Owned by Sekisui House, a long-standing partner of Marriott International, this opening will be the first-ever W in Japan. The 27-floor, newly-build hotel will boast provocative and bold W design, sparking imagination in each of its guestrooms, restaurants and cocktail-centric bars.

“In 2020, Japan will capture the global spotlight, welcoming nations from around the world to the country on a grand scale for the 2020 games. This is a great build up to the launch of the first-ever W in Japan,” said Anthony Ingham, global brand leader, W Hotels Worldwide.

“W is always bringing its new next vision and bold approach to new destinations, especially cities as vibrant and energetic as Osaka. We are confident W Osaka will add even more energy and excitement to this already action-packed year in Japan.”

With a stunning facade designed by Osaka-based Tadao Ando, W Osaka sits amidst the indie boutiques and restaurants of the main thoroughfare on Mido-Suji Boulevard, giving guests immediate access to luxury shopping and insider experiences along the Gingko tree-lined street.

Just an hour from Kansai International Airport, the hotel will offer convenient access to this stunning urban oasis and the local thrills of Dotonbori, Osaka’s popular nightlife and entertainment district.

Travellers looking to explore one of Japan’s most beautiful and eccentric destinations will be able to connect to neighbourhoods via the Osaka Loop Line which has 12 convenient stops throughout the city.

The hotel will offer 337 striking guestrooms, including 35 Suites, two WOW Suites and one EWOW Suite (the brand’s take on the Presidential Suite) to the bustling city.

The culinary scene will be complemented with the Woo Bar and a second bar located on the expansive Wet Deck by the pool.

Guests can also keep up with their personal fitness and wellness routines with a state-of-the-art fitness centre, the Fit and the Away Spa where travellers can detox and refuel. Ultra-modern event facilities will make any meeting or social gathering a part of the action with a 400-square-metre Great Room and three meeting rooms, all featuring design centred around natural light.

“We are excited to add yet another Marriott International property to our portfolio and even more thrilled to be introducing a brand as daring as W to the country,” said Isami Wada, chairman of Sekisui House. “It will be an exciting year for Japan, and the W brand will surely offer limitless experiences to those visiting from all corners of the world.”

Find out more at http://www.WHotels.com.

The airline will commence a four-times-weekly service to Washington DC in September, which will complement its existing routes to the East Coast, including Boston and New York’s two main international airports – John F Kennedy and Newark Liberty. The service to Dulles International Airport, which will become the longest on the Cathay Pacific network in terms of distance at 7,085 nautical miles (13,122 kilometres), will be operated by the all-new Airbus A350-1000 aircraft.

Cathay Pacific chief executive Rupert Hogg said that the new service has been introduced to cater to the growing demand for travel to Washington DC while at the same time providing US-based passengers with more convenient access to key destinations in Asia and beyond through the airline’s home in Hong Kong.

“Our customers have told us they want greater options and increased flexibility – and we’ve listened,” said Hogg. “Much like Hong Kong, Washington DC is a vibrant and dynamic destination and we are thrilled to soon be providing the only direct flights between these two great cities. Establishing new direct air links to destinations that aren’t already served from Hong Kong enhances our city’s status as Asia’s largest international hub and allows us to secure new and important sources of revenue.”

Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe welcomed the new route and praised the role it would play in helping to grow the local economy.

“Today we celebrate a new bridge between Asia and Virginia, and we look forward to welcoming all of the international travellers this new air service will bring to the Commonwealth,” said McAuliffe. “Virginia has made a significant commitment to growing our relationship with Asia in recent years and we are proud to be a new United States market with non-stop service from Hong Kong. With its convenient schedule, this new Cathay Pacific air service provides connections to destinations around the globe and will help us continue to grow the new Virginia economy.”

Washington DC is renowned for being steeped in political and social history, with iconic monuments and many of the country’s leading museums to be found throughout. But there’s a lot more to the capital once you look beyond the pillars of government and its related institutions. The city also boasts a thriving arts and culture scene, in addition to a plethora of fine restaurants and myriad sporting attractions, which have attracted visitors from around the world for decades.

In addition to Washington DC, the airline is launching year-round services to Brussels and Dublin in March and June respectively. A seasonal service to Copenhagen commences in May, while Cathay Dragon, the regional carrier of the Cathay Pacific Group, will start a four-times-weekly operation to Nanning in mainland China later this month. Frequencies on a number of Cathay Pacific’s most popular existing routes, including Barcelona and Tel Aviv, are also being increased in 2018.

