TRAVEL

Home & Away with Robert WalsheLiving

AN EVENING with South Af-rica Tourism took place re-cently in Dublin’s Clarence Hotel. The event was at-tended by over 80 members of the travel industry and media, as well as South Afri-can region representatives. The South African ambassa-dor to Ireland, Mr. Azwindini Jeremaih Ndou, was also in attendance and opened the event by welcoming guests. During the event guests were treated to an exciting performance by a group of traditional South African dancers. Andrew Sharpe, the new Ireland and UK Manager for South African Tourism, hosted the event and gave a short presentation.

Holiday Hotspot The Peninsula Shanghai – www.peninsula.com

The Peninsula Shanghai with spectacular views of the Huangpu River, Pudong and the gardens of the former British Consulate personifi es elegance in every way. The building on the “Bund “blends perfectly with the historic architecture of its landmark neighbours offering a fusion of art deco-inspired glam-our. The history behind this iconic hotel group beckons back to the history of the Ka-doorie family, which landed in Shanghai in 1860s build-ing a family fortune over the following decades. They ran a variety of businesses, but hotels always played a major part. They ran the Astor House Hotel (still there, just across Suzhou Creek on the

Bund) as well as The Majes-tic (now the Peace Hotel), before opening Hong Kong in 1928. When the Peninsula opened not only was it the fi rst Shanghai property since liberation for Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels it was also the first new construction allowed on the Bund in 70 years. Published to celebrate the grand opening of The Pe-ninsula Shanghai in March 2010, “Beyond Hospitality” tells the story of The Hong Kong and Shanghai Hotels and its long and illustrious history as Asia’s oldest hotel group. Written by eminent historian Peter Hibbard MBE and fully illustrated through-out with photos both antique and modern, fascinating old advertisements, menus, lug-gage labels and more from years gone by, this hardback coffee table book explores the companies heritage. Sir Michael Kadoorie, who runs the group, spent the fi rst six years of his life in Shanghai so the connection here is very special! Not all of The Peninsula Shanghai rooms are suites, but they certainly feel like it. Striking deep blue carpets, marble fireplaces and exotic statues represent bold departures from the sub-dued designs that dominate other big chains in this city. With the city’s most spacious rooms, guests will appreciate the room’s state-of-the-art technology. Every room fea-tures a 46-inch plasma TV, Nespresso coffee machine, iPod docking station, free use of VOIP internet telephone for local and international calls and complimentary Wifi

access. Sir Elly’s restaurant offers modern cuisine with a European twist while the Cantonese themed Yi Long Court’s décor is based on a 1920s home of a rich Shang-hainese merchant with ma-hogany floors, fireplaces, comfortable sofas, and velvet upholstery. The Compass Bar, just off the lobby is a popular meeting place but the unique Salon de Ning wins for me. Everything is special at the Peninsula including string quartets performing during afternoon tea offering a remarkable & personalised service.

The Peninsula spa offers a full menu of therapies while their 82-foot pool with pri-vate sun terrace is the perfect place to relax. The property is within walking distance of Waibaidu Bridge with nearby attractions including the Pu-dong Riverside Promenade and Park and Jing An Temple. The city is full of world-class museums, but the Shang-hai Museum is in a class of its own. It is located on the southern edge of People’s Square, a central landmark where metro and bus lines converge. More than 120,000 artifacts with bilingual sig-nage are arranged across four fl oors. The 1,500-foot Oriental Pearl television tower has be-come the cities icon. It tow-ers over Pudong and boasts a slick; science fi ction exterior

that feels like it’s straight out of the future.

The middle and top spheres both have observation decks that can be reached via high-speed elevator. The concierge team at the Peninsula will or-ganise tours to all these key destinations at a click of the finger. For best rates visit www.peninsula.com The Pe-ninsula Shanghai is one the fi nest hotels in the world – go there! Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, began opera-tions in 2003, and in 2012 car-ried more than 10.3 million passengers. The airline will increase capacity by 34% on its Dublin to Abu Dhabi route from summer 2013, with the deployment of a Boeing 777-300ER, which will provide an extra 900 seats a week.

