Amazing Thailand: An Awesome Quick Getaway to Learn About PULSES

Amazing Thailand: An Awesome Quick Getaway to Learn About PULSES

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This is my first time to attend an event in another country. Most of my out of the country trips are for vacation, but since I was invited, I grabbed the opportunity. Why not? It could be another awesome experience for me. We were composed of five bloggers from the Philippines to join the event regarding US Pulses. From my previous posts, I detailed about what pulses are, how can we benefit from it, and the ways to prepare and to cook the “superfoods” including the sample food demo. This time, I will summarize all the activities happened during my three days and two nights stay in Bangkok, Thailand.


PULSES: Creating New Trends in the Food Industry through these “SUPERFOODS” Pulses are versatile because it can be used as beverages and dairy alternatives like milk; used as baby food; used as bakery products; used as pasta and noodles; used as food coatings; and in the future, pulses will be used as a replacement for soya and meat. http://www.iamacesome.com/2018/02/pulses-creating-new-trends-in-food-superfoods.html Had a blast with my short stay in Bangkok, Thailand. Not only that I gained knowledge about the benefits of pulses, such as chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans, red beans, dry peas, and lentils, aka "superfoods" but because I also gained new bunch of friends. Never imagined that learning could be this awesome. Thank you, for this one of a kind experience. Cheers! 📸 @ronb10270509 @jangalvarez @grober_fuhrer #heart #healthyfood #healthy #beans #greenpeas
A post shared by Ace Medina Paragoyo (@iamacesome) on

This trip was sponsored by the Agrisource thru funded project from the U.S Dry Pea and Lentil Council and the American Pulses Association. We were contacted by the Page and Paper PR Agency in Bangkok, Thailand headed by Robert Woodrich and Aaron Henry. Our round trip tickets were booked by Ms. Jenny Lumain of Agrisource and our Hotel booking was arranged by Duangchai “Jim” Pancom of Agrisource.
I arrived at the Terminal 2 of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport at exactly six o’clock in the morning of January 24, 2018. Our scheduled flight to Bangkok, Thailand was at 09:30 AM. The flight duration is 3 hours and 30 minutes from Manila to Bangkok. Before I check-in, I waited for one of the bloggers, Aci, to arrive. At around 06:30 AM, Aci and I proceeded to the check-in line. After 20 minutes of waiting, we were done with the check-in process. Our flight tickets were inclusive of 20 kilos check-in baggage and travel tax amounting to 1,620.00Php. Our flight was via Philippine Airlines – the flagship airline of my beloved country, the Philippines. 

Then, we proceeded to the immigration, after filling out the required details in the immigration form. It was a smooth process passing through the security checks of the immigration officer. After that, we have waited for the other bloggers to arrive at the waiting area of the assigned boarding gate (free time while waiting – taking pictures and having breakfast). Team Philippines were completed before the boarding time. During the flight, we had a free lunch and dessert which was totally commendable. We enjoyed every minute of our stay in the plane – from the food we ate, the movies we watched and up to the services we enjoyed. Two thumbs up!

Finally, we arrived at the famous “Suvarnabhumi Airport” of Bangkok, Thailand. And I said to myself, “It was nice to be back after 2009”. We proceeded to the immigration and lined-up at the foreign passport. We have waited for almost 30 minutes (since Thailand is the most visited country in the world) before we have made it to the immigration counter. Then, we proceeded to the conveyor to get our check-in luggage. After that, we went to Gate 4 to meet Jim from Agrisource. She accompanied us to the Conrad Hotel Bangkok which is about a 45-minute ride (traffic included) from the airport. It was our accommodation for the whole duration of the event. 

 We arrived at around 03:00PM and then we proceeded to the reception area to check-in. It took us like 15 minutes before we got our room keys – they checked our passport and asked for a deposit of 6,000.00Php (I forgot how much in Baht). After that, we went to our assigned rooms and took some photos and videos of the beautiful Executive King Room. After that, we (together with my fellow bloggers from the Philippines – MJ, Ruth, Rochelle, and Aci) went to the Executive Lounge for some refreshments – bread, cookies, cakes, fruits, drinks. And since I was in Thailand, I ordered an authentic Thai Milk Tea. After that, we decided to take a rest prior to our scheduled dinner.


