Advantages: Beautiful people, beautiful city.
Disadvantages: Being hassled by Tuk Tuk drivers, and being told attractions were closed.

...as the Merry V Guesthouse is My House, which my sister recommends, and also happens to be right next door! If you are looking for something a little bit more upmarket then the Sukhumvit Road is probably the area you should be looking at. Even though the rooms are more expensive, you are probably only going to be paying the equivalent of 10-£15 for a nice hotel. (Our second guesthouse cost us the equivalent of about £2!) THINGS TO SEE AND DO IN BANGKOK The Grand Palace The Grand Palace has to be seen to be believed! We were struck by the opulence and scale of the buildings, and the inspiring beauty of the shrines - the most famous of which is the Emerald Buddha. This Buddha is not made of emerald, but jade, and has quite an interesting history that is thought to have started in the northern province of Chiang Mai. When visiting shrines... Read review

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Advantages: works really well, nice smell, lasts well for the money
Disadvantages: only available from Lush shops or their website

...This is the way we brush our hair, Brush our hair, Brush our hair, This is the way we brush our hair, On a cold and frosty morning. Continuing my series of things we do in the morning, we arrive at brushing our hair. Now my hair is dyed blonde so it is dry and damaged. It needs a good wash and a whole heap of conditioner to get a brush through it successfully. Recently, I have discovered another miracle product to add to the equation and this is what I want to tell you about this time – Buddha Bar from (sorry, blokes) Lush. Until a few weeks ago, my scalp had always been okay and I hadn’t really had any problems with it. Then all of a sudden, I began scratching it and my head began to get little sore bits and dried scabs – not very nice. I knew it wasn’t dandruff and it wasn’t the dreaded nits now the kids... Read review

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Advantages: VAT free, great beaches and of course, Jim Bergerac,
Disadvantages: expensive to get to - book early folks

.... SHOPS VAT free, all the high street names, M & S, Next, Topshop, FCUK, etc plus loads of boutiques and independant stores. There are 2 department stores, De Gruchy and Voisins which is Jerseys answer to Selfridges and Harrods! Aside from clothes there are record stores HMV, Seedee Jons (this has a great selection, must go to for record buyers), White Label records and Woolies - so much you'll almost forget what you went in for, oh! I LIKE TO BOOGIE Nightlife - Jersey has loads of bars heres a list of the better ones: Bar 10 - cellar wine bar, v. cool Buddha Bar - Asian themed bar, sit in one of the booths at the back! Breeze Bar - Chilled out, local dj's playing funk/soul/electrojazz Chambers - local haunt full of drunks but fun Africa House - ask for tusker Original Wine Bar - a wine bar, oh so original St James's Wine Bar - open late... Read review

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Advantages: Pretty scenery, shaded areas
Disadvantages: Need to take a tour to see it really

...Myself and my girlfriend visited the Magic Buddha Garden whilst in Thailand on October 2007. We visited this attraction as fair of a Jungle Tour, where we visited several attractions in one day while travelling round the island and we paid £20 each for this trip which we thought was very reasonable. Some of the roads you need to travel on to get to this attraction are very bumpy so I would assume that you will need to hire a 4 x 4 vehicle if you are wishing to travel here without a tour. This attraction is marked on all the tourist maps so it would be easy to find. Inside The Garden The Buddha Garden is set within a valley and inside you will find statues of mythical creatures, statues of spirits and of course, Buddha statues. There is a waterfall which runs through the middle of the Buddha Garden and lots of trees and vegetation... Read review

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Advantages: A GIANT buddha!! Craved out of a GIANT PIECE OF JADE!
Disadvantages: ouch, double the entrance fees!

...I went to Shanghai last summer with my boyfriend, and Jade Buddha temple is in the list of top attractions in Shanghai. Hopefully, this is a nice and easy guide to you. Getting there and away? We took the taxi from the train station and back. Just make sure you don't fall for the taxi drivers waiting for you outsdie the train station. They charge you much extra. It is better to flag down a taxi who will use the meter. Temple itself? You can't miss it (it IS a temple in the middle of buildup areas). Easy to buy tickets - though the tickets you buy to get into the temple do not give you entry for the jade buddha. That costs additionally. Inside, there is quite a lot to see, and very quiet and peaceful. There is a giant gold buddha inside. To get to the jade buddha, buy another ticket over to the right of the entrance. The jade... Read review

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Advantages: A change from Tekken
Disadvantages: Banned!

