For immediate release

MILTON,VT - December 20, 2007 - Adirondack Towels and Scrubs, a national supplier to the hospitality industry, announces their selection of the most outrageous travel stories of fall 2007.

Adirondack Towels and Scrubs keeps their customers up to date on important industry developments with daily news links posted on their web site's home page as well as weekly newsletters sent via email. Every 3 months the company issues their most outrageous travel stories for the previous quarter.

This quarter's most outrageous travels stories are:

Nepal Upset Over Mt. Everest Nudity
Authorities in Nepal said in September they are fed up with nudity on Mount Everest and are taking measures to put an end to "disrespectful" stunts on the world's highest peak. "People taking their clothes off and on -- these kind of things we are trying to stop," said Ang Tsering Sherpa, the head of Nepal's official mountaineering body which issues climbing permits. Last year, a local climber sparked outrage after he claimed the world's highest display of nudity when he stripped and stood naked for several minutes on the 29,198 foot summit. Earlier this year a Dutchman attempted to set a record by being the first to scale the peak wearing only shorts. Mount Everest frequently attracts record-setters, including the oldest climber (71 years old), the youngest climber (15 years old), the first climber with one foot and the first blind climber. In 2005, a Nepali couple became the first to exchanged wedding vows on the summit. The joke among many Nepali mountaineers is that the only record left is giving birth at the summit. "It's disrespectful -- the mountains are sacred, they are part of our religion," says the president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association. "So if people want to set a world record, they have to inform us first."
 
Orangutan Undresses Female Tourist
A Malaysian official says an orangutan at a wildlife sanctuary mugged a French tourist for her backpack, leaving the woman bruised and scratched. Wilfred Landong, chief park warden of Malaysia's Sarawak state, says Odile Nordon, 24, was taking photographs of Delima, a female orangutan at Malaysia's Semenggoh Wildlife Centre, on September 23 when the animal grabbed at her backpack. They fought briefly over the bag. Nordon said the orangutan then "took my shoes and socks off, and then tried to take off my trousers. As he couldn't with his hands only, he tried with his teeth and that's when I got bitten. As soon as he got my trousers he went away." Landong says Nordon had scratches and bruises on her knees and thighs. Park rangers gave the woman medical treatment. Nordon, who managed to keep her backpack, says she thought orangutans were friendly, cuddly creatures. Landong said the park considered what happened to be an accident, saying, "We are not faulting anyone. But we remind tourists that they should not go too near the orangutans." Orangutans are native to the forests of Malaysia and Indonesia, and the wildlife centre has several signs warning visitors to walk away if orangutans approach them because the animals tend to grab at humans and objects.
 
38 Cats Discovered in Hotel Room
On October 10, the manager at a Motel 6 on Hilton Head Island discovered that one of his guests was sharing her room with 38 cats. The 57 year old woman apparently had been caring for the animals in the 12 by 25 foot room for several months. The water-damaged carpet was stained with urine, two chairs had been scratched by the pets, there were holes in the wall and a door was broken from its hinges. Total damage to the room was estimated to be about $2,000. The woman who rented the room was asked to move out two months before, according to the Sheriff's report. She had also received two written notices directing her to leave. The County Animal Control unit has seized the cats so they could be evaluated by a veterinarian, an action that reportedly devastated the woman more than the eviction. According to news accounts, she threatened suicide if she could not have her pets back. She was voluntarily taken to Hilton Head Regional Medical Center for mental evaluation. Motel 6 policy allows one "well-behaved" pet per room.
 
Hotel Claims World’s Tallest Sandwich
A beachside hotel in Kerala, India, celebrated World Food Day on October 16 in style. They constructed a 50 foot tall sandwich and set a new world’s record. The previous record was set three years ago when O’Brien’s Irish Sandwich Bar in Cork, Ireland, made a sandwich that was 40 feet tall. Forty-two employees of the Uday Samudra Leisure Resort spent 10 hours making the sandwich. Organizers planned to distribute it to people who came to watch the event, but it started to rain and it was almost 10 p.m. by the time the sandwich was ready. Raja Gopal Iyer, the corporate director of the resort, said, 'By the time everything was over it was too late and by then everyone had their dinner. So we decided to distribute it to a few pig farms.' The record breaking sandwich was composed of 350 slices of bread, each measuring 2.5 feet square, 100 pounds of cucumber and tomatoes, 55 pound of fish, 165 pounds of lettuce leaves, 77 pounds of onions, 330 pounds of butter, and 88 pounds of boneless chicken, sausage, ham, apple and mayonnaise sauce.
 
