Where: Southern Visayas from Mactan – Diving Cebu, Bohol, Pescador, Apo and Negros islands
Boat: Philippine Siren
Dates: 03 to 13 July 2012
Price: € 1,820 per person sharing (reduced from € 2,600)
Validity: Must be booked before 30 November, but beware! The Dive 2011 Show in the UK takes place on 22/23 Oct where this special deal will be on offer. Book before then to avoid disappointment.

To book or for more info contact Symbiosis Custom Travel

Boat: Indo Siren
Dates: 23 May to 02 June 2012
Where: Komodo National Marine Park, Indonesia (includes a chance to encounter the jurassic Komodo Dragons)
Price: €2,000 per person sharing (reduced from € 2600)
Validity: Must be booked before 30 November 2011… but get in early as the DIVE 2011 Show is taking place in 10 days (22/23 Oct) in the UK and places will be gone very quickly!

Book now or contact Symbiosis Custom Travel for more info

Boat: Maldives Siren
Dates: 01-11 June 2012
Price: € 2,210 per person sharing (down from € 2,600)

Must be booked before 30 November 2011.

Contact Symbiosis Custom Travel for more info.

Offer: 25% discount for every second person booked
Where: Mapia Resort or Onong Resort
Validity: for stays between 05 Jan and 29 Feb 2012 (exclusive)

Price for one week stay:
for 2 persons in Standard Cottage: € 1,198.75 (save € 171.25)
for 2 persons Superior Cottage € 1,382.50. (save € 197.50)

Offer includes 7 nights in private cottage, all meals, coffee, tea and water and 5 days Diving (boat trip with 2 dives in the morning).
Price for a 2 week stay:
for 2 persons and Standard Cottage: € 2,397.50 (save € 342.50)
for 2 persons in Superior Cottage € 2,765.00. (save € 395)

Offer includes 14 nights in a private cottage, all meals, coffee, tea and water and 10 days Diving (boat trip with 2 dives in the morning).

NOT included are: flights, Bunaken National Park fee, extra dives such as extra Night dives (boat) and Lembeh or Mandarin dives, soft or alcoholic drinks and snacks other than served at tea-time.

This offer is valid for January and February 2012. (arrival on or after January 5 and departure not later than February 29)

Boat: Mandarin Siren
Dates: 01-11 Feb 2012 (12 days)
Price: € 2,255 per person sharing (normally € 2,600)

This offer is valid only for bookings made and paid before 30 Nov but, with the Birmingham DIVE 2011 Show coming up on 22-24 Oct, you had better book before then!

Contact us at Symbiosis Custom Travel now

This time aboard the lovely Moana sailing pinisi…

Dates
18 – 25 Nov 2011 (8-days cruise Lombok – Komodo)
27 Nov – 01 Dec 2011 (5-days cruise Komodo National Park)
10 – 15 Dec 2011 (6-days cruise Komodo National Park)

Prices:
 
8-days cruise:
Diving cruise incl. unlimited diving: was €1,840, NOW: € 1,656
Non diving cruise: was € 1,600 Euro, NOW: € 1,440

6-days cruise:
Diving cruise incl. unlimited diving: Was € 1,235, NOW: € 1,112 Euro
Non diving cruise: was € 995, NOW € 896

5-days cruise:
Diving cruise incl. unlimited diving: was € 995, NOW: € 896
Non diving cruise: was 830 Euro, NOW: € 747
 
All prices are per person sharing, and do not include domestic flights or Komodo National Park and Harbor Fees.

Contact Symbiosis right away to book.

AirAsia is to launch direct flights to Vietnam’s third largest city, Danang, from 16 December 2011. The airline will begin servicing the new route with four weekly flights departing from the LCC Terminal in Kuala Lumpur every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.

To celebrate the launch, AirAsia is offering an all-in fare from RM69. Booking must be made before 12 October 2011 for travel between 16 December 2011 and 27 October 2012.

Danang is the entry point for visiting the ancient, World Heritage City of Hoi An, the white sand beach resorts of China Beach, and is only a couple of hours drive from the former capital of Hue.

Plan a holiday to Vietnam’s central coast – contact Symbiosis Custom Travel

10% Discount on a 6 night dive cruise to the awesome Tubbataha Reefs in the Sulu Sea, Philippines, aboard the Philippine Siren

Dates: 14 to 20 March 2012
Price: € 1,620 per person sharing cabin (normally: €1,800)
Validity: Must be booked before 30 November 2011

This is a special offer for the Dive 2011 Show in Birmingham, UK, (22 to 24 Oct.) and will not last long. Get in early to avoid disappointment!

Contact Symbiosis Custom Travel NOW

Siem Reap Area.
The Siem Reap River, Old Market Area and Pub Street are now submerged in around 30 centimetres of slow moving water; it is safe to walk around the area though if you don’t mind getting wet! Travel by tuk tuk, van and larger vehicles is still possible.

