Awesome Assignment

Exotic Experience• Prepare an itinerary for a 3-day trip. • Besides the day-to-day plan, include some

of the following either in the main write-up or as a side:

• Weather, Best time to visit, Dos and Don’ts, Getting around, Where to Eat, Where to Shop, What’s Cool / Hot, Festivals, Costs.

• The choices provided here are to inspire you. Expand, extend, modify it to make it yours.

• Must be in line with responsible tourism• Add pictures to complete.

Morocco• Soak in the Sahara Desert by going on an overnight camel trek with

CamelTrekking.com. The 3-day tour starts off from Marrakech and will give you a chance to see all the must-see sights of the dessert.

• The Morocco-based tour agency will take you on a 4x4 landcruiser to the Todra Gorge, also known as the Grand Canyon of the Sahara, and the great sand dunes of Erg Chebbi on the second day of your tour. This is where you will hop onto a camel for your 1½-hour ride. You will then camp in a tent overnight.

• The tour, which costs €150 (S$269.6) a person, includes an overnight stay in a hotel, food and an English-speaking guide.

• To see Mount Toubkal or Jbel Toubkal, check out the Imlil Valley tour with Toubkal Guide (toubkalguide.com/excursions.htm) which starts from €35 a person. The tour will take you to see the mountain and visit the traditional Berber villages.

Kenya• To see the Masai tribe, which is well-known in Kenyan culture, go to

Masai Mara National Reserve, six hours away from Nairobi. • The long journey will not be wasted because the reserve is touted

as one of the best places in Africa to view the country’s Big Five animals – elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos and buffalo.

• Hot air balloon rides are also available. • To see the Masai people, take a cultural tour to visit a Masai village,

where you can experience their way of life and see young Masai warriors perform their traditional dance.

• Look for the nomadic Samburu tribe at the Samburu and Shaba National Reserves, which are examples of a typical arid Kenyan habitat. The tribe people herd camels and goats to put them out to pasture.

• Visit El Molo bay for the El Molo tribe, Kenya’s smallest tribe of less than 500 people.

Scotland• Visit the dramatic landscapes of the Scottish

Highlands and Moray. • The tourist resort town of Aviemore, set in the heart

of the Cairngorms National Park, is not only famous for its ski slopes but also boasts summer activities such as the Tree Zone, an adventure playground of Tarzan swings and walkways through the forest of pine trees.

• The nearby Rothiemuchus Estate offers easy-walking trails and a kayak trip along the River Spey is a must – you can see Atlantic salmon and the osprey sea hawks.

• For thrills-a-minute activities, paraglide off Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the UK, or go white water-rafting in the River Garry rapids.

Mumbai, India• Soak up history at the Gateway of India. Built in 1919, it was a

landing spot for British governors during colonial times. • A harbor cruise here, which leaves every 30 minutes, costs 40

rupees (S$1.15). • You can also tour Dharavi, also known as the largest slum in Asia,

with Reality Tours & Travel (www.realitytoursandtravel.com ). Prices start from 500 rupees for a 2½-hour tour, which takes visitors to the slum’s recycling area and biscuit bakery and includes house visits.

• Also, check out Bollywood with a half-day package from Bollywood Tours (bollywoodtours.in). It takes you behind the scenes of a live movie set and inside a star’s make-up room. The seven- to eight-hour tour, costing 6000 rupees, includes lunch.

Brazil• The Iguacu National Park, a Unesco World Heritage Site, is

a must-visit to see the spectacular waterfall Iguacu Falls. • It stretches 2.4 km along the south-western border of

Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. To visit a desert-like national park, go to the Lencois Maranheneses National Park, located in north-eastern Brazil.

• Look out for the blue lagoons among the undulating, sweeping sand dunes of the park. These lagoons, which form during the rainy season, are popular fishing spots for locals living there.

• The maritime Fernando de Noronha Maritime National Park is also a picturesque sight of turquoise, clear waters.

• The Unesco World Heritage Site is an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and is a hot spot for divers. Boat tours, dolphin watching and buggy tours are available.

Barcelona, Spain• You could spend the morning taking a guided walk through the city’s

Gothic Quarter. • Also known as the Barri Gotic, you will get to see the city’s mediaeval

buildings such as the Palatine charpel of Santa Agata and learn about the city’s history and people.

• This two-hour tour will also take you on an exploration trip to the Temple d’August, one of the best preserved Roman relics in Barcelona. The tour costs US$16.66 (S$21.80) a person and comes with an English-speaking guide.

• To check for availability and to book, go to www.viator.com/tours/Barcelona.

• Alternatively, take a leisurely stroll through the Eixample district, a neighbourhood where one can sdmire the buildings by architects such as Antoni Gaudi, Domenech I Montaner and Puig I Cadafalch, which are built in the Catalan Modernist style, or Art Nouveau. This tour is priced from €12.50 (S$21.80) and can be booked at www.barcelonacitytours.com.

