Old Town Scottsdale Refreshed

It's been fours years since I was last in Scottsdale. Back then, Scottsdale Fashion Square and Biltmore Fashion Park were the two main hang-outs, with Biltmore having the higher end shops. Since then, the area south of Cambelback (i.e. the Nordstrom side of the mall) is being developed into the Waterfront, a mix of residential, retail and office space. I used to remember Stetson Drive, Fifth and Sixth Avenues as being uninteresting for its overabundance of shops selling cowboy boots, southwestern turquoise and silver, chunky belt buckle and jewelery among other cheesy Southwestern souvenir shops. That area is now undergoing quite a transformation, part of which is the new SouthBridge development, which does not take in any chain stores as its retail tenants. Whereas once "irrelevant" might have been the word used to describe the scene along those streets, now people use the words "trendy" and "glam" to describe the area and its much younger clientele.

I spent a couple hours one afternoon strolling around the area. The highlight of my walk was a stop in g2 Gallery, where I came across the intricately-zen works of Kaoru Mansour (collages on a celadon-crackle background) and the whimsically-sureal works of Patrick LoCicero.


Also worthy of mention:
Fine's Cellar -- An absolute godsend after nearly a week of drinking Starbucks' watered-like coffee (The Starbucks experience, for some strange reason, is so much better in Asia; at least there is the smell of coffee when walking into a Hong Kong Starbucks. I was glad to hear that Howard Schultz is taking the reins once again as CEO after seeing its share price take a nose dive in 2007.). I had tried The Coffee Bean and Coffee Plantation, which were marginally better. But it was the Caffé Mokarabia in Fine's Cellar that put the smile back on my caffeine-addicted face. And from the name, they also have a very fine wine cellar.
Lululemon -- Even though I'm spending a considerable amount of time in Vancouver, the hometown of Lululemon, I couldn't resist walking into the store since it was right behind Fine's Cellar. The store only opened three weeks ago, but they have a wide selection of styles. I didn't have time to check out any yoga studios this time around, but the Lululemon staff suggested I try At One Yoga.
Rejuvenation -- Just across the street from Fine's Cellar is this rather chic-looking Thai massage and private yoga/mat pilates center.
The Mix @ SouthBridge -- A collection of independent fashion and lifestyle boutiques including a beautiful floral design studio, Angelic Grove.

Ultra-luxe Phuket resort in the making

I know I'm probably not supposed to be blogging (or in this case, blabbing) about this, but the highlight of my Phuket trip was visiting A&K's stunning home (not to mention, being introduced to a beautiful new toy: the Azimut 43S), which is going to be part of a large, ultra-luxe resort project set high up on a hill overlooking the ocean (made me think of Ubud, but with ocean views and only a 10-minute drive from the ocean). It's going to be a residence concept resort; each residence being a compound of separate living and sleeping pavilions with own gardens, pool and magnificent views. Can't wait! But it's still early stages yet; we're talking at least 2-3 years down the pipeline.



If you're ever in need of a good architect, check out Naga Concepts.

Mandarin Oriental: Pierre & Kinesis

Spent much of the weekend at Mandarin Oriental (the classic one). Had dinner with friends at Pierre on Saturday night, which turned out, to my surprise (because talk of Pierre Gagnaire's restaurants usually centers around Sketch's egg-pod toilets or the bill), to be a very good meal. However, service was appalling. I had been forewarned not to order the degustation menu, so I passed on this little bit of advice to the rest of the group. DH ran into some less fortunate friends; they had ordered the menu and were not at all pleased. My starter of seafood dishes came with a buckwheat pancake with uni and cauliflower and a very interesting and refreshing sorbet (if memory serves me correctly, there was endive and something else in it). I had a delicious guinea fowl for main. BL's langoustine appetiser was divine. DY ordered steak with caviar. We both found it to be a weird-tasting combination, but DH really liked it. On their own, the steak and the caviar were excellent, but together the two tastes were a bit too jarring for me.

As for service, here is where I start my rant about Hong Kong's unprofessional service staff. Even in a restaurant where you are easily paying HK$1,500+ per head, the staff don't seem to care about diner experience. The assortment of amuse bouche were dropped off at our table without a word of explanation. We had to ask them to tell us what we were eating. One waitress was particularly sulky all night. The general calm of our dining experience was broken twice by clumsy wait staff -- dropping utensils and a tipped over cheese trolley. When the cheese trolley was wheeled before us, the guy simply asked, "Would you like some cheese?". I had to ask him what cheeses were on offer before he introduced them one-by-one. We never met the chef nor the sommelier. Fortunately, DH ordered a wonderful red from Gigondas. It's a shame that our dining experience was marred by such poor service, because the food was quite good.




Took my grandfather to lunch at MO's coffee shop on Sunday (mother's out of town, so took the father of my mother out instead). After lunch, BL and I had a personal training session at the gym to check out the Kinesis system. EO, who's staying at MO, booked the session when he spotted me standing outside the gym, mesmerized, admiring the minimal-looking resistance-training system.


In the end, Kinesis actually looks more interesting than the workout it offers. The workout is basically like any other pulley-system resistance training machine. I had been expecting it to be more along the lines of gyrotonic.


Antonio Citterio (designer of Bulgari hotels and resorts) designed the home version of the Kinesis system, which is a space-saving and handsome-looking home gym system.

SGN airport: recharge & relax

I just recharged my laptop while getting a foot massage at Viet Spa in the domestic terminal's waiting area. An hour of electricity for my laptop and a relaxing foot, shoulder and hand massage cost VND200,000 (US$12.50). Unfortunately (or perhaps, fortunately), the wifi wasn't accessible. Each of the seats has 2 power outlets, so you can charge your laptop/blackberry/phone/digicam. Certainly made my long wait much more tolerable. Only one hour left!

