When we pay more, the standards are elevated accordingly. Needless to say we begin to expect more, and with so many hotels to pick from, what motivates the guests to repetitively return to a particular hotel?

For me it could be the food (in-house restaurants or the breakfast spread), the service, the amenities or simply, the comfort of my room.

Pullman Bangkok Hotel G on Silom Road prides itself as a “lifestyle hotel”. Lifestyle Hotel is a popular term now, essentially to describe intimate, usually luxurious or unique hotel environment.
These hotels differentiate themselves from the larger cookie-cutter chain of branded hotels by providing personalized accommodation and services/facilities. The term “boutique hotel” or “design hotel” are loosely used here too.

I’m all for unique experiences. Fresh feel, quirky decor, modern art, vibrant colours. These are some of the elements I realized that a hotel would focus on to set themselves apart. For Pullman Bangkok Hotel G, it exudes modernity; vibrant but with muted style and urban funk.

Upon entry, I was torn between my left and my right. On my left was a long top with Macbook Airs and a very bar-like setting. “Whoa, Mac Air? Is that for guests’ use” – was the first thing that popped into my mind. On my right is an urban chic looking lounge and a fat structure of a sumo wrestler.

The lobby is busy busy busy. It was obviously a popular hotel. The hospitality begin the moment my cab drove up its entrance. My luggage was retrieved from the boot and my door opened to a warm greeting of “Sawadee-ka”.

I smiled in relief (I’m always glad to reach my hotel after a flight) and after some argument with the cab driver who refused to give a receipt and my change I finally stood at the reception to be checked-in.
Check-in was swift and sweet (as how all check-ins should be) and we were left on our own to locate our room. I was surprised that my luggage was not sent to the room yet and though it would have been nice to be escorted to the room, I guess I shouldn’t expect that in every hotel.

All that was forgotten the moment the lift doors opened. I was held spellbound by the large display screen inside. A lover of dance myself, I was transfixed by the dancers’ fluid motions and the beauty of the dance displayed.
The ascent to the 23rd floor was barely felt.

It might be a small feature, but we don’t see that in every hotel so for me it was something worthy of mention. Besides, what a novel idea (instead of still pictures) to keep guests preoccupied while they travel the boring ascent/descent from room to lobby or vice versa.

Mesmerizing right? I stood and kept the lift doors open while I took these shoots with my Sony NEX 3N. The camera captured the moving dancers pretty well!

On the 23rd floor I was greeted with clean decor and warm lights at the corridors. But my room elicited another gasp of delight as soon as the door was flung open.

Beautiful.

Gorgeous, minimal and clean white all around. A sole rug on the ground, no carpets and wooden floor. My deluxe room is one of the 308 deluxe available from the 18th – 26th floor.
It 34sqm in size and with the minimal furnishing it gave us so much space to move around. The overall decor is minimalist with the monotony only broken with a black and white painting in the room.

Floor to ceiling windows allows plenty of light into the room, something which I love! For those who shy from the sun, just pull the blackouts and curtains over the windows and the room would be in total darkness.

The view is better at night when the city is lighted up since this hotel is located in the city centre.

An ipod and iphone docking station sits conveniently on the workdesk. A smart feature of this desk includes power sockets at one side of the desk. A not-so smart thing is that the international sockets were so near to each other that only 1 socket at be used at any one time due to the size of the power point.
Even a small power plug, once plugged into one of the sockets would overlap to the other power point rendering it useless.

A traveler with many gadgets, I went looking for more powerpoints immediately. Powerpoints beside the bed are my favourite as that allows me to plug in my laptop/iPhone to use while I relax on the bed at the same time.
I discovered the powerpoints located on each side of the lone bedside table (also international so there wasn’t a need for an adapter) so that was another nifty feature of the room that I like.
In addition to that I appreciate the control console with clearly labeled functions so I didn’t have to press all buttons while trying to figure out which button is for which light.

A chaise chair beside the floor to ceiling window encourages guest to sit back and enjoy the Bangkok city view while sipping a cuppa.  Complimentary coffee and tea making facilities are available, but that’s given for any hotel of this standard. A large TV sits facing the beds. I hate any form of noise when I’m in my room so it was never switched on. In fact I don’t think I ever switched on the TV in any of my hotel stays.

The beds are comfortable enough and I appreciate the extra pillow provided at the top of the wardrobe. I didn’t know there was a pillow menu (why is it that most hotels doesn’t make it known?) else I would have asked for firmer pillows. Instead I had to suffer from mild neckache for the entire duration of my stay. At home, I bought special head pillows since I need firmer support for my head.

I ran my eyes over the rest of the area. Ah, a complimentary condom? Not bad. We are in Thailand after all. (I can’t find that picture I took of the condom!)

A full bar plus complimentary coffee and tea sachets.

Bathrobes. Though why only one was provided while there were 2 bedroom slippers is beyond me.

Safe. Hair dryer. Shoe mitt and a sewing kit. Uncommon place for a sewing kit but well at least it was provided.

I didn’t bring my toothbrush as I had expected a hotel of this level to provide full amenities. Apparently not. Not a problem. Things are cheap in Thailand and 7-11 are everywhere.

