The by-invitation only event brought together guests of the various companies who had a wonderful time sharing personal experiences as well as learning more about what each of the companies had to offer in the way of self-actualised luxury.

The evening’s culinary cuisine was prepared by Emmanuel Stroobant of St Pierre, which has the singular honour of being the only restaurant in Singapore to be accorded membership into the world renowned Relais & Chateau association.

With the evening’s theme of “Discovery of the Senses”, guests were treated to a night which stimulated all the five senses, culminating in a discovery of the sixth sense – imagination.

Starting with cocktails and canapés of Home Smoked Cod Fish, Applewood Grilled Organic Chicken Breast, Truffled Forest Mushroom Ragout and Crispy Eel, guests were given the opportunity to mingle with the various company representatives to learn more about their services.

Complementing the theme, guests were given a little task of completing a quiz which revolved around the senses of smell, touch, taste and sight. Those who successfully completed the quiz were given a small token, and doubled their chances of winning one of the four attractive lucky draw prizes for the night.

Throughout the four-course dinner, guests were further entertained with a series of short talks and multimedia presentations, courtesy of the companies hosting.

Here are some of the evening’s highlights. Enjoy!

CEO of Quotient TravelPlanner, Ms Javiny Lim (centre), with Severine Vacherot and Nicolas Chemin from Chapman Freeborn.

Guests getting the opportunity over cocktails to mingle with the various company representatives to learn more about the various services on offer.

Kicking off the first of the evening’s presentations was Richard Ho of Richard Ho Architects, who gave an insightful introduction into his guiding principles of using architecture as an expression of the continuity of the history of civilisation and the memory of our cities.

Marisol Mosquera then took stage via an interesting video, and shared her unrivalled knowledge of travel in the Andean region.

Personally addressing the guests was Chef Emmanuel Stroobant, who introduced his menu for the evening.

This was followed by multimedia presentations by both Silversea and Wild China, which thoroughly whetted the guests’ appetite for luxury travel on the high seas, as well as into exotic China.

Representing Chapman Freeborn was Nicolas Chemin, who introduced the as-yet-uninitiated to the realm of possibilities that air chartering brings.

Stephane Junca from Relais & Châteaux was up next. He shared on the association’s mission of spreading its unique art de vivre across the globe through its exclusive collection of 480 fine hotels and gourmet restaurants.

Quotient TravelPlanner’s Wei Lim, ended the night’s presentations with a sampling of the world’s most exciting destinations segmented by the five senses. In closing his presentation, he challenged guests to use their sixth and most powerful sense to guide them in their travels – imagination!

The captivated audience being entertained with tales of luxury and living.

The moment that everyone had been waiting for: Stephane Junca from Relais & Chateaux picks the first lucky draw winner of the evening.

The lucky winners of the night. From top: Dr Dolly Wee, winner of a 2 night stay at Camp Jubulani, with Relais & Chateaux’s Stephane Junca; His Excellency Giam Chin Toon, Singapore’s Ambassador to Peru with Boris Nordenstrom, winner of 3 nights’ stay at the Galapagos Safari Camp, sponsored by Aracari Travel; Huang Lui, also His Excellency Giam’s wife, winner of 3 nights aboard the luxurious Delfin II Amazon River Cruise; and Susan Hwee, winner of 2 nights’ stay at the Awasi Hotel in the Atacama Desert.

The exquisite four-course dinner. From top: Salmon Confit with Yuzu Scented Hollandaise and Wild Herb Puree, Slow Cooked Foie Gras Terrine with Spanish Artisanal Quince Paste and Champagne Jelly, Low Temperature Braised Lamb Shoulder with Eggplant Caviar, Burnt Bread and Micro Ratatouille, and Valrhona Dark Chocolate and Hazelnut Praline Cake.

Looking for a quick getaway in October? Why not consider The Pavilions Resort in Phuket. Part of the Relais & Châteaux group, The Pavilions is designed around the concept of privacy, tranquillity and romance! With all villas featuring individual pools, you can expect a spacious and private setting, in which to spend uninterrupted time together with your special one.