Vang Vieng, Laos• For tubing, head to Vang Vieng in Northern Laos, about a four-

hour bus ride from the capital, Vientiane. • At Vang Vieng, you can rent a large inner tube from rental

companies located in the vicinity of the Nam Song River. Renting a tube costs around US$7 (S$9.10) and you are also expected to leave a deposit of US$7.

• The rental companies will also have dry bags for you to keep your valuables. The whole tubing adventure takes about three hours. There are bars along the route where you can buy a beer of a brink.

• The Nam Pa River in Luang Prabang in north central Laos is one of the places in the country where you could kayak. From Luang Prabang, take a one-hour drive to the scenic river. It takes about 2 ½ hours to kayak and along the way, you will see local villages.

• You may even choose to have your lunch at one of them. Note that the currents at the Nam Pa River are very slow during the dry season and the best time to take the trip is from July to October.

• For both activities, go to www.laosadventures.com and ww.greendiscoverylaos.com for more information.

London, Great Britain• Go on the Gems of London city tour (www.goldentours.com) which

costs £45 (S$92) a person and lasts about six hours. Among the places you will visit are the Tower of London where you will be greeted by its ceremonial guardians, the official Yeoman Warders.

• The tour also includes a luxury Thames River cruise that will take you through the other sights of the city.

• If you prefer to go around London with a guide, sign up at www.britishtours.com/london-tours.

• If you are a first-time visitor, you will be shown around major sights such as Buckingham Palace, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Houses of Parliament.

• Your guide can also take you to lesser known places such as the historic Hampstead Village with its 17-th century architecture and the Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. You may also do your own research and suggest the places you wish to visit. A three-hour tour for two persons will cost £245.

Basel, Switzerland• The best way to explore Basel is on foot and by tram. It is definitely worth

spending a day walking through the old town, crossing the Mittlerbruecke from Gross Basel to Klein Basel.

• The inner city has four or five different walks which take you down the old town lanes. Trams are a wonderful way to get around the old town, the new town and into the suburbs. Tram 10/11 takes you on a ride through three cantons (Basel Stadt, Basel Land and Solothurn) and there is even a stop in France (Leyman).

• Many secondhand stores in Basel stock antiques and lots of interesting odds and ends. As well as Kunstmuseum and Beyeler Foundation Museum, both of which have different exhibitions throughout the year. They are just two of 40 museums in the vicinity of Basel. T

• he Kunstmuseum Basel (www.kunstmuseumbasel.ch/ ) houses the largest and most significant public art collection in Switzerland and is listed as a heritage site of national significance. Admission costs 15 francs for those over 19.

• The Beyeler Foundation (www.foundationbeyeler.ch/) with its museum in Riehen near Basel, owns and oversees the collection of well-known art collectors Hildy and Ernst Beyeler, who built it up over five decades. Exhibits include about 200 classic modernist works from artists such as Claude Monet and Vincent van Gogh.

Florida, USA• Travel website Autotoursusa.com, which specializes in planning road trips

in the USA, recommends seeing the following sights if you are arriving at Orlando International Airport in Florida.

• Apart from visiting theme parks – Magic Kingdom, Disney’s Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Universal Studios and SeaWorld – you can drive 72km to Kennedy Space Center, also known as NASA’s headquarters.

• Get driving directions from www.kennedyspacecentre.com/driving-directions.aspx .

• Next, cruise 275km or about three hours over the Overseas Highway and through Florida Keys to Key West. Key Largo is another two hours away. There, take a boat trip out to the John Penekamp Coral Reef State Park for a tour of the coral reef onboard a glass bottom boat or go on a guided snorkeling trip.

• The Everglades is also a stop you should not miss. Sign up for the tram or boat tours to see the wildlife and learn about the ecosystem. Go to www.nps.gov/ever/planyourvisit/guidedtours.htm for more information.

You may also choose from…

• http://famouswonders.com/top-100-cities/ or• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_most_li

vable_cities

Classic World Tour• World-Heritage Tours: Pick a couple of world heritage sites

from http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/ and design a tour of an appropriate duration. There must be a mix of cultural and natural sites.

• Tropic of Cancer/ Capricorn: Pick a couple of cities that lie on the Tropic of Cancer / Capricorn from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_of_Cancer or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropic_of_Capricorn and design a tour of an appropriate duration. Your choice of cities may be within 10 km of the line.

• The Silk Road: Pick a couple of cities that lie on the ancient Silk Road (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk_Road ) and design a tour of an appropriate duration.

• The Grand Tour: With reference to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour , do a modern day version of the Grand Tour.

• The Spice Trail: Refer to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spice_Trail , design a tour to learn about spices of the world