The Gen XY Lifestyle
Get-away: Outrigger Resorts and Best Dives Maldives, GrabCar in Phuket, Anantara’s Elephant Parade
Dive into an array of marine holiday activities at newly opened Outrigger Konotta Maldives Resort; get-away with hassle-free commute with GrabCar in Phuket and visit Anantara’s largest Elephant Parade art exhibition in Bangkok.
Outrigger Konotta Maldives Resort partners Best Dives Maldives
The newly opened Outrigger Konotta Maldives Resort has recently partnered with Best Dives Maldives to provide an innovative and wide range of marine holiday activities, with a focus on marine knowledge and conservation. Outrigger Resort has chosen to partner with Best Dives Maldives due to the company’s commitment to marine life education and conservation, which fits in with the resort’s global coral health and conservation programme, OZONE (Outriggers Zone).
Best Dives Maldives will provide an extensive range of activities and tours at the resort including island discoveries, cultural excursions, private island trips for couples, and a full range of water sports. Some of these water sports include snorkelling, kayaking, catamaran rides, wind and kite surfing, fishing, seabob trips round the island and a full range of PADI scuba courses.
Fully qualified marine biologist, Caterina Fattori from Polytechnic University Ancona in Italy, will join the Best Dives team on Konotta Island to give talks and presentations to groups and train their tour leaders on marine ecology. She will also participate in Outrigger guests’ snorkel and scuba dive excursions on request.
In line with OZONE and Outrigger’s mission to protect coral reef systems in tropical destinations around the world, guests can earn a PADI Project AWARE specialist certification, for which they do not need to be a diver. With the Project AWARE certification, scuba divers and water enthusiasts can unite to help protect aquatic environments.
This joint venture between Outrigger Konotta Maldives Resort and Best Dives Maldives ensures that guests can experience a good time of holiday fun while learning more about coral reefs.
GrabCar launches in Phuket
GrabTaxi, the region’s leading on-demand transport mobile app, has launched its latest partnering service, GrabCar, in Phuket. Travellers to Phuket can now enjoy a premium and personalised ride experience with just a few taps on their smartphones.
Available on the GrabTaxi mobile app, GrabCar is an affordable private car with driver service that promises a seamless commuting experience to users. Simply book a GrabCar via the app and expect to be picked up within minutes. With GrabCar’s launch in Phuket, tourists are able to explore the sights and sounds of Phuket safely and conveniently.
GrabCar also guarantees transparency in the way fares are calculated. Fares are fixed and calculated based on distance, location, time and demand – removing the need to haggle. To ensure that safety standards are synonymous to GrabTaxi’s, GrabCar drivers have undergone stringent background checks and training to ensure that only reliable drivers are hired to serve passengers. Passengers can also view the driver’s profile using the app.
With GrabCar, tourists and locals can get-away in premium cars such as Mercedes-Benz, Toyota Camry, Nissan Teana or Honda Accord. Passengers can also make advanced bookings of up to two hours and no more than seven days in advance via the app, which is a popular feature especially for rides headed towards the airport.
Travellers can expect consistency in the service as the same app can be used in five other countries – Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
The GrabTaxi app can be downloaded on iOS, Android and Blackberry.
Anantara brings Elephant Parade 2015 to Bangkok
Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas partners with Elephant Parade, local and international celebrities and artists to bring the world’s largest open air art exhibition, Elephant Parade Bangkok 2015.
From 1 December 2015 to 29 January 2016, the exhibition will see a herd of almost a hundred specially decorated and hand painted 1.5-metre elephant sculptures displayed at key locations throughout Bangkok.
The event started after founder Marc Spits and his son Mike visited the Friends of the Asian Elephant hospital in Lampang, Thailand, which treats sick and injured elephants. There they saw Mosha, a baby elephant who lost her leg and was the first elephant to receive a prosthetic limb. She is fitted with a new leg every year, and must learn to walk all over again each time. Mosha is featured in every Elephant Parade exhibition and will have a specially Thai-themed painted prosthetic leg for the upcoming Bangkok Parade.
Artists from all walks of life have been busy designing their elephants, each an original piece of art to help paint a brighter future for the country’s national animal. Some celebrity supporters of the Elephant Parade Bangkok include: Hangover 2 star Nirut Sirichanya; Furious 7 star Tony Jaa; Designer Paul Smith; World Number One DJ, Hardwell; Miss Thailand World, Sirinya Bishop; Artists Elizabeth Romhild, Elsie Evans and Nancy Chandler, Sculptor Gavin Fifield and a wide range of Thai celebrities and artists.
A selected number of elephants from the parade will be auctioned off at a charity gala dinner at Anantara Siam Bangkok this February 2016, with all proceeds going to the Golden Triangle Asian Elephant Foundation, which will in turn fund a range of sustainable programmes to help the elephants of Thailand. These programmes include Wildlife Alliance, Freeland, WildAid, Think Elephants and Thai Elephant Therapy Project.
Elephant Parade Bangkok will first kick off at Siam Paragon from 1 December to 18 December, followed by Asiatique from 20 December to 11 January, and lastly at Lumpini Park from 15 January to 29 January.
