Inside the shrine of Chao Mae Thap Thim in Bangkok, a figurine of the sea goddess Mazu sits in the centre of a gold-framed altar of deities in a room festooned with lanterns and Chinese scriptures. Outside, a tall, newly erected metal fence stands between the goddess and a vast construction site, where a dozen trucks and excavators are waiting to move in and demolish the historic shrine once at the heart of the Thai capital’s Chinese migrant community. A group of students visit Chao Mae Thap Thim shrine during a live stream talk about the artistic and historic value of the shrine, during a full moon festival in Bangkok, Thailand, October 1, 2020. REUTERS/Jorge Silva The stone lions that protect the shrine may not hold out much longer. Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, which own...
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travelogues, travel articles and news from around the world
New York City unveiled a new $1.6 billion concourse at Penn Station on Wednesday, expanding North America’s busiest train terminal and helping rectify what a celebrated architect called the “tragic demolition” of the old station six decades ago. The construction of a new concourse in the iconic Farley Post Office building across Eighth Avenue from Penn Station had been talked about for decades before being set on a concrete path by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in 2016. People attend the public unveil of the Penn Station's new Moynihan Train Hall, which will serve passengers on Amtrak and the Long Island Rail Road, in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., December 30, 2020. REUTERS/Jeenah Moon The 255,000 square-foot Moynihan Train Hall, featuring a 92-foot high glass sk...
Read MoreAs Asia says goodbye to 2020 - a tumultuous year that saw the planet roiled by a deadly pandemic - celebrations will be smaller, shorter and more muted amid fears of coronavirus flare-ups. In Beijing, the capital of the world’s most-populous country, an annual New Year light show at the China Central Television Tower scheduled for Thursday through Sunday has been called off. The Beijing Yonghe Lama Temple, a tourist site, has also cut the number of visitors allowed by half since Thursday. Many Chinese tourists are staying home or taking shorter domestic trips. A woman walks past a painting outside an art school in Mumbai, India, December 30, 2020. REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas The coronavirus emerged a year ago in the central Chinese city of Wuhan and has since spread globally, ...
Read MoreGreece’s tourism sector is expected to recover next summer following a dramatic fall in revenues due to the coronavirus pandemic this year, a senior industry official said on Tuesday. Tourism is the main driver of Greece’s economy, accounting for about 20% of its output and employing one in five workers. FILE PHOTO: The Parthenon temple is seen atop the Acropolis hill at dusk, in Athens, Greece, December 10, 2020. REUTERS/Vassilis Triandafyllou How the sector fares is crucial for the country which emerged from its third international bailout in 2018 after a decade-long debt crisis. Yannis Retsos, head of the country’s tourism confederation (SETE), said tourism revenues this year had reached 4 billion euros, down from 18 billion in 2019, due to global travel restrictions to con...
Read MoreUkraine’s biggest ski resort Bukovel in the Carpathian mountains is fully booked until the end of year as Ukrainians have sped to it instead of other foreign resorts that have been shut due to coronavirus-linked restrictions across Europe. An aerial view shows the ski resort Bukovel amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) near the village of Polianytsia in Ivano-Frankivsk Region, Ukraine December 27, 2020. REUTERS/Sergiy Karazy Bukovel’s management said the resort had already been booked at 80% capacity through January. Bukovel, which sits 920 meters (3,000 feet) above sea level and covers five mountains in western Ukraine, attracts two million visitors each year. A tourist from Kyiv, Anton Luzhnyh, said he used to go to France to ski. “Why am I here? Because f...
Read MoreThailand recorded 3,065 foreign tourists in November, official data showed on Monday, in its second month of receiving long-stay visitors after a ban was imposed in April to keep coronavirus infections under control. The 3,065 foreign tourists in November is just a fraction of the 3.39 million arrivals in the same period last year. In October, there were 1,201 foreign visitors. FILE PHOTO: Tourists take pictures at Phu Thap Buek mountain in Phetchabun province, Thailand, December 12, 2020. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/File Photo Though the country is gradually opening up to foreign visitors and offering incentives to boost domestic travel, efforts to revive its tourism-driven economy are being hampered by an outbreak found 10 days ago that has since infected more than 1,600 people in 43 ...
Read MoreAt least 10 climbers have died and several more are missing in mountains north of Iran’s capital Tehran after heavy snowfall, state media reported on Saturday, and the seven crew members of a ship are also missing after storms in the Gulf. Heavy snow and winds in several parts of Iran in the past few days have closed many roads and disrupted transport. FILE PHOTO: A general view shows the Tochal ski resort, in north of Tehran, Iran. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS/File Photo Several climbers remain unaccounted for since Friday when two deaths were reported, while the number reported as missing has increased as concerned families contact the authorities, state television said. Nine people had been killed on the mountain and one died in hospital after...
Read MoreArchaeologists in Pompeii, the city buried in a volcanic eruption in 79 AD, have made the extraordinary find of a frescoed hot food and drinks shop that served up the ancient equivalent of street food to Roman passersby. Known as a termopolium, Latin for hot drinks counter, the shop was discovered in the archaeological park’s Regio V site, which is not yet open the public, and unveiled on Saturday. Frescoes on an ancient counter discovered during excavations in Pompeii, Italy, are seen in this handout picture released December 26, 2020. Pompeii Archaeological Park/Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities and Tourism/Luigi Spina/Handout via REUTERS Traces of nearly 2,000-year-old food were found in some of the deep terra cotta jars containing hot food which the shop keeper low...
Read MoreStaying overnight at an airport isn’t unheard of, especially if you miss a flight. But choosing to spend your holidays there in a tent is something entirely different. With the coronavirus pandemic severely limiting trips abroad, some in Singapore this holiday season are going “glamping”, or glamourous camping, staying overnight in luxury tents at the retail and leisure wing of the city-state’s Changi Airport. Unusual sight and setting for this particular sleepover is the airport’s new retail complex called the ‘Jewel’, which opened in 2019. Here, guests can use the bed in Jewel’s Shiseido Forest Valley, which is an indoor garden having five storeys — or the Cloud9 Piazza, located on the top floor. “Usually we go out of the country every holiday but since we can’t travel much...
Read MoreWhen the coronavirus slammed Spain in March, Ariadna Serra realised that 2020 and beyond looked dreadful for the cycling tours for foreign students company she co-founded ten years ago. So Serra, 41, and five of her female co-workers explored new opportunities over virtual drinks. They decided to follow their passion for cycling to fund a delivery company using bikes in Barcelona, aiming to benefit from the online shopping boom prompted by the pandemic. Les Mercedes, as the company is called, was founded in July by the six women and is run by five of them, aged 35 to 45 from Spain, France and Argentina. It is organised as a cooperative and describes itself as “ethical, sustainable and inclusive.” Geraldine Caillaud, member of the bicycle delivery company Les Mercedes, leaves thei...
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