The bathroom is spacious for a deluxe, with a separate bathtub and shower room. Bathroom amenities are Roger & Gallet (I’m not familiar with this brand) and all 3 types of towels are provided – face, hand and bath towels.

Complimentary WIFI is available throughout the hotel and the room, a must for me.

Thanks to DIAsiaTourism and Pullman Bangkok Hotel G for the comfortable stay. Pullman Bangkok Hotel G is located on Silom Road and it was convenient for me to get to the conference venue as well as to the central shopping district since the BTS station (Chong Nongsi) is a mere 5 mins walk away.

Rates differs but expect to pay from USD122 per night for the deluxe room. Higher rates expected for the executive and suites, naturally. I’ll be showing the other facilities of the hotel as well as the breakfast spread in a separate post.

DIRECTIONS TO HOTEL:
From Suvarnabhumi International Airport: 35km (45 mins drive)
Don Muang Airport: 37 km (45 mins drive)

PULLMAN BANGKOK HOTEL G
188 Silom Road, Bangkok Thailand 10500
t. +66 (0) 2238 1991 e. h3616@accor.com www.pullmanbangkokhotelG.com

Nearest BTS: Chong Nongsi (5 mins walk)

AirAsia threw an unforgettable party for us just last week. Besides meeting and making new friends; both bloggers & the high-spirited Air Asia team, the opportunity to experience flight simulation, explore the Air Asia Academy and gaining valuable insights of the aviation world was priceless. I bet most of you will never get to experience that in your life!

All in all, time well spent and fabulous fun.
Bloggers from Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Malaysia gathered, took part in challenges in teams, answered trivia questions and some lucky ones walked away with flight tickets to some AirAsia as well as Air Asia X destinations.
As usual, moi never had much luck with such luck-based schemes and went home empty handed. Oh wait, I did “win” something from Air Asia before, purely based on luck, and that was the most memorable event of 2012!
I wish Dato Tony was around that day so I could give him a hug & thank him in person!

I finally landed in Japan soil last year and had a great time. You can read more about my Japan adventures on my Travel Page. The kind people at AAX upgraded me to the Premium Seats and that, that was THE WAY to travel on AAX.
Utmost comfort for a very reasonable price!

Yes, I do have great memories with the AAX team (Kathmandu, Shanghai and most recently Busan in Korea) and I wish of the same with the AA team.

Being around the brand Air Asia always bought back memories of travel. I go to Singapore once a month and my flight is always RM100 or less (only hand-carry) one-way. That totally beats sitting in a bus for 5 hours.
During the launch of Your Singapore Live, there were 27,000 free seats to Singapore being given away. So yes, if you keep your eyes peeled and diligent check AirAsia.com, cheap travel on Air Asia is totally possible!

As some of you may know, I just came back from Bangkok after a bloggers’ and social media conference with DIAsiaTourism (Digital Innovation Asia). The conference spoke of blogging, social media and SoLoMo – social, local, mobile.
I met the PATA CEO Martin Craig who in one of his address spoke highly of Dato Tony and his contributions to the travel industry.

*Picture credit to DIAsiaTourism. And yes that’s PATA CEO Martin Craig. 

We can’t deny that the tourism industry is thriving. A lot of us travel, a lot of us love traveling. We board our flights and we listen to the captain speak. But has anyone actually seen the cockpit of an Airbus?

Well for some of us, we sat in one!

And “took off and landed a plane” too!

The flight simulators are in operation 24 hours a day. Here at the Air Asia Academy, these state of the art machines are even rented out for use to other airlines for their crew’s practice sessions.

I watched Star Trek just the week before and I felt as if I was on the film set as I walked pass these “space pods”. They do look canggih (futuristic) don’t they?

The moment it was our turn to step inside, being the consummate bloggers that we are, we couldn’t stop snapping away. Everything is high-sci and multi-faceted sophistication. Best of all, it’s REAL!

I don’t quite remember his name but I saw him (the captain) on Air Asia Travel 360 magazine on my flight back from BKK. I think it’s the same guy?

You can read his article here: http://www.airasia.com/travel3sixty/winds-beneath-your-wings/3. He has logged a total of more than 25,500 flying hours and prior to being a Simulator Flight Instructor with Air Asia X, he is a former AirAsia Airbus A320 and AirAsia X A330/A340 pilot who also used to fly the Boeing 777.

It was a 30 minutes session and we were the pilots responsible to take off and land the plane. The “journey” begun from LCCT (duh, where else) and we flew pass well, anywhere we could think of. It was Paris then suddenly Penang and then we were in Aussie skies.
It’s anywhere you want yourself to be! LOL.

I haven’t expected such a surreal experience. We can literally feel the “movement” of the plane as we took the runway, the torque as we scaled to the skies and the view, one could easily mistaken all of it to be REAL.

As expected we poked and pressed on most of the knobs, buttons and controls on the “dashboard”.

And yes, it is so REAL that one could get airsick too. *gulps*.

All too soon it was time to land. And thankfully we didn’t crash the plane.

Now I know what the pilot sees/look out for when he/she wanted to land on a particular runway. Enlightening indeed! I felt smarter already.

