Dental Tourism

DentalSea Clinic is situated in the heart of the beautiful resort island of Phuket.
You will notice the difference the moment you walk in. We aim to be different from any other dental clinic, and we are told we are.

Within a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere, you can find some of the most advanced dental facilities in Thailand - and some of the most committed surgeons and staff.
Enthusiastic and experienced at home and abroad, our general and specialist dentists are committed to offering you a wide range of high-quality and affordable dental services.


Fear not

We aim to offer you dental care without the tension one usually associates with dentists. Professional and caring dentists, friendly staff, state-of the-art technology and calming atmosphere all join to work for your dental health and mental piece of mind.
Learn
Do you know that you could avoid future visits to the dentist by following simple rules for dental health? Most dental conditions are caused by poor oral hygiene and are easily preventable. It is our commitment not only to cure you, but to teach you how to take better care of your teeth in the future. Our dentists will provide you with personalized advise and show you brushing techniques that make it much less likely that you will need to spend long hours at the dentists in the future, and ensure that you can smile with confidence - and pride

Relax

Even if the main reason for coming to Phuket is dental treatment, you will have much time remaining for enjoying the charms of Phuket and Thailand. Between visits to our practice you can relax at the beach, take a boat to one of the surrounding islands, admire the underwater world by snorkeling or scuba diving, enjoy bargain shopping, surrender to the mouth-watering Thai cuisine (be careful with the chilli), and, whatever you are doing, and wherever you go, indulge in the overwhelming hospitality of the Land of Smiles.


Virtually unknown until just a few years ago, the terms ‘medical tourism’ and ‘dental tourism’ are rapidly becoming familiar to most households in many first-world countries. The describe the increasingly popular practice of travelling to another country to obtain health care.

Some have said that medical tourism first emerged in ancient Greece, where people travelled from afar to seek treatment by the father of medicine, Herodotus. More recently, in the 20th century wealthy patients from developing countries would travel to first-world countries such as the USA or Germany for treatment.

However, nowadays the term ‘medical tourism’ is exclusively associated with patients travelling to “less developed” countries, such as Thailand, India, Hungary, Costa Rica, etc., which offer not just low-cost and high-quality treatment but also the opportunity of combining it with a holiday in a popular tourist destination.


Factors that have contributed to the growth of medical tourism include:

·        The development in recent years by less-developed countries of high-quality, cutting-edge health care service industries, with many doctors trained overseas;

·        Medical facilities have been built that match or even surpass in quality some “western” hospitals and health centres;

·        And all this comes at a cost often several times lower than the typical “western” cost of medical treatment;

·        On the demand side, patients from industrialized countries often face long waiting lists and high treatment costs. Aging population there needs increasingly more health care, and increased life expectation has added to the demand for health care;

·        The advance of the Internet has made acquiring information and making contacts with overseas hospitals easy, and competition in the airline industry has brought down the cost of travel.


The main point is that the quality of dental treatment in Thailand and other “less-developed” countries is not only comparable to, but in some case more advanced than, what is on offer in some industrialized countries. This is due to the fact that most facilities have been built only in recent years, and that governments and private sector have invested heavily in both hardware and health education and training.

Yet another point not to be ignored is the cost of treatment. Depending on the procedure, the cost in Thailand for most dental treatments can be 4-6 times lower than in West Europe, North America or Australia. These lower costs can be achieved mostly through lower cost of setting a practice, cheaper specialized education and training, lower cost of construction and real estate, and, crucially, our belief that doctors are there to serve patients and not to bankrupt them.

Rather than undergo a prolonged treatment in your country for which you pay a small (and sometimes not so small) fortune, why not save some of the cost and still be able to pay not only for the treatment but also for a week or two of a tropical vacation for yourself and your family. Indeed, just coming to have one dental bridge made in Thailand will give you enough savings to pay for a 2-week vacation of a family of four (airfare and decent accommodation included).


Caring for your smile
Daily, from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and later

To make an appointment, call +66 (0) 7629 6682 or +66 (0) 872 775 014

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What's the best option when calling from a hotel, international residence or payphone?
To place calls to the U.S. from a landline phone overseas, use AT&T PrePaid Minutes and/or an AT&T PrePaid Phone Card with AT&T USADirect and you'll likely save considerably.

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Prior to leaving the U.S., purchase minutes by clicking on the "buy now" link at the top of this page, then obtain the AT&T USADirect access number for the country you are going to, by visiting www.att.com/esupport/traveler.jsp
To place a call from an international country to the U.S.:
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Due to Government restrictions within some countries, using PrePaid Minutes to place a call may not be available from every country. Call Customer Service for international calling information before leaving the U.S.
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What about calling with an internationally-subscribed Mobile Phone?
Using AT&T PrePaid Minutes and/or an AT&T PrePaid Phone Card with AT&T USADirect to place calls back to the U.S. from an internationally subscribed cell phone.