Easter Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm smitten with Luang Prabang. I expected to be charmed by the UNESCO World Heritage town, but it is the people who have got me head over heels. There were Mung and Don, our guides who were such good sports (putting up with our group's silly pranks) and gracious hosts. Everywhere we went, from the staff at the hotel to waiters at restaurants, the level of sincerity and service far exceeded our expectations. I dare say it's the best I've encountered in Asia. Not only are they extremely warm and kind hearted people, but they also approach service with a very proactive, common-sensical attitude (which is often lacking even in a supposedly cosmopolitan city such as Hong Kong). There were instances where they knew what we would want even before we asked. For example, the staff at the wonderful JoMo coffee shop and bakery (an American-owned establishment on the same street as La Maison Souvannaphoum on the way to the night market) that brought us all glasses of water to go with out lattes and carrot cakes (which was absolutely divine) before we even asked. There was the hotel restaurant waiter who asked if we would want our individual drinks orders charged back to our own rooms. Waiters would see that we had run out of something and bring us more. Admittedly, the restaurants and hotels we visited were staffed with people who spoke very good English. But what stands out among the people of Luang Prabang is not their skills and abilities, but their pride in what they do and the town in which they live.

Luang Prabang Highlights:
1. If you visit only one temple, it should be Wat Xieng Thong, the most beautiful one of the three we saw. Love the adorable disco, white elephant that spouts water when the Buddha figures are washed.


2. Go on the leisurely, 2-hour boat ride up the Mekong to visit the Pak Ou caves containing thousands of Buddha scultures.



3. Laotian cuisine. The food is not as spicy as Thai food and is a blend of Thai, Chinese and Vietnamese influences. Everywhere we ate, the food was good. We had dinner at L'Elephant, lunch at Three Elephants (Sisavangvong Road; T: +855 71 252525) and another dinner at our hotel's Elephant Blanc. Would have loved to try the restaurant at Apsara, but didn't have time.

Bangkok Highlights:
1. The Eugenia is a wonderful home in Bangkok.
2. Spring (199 Soi Promsri 1; T: +66 2 3922757) is my constant favourite. It serves up great Thai/Asian fusion dishes, and the lawn is absolute bliss to lounge around with friends before and after dinner.



Spa Comments:
1. Blooming Spa in Bangkok was great value for money. A 2 hour, 45-minute combination of foot reflexology and Thai massage came out to only THB1,000.
2. Skip the Angsana spa at La Maison Souvannaphoum. The treatments are done in tents that are set next to the main street. It's noisy and the therapists need more training and experience when it comes to giving massages.

Eat Right; Nobu Revisited

People often start businesses out of necessity, because the market isn't addressing their own needs. Years ago, when my friend DH was still living in Hong Kong, we had talked about a nutritional food delivery service. Back then, Atkins and South Beach diets were still all the rage. But we lamented that it was hard to stick with any kind of a healthy diet when we were constatly eating out. The best solution would be for someone to work our the meal plan, cook up delicious food and deliver it straight to your home or office. We never did start the business, of course. And these types of businesses started popping up in NYC and Singapore. Hong Kong, the norm these days, is arriving late to this trend. But better late than never! Eat Right, just across the street from Pure's Kinwick gym offers exactly this service. My fitness bet friends and I were meeting up with Martin Lorentsson, who is also a trainer at Pure, at Eat Right to see what kind of menus he could concoct to help us meet our 3-month fitness targets and win our bet. There's a questionnaire about current health state, daily eating habits and a list of foods to choose from to give them an idea of the kinds of foods you like or dislike. Then you let them know how many meals you want delivered each day and they work out the rest. So far, the fitness gang has tried out the food. We're waiting for the taste factor to improve a little bit before we sign on. But it's a good service in the making!

Thanks for the pics FS (taken with her SonyEriccson phone)!

I am sort of ambivalent about Nobu's restaurants. I've had some great meals at Matsuhisa Aspen, but I also had a truly awful meal at Nobu London in Berkeley Square (we ordered the tasting menu and the cod was over-cooked and tasteless). So when FS suggested we give Nobu in Hong Kong (2/F InterContinental Hotel; T: +852 23132323) a try, I wasn't super enthusiastic. We had an 8:30pm reservation. By 9pm, there was still no table. I kicked up a bit of a fuss and by 9:15pm, they finally offered us the private room with the HK$15,000 minimum charge waived (we were 9 people and our final bill ended up not being far off from that). Fortunately, the meal was much better than the one I had in London. We had the yellow tail with jalapeno, toro tartare with caviar, seared toro salad, seared toro with yuzu miso sauce, monkfish pate, all of which were delicious. We hardly ordered any cooked dishes though, probably for the better since the London meal that I so disliked had mainly been cooked dishes. While the food was good, to be honest, the evening was really more memorable for the entertainment we created for ourselves (good thing they gave us the private room!).

New York City Update

The highlight of my New York trip was seeing Voyage, part one of Tom Stoppard's Coast of Utopia trilogy with Ethan Hawke playing Michael Bukanin and Billy Crudup playing Vissarion Belinsky, just two of the lead characters. Tom Stoppard is by far my favourite playwright. His plays are brilliant not just because he manages to entertain, but also because he manages to dilute the mosts complicated of subject matters to a something easily digested by the average audience member with the utmost wit and humour (a great example is Hapgood where quantum physics is made entertaining when set in the context of an entertaining spy comedy). In the Coast of Utopia, the heady subject matter is Russian literature, philosophy and politics (or rather, the people behind them) during 19th century Tsarist Russia. As with most of Stoppard's plays, the topics are presented with a light touch and trademark quirky sense of humour. Can't wait to see Shipwreck and Salvage.

