Join us on the 24^th February for a tour around the virtual Mio CeBIT booth, where we’ll be launching the award winning Moov V780 and multi-country extension maps.  You will see the key features of the Moov V780, and we will reveal the complete photos, demo and specifications on 4^th March, the day of Mio Press Conference in CeBIT.

Winner of iF Design Award, the Moov V780 is a new and exciting GPS navigation device that plugs into your mobile lifestyle.  As well as using the highly recommended Spirit navigation software, the V780 features 7” flat widescreen, a digital TV receiver, Adobe^® Flash^® supporting web browser, high definition video output, Wireless Internet access and an integrated carry case and QWERTY keyboard. Join us from the 1st March to watch exclusive product videos and see the latest product photos.

Available for the Moov S500 series models, Extension maps are a total solution for navigating around the world with your Mio.

During the CeBIt show, the Managing director of the iF International Forum Design GmbH, Ralph Wiegmann, will co-host a press conference with Mio to highlight the awards.

So whatever your interest, come and experience the best that Mio has to offer at this year’s virtual Cebit from February 24^th until March 11^th .

Travel time - 2009/10/20-26
Written by Jerry Peng

During our last few days in Bangkok, we took a boat trip up the Chao Phraya River where you can relax and enjoy the wind and see many interesting things such as the floating market where these shops in boats ply their trade along the river, in a practice that was once essential but is now mostly a tourist attraction. We started at the top of the river and worked our way down, we also made a few stops on our way to visit some famous Thai temples, such as Wat Po, the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew and the Emerald Buddha. I was amazed by these magnificent temples; by the historical interior and exterior design, not to mention the spectacular and enormous Buddha statues with so many historical stories behind them. For transportation, these temples are all walkable and nearby each other from Piers No. 8 and 9. It was probably my most relaxing time in Bangkok! The wind softy blowing in your face with the nice warm weather, and you sitting on a boat with your eyes closed…wow; I already want to do it again. If you are not really a city person, it’s just so nice to escape the noise and the traffic for while and enjoy the wind and do nothing.

Overall, I think Bangkok is definitely a great city to visit with a lot of culture and interesting things to see and do, but there weren’t always good memories...I guess it turned out I just cannot enjoy the Thai food as much as my girlfriend did…well…I never enjoy Thai food that much in Taiwan, but still I had to give it a go since I was there, right? Well…it turned out to be painful for me. I guess my stomach is just not cut out for spicy and sour food. My girlfriend and I went to a local Thai restaurant, it was meant to be a great time… but a dish called “Tom Yam Kung” gave me the worst upset stomach I’ve ever known and just as I was getting better and because we hadn’t eaten that much Thai food on this trip, my girlfriend “forced” me to give it one more try at a different restaurant …but I knew something was wrong with my stomach with the first sip of the Tom Yam…my goodness…another 3 days of upset stomach I guess I will be not be eating Thai food for a long time to come…

Travel information
http://www.tourismthailand.org/
www.backpackers.com.tw (Chinese)
http://www.thailand.net.au/index.php
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/forum.jspa?forumID=51
http://www.travelforum.org/thailand-siam/main.html

Budget airline website
www.airaisa.com
http://www.jetstar.com

Accommodation website
www.asiaroom.com
www.agoda.com

others
http://www.superrich1965.com (local large Money exchange company)

Read  Explore More in Bangkok 1/2

As with many of today's iconic buildings, the tower started off by causing a, perhaps understandable, degree of controversy. After all, this iron tower was to dominate a skyline of a city filled with some of the world's finest stone architecture.  Standing at 300 meters (1000 feet) tall, construction of the tower began in 1887 and almost immediately the voices of some 47 self appointed defenders of the city's cultural standards began to make themsleves heard. These artists, writers, poets, sculptors and other notable denizens provided some colorful insults to the structure.  Paul Verlained suggested that it would be a "belfry skeleton", Leon Bloy called it a "a truly tragic street lamp", Francos Coppée described it as a "mast of iron gymnasium apparatus, incomplete, confused and deformed", and Joris-Karl Huysmans, in a truly imaginative piece called it "a half-built factory pipe, a carcass waiting to be fleshed out with freestone or brick, a funnel-shaped grill, a hole-riddled suppository".

But despite the protests the building went ahead and it was completed in time for the 1889 World's fair, celebrating 100 years since the French Revolution.

Throughout its history it has been the site of some spectacular, if not always successful stunts:

• On the 4th February 1912, Franz Reichelt ended his life by jumping 60meters from the first deck with a home-made parachute.
• In 1925, Victor Lustig , a notable conman, took advantage of the towers poor state of repair and managed to convince buyers that the government no longer wanted to maintain it and that it was to be sold for scrap.
• Between 1925 and 1934 French car maker, Citroën paid to for an illuminated advertisement on 3 of the towers sides.
• On the 31st March 1984 Robert J. Moriarty flew a Beechcraft Bonanza between the pillars of the tower, for no other reason than “just for fun”.
• An early bungee jump was demonstrated by A J Hackett (inventor of the sport) in 1987 when he threw himself off the tower. Unlike Franz Reichelt, Hackett survived and was promptly arrested.

To read about how Mio, a senior sponsor of Expo 2010, are sponsoring the site and to get a FREE online and mobile travel e-book visit www.mio.com/expo2010 and m.mio.com/expo2010