TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert WalsheLiving

Kuoni’s Travel Trends Re-port reveals that it’s the tried and tested favourites that continue to pull in the punters. Maldives is once again the best selling long-haul destination for 2013 and it continues to be number one choice for honeymoons. Perhaps slightly less pre-dictably, the islands are also the second top choice for singles. overall, Kuoni’s top destinations, based on book-ings up to December 2012, are the Maldives, Thailand, sri Lanka, the usA, uAE, Mauritius, Malaysia, Barba-dos, singapore and st Lucia

Holiday Hotspot – Four Seasons,

Chiang Mai, Thailandwww.fourseasons.com/

chiangmai www.etihad.com

Chiang Mai is Thailand’s second-largest city (with Bangkok being the largest), set in the lush mountains of Chiang Mai Province. Founded in 1296 as the capi-tal of the Lannathai kingdom, it has over 300 Buddhist temples, many dating back to the 13th century. it offers spectacular scenery, and is a great base for trekking, raft-ing, elephant riding and hill tribe visits. in fact the north-ern region of Thailand differs considerably from the rest of the country, both in climate and geography as well as cul-turally and lin-

guistically. This diversity has been attracting tourists since the late 1970’s and over time the region has developed into one of the prime desti-nations in Thailand. To enjoy and explore Chiang Mai, it is best to spend at least 3 days here. Doi suthep is the most famous of the temples sitting at 1685 meters above the city offering spectacular views. if you have children or a love for elephants then visit Mae sa Elephant Camp where they show off many skills in-cluding playing football and even painting! Elephant rid-ing is also an option here but don’t forget to bring a hat, sunglasses, sunscreen lo-tion, or an umbrella to shield you from the hot sun. A visit to Tiger Kingdom located in Mae Rim is about 25 minutes by Tuk Tuk from the city and also popular with visitors. in February the annual Flower Festival in nong Buak Had Park, Amphor Muang, is a local tradition – and a perfect opportunity to see African marigolds, orchids, chry-santhemums and assorted roses. Also a reminder that Chiang Mai is one of the most famous places for celebrat-ing songkran, the Thai new Year. Traditional practices, such as giving food offerings to monks and Buddha image bathing, the morning market and the sand pagoda contest are all highlights with cel-ebrations

lasting for three days, start-ing April 13th. occupying a scenic corner of the Mae Rim Valley, 20 minutes from Chiang Mai’s downtown, the ultra luxurious Four seasons is the regions most elegant and sought-after resort in northern Thailand. The col-lection of pavilions blends in like a jigsaw with the small hillside villages and if you really want to splurge the 16 suites come with plunge pools and personal house-keepers and the interior de-sign is traditional chique. All suites include 24 hour room service, twice daily maid service, daily and overnight laundry and pressing. The spa features seven treat-ment suites offering privacy for individuals or couples. Each suite offers a variety of facilities, including outdoor showers, private herbal steam rooms and outdoor soaking tubs and i would rate the traditional Thai massage offered here as the best i had anywhere. Culinary tourism in Thailand is all the rage and a cooking class can be a great way to spend a half day—or longer—and learn some of the history of Thai cuisine. At Four seasons Chiang Mai classes kick off with a shop-ping trip to the local mar-ket at 7am. Here you enjoy breakfast at the famous“ Warorot Market “it was fun to

explore with the locals and watch them shopping for groceries. Back at the resort hands-on kitchen dem-onstrations are given by a world-class Four sea-sons chef who carefully explains the finer points of Thai cook-ing techniques. if your feeling more energetic they also offer Muay Thai kick-boxing sessions, yoga, tennis, river rafting, and horseback riding. Din-ner at the sala Mae Rim. was outstanding and the unique flavours of northern and veg-etarian Thai specialties at a buffet evening memorable. since the resort’s opening they have received a number of international awards in-cluding “Top Resorts in Asia – number 3” Conde nast Traveler usA and “Top 100 Hotels in the World” Travel & Leisure (usA). With the Thai Culinary Package at Four seasons Resort Chiang Mai, you’ll enjoy three nights in a luxurious Pavilion and a culinary adventure in our Cooking school. For best rates visit www.fourseasons.com/chiangmai