From the 28^th to the 30^th of October 2010, guests to The Pavilions are in for a special treat. Michelin-honoured master chef, Michel Portos, Chef and Director of the renowned Saint-James Hotel in Bordeaux will be taking guests on an epicurean journey of unexpected flavours and tantalising dishes.

Each evening, the award-winning connoisseur will be preparing a unique gourmet dinner for guests. And, on the 29^th, he will be imparting some of his skills in a one-time only cooking class.

Borrowing from Asian and Mediterranean influences, Michel’s cuisine surprises and excites with its delicately proportioned tastes and deft use of herbs and spices. Michel interprets acid flavours with masterful dexterity, blending citrus fruits and vinegars to introduce a zesty element to the balance.

Connoisseurs of fine food should take advantage of this rare opportunity to sample a gourmet meal prepared by one of the world’s most respected chefs.

Contact us now for booking and details. Hurry, spaces are limited!

Why not do something different for Christmas this year? You may or may not have already experienced a white Christmas. This year, take it further and top off that white Christmas with traditional favourites such as reindeers, Santa Claus and the merry elves. Add husky sled rides, snowmobiling and an arctic swim for a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience!

From 20^th to 28^th December 2010, we’ll take you on a magical Christmas adventure to Finnish Lapland. This perfect family getaway will get you acquainted with traditional Finnish cuisine and introduce you to winter activities, as well as rekindle your childhood fantasies of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus, and his little helpers.

Your holiday will start off with two nights in the Finnish capital of Helsinski to experience mid-day darkness. Don’t expect a gloomy experience though, as you’ll be enjoying the city’s well-adapted interior designs at the numerous saunas, museums and restaurants of this modern city.

Next, fly out to Kemi, where you’ll be spending Christmas. Highlights at Kemi and the nearby town of Rovaniemi include reindeer and husky sled rides, viewing of Arctic wildlife such as polar bears, lynx and wolves, shopping at Santa Claus Village, snowmobiling and an Arctic swim. You’ll also get to feast on Finnish specialties during your time here.  

Read more here.

We’ve finally come to the final instalment of our A to Z series. And what could be more fitting than an ‘out-of-the-world’ experience to end off with. Z is for “Zero Gravity”!

You don’t have to become an astronaut to experience weightlessness in space. The state of weightlessness can be recreated on earth with a special flight manoeuvre called a parabola. In this manoeuvre, the plane enters a state of free-fall for a short period of time, during which, the occupants experience a state of weightlessness.

While traditionally used by NASA and other space agencies for the purposes of astronaut training, these flights have now become available to the public. One such company to offer such flights is Zero Gravity Corporation, which operates a modified Boeing 727. Each zero gravity segment of the parabola offers the passengers approximately 20 to 30 seconds of weightlessness; this manoeuvre is repeated around 12 to 15 times for a total weightless time of eight minutes.

In addition to catering for tourism purposes, Zero Gravity Corporation also offers weightless wedding experiences!

Yellowstone National Park is the world’s first national park containing half of all the world’s known geothermal features, or over 10,000 examples. It spans an area of almost 9,000 square kilometres, covering parts of Wyoming, Idaho and Montana in the United States.

It is particularly well-known for its concentration of geysers, for which there are over 300, roughly two-thirds of all the geysers on the planet. Of these, the most famous is Old Faithful, which erupts approximately every 91 minutes.

The Yellowstone Caldera is the largest volcanic system in North America, and is termed a supervolcano, due to the fact that it was formed as a result of exceptionally large eruptions. It is considered active, and has erupted several times over the last two million years. The most recent eruption occurred 640,000 years ago, and was 1,000 times larger than that of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

Picture: www.doncroner.com.

Xanadu, also known as Shangdu, is located in Inner Mongolia, 275 kilometres north of Beijing. It was the summer capital of Kublai Khan during the Yuan Dynasty.

