travel | Rebecca Saw

World Gourmet Festival 2012 – Fours Seasons Hotel Bangkok: Buffet Lunch

Post author:Rebecca Saw
Post published:October 4, 2012
Post category:Food Thailand Travel
Post comments:6 Comments

Other than the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore this year, I flew to Bangkok in September to catch the The 13th Annual World Gourmet Festival, hosted by Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok.

The gastronomic affair showcased a sizzling selection of award-winning international chefs including chefs from Michelin star restaurants, such as Shiqin Chen, Diego Irrera, Galvin Lim, Igor Macchia, Michael Mina, Víctor Quintillà Imbernón, Masa Shimakawa and Frédéric Vardon who prepared delicious food paired with premium wines, wine tastings, and cooking demonstrations plus the world’s finest culinary purveyors such as Jeannie Cho Lee, Jean-Francois Antony and Robert Schinkel.

Unlike the World Gourmet Summit 2012 in Singapore, the opening night for WGF 2012 BKK was rather exclusive and attended by HRH Princess Soamsawali together with the participating chefs, principal sponsors and official partners. I didn’t managed to secure a seat.
Moreover, I got to know about this a bit late and had problems scheduling my work. But I was lucky to have made it there for the last few days.

On one day, I caught Chef Michael Mina (San Francisco, USA) for his demonstration of Roasted Foie Gras with Pineapple Confit, Macadamia Crunch, Green Cardamom Glaze and Chef Frédéric Vardon (Le 39V, Paris, France) for his Argenteuil line-caught Sea Bass with Cooked and Raw asparagus. The next day I watched Robert Schinkel; an award-winning bartender and mixologist and Dilmah’s ambassador pulled tea and learnt about tea mixology.

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Chef Justin Quek – Sky on 57, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore

Post author:Rebecca Saw
Post published:October 3, 2012
Post category:Food Glamour
Post comments:6 Comments

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.

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.

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Day 3 of Malaysia Tourism Hunt 2012 – Pekan Kuala Kubu Bahru & Fraser Hill

Post author:Rebecca Saw
Post published:September 22, 2012
Post category:Food Fun Travel
Post comments:11 Comments

The last 2 days set the preliminaries right with ample briefing and networking sessions. Most of the participants were warmed up and mingling easily by the time we were to official start the 6D5N hunt. Day 3; yesterday marked the official flag off by Tourism Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ng Yen Yen. This begun our journey of 900 kilometres over highways, highlands and coastal roads to enjoy the natural beauty of Malaysia and visit famous tourist attractions such as Fraser’s Hill, Gambang in Pahang and Pulau Redang in Terengganu!

Below: Press conference prior to the flag-off.

And we are off! 🙂

* pic above credited to Tourism Malaysia FB page.
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Malaysian Tourism Hunt 2012 – 19th – 25th Sept 2012

Post author:Author RS
Post published:September 21, 2012
Post category:Fun Travel
Post comments:14 Comments

Today is the 2nd day of the Malaysia Tourism Hunt 2012 and as I sit here uploading pictures and writing in my barely conscious state, I realized how fulfilling the previous 2 days has been. The Malaysia Tourism Hunt is organized for the 1st time ever and tomorrow is the official flag-off day.

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Hat Yai Travel – Songkhla sight-seeing on the Singora Tram Tour

Post author:Rebecca Saw
Post published:September 9, 2012
Post category:Food Fun Thailand Travel
Post comments:23 Comments

Other than Bangkok and islands full of tourist, Thailand southern territory are worth exploring for its history, culture and religion. The lesser-known towns in the south are charming, and Songkhla and Phatthalung are great examples.
Songkhla has been home to Chinese Hokkien Thais and Muslim Thais for centuries. Once I found that out I felt at home, because I’m from Penang and I speak Hokkien! 🙂

Admittedly it is not Bangkok, but the massages here are just as good, prices are even cheaper and food is in abundance all the same. One might ask, “What exactly can one do in Hat Yai?“, and trust me, I ask myself the same question when I received the email from Firefly Airlines announcing their inaugural flight trip for media.