The weather in Chiang Mai is divided into three seasons, cool, hot and wet. The cool season is between novem-ber and February, the hot season runs between March

and June and the wet season runs between July and octo-ber. The average tempera-ture is 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit) Etihad operates 10 flights a week from Dublin and daily flights from Manchester and Heath-row to Abu Dhabi and over 85 destinations including numerous daily connections to Bangkok and onwards to Chiang Mai through its code share with Bangkok Airways. in business class on the in-ternational leg expect award-winning fully flat beds in an innovative 1-2-1 layout – all seats have aisle access and are forward facing. Expect the services of a dedicated Food & Beverage Manager offering restaurant quality dining-on-demand, boutique wines, and a unique “kitchen anytime option “. Enjoy over 600 hours of on-demand en-tertainment on some of the largest personal screens in

the sky – as well as MP3 player connectivity and uni-versal power sockets. Etihad Airways also offer a dedi-cated lounge within the new Terminal 2 facility at Dublin airport, with features includ-ing showers and a business centre. This impressive oasis of calm is furnished with ital-ian leather chairs and soft sofas with extra facilities in-cluding a family room, bar, and a la carte and buffet food choices. Etihad also offer a private chauffeur taking you door-to-door in a luxury lim-ousine for customers across the island of ireland. For best fares visit www.etihad.com

Robert Walshe is a travel broadcaster with Q Radio Network and Travel Editor for River Media newspaper titles across the island of Ireland. www.robertw-alshe.com

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray

Weekly Best Buyirish Ferries has welcomed in 2013 with

a reminder to motorists that a 10% early booking discount is being offered to mo-torists planning to holiday in France this summer.

Coupled with this, motorists can secure their travel dates and accommodation sim-ply by paying a low EuR100 non-refundable deposit at the time of booking with the bal-ance payable just six weeks before depar-

ture – an offer which irish Ferries states is in contrast with other carriers who seek payment in full or a more significant de-posit at time of booking.

Third in their line-up of early booking in-centives is the offer of a free trip to Brit-ain for a car plus two passengers on their ireland/uK services to motorists making a return booking to France during June, July and August. www.irishferries.com

n Four Seasons Chiang Mai Pavilion Room, Thailand.

n Etihad Award Winning Service - Dublin to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Does your dog cry, bark or whine a lot?WE have all seen the cartoon or watched a film where a dog is barking in the night and some-one gets up, opens a window and throws a boot or something at the dog.

They are usually at the end of their tether and the frustration and anger is plain to be seen and heard. Does this method cure the problem barker perma-nently? no. Can you be done for cruelty? Yes. if we look at rea-sons why dogs bark then you will know how to deal with the problem.

if a neighbours dog is barking then it can be for many reasons. some of these reasons are: it could be that the dog is new and

feeling a bit insecure. it could be that the dog is alone a lot and is very lonely.

it could be that the dog has been used to being in the house a lot and is now growing up into a nuisance because nobody put manners on it and now it has been put outside, causing much stress to the dog, the family and all the neighbours. Another rea-son for barking a lot is that the dog could be scared.

A dog could be ill, have an in-jury that nobody knows about, has an owner in hosptal sud-denly and left to it’s own de-vices for a bit in the heat of the moment.

none of these reasons are the

dogs fault but the dog is the one that “gets the boot”.

What can you do if there is a problem with nuisance barking in your neighbourhood.? it is usually a good idea to approach the owner of the dog when they are at home.

Tell them their dog has been barking a lot and ask if there is a problem? Maybe you could help in some way?

You could offer some support if it is a temporary situation and the dog has nobody to walk it or look in on it for a short spell, you could suggest a dog trainer if you think the person simply doesn’t know how to fix it them-selves or call for some help if

the person is an addict and is not fit to look after the animal. if it is something that you can work out between you then all the better. if you get a hostile re-sponse from the neighbour then you have some options also.

You can ring the Gardai, social services, Animal Welfare, Dog Wardens or whoever you think could help. The animal may be a nuisance to you but it is not the animals fault, remember?. it is depending on you to help it.

if it is your own dog then do something about it. There is no need for a dog to be barking all night or all day if the owner and the dog have the right relation-ship. A dog that is a nuisance

barker does not make a good guard dog as nobody pays much at-tention to it after a while.

They just turn up their television to block it out.

if someone comes to your door in a civilised manner and explains to you (in a civilised way) that your dog is caus-ing them distress, then please try to work with them rather than against them. They are not doing it to annoy you, it is you that has annoyed them.