Henry all good and ready to show us how to make spring rolls.

Authentic rice paper from Vietnam.

Fillings for Spring Roll.

As we sat around the table, there were slices of cucumber, fresh lettuce, bowl of dark Soy Sauce, shredded fried eggs, bowl of Bee Hoon, crisp looking rice paper and plate of carrots.

Cooking class begins.

We then followed Henry by soaking the rice paper in warm water and place it gently on a dry plate. He said “Just pick whatever you like and put it nicely on the rice paper.”

It was definitely an interactive lunch especially when you need to pick either some or all the fillings and wrap it nicely. For most of us, we felt a little foreign because it was our first time wrapping a Spring Roll. Like they said, practice makes perfect. Well in this case, as long as the vegetables or Bee Hoon (white noodles) does not fall out of the wrap, you are good to eat.

Daniel and Ruby are giving it a try.

Pick, arrange and wrap!

That’s the best part of making Vietnamese Spring Rolls for lunch. Pick only the ones you wish to eat, tuck it nicely and wrap it. Dip it in the black sauce, which is Soy Sauce drizzled with Vinegar. The Spring Rolls are really addictive.

Success!

Thanks Henry. Lunch was good and we are looking forward for next session of Food Feast. Meanwhile, check out our Singapore Food Guide to whet that appetite.

Henry hails from Vietnam and came to Singapore for better prospects and experience. He holds a Degree in IT Management and Masters in E-Management from Hanoi University of Technology and Institute of InnoTech. Henry is into a photography craze and is always on the hunt for better gadgets. Don’t worry we are not going to ask him about technical stuff.

Which part of Vietnam do you come from?
I was born in Thai Binh province and grew up in Hanoi.

What do you do in your free time?
I usually spend my free time with friends and we go for movies. I like reading news too.

What is the weirdest Vietnam dish?
Pig intestines, which most of it are imported from China.

We heard you are into photography. How many cameras do you own?
I currently own one camera, which is the Nikon D90.

Who would you like to photograph?
My female friends and scenery.

Where would you like to go for a holiday?
Somewhere that has nice beach, mountain, forest and ancient villages, which has to be more than a century old.

Which part of Vietnam would you recommend others to visit?
I would recommend going to Duong Lam village (Ha Tay province), Hanoi, Ha Long bay (Quang Ninh Provinces), Phong Nha – Ke Bang (Quang Binh province), Cham towers (Ninh Thuan province), Nha Trang, Mui Ne (Binh Thuan), Ho Chi Minh and Can Tho.

Complete this sentence, “If I wasn’t working in Singapore, I would live in Hanoi and enjoy it with my beloved ones.“

Thanks Henry. Well, for more information about the recommended places you have to read our Vietnam guide!

We have expanded our team and welcome Nabilah Husna, a Mass Communication graduate from one of Singapore’s top tertiary, Temasek Polytechnic. Now, she is part of our Editorial team. A scarf tied around the head and those striking blue highlights are her signature style. This girl will go all the way to see her favorite acts and that’s probably a smart way to see the world too! We get down to ask some questions with Nabilah.

What or who made you want to travel?

It’s probably a collective effort from the universe. (Putting the blame on one person for all my travel-rooted financial woes might be a bit unfair, I think!). The first time I traveled independently, sans-family at least, was for a music festival, and I got hit by wanderlust pretty bad after that. The quote “I was not born for one corner; the whole world is my native land” springs to mind. My first foray into living this probably started when I was when I knew that traveling would only be a ‘distant future plan’ if I didn’t just do it while I could!!

Where is the best destination you have ever been?

It’s a toss-up between Wellington and London. I probably treasure the experience of Wellington more because the people I met there, through Couchsurfing, but London summoned my Harry-Potter-fangirl side far too much to not enjoy.

Where would you love to go?

Iceland – and I’m not even sure why. Something about its glacier-ridden environment (coupled with the lack of people) fascinates me. Living in an Icelandic turf house would be awesome.

Tell us the top 5 things you must bring whenever you travel.

My iPod Touch; the wackiest, most out-there clothes in my wardrobe; antiseptic wipes; ramen packets for days when I feel poor; boots.

Since you are a fan of gigs, which best/wildest music festival have you been?

I queued up for 9 hours for a barricade spot and almost broke my neck by a kicking crowdsurfer at the Green Day gig (worth it!), but I think the most obsessive thing I’ve done was fly to Japan and Australia for gigs. The Lostprophets gig during SINGfest 2008 was pretty mad too!

Name us your favorite band/singer.

