Nikita Garia is a blogger and contributes articles for The Wall Street Journal

At first glance, members of India’s business community may not appear to be mad about fitness, but a new survey of Asian business travelers says Indians are the most likely to seek out fitness centers and spas while on the road for work.

French hotel operator Accor carried out an  online survey between the end of June and early July of business travelers from seven Asia-Pacific countries that included Australia, China, Indonesia, Singapore, New Zealand, Thailand and India. Hong Kong, though part of China, was surveyed as a separate region. About 10, 000 people responded to the survey, which asked them about their travel habits in the first half of 2011.

Of the roughly 500 Indians who took the survey, 85 % claimed they went to the fitness centers in the hotels they stayed in and 64% said they utilized the spa facilities in those hotels. This was way above the average for the Asia Pacific region  as a whole – 76 % and 53 % respectively. Overall Asian road warriors seem to care about working out – Thai travelers were the least likely to use hotel gyms, but even 71% of them said they used the fitness centers.

The survey also found that India was second only to China when it came to the frequency of business travel. In India, executives across all levels made an average of 7.3 business trips each in the first half of the year, while in China, the average number of trips was 8.7.

Among Indian respondents, the overwhelming majority — 93% — of travelers were male. India had the lowest share of female respondents of the countries surveyed.  This was rather low considering that “one out of four business travelers in Asia were female, ” said Evan Lewis, Accor’s Asia-Pacific spokesman, while talking about the findings in New Delhi on Wednesday.

A fifth of Indian respondents belonged to the manufacturing sector, compared to 15% for the survey as a whole, followed by retail and finance. “Surprisingly, the travelers belonging to the manufacturing sector in India was more than the average in Asia, ” said Mr. Lewis.

When it came to choosing a hotel, 27% of Indians preferred to stay in those hotels where they had previously stayed, while 22% cared about the hotel’s brand name. “Indians are less brand-conscious and give more importance to their past experience, ” said Mr. Lewis.

Singapore and Thailand were the top destinations for Indian business travelers. According to the survey, 51 % of Indian travelers visited Singapore at least once in the previous six months and 38 % traveled to Thailand for work.

Nikita Garia

25 Aug 2011

http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2011/08/25/what-the-indian-business-traveler-wants/

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The Xihoumen Bridge (simplified Chinese: ?????; traditional Chinese: ?????) is a suspension bridge built on the Zhoushan Archipelago, the largest offshore island group in China. The main span was completed in December 2007. The entire bridge, along with Jintang Bridge, was opened to traffic on a test basis on 25 December 2009. It is the second-longest suspension bridge ranked by the length of the centre span. The opening date was put off because of a ship collision on 16 November 2009 that slightly damaged the side of Jintang Bridge.

The 5.3-kilometre-long suspension bridge connection has a 2.6-kilometre-long main bridge with a central span of 1, 650 metres. The approaches total 2.7 kilometres. When it opened, there was only one bridge with a larger span, the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Japan. However, there are several other bridges planned or under construction that will also be larger.

The bridge was built by the province of Zhejiang, at a cost of 2.48 billion yuan (approximately US$363 million). Construction began in 2005, and the first traffic crossed the bridge on 25 December 2009, at 11:58 p.m., local time.

The Xihoumen Bridge links Jintang and Cezi islands. Another bridge, the 27-kilometer-long cable-stayed Jintang Bridge, links Jintang Island and Zhenhai of Ningbo. The two bridges are the second phase of a huge project started in 1999 to link the Zhoushan Archipelago to the mainland with five bridges. Construction of the other three bridges has been completed.

Source: Wikipedia

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This article is written by Veer Singh

The reclining Buddha at the Jade Buddha temple, Shanghai

Going to China, the third largest country in the world with a population more than that of India, one would not expect much to enjoy in Shanghai but to my surprise the city has a lot to offer. Right from Yu Garden to Jade Buddha Monastery, the city gave us a feel of being close to culture. The visit to the silk factory and pearl factory made our pocket lighter but it made my wife happy. While waiting for the acrobatic show in the theatre we remembered our young days in India watching the city circus. It was sheer display of absolute synchronisation with a perfect use of light and sound.

