PLANNING a holiday to your favourite destination usually requires a lot of time and preparation. If you still haven’t decided where to spend this Christmas, one time-saving option is to book a holiday package with a local tour company. Here are some of the attractive December holiday packages on offer for both local and international destinations.

“We are making promotion programs constantly and have reduced the hotel’s rates by 20pc. But the number of visitors is still not improving. Last year at this time all the rooms at the 14 beach hotels were full. But now, this year, there are so many empty rooms at all hotels,”

“We thought it would be more interesting if we decorated the hotel with mummies and pyramids like in Egypt. The hotel staff will also dress like Egyptians and mummies. For entertainment, we’ve invited Lazy Club, Chit Kaung, Han Htun, Zaw Paing, Blueberry and Rebecca Win,”

Parkroyal Hotel will also be hosting a lucky draw on December 31 but rest assured that’s not all they’ve got planned. There’ll be a Mardi Gras theme, live catwalk model show and even a magic performance. The New Year’s Eve event costs $55 and the highlight of the night is likely to be performances by singers Phyu Phyu Kyaw Thein and R Zarni.

In Myanmar, many families still rely on the single income of the father. But times have changed; there should be no discrimination based on gender. In households such as this, we need to recognise the importance of the wife’s role in the home. It will not be a pleasant place if the husband is proud because he is the sole breadwinner in the family and regards the job of washing clothes, cleaning dishes and cooking meals as trivial things because they do not earn money. In many cases, the wife will in fact run the household.

CYCLONE Nargis batters Ayeyarwady and Yangon divisions on May 2 and 3, killing nearly 140,000 people and leaving at least 1 million homeless. The cyclone, one of the worst natural disasters to affect Myanmar, makes landfall in the coastal region of Ayeyarwady Division with wind speeds of 190 kilometres an hour and triggers deadly tidal surges of up to 15 feet (4.5 metres).