Keep updated at http://www.CathayPacific.com/TH.

STUDIOS WHERE visitors can have themselves photographed in costumes of samurai warriors or high-ranking courtesans are becoming increasingly popular all over Tokyo.

At Samurai Armor Photo Studio in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, seven sets of yoroi kabuto (samurai armour and helmets) have been manually reproduced by highly skilled craftsmen based on ones that were used by samurai commanders around the Sengoku warring states period (from the late 15th century to the late 16th century).

The armour and helmets are made with real metal, not plastic, and thus one set weighs about 20 kilograms.

Foreign visitors wearing samurai armor and helmets from Samurai Armor Photo Studio walk on a street in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo Japan NewsYomiuri

Visitors to the studio choose their favourite armor and helmets while listening to explanations in English about the historical background of the items. They change into suteteko traditional knee-length underwear and tabi split-toed socks.

Staff members help the visitors put on kosode short-sleeved kimono and flowing hakama trousers. The visitors also don other gear such as kote arm guards, suneate leg guards, do breastplates, katana swords and kabuto helmets.

Shooting 170 photos in 10 different poses in the indoor studio takes about 90 minutes and fees for the standard course that includes photographs start from 13,000 yen (about $116) per person.

A two-hour course is also available, in which visitors go out on the streets and have themselves photographed outdoors.

The photo studio was opened in May 2016 by a nearby firm that runs call centre services.

The company began the service as an in-house business venture to utilise vacant office space.

To start the business, studio manager Shimpei Takemura studied history and received training to help put on kimono and armour for about a year before the opening.

A customer at the studio has himself photographed before going out to the street. 

Takemura says that the number of visitors who used the service this year was about double that of last year. Most of the customers are foreigners – from the United States, France, Italy and other countries – who learned of the studio’s service on the internet, he says.

At Henshin Shashinkan Studio Nanairo, another such facility in Tokyo’s Asakusa area, customers can have their photos taken while dressed as oiran – high-ranking courtesans.

After customers choose their favourite furisode long-sleeved kimono, it takes about an hour for the studio to apply makeup and style their hair in the gorgeously distinctive manner of an oiran.

The customers’ hair is decorated with long kanzashi hair pins, traditional Japanese combs and many other hair accessories. Then they wear kimono and pose for photos on opulent sets.

The photo studio was established in December 2014 by the Kyoritsu Maintenance group, which includes companies that manage and operate dormitories for students and company employees. The corporate group began the service as a new business utilising the group’s know-how.

Minerva Wong, centre, poses for photos clad in oiran attire with her husband, Joe, 37, at Henshin Shashinkan Studio Nanairo in Taito Ward, Tokyo.

Mie Ichikawa, the manager of the studio, says the number of users has been steadily rising and has doubled in three years.

It also lets visitors wear geisha and other costumes, but most of them, he says, opt for the oiran costumes.

The oiran course takes almost three hours and the fees start from 27,000 yen per person. The studio said there are about as many Japanese users as foreign ones.

Minerva Wong, 36, a flight attendant who came to Japan on a 10-day sightseeing trip with her husband from Vancouver, Canada, was among the customers.

“I learned Japanese history and kimono when I was very young, in elementary school,” she says, adding that the oiran makeover was something she had never experienced before. “I think [the elaborate garments make it] very difficult to move, but it’s very pretty, very beautiful. It’s a good experience, one of the best experiences in Japan.”

WINTER IS genuinely chilly in Seoul, and residents and tourists in their vibrantly hued coats make the South Korean capital look like a colourful fashion runway as they stroll among the shops and offices.

With the temperatures below zero, a walk along the new kilometre-long Seoulle 7017 promenade isn’t leisurely. You have to keep up a decent pace to stay warm while sightseeing.

The walkway is a former traffic flyover linking the two sides of Seoul Station that was closed a few years back, deemed unsafe for the increasing numbers of cars and trucks. But, instead of tearing it down, the city fathers turned it into a landmark “sky park” decked out in floral displays.

Seoullo 7017 is a wonderful place for a stroll, a former traffic flyover transformed into a flowerbedecked pedestrian promenade.

Park Ong-ju, leading a herd of Thai tourists around, says the name Seoulle 7017 combines the city’s moniker with the Korean word for “main street”, the year 1970, when the flyover was built, and 17 for the number of intersections it crosses and 2017, the year it was reincarnated.

