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| Beijing Travel Guide Updates |
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April 30th, 2009 |
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Beijing Travel Guide Update — 30-04-2009
有三处修改如下：
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准备工作：
什么时候不适宜旅行？
2008年8月北京将举办奥运会，奥运会期间北京的酒店价格普遍上涨大概10倍，花费较高。建议大家在奥运会过后再到北京旅行。
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删除此部分。
游在北京：
国家体育场（“鸟巢”）(H1)
http://www.beijing2008.cn/
国家体育场是2008年第29届奥林匹克运动会开闭幕式的所在地，建筑面积258,000平方米。从外观看“鸟巢”，灰色的钢结构形成网络状的构架，相互支撑，就像树枝编织的鸟巢一般。“鸟巢” 部没有一根立柱，看台是一个完整的没有任何遮挡的碗状造型，这种均匀而连续的环，使观众获得最佳视野
门票价格：8050元
交通路线：
公交路线：运通113、386、407、656、737、740、753、804、827、939、944、983等到北辰桥西或者510、839到国家体育馆
地铁路线：离该赛场最近的是奥体中心站，推荐三种乘车路线：
直达方案－乘坐奥运专线可以直达。
换乘方案一－乘坐地铁10号线，在熊猫环岛站换乘奥运专线可以到达。
换乘方案二－乘坐地铁5号线，在北土城东路站换乘10号线，在熊猫环岛站换乘奥运专线可以到达。
国家游泳中心（“水立方”）(G1)
http://www.beijing2008.cn/
它与“鸟巢”隔路对望，外表晶莹剔透，酷似水泡包围，内部是一个多层楼建筑，对称排列的大看台视野开阔，馆内乳白色的建筑与碧蓝的水池相映成趣。当夜晚来临时，“水立方”通身亮起灯光，呈现出来的幽深蓝色成为奥林匹克公园中最引人注目的风景。这座建筑以巧夺天工的设计、纷繁自由的结构、简洁纯净的造型、环保先进的科技，成为百年奥运建筑史上的经典。
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门票价格：不祥30元
交通路线：与国家体育场的交通路线相同。
地址：北四环北辰西桥东，“鸟巢”对面
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| Travel Guide Partners |
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April 4th, 2009 |
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Got a habit of keeping a travel journal whenever you hit the road? Share your globe-trotting experience with other travelers at a4trip.com and start earning from your travel experiences!
Likewise, if you have an eye for good travel content, join our team of travel content coordinators and earn coordination fees with every guidebook compiled.
a4trip.com is an online travel content platform that stores, market and distribute travel content to a global audience in various languages. The site has been running for a year, with 60 contributors from around the globe.
With more than 25 destinations and counting, a4trip.com aims to be the premiere portal in providing essential information to travelers at very affordable price. To sign up and start earning, contact support@a4trip.com!
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| Hertford, Lost and Found |
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April 3rd, 2009 |
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What is Long Haul?
It wasn’t that I’ve skipped my mum’s pigeon soup, I just don’t like the feeling of getting into a flight. To describe it, I was like a goldfish, put in an aquarium, leave it on a 10-wheels trailer and haul it for 14 hours. Yeah, that bad! Obama on his visit too, happen to arrive at the same airport. I didn’t run into him in the airport…
 Bishop Stortford Town, next to Stansted Airport Free but Lost…
Carolyn said to me, ‘this is planned…’. Bandit, 16 year old long-tailed parakeet (bayang nuri), lost its freedom in England, was so excited to see me around- probably because we are from the same hometown. We lost Bandit in the cool spring, and hope it manages to find the way back ‘home’…
 Where is Bandit? Deer Cross Town
The name Hertford is derived from the Anglo-Saxon heort ford, meaning deer crossing (of a watercourse). Sounds familiar? Our mouse deer in Malacca not just cross the river, but even pushed a dog into the river. We cycled down the Ware using the Lee Valley route, which eventually leading to London too. We had a quick city tour too! 
 Cycle to ware Malaysian Curry
I cooked a meal for Carolyn today. Thanks to my sister who got me the A1 paste. Yummy! We went to a small group gathering, sort of like an action group for the Green Drink. They are discussing about turning Herts to Transition Town. The two-hours meeting is fun, except the walk back home is just too freezing cool!
 Curry with rice |
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| Travel Quotes |
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March 24th, 2009 |
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“Two roads diverged in a wood and I - I took the one less traveled by.” - Robert Frost
“A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” - Lao Tzu
“There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it.” - Charles Dudley Warner
“A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu
“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay at home.” - James Michener
“The journey not the arrival matters.” - T. S. Eliot
“A journey is best measured in friends, rather than miles.” - Tim Cahill
“Not all those who wander are lost.” - J. R. R. Tolkien
“Like all great travelers, I have seen more than I remember, and remember more than I have seen.” - Benjamin Disraeli
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” - St. Augustine
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| New Oceania Baby |
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March 18th, 2009 |
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Some locals will tell you of all Sydney’s problems. Bad traffic; expensive living costs; too many people; need rain… the list goes on.
