Malaysia Wellness Retreats

Much of Asia is a tropical and travel delight given the beautiful scenery and cheap prices. A Malaysia wellness retreat is a tremendous experience everyone should try.

Malaysia Wellness Retreats

If you're traveling in Asia, you might be looking for a great place to relax and rest from your vacation. A Malaysia wellness retreat might just be the thing you're looking for. Many of the world's greatest rejuvenation clinics are located in Malaysia or the countries surrounding, and these retreats all cater to the world traveler.

One such Malaysia wellness retreat is the Berjaya Langkawi Beach Resort, located in Burau Bay, Malaysia. This retreat, open since 1987, has long been considered a tropical holiday paradise as well as a great rejuvenation destination. The Berjaya Lankawi Resort offers 388 rooms, which are housed in Malaysian-style chalets and suites, spread over 70 acres of land. The rejuvenation clinic itself is the first complete retreat situated on the island of Langkawi, and it offers a complete range of services to its guests.

Another Malaysia wellness retreat located on the island of Langkawi in Malaysia is The Datai. This destination, which is situated at the northwestern tip of Langkawi, has won many awards for its relaxation and rejuvenation services, including being named the seventh best retreat (in the top 25) as voted on by Conde Nast Traveler readers. It offers such exotic items as their body elixir, beauty rituals (these include Shirodhara, a mind and body treatment with hot oil drip), and facials and other beauty remedies using products from Decleor. 

A third Malaysia wellness retreat is the Gem Wellness Island Resort. This resort is located on a private island (the only one in Malaysia), and there is only one rejuvenation clinic on the island. The private island of Marang is located in Terengganu, Malaysia, which has its own airport and is easily accessible. The spa at the Gem Resort is named Tusita, and it offers an array of different "therapies", including traditional Malay treatments and oil therapies. There are even packages that include snorkeling and scuba experiences on the resort as well. 

No matter which Malaysia wellness retreat you choose to visit, you'll find the atmosphere relaxing, healing and exotic. Combine your treatments with water activities and traditional Malaysian events, and you'll definitely have a trip to remember. Malaysia is often frequented by English speaking people, so you'll have no problem communicating. That is, if you even feel like talking after enjoying your relaxing treatments here in paradise!


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China's Navy an Emerging Global Force

 by Christian Fleming

 While still a long way off from challenging the United States as the predominant world naval power, China's modernized People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is beginning to take a more assertive role in an expanding theater of operations.

Previously content on patrolling coastal waters and preparing for an armed conflict with Taiwan, China now has a naval presence all along commercial sea routes to the Middle East and has stepped up military operations in the contested waters of the East and South China Seas.

On April 10, a Chinese flotilla of 10 destroyers, frigates, and submarines from the East Sea Fleet, based in Ningbo, travelled through Japan's Miyako Straight on to the Pacific to conduct open ocean military exercises. A few days earlier, China's North Sea Fleet, based in Qingdao, passed through the Bashi Straight between the Philippines and Taiwan to do similar military exercises in the South China Sea. The PLA Navy's recent operations in the region have troubled China's coastal and island neighbors, with Japan's government particularly irked by the proximity of the maneuvers to Japanese territory.

Chinese President Hu Jintao met with Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama during the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on April 13, assuring him that China's intentions in the East China Sea are to turn the region into an area of peace, friendship, and cooperation.

"China does not hold an intention to challenge the U.S. in the central Pacific or engage in a military clash with Japan in close waters, though it is willing to protect its core interests at any cost," China's state-owned Global Times printed today in an attempt to comfort the world. The problem with the statement is that China has expanded what it defines as its "core interests." Beijing has previously reserved the term for areas such as Tibet and Taiwan, but now places its territorial claims in the South China Sea under the "core interest" category, according to the New York Times. Beijing may find its Southeast Asian neighbors, including Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, take issue with that statement.

U.S. officials in Washington are also fretting over the implications of a growing Chinese presence in the Middle East. In March, two Chinese frigates made port in the United Arab Emirates' capital of Abu Dhabi; the first time in modern history that a PLAN vessel has docked in the Middle East. Beijing also committed three warships to the Gulf of Aden in December 2008 to aid with international antipiracy efforts; the first time in modern history Chinese naval forces have been deployed beyond the Pacific Ocean.

Quantitatively, China and the United States are already on a similar playing field. A 2009 Pentagon report estimated the number of active Chinese naval vessels at 260, including 75 major warships and more than 60 submarines, compared to the U.S. Navy's 286 active vessels.

Qualitatively, though, China's navy remains decades behind that of the United States.  Ten of the American Navy's 286 active vessels are Nimitz-class nuclear powered supercarriers - each one capable of operating continuously for up to 20 years without refueling while holding up to 90 aircraft and 5,600 personnel. In contrast, China doesn't have any aircraft carriers, and although Beijing has revealed that it will complete the first Chinese carrier within the next few years, the United States will surely belittle that accomplishment when it launches the new Ford-class supercarrier in 2015.