At 06:00 PM, we met at the lobby for our Orientation Dinner to be held at the Indulge Asian Fusion Restaurant. During the dinner, Aaron Henry, one of the PR assistants talked about why we were gathered in the place and what were the activities we will be doing for the duration of the event in Bangkok, Thailand. That time, we were able to meet bloggers from Thailand and Indonesia (cannot remember all the names, however, some were already my friends in Instagram). The chef of Indulge Asian Fusion Restaurant, together with the staff, proudly served all our food that featured pulse-based dishes. All the food were appetizing and mouth-watering. For me, the starters really standout – sweet potato and chickpea hummus with salsa verde chicken, lentil soup shooter, and black-eyed bean cucumber mint salad. The soup was tasty and the chicken/bean are both savoury. The main course was a choice between Lamb chili con carne with kidney beans and Pan seared salmon with green pea mash. And for dessert, they have Nutella stuffed poached pear with vanilla bean ice cream.

sweet potato and chickpea hummus with salsa verde chicken, lentil soup shooter, and black-eyed bean cucumber mint salad

Lamb chili con carne with kidney beans
Pan seared salmon with green pea mash
Nutella stuffed poached pear with vanilla bean ice cream

After our dinner, at around 08:30PM, we went straight to CRAFT Bangkok for our Happy Hour Refreshment Pairing of pulse snacks. I have tasted some of the beers from the set of shot glasses. There were actually 5 sets of different beers, what I really liked was the Dog Days Summer Beer – the flavour was like moderate sweet and refreshing. Any drinks, alcohol or non-alcohol, were best paired with pulse snacks like bean chip, chickpeas crisp, hummus chips, roasted lentils, roasted black bean and roasted chickpeas. The place was perfect because of its cool ambiance that you will really enjoy with your friends.

Bloggers from the Philippines

roasted lentils, roasted black bean, and roasted chickpeas 

bean chip, chickpeas crisp, hummus chips

At around 10:00PM, we decided to go back to our hotel since we have an early schedule for tomorrow and it will be a very busy day for us.


We woke up at 06:00AM to prepare and to have a quick breakfast at the Executive Lounge of the hotel. At 08:30AM, we met at the lobby for our Pulses Cooking Class that will feature local and regional cuisines with Chef Norbert Ehrbar at the UFM Cooking School. Before doing the hands-on activity in the cooking class, Dee Richmond, the Senior Project Manager of Agrisource, presented to us what U.S. PULSES were all about and its classes – lentils, chickpeas, dry bean, and dry peas. Dee also showed us some products all over the world that uses PULSES like green peas (which, in my country, the Philippines, were main ingredients of popular snacks, Muncher and Sunshine). You can check this link to know more about PULSES. After that small discussion, Chef Norbert presented to us the basic preparation of the U.S. Pulses before heading to the kitchen for the cooking demonstration of pulse-based dishes. Afterwards, we took a break for us to have our lunch – which, by the way, still highlighted the pulses. After our lunch, we have started our hands-on cooking. It was an amazing experience since it was also my first time to try this kind of hands-on cooking with a real Master in the kitchen, Chef Norbert. To know more about our cooking class, you may check this link - How to prepare and to cook the PULSES. 



After our cooking class, Aci, Rochelle and I went straight ahead to Siam and MBK Mall for a quick shopping of stuffs we can bring home to our loved ones. I bought sweet and spicy tamarind, ref magnet, shot glass, sweet and spicy dried squid, egg roll with pork floss, and squash chips. We went back to the Hotel to take some rest and to prep up for our dinner, afterwards. That was just a quick shopping experience! We have to go back in UFM Cooking School at 05:00PM because Jim is waiting for us to accompany us to the hotel using her car. (How to get there? Going to Siam Mall from UFM Cooking School, we rode at the BTS from Phrom Phong station to Siam station – 33 Baht each. Then, from MBK to UFM Cooking School, we rode at the BTS from National Stadium station to Phrom Phong – 37 Baht each).