If you have an internationally subscribed cell phone, you can save on calls back to the U.S. when traveling internationally on business or leisure by using AT&T USADirect in concert with AT&T PrePaid Minutes and/or an AT&T PrePaid Phone Card.
AT&T USADirect access numbers are usually toll free when called from a locally subscribed cell phone in a foreign country - using this service with AT&T PrePaid Minutes can help you save on calls back to the U.S.
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How about my own U.S.-subscribed mobile phone?
A U.S. subscribed cell phone used in a foreign country will always charge a roaming fee, even when calling a number that is toll free within the country you are calling from.

AT&T USADirect access numbers are not toll free when dialed from a U.S. cell phone used in a foreign country - therefore, it is not recommended to use your cell phone with AT&T PrePaid Minutes when traveling internationally and calling back to the
U.S. - you will be charged twice, once for the roaming access to AT&T's network (charged by the local network provider) and once for the use of the prepaid card.
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Those are the facts. As you can see, AT&T PrePaid Minutes can help you save while you travel the world. Buy yours today!

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solar eclipse in Australia November 13, 2012

TRADE NOW WITH A BONUS

When a Palm Reader Knows More Than Your Life Line

“PLEASE put your hand on the scanner,” a receptionist at a doctor’s office at New York University Langone Medical Center said to me recently, pointing to a small plastic device on the counter between us. “I need to take a palm scan for your file.”

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John Hersey

I balked.

As a reporter who has been covering the growing business of data collection, I know the potential drawbacks — like customer profiling — of giving out my personal details. But the idea of submitting to an infrared scan at a medical center that would take a copy of the unique vein patterns in my palm seemed fraught.

The receptionist said it was for my own good. The medical center, she said, had recently instituted a biometric patient identification system to protect against identity theft.

I reluctantly stuck my hand on the machine. If I demurred, I thought, perhaps I’d be denied medical care.

Next, the receptionist said she needed to take my photo. After the palm scan, that seemed like data-collection overkill. Then an office manager appeared and explained that the scans and pictures were optional. Alas, my palm was already in the system.

No longer the province of security services and science-fiction films, biometric technology is on the march. Facebook uses facial-recognition software so its members can automatically put name tags on friends when they upload their photos. Apple uses voice recognition to power Siri. Some theme parks take digital fingerprints to help recognize season pass holders. Now some hospitals and school districts are using palm vein pattern recognition to identify and efficiently manage their patients or students — in effect, turning your palm into an E-ZPass.

But consumer advocates say that enterprises are increasingly employing biometric data to improve convenience — and that members of the public are paying for that convenience with their privacy.

Fingerprints, facial dimensions and vein patterns are unique, consumer advocates say, and should be treated as carefully as genetic samples. So collecting such information for expediency, they say, could increase the risks of serious identity theft. Yet companies and institutions that compile such data often fail to adequately explain the risks to consumers, they say.

“Let’s say someone makes a fake ID and goes in and has their photo and their palm print taken as you. What are you going to do when you go in?” said Pam Dixon, the executive director of the World Privacy Forum, an advocacy group in San Diego. “Hospitals that are doing this are leaping over profound security issues that they are actually introducing into their systems.”

THE N.Y.U. medical center started researching biometric systems a few years ago in an effort to address several problems, said Kathryn McClellan, its vice president who is in charge of implementing its new electronic health records system. More than a million people in the New York area have the same or similar names, she said, creating a risk that medical personnel might pull up the wrong health record for a patient. Another issue, she said, was that some patients had multiple records from being treated at different affiliates; N.Y.U. wanted an efficient way to consolidate them.

Last year, the medical center adopted photography and palm-scan technology so that each patient would have two unique identifying features. Now, Ms. McClellan said, each arriving patient has his or her palm scanned, allowing the system to automatically pull up the correct file.

“It’s a patient safety initiative,” Ms. McClellan said. “We felt like the value to the patient was huge.”

N.Y.U.’s system, called PatientSecure and marketed by HT Systems of Tampa, has already scanned more than 250,000 patients. In the United States, over five million patients have had the scans, said Charles Yanak, a spokesman for Fujitsu Frontech North America, a division of Fujitsu, the Japanese company that developed the vein palm identification technology.

Yet, unless patients at N.Y.U. seem uncomfortable with the process, Ms. McClellan said, medical registration staff members don’t inform them that they can opt out of photos and scans.

“We don’t have formal consent,” Ms. McClellan said in a phone interview last Tuesday.

That raises red flags for privacy advocates. “If they are not informing patients it is optional,” said Joel Reidenberg, a professor at Fordham University Law School with an expertise in data privacy, “then effectively it is coerced consent.”

He noted that N.Y.U. medical center has had recent incidents in which computers or USB drives containing unencrypted patient data have been lost or stolen, suggesting that the center’s collection of biometric data might increase patients’ risk of identity theft.

Ms. McClellan responded that there was little chance of identity theft because the palm scan system turned the vein measurements into encrypted strings of binary numbers and stored them on an N.Y.U. server that is separate from the one with patients’ health records. Even if there were a breach, she added, the data would be useless to hackers because a unique key is needed to decode the number strings. As for patients’ photos, she said, they are attached to their medical records.