“The city government reinforced the old structure and landscaped it as a floral garden floating in the air,” Park says. “Lots of people come here to hang out during the daytime and admire the flowers.”

You do feel like you’re floating in the air on the promenade, but you’re still surrounded by soaring skyscrapers, an amusing feeling amid glances downwards at railway lines and the glorious, vintage Seoul Station itself.

The project was inspired by New York’s High Line, another marvel of urban conversion, and its garden is lined with more than 2,000 kinds of blossoms and plants. At night there are light shows to keep the spirits lively.

Gwangjang Market is a gourmet’s delight with its delectable street food.   

It runs from Manli-dong district to the Namdaemun Market, a hike of about an hour, which ought to get the tummy ready for some of the fantastic street food on offer. The venerable Gwangjang Market is the place to go, with its food bazaar crammed with stalls selling bindaetuk (crispy mung bean pancakes), teokbokki (stir-fried rice cakes in fiery chilli sauce), sundae (sausages of mung bean noodles and pig-blood curd) and gimbap sushi treats.

Sprawling across two floors and packed with people, the market has 5,000 shops selling fresh seafood, meat, vegetables, kitchenware, handicrafts, souvenirs, traditional medicine, textiles and clothing.

After your meal, head down old shopping street Insa-dong to visit the Museum Kimchikan, which explores the history of Korean cuisine. You might even start getting hungry again as you enjoy the interactive exhibits of kimchi-inspired art and the kimchi storeroom.

In one room you can watch a video about the tradition of kimjang, in which village women gather to preserve vegetables in seasonings and spices and storing them in earthen jars.

The Museum Kimchikan will tell you everything you need to know about kimchi.

A museum guide says kimchi has been made for 3,000 year and there are more than 200 kinds. The varying ingredients include morning glory, spinach and ginseng. Early on it was made with nappa cabbage mixed with pumpkin. Chilli, first cultivated during the Goryeo Dynasty, was soon used as seasoning and “that’s why kimchi is red”.

“Napa cabbage is soaked in salty water for eight to 10 hours. Then white radish, scallions, garlic, ginger, chilli and fermented krill are added for flavouring. White kimchi is blended with rosewater and stored in an earthen jar to maintain its freshness and create full favour.”

A single gram of kimchi contains 800 million lactic-acid bacteria of seven types, along with fibre and vitamins, all good for the digestion.

A pair of British artists has set up a photo studio in the museum. You pose for a picture while saying “kimchi” – which produces the same prize-winning smile you get from saying “cheese”.

In the storeroom, where the temperature is kept between 3 and 5 degrees Celsius, are more than 100 kinds of kimchi produced in towns around the country. Kimchi from Jeju, an island travel destination, is made with oranges, sweet potatoes and cucumber.

You can even attend a cooking class to learn how to make kimchi from classic recipes.

Homeowners in Bukchon Hanok Village go out of their way to preserve the architecture of bygone times.

In Bukchon Hanok Village in the north of Seoul, which celebrates a heritage dating back to the glorious Joseon Dynasty, girls wearing tradition hanbok costumes pose as gracefully as supermodels.

The surroundings in this 600-year-old hamlet are stunning – Gyeongbokgung and Changdeok-gung palaces, at least 100 traditional houses, and a mountain behind and a river in front, as if arranged by a feng shui master.

Park says Bukchon Hanok has always been an upmarket residential district for aristocrats. “In recent years the government has helped the residents repair the old houses so they retain the unique aspects of Hanok architecture.”

The homes are mainly stone, wood and clay and in some cases the owners have opened art galleries, teahouses and guesthouses.

Back downtown, there’s the new Starfield Library with 50,000 books and magazines, occupying two floors of the Starfield Coex Mall. It has three 13-metre-tall bookshelves holding South Korea’s largest selection of magazines – more than 600 titles from home and abroad.

“Coex Mall used to be the biggest exhibition hall in Seoul,” Park points out. “Starfield, operated by Shingae, has rented and renovated it for retail and the library, which has been an overnight success – especially among young bookworms.”

The Starfield Library has three 13-metre-tall bookshelves holding magazines from around the world.  

Planned events keep the place hopping, including poetry readings, Travel Tuesdays, art exhibits and children’s entertainment.

Way up in the Lotte World Tower – South Korea’ s tallest and the world’s fifth-tallest building – is Seoul Sky with its spectacular panoramas. The observation deck is 478 metres above the ground and furnished with ceiling-to-floor windows.

