Talking Travel: Mauritius, Busan, and Some Deals
Talking Travel is the Beijinger's new weekly travel guide to great deals, interesting destinations, and weekend getaways. Visit every Tuesday morning at 9am for the latest for the frequent flyer.
The Maldives are so 2011. As island paradises go, the Greek Isles are great, but too far. Sri Lanka? Sure, the civil war's over, but that's not usually a tourism board tagline. The new exotic island destination is Mauritius.
To get there, fly towards the Maldives, then take a southwest turn over the Indian Ocean and keep going, almost until you reach the African coast. After a flying time of about 12 hours, passengers arrive in Port Louis, the capital of an independent nation whose residents speak languages including English, French and Chinese. Yes, Chinese. There is a significant Chinese population in Mauritius.
Once there, spend some time on the beach, enjoy snorkeling or scuba diving in gin-clear waters, or hike its hilly interior. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz coined the term the "Mauritius Miracle" in a 2011 article about this place. Air Mauritius, which now flies non-stop to Beijing to and from its home country, can get you there from RMB 9,600 and up, roundtrip.
Realizing now that you should have booked your Oct 1 holiday shortly after May 1? If you're looking for a beach holiday, consider somewhere not as immediately obvious: South Korea.
Except for the occasional typhoon, Busan, South Korea's second-largest city, is famous for Haeundae Beach, which every October also plays host to the Busan International Film Festival, Asia's biggest cinema gathering.
Busan, formerly known as Pusan, enjoys the same basic weather that makes the autumn the best time to visit Beijing: warm days, cool nights, and big high-pressure systems that keep the skies blue and clear. Like the Jersey Shore after Labor Day, the beach in Busan is empty, even though the days are warm enough for tanning and the water still pleasant for swimming. You'll have the beach to yourself, except when the film festival holds an event on it.
Eat some awesome food like barbecue or chicken and hof (chicken and beer in the local vernacular), see a movie or two, and otherwise enjoy an empty seashore while the rest of your friends are sharing the Boracay sand with 20,000 of their closest friends. Korean Air flies non-stop to Busan, which is also served by Air China, Asiana, and Hainan Airlines.
Our friends at Koryo Tours not only just started offering visa-run trips to Sinuiju, one of North Korea's least-visited cities (by Westerners), but now word comes that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) won't be closing to tourists for the winter, as they had before. Talk about non-stop party! The Koryo folks are already planning their first new year's party for 2014. Visit their website at the link above to find out more.
In Shanghai, the Shangri-La Pudong has completed its refurbishment and is celebrating by offering all guests who stay in their Grand Tower from Sep 1 onwards the privileges of the Horizon Club, their executive floor, namely paperless check-in, drinks and hors d'oeuvres each evening in the executive lounge, along with breakfast. Guests also enjoy 24-hour concierge service, and for those with river view rooms, a spectacular view of Shanghai's Bund. Room packages start at RMB 1,788 and can be booked through Shangri-La's website.
Also in Pudong, the Mandarin Oriental's new property is finally open there. At least theirs didn't, ahem, burn down and not open yet. Yours truly won a two-night stay there at Chi Fan for Charity last year, so look for more on that hotel in a future installment of Talking Travel. Until then, one road flat safe.
Look for more travel information from the Beijinger every issue in our Get Out column.