Mr. Peter M. Haymond, Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the United States of America in Thailand

At 07:00 PM, we had our Pulses’ 9-course dinner at Liu in Conrad Bangkok Hotel. One of the special guests in our dinner is the Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy of the United States of America in Thailand, Mr. Peter M. Haymond. Dee introduced Mr. Peter for the welcome remarks before we started our dinner together with Simon Ramsay the General Manager of Radisson Hotel in Bangkok. The dinner was prepared by Chef Jacky which featured pulses in all the dishes of the Cantonese cuisine. All the foods were delectable and best to partner with wine. 
Simon Ramsay the General Manager of Radisson Hotel in Bangkok
Chef Jacky which featured pulses in all the dishes of the Cantonese cuisine

From all the dish that I have tasted during our dinner, the Barbecued Peking Duck got me. It was so delicious and of course, the skin of Peking duck is really crunchy. Other dishes were Four Kinds of Hot and Cold Hor D’oeuvres, Double Boiled Black Chicken, Stewed Fish Maw, Sauteed Scallops, Duet of Vegetables, Deep Fried Bamboo Fish, Fried Rice, and Ginkgo Nuts.

Barbecued Peking Duck

Four Kinds of Hot and Cold Hor D’oeuvres

Double Boiled Black Chicken

Sauteed Scallops

Stewed Fish Maw

Duet of Vegetables

Deep Fried Bamboo Fish

Fried Rice

Ginkgo Nuts

After our dinner, we went back to our room to change clothes. We all decided to walk and to check out Bangkok at night. What we did was we bought a corn pie (Yes, a corn pie! It’s new to us) at McDonald’s. Also, I ordered my all-time favourite iced-chocolate (at McDo) which I have tasted during my first Bangkok trip way back in 2009. And then we bought sliced guava for 20 Baht – small, 30 Baht – large and unripe mango for 20 Baht (we both liked the taste with sweet and spicy and salty dip).

At 09:30AM (I woke up at 06:00AM to prepare and to take a breakfast at the Executive Lounge of the Hotel), we met at the lobby for van pickup to the airport. Our van left the hotel at around 10:10AM. Then, we have reached the airport at around 10:40AM. We went to the check-in counter of the Philippine Airlines to drop-off our check-in baggage. After that, we proceeded to the immigration, like what happened during our arrival, it took us almost an hour before we passed through the security checks of the immigration officer. Our flight was scheduled at 01:50PM and we still have time to explore the airport and to buy something for our loved ones (free time while waiting – taking pictures). 

Again, the Team Philippines were completed before the boarding time and was ready to go home. The flight was as comfortable as the flight we had going to Thailand. Thanks, PAL! You truly knows the heart of the Filipinos! Then, we arrived in Manila. We went to the immigration and lined-up at the Philippine passport counter. After passing through the immigration counter, we proceeded to the conveyor to get our check-in luggage then went straight to the exit. That was an amazing experience together with my fellow bloggers from the Philippines – Ruth, MJ, Rochelle, and Aci.

Bloggers from the Phillippines with Chef Norbert Ehrbar
Had a blast with my short stay in Bangkok, Thailand. Not only that I gained knowledge about the benefits of pulses, such as chickpeas, kidney beans, black beans, red beans, dry peas, and lentils, aka "superfoods" but because I also gained new bunch of friends. Never imagined that learning could be this awesome. 


Thank you, for this one of a kind experience. Cheers!

Agrisource team - Dee, Jim, and Jenny
Chef Jil
Paper and Page Team - Robert and Aaron
Chef Norbert Ehrbar and UFM Cooking School Team
Bloggers from Thailand, Indonesia, and Philippines
Conrad Bangkok Hotel
Indulge Restaurant staff
Craft Bangkok
Chef Jacky and Liu team at Conrad Bangkok
United States Dry Bean Council
USA Dry Pea & Lentil Council
Pulse Association of the Philippines


More Information:

Conrad Bangkok Hotel
87 Wireless Road, Phatumwan, Bangkok, 10330, Thailand
TEL: +66-2-690-9999

Indulge Fusion Food & Cocktail Bar
403-403/1, 407-407/1 Sukhumvit Road
(between Sukhumvit 21-23)
Khlong Toei Nuea, Watthana
Bangkok 10110 Thailand
T. +66 2661 7229
M. +669 5551 8400
F. +66 2661 7277

CRAFT Bangkok
12pm - 12am Everyday
CRAFT (Sukhumvit 23), 16 Soi Sukhumvit 23, Khlong Toei Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
022580541
info@craftbangkok.com

UFM Baking & Cooking School
593/29-39 Soi Sukhumvit33/1, Sukhumvit Rd., North Klongton, Wattana, Bangkok 10110 
Tel : (662) 259-0620-30, 260-5280-300 ext.407,408
Fax : (662) 259-0632 Line ID: 0813590069 , Mobile: 081-3590069

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