Well, besides the obvious of what Hat Yai is known for, there are some other activities to keep the wandering tourist occupied. I was in Hat Yai town for 2 days, and spent a whole day in Songkhla on the Singora Tram Tour. Songkhla is merely 30 minutes from Hat Yai and has many attractions to offer the wandering traveler.
Note: Hat Yai is a town/district in the Province of Songkhla. Songkhla occupies an area of 7,393 square kilometres, and is administratively divided into 16 districts: Mueang Songkhla, Ranot, Krasae Sin, Sathing Phra, Singhanakhon, Khuan Niang, Rattaphum, Bang Klam, Hat Yai, Na Mom, Chana, Thepha, Na Thawi, Saba Yoi, Sadao, and Khlong Hoi Khong.

For a start, I would suggest the Singora Tram Tour. It’s FREE and it takes you to the mains areas of Songkhla and shows you the essential parts of Songkhla province. This rather educational tour is safe and convenient too!

The usual Singora Tram Tour is about an hour or 2. However our tour that day extended much longer due to special arrangements. Anyhow, this post serves to give you some insights of where/what/when of Songkhla. 🙂
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Europe 2012: Leaving Paris to Amsterdam: The flight with KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines

Post author:Rebecca Saw
Post published:September 5, 2012
Post category:Travel
Post comments:23 Comments

From my last post about Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, I’m back barely 30 hours later to catch my flight to Amsterdam. I took the same shuttle to the airport and there were many confusion on heading to Terminal 1 or Terminal 2.

I was lucky that I headed out very early. The hotel shuttle stops at several hotels and at each hotel, and the passengers are never quite sure where to go. It’s the airport that they are heading to yes, but they will still end up asking the driver “terminal 1? Terminal 2? I’m going to Belgium/Norway/Amsterdam/China. Which terminal should I go to?”
More often than not, the driver themselves do not know which terminal. So the confused passenger will stand at the door and not know whether to go on the shuttle or otherwise, and the driver will wait impatiently for him/her to make up his mind.

Frankly I wish these travelers would do their research beforehand. Perhaps the CDG airport could help by erecting a huge FAQs board, have more information counters or give out flyers IN ENGLISH – “All about Paris Charles de Gaulle airport“. Or maybe there’s one that I’m not aware of?

Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport - rebeccasaw (7)

It gets worst at the Terminals. The shuttle will first arrive at Terminal 1 followed by Terminal 2. Everyone on the shuttle will ask the driver, “My flight is to XXX, should I get down here or Terminal 2?”. Then a whole long strings of questions and more delays as every passenger stood confused on whether to exit or not.

Here I would like to do my part (some sort as a guide to my readers & friends) by sharing what I know and experienced while I was at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport.

If you are flying with KLM-Royal Dutch Airlines or Air France, just go to Terminal 2.

Terminal 2 is the dedicated KLM – Air France hub. That means it’s a dedicated KLM-Air France terminal for ease of transfer between these airlines especially for connecting flights.

Now that we got that sorted, here’s my experience at the Paris CDG airport – departure. If you compare it to my previous post of when I first arrived HERE, you will realize there’s a huge difference!
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Royal Selangor Visitor Centre – The Foundry – make your own pewter accessories!

Post author:Rebecca Saw
Post published:August 31, 2012
Post category:Fun Travel
Post comments:14 Comments

I blog about food, I blog about my experiences – be it an event, a trip or even concerts; and at times, I blog about cars and gadgets too.
I love to experience as many things as possible in life; as long as it’s legal and it’s something that caught my interest, why not right? I’ll do it! 🙂

When I got an invite for a day at the Royal Selangor Visitor Centre, I was baffled. Ermm, go and see pewter exhibits? Hhmmm…

BELOW: Though I admit this rather huge exhibit is interesting! 😀

Further reading revealed that we are scheduled to check out the new highlight of Royal Selangor Visitor Centre – an experiential workshop called The Foundry.

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FLY via Subang to Hat Yai with Firefly Airlines!

Post author:Rebecca Saw
Post published:August 18, 2012
Post category:Food Thailand Travel
Post comments:8 Comments

Many thanks to Firefly Airlines again I’m in Thailand, Hatyai for a 3D2N break! 🙂

The last I’ve been to Hatyai was nearly a decade back, and my memories of the province are vague at best. I do remember cheap delicious food and crazy shopping sessions though!
Today, 17th August 2012, Firefly commenced its 4 weekly services between Subang, KL and Hat Yat in the southern Gulf Coast of Thailand. Its inaugural flight FY3614, of which I was flying in, took off with almost 100% passenger load!

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