Check out Play! Actions.
Instead of using "render(suggestionlist)", either have this function return the list and call the function from within your action, or build this into your Play! Action. Then, within your Action, you can return "Ok(views.html.thePathToYourTemplate(explore()))", or "Ok(views.html.thePathToYourTemplate(suggestionList))", respectively.
Then, within your Play! template, you can declare the list at the top, and loop through the contents of the list to build your select box.
Hope this helps!