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www.travelweekly-asia.com | 3 Published by NORTHSTAR TRAVEL MEDIA SINGAPORE PTE LTD SINGAPORE 91 Bencoolen Street, #05-08 Sunshine Plaza, Singapore 189652 • TEL: +65-6801-0450 FAX: +65-6801-0469 BEIJING Room 024, Building 8, Qijiayuan Diplomatic Compound, No.9 Jianguomenwai Street, Chaoyang District 100600, China • TEL: +8610-8532 3611 | FAX: +8610-8532 5293 SHANGHAI Room 2553, The Headquarters Building, No.168 Central XiZhang Road, Shanghai 200001, China • TEL: +8621-5179 8360 | FAX: +8621-5179 8360 Travel Weekly Asia is published on a monthly basis by Northstar Travel Media Singapore Pte Ltd. Located at 91 Bencoolen Street, #05-08 Sunshine Plaza, Singapore 189652. All rights reserved. Volume 9 Issue 3 Please address all subscription mail to the above address, Fax +852 3020 5794, or email travelweeklyasia@asia-ad.net. 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NORTHSTAR TRAVEL GROUP (ASIA) GROUP PUBLISHER Irene Chua Tel: (65) 6801 0451 | ichua@travelweekly.com EDITORIAL EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Yeoh Siew Hoon Tel: (65) 6801 0450 | syeoh@ntmllc.com EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Esther Faith Lew Tel: (65) 6801 0457 | esther.lew@ntmllc.com EDITOR-AT-LARGE Ian Jarrett Tel: (618) 9433 6455 | ian.jarrett@travelweekly.com ASSISTANT EDITOR Lee Xin Hui Tel: (65) 6801 0453 | xinhui.lee@ntmllc.com REPORTER Naomi Neoh Tel: (65) 6801 0461 | naomi.neoh@ntmllc.com HONG KONG CORRESPONDENT Catharine Nicol | cn@monsterpix.hk PHILIPPINES CORRESPONDENT Bing Jaleco | bingjaleco@gmail.com ART DIRECTOR Lim Bee Bee Tel: (65) 9750 8405 | bb.bbcreative@gmail.com SALES & MARKETING REGIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Ng Whey Whey Tel: (65) 6801 0460 | whey.ng@ntmllc.com REGIONAL SALES MANAGER Kevin Ng Tel: (65) 6801 0459 | kevin.ng@ntmllc.com ASSOCIATE MANAGER, MARKETING AND EVENTS Melanie Ong Tel: (65) 6801 0458 | melanie.ong@ntmllc.com AD TRAFFIC AND PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Rena Koh Tel: (65) 6801 0455 | rena.koh@ntmllc.com IT & DIGITAL IT & DIGITAL OPERATIONS Ron Wee Tel: (65) 6801 0456 | ron.wee@ntmllc.com CHINA OFFICE GROUP PUBLISHER (China) Rebecca Zhang Tel: (8621) 5179 8363 | rebecca.zhang@ntmllc.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Shawn Li Tel: (8610) 8532 4021 | shawn.li@travelweekly.com BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Roger Wang Tel: (8621) 5179 8360 | roger.wang@travelweekly.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Susan Li Tel: (8610) 8532 3611 | susan.li@travelweekly.com MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES HONG KONG/MACAU/TAIWAN ZAM International - Manna Ma Tel: (852) 9731 2090 | manna.ma@zamintl.com.hk INDIA MHI Communications - Smriti Khanna Tel: (9198) 1040 7483 | skhanna@mhi.com.hk JAPAN R Project Incorporated - Hiroki Fukunaga Tel: (81) 90 4958 0658 | hirokif@rprojectinc.com KOREA Young Media Inc - Keon Chang Tel: (822) 2273 4833 | ymedia@chol.com PHILIPPINES MMPR Media Group, Inc - Marie Monozca Tel: (63) 917 328 7658 | marie@mmprmedia.com AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR - ASIA Patti Mo | patti.mo@travelweekly.com DATABASE & FULFILLMENT MANAGER Zoe Chu | zoe.chu@travelweekly.com FINANCE ASIA FINANCE MANAGER Julia Tham Tel: (65) 6801 0452 | julia.tham@ntmllc.com NORTHSTAR TRAVEL GROUP CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Thomas L. Kemp CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER Lisa Cohen PRESIDENT, TRAVEL GROUP Robert G. Sullivan EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, DIGITAL MEDIA Thomas Cintorino EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT/GROUP PUBLISHER David Blansfield SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Lori Cioffi SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Arnie Weissmann SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, HUMAN RESOURCES