It’s easy to escape the urban bustle without actually leaving metropolitan Seoul. The new international business district Songdo, established on reclaimed land on the coast and serenely suburban, is drawing entrepreneurs and tourists with its own attractive array of office buildings, malls, schools, posh homes and top-class golf courses.

Songdo is a green “smart city” built on reclaimed land on the coast.

“Songdo is built on 600 hectares, with all the earth trucked in to reclaim a segment of the Yellow Sea off Incheon,” says Park. “It’s full of stars and millionaires. An elevated highway connects to with Seoul and Incheon International Airport.”

Songdo offers a 20-minute pleasant ferry ride from Central Park to look at its beautiful lake and landscaped gardens adorned with sculptures and imitation wooden houses. The popular TV series “Goblin” was filmed here, as well as pop star Psy’s “Gangnam Style” music video.

The writer travelled courtesy of the Korea Tourism Organisation.

IF YOU GO

>> Find out more at |English.VisitKorea.or.kr.

The Joyous Folklore Trip concept gives visitors a chance to enjoy the grandest festivals and carnivals that reflect the distinctive Chinese culture.

It starts in Yuxian County, Zhangjiakou, where tourists can enjoy authentic drama, singing and Yangge dance and attend a paper-cut workshop to learn how to make window decorations. In Changchun, you will find yourself encircled by the strong movie elements in the Changchun Movie Wonderland theme park and immersed in history at its museums.

Participate in winter fishing in Jingpo Lake, watch the rolling snowy mountains in the Snow Town, and join in the celebrations of the Spring Festival. In Harbin, you pass exquisite churches while listening to music. This route runs to Hailar, where mystic Ice and Snow Naadam and unique Mongolian customs are sure to impress you.

Ideal for winter sports lovers, the Thrilling Vitality Trip theme was just set up following China’s successful bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Chongli is a paradise for ski enthusiasts, with an accumulative snowpack one metre thick. The mountainous town is home to the biggest ski theme park in Asia, the Natural Ski Park of Changbai Mountains, which boasts quality services and complete facilities.

Once a hunting enclosure for the imperial family and Manchu aristocrats in the Qing Dynasty , the Yabuli Ski Resort is among the top ten ski resorts in the world, with three mountains connected to form a super ski trail.

Under the Fantastic Art Trip theme, Harbin’s Ice and Snow World is hailed as the Ice and Snow Disneyland, displaying stunning artworks, exciting activities and beautiful night views that bring Harbin a festive air throughout winter.

As the origin of China’s snow sculpture art, Harbin’s artistic Sun Island Snow Expo exhibits interesting snow sculptures, which are superb in quality, novel in design, and large in size, making it the world’s largest ice and snow carnival.

The route of Romantic Hot Spring Trip invites travellers to experience hot spring bathing. In the coastal city of Yingkou in Liaoning Province, bathing in the hot springs in winter has become a feature and the high quality of the thermal water attracts a large number of tourists.

Changbai Mountains, Jilin Province offers the open-air hot spring, surrounded by rime ice formations and an amazing winter landscape. In Daqing, Heilongjiang Province is rich in geothermal resources and hot springs.

The Gorgeous Scenery Trip features the Heaven Lake that looks like a fairyland with running water, a transparent ice cover, and steaming mist. In remote Kanas, you will see the magnificent snowfield, crystal rime ice on the birches, gleaming ice lakes, the misty Fairy Cove in the morning vand fairytale villages with smoke rising from the chimneys.

The leading travel website Booking.com has created a pricing calendar for the coming year, to help travellers of all budgets find the best value-for-money destination for each month of the year.

To form these recommendations, Booking.com first looked at the average price per night of 3, 4 and 5-star accommodations in the most popular global cities. Then, to determine which cities to recommend for which month, they looked at the yearly overview of pricing fluctuations to determine the best weeks to stay in the chosen destinations.

Copenhagen in Denmark, Buenos Aires of Argentina, Indonesia’s Kuta, Zurich in Switzerland, Australia’s Melbourne, and Chiang Mai of Thailand are perfectly-priced itinerary of places to check off your travel bucket-list in January, February, March, April, May and June respectively. These mentioned places are 41 per cent, 16 per cent, 33 per cent, 15 percent, 22 per cent and 26 per cent respectively more affordable than the most expensive month of the year.

For the last half, it’s recommended to visit Abu Dhabi of UAE in July, Rio de Janeiro of Brazil in August, Mexico City in September, Auckland in New Zealand in October, Greece’s Athens in November, and Amsterdam in the Netherlands in the yearend as these cities are 46 per cent, 40 per cent, 46 per cent, 16 per cent, 31 per cent and 35 per cent respectively more affordable than the most expensive month of the year.