I stumbled out of the cockpit before I puke all over the controls and we assembled our team to our next challenge. And what do you know, we were supposed to be a plane next!

At this challenge we learnt that there is an Indonesian (Balinese to be exact) Hot Meal named after the local celebrity Farah Quinn whom I met during the press conference of The Big Break, an AFC channel production.
It’s called Farah Quinn’s Nasi Jinggo. Geez, I’m interested to taste it now!

At another challenge we learned the signals and technicalities of maneuvering the aircraft to a stop upon landing. Our team’s aircraft must have crashed into the hangers on the runway multiple times if it was a real exercise. -_-

One of the best challenge of the day was mimicking the “special team” that comes on board AA flights only if the flight is deemed in need of serious entertainment.

This team makes the usual “I’ll just ignore and look at my phone/book” safety procedure session fun. They dance, sing and does crazy antics as they bring the passengers through the entire exercise. There was even background music to accompany the whole act!

They were crazy, but I think our team did a better job!

There were food, prizes and goody bags at the end of the day. Thank you Air Asia for the experience. You guys do know how to throw a party!

Good job team mates! What a day it was yeah?

Yes, we had fun. Was it obvious? :P

Note: Pictures without my watermark are courtesy of Air Asia Facebook album. 

For the uninitiated, Digital Innovation Asia (DIA) is a new initiative promoting excellence and knowledge sharing when it comes to leveraging digital, social, and mobile in the travel and tourism industry to promote the complete Asian Visitor Economy.
Basically we gather and discuss about digital and tourism, which in this time of the century would involve social media platforms, bloggers and mobile.

The first day saw discussions on creative supplier – blogger relationships as well as effective calculation of ROI from blogger engagements, as well as ways of creating effective bloggers campaigns, topics of which I’m pretty familiar with; considering that I’m both a full time blogger as well as the founder of a blog advertising agency.
I find inputs from the international travel bloggers enlightening, and seasoned “supplier” like Tourism Authority of Thailand does seem to have engaged bloggers effectively for their “Amazing Thailand” campaign, which has seen good traction both online and offline.

1st session: Google Thailand Amy Kunrojpanya & panelist of international bloggers discussing abt Bridging expectations between bloggers and travel suppliers & how to form creative supplier-blogger relationships.

2nd session: Mr Tanes Petsuwan, Director – Europe, Africa, Middle East Market Division, TAT sharing on how Tourism Authority of Thailand runs one of its media trips. For Thailand, he breaks it down to 6 key themes; Thai food, Thai martial arts (both as sports and as art), Thai life (culture), Thai elephants (nature & wildlife), Thai wellness (massages, arts, hospitality).

4 networking sessions per day (3 breaks and a lunch) ensured plenty of opportunity for key attendees to network and exchange insights. After every sessions, a 10 minute Q & A session allows attendees to feedback and lay to rest any queries they may have.

Spot me?

And of course, opportunity to mingle and take loads of pictures!

The 2nd half of the day was the Bloggers’ Match-Up – a speed dating style session which allows bloggers and travel suppliers 8 minutes to connect, with a chance to deepen the discussion over drinks and discuss later on.
With the increasing amount of bloggers tainting the reputation of others due to them asking for freebies and demanding free press trips and discounts, there is a need for facilitation and accreditation process to help travel supplier to connect with credible, experienced bloggers to promote their product and service.

I couldn’t agree more with that. Bloggers asking for free trips are common in Malaysia. Heck, not just Malaysia but in South East Asia. I have heard directly from many PR friends in hotels of bloggers emailing consistently asking for a free stay and demanding to be hosted. It is ridiculous as these bloggers will not cease harassing the PR personnel in charge until their request are met. If the PR replied that it is a busy month at that period, the said blogger/bloggers will request for the next month and so on. Some demanded complimentary meals throughout the stay and spa.
After 4 days of mingling and discussing with these experienced international bloggers, we have this to say:
We would like to advise PR of hotels/resorts to stand firm and not give in to such demands. In fact, if such bloggers gets in touch with you, then as the PR team of a reputable hotel you should realize that these are not the type pf bloggers you would want to work with in the first place!

In my opinion, the PR team should do their homework as well. It is not that difficult to check on the blogs’ PR rank, Alexa or at least check on the blogger’s influence via the Twitter, FB, FB page, Instagram following.
Do they have a youtube channel? Check on the average views of the videos they post. Ask for their Klout scores.
Ask for a screenshot of the blog UV (unique visitors) DAILY. Look at their shares on FB – how many comments and likes are generated? Or is it just purely them spamming their page/FB profile but no one bothers?
Fans can be bought (via ads, etc) for FB pages so don’t be taken in with the big numbers.
Some bloggers has a widget on their site that shows the numbers of “Total Visitors to their blog since they started blogging”. That’s grossly inaccurate. The numbers may be impressive; say 1,000,000. But do calculate how long they have blogged.
If 1 million page views are for a blog of 8 years versus 1 million page views for a blog of 1 year – which blog has more readership?
All of these combined should give you a good indication of how influential this blogger is and whether hosting him/her would actually bring you the PR value you seek.
Most likely than not, these bloggers don’t!
And of course, you should be checking the blog itself; the writing style, the command of English/whatever language they are writing in, the comments section, the quality of photographs.
If you see more photos of their face and their friends than the food/product/place they are supposedly reviewing, then some warning bells should be ringing in your head.

