White Guy in Asia (Part Duex)

Well, after spending another year in the United States and graduating from the University of North Carolina with degrees in Political Science and Entrepreneurship, it appears that I am heading back to Asia. This new trip and experience will breath new life into the old "White Guy in Asia" blog. Part deux, a renaissance, whatever you want to call it, this blog is back.

In late July or early August, I will be moving to Shanghai to study and research the various customers and potential customers of DragonBets.com. Additionally, I will be managing the company and recruiting talent from my apartment in Shanghai. This trip and early stage growth is being financed by Mark Fagan, an American who has spent several years in China with companies such as sina.com and eachnet.com. Thanks Mark!

Also, very big thanks to all of my mentors and entrepreneurship professors, especially Buck, Ted & John.

Keep this blog in your bookmarks to stay up to date on your favorite white guy in asia - More Soon!!!

For those of you out there who are still keeping up with this or just stumbled across this page from a search engine (apparently there are many of you)I will take a moment to brief everyone on my latest project. From my experience in Thailand, namely time with the locals, I have decided to launch a new project.

Dragonbets.com will be an Asian Handicap Football Community targeted at the East Asian Region. In 5 different languages the site features Live Asian Handicap Odds, game previews, an Asian handicap odds comparison tool, and an exciting Asian football forum.

Don't delay and become the next member of the growing dragonbets community!

Well folks,

This trip is over. I am now in the midst of my journey home stopped for a brief layover in Japan. Japan is amazing, there is crazy advanced technology everywhere, I wish I could stay longer.

To everyone who has faithfully been reading the blog (there are many according to the stats), thank you for your interest in my summer adventure. It has been a great trip and I am certainly ready to come home. I now leave Osaka at 3:00 PM and arrive in Los Angeles at 10:00 AM, the same day.

An additional thanks to Lingmei Howell, KIAsia, Buck Goldstein, BJ and, of course, Puumsoft.

Adam, John and I stayed in Bangkok and relaxed for my final weekend in Thailand. On Saturday evening, UNC threw a bash at the Oriental Hotel for Chancellor Moeser's visit to Thailand. The three of us threw on some suits and took a taxi down to the Oriental, regarded as one of the ten nicest hotels in the world.

We were all very impressed with the attendees and their awareness of the CEI (Carolina Entrepreneurship Initiative). Many of the people there were quite familiar with the Entrepreneurship Minor and were very interested to speak with us about the new program. In particular, Chancellor Moeser applauded our bravery as the first undergraduate interns to travel all the way to Bangkok and regaled us with the international acclaim that UNC has received for its burgeoning entrepreneurship program. After the reception, we traveled along with some of the other students from UNC to a few late night spots in Bangkok.

Right now it is Monday morning at Puumsoft. This week I will be travelling out of the office to a few of our clients' places to complete some customer satisfaction surveys. Additionally, I will be doing further work on the competitive analysis project. Thursday I pack my stuff and Friday I wake up early to fly for 30 some odd hours back to CLT.

If you need an elephant bobble-head or another trinket from Thailand, speak now or forever hold your peace.

I apologize for not making any posts since the end of last weekend. Nothing very interesting happens during the work week.

Adam and John arrived last Thursday at about 6:00 PM. I met up with them at my apartment, Bally's, where they were planning on staying a few days while they get situated. Bangkok baptized them quickly with a short but intense monsoon of a storm. That evening we went out for some traditional Thai food and fun. We met up with my boss from Puumsoft, BJ, and showed Adam and John a glimpse of the 'real' Bangkok.

The next morning we all woke up early and headed out to Bangkok International for our flight to Phuket. Adam and John had already secured that Friday off from work and wanted to take advantage of their three day weekend. So, having only been in Bangkok 12 hours, the three of us flew down to beautiful Phuket for the weekend.