Aside from the play, I also had a lovely dinner at MH's neighborhood restaurant, Daniel (the lounge is much more casual and laid-back than the main dining room with the food being just as delicious), a meeting in Philadelphia with Anthropologie's home buyer and a breakfast meeting with an editor at Knopf at Four Seasons Hotel (love their breakfasts). And here I'd like to dispel the myth that editor's don't have the time of day for mere plebes like me. SW, who is the editor for such luminaries as Joan Didion, is one of the most generous people I've met in any industry. She's been a great person to chat to and gain a deeper understanding of the publishing industry. I had a pretty packed schedule, but I still managed to squeeze in a morning yoga class at Some Like It Hot, where I ran into the soon-to-be wed JK. Had wanted to check out the new Bowery Hotel (Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson's new hotel since Maritime) and Waverly Inn (Goode and MacPherson own that this too along with Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter), but didn't have time since I was staying with MH uptown. There's always next time!

I also had a surprisingly quick and pleasant visit to dermatologist Dr Marc Grossman. I highly recommended him (actually he had been highly-recommended to me from PT's aunt). I'm one of these people who dreads seeing any kind of doctor or dentist and Dr Grossman had a manner that put me at ease from the get-go. The wait in his office actually created more anxiety than the actual examination. It took him all of 3 minutes (perhaps even less) to evaporate all my melanoma fears. The rest of the time was just spent chatting and taking my medical history since it was my first visit. I suppose I'm a bit of a hypochondriac, but with so many friends diagnosed with some form of cancer over the past couple of years, one can never be too cautious.

Well, now I'm back in Hong Kong with piles of work ahead of me, which means I'm staying put until Easter.

Tokyo: Massato Paris, Sushi Restaurant Hashida, Tadao Ando's Omotesando Hills, Asuka

Am posting with the new beta.blogger.com, so please let me know if there are any glitches. Will be updating old posts with labels (i.e. blogger's version of tags) in the next couple weeks.

Massato Paris -- One of the things I like doing in Tokyo is getting my haircut. It’s not expensive and they always do a good job. But if you’re not a Japanese speaker, make sure you go with someone who does or make sure the place you’re going to has an English-speaker on hand. Last year, I went to Kakimoto Arms with LS in Roppongi Hills. This year, MH did the booking, so I joined her at Massato Paris, across the street from Grand Hyatt (above the Versace shop). I like the nice, little touches, like the head and shoulder massage after the final hair rinse and the post-cut tea and candies platter.

Sushi Restaurant Hashida (3-8-11, Kachidoki, Chuoh-Ku, Tokyo 104-0054, Japan; T: +81 3 3533 0341) -- For lunch, SM had booked one of her favourite sushi places near Ginza. She warned us, though, their specialty is BIG sushi. The first time she went, she said the sushi chef looked really angry and barely spoke to her. Towards the end, he just handed her a photo album. Inside were pictures of the likes of Will Smith, Cameron Diaz and Penelope Cruz with the sushi chef in his little sushi restaurant. Lunch is a set menu. The only thing you get to choose is whether you want your explosive, finale sushi to be uni (sea urchin) or ikura (salmon roe). The rest did not disappoint. I rarely eat scallop, shrimp or clam sushi, but the ones served here were delicious and sweet. I ordered uni for my explosive sushi and boy was it explosive! I was served enough uni to make at least 5 pieces of normal-sized sushi. All that sushi for around Y3,000!

The sushi chef did not look so fierce this time around. He was working behind the counter with his son by his side. They made a great father-son team. After the meal, he showed us the famous photo album and even had a brief chat with us. "You have to thank the people who come for dinner," said Hashida-san Sr., because they are the ones subsidizing the low-cost lunch set.

Omotesando Hills -- After lunch, continuing with the starchitect-designed shopping mall theme, we visited Omotesando Hills, Tadao Ando's shopping mall for Minoru Mori. It is supposed to resemble a long street promenade inside the building. MH complained that she didn't like the fact that she had to stroll by all the shops just to get to a shop at the top. It's great for retailers and those who have to lease the space out to potential retailers don't have to deal with the problem of potentially dead spaces. I, personally liked the indoor boulevard feel. The mall is intimate in size, compared to present-day mega-malls (like last week's visit to Toyo Ito's Vivo City in Singapore) and I like that sort of intimacy. And there's a simple logic of having one path to follow. For a shopper, it's much more reassuring, less overwhelming. The formal simplicity actually creates a certain visual/spatial poetry or rhythm, which I like. In a way, it's soothing; true retail therapy.


Asuka -- For dinner, SI had booked kaiseki for us at a restaurant in Shimokitazawa within walking distance from his place, which is in Uemura, a quiet, idyllic neighborhood (SM called it the Greenwich Village of Tokyo). We stopped by SI's place for Champagne before walking to Asuka. SI had arranged for us to sit at the counter, because he thought it would be a more interesting experience. The chef here was a very cheery one. He had a sort of happy buddha kind of serenity to his face.


The food was amazing. We chose the menu with crab for a little under Y10,000 per person. I always think a restaurant is really good when they can get me to try and like things that I normally wouldn't touch. I am not a fan of tofu of the Chinese variety, but I think the Japanese are masters of tofu dishes. So when a broth with milk tofu suspended in it arrived, I thought I'd try it, even though I normally don't like tofu. I did not regret my decision. The milk tofu looked like a ball of mozzarella cheese. The consistency was different from regular tofu, it was kind of elastic. Buried inside was uni.


Even though we had sushi for lunch, the sashimi was still a treat:


But the really unforgettable dish was the crab, which came complete with what my SM translated as crab ovaries (the bright orange gook, which was actually quite tasty!), crab roe (the darker brown bits) and the crab meat. In terms of eating adventures though, last week's sperm of whale at Iggy's in Singapore still takes the cake.

