A tale of 4 motorcycle taxi drivers and a Stranger in Bangkok

The Stranger in Bangkok is happy to announce that this blog has officially come back to life! After a couple of lethargic months, this is my 4th post this month, and my mind is still bursting with topics to share with everyone.

Anyway, I am quite sick today. Woke up with a sore throat and spent the entire afternoon in bed, not a very nice thing to do alone here, but oh well, looking back at last night, I guess it's all worth it.

I was the victim of this freshly-cut BBQ pork

Last night, my company organised a BBQ to celebrate 3 of my staff's birthdays together. It was, as expected, a very enjoyable evening. Watching them having fun brings so much joy and satisfaction to my heart. These past 18 months has been the ride of my life, and despite the many downs, I am still amazed when I look at the small team I have built. Aside of Nim, my accountant (who had been selling home-made doughnuts to coffeeshops for half a year before I offered her the job), ALL my 4 male employees are motorcycle taxi drivers!

Motorcycle taxi driver 1: Rit, who will soon evolve from warehouse supervisor to sales manager

Motorcycle taxi drivers 2 & 3, from left: Mit, my trustworthy delivery man and Keng, my warehouse manager

I don't have a special love for motorcycle taxi drivers, it just happened this way. Actually, Rit and Keng were full-time bellboys at a hotel when they were recruited by me, but till today, both of them are still moonlighting as motorcycle taxi drivers to earn some extra cash during their free time. I tried many ways to recruit employees, including the common tried-and-trusted way of using established recruitment websites, and in the end? Aside of the fact that I only managed to interview 5 of the 11 candidates who promised to come for interviews (welcome to Thailand), the two I eventually employed (1 with a track record of 3000SGD of sales commission per month in his previous job) failed miserably for various reasons. At the end of the day, I found out that what I needed was not credentials nor experience, but a humble learning attitude and excellent working integrity. As long as he/she is honest and willing to learn, even if he is a motorcycle taxi driver, I will use my heart and soul to train him till he realises his potential. Special mention now needs to go to my latest motorcycle-taxi-driver recruit..

Uncle 29, real name Somsuk, warehouse employee and back-up delivery man

He just turned 49 today (happy birthday!). Despite his age, he's a tireless workhorse who gives our company loads of energy whenever he's around. When we're drained at 10pm looking at the tonnes of goods still to be unloaded from the container, he will be the one still singing songs to boost everyone's morale.

Last night, he showed us that he can dance as well!

Uncle 29 really enjoyed himself tremendously at the BBQ and our pub-visit following it, even climbing onto the bench to dance at one point, only to receive a stern warning from pub management. But oh well, as he worked overtime in the afternoon to deliver goods with Mit, everything went downhill for them shortly after this picture was taken.

They were unconscious! And it wasn't even midnight.

What can a Stranger in Bangkok and a gang of 4 motorcycle taxi drivers achieve?

If you are talking about building nuclear reactors or constructing fighter jets, the answer will be: Close to nothing.

However, for a trading company like mine which does not involve rocket science, I am confident enough to say that, given time, we will be able to achieve much more than anyone can ever imagine. Our unique story will continue to unfold, watch this space!

A touch of tradition at Tha Prachan, Bangkok's Moon Pier

Thanks to Wendy and Nueng, I feel like a Stranger in Bangkok once again. Not knowing about Kway Chap at Yaowarat is one thing, but not understanding the wonders of the Chao Phraya River after nearly 1.5 years here is really unforgiveable. Last Sunday, for the first time, I managed to explore many areas of Bangkok using the ferry boat service, and at 14baht per trip, I finally realise that if we live and work at the right places, there is another way to avoid the hell-ish traffic, use the boat! Ahh..... the beauty of Thailand, this mode of transport wouldn't be remotely possible in Singapore or my native Kuching.

A whiff of nostalgia along Chao Phraya River

The river aside, something else left an impression that day--a few small pieces of crispy toasted bread. Friends from Singapore, it's not Ya Kun Kaya Toast ok? As much as I admire the owners of Ya Kun for fusing their tradition with flashes of modern brilliance and in turn transforming their business into the current mini-empire, I can't help but take my hat off to those who do everything to hold on tight to their original craft.

Tha Prachan's famous sugar butter cracker, with a garlicky variant as well

Back to the story, Wendy, Nueng and I were strolling through the streets near Tha Prachan (I personally was a little surprised at Thai people's love for Buddhist amulets) when we spotted an old corner shoplot with a long queue. True to the Singapore spirit, Wendy jumped into the queue before Neung started telling us about this old stall, which has been making butter sugar crackers the same way for goodness-knows how many years, selling it at the same price as well-20baht per pack (the same pack as the picture above) amidst the many recessions and of course, the unceasing annual inflation.

The 2 lovely ladies, but one should look at the lady in the background to know how hot it is



Slicing the home-made bread and applying butter like a machine



Before baking till crisp in this furnace, which the poor customers need queue in front of



This is where everything bottlenecks, the packers were extremely slow in comparison to their counterparts

To ensure the queue moves, every customer can only buy a maximum of 20 packs!

On a side note, I feel inspired to teach all my readers to read some Thai, especially when this word is so close to my heart. So here goes....

Ah.... Roy (low tone)....... this word means delicious

After this trip, I no longer wonder why business owners don't necessarily want to embrace new techniques to make things easier for everyone. At the end of the day, product quality must be the focus and they are doing whatever they can to preserve the priceless originality of their creations. Consequently, they might not have achieved their potential in terms of wealth, but I am sure they are satisfied enough with what they have and who are we to knock them? Those who just can't stand queueing in front of a giant oven, you are more than welcome to munch some Kaya Toast over a cup of black coffee under the comfort of air-conditioning at Ya Kun. I, for one, prefer to stand and watch the masters at work here in Tha Prachan before this art disappears.

