MALAYSIA Kuala Lumpur Rudinara Kuala Lumpur's famed cultural center, which spans three acres, offers visitors the opportunity to discover the essence of traditional religious and daily lifestyles, from making "net bread," or roti jale, on a traditional wooden stove to tapping rubber to a call to prayer time from the nearby mosque.
Emphasizing Malay and Muslim heritage, Rudinara was built entirely by hand over the course of six years.
* Capacity: 100
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Dato' Dr. Haji Rudin or Datin Munira Salinger, Phone: (60) 3 825 2700 www.smatcom.com/rudara
Penang Penang Cultural Theme Park For product launches, theme dinners, or teambuilding, the incentive-oriented Penang Cultural Theme Park has an on-call staff of 120 music and crafts people. Whether your Malaysian vision runs to a dining extravaganza like a Head Hunters' Party or Royal Feast, or your teambuilding needs include such local touches as batik painting contests, bamboo dances or dragon boat races, the PCC event managers can produce an event in the park's traditional or tropical settings that faithfully recreates the Malay Chinese and Indian culture.
* Capacity: 300 to 500
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Roslan Kassim, Phone: (60-4) 885 1175; Fax:(60) 4 885 1910
THAILAND Bangkok Jim Thompson House In 1998, more than 110,000 people visited the Jim Thompson House, one of Bangkok's premier sites. The legendary entrepreneur's home and museum now tells the amazing story behind Thailand's historic silk trade, with banquet facilities, tea room, and outdoor terrace. For private groups, cocktail parties and dinners feature traditional Thai entertainment.
* Capacity: 100
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Ms. Sumalee Tangjitsin, Phone: (662) 612-3741; Fax: (662) 612-3741
Phuket Phuket Fantasea Thailand's ultimate theme park, Phuket Fantasea at Kamala Beach, uses ultra-high-tech to create special effects and fantastic illusions for shows with hundreds of performers and dancers. One of the highlights: a large troupe of dancing elephants. International banquet facilities feature Thai and international cuisine.
* Capacity: 4,000-plus
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Phone: (076) 271-222; Fax: (076) 271-333 e-mail: info@phuket-fantasea.com
JAPAN Tokyo Edo Tokyo Museum This museum recreates the area's cultural and industrial development with 55 structural models. It is available for parties provided by the Tokyo Metro Government. Permits are required.
* Capacity: 100-person minimum
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Walter F. Holtsmaster, Managing Director, International Destinations Inc., Phone: (202) 797-1222; Fax: (202) 265-5930
Kyoto Miho Museum Architect I.M. Pei's vision for the museum is first experienced as visitors enter a mountain tunnel and cross a bridge spanning a deep ravine. Gradually, natural wonders give way to the museum's geometric forms.
The museum's collection encompasses Japanese art and tea ceremonial objects, along with international treasures from Egypt, Western and Southern Asia, Greece, Rome, and the Islamic world.
* Location: 45 minutes outside Kyoto
* Capacity: 100-person minimum
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Mr. Sata, Public Relations Dept., Phone: (81) 748 82 3411; Fax: (81) 748 82 3414
KOREA Seoul Kwanmunsa Temple On the slope of Mount Umyonsan in southern Seoul, this Buddhist sanctuary features a spectacular collection of 3,374 jade statues. Meeting space is available on seven stories and four basement floors, with simultaneous interpretation facilities, a conference room for 29, and a 260-seat hall. A dining room accommodates 600-plus, and an indoor garage parks 300 cars.
* Capacity: 1,500
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Tae-Hyung Kim or Si-Hyun Park, Phone: (82) 2 3460-5300; Fax: (82) 2 3460-5200
* jpri44@ netsgo.com
MACAU Taipa House Museum Portuguese governors, British taipans, and Chinese mandarins all made their unique contributions to the evolving Macanese culture. The Taipa House Museum features furnishings and decor from Macau's established families, who combined the cultural traditions, cuisines, and languages of Portugal and China while retaining their own cultural identities.
The museum's time period focuses on Macau in the early 20th century, when Hong Kong became the area's dominant city. WWI barely touched the region, but civil strife in China during and after the 1911 revolution gave refuge to many Chinese and Europeans. The Taipa House Museum tells their stories and shows how they shaped today's Macau.