Lookout Point at Victoria Peak, Hong Kong

From Shanghai’s traditional Chinese flavour everywhere, we got a taste of Hong Kong’s dynamism from the vantage point of Victoria Peak, overlooking the world’s busiest deep water port. Here you see a city geared not only to making money but feeling good about it too. At night it was like looking down into a volcano. Despite its British colonial past, Hong Kong has always stuck to its root and the culture beneath the glitz is pure Chinese. Visitors like us often takes a few days in Hong Kong to get accustomed to the whirlwind pace. Our respite came at the dinner at Bombay Dreams, an Indian restaurant, where ghazals were being played.

A day trip to Disneyland got the children in us enjoying to the hilt. The apprehension before reaching out to these cities was gone in just four-five days but we guess that’s a lot to do with the company you are with.

Veer Singh

21 Aug 2011

http://travel.hindustantimes.com/travelogues/hong-kong-has-a-lot-to-offer-to-the-tourists.php

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The raging sea beats the island of Batanes as if to say I am King.
The waves violently slap the rocks with enviable freedom. Its stammering power heeds no remorse.

The island however doesn’t back down, doesn’t fold-up or disintegrates. It takes a proud beating with a ‘Hah’, I am Batanes.

Batanes should indeed be proud of its coffers. It offers an amazing landscape that is as complex as a Roger Dean art work. The twisting spiraling mountains roll for miles and miles carpeted with green pastures.

The Mahatao Lighthouse, Batanes, Philippines

Atop its numerous cliffs one can get a front seat view of the feisty merging waters of the China Sea with the Pacific Ocean. There is also something incredibly charming about the island’s unique stone houses. Around 3 meters thick, these rock abodes crafted by the ancestors have stood against torturous rain and bullying winds. The roofs are made of cogon providing water proof shade. From afar the houses create an amazing texture of color and form that is bucolic and unlike anything that I’ve ever been in the provinces I’ve visited.

In spite the amazing scenery the island’s greatest strength is its people–the Ivatans. Storm warriors by birth they still posses a gentle demeanor, friendly disposition and an unbelievable sense of trustworthiness.

Crime is said to be non-existent in Batanes and people find no need to lock their doors. There is even a sign posted in the city treasury that reads “LOST AND FOUND- MONEY. Please claim inside”.

As most travel junkies know Batanes is the northernmost province of the Philippines and its smallest island both in terms of land area and population. Among its ten petite islands only three are inhabited– Batan, Itbayat and Sabtang. Sandwiched by Babuyan Island and Taiwan, the province is closer to Taipei than Manila. In fact an urban legend states that on a clear day one can see Taiwan and hear Chinese roosters crow.

Growth in Batanes’ tourism has been spurred by airlines such as Asian Spirit that conveniently jets weeklyflights (for a P10, 000 round cheap tickets price).

Surprisingly posh, the main airport is located in Basco, the province’s capital (found in Batan island). Albeit the flight being a bit choppy, I land safely in Batanes and seek my adventure holidays.

Raj Aryan

31 Mar 2010

http://blogs.rediff.com/peoplefav/tag/manila/


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Xinjiang Museum, Urumqi

Yesterday, we visited the Xinjiang Museum where we saw the amazing and intriguing mummies – some more than 4000 years old – which have been found in the area.

We took a stroll through the Red Hill Park on a cold a blustery autumn day. We were glad we had gloves and scarves! There were a few families out walking, and more appeared as the sun came out.

There was some confusion about our hotel. The one we were supposed to stay at had been pulled down a year ago! It was half way through a complete re-build.

But we were ‘upgraded’ to a 5* hotel, which was fine – nothing special; a typical ‘business’ hotel – could have been anywhere in the world.

25th October:

Our last day in China, and we ended on a high note with a journey into the snow-capped mountains to visit Heavenly Lake, 2000 metres up in the Tian Shan mountains. We had read about this lake in 1987 in Vikram Seth’s travel book From Heaven Lake. We had never imagined that one day we would visit it ourselves! We were so lucky. Two days before it had started snowing, and the whole area had turned into a magical Christmas card scene – as the blurb says:

“Nestling among Alpine scenery, with melted snow as its source, lies Heavenly lake. Its crystal clear waters are surrounded by green pastures dotted with the yurts of nomadic Kazakhs, and the silvery mountains soar into the blue sky, their slopes full of fragrant pine and juniper”

I couldn’t have put it better myself!

Krishnad

October 2009

http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/krishnad/1/1256463776/tpod.html

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