I would only spend ridiculous amounts of money for My Chemical Romance and Motion City Soundtrack (and I have). Right now my iPod’s going through a The Wombats and The Libertines phase. Can’t go wrong with British music.

Tell us the wackiest thing you have ever done at a music festival.

The Japanese show crowds are quite unlike normal crowds – raucous and loud during songs, but between them, after a round of polite applause, they calmly (and very quietly) wait for the next song. Classical music concert or heavy metal show, they’d be just as silent you can hear a pin drop. The girls I met before the shows, both American, and I were not used to this so we yelled out random stuff (“CHICKEN!!”) and got far too happy when it echoed through the entire arena. Cheap thrills.

What would you like to accomplish by end 2011?

Go back to London, join a volunteer programme, go for more gigs abroad and meet more awesome people!

Thank you, Nabilah. Check out this week’s featured article written by her.

Wow! What a year… and the time between postings is just another sign how fast it appeared to have gone by. A big thank you to all our GuideGecko fans, authors, users and  supporters!

After releasing our Singapore Travel Guide in July 2010, we ran our hugely successful ‘Catch Guido the Gecko’ campaign together with 8 DAYS magazine and a number of food and entertainment outlets in Singapore. Again, a thank you to all partners, sponsors and participants – the lucky winner received a brand new Sony Cyber-shot TX5 camera for the funniest photo with our Guido. Browse our Facebook wall around August/September for more funny photos.

We went straight on to open our online travel guide platform to other destinations worldwide. Yvonne Salisbury’s  Munich Oktoberfest Guide started, and our Tioman Island Guide followed soon after.

Then came our writing contest – thanks to all participants, voters and of course our jury. It was great having so many interesting guidebooks in the competition, and the jury had a hard time to pick the winners. I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Finally, the year ends with our brand new  iPhone apps and Kindle eBooks, which are the hot topic while I type. No wonder we are looking forward to 2011 – stay in touch!

Have a wonderful time this Christmas, and a Happy New Year!

Our primary intention is to meet up with travel authors from all over the world. We would like to show you how GuideGecko works and how you as an author can benefit from it. So if you are planning a trip to the Frankfurt Book Fair this month, please come by our booth at B100 in Hall 3.0 to say hello.

We have a ton of events planned during the fair, including short presentations for authors, bookstores and publishers, lucky draws, a small get-together with finger food and the best beer in the world (no, not the one that is only ‘probably’ the best according to their own ads). Please have a look at the event calendar to find interesting events for you.

The fair is open to the general public on Saturday and Sunday (October 17-18). From October 13-16, access is restricted to trade visitors and the press.

Also feel free to contact us and schedule an appointment outside of our event times. We are happy to see you!

We are overwhelmed by the results: We have received over 65+ entries from all over the world, and your 1000+ votes have decided on the winner: Congrats to Karl, Oliver, Anisah, Naleeza and Lorraine!

The top three titles will be showcased on the Frankfurt Book Fair, and Karl wins the trip to Frankfurt to promote his title to the world.

For more details, please take a look at our detailed contest results page with all participating guides and the number of votes.

And, if you are going to visit the Frankfurt Book Fair: Come by our booth at B100 Hall 3.0 for a chat with Karl and us. We hope to see you there!

The contest is open to all travel, food and entertainment guides. So go ahead, publish your own guides and register for the contest. We may see you in Frankfurt!

The Frankfurt Book Fair is the largest and most important book fair in the world. Held annually in October (14-18th of October this year), it attracts more than 299,000 visitors and 10,000 journalists. Over 7000 exhibitors from 100+ countries will present their titles, and GuideGecko is one of them! We will have our own booth at the fair at B100 Hall 3.0, and will also contribute two titles to the special Books On China exhibition: Two nice and comprehensive travel guides by our China expert Cheryl Probst, ‘Parents Guide to Beijing‘  and ‘DIY  Beijing: A guide for the independent traveler‘.

Please drop by our booth and say hello!

If you are planning to visit the Frankfurt Book Fair, please come by our booth at B100 in Hall3.0 and say hello!

We are very excited about it, and hope that you enjoy the website as much as we enjoyed developing it. We hope it will be a helpful resource, both for guidebook authors as well as for guidebook customers. We are looking forward to hearing your comments.

We have sent out two press releases for the event, corresponding to the two parts of the website: One press release focuses on our publishing platform where authors and publishers can upload and sell their own guides. The other press release focuses on the customer side and highlights our low prices, large variety and easy search functionalities that allow you to find exactly the guides you are looking for. I’ll copy both press releases in the next postings.

So long: Enjoy the site!