As everyone knows, the December 26 Tsunami disaster hit many areas, including the Thai island of Phuket. As a whole, Thailand did not get hit very bad by the Tsunami. They lost about 5K of the over 300K who died. On a positive note, things of Phuket appear to have recovered nicely. The infrastructure is still intact and business is proceeding as normal. The Tsunami caused the greatest damage to the tourism industry. Normally a packed, crowded and stressful vacation spot, Phuket's beaches were empty during our three days in the area.

Once we arrived on the island, we took a taxi to the Kata Beach Resort. Although we had yet to make a reservation, we were optimistic that the rates would be good during the low season. We began talking with the front desk and quickly realized we could get a better rate online. In a cunning last minute move, the three of us proceeded to book our highly discounted internet rate using the hotel lobby's own internet access. It was perhaps one of the more entrepreneurial moments of the trip.

The rest of the weekend included lots of sand, pools and sun. We relaxed on Saturday and took a speedboat tour of the region on Sunday. The speedboat tour took us to many interesting spots, including two beaches made famous by Hollywood. 'The Beach' was a Leonardo DiCaprio movie set on the beach of one of the islands we visited. And I am not sure which one, but some James Bond movie was filmed in the region as well (Perhaps the Man with the Golden Gun?). We snorkeled and chased clown fish and got way too much sun. The tour was excellent but my stomach thanked me when the boat ride ended.

After the bus ride down to Ban Phe, ferrys carry people to the island of Koh Samet. On my ferry I met three beautiful Norwegians that I spent my the next two days with. Linda, Linn, Torill & I boarded a sketch island truck/taxi right after the sun set to find out beach, Wong Dueng. The truck driver took us through what looked like Vietnam for about 10 minutes and then dropped us off at in the middle of nowhere. He just said, walk around the corner down the beach. That we did and arrived at a quaint village of no more than 100 people. There were a few hotel rooms and bars run by expatriates who had settled on this remote island. The Angels and I ate dinner and then tied one on at a bar on the tropical beach. The bar provided bamboo platforms over the edge of the water with little bamboo tables and triangular thai pillows. The waves crashed right before and then the surf washed up under the tables. Extremely picturesque. Good times.

The next morning I slung myself out of bed and rolled down to the beach where I spend the next 12 hours doing nothing. I read my book, I went swimming, I got some sun and I paid ~$6 for an hour and a half massage (On the beach mind you). The Norwegian Angels and I then grabbed a speed boat taxi to the next beach over. We settled into our bungalows and then met up later for another night of drinks. "Weekend" really has a whole new meaning when you worked 40 hours the week before.


Doing nothing.

In light of the international situation in Siem Reap, I am indeed postponing my trip. I am leaving at noon on a bus to the island of Ko Samet, a national park in Thailand. The island has many beaches and small bungalows to relax in. I will just be taking it easy before my wild trip to Phuket next weekend with Adam and John.

Hopefully I can convince Adam and John to go with me to Angkor Wat the following weekend. Probably because I am a Political Science major, there is some bent appeal in traveling to one of the least developed, land mind ridden, political disaster areas in our world.

I had already planned to take tomorrow off and head out to Siem Reep, Cambodia to view the famed 8th wonder of the world, the Angkor Temple complex. However, six men with shot-guns have siezed a foriegn kindergarden school and have murdered at least one student. It's the #1 story on Google News at the moment. See articles:

BBC

Times Online

Not only is this occuring in Cambodia, it is occuring in the very village I was planning visiting TOMORROW. Looks like I will be making other arrangements -

Well I woke up early and caught a train to the old capital of Thailand, Ayutthaya, this morning. When I arrived I engaged the services of a tuk-tuk driver for the afternoon to show me the sights. We drove around and visited all of the most important wats in the city. Many of which were over 750 years old. We visited a temple with the largest Buddha in Thailand, built in 1350. The tuk-tuk driver also provided me with the opportunity, finally, to ride an elephant. After getting price gouged by the opportunistic (and entrepreneurial) Thais with elephants I was able to ride one around the park. Good times for sure. When my four hour tour of the city ended, I caught the train back and recharged in the hotel pool with a friend from slovenia for this coming week -






Can't put the phone down.

