Metris Travel
Metris Travel
Your gateway to new destinations
Your guide to exotic places and non-mainstream holiday experiences
Off the beaten track
Hg2| A Hedonist's guide to... launches Baku guide
25 Feb 10
From the busy markets of the Old City to the up-and-coming Municipal areas of Downtown, Hg2 Baku takes readers on a journey through the quirky city attempting to emerge from its Soviet past and Muslim heritage to establish its identity as a hip and happening destination.
The leather-bound book provides an honest and insightful look into the quirky and complex city, and the diverse climates of volcanoes, mountains and beaches scattered outside of the city for those looking to explore beyond the beaten path. Hg2 Baku is a prefect guide for those looking for the best in culture, experience and taste on offer.
Hg2 is a business born from the frustration founder, Tremayne Carew Pole, felt after an abortive attempt to find a genuinely good bar in Budapest. Recognising that many people experience the same disappointment, he decided to create a new type of city guide - combining engaging destinations and stylish design with unsurpassed local knowledge, to offer the ultimate handbook to a city break.
The first 6 Hg2 guides were published in 2004, a range that has since been expanded to 18 guides to some of the world’s most exciting cities. The guides all follow the same format, with clear chapters covering the best places to Sleep, Eat, Drink, Snack, Party, Shop, Play and Visit in each city. Lengthy reviews, ratings and photography throughout ensure the reader knows exactly what to expect before they go, ensuring no disappointments.
A key tenet of Hg2 is the independence and the breadth and integrity of the information in the guides. Hg2 journalists spend two months living in a city to research it, with the mandate and budget to eat in all the best restaurants, drink in all the bars and go wild in all the clubs. All the reviewing is done incognito and they charge no-one for the privilege of appearing in the guide – every place is reviewed and included at Hg2’s discretion.
The guides are published online (www.Hg2.com), where continual updates from local reviewers ensure they never go out of date.
Cities covered to date are: Almaty and Astana, Berlin, Beirut, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Marrakech, Miami, Milan, Moscow, New York, Paris, Prague, Rome, Stockholm and Tallinn.
Brunei Darussalam
"Brunei, a rainforest covered gem of a country nestled on the northern shores of the island of Borneo, is a refreshing tourist destination offering a richly diverse natural and cultural heritage, a centuries old majestic Royal heritage and an exciting contemporary side of magnificent accommodation, premium golf, first class diving and modern and efficient infrastructure.
As a prosperous oil and gas producing nation with a small, peace loving population ruled benevolently by His Majesty the Sultan of Brunei, the 29th of an unbroken line dating back 600 years, Brunei is a safe, stable, healthy, wholesome and sincerely hospitable society.
With many natural, cultural and leisure activities available within easy reach in this small sized Kingdom of Unexpected Treasures, Brunei promises wholesome fun and excitement for families, honeymooners or those with interests such as nature, golf or diving.
A clean and pollution free environment, the near absence of traffic jams, un-crowded streets and a healthy lifestyle, make Brunei a perfect getaway for short holidays or for a break from the hectic pace of urban living.
For longer vacations, Brunei combines perfectly with the rest of Borneo, for which it is the international gateway. Brunei can also nicely complement multi-destination trips to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Manila, Bali, Dubai or any other destination in the Royal Brunei Airlines regional network, or can be an attractive stopover on the way to or from Australia and New Zealand.
Brunei’s tranquility, safety, first class amenities and distraction free environment make the destination ideal for focused and productive incentive trips, business meetings, brainstorming sessions, corporate retreats, team building events or conferences, while its opulent surroundings can give a definite touch of prestige to any product launch."
Dato Hamdillah H A Wahab, Deputy Minister of Industry and Primary Resources, and Chairman of the Brunei Tourism Board
Culture
Brunei is officially an Islamic state, with many large beautiful mosques across the country. Sale of alcohol is banned. Bringing in meat, (other than seafood) which has not been certified "halal", (slaughtered according to Islamic law), is also banned. During the fasting month of Ramadan, many shops and restaurants will be open. However, eating, drinking or smoking in front of people who are fasting is considered rude and asking permission is appropriate.
The bulk of the population is Malay (67%) and there is also a significant Chinese minority of some 15% as well as a number of indigenous peoples, including the Iban and Dusun tribes who inhabit the jungle upriver and the Temburong district, (the smaller eastern part detached from the rest of Brunei). There is a large number of foreign workers who work on the oil and gas production or in lower positions such as restaurant staff, field workers and domestic staff. The male to female ratio is 3:2. More than a quarter of the people are short term immigrant workers, most of whom are men.
Geography and climate
Brunei's climate is semi-tropical, and Bandar Seri Begawan's is sub-tropical. The temperature can reach 13°C in January. The temperature is range from 14-32°C. Rainy season is always mild and humid, followed by a hot and humid dry season.
Brunei's topology is of a flat coastal plain rises to mountains in the east, the highest point being Bukit Pagon at 1,850 meters, with some hilly lowlands in the west.
There are no typhoons, earthquakes, severe flooding and other forms of natural disasters to contend with, and the biggest environmental issues is the seasonal haze resulting from forest fires (that is caused by illegal clearing of land) in nearby Indonesia.
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