Tokyo: Shibuya Granbell Hotel, good things come in red, Tera Teppanyaki

I love Tokyo; it's one of the few cities in the world where I always feel like a lost foreigner despite the number of times I've been here. Diane von Furstenberg was in town last week for the opening of her first boutique in Japan with her whole entourage. MH, who's in town for other work, was guiding/hanging out with them and apparently it was the first time in Japan for some in DvF's group (including her son) and they absolutely loved it (especially the Loveless shop in Aoyama). The thing is, for a gaijin, or foreigner (such as myself), Tokyo will always be fresh and new, no matter how many times you visit. There'll always be that sense of excitement of the new and different, that buzz of not quite knowing what you'll stumble upon, the thrill of a mystery you'll never quite solve.

I arrived into Narita around 1400 and surprisingly the immigration queue was very short and moved quickly. Managed to get my luggage, rent my 3G phone (it's great that these days I can keep my Hong Kong number), grab some Starbucks


(Japan's stores probably have some of the best Starbucks food around and they have these really cool, Starbucks mermaid stirrers that are also stoppers for the lid that I haven't seen anywhere else in the world!) and caught the 1513 Narita Express out to Shinjuku station. It's a great thing these days to be able to get on the internet and show taxi drivers the location maps for where you want to go, because even with the English address for Shibuya Granbell Hotel, he wasn't quite sure where it was.

In terms of location, Shibuya Granbell is really great, a few minutes' walk to Shibuya station, less than 10 minutes to Parco Part One. But the best part is that it's on a quiet street, off the main strip. Downstairs, there's a nice cafe/bar that's open late called Piece of Pie. I booked a Double Room for Single Use (Y16,800, including ++!!). This is one of the very, very few hotels that offers a cheaper rate for single use of a double room. The room is very comfortable with all my necessary amenities. It has free LAN internet access and the cable's in the desk drawer. The bathroom has a tub (which is such a rarity in so-called boutique hotelrooms these days) and I had ample space to maneouver around with my bags laid out. Very good value for money. They have a great penthouse duplex suite with its own rooftop jacuzzi.


Good things come in RED! I got 2 wonderful surprises, both red. MH dropped by my hotel and produced a gift for me. It was a namecard holder from Inden-Ya. I had seen her namecard holder with a wonderful cream-dotted pattern on what she tells me is deer skin (navy blue). I had fallen in love with it and kept harrassing her to tell me where she got it. Unfortunately, it was a gift to her from her father so she didn't really know exactly where to buy it. Between her meetings here this time around, she chanced upon a shop selling Inden-Ya's wares, and got me my very own namecard holder with tan flower-shaped dots on red deer skin (red is my lucky colour). I found their website via google, so hopefully I'll have time to drop by their store.

The next wonderful surprise was that the GAP store near Parco sells their Product (RED) line! I had actually called Singapore's first GAP store, which just opened in Vivo City, but they had no idea what I was talking about. So when I saw the line here, I kind of went crazy and bought a whole bunch of inspi(red), desi(red) and hamme(red) t-shirts to give as gifts.


After a spot of shopping, SM picked us up and took us out for teppanyaki. Tera is a discrete, little teppanyaki restaurant in Nishi-Azabu that probably seats around 10 people at the counter and then another 20-25 people around tables. If you didn't know of its existence, you'd probably overlook its non-descript entrance. Once inside, you walk downstairs and there's a teppanyaki counter and behind it several screened-off tables. We sat at the counter. The first dish that came was uni on top of a small portion of grilled rice on top of crispy, grilled seaweed. It was absolutely delicious, the uni being very fresh and sweet in taste. Next came a Japanese teppanyaki version of raclette -- vegetables with cheese. We also had beef fillet and sirloin, garlic fried rice (which came with a wonderful broth), and vanilla ice-cream topped with grilled strawberries, all were wonderful! I'm so glad that I now know another good teppanyaki place aside from Seryna's Mon Cher Ton Ton.


After dinner, we went to nearby birth for a drink. I had yuzu tea. There's supposed to be a fortune-telling lady that goes around the tables, but when we saw how depressed a couple of girls looked after their readings, we opted not to take our chances.

Singapore: Les Amis, Vivo City and INSEAD Meeting in Asia

Had a pretty amazing day today. It all started with an 8am pilates class with Ole at Sky Pilates, followed by a meeting with Page One's editorial team, white truffle lunch at Les Amis, a wander through Toyo Ito's amazingly whimsical urban beach in the sky on the rooftop of mega-shopping mall Vivo City and a very moving auditorium naming ceremony at INSEAD that kicked-off INSEAD's Meeting in Asia weekend of events.


White Truffle Lunch @ Les Amis (1 Scotts Road, #02-16 Shaw Centre; T: +65 6733 2225). Had quite an amazing lunch with EO. Asked the sommelier to recommend a Spanish wine and the bottle of 1997 Cims de Porrera from Priorat was excellent and went very well with the absolutely divine Spanish ham from Jabugo. EO ordered a sunny-side up egg with white truffles for starter, while I decided not to overkill on the white truffles and ordered the grilled toro with sunny side-up egg and oscietra caviar on blini. I saved my truffle quota for the chargrilled pork belly and chocolate fondant with white truffle ice cream. The ice cream was heaven! After lunch, I popped into That CD Shop next door. They have a house compilation label called High Society, pretty decent complilations ranging from Shanghai Divas to classical to lounge to soul etc.




Next stop was Vivo City. Had read about Toyo Ito's mega mall and the renderings looked interesting enough, but every Singaporean I mentioned Vivo City to was not all that enthusiastic about it. TW managed to muster some excitement over the cinema which has electronic reclining seats, but that was about it. Inside the mall, well...it did look like any other suburban-sprawl mall.


But once I got to the rooftop, I was able to experience Toyo Ito's blurring architecture, the melding of Vivo City with its Marine City/Sentosa surroundings. The rooftop garden has an urban beach (which mirrors the beaches of Sentosa on the opposite side) and outdoor amphitheatre.