A few weeks ago, I met some British lads at a local watering hole. I was grabbing some quick dinner and they were mingling around the pool table. The blokes informed me they were members of the Pool In Bangkok (www.poolinbangkok.com) nine ball pool league and were warming up for their weekly Wednesday night match. A few Chang/Tiger/Singha beers later, and I agreed to pinch hit for them the coming wednesday when one of their mates would be back in London.

The next week I caught up with the team at the home bar, Larry's Dive. We then "travelled" two blocks down the road for our "away" match at bar Happiness. I was admittedly the worst player on the team. Fortunately, I was trusted to turn the meet around with Larry's Dive down three matches to two. In game one, my Thai opponent afforded me an easy opportunity to pocket the nine by scratching. Game two came and went with me quickly tapping in the nine. The match then abruptly ended with my stellar break that pocketed the match's third nine ball.

That and 40 hour weeks at Puumsoft are the latest from Thailand. Sunday I am travelling to Ayutthaya which is the old capital of Thailand. Lots of wats. More soon,

Tay Za and his wife, Mimi, picked me up at the crack of dawn on Saturday for our trip to Kanchanaburi province. We planned the trip around playing a some golf at this country club Tay Za knows well. We teed off at 1:00 and played like trash. Oh well, good times. I played the 19th hole the best. After our round we cleaned ourselves up and headed out for dinner at the River Kwai. Not only at the river, but on the river via floating restaurant. The boat/restuarant was adjacent to "the bridge" over the River Kwai. Tay Za and Mimi are both Burmese and refreshed my WWII history of the Asian theater. This morning we stopped by the WWII cemetary and paid our respects to the fallen soldiers from the UK and Australia. The experience was very sobering, giving real meaning to the scope and the price that was paid by the greatest generation.

Today, on the way back, we stopped by a Buddhist temple famous for protecting endagered tigers. It was amazing. Although the monastery acts as a sort of zoo, there are no cages and no containment. Once you are within the walls, there is nothing seperating you from 20 or so fully grown tigers. I made friends with this tiger (See picture). We talked about how bad my Thai was. Then he took a nap ;).

Oh, and just to give everyone an idea about how bad Thai / Bangkok traffic is, it took us just shy of 7 hours to make it less than 135 kilometers (~90 miles).

Well after a fascinating week on the 17th floor, me and Tay Za decided there is only one thing to do. Play golf. So he is picking me up bright and early tomorrow morning to drive 3 hours to a country club on the River Kwai. We are going to play a round tomorrow and then another on Sunday. On the way back to Bangkok on Sunday we have planned a stop at a Buddhist Monastery where the monks keep tigers. Apparently the tigers and monks co-exist in this odd intertwined relationship.

Trip review coming Sunday.

I have a cell phone in Thailand. The country code is 66 and then my number is 6975 - 9016. Everyone please call me and bother me. It will be appreciated. Keep in mind the 12 hour time difference from the east coast.

Well, after another exciting day at Puumsoft, the boys convinced me to head down to the local racquet club for some tennis. They said tennis, which apparently means badminton. Any who, shuttlecocks or tennis balls it was all the same. After getting brutally embarrassed in short order by two female coworkers, me and Tay Za staged an unpredictable rally in game two. Down 13 - 2, I led the comeback serving for seven straight points. With hope emerging at 13 - 9, Tay Za made some nice plays and finished out the 13 - 0 run for the win. Good times.

They said badminton is an Olympic sport. I believe them.

Since I returned from Hong Kong I have been putting in hours at Puumsoft. The team has first commissioned me to design a new website for their COACH Performance Management software. Additionally, I will more than likely develop a Performance Management portal and then go through the normal SEO procedures on both sites. After we complete these projects, I will be performing a competitive analysis of rival software.