Janine L. Bavoso SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & PRODUCTION Roberta Muller VICE PRESIDENT, INFORMATION PRODUCTS GROUP Sheila Rice VICE PRESIDENT, IT INFRASTRUCTURE AND OPERATIONS Rich Mastropietro VICE PRESIDENT, DATABASE PRODUCTS Elizabeth Koesser TRAVEL WEEKLY EVENTS PRESIDENT, TRAVEL GROUP Robert G. Sullivan SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, EVENTS, TRAVEL GROUP Alicia Evanko-Lewis TALKING POINT Ian Jarrett is a widely travelled and experienced writer specialising in hospitality and aviation. His work has appeared in a variety of consumer and travel trade titles, and online newswires. Recent travels have taken him to Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Seoul, Kazakhstan, United Kingdom and Bali, although he is just as happy walking with his dog on a local beach. As a kid growing up in England I was known, somewhat disparagingly, as an 'anorak' – a reference to the type of overcoat favoured by train spotters. It was the sort of warm coat you needed as you waited patiently on chilly railway platforms hoping to 'spot' and record some of the great steam trains thundering through stations. In those days, many of the trains carried their names on burnished brass plates attached to the engines, trains like the Flying Scotsman, the Pendennis Castle and the Coeur de Lion. On a few occasions, the train drivers would notice us 'spotters' on the platform and invite us onto the footplate to watch them stoke the furnaces that helped to produce the steam that drove the engines. A couple of times they even let us stay on the footplate while they shunted the engine a few hundred metres up the line to turn it around. It was experiences like these that launched my enduring love affairs with trains. Show me a television show featuring Great Trains Journeys of the World and I'll settle in for the night. Tell me Michael Portillo has a new series of travels on the great train routes of Europe, retracing the journeys featured in George Bradshaw's 1913 Continental Railway Guide, and I'll cancel a dinner date. My own journeys have been sometimes exhausting, at most times enlightening. There was the 12-hour journey from Goa to Mumbai on the Mandovi Express (it was anything but 'express') when two of the rail company carriage attendants told me how they slept on the floor of empty freight carriages to enable them to work around the clock to earn a handful of rupees. Letting the train take the strain Canada's Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver to Banff was enjoyable for the scenery, but as a tourist train I felt it lacked the authenticity of regular rail. Mind you, we did spot a few bears. A favourite was the trip from Colombo to Kandy, some 121 kilometres towards Sri Lanka's tea country. The Expo Rail train entertains passengers with Bollywood videos interspersed with train etiquette advice, such as, "Don't lean over your passenger to read what he is reading. This can cause discomfort." And, "Avoid consuming food as it may cause an aroma." In Italy, the trains that move between the five rustic villages of the Cinque Terre are perfect for those who want to hike the hillside trails in the morning and enjoy a long lunch with a bottle of local wine before taking a train ride home in late afternoon. It is a very civilised way to travel. Rail passes across Europe open up the countryside in a way that air travel cannot. And most times, trains deliver their passengers slap-bang into a city centre, avoiding often long and expensive airport transfers. I'm already checking train timetables for my next trip. Now let's see, when does the morning bullet train leave Kyoto for Hiroshima? Just like rail travel, I wouldn't want to miss it. "Rail passes across Europe open up the countryside in a way that air travel cannot. And most times, trains deliver their passengers slap-bang into a city centre."

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