Still, Arthur Caplan, the director of the division of medical ethics at the N.Y.U. center, recommended that hospitals do a better job of explaining biometric ID systems to patients. He himself recently had an appointment at the N.Y.U. center, he recounted, and didn’t learn that the palm scan was optional until he hesitated and asked questions.

“It gave me pause,” Dr. Caplan said. “It would be useful to put up a sign saying ‘We are going to take biometric information which will help us track you through the system. If you don’t want to do this, please see’ ” an office manager.

Other institutions that use PatientSecure, however, have instituted opt-in programs for patients.

At the Duke University Health System, patients receive brochures explaining their options, said Eliana Owens, the health system’s director of patient revenue. The center also trains staff members at registration desks to read patients a script about the opt-in process for the palm scans, she said. (Duke does not take patients’ photos.)

“They say: ‘The enrollment is optional. If you choose not to participate, we will continue to ask you for your photo ID on subsequent visits,’ ” Ms. Owens said.

Consent or not, some leading identity experts see little value in palm scans for patients right now. If medical centers are going to use patients’ biometric data for their own institutional convenience, they argue, the centers should also enhance patient privacy — by, say, permitting lower-echelon medical personnel to look at a person’s medical record only if that patient is present and approves access by having a palm scanned.

Otherwise, “you are enabling another level of danger,” said Joseph Atick, a pioneer in biometric identity systems who consults for governments, “instead of using the technology to enable another level of privacy.”

One Low, Low Price for Sun and Sand

Seth Kugel for The New York TimesA view of the beach at the Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach resort in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic.

Sometime this winter, many of you might wonder: What’s the least it would cost to skip town and head to a Caribbean resort, leaving behind scarves, snowbanks and sniffling co-workers?

The wily Internet will sense your desperation (or at least your recent search for “flu remedies”) and beckon you with cheap deals promising sand and sun for a pittance.

Those packages will sound mighty good, and really cheap, but are they actually either? I certainly never believed they could be as good as promised, but in service of the shivering souls of New York City and beyond, I decided to call the Web’s digital bluff, search for the absolute cheapest all-inclusive Caribbean package — and then actually go. Any beach on any island would do. Just show me the lack of money.

I started with three sites that offer affordable packages: Groupon Getaways,Liberty Travel and CheapCaribbean.com as well as another, Travelzoo, that compiles deals from those and others. After searching and re-searching, shaving down the price as far as I could go, I declared a winner: four days and three nights for $561.86 via CheapCaribbean.com. The site of my late-October escape? The Viva Wyndham Dominicus Beach in Bayahibe, Dominican Republic. (It was not one of CheapCaribbean’s featured packages, by the way — I had to dig really deep, tailoring my own vacation and playing with dates.)

That price, I think you’ll agree, is suspiciously low, especially because it included airfare, airport transfers, a standard room, meals and whatever else “all-inclusive” includes. Surely Viva Wyndham would try to nickel and dime me once I arrived. I vowed to keep the total cost under $600, even if it involved suffering.

Seth Kugel for The New York TimesThe author’s room at the resort.

It did not. The beach was palm-saturated and fine-sanded; the water, pastel-colored and just cool enough to refresh. The food was tolerable and certainly plentiful. Alcohol — this was where I was sure they would get me — was free. My room, with a king-size bed and perfectly acceptable bathroom, was maybe about Holiday Inn-level, which is better than I’m used to. Including the $14.50 it cost me to and from Kennedy Airport by subway and AirTrain, $9 in four tips I handed out to drivers and luggage toters and a $5 bottle of Barceló Añejo rum, my total cost came to $590.36, door to door. (For a guide to more Caribbean deals, see Stephanie Rosenbloom’s Getaway column.)

It’s true that I did not go during high season, and prices go up during the winter months. But I went alone, so couples and groups sharing rooms can expect to make some of that difference back. (For added savings, get a ride to the airport and put up with well drinks.)

It was also all very, very easy. My trips are usually whole-grain adventures, in which I trade discomfort and cultural risk-taking for memorable adventures and personal growth. This was Wonder Bread travel: easy on the palate if not altogether healthy.

I was met at the Santo Domingo airport by a guy with a CheapCaribbean.com clipboard and a van. (First time that’s ever happened to me in this job.) He dropped off two couples at other resorts before dropping me off at Viva Wyndham, where we arrived in about 90 minutes, just before noon. (I had taken the earliest possible flight offered in the package.) At reception, they told me I would not be able to check in until 3 p.m., but I could leave my luggage, change in a public bathroom and get onto the beach.

Seth Kugel for The New York TimesUnlimited Presidente beer was on tap.

I made a brief stop at the poolside bar on the way, gawking at the crowd of all ages, some of whom seemed to be on their second or third bright pink Singapore Sling of the day. The sun was blazing, merengue music was pumping, children were frolicking, a man with a big belly was drinking a Presidente beer in the pool. I flip-flopped over to the beach, which was protected by palm trees of two distinct heights to create a solid (and particularly paradisiacal) backdrop.

Then I noticed something odd — most people were speaking Italian. I’d find out later that the resort’s president is Italian, and that Italian tourists tend to dominate year round. This made making friends — and avoiding secondhand smoke — a bit more challenging. An informal survey suggested that Chileans made up the second largest subset, with Americans and French tied for a distant third.