However, don’t let that deter you from visiting. Sydney is constantly being voted as one of the top city travel destinations, and has been crowned the honour once again by readers of the Conde Nast Traveler magazine in 2008.
This harbour city is well known for its beaches and the vibrant metropolitan lifestyle. However, as Australia’s largest city, Sydney is also the centre stage for diverse food / culture scene thanks to a large multicultural population.
The Aboriginal and the Colonial past also offer heritage experiences for visitors to learn more about this oldest city of the nation. From fine foods to cultural experiences to shopping for the latest fashion, Sydney is a city determined not to disappoint.
Visiting Sydney?
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Tags: australia, backpack, planning, sydney guidebook, travel
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| Capture Google Maps in Larger Views |
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February 11th, 2009 |
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Google Maps is the best friend for a cyclist. It shows you the route and those shortcuts to avoid busy roads. It is indeed an off-the-beaten-path where you are most likely jump into nice villagers and a beautiful scene while you are pedaling.
But, Google Map can not be saved or print in a larger view. Print Screen and stitch them together is not easy. Here is how it can be done in a quicker way
1. Download and install FastStone Screen Capture.
 FastStone Screen Capture 2. In Google Maps, click Links and select Customize…
 Customize and preview embedded map 3. Enter 2000 x 2000 in the Customize field for a larger view. After the map loads completely, use the Print Scrolling Windows in FastStone Screen Capture windows to start capturing.
 Increase the height and weight |
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| Flashpacker |
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December 24th, 2008 |
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The trend of shoestring backpacker travelled with their gadgets including laptops, satellite phones, GPS systems, and those who would most likely spring for the plane ticket than spending 24 hours on a bus, are in an increase trend.
Perhaps, it is just another free & easy type, or you can call it Flashpacker - a new terms catching on in the backpacking scene. Many of them carry their notebook to stay with their work and keep in touch with their friends and families.
 Not a good ideas when beautiful beach is a distraction to work I’m definitely a flashpacker. I like to experience the freedom and spontaneity of independent travel, talking to locals, stay at budget accomodation or even a camp. Yet, I can still afford to sit comfortably for a cup of coffee and working on my business at the same time.
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| What Hotel Owner Don’t See! |
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December 17th, 2008 |
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I noticed that many Bloggers took nicer picture of where they sleep at those budget accommodation, than the owner. Yet, many travelers might want to take a look at those pictures before they decide where to stay. If this is important, why they are not doing something instead of using those super-low-resolution and over exposed picture in all hotel booking and their own official website?
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| Where Locals Don’t Go |
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December 10th, 2008 |
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If you have read Lonely Planet guidebook, most of their guidebooks are written by travelers visiting, or staying long enough at a destination - than locals. Well, I might be wrong.
I was at Dataran Merdeka last week, the place where Malaysia was born. Hardly see a local here and I start to worry if our writer might miss this out? kidding!
 National flower of Malaysia  Dataran Merdeka |
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| Trip Planning Challenge |
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December 9th, 2008 |
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1. Internet has no short of useful content when come to trip planning. Thanks to the spirit of sharing, the amount of information grow dramatically and no longer an easy-to-digest type. Smart tools such as Wego and TripIT was introduced to crawl the content for you and present only useful & related information. Again, when there are many tools around, choosing a best one and not missing important trip information will soon become another set of problem!
2. How to plan, and what is the best plan? How many time you will change your keywords search in Google from Penang Youth Hostel to Penang Dorm, or Penang guesthouse, or Penang guest house, etc. How about for those speaking different languages? How about for those who call a guesthouse a homestay, like in Bali, Indonesia? What if your plan changed last minutes and you lost the leisure of booking online, but to try your luck by calling each guesthouse over the phone, in a full-booked season?
3. When you think you have every single piece of important information, but you accidentally left it at home and find no way to access it during your trip? Someone’s research in the past might help you start faster. But, how are you going to share across travelers when everyone is keeping it as notepad file or in a Microsoft Excel format?
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| Paper or Excel? |
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December 5th, 2008 |
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Most of us, enjoying planning our trip. I remembered, I have kept a list of what to buy before going for my one month Taiwan trip. I have asked Lina couples of question on Visa and she is kind enough to share with me two not-off-the-beaten-path but not-to-miss places - 九份 & 成品书局.
I jolted down quick notes on a piece of paper, how about you?