Millions of mostly Indian tourists visit the Taj Mahal every year and their numbers are increasing steadily as domestic travel becomes easier.

Experts say the vast crowds increase wear and tear on the white marble tomb, which already must undergo regular cleaning to stop it turning yellow from polluted air, and could put pressure on its foundations.

In future only 40,000 local tourists will be allowed to enter the historic complex per day, authorities said Wednesday.

“We have to ensure the safety of the monument and visitors as well. Crowd management was emerging as a big challenge for us,” an official with the Archeological Survey of India — which controls the monument — told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The restrictions will not apply to foreigners, who pay 1,000 rupees ($16) to enter.

Indian visitors normally pay just 40 rupees, but will be able to buy the more expensive ticket if they want to get around the limit.

The Taj Mahal was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a tomb for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth in 1631.

Anyone wanting to see the main crypt, which houses the couple’s spectacular marble graves inlaid with semi-precious stones, will also have to pay for the pricier ticket.

The graves also date back to the 17th century but do not actually contain the bodies of the royal couple, who are buried under a separate lower chamber.

– Chaotic –

Visitors to the UNESCO World Heritage site already have to contend with lengthy queues and heavy security.

The plan to restrict visitors comes after five people were injured in a crush on the last day of the year, which often attracts large crowds.

“It’s a welcome move because the last time we came here it was very chaotic,” Seema Sarkar, a tourist from the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, told AFP.

Local tourist police inspector R.B. Pandey said it was a much needed step.

“It’s priceless heritage and if we don’t cap the tourist numbers it will be lost for future generations,” he said.

“You just cannot control such huge crowds.”

Daily visitors to the Taj Mahal average 10,000-15,000 but can be much higher at weekends, going up to around 70,000.

Nearly 6.5 million visited the monument in 2016, according to government figures.

The Taj Mahal has attracted world leaders and royalty, including former US President Bill Clinton.

Diana, the late British princess, was famously photographed alone on a marble seat there in 1992.

But the mausoleum faces an array of threats, including the yellowing effects of smog.

In 2016, green stains on its rear wall were blamed on excrement from insects.

Authorities have in the past covered the iconic monument’s facade with “mud packs” made of fuller’s earth, which draws out the impurities, to restore its whiteness.

Under the Beauty & You Retail Concept, the new license marks Shilla as the first operator to simultaneously secure duty free perfumes and cosmetics concessions across the major hub airports of Incheon International, Hong Kong International and Singapore Changi.

The Beauty & You outlet combines innovative store designs with a wide array of products, excellent service and exciting activities to delight guests at every stage of their shopping journey, giving a new innovative approach to travel retail in an airport.

With the grand opening slated for the summer of 2018, the number of brands will increase to more than 200 and the new store layout will incorporate both branded counters and non-branded areas, as well as immersive engagement zones.

“We’re extremely excited to expand The Shilla Duty Free network to one of the busiest airports in the world,” says Alice Woo, managing director of Shilla Travel Retail Hong Kong.

“The airport serves more than 70 million passengers annually and 1,100 aircraft daily. Hong Kong’s proximity to other Asian countries and mainland China also makes HKIA a powerful and promising hub for duty free sales. With the upcoming launch of Beauty&You, we hope to redefine the airport retail experience and customer journey through personalised service, interactive and engaging environment in one of the most robust travel markets in the world.”

A small island nation sitting 180 kilometres east of China and home to thriving cities, traditional Chinese temples, hot springs resorts and dramatic mountainous terrain, Taiwan has long been known among Thais for its busy night markets, stinky tofu and bubble tea.

And it certainly has plenty to offer the casual tourist, especially now that it has extended its visafree policy for Thai nationals for another year, making a trip there easy and hassle free.

The renowned Jadeite Cabbage.

The Taipei Economic & Cultural Office in Thailand’s Dr ChenYuan Tung recently invited a small group of Thai reporters to discover the island’s multiple tourist attractions. All are within easy travelling distance of New Taipei City, the newly founded city which is an integral part of the Taipei Metropolitan area and surrounds Taipei City on all sides, and accessible by Taipei’s public transit systems, including the metro and various bus and train routes.