Temples of Angkor
In the central Archaeological Park, Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom, including Bayon, remain accessible, as is the Roulos Group on the outskirts of Siem Reap. Some of the smaller temples in the area are difficult to access and as of today, 26th of September, the following Temples are inaccessible: Ta Prohm, Banteay K’Dei and Neak Pean due to high water levels inside the compounds; there are also several roads that have been cut by flood waters.

Chong Kneas Floating Village on the Tonle Sap lake is currently inaccessible however there are alternative locations on the Tonle Sap lake that are still able to be visited.

Phnom Penh
There is currently no flooding in the capital, Phnom Penh

Over the past few days Siem Reap and surrounding provinces have experienced heavy rain and flooding in many areas, including the centre of the tourist town of Siem Reap.

Banteay Srey Temple and Kbal Spean have been blocked by floodwaters and will remain inaccessible for at least the next few days. A large number of tourists have been trapped by the rising waters but are safe on high ground; none of our clients have been affected

It is expected that The Siem Reap River, Old Market Area and Pub Street will experience some flooding over the coming days

We also expect the road to the Chong Kneas Floating Village to be affected and possibly closed in the next few days. There are alternative locations on the Tonle Sap lake that are still able to be visited.

There are currently no reports of major flooding around any of the main temples, however… yet!

Misool Eco Resort, the stunningly located dive resort in Indonesia’s southern Raja Ampat islands, has announced the opening of their new spa.

MER’s massage, body treatments, and beauty treatments feature Misool Eco Resort’s signature range of natural products, many of which are freshly created each morning in the resort’s own kitchen, using only top-quality ingredients and local organic products. Amongst these are scrubs, hand-blended from local ingredients such as candlenut and coconut, face toner derived from freshly pressed cucumber, body wraps using home-grown aloe plants and banana leaves from the island’s orchard, and scrubs made from Papuan highland coffee.  Spa treatments can be enjoyed in the privacy of your own room or at The Lookout.

Spa Manager, Juliette, is originally from the island of Ambon in eastern Indonesia. She has nearly 15 years of experience working in and managing spas. She has worked in settings as diverse as the Maldives, Malaysia, Bali, and Wakatobi.  

Hotel surrenders “back yard” bear – Safe rescue for “Sonny”

On Tuesday 6 September, Animals Asia Vietnam Director, Tuan, External Affairs Officer, Dr The and Bear Worker Tuan from the Vietnam Moon Bear Rescue Centre travelled to the central highlands of Vietnam to rescue a lone sun bear.

This young male had been kept by a hotel/resort complex in Pleiku City in Gia Lai Province, for the past six to eight years. The hotel owners received the bear when he was just a cub and believe he may originally have been smuggled from Cambodia.

The hotel decided to give up the bear – now nicknamed “Sonny” – because they felt they could no longer look after him as they had been and they were not prepared to improve his living conditions. Sonny was being kept in a barren, rusting cage placed on a heap of rough ground with little shelter from the elements.

Quite a calm bear, Sonny appeared to be in good health at the time of rescue.

Full story from AnimalsAsia

Kratie, Cambodia — One hundred miles northeast of the capital city of Phnom Pehn, scientists from Conservation International (CI) have partnered with local Buddhist monks from the 100 Pillar Pagoda and the Fisheries Administration (FiA), in a grand-opening ceremony for the Mekong Turtle Conservation Centre (MTCC), releasing more than 50 Cantor’s soft shell turtle adults and hatchlings into a protected conservation pond.

The goal of the Mekong Turtle Conservation Centre (MTCC) is the long-term sustainable conservation of the wild population of one of the world’s rarest and largest fresh water turtles — the Cantor’s soft shell turtle, (Pelochelys cantorii) of which the largest known wild population survives in the nearby Mekong River.

Read the full story from Conservation International.

Since June of this year, the Mekong Turtle Conservation Centre has been open to visitors daily, for a small entrance fee. Another good reason to visit Kratie and Cambodia’s north east region.

The second Tour de Bintan, an endurance cycling event, will take place from 11 to 13 November 2011 on the Indonesia island of Bintan – just south of Singapore.

Set in the backdrop of picturesque Bintan, Indonesia, the Tour de Bintan is set to test the mettle of participants with challenging routes over three gruelling stages in two days covering a total distance of 265km.

800 cyclists are expected to take part this year against 500 last year. One of the most hotly contested categories will be Category 1, which will see the most serious and experienced teams from Singapore and all around the region vying for the total prize purse of Sin$10,000. The largest participation will be in Category 2 and Category 3 which are meant for competitive and passionate cyclists who are a level below Category 1. The competitive women cyclists will have their own category.

In addition, the event offers more seasonal and less advanced cyclists the opportunity to experience the Tour as part of the “Challenger” category, where it is all about completing each stage within set time limits. Cycling enthusiasts who just want a taste of the action can also decide to register for one stage only.

If you fancy taking part as a component of a longer visit to Indonesia, contact Symbiosis to start planning your trip today.

Three new bat species, one resembling the Lord of the Underworld, have been discovered in the tropical forests of southern Indochina.

The tiny ‘demon,’ named Beelzebub’s tube-nosed bat, has been seen only in Vietnam.

Full story by Daniette Venton here.