China's official military budget for 2009 stood at US$70.3 billion, good for second highest in the world, but the Pentagon estimates that China's military spending last year was in the range of US$105 billion to US$150 billion. Whichever figure you use, it pales in comparison to the roughly US$533.8 billion proposed by U.S. President Obama for 2010. That translates into an expensive long-term battle for China if it wants to challenge America's global military presence in the 21st Century.



This article was written by 2point6billion.com by Christian Fleming. The site is contributed to by Dezan Shira and Associates, who offer advice on China tax and accounting to foreign companies doing business in Asia. They maintain accountants in China, India and Vietnam.

The writers also contribute to the India business news website, India-Briefing.com.

Article Source: http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/China-s-Navy-an-Emerging-Global-Force/222285

China's Tibet Price: The South China Sea

 by Dezan Shira

 The fallout from the recently held ASEAN summit in Hanoi has far reaching implications for China and the region, but also indicates rising disquiet of China's attempts to gain regional assertiveness. With Vietnam currently chairing ASEAN, the item that China had wanted to avoid discussion over - ownership of parts of the South China Sea - well and truly gained the glare of the spotlight.

That the region is disputed is beyond doubt, the Paracel and Spratly Islands lie in these waters and are claimed in all or in part by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei, all of which have stationed troops on various sections. The entire land mass of the Spratlys is a little less than five square kilometers, however in total the Spratlys include 148 or so islets, coral reefs, and seamounts scattered over an area of nearly 410,000 square kilometers of the central South China Sea.

The Paracel Islands, meanwhile, consist of over 30 islets, sandbanks or reefs, occupy about 15,000 square kilometers of the ocean surface, and are also located in the South China Sea. Currently under Chinese control, they are also claimed by Vietnam and Taiwan, the latter which mirrors politically the Mainland Chinese position. The islands are considered important for several reasons: the fishing rights, submarine military access to deep water ocean, the potential for oil and gas exploitation, and tourism. A successful Chinese claim will also take the associated sea bed claims directly to the coast of all of eastern Vietnam, and could effectively seal Vietnamese shipping off from any other sea access. Understandably, Vietnam is highly nervous about this, while China wants to control the waves in its own backyard.

China's diplomatic solution to dealing with the situation has been to flex its financial muscle and to insist that negotiations over sovereignty of the islands take place with it alone, on a bilateral basis. That has left each individual claimant out on a limb and has negated any involvement of ASEAN, unilaterally a more powerful bloc, out of the picture.

China is not a member of ASEAN, and does not have voting or sanction rights. Step forward to Vietnam, the current ASEAN chair, and fast forward to last month's meetings in Hanoi. Inviting the United States to participate, like China, as an "observer," the Hanoi meeting quickly got on with business and brought to the table the one topic China did not want to hear about - the sovereignty of the South China Sea. While attending the meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was quick to observe from the sidelines that the dispute was now high on the agenda as part of America's international interests. Noting that commercial shipping passed through the seas, she effectively indicated that the issue was no longer one that China would be able to unilaterally dictate. The repercussions are going to rumble on, and have dealt a major blow to Chinese assertiveness in the waters.

In part, China only has itself to blame. Although Tibet was never mentioned as part of the dispute in the South China Sea, and the Chinese position over its sovereignty is both very clear and undisputed by all attending ASEAN nations and observers, it is obvious that China's 60 year old assertiveness towards regional disputes has reached a plateau. Buddhism is still a strong influence in many ASEAN member countries and the plight of the Dalai Lama, while not officially recognized or discussed, still causes regional discomfort. Add to that skirmishes with Vietnam in 1979, and still ongoing border disputes over Tibetan territorial claims with India, and China's position as asserting more regional sovereignty is now starting to be questioned.

While China has moved on from 1979 and the days when it could engage in Southeast Asian diplomacy down the barrel of a gun, its relative strengths in terms of investment and financial muscle can make it hard for individual nations to resist overtures. Contracts have been dangled as incentives to secure sovereignty, and used as punishments through cancellations to show displeasure. Collectively, ASEAN has more bargaining power, and is a sizeable trading bloc that can stand up to China's belligerence. It also diminishes the possibility of China punishing errant neighbor countries by taking the onus away from unilateral discussions. Add the United States to that mix and the situation gets less sustainable for China to press claims over disputed lands. While the Chinese always claim to have long memories, it's a game now being played by ASEAN members, and the situation over China's handling over the Tibet issue still reverberates. While that issue is not going to be discussed, the price to pay for it is now arriving - a toughening of regional attitudes towards further Chinese territorial claims and, specifically, China's influence over the South China Sea.



This article was written for the Asia news blog, 2point6billion.com, which is published by China business book publishers, AsiaBriefingMedia.com.

They also publish the India business news site, India-Briefing.com.

