Travel tips 2

Jan 3, 2012, 3:06 GMT

Asian Development Bank invests in hot springs in Laos =

Vientiane (dpa) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will invest 25,000 dollars to upgrade the hot springs of Laos' Huaphan province into a 'more enticing attraction.'

The ADB will fund the construction of a warming pool, a traditional massage room and an information office for the hot springs of Viengthong district, Huaphan province in north-east Laos.

Huaphan Provincial Tourism Department official Malavan Chiengtheva told the Vientiane Times that some Vienthong women had already been sent to Thailand for training in customer service at the site.

The entrance fee will be 1,000 kip (13 cents) for locals and 5,000 kip (63 cents) for foreigners, the daily reported.

The hot springs, situated 158 kilometres south-west of the provincial capital Xam-nua, were previously used by local villagers to boil bamboo shoots and eggs.

New museum showing daily life in the GDR to open in Berlin

Berlin (dpa) - A new museum showing daily life in the former German Democratic Republic is scheduled to open in 2013 on the Kulturbrauerei site in Berlin's Prenzlauerberg district.

Organizers of the 600-square-metre complex are hoping to give visitors an insight into life in communist East Germany with the help of 160,000 objects, ranging from egg spoons to cars.

'We are currently at work figuring out an exhibition concept,' coordinator Mike Lukasch told dpa.

The working title for the project is 'Daily life in the SED (Socialist Unity Party of Germany) dictatorship' and Lukasch hopes the exhibition will combat efforts by some to explain away the past.

A 10-year rental contract with an option to renew was signed in 2011.

Another exhibition about the division of Germany opened at the 'Traenenpalast' at Friedrichstrasse train station in September, while there are also privately financed exhibitions, including the GDR museum near the cathedral.