Thursday, April 12, 2012

CNNGo.com

CNNGo.com


From hot dogs to 'haute dogs' -- food trucks turn on the culinary charm

Posted: 11 Apr 2012 11:45 PM PDT

by Rachel Sang-hee Han

Later this year a team of British cooks and chefs is planning to head to New York to compete with counterparts in the United States. 

But don't expect any Michelin stars or fancy restaurant napkins to be wafted around. 

These guys are street food vendors, and their willingness to cross an ocean to show off their skills is the surest sign yet that food trucks, also known as mobile kitchens or container restaurants, have fled their Southeast Asian nests to take on the world. 

"At a time when consumers are cutting back on their restaurant spending, a van serving up fresh and inexpensive lunches and dinners is an easy sell to the public," says food journalist Richard Johnson, who also founded the British Street Food Awards. 

Where the props grow, Street Kitchen goes.

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Could budget airlines topple Asia's legacy carriers?

Posted: 11 Apr 2012 10:54 PM PDT

by Frances Cha, Seoul Editor

Traveling on budget airlines is a way of life in Europe and North America.

But in Asia, where low-cost carriers have only recently begun cutting into the market shares of established airlines, their impact on commercial aviation will likely far surpass anything seen in other markets.

Budget operators' share of the Asian aviation market surged from zero to 25 percent over the past decade, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, which estimates that there will be 50 budget airlines in the region by the end of 2012, with approximately 1,000 aircraft on order.

"Ten years ago, network airlines almost universally declared that low-cost carrier operations simply wouldn't work in the Asia Pacific region, but today nearly all full-service airlines in the region have their own low-cost offshoots," says Tom Ballantyne, Hong Kong-based chief correspondent for commercial aviation magazine Orient Aviation.

Peaches freshens up Japanese market

The latest quirkily named and brightly colored, low-cost carrier to debut in the region is Japan's Peach Aviation -- a partnership between All Nippon Airways (ANA) and an investment group in Hong Kong -- which inaugurated service in March with a flight from Osaka to Nagasaki.

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A million views and counting: The making of 'Make It Count'

Posted: 11 Apr 2012 08:08 PM PDT

by Zoe Li, Hong Kong Editor

Make It CountSingapore drove Casey Neistat wild.

When Nike hired director Casey Neistat and editor Max Joseph to make an advertisement for the Nike FuelBand (an athletic-performance tracking device), the Oregon-based company expected the pair to hunker down in their New York studios and come out with a killer spot highlighting the slogan, "Make It Count."

What Nike didn't count on was what the duo did next.

Instead of producing the agreed-upon treatment showing how everyday people are making their lives count, Neistat and Joseph took the money and ran -- right around the globe.

In the vernacular of the trade, they just did it.

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Malaysia Airlines launches kid-free economy zone

Posted: 11 Apr 2012 01:03 PM PDT

by CNNGo staff

If you want to stir up a fiery debate -- or maybe even a fist fight -- start talking about air travel and children. Inevitably, someone will declare that airlines should offer "kid-free flights." 

While that's yet to happen, Malaysia Airlines might have come up with the next best thing. A kid-free economy upper deck aboard its first A380 service, nonstop between Kuala Lumpur and London, which takes off July 1. 

Families traveling with under-12s –- including babes-in-arms -- will be automatically allocated seats in the main all-economy lower deck, says a Malaysia Airlines spokesperson.

But before we all jump to brand the decision makers at the flag carrier as a bunch of child-hating monsters, the airline is quick to point out that the 350 economy seats on the main deck of its new A380s will be enhanced and designated as a family and children-friendly inflight zone.

Malaysia Airlines says the main deck of its new A380 will be an enhanced family-friendly inflight zone. And if there's overwhelming demand for seats in economy class from families with children and infants, resulting in full load in the main deck, "we will still accommodate such demand in the 70-seat upper deck economy class zone of our A380."

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Tokyo's best museums blow the cobwebs away

Posted: 11 Apr 2012 11:55 AM PDT

by Kelly Wetherille

Japan may not have a history of museums to rival the impressive tourist draws of Rome, London or Paris, but what it lacks in longevity it makes up for in scale and innovation.

From vast labyrinths of Japanese art from throughout history to ultra-modern galleries and institutions dedicated to anime or science, Tokyo has a museum to satisfy even the most voracious culture vultures. Read on for our pick of the top five.

5. Edo-Tokyo Museum

TokyoWho needs a time machine when you've got Edo on your doorstep?

If you're able to ignore the fact that the whole thing exists inside a huge, modern building, then a visit to Edo-Tokyo Museum is almost like a trip back in time.

Several floors of permanent and temporary exhibits aim to give visitors an idea of what Tokyo was like in the past, starting from the Edo period and going up to present day.

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