Thailand will indefinitely close the island of Koh Tachai, in Similian Islands National Park, to the public starting on Oct. 15, 2016, so that its ecology can recover from damage done by the many tourists it attracts. Thai officials have stated that tourism has eroded the island’s beaches and damaged its coral reefs.
The entire park regularly closes May 16-Oct. 15 due to the monsoon season. All of the other islands in the park will reopen as usual on Oct. 15.
In order to combat pollution and traffic, Paris now closes the Avenue des Champs-Élysées to motorized vehicles on the first Sunday of every month; closures began on May 8. In addition to Champs-Élysées, nine other roads in Paris will be closed on each first Sunday. You can find the list of roads at www.paris.fr/parisrespire (in French only).
In addition, Parisian officials have made the city’s museums free on those Sundays.
On May 3, Cambodia banned motor vehicles from the road that runs directly in front of the 12th-century Angkor Wat complex, a UNESCO World Heritage Site near Siem Reap. There were concerns that vibrations from buses, trucks, etc., might cause damage to the Hindu and Buddhist temples and other structures.
The main road, which is only 985 feet long, is now open only to foot and bicycle traffic. As of press time, all other roads in the 160-square-mile site still allowed motorized vehicles.
Costing a total of $5.3 billion and taking two years longer than originally scheduled, the expansion project at the Panama Canal, begun in September 2007, at press time was scheduled to begin accepting ships on June 26.
The expansion adds another lane of traffic that more than doubles the size of ships that can be accommodated, from those that can hold up to 5,000 TEUs (or Twenty-foot Equivalent Units, which roughly indicate a ship’s capacity for 20-foot containers) to those at 13,000 TEUs.
Two airlines, Lufthansa and LATAM, announced that they would be suspending flights to Venezuela. Because of monetary restrictions in that country, it is difficult to exchange Venezuelan bolivars into US dollars, causing foreign companies doing business there to lose a great deal of money due to Venezuela’s high inflation rate, currently averaging 481.5%.
In Macau, more than 30 artist and food booths plus live performances are featured at the @5 Outubro Street art fair, occurring on the second weekend in each month (except May and November) in 2016 at the Hong Kung Temple Square. Art and handicrafts made from materials like leather, ceramic and precious metals, some customized on the spot, are sold.
In Tokyo, a tea ceremony room designed for foreign visitors, Ginza Chazen (5F Ginzaishikawa Bldg. 4-12-17 Ginza, Chuo Ward, Tokyo 104-0061, Japan), opened in October 2015. Over 45 minutes, visitors observe a tea ceremony and learn from a tea master how to grind green tea leaves. Open 9 a.m.-9 p.m. Reserve by 6 p.m. a day ahead. ¥3,500 (near $28).
“Toilets: A Spotter’s Guide” (2016, 128 pp., $11.99) contains photos and colorful stories of more than 100 interesting lavatories around the world, from dusty outhouses to posh thrones. Published by Lonely Planet, the book is available at bookstores or online at http://shop.lonelyplanet.com/world/toilets-a-spotters-guide-1.
For visitors to South Africa, the app “Official Guide to Cape Town,” released by Cape Town Tourism, helps users to find transportation, landmarks, hotels, restaurants and shops. Including a calendar of events and an easy-to-use map, it also suggests itineraries and shares advice from other users.
The app is free for iPhone, iPad and Android and does not need to be connected to the Internet to work.
Visitors to the Longmen Grottoes near the city of Luoyang in Henan Province, eastern-central China, now can enter Kanjing Temple, which opened to the public on March 10.
Kanjing Temple, carved into a limestone cliff more than 1,000 years ago, contains 29 life-sized sculptures of Buddhist monks, now protected behind glass. Since 1953, the public has rarely been allowed into the temple for fear of damage to the artifacts.