...Thrill Kill for the Playstation is a brilliant beat-em-up with a difference. Instead of hitting and punching someone to make their enery bar go down, your own bar goes up with every move or punch you make. When your bar is full, you go up to one of the other players and press a button. Your character will then perform a gruesome finishing move like stabbing their neck with a stilt or punching their head off! No wonder it was banned from the Playstation! The graphics of the game are very good.(and gory) The characters are all very different with different moves and they all look really cool. The game can be 1v1, 1v1v1 or 1v1v1v1. The controls are excellent and the game is really fun too. The moves can be performed simply by pressing two buttons at the same time. The game is not suitable for people who hate violence and gore but you... Read review

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Advantages: An amusing easy read.
Disadvantages: Everything is a bit too nice, it feels a bit like a drippy sit-com at times.

......an opinion on Gabriel's Gift that is! So here goes... Gabriel Bunch is fifteen, daffodils wink at him, and his dead twin brother Archie speaks to him. Hmmm, maybe he should keep off the grass. He is a talented artist, with an ambition to be a film director. Oh, and sometimes the things he draws become real. As I say, maybe he should keep off the grass. Gabriel's father Rex is a musician who played guitar with the Leather Pigs, a legendary 70's rock band - until he fell off his platform shoes that is! The Leather Pigs lead singer Lester Jones (who is still a big star) invites Rex round to his hotel room and Gabriel tags along. I had been wondering whether Lester was based on David Bowie (who wrote the theme music to the Buddha of Suburbia) even before this line gave the game away: "Gabriel felt Lester's different coloured eyes... Read review

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Advantages: You can see pretty much everything you want to see in a day
Disadvantages: There is no real nightlife, but then again that's not what you go to Nara for.

...of which is the second tallest in Japan by a matter of centimetres. (The tallest is Kyoto's To-ji). This is pretty much all that remains of the original complex which was built in 710 originally had 175 buildings. -TODAI-JI This is the temple area that contains the great image of the Daibutsu Buddha, and is probably the attraction that you will most want to see in Nara. Walking towards the main hall you can't help but notice Nandai-mon which is an enourmous gateway. On the inside of the gate two ferocious Nio guardians stare out. These are truly spectacular. The wood carved figures are beautifully crafted and appear more mysterious through the layers of dust that have accumulated and now highlight the crevices and curves of their bodies. -Daibutsu-den (400 Yen) The wooden hall may only be two thirds of its original size... Read review

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Advantages: It expanded on the original novel.
Disadvantages: Some of the text was not appropriate

...children and had children’s voices – Jack was especially annoying! A coloured person played Simon, the outsider in the story, and this idea was cleverly used to portray racial hatred as well as his difference from the others (perhaps epilepsy), with him being called ‘Buddha boy’. The first scene started with very funky music and a load of dancing to portray the crash of the plane. It was very well choreographed and was a very attention grabbing start to the play. The whole play was acted around the wreckage of the crashed aeroplane, with moving parts to make it adaptable to the various scenes. The idea of the modern music and dancing was used a lot in the play, although at times it did cry out ‘80s Gay Bar’! The acting was well done and made the story live up, but not re-doing it entirely. Overall, the play was excellent. The speech... Read review

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Advantages: A must if you are in Bangkok
Disadvantages: Can get very busy

...If you're ever in Bangkok, this place is an absolute must, it will only cost you about 60 baht (you get about 70 baht to the pound) to get in and you could walk around here for ages. The main attraction, the reclining Buddha is housed in it's own temple, the temple itself is the oldest and largest temple in Bangkok and is over 300 years old. The buddha housed inside was put in the temple just under 200 years ago, it stands about 15 meters high and is over 40 meters long. The buddha is covered in gold plating and should you wish you can buy a small piece of gold leaf which you can add to the buddha yourself for luck. The soles of the buddah's feet are black marble inlaid with mother of pearl and are absolutely beautiful, and if you feel like you need a bit more luck you can buy one baht pieces which you then offer to the buddha... Read review

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