Is Guest Room 109 Jinxed?
The staff at the Hotel Sheela in Lucknow, India, believe room 109 is jinxed, maybe even haunted. They say that every unsavory incident at the hotel takes place in that room. The local police say when they receive calls of trouble from the hotel, they know it will involve room 109. They’ve had to make several trips there in the last year because of robberies or guest scuffles. The worst incident happened on October 14 when the hotel staff noticed a strong stench coming from the room. The hotel manager called the police who entered the room and found a man’s body hanging from the ceiling fan, an apparent suicide. The hotel has now closed room 109 to visitors. They have performed "pujas" (religious rituals) in the room in the past, but to no avail. Now they are considering changing the room number or converting it into a storage area. Lucknow is a city of about 2.5 million, and it is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in northern India.
 
Sioux City Embraces SUX
City leaders in Sioux City, Iowa, have had a change of heart about the unflattering three-letter identifier for Sioux Gateway Airport -- SUX. When the Federal Aviation Administration steadfastly refused to change the code, airport board member Dave Bernstein came up with a marketing campaign that features T-shirts and caps with the slogan, "FLY SUX." It also forms the UCI for the airport's redesigned Web site -- www.flysux.com. Bernstein says it was an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive. There's little known about the origins of Sioux Gateway's three-letter code, but the city's dissatisfaction is well documented. In 1988, city leaders petitioned the FAA to change it. They were given five options - GWU, GYO, GYT, SGV and GAY. At that time, airport trustees opted to stay with SUX. The city tried for a change again in 2002, but the FAA denied the request.
 
Barmaid in Trouble for Risqué Performances
An Australian barmaid who entertained customers by crushing beer cans between her bare breasts and hanging spoons from her nipples was fined in October. Police in Western Australia said Luana De Favari, 31, admitted to exposing her breasts twice to patrons at the Premier Hotel in Pinjarra, south of the state capital of Perth. She was fined $900 dollars after pleading guilty to two breaches of the Liquor Control Act. Off duty barmaid Tracey Leslie, 43, was also fined $500 for helping hang spoons from De Favari's nipples. The hotel manager was fined $900 for failing to stop the pair. Police say a mobile phone video was obtained that showed De Faveri remove her top, rub ice on her nipples and attempt to hang spoons off her breasts on the night of June 7. She was also observed crushing a can between her buttocks. “They (the police) told me I was attracting too much attention to my sexuality because I was crushing cans with my breasts," Faveri, an Italian, said in an interview. "I can't believe it. I think it's a farce." David Parkinson of the Peel Police District says, "It sends a clear message to all licensees in Peel that we will not tolerate this type of behavior in our licensed premises."
 
Passengers Refuse to Fly on Damaged Jet
Some passengers at London’s Heathrow airport became upset and refused to fly on a flight in November when the pilot wanted to takeoff with part of the plane's wing missing. The plane, belonging to SriLankan Airlines, had part of its left wing torn off a day earlier when it collided with another jumbo jet on a runway at the airport. A five-foot section of the wing was ripped off. Passengers on the flight were sent to London hotels at the airline’s expense, and reportedly were told the next day's flight would be made with a different airplane. But passengers arrived the next day to find the same Airbus A340 waiting to make the flight, with the piece of the wing still missing. Several passengers became concerned and demanded to be released from the flight. A minor revolt ensued after the pilot insisted that the broken wing did not pose a safety risk. According to SriLankan Airlines, the plane's wing tip's purpose was simply for aerodynamic purposes and to help minimize fuel costs. Flying without it, they said, posed no danger. It took a couple hours for airline personnel to remove luggage for seven passengers who refused to remain on the flight. The British Airlines Boeing 747 that the Sri Lankan jet clipped on the runway was immediately grounded.

Teen Arrested for Virtual Hotel Theft
You can certainly be arrested for stealing furniture from a real hotel room, but what about stealing from a virtual (online) hotel? In early November, Dutch police arrested a 17 year old man on suspicion of stealing $5,800 worth of furniture from the virtual Habbo Hotel. Habbo Hotel is an online teen hang-out with 31 communities worldwide. Police say the suspect allegedly hacked the accounts of other Habbo community members and then "took their furniture and brought it to his own room". Four other 15 year olds were also questioned about the break-in, and police say they will be charged with "hacking and burglary". The Habbo virtual software allows guests to book into the hotel and furnish their rooms with furniture and fixtures. Guests purchase Habbo Credits with real money to create their own characters, decorate their rooms and play online games. The owner of Habbo Hotel, Finnish Internet company Sulake, says 80 million users have registered on their sites.
 