Etihad Airways operates 10

services per week between Dublin’s Terminal 2 and its home base in Abu Dhabi with daily connections to Shang-hai.In business class expect award-winning fully fl at beds in an innovative 1-2-1 layout – all seats have aisle access and are forward facing. Expect the services of a dedicated Food & Beverage Manager offering restaurant quality dining-on-demand, boutique wines, and a unique “kitchen anytime op-tion “.Enjoy over 600 hours of on-demand entertainment on some of the largest personal screens in the sky – as well as MP3 player connectivity and universal power sock-ets. Etihads dedicated lounge within the new Terminal 2 facility at Dublin airport,

with features including show-ers and a business centre is world class. This oasis of calm is furnished with Italian leather chairs and soft sofas with extra facilities including a family room, bar, and a la carte and buffet food choices. Etihad also offer a private chauffeur taking you door-to-door in a luxury limousine for customers across the island of Ireland. Flight time from Dublin to Abu Dhabi is ap-prox 8 hours. Flight time Abu Dhabi to Shanghai is approx 8 hours. Connection times from 1 hour 40 mins in Abu Dhabi. Prices for Coral Economy are from €685 and Pearl Business class from €2,828. Prices in-clude taxes. www.etihad.com

Pet’s Corner... with Kathleen Murray

Home and Away ExtraGlenapp Castle is a Scottish Baronial Cas-

tle set amid thirty six acres of gardens and woodland on the beautiful Ayrshire Coast. As one of the highest rated hotel in Scot-land, Glenapp Castle offers internationally renowned standards of quality and service, as well as superb dining in our award win-ning restaurant and is one my favourite properties in the UK. Paul Hobbs one of the world’s most famous winemakers comes to Glenapp on Tuesday 14th May to host a Luxury Wine Tasting and Gourmet Evening. He has been named the most infl uential

winemaker in California and has received the magical 100 point score for one of his wines from Robert Parker ‘Wine Advocate’. Place. This exclusive event has been ar-ranged in partnership with the Alliance Wine Company. The castle is also open to non-resident diners for lunch, afternoon tea or dinner. A prior reservation is required. www.glenappcastle.com

Robert Walshe is a travel broadcaster with Q Radio Network & Travel Editor for nu-merous print & online publications on the island of Ireland. www.robertwalshe.com

■ South African Tourism Manager UK & Ireland Andrew Sharpe with African dancers

Living

■ ■Peninsula Shanghai

with Robert Walshe

AT THIS time of year many dogs are in heat. This not the only time of year that dogs come into heat but it is the time of year that is not suita-ble for breeding from a puppy training point of view.

The pups of dogs that mate at this time will not be going to their new homes until Oc-tober or later and that is bad from the pups perspective because toilet training will be jeopardised due to the dark evenings coming in.

A heat lasts three weeks, the pregnancy lasts nine weeks and the following eight weeks is for the pup to mature

enough for it to be able to han-dle moving on to a new owner. Not all pups are re-homed straight away at 8 weeks so some may be even later going into November.

A pup should not leave it’s mother before 8 weeks. It will have been weaned by it’s mother before that and eating and drinking on it’s own but it has valuable lessons to learn from her that will make it a more stable pup later on.

A pup that is younger than 8 weeks that is re-homed can often develop behaviour problems further down the line. To give a new pup the

best chance in life and to do what is right by it you should not sell it or give it away be-fore 8 weeks old and not sell it or give it away during long dark evenings, because it may be denied a chance to learn the very basics in good house manners properly.

Nobody wants to stand out in wet, cold, dark miserable weather waiting for a pup to pee.... every half hour or hour. That is what is required when you bring a new pup home. It is a responsibility and the pup will not know an-ything about your house so it will have to learn everything including where to go to the toilet. It needs to get off to a good start.

Owners have often let pups down by not doing the toilet

training properly and by just putting the pup out by itself and expecting it to know what to do. Pups will just sit at the back door waiting to get in or they will scratch the door or worse still they will go to the toilet on the back step.

This is all because the pup is too scared to venture out by itself. It is too young. You need to go with it and show it what to do the way its mother would have. It’s depending on it’s new owner to lead the way. I have not met an owner yet that loves standing in the rain or snow, freezing or get-ting soaked waiting for a pup that is feeling the same way to go to the toilet.

Toilet training takes commit-ment and time. It is hard work

with some pups but it is important that it is done prop-erly then e v e r y o n e has peace. Spring and Summer are the times to get a pup, not Autumn or Winter.... for the pup’s sake. If you have a dog in heat at the moment please don’t let it mate. Watch it like a hawk, Keep it in or very close to you at all times until the heat is over. Think of the lives the pups will have.

Don’t spoil it for them, they will be around for a long time. Pregnancy should be planned so that pups are born in the spring.

Is your dog in heat?