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A stopover in Frankfurt can be a rewarding experience as Karen Halabi discovers. |
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Karen Halabi reports from an elephant sanctuary in the remote hills north of Chiang Mai, Thailand, where an Elephant Nature Park and the woman who runs it, are attracting international attention. |
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The Middle East, in particular Saudi Arabia, is hot. Saudi is one of the hardest places in the world to visit. The country does not accept tourists and in fact has no such thing as a tourist visa, much less a tourist office. But things are changing says Karen Halabi.
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Karen Halabi escapes the madding crowd for the peace and contemplation of a Korean tea house. |
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On the surface, Saudi Arabia appears a lot like other Muslim countries such as Iran or Iraq. There are many similarities - the wall-to-wall desert and the women clad head to toe in abayyas, but then you start to notice the differences - the obvious wealth and corresponding lack of poverty, the big flashy cars and the obsession with everything American. |
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Karen Halabi visits a once divided city to report on how reunification, as well as a huge reconstruction program which turned Berlin into the largest construction site in Europe, have seen it become Germany’s most exciting tourist attraction. |
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These days all that’s left of the Wall is a short 100-metre section which stands curiously alone in a suburban street just off Potsdamer Platz, metres from Checkpoint Charlie. Open-topped tourist buses file by and tourists crane from their upper decks to take videos and snaps of this last remaining remnant. |
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KAREN HALABI visits Shanghai and discovers the new modern face of 21st century China, where things are changing at a rapid pace. |
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Soak up the waters in Budapest, a city famous for its health and thermal spas, and the only place in Europe you’ll find Turkish baths, says Karen Halabi. |
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Gujarat is the land of the Mahatma - the birthplace of Ghandi - and the only place on Earth where you can still see the Asiatic Lion, says Karen Halabi. |
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Karen Halabi sails the Whitsunday islands off Australia’s eastern coastline on a cruise ship that once sailed the Mediterranean. |
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Saudi Arabia is a country of vast distances and huge expanses of desert, where ancient forts and citadels dot the landscape. |
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Tourists come from as far away as Korea Japan and China to see blue nosed dolphins at Port Stephens on the coast, just north of Sydney. |
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Piestany, an authentic spa town in Slovakia once favoured as a health retreat by Austrian emperors and composers, is now frequented by international celebrities and sportsmen, including soccer teams. |
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The Fishing Boats of Malta.
The coastlines of the Maltese islands of Gozo, Malta and Comino are littered with harbours bays and tiny fishing villages where old men sit in the afternoon sun untangling fishing nets…
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Hwange National Park is the largest and best gameviewing area in Zimbabwe and, some say, all of Africa. With roughly 15,000 sq km of protected parklands, it's around the size of Wales or Belgium. During a short stay here it is not impossible to see up to 50 different species of animal and bird life... |
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"Welcome to my home", said the beaming taxi driver at Harare airport in such warm, lilting tones that I should have realised the pull had already started. "To my home" I kept thinking on the drive into the Zimbabwean capital, not to Harare or even Zimbabwe, but "to my home". In all my years of travelling, no-one had ever said that to me before.
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If your idea of a holiday is hanging by the neck in a medieval style torture chamber then a Slovakian spa is for you. |
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A live geography lesson in wide screen, Zimbabwe is an ideal place to take kids on a family holiday but check first - many lodges won't take children under 12 and they often aren't allowed on game drives. |
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As Karen Halabi discovers, Malta is an island built entirely of stone. The buildings, the streets, the cliffs and the whole island are the same honey-coloured stone on this small island which lies in the middle of the Mediterranean. |
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Live like a modern day Maharajah when you visit Rajasthan. |
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Karen Halabi discovers that sun, sea, sand and ancient buildings are why Hollywood is in a sweaty love affair with Malta. With a bit of art direction it can be ancient Rome, Africa or Asia. |
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Don a safari suit and take off like Livingstone, either in five-star luxury, cocooned in some of Zimbabwe'sfinest hotels and resorts or sleeping out under the African stars in a tent or thatched tree-house. |
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Karen Halabi explores the palace and fort hotels of Rajasthan, royal retreats which have become upmarket historic hotels, where you can breathe the rarefied gentile air of a bygone era. |
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Qualia, a truly Australian resort on the Great Barrier Reef, joins Australia' s luxury resort scene. |
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Bojnice Castle in Slovakia looks like it’s straight out of the pages of a Hungarian fairytale. |
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Karen Halabi explores what lies "behind the veil" in Saudi Arabia, a land of contradictions where strict Muslims traditions come face to face with designer labels. |
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Nine nights of non-stop dance, Navaratri in Gujarat (India) is the planet’s oldest, biggest and most spectacular dance celebration. |
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To see Venice at its best go in winter. Few places can claim to be more beautiful in winter than in summer, but Venice is an exception. Cloaked in mist and fog she wears her wintry cloak like a grand dame dressed for the opera. |
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The masks of Carnevale personify Venice, a fantasy city whose real life is hidden behind a tourist veneer and hardly ever revealed to strangers. |
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The ancient water temples of Gujarat are architectural marvels that have something in common with the pyramids |
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Australia is a wildlife paradise full of some of nature’s oddest creations says Karen Halabi. |
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