And how frequently do they blog? Do they only blog when there are freebies? Some only update their blogs when there’s a sponsored meal/stay/movie/party. Check on that and you’ll be surprised at the quality of bloggers now.
Take it a step further and check on when they started blogging. A mere few months ago? A year? 4 posts a month?
Come on, how much readership do you think these bloggers has with 4 postings a month? Or if they just started blogging few months back?
And AWARDS? These are overrated in my opinion. Most awards nowadays are by voting/LIKES, which means they can cheat/buy votes. But its always good to have awards – just take them with a pinch of salt.

This doesn’t only applies to the travel industry (which covers tour operators, airlines and resorts) but every industry. This applies if you’re a restaurant owner, a tech company or you’re simply the person entrusted with the task of engaging bloggers/social influencers for your brand.
Please select wisely!

To end the exciting first day of #DIAsiaTourism was the DIA Tourism Awards Night. This was held at the Bed SupperClub in Sukhumvit 11, one of the hippiest part of Bangkok. I stayed right opposite last September in Aloft Bangkok – Sukhumvit 11 and thus I was familiar with the area.

Food and wine was free-flowing the whole night. In fact, the wines are by a Thailand winery! Delicious (but hell spicy) snacks made their way round. Guests mingled, took photos, sipped wines while waiting for the highlight of the evening; who are the winners of the 4 awards namely; Most Engaging Website, Most Impactful Campaign, Most Creative Use of Technology and Most Inspiring Content.

And the winners are:
 ***********************************************************************************

1. MOST ENGAGING WEBSITE
Tourism Malaysia
http://www.tourism.gov.my/en/intl

2. MOST IMPACTFUL CAMPAIGN
Tourism Authority of Thailand – The Little Big Project
http://www.TheLittleBigProjectThailand.com/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSYHAvpnu_k

3. MOST CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY
e-Visa Cambodia (CINet Technologies)
http://mfaic.gov.kh/evisa/

4. MOST INSPIRING CONTENT
Air New Zealand – Safety Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=cBlRbrB_Gnc

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE WINNERS (AND FINALISTS)!

And that’s a wrap for the first day of Digital Innovation Asia (DIA) – DIAsiaTourism Bangkok 2013!

Pictures credit to: DIAsiaTourism Facebook page and Siam2Nite.com where applicable.

Kudos to the Westin team for always initiating programs that gives their guests better value for their time and resources spent at the Westin. Besides promoting wellbeing, Westin’s latest, dedicated weekend program gives guests more flexibility and time to make the most out of their weekend getaway.
As part of the global brand-wide initiative, both the city hotel and island resort invited guests to personalize their weekend experience with 3pm Sunday check-out, extended breakfast hours all weekend and more.

The launch last week showcased the Westin Weekend set up with a welcome ritual at the hotel lobby that involved the Hotel’s management team, who were dressed in specially designed casual weekend uniforms. One thing is for sure, the Westin team comes with truckloads of energy and infectious high-spirits. Everyone we met from the team embodies the Westin hospitality.

(From L to R) Michael Schlueter, GM of Westin Langkawi; Chuck Abbott, Regional VP for Starwood SEA and Hratch Khatchanian, GM of Westin KL.

In addition to that, a variety of subtle sensory cues including changes in lighting, music and décor, also took place to enhance the relaxed weekend ambience. As a prelude and for a taste of the Westin Weekend, guests were invited for a Westin Journey, showcasing the difference of a Westin Weekend room set up at The Westin Kuala Lumpur.
We also took part in three different weekend activities which included a cooking demo, a yoga session and a pampering session, all of which are elements of a Westin Weekend campaign at these two properties.

Note: Model is not included in the package, though that can be negotiated for an approriate fee. I’ll asking for a male version of course.

I have heard so much about the Heavenly Bed by Westin. The good news is, I’ll be trying it out soon enough using my Starwood card.
In fact, with the current Westin Weekend program, I’ll be able to linger in bed longer with a late 3pm Sunday check-out and extended breakfast hours on Saturday and Sunday, available at the hotel’s and resort’s all day dining venues or through in room dining.

Hmmm.. I don’t mind a breakfast like this everyday.

If you have been following my travel posts, you would have known that I run and use the gym at every hotel I stayed in. My running gear is one of my essentials, other than all the chargers for my gadgets!
The Westin Weekends are designed to inspire well-being, from a good night’s sleep on the Heavenly Bed and SuperFoodsRX dining options to convenient exercise through the RunWESTIN and New Balance gear-lending programs.
Damn, I can’t think of a better weekend for me!

All of us enjoyed our “taste of the Westin Weekend” at the launch, taking part in a cooking demo, a yoga session and a pampering session, all of which are elements of a Westin Weekend campaign at these two properties.

For more information on The Westin Kuala Lumpur, please visit www.thewestinkualalumpur.com or call +60 3 2731 8333. If you’re planning to spend a tropical weekend in Langkawi, check-out The Westin Langkawi Resort & Spa at www.westinlangkawi.com or call +60 4 960 8888.