* Capacity: Approx. 150
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Peggy Peterka, c/o Macau Government Tourist Office, Phone: (877) 822-2800; Fax: (310) 338-0807)
CHINA Hong Kong China Club of Hong Kong This exclusive, members-only private club is located on the top three floors of the old Bank of China building in the heart of Hong Kong's central business district.
Tradition-laden styling in the main dining room features a high ceiling, art deco chandeliers, old Hong Kong-style electric fans, Chinese teahouse-style antique furniture, and walls half-paneled in oak and mahogany and hung with original works of art from China's most famous artists. The historic rooftop balcony features one of Hong Kong's most spectacular views.
* Capacity: 120
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Bob Franklin, Net World, Phone: (800) 992-3411; Fax: (973) 884-1711 www.networldinc.com
Shanghai Shanghai Stock Exchange Club With a dramatic view of the world-famous Bund, Asia's impressive avenue that curves along the Huangpu River, the Shanghai Stock Exchange Club is located on the top floor of the 27-story Shanghai Stock Exchange building.
The club brings to life a strong sense of history with unique 1930s motifs. This venue is one of the most popular for meetings and incentives in the Pudong area.
* Capacity: 160 to 200 for cocktail party, 280 for buffet banquet, 150 for Chinese banquet
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Bob Franklin, Net World, Phone: (800) 992-3411; Fax: (973) 884-1711
SINGAPORE Jurong Bird Park One of Asia Pacific's largest and most impressive "wild sites," with 8,000 birds from 600 species, Jurong Bird Park has recently opened The Lodge on Flamingo Lake, an outdoor-themed group dining experience. Bird songs heard in a forest and waterfall atmosphere set the mood in Songbird Terrace, which is an ideal pre-function, coffee break, or cocktail venue. The Lodge offers a dramatic view of beautifully landscaped Flamingo Lake for cocktails, dinner, breakfast, or pre-function. Other options include Treetops and The Lakeview Room.
* Capacity: 184 seating in the Lodge, 140 seating in Songbird Terrace, up to 550 for cocktails in Lakeview Room
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Ms. Anita Sharma, Phone: (65) 661 7825; Fax: (65) 261 1869
INDONESIA Bali Mengwi Temple (Taman Ayun Temple) Surrounded by water, the gardens of Taman Ayun were once used by descendants of the royal family of Mengwi in ancestor worship. With shrines and pagodas in the royal temple and a large shed in the outer courts, the venue works well for medium-size groups.
Visitors approach the palace grounds in candlelight, where they enjoy traditional wayang kulit (shadow puppetry) and gamelan orchestra performances. Dinner is the famed multicourse Rijstaffel.
* Capacity: 500
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Mrs. Jero Made Puspa, Phone: (62) 361 264-379
PHILIPPINES Manila Intramuros Intramuros is a district replete with every kind of facility a meeting planner might need--from convention centers to a golf course, to theaters, to historic walled sites--even gardens and ancient churches. "Baluarte de San Diego Gardens," the fascinating 16th-century ruins of Fort Nuestra Sra. De Gula, which are reached through a spiral stone stairway, make the bulwarks setting an exquisite party site. For receptions, exhibits, seminars, or stage presentations, Plaza San Luis Complex is one of the Intramuros Administration's cultural/commercial complexes consisting of nine houses replicating Filipino-Hispanic architecture from the 17th and 18th centuries.
* Capacity: Teatrillo in Plaza San Luis Complex: 200 for sit-down receptions, 300 for theatrical presentations
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Mrs. Elena Baluyot, Phone: (63) 2 527 3155; Fax: (63) 2 527 5642
TAIWAN Yuan Shan Clubs of Taipei and Kaohsiung Understand how the Taiwanese really do business at clubs designed to handle a full range of business meetings and seminars. Taipei Club features traditional palace-style architecture. Both locations offer accommodations at the Grand Hotel, which offers banquet rooms, western-style dining, bar, swimming pool, membership lounge, gymnasium, sauna, tennis courts, and bowling alley.
* Capacity: 50
* Availability: Year-round
* Contact: Ms. Judy Chung,
* Phone: 2-2888-8888; Fax: 2-2885-8517 e-mail: pt@grandhotel.org