Having been off from work for less than a week, I have started to miss you, InterContinental Bangkok.

The photo today is the Grande Deluxe room that I had opportunities to stay in once in a while. I’m not much of a reviewer, so I’ll leave that job to trip advisor. All I remember was, I felt relaxed when I was working at the desk with the amazing view of Bangkok behind and a wide screen LED TV with movies in front. They also provide a complimentary fresh fruit bowl, which I eat the entirety of! But the most amazing part (for me) is the rain-shower cabin! Such memorable nights!

Grande Deluxe
A 45-square metre room offering fine views of bustling Bangkok. Available with one king-sized bed, two queen-sized beds or twin single beds all with Sealy Posturepedic mattresses. Along with daily replenishment of fresh fruits, guests receive amenities such as two phone lines, iPod® docking station, in-room entertainment system including LED TV and DVD player, in-room movies, laptop-sized safe as well as tea and coffee-making facilities. High-speed internet access is available. The finely marbled and tiled bathroom contains separate shower and tub. As in all Deluxe range rooms, connecting rooms are offered. A rollaway bed is available at an additional charge.

Continued from the previous post yesterday on Conrad wedding planner’s partners.

Ahh to clarify… why would my wedding in 2052 (AD) ? I don’t know? apparently, perhaps, maybe, it was foretold by a fortuneteller, palm-reader or a psychic. Or maybe it was just a number that was made up so I can look forward to… it’s only 43 years from now… I should be 70 and have EVERYTHING planed and ready for my PERFECT wedding! I wonder who made that number up… hum???… Oh wait or perhaps she meant 2552 (Buddhist Era or BE) which is actually equal to 2009 AD… which is THIS YEAR!!! Wooo! that’s quick!

Anyway, let’s get back to the review on Conrad wedding planner’s partners. As far as I remember, these were the partners that attended the event. Seasons Spa, Pro Master Creations, Cattleya, Ganit, Sirena, Laura Mercier and Dynasty Collection.

Um… may I continue this tomorrow kindna wanna sleep already. There is just so much to talk about that I wouldn’t want to rush into finishing it. Okay… Tomorrow it is

*The photo: Invitation cards and wedding souvenirs by Cattleya. Aren’t they amazing!

I am always on the planning side (the do this and that for the couple) of weddings, but not yet am I on the Bride and Groom’s side (the we want this, we want that, we think this is better than this, or actually that is better) to really understand what it takes have a wedding and create that perfect moment for the wedding day.

As a groom without a bride (physically here with me at the event)… I decided to become an interested customer. With my curiosity, I must have asked everything I could of what do you think a bride would want and I would say that 99% of all the wedding items and activities were made for the bride. The groom is just something to complete the image of the wedding.

Let’s get to the review of the Wedding at Conrad…. starting from the moment I drove into the parking lot and the time that I left.

Getting from the road to the parking was very easy, however, walking to the Conrad ballroom was a bit complicated for me (this is something that we must consider if we were to plan a wedding; how convenient is access to the event for the guests) .I was lost in the All Season Place mall for a bit and must have asked a few people, “where is Conrad’s event” If you say that it could be just me that doesn’t know how to get there while the rest of the attendee know somehow? Well, assume yourself to be the guest of a wedding, most of the guest would be coming to Conrad’s for the first time. Parking… is really something that we have to consider and be included in venue decision making process.

I started it off with the 2 smaller rooms on the 2nd floor. The setting is really interesting, a bit glamorous, a tad of relaxing and a touch of luxury. These 2 rooms are great for a cozy wedding ceremony as the setting, the lighting and the size of the room really create the coziness. However, my only comment would be (not relate to the setting), the use of the products that Conrad used to display at the wedding event, I know it wasn’t mean for real event but at least please use FRESH flowers… etc. I find everything to be amazing until I start walk up closer to flower and rose petals on tables only to find out that they are about to wither and die. Sure that the event were only meant as “examples” but the impression I got was that… but the example should really be “EXAMPLE” of how it would be at to have a wedding at the Conrad.