Interesting how the cranes, which could be aesthetically a real eyesore, are made less so because they just kind of blend in with the palm trees.



The rooftop garden makes Vivo City a great public space, offering a great leisure venue for families.

NYC: Upper East Side workout spots, Fig & Olive, Shake Shack, etc.

I've been in NYC for a little over a week now. It's been great. Been staying at MH's place on 65th and 3rd, and been absolutely spoiled. The neighborhood's been so convenient. I've had a smorgasbord of workout experiences -- got a temporary one week membership to Sports Club/LA on 61st & 1st where there's a dizzying array of group sculpt classes and the facilities are great, another one-week trial for US$25 at Some Like It Hot Yoga on 63rd & 3rd, Jivamukti Yoga Studio is just around the corner on Lex and a INShape, a private exercise studio on 68th & 5th that offers rebounder (workout routines done on a mini-trampoline) and pilates. Of course, the park is also right nearby. In addition to working out, I've spent some time working at the public library on 67th & 2nd (also has free wi-fi, but a bit of a small neighborhood library so the hours are a bit short).

Despite all that, the highlight of New York is meeting people over meals. The first dinner I had was at Shake Shack in Madison Square Park on 23rd. Started by the same people as the famed Gramercy Tavern, Shake Shack has become something of a phenomenon. The website has a live feed of the lines queuing for their delicious burgers, hot dogs and shakes. I arrived at 6:45pm and did not sit down with our group's order until 8:25pm. But it was a very pleasant evening, so the waiting was bearable. And the food was sinfully delicious. I had a bird dog (chicken dog) with the works and a coffee milk shake. I was later advised by CH, who lives nearby, that the best time to go is around 4:30pm.


AW had sent me on a mission to check out Whole Foods, but MH & CR both tipped me off to an even better neighborhood find -- Really Cool Foods on 3rd & 63rd. The place is great for people who want to eat in, but don't necessarily want to go through all the hassle of preparing a delicious home-cooked meal. Really Cool Foods prepares all the ingrediants, offering single (and larger) serving packages of meal components such as sauteed sliced mushrooms, sauteed ground turkey with chillis, grilled chicken pieces or strips, steamed asparagus etc. as well as other food items. It's a great mix-n-match food concept. I prepared a delicious salad with a ceaser salad package with the ground turkey and mushrooms, which I reheated in the microwave in 30 seconds and then tossed everything together. I didn't even need any dressing.

So far though, my favourite neigborhood restaurant has been Fig & Olive on Lex & 62nd. It's been great for healthy eating, but that place is always soooo packed. They always do a complimentary olive oil tasting of 3 different olive oils, one each from France, Italy and Spain. Their pastas (penne with mushrooms and truffle oil and crabmeat & ricotta ravioli) are cooked just perfect and I love their Fig & Olive salad.

Through MH, I was invited to a dinner party at HB's beautiful Tribeca flat. She had just gotten this incredible exercise machine called ROM (Range of Motion) that promised the benefits of a 45-minute workout in just 4 minutes! Both MH and I thought it sounded too good to be true, but were still very curious to give it a whirl. The machine is huge. It allows you to workout the upper body while seated; it's a bit like rowing, but instead of just pulling front to back, you pull and push in sort of a circular motion. Hence, increasing the range of motion. On the back end of the machine, you can work your lower body and abs. The lower body workout is a bit like a stairmaster workout where you take incredibly huge steps up. I want my gym to get some. It's sure to be a hit!

ROM and delicious Mexican food aside, the most fascinating part of dinner were the people. Because HB's friend film producer friend MC was in town from LA, there were a few film industry people around. P is working on a film about an American woman who marries a Korean-American and decides to have an affair with another Korean man so that she can conceive a child for her husband's family. The film was in the middle of shooting in NYC. MC herself was working on a film about her mentor, Shin Sang-Ok, the Korean filmmaker who was kidnapped, along with his wife, by the North Koreans to make propoganda films. And then there was BD whose book, Closure, which he co-authored, has just been released. The book is about the 9/11 rescue-and-recovery from the perspective of Lt William Keegan of the Port Authority Police Department. BD had many fascinating stories to recount, which made us all want to go out and buy the book.

Vancouver: Yaletown

My 3 weeks in Vancouver came and went with the bat of an eye. It was a life of absolute bliss, even though I was working in my second office (4/F, Vancouver Public Library) every day. My days were simple. I would get up around 7:30am and head for a walk along the seawall.


The seawall is incredibly well-designed and user-friendly. I love the fact that it has separate lanes for pedestrians and those who travel faster, whether it be by rollerblades, skateboards or bikes. This is how all city-planning should be -- putting the user's interests first and anticipating their needs.


An hour later, I would pick-up a copy of the New York Times and then head to cito espresso for my usual medio skim latte and toasted multi-grain bagel with cream cheese. It got to the point where the servers new my order and I knew the exact change to bring along: C$6.05. Then, I'd head to work around 10am (that's when the library opens). The fourth floor is where you get the best wifi signal, and early in the morning, it's easy to get a desk with an outlet.

On some days, I'd take a lunch break and head to Jimmy's Taphouse (they're really accommodating here) across the street or back towards Yaletown where Yaletown Brewery is a favourite. Their hand-pulled pork sandwich is mouth-wateringly good! While I was there, the Canada Line (a new rail line running from the Airport to the Waterfront and Richmond, scheduled to be operational in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics) construction had parts of Davie closed to traffic, but it didn't cause too much inconveniece, especially since I was a pedestrian. But for those who may be thinking of staying at Opus Hotel, best to stay away until the beginning of next year when the construction moves down towards Marinaside Crescent.