A welcome cocktail awaits.

Anyhow that request got me reminiscing of my years in Penang. I remembered sitting at hawker stalls at night and digging my way through piles of boiled cockles dipped in their special chilli sauce.

I hardly see this in KL (or maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough) and when Fiona as well as some of my FB fans/friends suggested this place I suddenly developed a hankering for cockles and sotong kangkung. I told Vincent my acting guide to take me there. He being local decided to share his favourite joint for this local delicacy instead.

Hock Chin is not as well known (among tourists) but is very popular with the locals. Perfect. That’s exactly what I’m looking for!

As usual his recommendation was spot-on. Either that or we both share the same palate for food.

At RM2.00 and RM1.5o per serving these were probably the cheapest plates of mollusks I ever had.

And these were so so fresh! The siput was plump, chewy and sweet and the cockles oozes fresh blood and was devoid of any grain of sand or dirt.
A handful of these in a bowl of curry laksa would have been heavenly.

The accompanying sauce is nutty (ground nuts added), overall sweetish with a mild tinge of spiciness. But it’s nothing that even a low tolerance for spicy foreigner’s tongue can’t handle.

Since there were fresh fishballs and beancurd sheet being barbeque over open grill I added that to our order. I call this the fishball rojak since it came served with sweet salty soy sauce with cucumbers and peanuts, just like the fruit rojak we have back in Pg and KL.

Tastewise it was good enough to not warrant any complaints. The cuttlefish with water convulvus (kangkung) is recommended too. The kangkung was satisfyingly fresh and the cuttlefish soft and bouncy to bite.

We had 2 drinks and all of that all that cost us RM13.50. I can’t complain. Really I can’t.

Here are some pictures of Kedai Makanan dan Minuman Hock Chin and the “kitchen”.
Below: An open grill for the bean curd sheets, fish cakes and fish balls.

The preparation of the cockles and siput are simple; just a quick dip of the shellfish into the boiling water before serving.

You want ambiance? You can choose to sit inside the coffeeshop or al-fresco by the road on cute little low stools.
We chose the latter of course.

There aren’t any food outlets within the same row of shophouses. In fact Hock Chin could be considered a bit out of the way from town but if you’re up for a drive out of town, do get your cockles/siput/sotong kangkung cravings satisfied here.
And if you’re asking if it is worth the drive here compared to the conveniently located Tong Bee at Bunga Raya, well my friend Vincent, a local Malaccan thinks so.

Kedai Makanan dan Minuman Hock Chin
Jalan Jasa Merdeka 2, Taman Merdeka.
GPS: (will update as I got my GPS coordinates all mixed up for now).
Closed every Sunday.

* This Melaka trip was made possible by Casa del Rio, Melaka. Many thanks to the management for the splendid stay and providing me the opportunity to explore the rich cultural state of Melaka!

Casa del Rio Boutique Hotel
88, Jalan Kota Laksamana 75200 Malacca, Malaysia
+606-289 6888

Ladies, add a hint of western art of seduction into your bedroom dramas with Agent Provocateur! Known for its sensuous lingerie and intimate accessories such as the famous tasseled and sequined pasties, the UK-based luxury lingerie brand finally opens its doors to Malaysia’s lingerie aficionados on a beautiful Tuesday evening.

A beautiful yet intimate soiree, the event saw Kuala Lumpur’s prominent fashionistas and members of the media gathered to experience Agent Provocateur’s unique ambience first hand. Joining them were local celebrities such as former Miss Universe Malaysia 2011 Deborah Henry, TV host and personality Xandria Ooi, model Sarah Lian, former Miss Malaysia Universe Andrea Fonseka and TV host and personality Stephanie Chai dressed in – you guess it – Agent Provocateur’s scintillating corsets. Malaysia’s up and coming songstress Amanda Imani was also present at the soiree.

BELOW: Left to right – Xandria Ooi, Andrea Fonseka, Graham Markwick, Sarah Lian, Deborah Henry and Stephanie Chai.

BELOW: Patricia K & Lexie Rodriguez.

Amidst trays of canapés and iced lemonades, guests could not help it but to marvel and admire at the delicate yet sultry creations of Agent Provocateur. Mimicking the ambiance of a bona fide French boudoir, Agent Provocateur is the literal epitome of sensuality, seduction, and teasing, with a tinge of naughtiness.

Furthermore, in conjunction with its recent ad campaign which pays tribute to the iconic images of prom queens and road movie heroines, two faux gas pumps were erected on a platform where two models, clad in Agent Provocateur’s cut-out swimsuit and 70’s-inspired coral-hued swimsuit with plunging neckline served as “teaser” for  the evening.

The evening “main course” then kicked off with welcome speeches from the brand’s representatives, followed by the spring/summer 2013 fashion show. Boundless sexiness would be a very much appropriate theme for the collection.
Featuring a selection of lingerie and nightwear, colours such as black, white and purple dominate the season’s offering. Sultry silhouettes paired with lush fabrics culminated to a range of beautiful intimate pieces that certainly will entice him to “come in and play.” 