Let’s not focus on the cost saving side too much. Later on I was greeted with a PR (Khun Mu), she was great at assisting me and showing me around (Oh, I didn’t know that the main event was on the 4th floor, until she told me!) Khun Mu wasn’t directly dealing with the wedding planing but she has help me as best to her knowledge and tell me about the schedule of events to later introduce me to Khun Phee, a sales agent (room – not for the wedding). Okay okay,  I see… I guess that because I was flying SOLO without a bride at the wedding huh? So I guess they don’t take me seriously LOL. Anyway, I don’t blame them because the wedding planners are quite busy with other couples that they could really CONFIRM regarding their weddings. However, I’m not complaining… ^_^ Khun Phee was great… we discuss the pros – cons of wedding at different locations and how “PARKING + TRAFFIC” is really my big concern. *By the way we are not in the Grand Ballroom area… the ballroom can be equally partitioned into 3 rooms and that the stage would be set at the back of the 2nd room – creating a stage and the catwalk area. No No, I didn’t like that because I prefer a longer walk way. Can they do it? Of course they can! How many would be attending, he asked… approximately, umm roughly 500. (this number is nothing comparing to a wedding I am attending next week… the total number of guests is about 10,000!! WOOO!!) 500 is a great number, it seems to be the average number of guests that attend a wedding.

The different menus and setups were available such as, Buffets, Chinese tables, and Cocktails. Different types of set ups would result into the different size of capacity for the room. For Chinese table,s the maximum would be 500 guests because the setup would required spaces for tables and chair and to make sure that everyone have seats. For buffets… very similar to Chinese table but (I assume) the number of guests would have to be lower than 500 because they are going to need space to setup food stalls for guests to get their own food. (Except for the VIPs table that the food will be served to them right at the table) Cocktails allow for about 800-900 guests (if I remember correctly) because all it would need were a few tables for the Family while for the FRIENDS we could just let them wonder around the cocktail area. Cocktail and buffets are great for setups that involve more Friends than Family because it’s allow these friends to walk around and meet and greet with each other. While the Chinese table setup is kind of forcing you to not wonder around… SIT! So it’s all depend how would you like the setup to be. I went the “SIT” kind of setup… the Chinese table.

Um… let’s take a break for now. I will continue tomorrow on Conrad wedding planner’s partners.

During Easter Holiday 2009, a friend and I visited Madrid. My primary objective was to visit the Loewe store in Madrid because it is, as they told me, the very first shop that Loewe has open more than 70 years ago! It took me housr to find the store while trying not to be lost in the city. Hours had passed as I walk up and down on Gran Via Blvd only to find out that I had walked past the building many times, because they were renovating the front of the shop and I couldn’t see the sign.

I spent a lot of time at the shop being amazed by everything as it was so unreal because I would never imagine myself to have a chance to visit the store year ago when I first experience Loewe perfume.  I didn’t even know before that Loewe originated in Madrid, Spain. Anyway… how could I leave the store empty handed! I spent an hour or so playing around with their perfume and fragrance until my nose could’t handle it anymore. It was fun as I had a great experience with the customer representative that is being very kind to allow me to try all of the fragrance ^_^

I left the store with a pair of fragrance… Solo Loewe and Quizás Quizás Quizás Loewe. The crazy thing was that when I got the Quizás Quizás Quizás Loewe, I had no idea who to give it to yet. But I believe that soon I will find the one to give it to. They both smell great! One for me and one for my Loewe,…!

Enjoy the short video from Loewe made for Quizás Quizás Quizás (Loewe).

This mall, Siam Paragon is going to be my “almost” everyday stop once I start working next week. That is because it is just 10 minutes by walking from my internship, InterContinental Bangkok, for the next 6 months and also because my work finishes during the rush hour that turns a 20 minutes drive into a 2 hour drive! My solution is… to walk to Siam Paragon’s book shop, Internet cafe, food court and fitness after work.

At the same time, I get to learn about the architecture and design of today’s trends to keep myself up to date with the world of DESIGN.

