Flight pioneer Bertrand Piccard, an aeronaut who made the first nonstop round the world balloon flight, recently unveiled a prototype of an incredible solar-powered airplane that will one day circle the globe. Dubbed the Solar Impulse, the plane first caught our attention when it was being developed, and we’re thrilled to see a working prototype of the vehicle. Is the age of the solar powered airplane upon us?

Read the rest of Solar Impulse Unveiled: Sun-Powered Airplane to Circle the Globe

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Budget carrier Firefly will extend its code-share partnership with parent company Malaysian Airline System Bhd (MAS) to include its latest Singapore route by mid-July, managing director Eddy Leong said today. Currently, Firefly has a code-share partnership with MAS for the Subang-Kerteh, Subang-Koh Samui, Penang-Banda Aceh, Penang-Medan and Penang-Phuket routes. "We hope by mid-July we will be able to extend the code-share partnership with MAS for all Singapore routes, either from Subang or Ipoh, Kuala Terengganu, Kuantan and later Melaka, Kota Baru and Alor Star," he said here. Firefly will begin its thrice daily flights from Subang to Singapore tomorrow. It plans to increase its Subang-Singapore frequency to four flights a day from middle of next month as the airline is also set to begin flights to Singapore from Ipoh, Kuala Terengganu and Kuantan. Asked about the response to the Subang-Singapore route, Leong said that sales had been good despite stiff competition. According to him, Firefly has a slight edge over competitors by operating from the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang which is nearer to the city. "One thing is for sure, we are not flying empty. Our promotion of RM88 is all inclusive, including airport tax, insurance surcharge and administration fees, and will continue, provided you book seven days in advance," he said. Leong said the only problem the airline was facing now was that it could not carry a full load of passengers for flights on certain routes due to the lack of refuelling facilties at some secondary routes like Ipoh, Kota Baru, Alor Setar and Kuala Terengganu. "Without these refuelling facilities, we can't carry the maximum number of passengers on our flights. That's why we are engaging the state governments to assist us on this," he said. Firefly has targeted to carry 1.5 million passengers this year as it is now operating seven 72-seater ATR72-500 aircraft. Last year, it carried about 500,000 passengers with just three Fokker 50 aircraft. -- BERNAMA

This month’s guest author is Graham Woodring, writer of the beautifully-crafted blog, An American in the Far East. Although Graham is a relative newbie to China – he just moved to Asia in February 2009 – he writes as though he’s an old-hand at teaching, traveling, and keeping the rest of us informed on life as an expat in China. Graham is one of a few bloggers writing about his couchsurfing experiences in China, which makes his blog very unique. His most recent post on the techniques he uses to stay safe while couchsurfing is especially useful to anyone thinking of taking part in a couchsurfing experience. Today, Graham takes us on a tour of his favorite city in China.

The train slowly pulls into the station. Amid the river of disembarking people and the muffled grunts of exertion and unintelligible cries, you step out into the afternoon light in a new city.  Where you came from doesn’t matter any more; you’re moving on.  Where you are going next doesn’t matter either; you are living in the moment.  The sun beats down on your neck and shoulders as you huddle over your guidebook, searching for clues to the next step in the chase: the chase of adventure, something new and exciting, of living the life outside the cubicle and free from the shackles of your daily life.

You read each word of your book deliberately, carefully pouring over each entry in an attempt to divine the optimal route on your journey.  But there’s no time for that; you have to keep moving.  As you break away from the throng of people jostling for a way into or out of the station and hail a taxi, only one thing echoes in your mind:  You are in Xi’an, and you have 48 hours.

Day 1

The Great Mosque of Xi’an: Nestled deep in the Muslim Quarter, the Great Mosque is one of the oldest and most well known mosques in all of China.  Within the walls of the mosque it is eerily quiet, providing a great retreat from the hustle and bustle of the surrounding area. The construction is completely Chinese in style and architecture, but there are some Muslim influences scattered about if you look; there is even one stele with both Chinese and Arabic characters on it.  The massive prayer hall is still in use today (mostly by the Hui people) so it  is barred from the public, but even from the outside it is an impressive sight.

Sha’anxi History Museum: Construction began in 1983 on this Tang style museum that opened to the public in 1991. With an area of 55,600 square meters and a collection of 370,000 objects, there is something for anyone interested in the long and culturally rich history of China.  The museum is actually free to the public, but tickets are limited to prevent over-crowding.  Make sure you show up early or you will miss out on what is generally considered the second-best history museum in all of China (after the Shanghai history museum, of course).  The museum is closed on Mondays. Address: 91 Dong Xiao Zhai Road

Food: Yangrou Paomo The most famous dish in Xi’an can be found almost anywhere.  Yangrou Paomo is a mutton soup with vegetables, noodles, and the distinctive flat bread that is so common in the city.  As Xi’an is situated at the beginning of the Silk Road, obvious Arab influences abound in this culinary delight.  The flat bread is broken up into pieces and dropped into soup, and is then eaten with pickled cloves of garlic.  This dish is a hearty, filling meal that is usually not very expensive.