Chinese Woman Opens “Death Hotel”
A woman in the town of Lishui in Jiangsu province, China, has opened a mausoleum-themed inn to let people experience the feeling of death. The building that Jiao Meige set up is shaped like a Chinese mausoleum, and the beds are in the shapes of coffins. “I rented this piece of land to put a farm there, but because there are many old graves in the field, no one wants to work here,” she says. Jiao said the idea for the Mausoleum Inn came to her in a flash. “Since there are so many graves, why don’t I give people a chance to experience death?” she asked. “There are no services at night, and the guests can go nowhere, since outside is just a vast graveyard.” Jiao says visitors with heart problems will not be accepted, and anyone with a possible mental illness must be accompanied by healthy companions. Lishui province is located on China’s east coast. The population of Lishui is about 174,000.
 
Hotel Owner Tells Youngsters to Get Out
The owner of the Manly Wharf Hotel in Sydney, Australia, started refusing entry to patrons under the age of 25 in November after a series of violent attacks. The incidents included fighting, smashing glasses, breaking bar equipment and generally creating disturbances. Owner Ben May says hotel security has been instructed to exclude young adults on Sundays after the violent incidents involving patrons aged 18 to 21. Hotel employees and a number of patrons confirmed the restrictions have been extended to anyone who looks younger than 25. One excluded patron said, "How bloody ridiculous. I'm 24 and I've never been denied entry before and I wasn't even drinking.'' May admits the policy is unfair for well-behaved patrons, but said the ban was necessary in light of recent violence. "There have probably been several good kids who are suffering because of the actions of a few, but we have spent too many years targeting the crowd we've got and I'm not prepared to lose them. They were smashing glasses, fighting, smashing toilets, they had no respect for other patrons. We've had enough. We did have a harsh blitz, we didn't look at any IDs - we did it based on appearance. There wasn't a strict age policy, it was a type of youth that has just left school that we weren't letting in.”
 
737 Loses Piece of Wing During Flight
An Indonesian jet managed to land safely on November 21 after a 7 foot section of its wing broke off in flight. A spokesman for Indonesia's Batavia Air said none of the 138 passengers and six crew members on the Boeing 737 jet were hurt during the incident. The piece of the wing fell off about 15 minutes after the plane left the international airport in Jakarta. The plane was flying to Pontianak on Borneo Island. One news account said the piece of wing hit a house not far from the airport. Batavia Airways is one of scores of cheap airlines that have appeared in Indonesia in recent years, adding to concerns about the safety of flying in the Southeast Asian country. Indonesia suffered a series of deadly accidents earlier in 2007, including a plane crash in January that killed 102 people. Experts say the industry is plagued by poor maintenance, rule-bending and a shortage of trained professionals. As a result of the recent accidents, the European Union blacklisted all of Indonesia's airlines, and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the nation's rating to its lowest category.
 
Chinese Tourists Riot on Macau Beach
Riot police were called December 4 to subdue dozens of angry Chinese tourists who accused tour guides of taking them to too many shops in the gambling city of Macau. It was the latest in a series of incidents arising from tour guides' practice of taking commissions from shops for sales to their groups. According to various reports, about 120 tourists from China's Hebei province complained to their tour guides that they wanted to see historical sites, not shops. The guides then took the tourists to one of Macau’s main beaches, but did not allow them to retrieve warmer clothing from the bus when the wind picked up. A scuffle broke out and police were called, but they were unable to break up the fight. Riot police, armed with shields and batons, were then called in, but they found themselves confronted by dozens of irate tourists. Police tried to beat back the angry crowd with their batons. "Some tourists refused to let some of our colleagues go and attempted to use violence," one officer said. The dispute ended about 10 p.m. when government officials were called in to mediate and the tourists agreed to go back to their hotels. The Macau government's tourist office issued a statement the next morning saying it was aware of the dispute, but considered it to be a one-time situation. Macau has become a key tourist destination in recent years as several big Las Vegas names like Sheldon Adelson and Steve Wynn have tried to develop the retail and casino industry. Macau is the only place in China where gambling is legal.
 
Cheetah Escape Baffles Zoo Officials
Officials at the St. Louis Zoo were stumped on November 19 when a one year old cheetah cub escaped from its exhibit. According to zoo staff, the cheetah must have climb over a wall at least 10 foot high before arriving at a rocky area that serves as a separator between people and animals at the River's Edge exhibit. The female cheetah named Zuri weighs 40 to 45 pounds. She was one of four cubs born on November 10, 2006. Jack Grisham, vice president of the zoo's animal collection, expressed his confusion as to how the cub managed to scale the wall. “We have no idea how the cat got up there," he said. "We have a million theories. It could have been the cats playing with one another and it made the lucky jump - or unlucky jump." Grisham said the situation began when a visitor notified a zoo worker of the cheetah's escape. Officials quickly evacuated the area. The cheetah made no violent moves as veterinarians attempted to capture and tranquilize it. Despite this, Grisham said, "any wild animal could be a danger to the public. These animals are not pets." The animal was tranquilized 27 minutes after it escaped, about 30 feet away from the exhibit.