I wandered the resort, investigating what was included and what was not. Massages started at $35, snorkeling trips at $50. Both were out. Agents from outside travel companies staffed desks selling excursions, also not for me. A mini-mall, and not all that mini, had shops full of beachwear and touristy knickknacks. No need for any of that. The beach was my goal, and when sand and surf and a Kindle full of books got dull, I took out a free kayak or joined a pickup volleyball game.

Seth Kugel for The New York TimesFresh doughnuts were a breakfast highlight.

Or ate and drank. That first day, when lunch started at 12:30, I was prepared for the worst. I had checked the resort’s Web site, and without booking a package my room would have cost just $80 a night. That money had to cover the pools, the beach, the landscaping, the staff. How it could also include three decent meals a day was beyond my mathematical capabilities.

Unless it had something to do with those “irrational numbers” we learned about in high school, because quite irrationally, the food was just fine. If you’re used to surviving on burned toast at hostel breakfasts and free appetizers at happy hours, this was a smorgasbord: salad bar, cold cuts, fresh bread, rice and beans, baked fish, sliced ham, a pizza bar, a pasta bar, an antipasto bar (yay, Italians!), even a “diet corner.” Coffee and fresh fruit juice for breakfast; soda and beer and wine on self-serve taps for lunch and dinner.

Sure, there were weaknesses: I’ve had better cakes from Hostess, and the broccoli covered in cheese sauce was nauseating. But the watercress at the salad bar had some real bite, the warm sugar-dusted doughnuts at breakfast were irresistible, and the pasta served up fresh by a friendly cook was surprisingly al dente. Anyone who expected more for the price, please direct complaints to the nearest mirror.

(At dinner, you could also make reservations at several other restaurants; two were free and others cost $10 extra.)

All-inclusive places usually try to make a nod or two to the local culture, allaying visitors’ guilt that they are in a foreign country whose cultural attractions they are ignoring. So painters were out hawking their bright, tropical canvases, and a store sold Dominican rum and cigars. (I actually bought my bottle at a slight discount from a grocery store in town.) The snack bar featured the spiced-up ground-beef patties and shredded cabbage that connoisseurs of Dominican street food in New York will recognize as the basis of the chimi, or Dominican-style burger. The bars served mamajuana, a Dominican drink of roots and herbs steeped in rum and wine.

Seth Kugel for The New York TimesOutdoor merengue lessons.

Dominicans are all about music — they are largely responsible for the popular tropical rhythms of merengue and bachata — so there were goofy, fun dance lessons in both genres, as well as salsa. There were also nods to the Italians: one side of the main poolside bar was set up for espresso drinks. “As good as at home,” said one Italian man I chatted with. That was delusional, but they were tolerable, especially for the bargain price of $0. The rest of the bar served sugary tropical drinks made with cheapo liquor and cloying, artificial-tasting fruit juices. But no one complained, especially when cocktails were served with fist bumps from the hard-working bartenders. (And I solved the problem with that bottle of rum, which I used to spike the self-serve Coke.)

There was also a variety show of sorts every night, the same sort of thing you might see at Club Meds or other resort chains, or so I’ve been told. I had assiduously avoided this silliness until rain on the final day drove me to seek distraction.

Seth Kugel for The New York TimesA show at the resort.

I perked up a bit at the opening announcement, which was delivered in Italian, French and then finally tortured English: “We just remember you that the show is just for adults.” Five couples were called up and seated on cushions, and then, in game show format, asked to perform tasks involving balloon-popping, sticking broomsticks through toilet paper tubes and the like, in ways I will describe simply as highly suggestive. My initial reaction was, “This is the beginning of the end of civilization as we know it.” And then I couldn’t stop laughing. For a vacationing crowd with no language in common, it was lowest-common-denominator hilarious.

I had scheduled my return flight for 7:45 p.m., hoping for a full last day in the sun, but instead we got socked with the torrential rains that would become Hurricane Sandy. Aside from guest rooms, no place was safe from the rain — even the dining room flooded. In fact, just as the staff moved merengue lessons to the indoor stage, the ceiling cracked and water poured (amusingly) on the dancers’ heads.

The resort was awash and the day was a wash. But oddly enough, I couldn’t have been happier. What had I lost? Elsewhere in the Caribbean, I imagined, disappointed travelers had paid $600 a night for some high-end room that maybe included breakfast. I had paid less for the entire trip.

Since I had kept expectations as low as the cost, they were met long before the rain started falling.

New Arrival from focalprice

Seeing Red: 40 Years of Exploration on Mars

MARS GLOBAL SURVEYOR / NASA

The exploration of Mars has spanned hundreds of years, starting with the invention of the telescope in the 1600s. It's difficult to comprehend what it takes to launch something into space, let alone sending a probe on a 154-million mile trek to capture information and images of another planet. From the first images of the surface of the red planet in the 1960s to the images from the Mars Curiosity rover, see highlights from the most successful missions that have shaped our understanding of the planet and its environment. Here, Valles Marineris and the south pole have a hazy appearance due to a dust storm three weeks before this photo was taken.

