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Travelers with layovers of six to 12 hours at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport can take any of 15 tours of four to seven hours from/to the airport. Example — the four-hour “City & Temple Tour,” at 1,100 baht (near $33) per person for two people, visiting the Golden Buddha, pagodas of Wat Pho and the marble temple of Benchamabophit.
Travelers can charter boats to cruise on Lake Baikal, in southern Siberia, during summer season (June-October).
One company, Baikal Explorer (Irkutsk, Russia; phone +7 3952 742440), offers three boats for exploring and fishing. They come with experienced crews and because of their low draft can pull up almost anywhere along shore.
The 30-page booklet “Cape Town Nature Reserves” profiles each of the South African city’s 24 nature reserves and areas with a photo, activities available, types of species found, hours open and entry fees.
It is available at the Rietvlei, Rondevlei and Helderberg nature reserves for R5 (near 50¢) and also at the Botanical Society Bookshop in Kirstenbosch Gardens. For a free PDF download, visit www.capetown.gov.za/en and in the Search box type “Cape Town Nature Reserves Booklet.”
The Bach Museum Leipzig (Thomaskirchhof 15/16, 04109 Leipzig, Germany; phone +49 0 341 9137 202, fax 9137 205) will reopen March 20, 2010, following a renovation and expansion.
Offering new multimedia exhibits exploring the composer’s life and music as well as original manuscripts and an organ examined by Johann Sebastian Bach in 1743, it is open 10-6 Tuesday-Sunday. Adult €6 ($9), “reduced” €4 and under 16 free.
While in Thailand, travelers now can dial the tourist hotline 1672 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for assistance as well as for information on accommodations, sightseeing and more. Or they may submit “live chat” inquiries at www.tourismthailand.org by clicking on the box “1672” (lower right on homepage).
The Torino + Piemonte Card offers free admission to over 160 museums, monuments, castles and royal residences in Turin and Piedmont, Italy; free travel on above-ground public transport; 10%-20% off guided tours and tourist trains, and 20% off Avis car rentals.
Covering one adult and one child under 12, the card costs €20 (near $30) for two days; €25 for three; €31, five, and €35 ($53) for seven days. A two-day pass for those under 18 costs €10 ($15).
In honor of Robert Schumann’s 200th birthday, a concert will take place at Schumann-Haus (Inselstraße-18, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; phone 0341 393 96 20, fax 96 22, www.schumann-verein.de [in German]) on June 8, 2010. Ticket, €12 ($18).
• Schumann-Haus, the 16-year residence of Robert and Clara Schumann, has exhibits on their lives and work. Open 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday. €3 ($4.50) adult.
For people of all ages, more than 50 one-week courses are offered at Christ Church College in Oxford, July 4-Aug. 7, 2010. Among them are “Castles in Britain,” “Jane Austen’s Heroines” and “Victorian Scandals.” There are no prerequisites to enroll, and the classes are taught without papers to write or tests to take. No academic credit is offered.
As ITN went to press, the State Department had travel warnings on 30 destinations: Mauritania, Chad, Mali, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Algeria, Colombia, Guinea, Lebanon, Côte d’Ivoire, Philippines, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Central African Republic, Israel/West Bank/Gaza, Kenya, Afghanistan, Burundi, Nigeria, Haiti, Iran, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Georgia, Sudan, Syria and Somalia.
For details, call the State Department at 202/647-5225 or visit http://travel.state.gov/travel/warnings.html.
In the Albay region of Luzon island, northern Philippines, the Mt. Mayon volcano continues to erupt. Having gradually dropped to Alert Level 1 in 2006, it showed signs of activity in July 2009 and by December, again at Alert Level 4, was spewing ash clouds and 200-meter-high lava fountains.
The government extended the Permanent Danger Zone to an eight-kilometer radius south of the mountain and seven kilometers north. As of Dec. 22, about 45,000 people were evacuated from the region. The eruptions can be safely viewed from Legazpi City.