Sitting at the foot of Yangmingshan National Park in a residential area popular with Taipei’s expatriate community, the National Palace Museum is home to almost 700,000 pieces of ancient Chinese imperial artefacts and artworks, many of them from the collections of China’s emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties. Two mustsees are the Jadeite Cabbage, an exquisite nineteenth-century jadeite carving in the shape of a Chinese cabbage head with a locust and katydid camouflaged in the leaves, and the Meatshaped Stone, a piece of jasper carved into the shape of a Dongpo pork.

Yilan Lanyang Museum viewed from the side.

Known to the Taiwanese as the “backyard of Taipei”, Yangmingshan National Park spreads out over 114 sqkm and is a popular destination among locals and tourists alike. It’s at its best as winter gives way to spring and from February to March, the entire area is blanketed with different kinds of blooms, among them are rhododendrons, cherry blossoms and camellia.

Inside the park is the Zhongxing Guesthouse, or Yangmingshuwu as it is known locally, a former summer residence once used for receiving foreign guests of the late president of then the Republic of China, Chiang Kaishek. Surrounded by breathtaking scenery, the landscape surrounding the building was planned by Madame Chiang herself. The handsome mansion has been beautifully conserved and boasts lots of photographs of Chiang KaiShek, his family and his contemporaries.

Another popular spot in the park is Xiaoyoukeng, a dormant volcano whose fumaroles, sulphur crystals, hot springs and the “landslide terrain” formed by postvolcanic activity offer a spectacular view. Besides being very safe to visit, accessibility to the site is easy, just a 10minute walk from the park’s main parking area.

The National Centre for Traditional Arts offers a modern showcase of heritage products.

Culture vultures will particularly enjoy a visit out of the city to the Lanyan Museum in Yilan County. Opened in 2010,  this modern mix of anthropological and natural museum is a place where visitors can learn about the history, culture, landscape, and natural beauty of Yilan through a well thoughtout exhibition. The most captivating element is the museum building itself, which was designed by celebrated Taiwanese architect Kris Yao.

An open space stretching 240,000 sqm along the Dongshan River in Yilan makes up the National Centre for Traditional Arts and houses a group of traditionalstyle buildings that serve not only to preserve Taiwanese traditional arts and crafts but also to bring innovations and new momentum to dying traditions. Visitors can shop for highend products or attend a variety of classes and workshops.

The new versus the old at Juming Museum

What so intriguing about this biggest openair museum of Taiwan is not its size but the numerous great art pieces on display by a celebrated Taiwanese sculptor, Ju Ming, after whom the Juming Museum is named. Housing primarily his own pieces, the museum also displays works by other artists that have had an impact on Ju Ming as well as those that he has inspired.

Yilan is also famed for the Wu Feng Chi Waterfall, a scenic cascade that’s split into just three levels and accessible through an easy 20-minute uphill walk on a sturdy con?crete path to the second level. Getting to the top level takes about an hour and traditional food and drinks are offered on many stalls along the way.

And of course any visitor to Taiwan will want to sample the array of cuisine on offer, both in Taipei and outside the city. From the vibrant street food in night markets, through traditional delicious Hakkastyle dishes to fusion food, the joy of tasting is as endless an exploration as the journey itself.

The writer travelled to Taiwan as a guest of Taipei Economic & Cultural office in Thailand

If you go

>> Eva Air offers regular flights between Bangkok and Taipei in three classes: economy, premium economy and business.

>> Flight time is a little over three hours.

>> Find out more at http://www.EvaAir.com.

>> The visafree policy for Thais remains in force through August 2018.

Organised by the Nara Foundation, the festival was once touted by CNN as one of the “Seven Wonders of Winter” and this year runs from January 6 to 28 in and around Hwacheon Stream, 120 kilometres northeast of Seoul.

As many as one million people will head to the town, which has a population of 27,000, to drop a line through a hole in the ice and catch “sancheoneo” – a species of trout that lives only in the very freshest of water.

Dressed in T-shirts and shorts, visitors will jump into the icy water to catch fish with their bare hands as the mercury plummets to a low of -10 degrees Celsius.

The festival’s success can be put down to two factors: first that the rivers freeze earliest in Hwacheon and second, the well-preserved nature that the sancheoneo inhabit.

Launched in 2003, the festival has retained the title of South Korea’s most representative festival for the fourth consecutive year. It has drawn more than one million tourists, including foreign visitors, for 11 years in a row, joining the list of the world’s four most famous winter festivals alongside Japan’s Sapporo Snow Festival, China’s Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival and Canada’s Quebec Winter Carnival.