Why an Airline That Travelers Love Is Failing Read more: http://business.time.com/2012/10/25/why-an-airline-that-travelers-love-is-failing/#ixzz2BJkb11uJ

Virgin America is the equivalent of a TV show that’s a hit with critics but risks being canceled because of failing to attract enough viewers. The San Francisco-based carrier is regularly voted to the top of “best airline” lists. But it is far from the best in the business at making money.

On its website, Virgin America proudly displays the long list of travel awards it’s won over the past few years—best in-flight entertainment, best cabin staff, best cabin ambiance, best overall passenger experience, and so on. In the latest Conde Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice survey, it’s no surprise which carrier was named the top overall airline in the U.S. Yep, it’s the child of British billionaire playboy Richard Branson, five-year-old Virgin America.

For the uninitiated, the San Francisco Chronicle offered a portrait of what makes the airline so special:

Boarding a Virgin America flight, bathed in 12 alternating shades of mood lighting and awash in globalized dance/trance music, is not unlike rolling into a late-night club, cocktail in hand. Unlike low-cost carriers that fly with single-class seats and service, Virgin America offers first class, premium economy and economy.

(MORE: Popularity and Pay: Was Willy Loman Right About Being Well-Liked?)

Virgin American stands out especially because the industry is dominated with trends pushing for more fees, fewer perks, and an overall degrading and deglamorizing of the flying experience. Years ago—OK, decades ago—it was laughable to compare buses with planes. But nowadays, the concept of a plane being little more than a “bus in the sky” is the industry standard.

It’s fairly remarkable than any airline can generate positive feelings among customers in today’s travel scene. But while Virgin America may be well-liked, it may not be well-suited to compete.

Reporting in August, the Chronicle noted that, despite all of its rewards and glowing reviews, since 2007 Virgin America has posted a net loss of $671 million, and an operating loss of $447 million. More recently, Bloomberg News reported that after large net losses in the second quarter of 2012, the airline would be cutting back flights and asking employees to take voluntary work leaves in early 2013.

“I’m surprised it has survived this long, given the huge losses accumulated to date,” Scott Hamilton, managing director of aviation consulting firm Leeham Co., told Skift Travel IQ. “I don’t really see a place in the market for Virgin America.”

(MORE: How Airline Fees Screw Over Travelers Who Don’t Pay Them)

Because Virgin America is young, it doesn’t have a large a network of routes—which is essential to attracting business travelers. And because Virgin America offers a premium product (leather seats, power outlets, fleet-wide Wi-Fi, live TV), its flights often aren’t as cheap as competitors like Southwest and Alaska Airlines—and low price is overwhelmingly important to leisure travelers. Speaking of competitors, they have regularly jumped into markets where Virgin America is operating, making it difficult if not impossible for Virgin America to be profitable.

Mostly, Virgin America seems to have misread what travelers wanted most, and what they were willing to pay for. “They had an assumption that consumers would choose product quality over price and convenience and network carriers responded with force,” Hunter Keay, an analyst at Wolfe Trahan & Co., explained to Bloomberg.

Standing in sharp contrast to Virgin America’s struggles is the rise of Spirit Airlines. Along with its fellow fee-crazed cohort across the pond, Ryanair, Spirit has been an airline travelers love to hate for years. And yet, despite the common complaints about Spirit—customers have to pay even for water, and could get hit with $100 fees for carry-on bags—the airline is likely the most profitable of any in the U.S.

(MORE: Sit Tight: How Airlines Are Cramming More Seats Onto Planes)

So who is to blame if an airline that’s comfortable and treats passengers well fails, while a carrier that annoys and nickel-and-dimes customers at every turn is a run-away success? We all are.

MAKKAH in 1953.

South Korea’s second city

Hidden away on the tip of South Korea’s southeastern peninsula, Busan joins the likes of Milan, Osaka, Melbourne and Manchester in that its fits firmly into the category of quintessential “second city”.

• Related article: Make art not war in South Korea

Yet, when it comes to Busan, there is no inferiority complex to contend with. The city is not about flaunting unmissable sights, extreme beauty or a history that changed the world. Instead Busan is a genuine all-rounder that mixes a healthy outdoor lifestyle with a love of the arts and an exciting nightlife scene. And with its ever-changing scenery of stunning beaches, forested hills, ancient temples and exciting shopping districts, emerging from different stations along Busan’s subway can often leave you surprised that you are still in the same city.

City highlights
The decent Busan Museum of Art is worth visiting to see premier Korean artists such as Yang Dal-suk, Woo Shin-chool and Kim Jong-shik, but it was only after the unveiling of the stunning Busan Cinema Centre in 2011 that the global art world really started taking notice of this South Korean city. The cinema is an architectural masterpiece; a visual feast of soaring, wide open spaces with a deconstructivist design of straight, jutted lines reminiscent of Frank Gehry. But the building really comes to life at night when its roof is illuminated in a kaleidoscope of dazzling colours and images. It is also the home to the Busan International Film Festival, an emerging star on the global film calendar that takes place in autumn each year.