Some days, my lunch break would entail a pilates lesson with Marta Hernandez at The Space. She has a great studio here with a separate sections for yoga and the equipment-based pilates and gyrotonic. Very convenient too, just 2 blocks from the library, in Yaletown. On Wednesday mornings, Marta actually hosts a pilates show on TV.



One of my favourite Sunday activities (aside from reading the Sunday NYTimes) is walking (but it's easy to bike it as well, just rent a bike from the Reckless bike shop on Marinaside Crescent, next to cito espresso)


along the seawall, past English Bay and all around the 9km Stanley Park Seawall. A great stop for a pre-walk brunch or a post-walk drink while you watch the sunset is the Sequoia Grill.


Another great dinner stop along the seawall, back towards Yaletown, is C restaurant. They're a great contemporary French-style, seafood-focused restaurant.

Two restaurants that I regret not taking time out to go to are Lumiere and Villa del Lupo. Both were on TB's list of must-go restaurants, but the laid-back life of Yaletown got the better of me, and I spent most days shopping for dinner from Urban Fare, just across the street. I practically shopped there once a day!

Of course, there's a lot more to Vancouver to Yaletown. But I managed for 3 weeks not to venture beyond Yaletown and I was perfectly happy!

Personal Trainers on the Go

AW, BL and I were pigging out over lunch at a sushi restaurant yesterday when we decided we needed a bit more motivation to shape up for the summer. So we decided to make it a bet. Each person has to set a fitness goal to be reached in 2 months' time. Our gym has an InBody 720 body composition analyzer. They've all had their readings done, but I've been avoiding getting mine done. We're all supposed to set our own target body composition measurements based on current readings. Those who don't reach their targets have to pay up to those that do. If we all do, then we've already won beautiful bodies and nobody pays out anything to anyone. The signing ceremony is supposed to be tonight when we all get together to sign off on our targets.

So I was really excited when I read about downloadable programs by personal trainers in the NY Times. Without a personal trainer, I rarely venture into the weights section (except to look for friends). I feel I have no clue what I'm supposed to be doing. If I had a trainer showing me exactly what I should be doing that would be perfect. There are three sites mentioned in the Times article that offer downloadable workouts. Podfitness.com (For some reason, it won't support Mac OSX until July. The sample workout did not sound very motivating though.) and iTrain.com are mainly audio workouts, but I have an iPod video and iAmplify.com offers video, as well as audio, workouts, yoga lessons and other special interest programs ranging from astrology to finance to travel. So far though, the video offerings are slim, but I'm hoping that as portable video player become more pervasive, they'll be more programs to choose from. Or imagine your own personal trainer, yoga or pilates instructor giving you a personalized video workout program every time you travel. That would really be cool!

Post-Typhoon Bliss & Found by a Trufflepig!

Since Wednesday's typhoon no. 3 came and went, we've had amazing weather here -- clear blue skies, cool breeze, sunshine, no haze and amazing visibility. The only other times we usually see this kind of weather is when the factories in southern Guangdong province shut down, like the Labour Day week (1-7 May) or National Day week (1 October). Before the typhoon, I got an sms from AP in Singapore. Move to Singapore, she told me, because she was reading an article in Time about the dire state of pollution in Hong Kong. Given the current situation, if I continued to stay here, "you might as well start smoking and stop exercising". But on the rare days like today, Hong Kong is really beautiful. The verdant jade green of the trees set against a cystal blue sky. It's funny, but everyone is so grateful for clean air and clear visibility. People walk around with smiles on their faces and a new-found spring in their steps. Everything just looks more beautiful. Life is more beautiful. So I just couldn't resist moving my office outside. I've spent the afternoon fixing formatting on the layout for Little Cream Book: Golf. Not the most exciting thing to do, but made much more enjoyable by sitting on the terrace of RED at IFC2. If you look at the picture to the right, it's amazing that you can actually see the white houses perched atop the clear outline of the Peak. I suppose they're all grateful up there that they can actually see to Kowloon side of the harbour today.

On the line of rare and unexpected occurences, yesterday morning, I got an email from a guy called Charlie Scott who was in town after a research trip through SE Asia. He said he had chanced upon WANLILU Play's website and discovered that our two companies do the exact same thing and share the same sensibilities and taste. Normally, in most industries, this is either no big deal (because it's such a common business) or cause for concern (because they're competition). But for me, going through Trufflepig's website was akin to finding a soulmate. For the longest time, we've felt like we've been the only fools to operate a travel planning business by charging only planning fee instead of taking commissions from suppliers and planning every single bespoke trip from scratch rather than tweaking existing packages. We both felt that the old model of travel agents and packages trips did not meet the needs of a growing market of independent travellers who don't want cookie-cutter experiences, whose needs are better serviced by a breed of travel professionals that are willing to devote the time to understand the client's desires as well as to invest time in making new discoveries in various destinations. We both spend a lot of time with our clients to get all the details sorted (how many travel agents will also recommend the right kind of restaurants and make the booking or arrange to have your luggage shipped from point to point during a long trip?), but we also have to spend more time on the road finding the gems, or in Tufflepig's case, the truffles. So Charlie and I spent a good part of our conversation swapping travel addresses and sharing experiences. Anyway, I hope I'll continue to have such surprising meetings. It's exciting to see that the acceptance and demand for bespoke travel planning services is growing. I'm starting to see clear, blue skies...

Booking Your Next Life or Career Experience

Was having dinner at Bonheur with a couple of girl friends. In the middle of dinner, MK suddenly said, "Why don't you organize a boot camp? You know, climbing walls and all that, like Police Academy." LP chimed in: "Yeah, but with luxury accommodation, spa and good food at the end of the day. And of course cute instructors."