As soon as I could see the islands of Hong Kong from the airplane on the way in I was sure I would love this place. Although 75% of Hong Kong has been declared natural park, the other 25% houses its 6 million people (I took the tour today, ;) ).This results in an urban area unequaled. Last night I went out to a few local watering holes and mixed with the locals. On the way out, I stopped at a typical chinese restaurant here in Hong Kong. Using all the Cantonese I know, I pointed at something appetizing on the picture menu. God knows what it was, but I ate it and moved on. This morning I woke up early, had breakfast at the hotel and then headed out to check out the central business district on foot. I then returned to the hotel at 2 for the Hong Kong Island tour. We went up to Victoria Peak, the top of the island, for spectacular views. After we headed around the southeastern coast of the island checking out some of the old fishing villiages (see picture). Next we drove up the coastline checking out the beaches and local markets. I was blown away by the real estate and expensive cars, including a Maybach, many RR's, a handfull of Maseratis, a Ferrari and a Murcielago.

Tonight I am heading out on a booz cruise of the harbor. I mean, an educational and insightfull aquatic tour of the region ;). Its a cruise around the island at night to take in the beatufilly lit skyline and all of Hong Kong's lights.
More soon,






My new Chinese friend, watch out Kyle.

Over lunch today BJ informed me of the Thai national holiday on Monday. He suggested I travel around as this was the only official 3 day weekend on the books. We talked for a while about Angkor Wat in Cambodia and how there are new direct flights to the adjacent city from Bangkok. BJ convinced me to travel, but I refrained from diving too deep into Asia quite yet. Hong Kong seemed a much more viable option . . .

When we returned from lunch, the personal assistant to the company chairman helped me find a flight to Hong Kong. Hotels.com provided a cheap 4 star place to hang my hat and the trip was official.

I haven't even figured out where I live in Bangkok and I am off to Hong Kong. This trip is great.

This morning at 10AM, Tracy from KIAsia picked me up and took me via Tuk-Tuk to Sukhumvit road to catch the subway. From there we walked down Petchaburi road to the Ital Thai Tower for my first day at Puumsoft.

We started with introductions in the conference room between BJ, Eksakul, and Sumalee. BJ, my new boss, informed me that the company had recently finished developing its People Performace Software and was ready to shift gears from developement to marketing and sales. Furthermore, he briefed me on potential options to help Puumsoft and my new membership of the Marketing and Sales team.

Puumsoft is great. The office sits on the 17th floor of the Ital Thai Tower, the 16th largest building in Bangkok. The office includes two other companies owned by the same person, Paul, who is on the board of directors at KIAsia.

My hat goes off to KIAsia and the Kenan Institute in Chapel Hill. My apartment is located in downtown Bangkok and is more than I could have imagined. Lingmei told me that we would be living like kings. I expected nice, but not this nice. Marble, new furniture, a new tv, and high-speed internet access right in my room will certainly make this a tough trip.

Yesterday ended up as a 36 hour long day. The 18 hour flight from LAX to BKK stopped at the airport built on a man made island in Osaka, Japan. The Japanese engineering was very impressive. From there, the Thai Airways flight spent 5 more hours in the air to make it to Bangkok. Needless to say, when I finally arrived in Bangkok, I was exhausted.

Right now, Tracy from KIAsia is on her way over here to pick me up and take me to my first day at Puumsoft.

Cheers,


The view from my balcony.

Well folks,

This opportunity has evolved and arrived faster than I had expected. Hopefully this blog will help curb my habit of failing to stay in touch with people while abroad. I will try to post to this thing a few times a week to keep folks updated on the latest in Thailand.

For those who will receive an email from a mutual friend informing you for the first time of my latest international foray, I apologize. Please berate me with email and yell at me for not staying in better touch. With that said, if you know anyone who knows me, please send them the link to this site.

I am off to the 17th story of the Ital-Thai Tower in downtown Bangkok,

Charles Gillespie
Bally Studio Suites
172 Soi Sukhumvit 20
Klongtoey, Bangkok 10110
Thailand