One of South Korea’s great obsessions is baseball, and even if you do not you like the game, get tickets to see some of the most fanatical sport fans in the world. The raucous noise of Sajik Stadium when it is filled with 30,000 screaming supporters is extraordinary, as inflatable batons are smashed together in deafening unison while music blares from the speakers and cheerleaders bust K-pop dance moves. Busan fans are famous for being the rowdiest in the country, known for the tradition of waving shredded newspaper pompoms and wearing the orange garbage bags provided under each seat on their heads as the game draws to a close.

Eating is another highlight of Busan, and seafood is the local specialty. The best place to see and sample the local catch is at the modernJagalchi Market in Nampo-dong, where tanks of exotic-looking marine life sit alongside rows of stalls slicing up famously fresh sashimi. Unlike Japan, where sashimi is presented immaculately in bite-sized morsels, here you are required to buy the entire fish, so do not be dismayed when you are served a heaped plate of raw fish served with kimchi dishes and greens. Head upstairs to enjoy your meal with ocean views.

Puffer fish, another local favourite, is known for being lethally poisonous if prepared the wrong way. But you can trust your life with the expert chefs at Geumsu Bokguk in the Haeundaue district, a well-established restaurant that specialises in the fish and will prepare it anyway you want, from raw to deep fried.

Being a sizeable university town, Busan also has a youthful energy generated by students wanting to let off some steam and an enclave of foreign English teachers looking for a good time. Head to the student area of Kyungsung for a pub crawl through its labyrinth of neon-lit bars, student eateries and flashing game parlours; Vinyl Underground is the place for live music, while nearby Ol’55 has inexpensive drinks and a lively atmosphere.

After all this activity, travellers will need some pampering, and there is no better place than Busan’s Spa Land. Located within the Shinsegae Centum City complex, the largest department store in the world, Spa Land is a theme park for the body and mind, with rooms inspired by Turkish hammams and meditation spaces that involve sounds and blinking lights. The jjimjilbang (bathhouse) itself is shiny and resplendent, comprising of a series of hot spas, baths, pools and saunas, and baths are segregated by gender; take note of essential etiquette such as nude bathing and washing yourself thoroughly at the taps surrounding the baths before plunging in.

The great outdoors
Beaches are not often associated with South Korea, but Busan delivers with a beautiful coastline of sparkling ocean, dramatic rock formations and golden beaches, despite the ubiquitous high rise developments.Haeundae Beach in the east of the city is the most popular, with its attractive sweep of soft sand packed out in summer by enthusiastic locals and young international English teachers. Adding to the experience are the free plastic buckets and spades for making sandcastles, portable goals for beach soccer, nets for volleyball and even giant touch-screen internet terminals on the boardwalk. Aim to visit on a weekday to avoid the weekend crowds, when it becomes difficult to find a patch of sand to lay down your towel. There are six city beaches in total, with other worthwhile spots including Gwangalli and Songjeong, with their appealing cafes and nightlife scenes.

As well as being blessed by a scenic coastline, Busan also has the good fortune to be fringed by green forested hills, which are perfect for hiking. The trek up to Geumjeongsan, the ruined site of the former Geumjeong Fortress, is one of the most scenic walks in South Korea. Starting from the atmospheric Buddhist Beomeosa temple, the 8.8km trail takes you through tranquil woodland past several 17th-century crumbling stone fortresses and stunning forest outlooks. If you are not up for a full day’s walk, the site is reachable by cable car as well. From the South Gate of Geumjeongsan, you can extend your walk to take in Seokbulsa Temple, with its Buddhist statues built into the rock face and panoramic views over the city.

Kingfisher Airlines suspended

The Indian government today(20) suspended the license of Kingfisher Airlines, which has been struggling to resume flights following a strike by pilots and engineers who have not been paid for months, according to a AP report.  

After operating for nine years, Kingfisher Airlines loses  its license to fly with aviation regulator DGCA suspending it with immediate effect.

India's Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said the decision was made following concerns about the safety of passengers.

"Their planes are not being serviced, their engineers are on strike and they are not even able to give their flight schedule," Singh told reporters.

Kingfisher, once one of India's best airlines, is battling for a lifeline with India's airline regulator. The company, which is drowning in debt, hasn't operated any flights since early this month.

The Center for Asia Pacific Aviation, an airline industry research group, puts Kingfisher's outstanding debt at $2.5 billion, including about $1.1 billion in bank debt, and says its accumulated losses swelled to $1.9 billion by the end of June.

The cash-strapped airline has stopped selling tickets on its website through Oct. 20 and was still trying to convince pilots and engineers to return to work.

Last week, a court in the southern city of Hyderabad issued an arrest warrant for Kingfisher owner Vijay Mallya on charges his airline bounced four checks worth over 103 million rupees ($1.9 million) to the consortium running the airport in the city. The money was meant to cover landing, parking and navigation fees at the airport.

Industrialist Mallya is famous for his flashy lifestyle and lavish parties attended by fashion models, Bollywood movie stars and cricket players. Mallya's United Brewery Group is India's largest brewer and owns other businesses in industries from chemicals to information technology. He also owns Force India, an F1 team and Royal Challengers, a cricket team. Mallya's net worth is $1 billion, according to Forbes.

