Tuesday, July 3, 2012

CNNGo.com

CNNGo.com

Marvel Adventure to open in Dubai

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 11:08 PM PDT

by CNNGo staff

Comic book geeks in the Middle East will be able to satiate their cravings for close-up superhero encounters when Marvel Adventure opens in Dubai in late 2013.

Part of the under-development, US$5-billion, 11-hectare IMG Theme Park, Marvel Adventure will be an indoor attraction filled with retail outlets, restaurants and interactive experiences, all featuring the popular Marvel Characters.

So will visitors be enjoying tea with Tony Stark or arm-wrestling matches against The Hulk? 

Developers aren't spilling many specifics just yet. Other then a promise that, like most things in the United Arab Emirates, it will be big. 

"This will be one part of the region's largest temperature-controlled entertainment destinations that IMG is developing which is sure to be a strategic landmark in Dubai, appealing to the region as well as other parts of the world," said Mustafa Galadari of IMG Group, as quoted by Abu Dhabi daily The National.

read more

CNNGo - Park Hotel Group Contest

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 08:20 PM PDT

Park Hotel Group is offering CNNGo readers an exclusive opportunity to win free nights at their top properties across Asia. Two exciting getaways are up for grabs each week.

Complete the form below by July 10 to be in the running for the following prizes:

Grand Park Orchard: Two nights' stay in a Deluxe Room with breakfast for two worth US$1,063 Grand Park Kunming: Two nights' stay in a Deluxe Room with breakfast for two worth US$614

read more

Where to find Korea's best bartenders

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 07:41 PM PDT

by Frances Cha

When my friend Jenny and I walk into Bar Rouge at the JW Marriott Seoul on Friday evening, a smiling young woman greets us and immediately asks which publication I'm from.

"Oh, Lord. Do I have 'journalist' tattooed on my forehead or something?" I say, turning to Jenny, who starts laughing at me.

It turns out that it's Media Day at Bar Rouge. The Gangnam lounge is celebrating the fact that two of its star bartenders have recently taken top honors at the Diageo Reserve's World Class Korea bartender competition.

So what was going to be a laid-back night with girl talk over Friday night cocktails turns into a fun, inadvertent interview at the bar. 

Bartenders Andy Seo, 39, and Terry Kim, 28, who won first and second place at the Diageo Reserve respectively, bring us their signature drinks.

read more

Shopping overload: 6 hard-core India markets

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 03:00 PM PDT

by Divya Dugar

Indian bazaars are the best sensory guides to the country's diversity.

The smells, colors, the sense of organized chaos, the new vying for attention with the old ... it all makes India's bazaars enthralling and overwhelming experiences. 

This is the kind of shopping where every buy has a story.

Some shops are holes-in-the-wall teeming with bargain hunters.

Then there are the street vendors fighting for space with cars, trucks, carts, elephants and horses.

read more

Liuyang: Where the world's fireworks are born

Posted: 02 Jul 2012 11:10 AM PDT

by Jesse Veverka

It's 9 a.m. as my bus pulls into the station and I am greeted by what sounds like a bedsheet being ripped apart a millimeter from my ear.

Startled, I jerk upright to see a group of Hunan locals setting off a giant roll of firecrackers right by the coach for no obvious reason. Or maybe it's just because they can.

I've just arrived in Liuyang, Hunan Province, the world's capital of fireworks.

This Chinese city is the single biggest producer of fireworks on the planet, providing around 60 percent of China's annual US$600 million of pyrotechnic exports.

Liuyang, Hunan Province, the worldMade in China, sold across the planet. A roll of standard firecrackers.

read more
at 9:16 AM