BELOW: Mr Graham Markwick, Business Development of Sharaf Retail welcoming us to the store.

BELOW: Stephanie Chai, Xandria Ooi, Sarah Lian. I like Sarah’s choice of outfit that night and I certainly won’t mind wearing this myself!

BELOW: Andrea Fonseka and Deborah Henry looking really sexy in their Agent Provocateur pieces.

Lingerie and nightwear aside, the KL store also carries its famous fragrances – Pètale Noir, Maitrisse, Signature, and AP – as well as other accessories that will fire up your bedroom fantasies such as shoes with marabou details on the vamps, hosiery, whips, paddles and enhancers. A full line-up will be available come this autumn/winter season.

Agent Provocateur
Ground Floor, Suria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur City Centre
50088 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Tel: +603 2166 5868

Meet Chef Baba William Koh, 54, a veteran of Nyonya cuisine. He is a native of Melaka who has been cooking professionally at various nyonya restaurants for the past 36 years. His grandparents are Baba and Nyonya and at a young age, he spent a lot of time helping the family in the kitchen, just like how all chefs got started in this career.

One of my lunches during my recent Melaka trip was by Chef Baba William. While I sat on the spacious River Side Cafe overlooking the river, I thanked my lucky stars that I’m enjoying my peranakan lunch in the company of my close friends and learning about its fascinating heritage from an authoritative figure without having to step out to the sweltering Melaka heat.

It is certainly commendable that Casa del Rio to not only include local cuisine on its menu but also in ensuring an experienced chef like Baba William crafted its peranakan menu.

Here’s a little background of the Nyonya cuisine and also a short explanation of the differences in the Penang Nyonya in comparison to the Melaka Nyonya. I’m no expert and I find the lunch session really insightful.

Nyonya food is the food of the Baba-Nyonya in Malaysia and Singapore. Known also as the Peranakan or the Straits Chinese (Straits-born Chinese). The distinct difference between Penang nyonya and Melaka nyonya food is in the method of cooking and ingredients. While the style of cooking for Penang is centred towards Hokkien and Chinese, Melaka nyonya cuisine are influenced by Malay herbs and spices. Food from Melaka is generally sweeter, richer with liberal use of coconut milk infused with variety of spices. Not to mention, the cooking has some touches of Portuguese-Eurasian. Amoungst some of the classic nyonya favourites are pie tee, tempra fish, assam chicken with keluak, chicken pong teh, chap chai, omelette with cincalok and ikan chuan-chuan. 

We can look forward to many more Peranakan dishes at River Cafe soon but to kick things off Chef Baba William has introduced the Peranakan Tingkat Set Lunch at RM28++, suitable for 2 pax.
This is for lunch from Monday to Saturday and each set of menu will rotate daily.

The 2 sets that I sampled during my weekend at Casa del Rio was as below. While I had to admit it wasn’t as authentic as I would have liked (I was anticipating old favourites like pongteh, itik tim, ayam buah keluak) it was nonetheless tasty and as expectantly very adeptly prepared.

Our 2 sets:

Here’s the soup of the day (meatball with tanghoon soup), kerabu ong lai (pineapples), and steamed otak-otak. Chef Baba William has steamed the otak-otak first before frying them which explained the dark and firm outer crust.

The differentiating item is the greens – Four Angled Beans with Belacan, Brinjal Fried in Chili and the mains – one was Nyonya Chicken Formosa while another is Lemak Nenas Ikan.

The Formosa Chicken is a personal creation of Chef Baba William. He shared that there were black pepper, gula melaka (palm sugar) and lemongrass (among other ingredients) in the recipe.

I liked the masak lemak curry though I would have preferred a flakier fish.

Four Angled Bean in Sambal.

Fried Brinjal in Chilli.

And lastly, a nice creamy rich dessert to wrap up lunch.

I had my local Malaccan friend Daniel joining me for lunch that day who happened to know Chef Baba William and Chef Baba William actually knew his parents. Daniel gave thumbs up for the food served that day and all in all, the group of us had an engaging session discussing history, spices, cooking and everything about nyonya food in general.
It was a fruitful lunch!

The ala carte menu is still applicable for lunch and since I’ve read foursquare tips that the pizzas here are great I added an order of “Gluttony” – grilled Australian beef, onions, parmesan, tomato and bearnaise sauce for sampling.

And yes, I concurred that the pizza are definitely worth an order.  Being a woodfire pizza it has the prerequisite smoky aroma and slightly charred crust. The sauce and the fillings were commendable as well.

Here are the other menus on rotation for the Peranakan “Tingkat” Set Lunch by Chef Baba William @ Casa del Rio Melaka. I was told there would be gradual addition of Peranakan dishes to the current ala carte menu as well.
If I’m ever in Melaka I would visit Chef Baba William again for his nyonya laksa, since I’m on the hunt for a authentic one!

Peranakan “Tingkat” Set Lunch Started from 10 May 2013
Time: 12 noon – 4pm (Monday-Saturday)
Prive: RM28++ per person
Venue: The River Cafe
For reservations, please call +606 289 6888
Email: reservation@casadelrio-melaka.com
Website: casadelrio-melaka.com

*Child aged between 6 – 11 years old
++Prices are subject to 10% service charge and 6% GST

You can’t miss it. It’s a big place and there are many patrons grilling their food happily over the grill.