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| Take The Path Less Ordinary |
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December 3rd, 2008 |
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“I have seen many publications gulung tikar because they are too glossy and only interested in splashing the pages with hotel and tour adverts. Not enough content. Publishers pulak are old gits who use Queen’s English and spend most of their time dreaming in the office. They are not travellers. Writers wise, worst. Many are green horns who can’t find proper jobs and ended up writing just to make ends meet. There’s no passion. Nowadays, guidebooks buyers are very educated”
I was talking to Casey Ng, Take The Path Less Ordinary. Casey is right. Many of them create a guidebook for the sake of having one, not to help. Earlier, we have collected a lot of guidebooks both printed and online version, many of them are flashy guides which provide little information but only putting up more weight to your backpack. I even came across one from Tourism Board of Malaysia with 200 over pages, glossy and full of advertisement and expecting travelers to bring it on their trip… OMG!
Casey’s Blog has a collection of what they see and experience during their community work. Check it out.
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| Hotel Puri |
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December 2nd, 2008 |
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 The hidden Hotel Puri found at last! The story begins on our brainstorming today. Lately, we tried to figure out how we can help writers to perform more accurate research. Each writers have their own way to do their travel research. Yet, a slight change in terms of keywords such as homestay and guesthouse can yield completely different result.
Lately, we are using Malacca as for one of our example to explore how we can turn the research better. Surprisingly, we stumbled into this nice little hotel in a baba nyonya style, only today! The name is Hotel Puri. We completely missed it because of only playing around with keyword ‘guesthouse’. Looks like it is another good option for Mid Range, recommended by many travelers.
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| Don’t List but Rank! |
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December 1st, 2008 |
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Our customers are, budget travelers who download and print out our guidebook, read it offline. Our current guidebook has a comprehensive listing of information, such as where to stay or eat. Yet, they are not particularly useful. Just imagine Google search result without ranking. The top-most website listed on Google is not the most related one, I doubt!
Instead of just the listing, why not we shortlist the best. I know some of you will ask, everyone has different preference when come to where to stay. Just like how you trust Google, travelers trust us to make the best decision for them, one of the reason they spend the 3 dollars to buy a guidebook from us. Good thing is, when we limit the amount of information to be included in our guidebook, we will make it even more concise.
Need a chance!
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| Sydney Guidebook Launched! |
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December 1st, 2008 |
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a4trip today announced another new travel guide! a4trip’s Sydney guidebook provides quick references on tips, alerts, city highlights, plus maps for locations of major venues, restaurants, points of interests, hotels, museums, and accommodations. You will know your options to have a safe and fun visit to Sydney with this reliable travel companion. Local culture, dos and don’ts, language guide, shopping guide, culinary tours, adventure and nature walks, all of the highlights of the visit are given with simple and clear information.
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| Kota Kinabalu Travel Guide and Information |
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November 27th, 2008 |
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Q: I’m planning a trip to KK with my gf and her family (6pax). We will be going on the 11th Dec -14th Dec. We’ll be staying at marina court apartments for the 1st & 3rd night. We planned to stay at kundasang or at mesilau on the 2nd night. Do you have any suggestions or tips to recommend? I’m looking for 1 day trip packages to walk around Mt kinabalu park.
Answer by a4trip Kota Kinabalu Travel Guide writer:
Thank you for your email. There are a lot of accommodations in Kundasang, i.e. Zen Garden, Kinabalu Pine, Kinabalu Rose Cabin and even Perkasa Hotel. You can get their information from around the net as they are all quite established. For Mesilau, you only have Mesialu Nature Resort which is run by Sutera Sanctuary Lodges, and it is further away from Kundasang and the altitude is also higher.
I would suggest that you stay in Kundasang as it is nearby Kinabalu Park HQ, if you plan to spend a day trip there, walking the jungle trail. There are a lot of things to see.
Check out the trail map here
Q: Thank you all for all your advice & tips. We have decided to stay at D’villa Dina Lodge for one night. We are for tour groups that can transfer us (6pax) from Marina Court Apartments to D’villa Dina Lodge and have a day tour around Kundasang town, Kinabalu Park, Poring Hot Springs, Rose Garden, Sabah Tea Plantations. I’m not sure whether this plan is possible to complete in one day.
Answer by a4trip Kota Kinabalu Travel Guide writer:
All those places in one day? It is possible if you spend about 15 minutes on each place, as traveling from one place to the other will take some time. It will also be tiring for you to rush to get to all the places in one day. With feedbacks from around travel forum, Poring Hot Spring can be a disappointment. Kinabalu Park HQ is the best place for nature lovers, Kundasang War memorial is best for history lovers and Sabah Tea Garden & Rose garden if you love the flora.
Have a nice journey.
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Tags: Kinabalu National Park, Kota Kinabalu Travel Guide, mount kinabalu
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| You’re Going to Kazan! |
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November 26th, 2008 |
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You strike a lucky draw and win a free flight ticket to Kazan, Russia, next month. Oops… stop Googling… Sit back and start thinking of what questions you will ask to help you plan your trip. Post your question here.
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