Big Wild Goose Pagoda:  Originally built in 652 during the Tang dynasty, the pagoda has suffered much damage and has been rebuilt and renovated many times over the years.  The last time being in 1964 so that it now stands at 210 ft (64 m) tall and is one of the most recognizable symbols of Xi’an.  Regular visitors pay 25 RMB to enter the Temple of Great Maternal Grace, which surrounds the pagoda, and another 25 RMB to enter the tower itself.  Some consider the double tickets a cheap scam to get your money and the views from the top are less than spectacular.  The novelty factor of climbing to the top is what gets most people inside.

Dinner at Delhi Darbar – Cuisine of India: This little restaurant can be found just across the street west of the Big Wild Goose Pagoda.  Though I have never been to India, this place has the best Indian food I have ever eaten.  But the icing on the cake here is that the beer is guaranteed to be the coldest in Xi’an.  Anyone living or traveling in China knows how hard it can be to find ice-cold beer. The food is excellent, the beer is cold, and the owners are friendly and more than capable of helping people of all nationalities.  What more can you ask for? Address: Huan Ta Xi Road and Da Tan Tong, Yi Fang

Park Qin Bar: Unless you are looking for a nightclub to spend your evening, then this bar is the perfect place to take a load off from your long day and have a cold beer.  Park Qin offers many different beers (imported and domestic) on tap and from the bottle, as well as a wide variety of liquors and mixed drinks.  The beer tower is a favorite, which is a long tube that holds about 7 liters of beer and has a spout at the bottom.  It’s not really cheaper than buying individual beers, but it is ostentatious enough to have a good time with.  As far as patrons, Park Qin mostly hosts foreigners and occasionally some Chinese.  The number of people from all different walks of life with all different stories of travel and adventure can make for a long, long night.  If you’re up to it, of course.

Accommodations: Shuyuan International Youth Hostel If you went to Park Qin Bar for drinks, you won’t have to worry about a long  journey back to your hotel. The Shuyuan IYH is right upstairs and definitely on my top list of best hostels.  Sitting right inside South Gate and next to a major bus stop, it is in a perfect location to allow you to explore south of the city-the museum and the pagoda­-as well as take a short walk up to the Bell Tower and the city center.  This hostel boasts the quality, standards, and amenities one can expect from Hostelling International-accredited lodging.  All of the staff speak English and they can help you find a guided tour, book a trip or arrange for a hostel in another city.  They even provide free pickups from the train station!

Day 2

Breakfast at the South Gate: Just to the East across the street from Shuyuan hostel is an area packed with art shops, trinket sellers and travel souvenirs. The area is lined with small food carts.  Popular breakfast foods in Xi’an include Baozi (steamed dumplings) or Bing Guo (flat pancake-like wraps with food stuffed inside).  The Bing Guo is particularly good because you can pick and choose which ingredients you want.  The base stuff is normally a fried bread or cracker topped with scallions and shredded potato and some kind of peanut sauce.  From simple scallions and potato to pickled cabbage, seaweed, or sausage, there will always be a great selection to choose from.  The Terracotta Warriors can be a long trip and you might miss lunch, so I suggest that you stock up on some extra food and snacks here (the flat bread and baozi are great for this).

The Terracotta Warriors: A trip to Xi’an is not complete without a visit to the world famous Terracotta army.  Commonly billed as the eighth wonder of the world, the sheer size of the army and the unique detail of each soldier are simply mind-boggling.  To stand in front of the hundreds of warriors and breathe in the cool, dry air permeated with thousands of years of history is an experience one does not soon forget.  There are three hangars where you can view the warriors.  Though you can go in any order you want, the best path is to go in reverse; that is, first to #3, then #2, and then #1.  #1 is the biggest and most impressive of the bunch, so saving the best for last makes the experience more enjoyable.  There is also a small museum adjacent to the hangars, which gives you some history of the warriors and a short film on Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China and for whom the army was constructed.  From the train station, you can take local bus #306 or 307 for a mere 7 RMB and the ride is about 45 minutes to an hour.

A Bike Ride on the City Wall: The city walls of Xi’an are some of the oldest and most well preserved specimens in all of China.  What better way to explore this massive structure than to ride a bike around it?  To get onto the wall you enter at the South Gate and it costs 40 RMB, and to rent a single bike for 100 minutes is 20 RMB (40 RMB for a double).  The people renting the bikes speak English so there is no problem there.  But before you leave, make sure you check out the bike: the tires, the breaks, the seat, etc.  Also, bring some extra water because the people selling cold drinks and snacks will try to charge you exorbitant prices (5 RMB for a bottle of water in my case!).  The walls are about 14 kilometers around so you will get plenty of different views of the city.