The company hasn't made a profit since it was founded in 2005, according to FactSet, a financial information provider.

Meanwhile Kingfisher in statement says “ Notwithstanding the order of the DGCA, we had in any case suspended operations and closed forward bookings till November 6,2012… It is our endeavor to re-start operations at the earliest and we assure you we are working towards achieving this’.(AP, NDTV)

Testing Autism and Air Travel

FOR Dana Napoleon, a flight attendant in Tacoma, Wash., zipping in and out the nation’s airports every week is second nature. Yet she is still filled with dread every time she flies with her 10-year-old son.

Other children might scamper through the airport, delighted by the moving sidewalks and dreaming of sand castles. But for Ms. Napoleon’s son, the crush of unfamiliar faces, the creeping pace of security lines and delays in boarding and takeoff can trigger excruciating anxiety.

So before flights Ms. Napoleon worries: Will he dash through the metal detector without stopping? Will he disrupt other passengers by kicking the seat incessantly? Will he have a meltdown onboard, screaming and crying and hitting himself in the head, and get the entire family forced off the flight?

Her son, Keanu, is autistic. So for the Napoleons — and many other parents of children with autism — family vacations can be an agonizing exercise in parental endurance.

“My stomach is in knots,” said Ms. Napoleon, 41, describing her apprehension whenever she arrives at the airport with her husband and two children. “It’s so unpredictable. That’s what’s so stressful.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 1 in 88 children has been identified as having an autism spectrum disorder, health officials say. And for the parents who struggle to navigate the nation’s airports and airlines with these children, aviation officials are providing more help.

Over the past two years, Washington Dulles International Airport, along with airports in Atlanta; Boston; Bridgeport, Conn.; Manchester, N.H.; Philadelphia; and Newark, have offered hundreds of parents and autistic children “mock boarding” experiences, allowing them to practice buying tickets, walk though security lines and strap themselves into a plane that never leaves the gate.

As of now, Jet Blue, AirTran, Continental, Frontier, Southwest and United Airlines have participated.

The early word suggests that the programs, which are free, seem to help. Autism experts and parents say that increased familiarity with busy airports helps autistic children and their caretakers travel more comfortably. And airport and security officials say they gain a better understanding of the difficulties experienced by autistic travelers.

“We recognize how intimidating to some people, particularly those with special needs, a facility like this can be,” said Christopher Browne, the manager of Washington Dulles airport. “We think the anxiety and uncertainty and trepidation can be greatly reduced.”

The Transportation Security Administration has also set up a hot line, TSA Cares, to help disabled passengers and their caretakers better navigate airport security checkpoints. Thousands of people have called in since the hot line was started in December. More than 320 calls involved passengers with autism.

But these fledgling initiatives don’t reach everyone. And many parents complain that aviation officials and fellow passengers still remain unaware of the enormous challenges faced by children whose hypersensitivity to light, sounds, unexpected events and subtle shifts in routine can often trigger emotional outbursts and anxiety attacks.

“Awareness of autism has certainly increased; there’s no question about that,” said Jennifer Repella, vice president for programs at the Autism Society, an advocacy group. “What’s challenging is that autism is a hidden disability. People see someone they think is just a spoiled brat or a kid misbehaving and they don’t realize the origins of that.”

Such misunderstandings can have dramatic consequences.

In August, Delta Air Lines forced a mother traveling with her 3-year-old autistic son to get off a plane that was taxiing on the runway when the child began crying inconsolably, disturbing another passenger.

“She was in tears,” said Ms. Sarkis’s brother, Tarek Trad, who said she was still too distraught to discuss it.“It was a harsh reality for a mother that just found out that her son is autistic.”

Delta Air Lines officials have apologized to Ms. Sarkis for what a spokesman described as an “unfortunate string of events” on the Delta Connection aircraft. The spokesman, Morgan Durrant, said that Delta is reviewing the episode and remains committed to striving to “accommodate all customer needs.”

Hoping to avoid such unpleasant experiences, many parents are developing their own survival strategies. Some carry letters from doctors describing their child’s autism diagnosis, pack noise-canceling headphones and dress their children in brightly colored T-shirts that declare “autism awareness,” trying to make the invisible disability visible.

They ask to go through the handicapped lanes in security and to board the airplane ahead of time. And even before setting foot in the airport, they painstakingly walk their children through the journey step by step, often showing them photos of the airport and airplanes so that they can visualize what they will encounter.

Given the challenges, some parents opt not to travel. Others take long drives or train or bus rides. Marcus Melton, a business consultant, has flown successfully with his nonverbal 12-year-old son, Lukas, who often laughs and squeals loudly and unexpectedly and struggles to sit for extended lengths of time.

But over the next year, as his older daughter travels to visit colleges for the first time, Lukas will not come along. Mr. Melton and his wife decided that it was simply too hard, particularly since his daughter wants to visit some campuses in California.