One of the most commonly known descriptions of Xanadu came from Marco Polo, who visited the place in 1275. He described the opulence of the city, which was three days by horseback from the nearest city. It was long believed to be mythical, and the ruins were only discovered quite recently, at the end of the 20^th Century.

The capital consists of an Outer City, an Inner City, and the palace where Kublai Khan lived during the summer. The palace was about 40% the size of the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. Constructed between 1252 to 1256, over 100,000 people lived within its walls during the height of the city. However, the city fell to the Ming invasion in 1369, causing the last reigning Khan to flee the city. Today, only ruins remain, the most visible, being the earthen walls, as well as a circular brick platform in the centre of the Inner City.

One of the longest, uninterrupted running mines – Wielicka Salt Mine in Southern Poland operated from the 13^th century all the way to 2007. As such, the scale of excavation is extremely large. Totalling more than 200km in length, and seven storeys descending some 327 metres below ground, the mine consists of corridors, galleries and chambers, as well as underground lakes.

Besides being a mining museum, complete with tools and equipment dating back to the middle ages, Wielicka Salt Mine is also famous for its exceptional works of art, carved completely out of salt. Exhibits include statues of mythical and famous people, which were crafted first by the miners, and subsequently by contemporary artists. There is also an entire cathedral carved out of salt, where even the crystals on the chandeliers are carved out of rock salt.

The tour of the mine begins with a 378-step climb down to the 64-metre level of the mine, and after a 3-kilometre long tour, visitors will be 135 metres underground. An elevator, which takes 30 seconds to reach the surface, is then used to transport visitors up.

Although commonly known as Victoria Falls, it also goes by the name Mosi-oa-Tunya, which translates into “the smoke that thunders”. To get a sense of the grandeur of this natural wonder, the falls are twice as high as Niagara Falls, and several times longer. And, while not the highest, nor the widest, Victoria Falls is claimed to be the largest.

The falls can be seen from both Zimbabwe and Zambia, where two-thirds of the waterfall lies. Zambia is also where Livingstone Island is located; it is at this vantage point, where the first European, David Livingstone, first set eyes on the falls. Livingstone Island is also one of two islands on the crest of the falls, large enough to divide the curtain of water at full flood.

One of the spectacular features of the falls is Devil’s Pool, which when the river flow is at a safe level, allows for swimmers to get close to the edge of the falls without continuing over into the gorge below. This is due to a natural wall located just below the water, at the edge of the falls.

Underneath downtown Seattle is a network of underground passageways and basements that lead back to the city’s origins in the mid-1800s. At the time all the buildings were made of wood, and as a result, after a huge fire in 1889, much of the city had been damaged.

Instead of rebuilding over the damaged area, the city’s leaders gave instructions to rebuild that part of the city one to two stories above the original street. At first, merchants and pedestrians continued to use the undamaged portions of the old street level to do business, and as a sidewalk. However in 1907, the city condemned the now underground area for fear of pneumonic plague.

The only activities that remained on the old street were that of storage, as well as a host of other illegal activities such as gambling dens, illegal drinking establishments and opium dens. The underground was left to gradually deteriorate.

Today, a small portion of the underground city has been restored, and is accessible to the public on guided tours.

Truffles are a type of fungus, and the edible varieties are highly regarded in French, Spanish, Italian, as well as international cuisine. Truffles are so prized that they can command prices of up to 10,200 Euros per kilogram. They have even been referred to as “the diamond of the kitchen”.

Well there are several varieties of truffles, two of the most common include the white truffle, which hails from the Piedmont region in Italy, and black truffles, which are typically found in the Périgord region in France.  They are typically found near trees, buried a few inches into the ground.

The season for white truffles is around October and November, while that for black truffles is in January, when their perfume is at its strongest. Truffle hunting is conducted with a specially trained pig or dog in tow, to help sniff out these prized delicacies. The main differences between the two animals are that pigs have an innate ability to sniff out truffles, but have a tendency to want to eat it. Dogs are easier to control, but require more training in terms of truffle sniffing. In recent years however, dogs have become the choice of truffle hunters.