Rhodes finds escape on China's Hainan Island, which surprisingly offers white sandy beaches, warm languid waters and tall swaying coconut trees... an anomaly in this fast-moving nation.
Far-flung to the Falklands: Glenn A Baker visits the Falkland Islands, a country at the very bottom of the world financial ladder.
Castaway Islands: Sally Hammond checks out another outpost - Scotland's Shetland Islands, where the islanders regard themselves as more Scandinavian than Scottish.
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Journeys - March 2009

March 2009 - Trails of Great Writers The award-winning Global Travel Writers team follows Robert Louis Stevenson through Samoa and the remote Ardèche region of France; discovers a bookworm's heaven nestled in the verdant valleys where England meets Wales, and continues on into South Wales to find the legacy of Dylan Thomas very much alive; we pursue the ghost of Robbie Burns through the Scottish Highlands and unmask Shakespeare's Venice.
-= J O U R N E Y S =- France : Samoa : Wales : Scotland : Venice Samoa's Teller of Tales: On December 3, 1894, a "cloud of gloom" drifted over Samoa. As news spread that its most respected resident had died, a revered chief paid a glowing tribute and then in a ceremony normally reserved for royalty, Robert Louis Stevenson was laid to rest. [Thomas E. King]	The GTW Team Fiona Harper Glenn A. Baker Graham Simmons Karen Halabi Philip Game Sally Hammond Sheriden Rhodes Thomas E. King Tricia Welsh GTW Trivia: The life expectancy of a Galapagos tortoise is roughly equivalent to the combined experience of the Global Travel Writers team. EMAIL
By fork and glass through the Ardèche: In his classic By Donkey through the Cévennes, Robert Louis Stevenson introduced the world to one of the wildest regions of Europe. A historic and scenic eye-feast without peer, the south-west of the French département of Ardèche is an integral part of the Cévennes. Today's traveller has it easier than Stevenson, with classic accommodations and fine dining along the trail. [Graham Simmons]
Bookworms make Hay: Hay-on- Wye is a bookworm's heaven nestled in the verdant valleys where England meets Wales. Even the town's crumbling medieval castle has been turned into one of thirty or more bookstores. Further north along the Welsh border lies St Deiniol's, the private library of the magnificently eccentric Sir William Gladstone and today, arguably, Britain's finest residential library. [Philip Game]
Shakespeare's Venice Unmasked: The masks of Carnevale personify Shakespeare's Venice, a fantasy city whose real life is hidden behind a tourist veneer and hardly ever revealed to strangers. Venice is like a stage and the triangle between Rialto, San Marco and Accademia like a revolving play. The setting for Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, the city has drawn many a writer, poet and filmmaker under its romantic spell. [Karen Halabi]
Royal Treatment "More coffee?" A waiter hovers at my elbow... It's tempting, but my Arbroath smokies (smoked haddock) are coming. I have already done justice to a big bowl of oatmeal laced with the chef's secret ingredient. What is it? I ask. The waiter bends towards me, "Highland whisky liqueur," he whispers. We are travelling aboard the Royal Scotsman, rattling past one of the best breakfast views on earth. Beside us lies Loch Carron with the white houses of Plockton (setting for the TV series Hamish Macbeth) just blotching into the distance. This is the land of Robbie Burns. As the Royal Scotsman clicketty-clacks over the countryside he knew so well, it's hard not to hum Auld Lang Syne. Determined that 'old acquaintance should not be forgotten' Scottish Tourism has designated 2009, the 250th anniversary of his birth, Homecoming Scotland. [Sally Hammond]
Finding Dylan Thomas in Old South Wales You don't have to go searching for Dylan Thomas in Old South Wales. Quite the contrary - Dylan Thomas will come looking for YOU. Through exhibitions, museums, festivals, statues, cafes, pubs, street names, paintings, posters and snatches of words still hanging in the salty air. [Glenn A. Baker]
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