Writer Wrestles With Visit to Long-Necked Thai Tribe

Panama, Finland, and Myanmar top the list

(NEWSER) - If you like cool design, upscale safaris, or a forbidden communist island, the New York Times can recommend 45 locales to visit in 2012. Among them:

• Panama. See the world-famous canal before its expansion, then stay for Panama City's economic boom and Frank Gehry's first design in Latin America—a natural history museum called BioMuseo.

Dukes in London is most recent to test the idea

(NEWSER) - In the new trend among high-end hotels, men need not apply. The ritzy Dukes in London is the latest to experiment with women-only rooms, notes Katy Holland at Aol . The idea is to cater to single females or women traveling in groups, and the no-boys-allowed rule applies even to the hotel staff that caters to the rooms. The Naumi in Singapore and Premier in New York City have similar offers, though a Denmark government agency recently ordered the Bella Sky in Copenhagen to stop offering women-only floors. More»

Mekong region's amazing biodiversity under threat, WWF warns

(NEWSER) - It's a region that produces a new species every other day: Carnivorous plants that can eat mice, birds, and lizards. An all-female species of lizard that reproduces by self-cloning. Brightly colored geckos bathed in orange, yellow, blue, and green markings. A noseless monkey that looks like it's wearing an Elvis wig. These are just a few of the 208 new species discovered in the Greater Mekong region last year, reports the World Wildlife Fund . More»

Officials reassure foreign travelers that country is safe to visit

(NEWSER) - How to cope with the unpleasant reality of a major drop in tourism following March's earthquake and tsunami? Free stuff for tourists! Japan will attempt to woo back wary travelers by doling out 10,000 free airline tickets next year, the Japan Tourism Agency announced this week. Officials are reassuring would-be travelers that, with the exception of the area right around the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, Japan is safe to visit. The country is expected to start dishing out the tickets in April, the Telegraph reports. More»

Pa Hae Po is being treated in Thailand

(NEWSER) - Bad: A 22-year-old male elephant stepped on a land mine in Myanmar and mangled its left foot, reports AP . Worse: He joins three other elephants being treated for the same thing at a facility in Thailand. The Friends of the Asian Elephant group has named the new patient Pa Hae Po and says he is expected to recover. He's the 14th elephant the group has treated for stepping on a land mine since it opened its hospital in 1993, all victims of Myanmar's decades-long fight with rebels. More»