Article Source: http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/China-s-Tibet-Price--The-South-China-Sea/236514

Republic of Azerbaijan - Its Natural Gas Resources

by Sreekanth Boon

 Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, the first democratic and secular republic in the Muslim world, was established in 1918, but was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920. Azerbaijan regained independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter, during the Nagorno-Karabakh War, neighboring Armenia occupied Nagorno-Karabakh, its surrounding territories and the enclaves of Karki, Yukhary Askipara, Barkhudarly and Sofulu. The Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which emerged in Nagorno-Karabakh, continues to be not diplomatically recognized by any nation and the region is still considered a de jure part of Azerbaijan, despite being de facto independent since the end of the war.

Shah Deniz gas field is the largest natural gas field in Azerbaijan. It is situated in the South Caspian Sea, off the coast of Azerbaijan. The field covers approximately 860 square kilometres (330 sq mi). The Shah Deniz gas and condensate field was discovered in 1999. It is to bring gas into Europe without having to traverse countries like Russia or Iran, deemed to be politically unreliable by some in order to promote their projected Nabucco pipeline.

The Shah Deniz scheme started to produce gas at the end of December 2006, three months later than expected, but was forced to close briefly in January 2007. Azerbaijan then announced that the field had resumed output only to admit that it had been forced to shut down for a few weeks due to start up technical issues.The shutdown forced Georgia to buy emergency gas supplies from Russia at a market price. Georgia hoped that production from Shah Deniz will allow the country to decrease its energy - and political - dependence on Russia.

Umid gas field is the second largest natural gas field in Azerbaijan. It is situated in the South Caspian Sea, off the coast of Azerbaijan.

Umid field is a part of a block previously consisting of Umid and Babek fields. The geophysical works at Umid started in 1953 which were repeated in 1972. A total of 9 wells were drilled in the area from 1977 to 1992, however no commercially viable fields were discovered at the time. In 2009, SOCAR financed the exploration works at Umid itself.

SOCAR leadership estimates that with further drilling, the overall reserves at Umid are likely to reach 300 bcm while those of Babek field lying under Umid will reach 600 bcm. Drilling at Babek will also be done by SOCAR.

The issue of construction of new gas pipelines, in addition to the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline may be raised in such developments. BP-Azerbaijan president Rashid Javanshir has already stated that within the framework of Stage-2 they are planning the parallel construction of another gas pipeline rather than the expansion of the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline. He did not specify the details of this project, but I can suggest that with two export pipelines in the western direction, whose capacity can be brought to 30bn cubic meters, they can offer their services to other parties as well.



Author is an independent blogger who blogs aboutmedia-prima, a leading independent publisher in Dubai.

Article Source: http://www.articlesphere.com/Article/Republic-of-Azerbaijan---Its-Natural-Gas-Resources/264982

The current resource development in Myanmar

A country with potential

For a very long time Myanmar has been a country who has been in economic and political isolation. However this situation are changing because today there are indications that economic growth is increasingly possible in this region. Myanmar could very well turn out to be one of the most spectacular performers in the Asian region if they could find a way to optimize its resources. There are a few areas which has been identified as the most viable options such as the strategic geographical location which Myanmar enjoys between some of the emerging giants in the region and many people are in agreement that Myanmar will also benefit from the current integration process in Asia. The population of Myanmar are increasingly youthful and this provides Myanmar with an effective labor force which are likely to attract foreign investment.

Valuable resources

Myanmar actually possesses various types of natural resources and it has a reasonably competitive agricultural development program. Then they have the ability to generate renewable energy and in particular hydropower. Myanmar are becoming increasingly popular for the foreign investor because of the investment opportunities which exists in various sectors such as telecommunications and also in the tourism industry. In order to make the best of the available resources it is vital that effective long-term planning be done in order to ensure that the current sources remain sustainable and that they will continue to provide benefits to this country.

Currently Myanmar is still a very poor country

Regardless of all the potential which exists in Myanmar it is still one of the very poorest countries in the Asian region and the government will have to overcome many challenges in order to bring about real and lasting change. Although this situation are no longer as desperate as it used to be in previous decades a lot of work has to be done in order to sustain the current development momentum. This is exactly why it is necessary to do an accurate analysis of the available resources in Myanmar and then to devise a long-term plan that will ensure maximum growth that can be maintained over many decades thereby allowing Myanmar to develop as much as possible and to become a serious competitor with in the Asian region.

Myanmar is receiving a lot of attention

In 2011 a special report has been released where in most of the opportunities which are available in Myanmar have been thoroughly investigated. It was during this time that the country initiated some significant economic and political reforms and that is why the 2011 report endeavor to examine the strengths and weaknesses of Myanmar and to determine the specific risks and other challenges which will have to be considered when an investment in Myanmar is considered. It has however become abundantly clear that there are many opportunities and with a substantial investment very lucrative profits may be possible and the rewards of such an investment could possibly be extended over several decades. It may however be best to partner with local entrepreneurs which are more familiar with the opportunities that exists in Myanmar. Read more!