Choose Your Holidays

Two New Zealand movies will join a line up of top rated films from around the world to be screened at the inaugural Beijing International Film Festival later this month.

Jason Stutter’s crime comedy, Predicament, starring Jemaine Clement (Flight of the Conchords), Heath Franklin and Hayden Frost, and Simone Horrocks’ debut feature After the Waterfall, starring Antony Starr and Sally Stockwell, will both screen as part of the Festival’s Film Panorama programme.

Predicament, a crime comedy , is based on a 1975 novel by Kiwi author Ronald Hugh Morrieson and is set in the Taranaki rural town of Hawera in the North Island. A

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WHAT: The Vapur Anti-Bottle (www.vapur.us) is a 0.4-liter (about 9 ounces) reusable water bottle made of heavy flexible plastic. Actually, it’s more of a water bag.

HOW IT WORKS: It’s like any other water bottle but with one difference. You put water in it. You carry it. You drink the water when thirst strikes. And the difference? When it’s empty, you fold it up and stash it, enabling you to use it another day or as soon as you find a water fountain for a refill.

HIGH POINTS: From a convenience standpoint, the Anti-Bottle has much to offer. It chills easily (the thing is even freezable), it’s lightweight (nice for runners), and it can be rolled up when empty for easy transportation.

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Abuja — The management of Agura Hotel located in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, has entered into negotiations with Intercontinental Hotel, United Kingdom, the topmost hotel group in the world, in a bid to provide world-class services to its customers.

This development was made known to journalists in Abuja through a statement signed by the managing director of Agura Hotel, Prince Daniel Kanu.

Kanu, who also announced that a new management team for the hotel had been approved by the firm’s chairman, HRM Sir M.O. K

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With gas prices above $4 in some states, Americans are canceling spring break plans and rethinking summer vacation, and some tourist destinations are offering gas vouchers of as much as $50 to talk people out of giving up and staying home.

At Mount Rushmore, only about 37,000 people decided in March that seeing the four granite-etched presidential sculptures was worth the trip, down from about 43,000 a year before.

At the Grand Canyon, a marketing executive for one company that offers sweeping helicopter vistas says 10 percent fewer people than last year are driving up and booking tours.

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In the late afternoon in any Turkish town you will see cafes filled with cake lovers enjoying a sweet session of pogaca (buns), syrup-drenched lokma (fritters), or 40-layer baklava. It’s believed that food and drink sustain the body and the spirit, and as Susan Everett discovered, dining with local friends in Turkey is a real travel treat…

“On the Cairo to Istanbul trip a personal highlight was the homestay in a small village outside of Urfa. The whole evening was amazing. So as not to offend our kind hosts the men in our group wore their long trousers and for most of us women our sarongs came in handy as ankle-length skirts. We sa

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