It was really interesting, because NY Times had just done an article on Monday about the new trend in leisure travel: travellers want to learn something. Actually, I don't think it's anything new, but what is new is that more and more travel companies are offering more short-term, niche learning experiences that will fit into a week-long holiday. We often tailor such trips for our clients. Single, female travellers like cooking or yoga holidays. Some with more time learn a new language or brush up on a rusty one. On ski trips, we book private snowboard instructors for skiers curious to convert. Others want a wine expert to guide them through tastings around wine regions. We've always tried to build in learning experiences into the trips we create for our clients. So when the girls suggested the boot camp idea, I told them to let me know the size of their group and budget and I'd create a boot camp experience for them. We already brainstormed a few destination ideas -- Mongolia, Tibet, Thailand, Malaysia.

In a similar vein, but a bit more new is the idea of trying a new career on your holiday. I came across Vacation Vocations in a recent issue of Business Week. This company, I thought, is brilliant! I know so many burnt-out professionals -- lawyers, bankers, accountants, architects -- who want a change in career, but for one reason or another have not gotten up enough nerve to make the break for a new career. Some aren't even sure what their dream job might be and that's why VV's concept is brilliant, because it allows people to sample different careers over the course of a holiday. While it's not enough time to really get to know the industry and gain industry expertise, it is enough time for a person to figure out whether they would like to spend more of their time in a particular line of work. I think this idea would be great for Hong Kong teenagers, who are pressured by parents to go for the "safe" professional careers. Yet, most people don't know what career options exist and which best match their interests and strengths. If teenagers were given more exposure to find inspiring careers that they can be passionate about and see how people can make a living doing what they love, then perhaps students would be much more motivated and would make better educational and career choices that would lead them to be happier and more productive adults. After having had a browse through their offereings, I thought it would be kind of fun to spend a couple days shadowing TV producers in NYC. There are a lot of other interesting opportunities -- advertising, fashion, dude ranching, catering, hospitality, music, the list goes on. All you need is time to check them out (and money to pay for it of course), but it could be a truly life-changing holiday.

Generous Three; delinquent Lane Crawford

My Three epic is finally over. I got my sim card in Singapore and managed to reactivate it without problems while I was there. Billy, the Three Supreme customer service rep, called me again yesterday to make sure everything was in order with my new sim card and told me Three would foot the bill for the DHL charges (I had actually told them I would be more than happy to pay for the charges in order for them to speed up the process). So this is one happy ending leading to one customer retained.

Another reason why SMEs have got it rough, but BIG companies have got it good: With small suppliers such as ourselves financing Lane Crawford (as well as contributing to their revenues in the meantime), how can they not make money??!! We delivered an order of Little Cream Books to Lane Crawford in late last year on C.O.D. terms. But 4.5 months later and still counting, we still haven't received our payment. After months of calls to the buyer, all I've gotten are full voicemail boxes while she has been on buying trips, stories of personnel changes in the accounts department and many "sorry, you'll get it next week" replies. Many "next weeks" have passed and still no cheque. What Lane Crawford owes us is small change to them (less than what I'd have to drop for a Chloé top, a Lanvin dress or a couple pairs of the Christian Louboutin heels I've been eyeing). I even joked to the buyer after she called me in for a private sale that she should just let me walk out with the same amount of merchandise to clear their debts faster. The amount I've spent in their stores since December, more than makes up for what they owe us. So, in protest (and it makes me very sad to have to do this), no more spending at Lane Crawford until I receive payment!!

I love Singapore

I'm not out of my mind, I do love Singapore. I always have a great time in this city-state.





One of the reasons I love Singapore is because a pilates studio such as Sky Pilates can exist. Sky is trying to do for pilates what Pure Yoga has done for yoga. However, unlike yoga, the upfront investment in equipment is a lot higher, therefore class fees are higher, which means a more niche clientele than yoga. Sky is an extremely well-equiped, stylish and spacious pilates studio in the conveniently-located Liat Towers on Orchard Road. There's a room full of allegro machines for group classes, a curtained-off tower section, next to the reformer section with cadillac, barrel, chair as well as two gyrotonic machines. I met Teresa Woo, the studio owner, a few years back. She was working for a venture capital fund and getting her pilates instructor certification. Then she got married, got pregnant and started Sky Pilates in her last months of pregnancy. Teresa is really amazing. I know very few people who can juggle the birth of two babies at the same time -- an infant child and a brand-new business. I took a few classes with Ole during my stay and enjoyed them immensely.



I also love the fact that I can have a real brunch in Singapore. For me, a real brunches are not served in a five-star hotel; the atmosphere is all wrong. For some reason, a real brunch for me must be casual in a setting filled with sunshine and greenery, as well as a menu of staple breakfast foods (e.g. eggs any way you like them, sausages, bacon, hash browns, waffles, pancakes, salads, pastas, strawberries and Champagne) and great company. Hong Kong seems to be sorely lacking in such brunch places. I had Saturday brunch at P.S. Cafe (28B Harding Road; T: +65 6479 3343). The setting was perfect -- located in a pocket of seclusion off Dempsey Road, but still very close to Orchard Road/Botanical Garden area, the simple glass and brick building has one wall of glass that runs the full length of the building facing nothing but greenery. The cafe is opened by the same guys behind retail shop Blood Brothers. There's an emphasis on vintage chairs and lamps. The floor is rough, unfinished wooden planks. I had a delicious cheese and caramelized onion flan, followed by a banana chocolate cake. They have a very nice selection of teas.





For Sunday brunch, I went to graze (4 Rochester Park; T: +65 6775 9000) in a neighborhood of restaurants and bars in re-done colonial black-and-white bungalows near Holland Village. I stopped eating eggs benedict ever since I read about what Anthony Bourdain had to say about their preparation in Kitchen Confidential, but for some reason I decided to throw caution to the wind this Sunday and ordered myself an eggs marion (with smoked salmon and spinach instead of bacon). graze has a great garden and upstairs lounge bar, which is called mint. It's opened by the same woman who opened JIA in Hong Kong (and soon Shanghai and Krabi). It's a great place for people watching too. As GC pointed out, it seemed like everyone had given some thought to what they should wear to brunch.

