Hostel in Japan: Khaosan Tokyo Original, Asakusa Japan

Due to poor planning (or no planning at all), one of the days within the week I was at Asakusa area my hostel (Sakura) didn’t have any space so I had to move just for that one night. Well, not a problem I thought, it should be easy enough to get another hostel in the hostel infested area of Asakusa. Or so I thought.
As luck would have it, most of the affordable ones (meaning cheaper than 2500 Yen – RM120) are fully booked.

After much googling and surfing between hostelworld and other sites, I’m back on hostelworld and booked the cheapest available but pretty nearby one.

Khaosan Tokyo Original (3).bmp

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Food in Nepal – Day 3, 4 – breakfast, Him Thai Restaurant, Cafereena – a multi cuisine restaurant & Chinatown Restaurant

Day 3 started at 4am with no breakfast. Thankfully I had my stash of pastries bought the night before. 😛
As you may know, the very next morning in Pokhara we went up to Sarangkot for the breathtaking sunrise. Do take a look at the pictures HERE.

Upon our return, we tucked in our breakfast at Hotel Trek-O-Tel (Pokhara) which was extravagant by Nepalese standards. Other than the usual bread, butter, milk and plain fried eggs, there were pork, stewed cucumbers, dhalls, POTATOES, chappati and thick fluffy scrambled eggs with minced vegetables.

Day 3-  Breakfast.

Day 3 - Nepal with Air Asia X - Rebeccasaw-126
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Food in Nepal – Potatoes, rice, a lot of vegetables, bananas and surprisingly good pastries

I was part of Air Asia X media trip to Nepal earlier in November 2012 for the launch of their One Child One Laptop (OLPC) program with OLE. Throughout our 6D5N trip, we were very well fed and for our safety, health and convenience we only ate at hotels and mostly established restaurants. In fact we even complained that we didn’t sample enough of authentic Nepalese fare, and thus towards the end of our 6 days trip, our kind guides arranged for more Nepalese cuisine to be incorporated into our meals.

Upon landing on the 1st day, we were whisked quickly to a nearby Airport Hotel for lunch as we were already late for our journey to Chitwan.

Kathmandu nepal - Air Asia X trip Rebecca Saw (54)

Being in a big group, meal times were mostly buffet-style. I was pretty excited as this is our first meal in Nepal and I had anticipated authentic Nepalese fare. Unfortunately it wasn’t. Most of the dishes were very Chinese don’t you think?
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Food Travelling in Southeast Asia

One of the things people enjoy most about travelling is the chance to experience a different culture and one of the easiest ways to do this is to try the local cuisine on holiday. Thomson have a good range of late deals at the moment so if you are considering a break why not be adventurous and consider a destination in Southeast Asia?

Spa Village, Tg Jara Resort - Rebecca

Travelling throughout Southeast Asia will introduce you to a kaleidoscope of cultures each with its own distinctive cuisine. The area is roughly split into nine regions which are Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Viet Nam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Thai food has become commonplace nowadays and most people may have visited a noodle bar but visiting the actual region will offer you so much more choice, from Tom Yam soup to Kaeng Ho curry. Extend your trip into Burma and you could experience a range of traditional local salads (thokes) whose main ingredients can vary from rice or glass noodles to kaffir lime or fish paste (ngapi).
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Chef Justin Quek – Sky on 57, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Chef Justin Quek’s Xiao Long Bao is somewhat of a legend. Luxuriant is not a doubt, since his comes finely minced with added foie gras and truffle within its delicate folds.

sky on 57, marina bay sands, justin quek

This rather fortunate dining opportunity came thanks to Marina Bay Sands, where at the end of May I spent a lovely weekend in its Tower 3 hotel and had the amazing opportunity to interview and set foot in the kitchens of the Celebrity chefs restaurants such as Waku Ghin, Guy Savoy and db Moderne Bistro.

I was even more fortunate to find out that Chef Justin himself was in the restaurant during our lunch. Being a busy man with restaurants in Taipei and Shanghai, he is known to be on the fly most of the time and the group of us were very lucky to catch him that day.

sky on 57, marina bay sands, justin quek-023
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