“From an emotional standpoint you get sad about it,” said Mr. Melton, 43, who had always dreamed that college visits would be a family affair. “But the prospect of flying cross-country is in and of itself intimidating. That’s just a lot of time to keep him happy and occupied and try to keep things from going wrong in the air.”

Kimberly Walton, the assistant administrator who handles disability issues for the T.S.A., said that the agency is committed “to doing our part to demystify the screening process for the parent and the child, so when the real trip to Disney comes up there are fewer or no hiccups.”

Ms. Napoleon, the flight attendant, can’t quite envision a trip without hiccups. She likes to joke that her favorite part of flying with her son is landing. “I want to kiss the ground,” she said.

But the truth is that nothing quite compares to the wonder in Keanu’s eyes when he looks out the window at the bright city lights sparkling in the night. “There’s this huge world out there,” Ms. Napoleon added, explaining why she and other parents keep flying. “I want him to know that it’s out there and how it works.”

TIPS FOR THE TRIP: EASING THE PROCESS FOR PARENTS

Taking a child on an airplane for the first time is often a stressful experience, but for parents with children with autism, that stress is multiplied. What follows are some suggestions on how to minimize the anxiety and the potential for surprises.

• Pick a short flight — an hour or so.

• Visit the airport ahead of time to familiarize your child. If possible, participate in a mock boarding experience. If none is available, call your local airport to see if they will allow you to show your child the ticketing counters, security lines and waiting areas in advance. Parents interested in participating in a mock boarding experience at Boston Logan International Airport, either Nov. 3 or next spring, can use this link —http://bit.ly/W7zNh9 — to register. Washington Dulles International Airport plans to offer additional mock boarding experiences in the spring. Check the “What’s New” section of the airport site — mwaa.com/dulles — next year for information.

• Call the TSA Cares hot line — (1-855) 787-2227 — 72 hours before your flight to alert them that you might need assistance going through security. Some parents ask to go through the handicapped line with children who have difficulty in crowds or waiting in long lines.

• Call the airline ahead to alert them that you might need to board early or require additional assistance onboard.

• Tell your child what to expect, including delays and long waits, in the airport and on the airplane. Philadelphia International Airport offers a story —www.phl.org/passengerinfo/Accessibility/Documents/SocialStories.pdf — that can be read to children to help them prepare. It is designed for mock boarding experiences, but can be adapted to any trip.

• Pack a carry-on bag with anything that might be soothing during a rough patch. Be sure to include documentation of your child’s diagnosis that you can share with security and airline personnel.

The Art of Buying Art Worldwide

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She should know. With two galleries in New York and one in Brussels that represent artists in London, Germany and Italy, she is constantly traveling.

But her trips aren’t just about selling art. While she is abroad, she buys art, too, whether from a gallery or a street market.

Below are edited excerpts from a conversation with Ms. Gladstone on buying art around the world.

Q. Say you’re going to London, and you’re interested in buying artwork there. What should you keep in mind?

A. Before you go, bone up on what interests you and contact the gallery that represents the artists you’re interested in and make an appointment. Once you’re there, whoever’s helping will show you those artists and perhaps a few others they think you might like. Get all the information and then go home. If you still want a piece, contact the gallery and buy it. Impulse shopping, I don’t do or advocate. You can be in a location and fall in love with something, buy it, and then realize when you get home that it has no relevance in your life. If you’re buying a souvenir, something small, then it doesn’t really matter because you’re just having fun. But it’s not the same as making a serious purchase.

Q. Is there ever an occasion when you should buy art on the spot?

A. At art fairs, because if you don’t, it will be gone; the dealers are going to sell it. It’s not a bad idea to arrive knowing which artists you’re interested in, but also be open to discovering something new. Art Basel in Switzerland every June is the mother of all art fairs, and its Miami Beach branch in December has gotten better and better. European Fine Art Fair in Maastricht, in the Netherlands in March, has so many different kinds of things — objects, paintings, furniture, textiles, from prehistoric to contemporary. The benefit of Maastricht is that everything is vetted by a committee with expertise in that particular area. So if someone tells you that this table is 15th century, then you’re absolutely assured that it is. It’s a very safe place to shop. It’s also a great fair to look and learn. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Q. Any recommendations for antiques hunting?

A. The market at Place du Grand Sablon in Brussels is quite nice. I bought a set of silver plates there that came in an upholstered cabinet with millions of serving pieces, which I really love. In Tuscany, you can go to the antiques market in Arezzo, which is vast and a lot of fun. I bought some really good 1950s Marcello Fantoni ceramics there. Portobello in London. The Marché aux Puces outside Paris. The souks in Morocco — there you have to know the good from the bad, because some antiques were made yesterday.

Q: And if you do buy something abroad, how do you get it home?

A: Most artwork is shipped by plane, but with heavy pieces like furniture or ceramics, you’re better off shipping by boat. It may take two weeks longer, but the cost is much more reasonable. All of the tax forms and protocols are different in each country. For instance, the U.S. doesn’t have a duty on art, but many European countries do. It’s complicated, so you have to put yourself in the dealer’s hands and use the shipper they recommend, so long as you’re not at some fly-by-night operation. But then you shouldn’t be buying from them anyway.