Today, I will be heading out for interview for an internship in Bangkok. Wish me luck! Other news is that I will be servicing my computer with AppleCare. There fore I won’t have my computer to work with for at least 10 days! that is what they told me. 10 days without my laptop… that is going to be hard! But hey! it’s not that bad. I’ll figure something out so that I can continue blogging. Actually I already figured it out ^_^

So just before I go to the interview and have my computer service, I would like to blog this one. I took this photo the first time I visit Madrid but it was the 2nd time that I visit Madrid that I get to enjoy a meal there. As you can see the whole line of seats in front of the building, they all belong to one restaurant, Cafe de Oriente. They separate in sections according to menu. And that cause a bit of confusion when we wanted to sit at another location.

In the end we sat right at the corner right behind where the boy in the yellow shirt is standing. It was a really sunny day, so hot that I remember the camera became really hot as I left it in the sun and the table was also so hot that I couldn’t lean my arm on it! The food was great as was the mist of water. I remember how we were waiting for the mist to turn on… it was really that hot. We kept having one orange juice after another. It was really refreshing. So refreshing that it was gone just seconds after it was served!

Yup, just keep the OJ coming!!

A month has passed since the last class at Les Roches Marbella.

I sure miss it, the lack of time to do nothing else but work and school,
the fresh air in the morning,
the sound of the phone alarm waking me up at 6am for pastries,
the 4 cups of warm milk with Te’ at breakfast,
the delivery of muffins
the all you eat dessert at lunch!
the cutting and chopping meat and vegetable for dinner
the walk in the afternoon over the mountain
the time spent doing nothing but to enjoy the 1 hour happiness of the day
the brownie at Small World

the light breeze of each night
the shining moon over the sky
the north star that always shines
the sand and stone on the road
the sound of cricket in the woods
the moment…

the lists go on…

Today I went to California Raisin seminar at the Sheraton Grand Bangkok, Thailand. They have demonstrated us a few pastry recipes that we can take it as inspiration to our bakery shop. They also provided us with information about the Raisin specification, how the grape was grown, trained, harvested, processed, packed and delivered.

There were so many pastry shops representatives, approximately 100 of them were there at the seminar. Yet this seminar has reminded me of the theatre performance just a few weeks ago. Because we were all focusing on the chef whom were showing us how to… this and that.

It was fun participating the seminar, got to learn so many things, and enjoy the food samples. I also got some new ideas/recipes that I would like to try sometime this week. I will then post the result of the recipe that I tried later.

Anyway, it must be interesting to be in the spotlight during the entire performance, while everyone is watching. Knowing that every move that was made cannot be redone. As I have learn from the Chef and the Dance was that… improvisation is the key. The dancer must improvise when some of the props don’t go according to plan, they must improvise in such a way that the audience doesn’t notice it. The chef, as well, must improvise on the recipe because each ingredient is different thru out the world. Being an international chef, he understood that… we cannot blindly follow the “instruction” on the recipe.

We must use our experience and our understand of the circumstance to make the best of whatever we were set out to do.

After many hours of not knowing where to go next, we decided to walk west of Plaza Mayor. Minutes later, we found ourselves standing in front of a humongous cathedral. Not knowing where we were and what it was, we just followed a group of people and foot traffic into the cathedral.

Amazingly beautiful, elegant and serene. There were numerous people inside yet it was so quiet and calm. Half of the time we sat and enjoyed just being present, and the rest of the time we walked and explore the cathedral. We also got to light a candle, an electronic candle…

Looking up, that is how I found the shot of the day. Simply beautiful.

Because we were at the show 1 hour early, so I had the time to walk around the theater. It came to my surprise that the theater is only a blog away from the wedding banquet room that I attended 2 nights ago. However, I wasn’t able to take the picture of this bridge here that night because the angle different and I told to myself that I must come back later to capture the bridge. But that “later” came just a few nights after.

What was I waiting for? I was waiting for the Hip-Hop dance Accrorap Company: “Short stories.com”. It is part of the La Fête 2009. The show was amazing. It is part modern-contemporary art dance, hip-hop dance, story telling and musical performance with a touch of comedy.

The show was amazing in that it got my body moving, my head shaking, and my feet tapping along with the music!

*As promised,  the blog is back up with in a week! After just about 36 hours… it is alive!!! again!!! Yah!!! Things just keep happening sooner than expect. I take that as a good thing. ^_^