Food: Hot Pot is one of the most popular dishes here in Xi’an.  There are a seemingly endless number of hot pot restaurants in all parts of the city.  Anywhere you go in Xi’an, you will find one of these eateries.  The best place for hot pot is in the Muslim quarter.  The Muslim quarter offers all sorts of restaurants and many styles of food, hot pot being the most prominent.  A hot pot meal involves picking your meats and vegetables to go into the soup.  At some restaurants, you can choose from a few different varieties of broth as well as a couple different dipping sauces for your cooked meats and vegetables.  Or, you can just get a mix of everything!   Sitting at an outside table around a bubbling pot of hot pot, sipping ice-cold beers or hot tea, all the while watching the chaos of the Muslim quarter at night pass you by is an experience you won’t soon forget.

The Muslim Quarter: After eating dinner in the Muslim quarter, you will have the perfect opportunity to explore this fantastic area.  This nighttime experience is a highlight of any trip to Xi’an and comes highly recommended.  Even if you can only squeeze this into a daytime visit, it should not be left off your list.  There are an endless variety of goods to look through to keep you interested: fruit, candy, snacks, toys, chopsticks, art, clothing, and much more.  The seemingly infinite number of lights strung up from building to building and across the streets really adds a magical effect to the night.

Amanah Saham Nasional Bhd (ASN), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), has announced an income distribution of 5.20 sen per unit for Amanah Saham Nasional 2 (ASN2) for financial year ended June 30, 2009. PNB chairman Tun Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid said the income distribution would involve a total payment of RM11.67 million and would benefit 10,962 unitholders who collectively owned 224.34 million units of ASN2. "Based on the net asset value of the fund at June 29, 2009, of RM0.9630, the income distribution payment would translate into a yield of 5.71 per cent," he said at the announcement of the income distribution for ASN2 in Kuala Lumpur today. -- Bernama

Summer is finally here and we are busily researching our favorite travel destinations and making travel plans for the rest of the year. Luckily, I stumbled on a gem of a site called Travelgrove a few months ago that has facilitated the process. (Travelgrove would be a GREAT option for you, Dad!)

Travelgrove uses a powerful search engine to search major travel search engines like Priceline, Kayak, and Travelocity for deals on cheap flights, hotels, cars, vacation packages, cruises, and even theme vacations. A basic search shows results from Hotwire and C-Trip. By checking the boxes underneath the search box, users are able to add additional search engines like Travelocity, Priceline, and Kayak. Results from each search engine open in separate windows, which easily allow you to compare prices.

There’s also a section for Recently Found Flight Deals, which lists the best deals of the day. Last week, I found a cheap flight to Honolulu from Los Angeles for $262US. These tickets are usually $600US and up! John and I decided against getting married in Hawaii because it wasn’t within our budget. I wish I’d found this deal before we got hitched.

Travelgrove also offers World Travel Guides which can help you get acquainted with your next travel destination. These are also a great source of information if you’re looking for hot deals and vacations.

I mentioned earlier that Travelgrove offers cool social networking features to registered users. Users can become part of a unique online travel community by joining. You can make new friends; ask questions, share travel experiences, and exchange information with other travelers. You can even upload photos, stories and handy travel tips. Don’t forget to add me when you register. You can find me under globetrotteri at Travelgrove.

DRB-HICOM Bhd, a Malaysian auto and construction group, denied a newspaper report that it made a proposal to build a railway line from Gemas to southern Johor state for RM8 billion (US$2.3 billion). "The company has not recently submitted any proposal to the government including the above and as such, is not aware of the basis for the said article," DRB said in a statement to the Malaysian stock exchange today. -- Bloomberg

Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said today in Kuala Lumpur that some foreign shareholding rules for investment funds will be relaxed as the country battles a growing outflow of foreign portfolio money.

Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak unveiled a raft of economic reforms to boost investment in the Southeast Asian country today.

Puncak Niaga Holdings Bhd and Kumpulan Perangsang Holdings Bhd fell in Kuala Lumpur trading after the Malaysian water providers rejected bids for assets from the Selangor state government.

Economy Fan Ensuite. Excluding breakfast. Hotel ChinaTown Inn, with 4 different room types, is a highly rated budget hotel ideally located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur's Chinatown. This 2-star hotel offers cost-conscious travellers international standard accommodation and services at affordable prices. At the Hotel Inn, you are surrounded by an open air shopping paradise with a myriad of side-walk eateries and shop corners. Hotel ChinaTown Inn offers attractively furnished rooms which are fairly roomy and quiet with air-conditioning, carpet flooring and an attached bathroom. The Hotel is highly recommended in the Lonely Planet Travel Guide Book (Issue 2001) for "Far better value, and thoroughly recommended, with spotless hotel-quality rooms.