I won’t go into much detail since overall the food and service was commendable for the price paid. The meats and seafood are fresh, the cooked items tasty and everything was replenished consistently. Variety-wise there were more than enough to keep the fussiest diner satisfied.

Please find some pictures as below. When I got there the shop was full and everyone was already tucking in so the presentation is not as be as pretty as I would like it to be.

Since it’s buffet styled you can take as much as you want but please be considerate and don’t waste food!

Even desserts, fruits and coconut ice-cream are available as well.

Noodles, raw vegetables, kebabs, salads, nuggets, sausages, fries. There’s really a lot to eat for 139 baht (RM14+-)!

I had a plateful of hot food while waiting for my grill to be set-up.

The grill is electric powered so the heat is constant. It heats up pretty fast too, which was a good thing.

Grill your meats, fish, etc on the dome top while cooking the others in liquid just around the sides of the grill.

All in all, it was a darn good deal!

Price: 139 baht for 2 pax and above. 139 baht per pax.
If single diner then it’s 169 baht.

Pla Tong Mookata.
* Near Century The Movie Plaza.
1 min walk from Victory Monument BTS Station. It is on Phaya Thai road itself.
Same row as this popular restaurant Eat Am Are that has a perpetual long queue.

A little about PlateCulture: It’s a marketplace that connects people who love cooking and hosting dinners with those who love eating authentic home cooked meal while traveling in new places.
Each dinner is an unique experience where people share food, learn new things and build friendships all over the world. This is a whole new trend in the city to redefine dining habits.

So basically there are nice, friendly gracious expats who would like to make new friends and also spread some awareness of their home country, starting with food (food is the best ice -breaker isn’t it?) and of course over dinner conversation can stray from food to cultures, music, fashion and anything else that tickles your fancy. One literally visits as a stranger and leave as friends.

That was exactly my experience just a week ago during my session – Mauritian Delights in the home of the gorgeous Shiksa. Dinner was a simple 4 course meal cooked with fresh ingredients, low salt and no MSG, just like how food was prepared at home for her family.

The vibe was casual, the conversation easy and we had a relaxing time getting to know one another; the other diners and myself and together with our host.
Food was surprisingly familiar, with the use of soy sauce, diced chicken dusted with corn flour and stir-fried with vegetables. The presentation was rather cute; as shown by our host but other than that, it does seem to be merely stir-fried chicken in soy sauce with vegetables and an added fried egg.
That’s it. Simple and good.

Upside Down Rice: Bol Renverser.

Start with a fried egg at the bottom. Then the chicken.

The vegetables and rice are next.

By the way, according to Shiksa, basmathi (not your usual rice) is a common staple.

Nice fluffy, long grain Basmathi. Is there a difference versus the usual generic rice you ask? Well, I certainly think there is!

Press down the rice to compact it, pour in some sauce from the chicken, cover the bowl with a plate and it’s ready to serve!

Below: Shiksa handling me my dinner.

And dinner is ready.

Well, not quite. Shiksa then proceeded to demonstrate how it was served back in Mauritius.
First you hold the bowl and plate together firmly. Then turn it over swiftly, give a the bottom of the bowl a nice thump and slowly remove the bowl.

So that was the reason for the fried egg to be at the bottom. The bowl came off easily enough and my dinner, as simple as it is, looked scrumptious!

Lovely isn’t it? Chicken and vegetables and the sauce all combined with the fluffy rice plus an egg. For me eggs goes well with anything.

A popular condiment for the Mauritian meal is Garlic Sauce and Chilli Sauce. However, both didn’t look anything like our usual paste versions. For example, the below is their garlic sauce; a watery clear liquid that could easily be mistaken as “finger bowls” – water for washing hands at the table. LOL.
Below: Garlic Sauce: la sauce l’ail. 

Chilli sauce: la sauce piment (usually made with green chillies and lemon, but this version had added green apple for a twist). This unassuming paste is fiery hot and leaves a long afterburn in the mouth. Syiok!

We dipped our appetizer of cabbage fritters into this chilli sauce and eschewed the a trio of condiments that came with it; ketchup, chilli & mayo.
This was nothing fancy and again, tasty and simple.

Cauliflower Fritters: Gato Salé. These fritter had only cauliflowers but you can use any vegetables like potatoes, eggplants, green chilli, or even bread.
According to Shiksa, sometimes they just fry the batter without adding anything. Sounds like our cucur badak doesn’t it?

All of really enjoyed the soup. On the first sip, my first thought was “dhal soup” as it does have the consistency of watery dhal!

Red Lentil & Fish Soup: Dal.
Shiksa said she usually make it plain but tonight she added fish because she likes it with fish while some people prefers vegetables.

To complete the meal was a Strawberry Flavoured Dessert: Alouda. This is a very popular drink served at street stalls and markets in Mauritus but Shiksa usually serve this as a dessert because its quite filling.

I loved it. Creamy strawberry milk with basil seeds, jelly and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream was just perfect to end the meal. Actually anything with ice -cream is.

