TRAVELTITBITS
Legend Siam park on track
The Legend Siam cultural theme park will be opened in Pattaya at the end of the year.
Owned by the property developer Nusasiri, the project is located on a 164 rai site on Sukhumvit Road, on the opposite side of Cartoon Network Amazone Waterpark, and within 1km away.
The investment of the project is about 4 billion baht. It will consist of three zones. “Siamvilai” refers to the civilisation of Siam in the past. “Thai Araya” is the cultural zone which will have a temple fair and the house of the legend of Mae Nak Phrakhanong (the popular ghost story), plus floating and traditional markets.
“Phum Phandin” is the last zone. It exhibits historical stories including the heroic battle of Bang Rachan villagers in Sing Buri. The small group of people fought against a Burmese invasion shortly before the fall of the Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1767. There will also be a knowledge site about King Rama IX’s sufficiency economy, and an elephant show to tell a story of old beliefs toward white elephants.
Visit thelegendsiam.com
Thailand’s smart cities
Projects in Phuket and Khon Kaen won the most outstanding smart city awards in Asia Pacific excluding Japan, according to the 2018 IDC Smart City Asia Pacific Awards.
The smart city awards consist of 12 categories including the most smart city in administration, sustainable infrastructure and urban planning and land use. For this year, 148 projects were submitted to the contest.
Phuket’s project for Smart Tourism and Living Communities won the “Tourism, Arts, Libraries, Culture and Open Spaces” category. Khon Kaen’s project for Smart Health and Communities won under the “Public Health and Social Services” category. Both winning projects in Thailand were initiated by the Digital Economy Promotion Agency (DEPA).
“The projects illustrated the best practice of urban innovation with ultimate focus on the use of technologies [cloud, platforms, analytics, IoT, mobile solutions] and data, unique partnerships, funding models and/ or community involvement,” said the IDC.
The project in Phuket consists of four programmes. “Smart Tourism” offers free high- speed Wi-Fi, the Phuket Smart City application and wristbands for tourists. “Public Safety” is about the implementation of CCTV cameras with analytics capabilities including license plate and facial recognition and vessel tracking system.
“Smart Environment” is the deployment of a waste water management system that utilises IoT technology. “Smart Government” is a real-time city data system that supports decision making.
The project in Khon Kean comprises a smart ambulance, a preventive healthcare service leveraging smart wristbands and smart home solutions. Another project is to use blockchain and big data analytics to develop a medical data sharing platform that can be accessed by both public and private healthcare service providers.
AIRLINES AIRLINES UPDATE UPDATE
Thai Air Asia will launch its first direct flight from Chiang Mai to Hanoi on Oct 28.
The flight will be available four times a week on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The airline will fly with the 180- seat Airbus A320 aircraft.
The departure time from Chiang Mai will be 1.20pm and the arrival time in Hanoi will be 2.50pm. The return flight from Hanoi will depart at 3.20pm and will arrive at Chiang Mai airport at 4.55pm.
The airline also launches a promotion fare starting at 1,090 baht per trip for booking today until Aug 19 and for travel from Oct 28 to March 29 next year.
Visit airasia.com.
Bangkok Airways launches “Bin Dee U Dee” package for Bangkok-Krabi route. The promotion prices start at 5,900 baht per passenger. It includes a roundtrip ticket, two-night accommodation with breakfast, a round-trip shuttle service between Krabi airport and hotel and a one-day trip.
Visit facebook.com/ BindeeUdee.
HOTELS HOTELS UPDATE DEALS & UPDATE
U Jomtien Pattaya has been open on Aug 15. Located on Jomtien Sai Neung Road, the 4-star hotel features 64 rooms and suites, restaurant, rooftop swimming pool and fitness.
Like other U Hotels & Resorts, the new property offers a “24-hour use of room” programme allowing guests to use the room for 24 hours after check-in and breakfast whenever/ wherever.
To promote the official launch, U Jomtien offers a promotion price for a superior room from 3,799 baht to 1,900 baht including breakfast for two persons for stay from now until 31.
Visit ujomtien.com.
Centara Grand at Central-World launches a “Shopaholic” promotion for all room types.
Until Nov 30, the package provides a complimentary BTS day- pass, 20% discount on all food and beverages in the hotel’s restaurants and bars, late check-out at 2pm (on request) and buy one get one on foot massages at its spa. If guests book for two consecutive nights, they will receive a 600 baht Central department store gift card per room.
Visit centarahotelsresorts.com.
Chiang Mai Grand View Hotel & Convention Centre has offered 10%-36% discount prices for all room types. Starting from 1,600 baht a night for a Superior Room to 15,000 baht for Grand Royal suite, the prices also include breakfast for two. If guests book for at least two nights via its website, they will also receive a complimentary international buffet lunch.
Visit chiangmaigrandview.com.
Email karnjanak@bangkokpost. co.th if you have any comments to share.