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AirAsia boss announces new airline for the super rich
How much would you pay for Japan's most expensive whisky?
Top 20 restaurants in Asia
10 reasons to love the Middle East
Mumbai’s 10 best business hotels
Double-bill cinemas: The cheapest shows in town
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AirAsia boss announces new airline for the super rich

Posted: 10 Nov 2011 06:32 PM PST

AirAsia chief Tan Sri Tony Fernandes clearly didn't read the memo about the Malaysian government wanting to reduce the country's carbon footprint by 40 percent by 2020.

He is launching a new premium airline -- called Caterham Jet -- to compete with Emirates, Cathay Pacific, Thai Airways, Singapore Airlines as well as the recently announced RedQ premium airline from Qantas, aimed at high-flying executives traveling in Asia.

The Sun Daily reported that the regional airline will initially fly a Bombardier CRJ700, serving Bangkok, Jakarta and Singapore from Subang Airport outside Kuala Lumpur.

How much would you pay for Japan's most expensive whisky?

Posted: 10 Nov 2011 05:31 PM PST

It's 1961 and the world's population has just reached a staggering 4 billion.

The girls have gone bouffant, the boys are wearing skinny ties. The Beatles play their first gig, Japan gets color TV and we lose Ernest Hemingway but gain Susan Boyle.

In Yamazaki, Kyoto Prefecture, someone pours new distillate into casks made of mizunara -- that gloriously fragrant, notoriously leaky Japanese oak.

It wasn't a momentous event at the time. But after half a century in the warehouse, those casks have been tapped and the whisky forms the backbone of the latest Yamazaki 50 Years Old, set to be released on December 13.

Top 20 restaurants in Asia

Posted: 10 Nov 2011 02:01 PM PST

One day you're in, and the next day you're out.

That's certainly the case in Asia's fast-changing fine dining scene, according to The Miele Guide, an independent compilation of the region's best restaurants published by Ate Media and sponsored by the German home appliance brand Miele.

New names among the guide's list of Asia's Top 20 Restaurants included Singapore's Restaurant Andre, preening itself in second place; Shanghai's celebrated Mr. and Mrs. Bund in seventh; and Korea's breakthrough into the Top 20, Pierre Gagnaire à Séoul, in eighth place.

10 reasons to love the Middle East

Posted: 10 Nov 2011 02:00 PM PST

There are a lot of things you can't do in the Middle East. Just ask that couple who got caught canoodling on the beach in Dubai a few years ago. Twice.

But there are a lot of things you can do, that you can't do anywhere else. Here are some of the best.

1. Bash the dunes, Dubai

There's nothing like riding a four-wheel drive haphazardly up and down desert dunes -- blasting music -- to understand the rush that comes from dune bashing.

Forget slow-paced safaris and quiet dinners in tents; this is one way to experience the desert that you can only do in the Gulf.

Mumbai’s 10 best business hotels

Posted: 10 Nov 2011 02:00 PM PST

Luxury hotels

The Taj Mahal Palace, Apollo Bunder

The Taj Mahal Palace hotel in South Mumbai is often the first port of call for any visiting head of state or celebrity from out of town here on business. It is easy to run into a popular face in the lobby of this century-old hotel.

Overlooking the Gateway of India, the Taj hotel, with its 560 rooms, including 44 suites has one of the best stay experiences in Mumbai, intertwining traditional Indian hospitality and modern luxury, winning it many travel awards.

Double-bill cinemas: The cheapest shows in town

Posted: 10 Nov 2011 01:55 PM PST

When faced with the local mega-chain cinema and its roll call of Hollywood dross it might be hard to believe but, in many respects, Tokyo is actually a moviegoer's paradise.

There are more than 60 theaters in central Tokyo alone, almost half of them concentrated in Shibuya and the Ginza-Yurakucho area.

Numbers alone mean little, of course, so it's fortunate that movie buffs can easily find something they like, whatever they like.