Asian Travel Blog

Dubai has changed drastically in the past ten years, and is still changing – it is fast becoming one of the most modern and upbeat centres of Asia, attracting attention as a world business hub, and becoming an increasingly popular spot for tourists, boasting magnificent five star hotels and a cornucopia of shopping with top brands, fine products and enviable prices.

The city is also developing a reputation for vibrant nightlife and top-quality restaurants – the pinnacle of which must be Gordon Ramsay’s refined Verre, which is a delight of white china, white linen, simple silver cutlery, and some truly gastronomic refined cusine.

Warm and sunny all year round, Dubai is a great place to jet off to for a bit of sunshine if you live in parts where the winter is cold and grey. At my time of writing, in January, the temperature in Dubai is twenty degrees Celsius. Summer gets a little sweaty, and if you feel the need to cool off, then what could be better than heading off for the slopes of Ski Dubai, the first indoor ski resort in the Middle East.

The only possible problem with being in Dubai is that there is building work going on all over the place – but it’s a growing city and so inevitable. You might bear this in mind when choosing your hotel, and it is advisable to do a bit of research. One place which is currently unaffected by building work is the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, which is particularly good for families and has its own private beach. Another hotel of the same group, which is not close to any current building work, is the Madinat Jumeirah, which is cleverly constructed in the style of an ancient Arabian city, and is threaded by waterways, with cafés, restaurants and its own souk.

For the ultimate in a luxury holiday, it just has to be Dubai.

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When people think of visiting Japan, they think of beautiful temples, vivid shrines with green tiled roofs and vermilion painted woodwork, fascinating culture, and up-to-the-minute technology. What people tend to forget is that Japan also offers some absolutely top quality skiing, and that skiing doesn’t come much better than Rusutsu.

The largest resort of Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, Rusutsu gets an average of 40 ft of dry powder snow, which makes it a real magnet for skiers in search of perfect snow. However the good news is that, recent reports of the skiing in this resort verify that the place does not get overcrowded, which is reassuring when we are talking about Japan, as, due to the high population, any place of interest to tourists can quickly fill up with a mass of people.

At 310 m above sea level, Rusutsu nestles close to three mountains, West Mountain, East Mountain, and Mount Izora, and offers thirty-seven ski courses, which cover a total length of 42km. The longest run is an impressive 3.5 km. West Mountain is the smallest, and so is good for those who are still on the nursery slopes. West Mountain also has a snowboard park, and night skiing. East Mountain is reached by gondola, and has some good novice and intermediate slopes. Mount Izora offers the most varied terrain, including some pretty severe gradients that are not for the faint hearted, and are strictly for the very experienced skiers.

The skiing season at Rusutsu runs from December to April, and for the non-skiers, the resort also has an amusement park.

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