Singapore 1: New Majestic Hotel

26 April -- Arrived Singapore early morning after an overnight flight from Delhi, which is always a great respite from the chaos and madness that is Delhi airport. Got to New Majestic Hotel at around 8am. New Majestic's grand opening party is scheduled for next Friday, but they have been soft opened for at least 2 months now. It is the more luxe property for the owners of 1929.

The new hotel is located in Chinatown, within walking distance of lots of happening shops, restaurants and clubs along Tanjong Pagar, Club Street and Ann Siang Hill. It has been totally gutted and revamped the site of the old Majestic Hotel, and the only reference to the old hotel (aside from the name) is the exposed lobby ceiling. The rest of the lobby is a pristine white, which showcases a well-curated collection of 20th century chairs designed by modern masters as well as a pair of more quirky dentist chairs by the front desk. Also in the lobby is one of Cai Zhisong's Ode to the Motherland copperplate scultures (it is a male nude kneeling on one knee), which sold at this month's Sotheby's Chinese Contemporary Art in Hong Kong for HK$900,000. There is another piece by Cai in the hotel's contemporary Cantonese restaurant. All the rooms in the hotel have been designed by a selection of artists. The art consultant for the project was Asian Art Options. I had met Audrey Phng, one of the directors of AAO at a dinner last time I was in Singapore and met her again in Hong Kong when she was in town for the Sotheby's auctions. She is incredibly fun to be with and has a great eye in addition to being extremely knowledgable about art (not just Asian art). It was while looking through her site that I came across Justin Lee's work and was drawn to his works' strong graphic statement and kitschy sense of humour. So when she told me that Justin Lee is one of the 9 artists that worked on the rooms at New Majestic Hotel, I made sure to request his rooms for my one-night stay.

I booked my room by email to the hotel. Three categories of Justin Lee rooms were available. I opted for the Premier Garden for S$250+++(US$160/night). When I arrived, the front desk told me it was too early to check in and my room was not ready yet. However, they had a Justin Lee suite (normally S$500+++/US$316/night) that I could use until my rooms was ready, but would have to charge me an extra half day based on my current room rate. The loft suite (room 403) was beautifully done by Justin. There were two main paintings on the wall. Both use the paper-cut, double happiness motif-- one is of the Singapore flag with the Singapore skyline worked in and another is of a Samsui Woman decked in barrister robe and traditional headgear again using the double happiness motif. The two paintings face each other. Directly in front of the Samsui Woman are two bathtubs in the bathroom area, which opens into the living area (the two areas are separated by a plasma TV on a swivel stand). Directly in front of the flag painting in the desk and the sitting area with a barber chair. The bed is in the loft just above the sitting area.





The Premier Garden room (room 201), while much smaller, was still very comfortable. There was a desk hidden behind closet doors so as not to clutter the look of the room. The highlight, however, was the outdoor tub, a real luxury in any city hotel!



All the facilities and room of New Majestic have been well designed and executed. Everything is very high quality from the ploh featherbeds to Bose stereos and free in-room wifi access. There is a pool (not exactly a lap pool though, but still a nice feature) and the gym was being completed. My only complaint, and hopefully this will iron itself out in a couple months, is that the service level is a bit rough at the moment. For example, on returning from dinner, there were no staff at the front desk or in the lobby. The lobby was shuttered and it was difficult to find the entrance, so a staff on hand would have been helpful. It took 20 minutes and an additional phone call to get a requested pair of scissors and the staff don't address guests by their names either when picking up the phone or in person (in a 30-room hotel, there is no excuse for this).

Once the service improves, New Majestic will be a well-priced hotel offering one of the best and most unique hotel experiences in Singapore as well as other majore cities around the world. A lot of heart and soul has gone into the concept and design of the hotel, the service staff just needs to translate more of that passion into their service.

New Delhi 2: Three saga continues, The Manor, more shopping

Got a call from Three again this morning. They only got the cover sheet of my authorization letter fax, so have to re-fax. Finally got a call shortly thereafter from them telling me what the DHL airway bill no. for my sim card is. ETA in Singapore is Monday, in time for my Wednesday morning arrival. I will have to call them to activate it though.

Decided to walk around Janpath Market. On the way, I was approached by a young guy. "Watch out," he yelled, as I tried to cross the street. While we were waiting for cars to pass, he adds, "I'm a university student, just want to practice my English. Where are you going?" To check out Janpath market. "Oh, don't go there, you'll get lots of people hassling you. Why don't you go to Central." Sure, I'll check it out. Though, in the back of my mind, I thought it would be a time waster. I got into a tuk tuk and Mannu the driver asks, "Where are you from?" They all ask that. "Are you married?", "Do you have a boyfriend?". I get to Central and the shop is very well put-together and a pleasant shopping environment. However, I know it will be a total time waster. They sell carpets, pashmina shawls, jewellery and knick knacks, nothing that I'm looking for. A good-looking guy by the name of Sofi greets me and takes me down to the carpet room. "Have a seat," he says, motioning towards the leather sofa. He starts pulling out carpets. "I'll look, but I'm not interested in buying," I tell him. It's OK, he tells me and asks if I want anything to drink and offers Kashmir tea. The tea arrives and it's good, hints of cardamom and honey, "like you," he adds. What a salesman. He gives his pitch on how carpets are made, how long it takes, the craftsmanship etc., and it's a good pitch. But unfortunately, I'm not in the market for a carpet. He looks disappointed and then takes me up to look at pashminas. Still not interested. "It's my birthday. I can give you a special discount." Nope, thanks, b