I must admit the dinner was a very gentle initiation to Mauritian cuisine. Being a first timer to Mauritian cuisine, I must admit that I had expected something more exotic. I didn’t do any prior research as I had wanted to be surprised and indeed I was surprised, though in an unexpected way.

However, Shiksa gave me a quick background about Mauritian food and below is a small excerpt:

” Mauritian food is a combination of native African, French, Chinese and Indian, with many dishes created that are unique to the island of Mauritius. Indian curries, breads and pickles are cooked alongside slow-braised European daubes and stir-fried noodles from China, all using locally available ingredients.

The most common ingredients used in Mauritian recipes are tomatoes, onions, garlic and chillies, which cook up with a couple of spices into a delicious fresh tasting sauce used every day called a rougaille. Vegetables, meats and seafood can be cooked in the rougaille and eaten with achards (pickles) and dhal or rice. Spices are also a big part of Mauritian cuisine with turmeric, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves used liberally.

There are some dishes that seem to be made for a nation that has better things to do than cooking and vindaye is one of them. It is fried fish or octopus preserved in a combination of mustard seeds, chilli, garlic, oil and vinegar. It was created before refrigeration but even now that white goods are everywhere, it’s an easy and delicious protein hit that can be served hot or cold with rice, pickles and dhal.

While the Indian population has had a huge influence on the cuisine, Mauritian curries are unique. They rarely contain coconut milk and interestingly, also often feature what are more typically known as European herbs, like thyme. Often curries feature more unusual meats and seafood like octopus or duck, along with the meat and vegetable varieties.

Everyone loves the readily available delicious street food of Mauritius, which includes falafel-like spiced, fried split pea cakes called gateaux piment. The other big favourites are dholl puris – flat bread with a thin layer of yellow split peas which is then rolled up with a variety of pickles, cooked vegetables and chutneys.

Desserts range from elaborate French-influenced tarts filled with bananas, almonds or pastry creams to impossibly pink cute raspberry shortbreads sandwiched with jam called napolitaines. And of course there is abundant tropical fruit to finish a meal.”

After her little lesson I realized that the dishes we had earlier were pretty familiar because the ingredients and method of cooking are similar to our Asian cuisine! No doubt there are a bit of variation here and there as well as some uniquely Mauritian food, which are the ones that I’m interested to sample in the near future now that I know Shiksa!

Or perhaps, if I could get a group of 5, I’ll request Shiksa for a uniquely Mauritian meal. Anyone?

For more information on PlateCulture: https://www.facebook.com/PlateCulture
There are few of these dinner happening soon which you can have a sneak peek here: http://ow.ly/lqfhN

I promised to wear my Neubodi set consistently, ensuring that with the proper support and coverage I’ll fix the common issue of having fat tissues wrongly distributed out around the arm pits and back.
Estee, the General Manager of Neubodi Malaysia had said it would take about 6 months to “mould” them back into shape. I was aghast. And went shopping for “suitable” clothes immediately.

Well, yes, any excuse for shopping is a good excuse no?

The first step was to decrease the frequency of wearing strapless bras; which translates to less revealing tops. I hopped into Levi’s and got myself some shirts.

The Neubodi set I got was a nice grey purple shade with lace. I was worried at first it might show over my white tops and dresses (trust me I have a lot of whites in my wardrobe!) but as you can see from the picture above, it didn’t show on my white shirt.
As long as there is an underlining beneath the top layer, no worries about having your bra peeking out.

This is the white dress that I wore pretty frequently and I always wore my Neubodi set with it.

Here’s another shirt that I got from Levi’s.

Both of these shirts are my favourites so far. I wore them for travel (the light and cooling material helps), events, for casual days and even for work.

This red shirt is a newly purchased item as well. Basically, shirts are your best bet when you are wearing the Neubodi set. There’s no spaghetti tops that could cover the thick bands of the Neubodi bra.

A major part of my wardrobes are sundresses. However they are usually the thin spaghetti straps one or halters.  This blue piece is one of the recent purchase I made and I have wearing it pretty often as it’s easy to wear, loose fitting and casual. Again, I made sure the material is suitable for our current sweltering weather as wearing non-sleeveless outfits means the material must not trap any additional body heat than necessary!

Melaka was really hot. But this dress was still cooling on the body.

Really, I wear this outfit too often! :P

I decided on a plain long black dress for the recent Hennessy XO Appreciation Grows 2013 Dinner by Chef LeAnne Wong. The dress was demure and the neckline needed a little boost as it is a low oval front.

Well, guess what I had on underneath?

My Neubodi set of course!

All in all, though inconvenient at first, I did managed to wear my Neubodi set consistently at least 3- 4 days a week. The rest of the week I allowed myself my favourite tank, halters and tube tops.

With determination and a slight change of wardrobe, it is possible to culture a habit of wearing a bra with thick wings, band and straps. That said, I do hope that the upcoming collection of Neubodi bras allows strapless or designed to be worn in multiple ways.
The support may be slightly less, but at least it would encourage a lot more young females to wear it.
For those of you who missed out on my previous post on my bra-fitting experience at the Neubodi store, here’s the illustration of how a proper bra fitting session should be.