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

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

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.

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)

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.

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

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

Coming in mid-August: DESTINATION FOCUS: INDIA

Destination Focus: China

With 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!

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