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EAST Beijing hotel opens for business
Back from the dead: Phillipines' jeepneys get a makeover
Shibamata: Where history and movies collide in suburban Tokyo
To pay or not to pay: The complex world of bad restaurant meals
Insider Guide: Best of Auckland

Posted: 08 Oct 2012 05:12 AM PDT

by CNNGo staff

Swire Hotels recently debuted its business hotel brand EAST in mainland China, with the opening of EAST Beijing.

Located in Jiangtai, a residential and business area in northeast Beijing, the 369-room EAST Beijing hotel opened mid-last month and carries forward EAST Hong Kong's minimalist style.

Check-in takes place on a MacBook. The rooms are decked out with a streamlined design and are equipped with the iPod touch interactive system.

east beijing opens main EAST describes Feast as a "big bustling cafe.""We want to keep things as simple as possible," said Anthony Ross, area general manager at Swire Hotels.

"We are not opening to please every guest, but those who like our style will really enjoy their staying," he continued.

Back from the dead: Phillipines' jeepneys get a makeover

Posted: 07 Oct 2012 06:05 PM PDT

by Candice Lopez-Quimpo

On a recent afternoon in the busy commercial district of Metro Manila, a parade of 50 jeepneys debuted their new skins.

Portraying vivid scenes and pictures in brightly painted, audacious hues, they were a stark contrast to what's been seen on the streets of late -- bare metal carriages, a symptom of budget constraints and economic hardships that, out of necessity, slowly came to replace the old, colorfully decorated jeepneys famed around the world.

The parade was the culminating event of Manila's first Jeepney Arts Festival.

For three days, some 150 artists gathered under tents outside the Mall of America to work on the parked jeepneys, bare and bland, relinquished by their owners and drivers.

The organizer, business woman Clang Garcia, called them in for a mission: to bring the cultural icon back to its former glory, complete with its notoriety of colors, mismatched images, and anything-goes artistic editorials.

Shibamata: Where history and movies collide in suburban Tokyo

Posted: 07 Oct 2012 05:37 PM PDT

by Lisa Jardine

Take it from the expert: Kit Nagamura, author and "The Backstreet Stories" columnist for the Japan Times, has a few words of advice for the urban adventurer in Tokyo.

"All you need for a successful exploit are sunglasses, Band-Aids, sunscreen, a camera, a travel card, a phrasebook and ¥3,000 (US$38)," she says.

"The fear factor of going off the grid and wandering into the wrong neighborhood is zero and no matter where you are in Tokyo you can usually get home in a cab on that ¥3,000."

Of the myriad places she's explored, one of Nagamura's favorite spots in Tokyo is Shibamata -- a curio of a town that mixes history and fiction into one heady brew.

This small Edo-period town on the northeastern edge of Tokyo was made famous by Tora-san -- the main character in the long-running movie series called "Otoko wa Tsurai yo" ("It's tough being a man").

To pay or not to pay: The complex world of bad restaurant meals

Posted: 07 Oct 2012 11:20 AM PDT

by Jason Sheehan

Jason Sheehan We'd been waiting almost two hours for our first course. For our actual first course.

Our server had brought the wrong plates once, and we'd politely told him that we hadn't ordered this and that there was probably a very hungry table somewhere waiting for them.

He'd smiled, apologized, and whisked them away.

The second time he brought us the wrong plates? We just sat there. Didn't say a word.

Ate them glumly, with the dawning realization that this might be the only food we got all night.