Thank you Nueng, for showing me again what Thai hospitality really means. I am delighted that you got your dream job and will be staying in Bangkok!

Where are we going next?

The Stranger in Bangkok finds 1 reason to go to Yaowarat -- Kway Chap

Yaowarat is the name of Bangkok's Chinatown. It's a place known for amazing chinese restaurants, goods of all sorts, goldsmiths, money changers, hardware houses, but above all else, traffic jams. The scene depicted on the picture above is a common daily scene at Yaowarat. Countless motionless cars struggling in the heat, pedestrians meandering through the crevices among stagnant vehicles..... it's just a horrible place to go to.

I still remember the only time I went to meet a customer, we couldn't find a place to park, and when we finally did, we had to walk around 1.5km to my customer's shop through many small streets, and back again after the meeting, only to be stuck in the traffic forever..... it's just so inefficient.

However, thanks to my Uni-mate Wendy (another fellow Stranger-in-Bangkok) and her Thai friend Neung, I begin to understand the beauty of Yaowarat, starting with the dish -- Kway Chap. For all my foreign readers, maybe you might not understand what I am talking about, but my Singaporean and Malaysian friends would identify this dish with deliciously-braised pork bits accompanied by a bowl of piping hot, curled-up flat rice noodle.

Kway Chap - Singapore style

It's always been one of my favourite coffeeshop foods in Singapore. The Kuching version is slightly different, with the pork bits added on top of the flat rice noodle in 1 single bowl, but equally salty, soya saucy and yummy.

However, when this bowl of Kway Chap at Yaowarat (at the junction of Thanon Yaowaphanit) was served in front of me, it looked very suspicious. It wasn't brown at all, in fact, almost clear, looking like Singapore's 猪杂汤(mixed pork innards soup). The first taste of the broth surprised me yet again, as it's spicy, exceedingly spicy, the peppery way, reminding me of Bak Kut Teh instead.

The spicy peppery Singapore Bak Kut Teh

Seriously, it's really a bowl full of pleasant surprises, it looks like pork innards soup, tastes like Bak Kut Teh and is really Thailand's version of Kway Chap (which is a reasonable name because it has the curled up flat rice noodles at the bottom, which is what the name means). Even the usually bubbly and cheerful Wendy fell into a dead silence after taking her first sip, it was too good for us to even think of splitting our concentration for one moment.

Presenting Thailand's Kway Chap, complete with fresh odourless innards and crispy pork belly!

I realised why I couldn't feel the true allure of Yaowarat the last time, because stalls like these could only open after 630pm, which is the time when I am already battling with the ferocious jams trying to manoeuvre my way back to the office. That's when the REAL food shows up, and the fiery afternoon sun takes a rest to be replaced by a bearable evening breeze.

Wendy (left) and Neung (right)

Thank you ladies, for giving me the opportunity to change my view of Chinatown.

It's clear that the durian season is drawing near

With such exotic sights and exciting tastes, I have no doubt that I will be back in Yaowarat again, not for work, but for a leisurely stroll down the delectable street food stalls on a lazy Sunday evening.

An afternoon out of Bangkok to Sam Chuk's Hundred Year Old Market

This post is long overdue. Work's still overwhelming, and I just got back from a fulfilling trip to Singapore, meeting with some great old friends, attending my sister-in-law's wedding and even playing basketball after more than 10 years with the exact people who made me love the game. Among the countless things to blog about, I realised my visit to Samchuk Market (around 2 hours drive away from Bangkok) is something I just can't deprive you of.

Firstly, I would like to thank Xinyi, Par and May for inviting Li Li and myself to this place which I have not heard of. I like to visit authentic spots where Thai people set up to service fellow Thais, and by seeing just 1 caucasian during the entire trip, what better place could there be?

Actually, the most impressive part is the entire ambience of the place. It still has the rustic old street market feel, but yet well-paved walkways and cleanliness makes it a breeze for anyone to spend an entire day there without finding any excuse to head home early. However, we do recommend you to either visit in the morning or after 3pm to avoid the scorching mid-day sun.

These charcoal irons were the first things which caught my eyes at the market.

There were many stalls selling old-fashioned kitchenware like these

To be really honest, the whole Samchuk experience would not be complete without the food. The colour and the vibrance of the traditional delicacies would brighten anyone's day, especially if you couple it with the energy of the vendors too.

I do hope my collage does the food justice.

Amongst the limitless choices of food on display, I would point you to 2 must-try specialties:

What are those monsters? Coconuts?

No! They are gigantic meatballs!

These meatballs are REALLY HUGE. They are reputed to weigh around 1 kg each (the normal steak we eat at a steakhouse weighs around 350g). They really do taste like normal meatballs, just enormous.

The next one everyone should try is the Kao Ho Baay Bua, which translates to Rice Wrapped in Lotus Leaf. Though it doesn't taste spectacular enough to make you go 'wow', a picture of this pretty little thing plus a firm handshake with the friendly middle-aged cowboy who owns the stall will make your foray worthwhile.

My favourite of the day has to go to this coffeeshop, who uses charcoal to brew the most fragrant and buttery cup of coffee you can ever find.

Aside of wandering aimlessly round the market looking for our next bite, we also took a short boat ride along the tranquil Tha Ching River, still relatively undisturbed by the rapid global urbanisation.



It's where villagers still do their laundry by the river

 As the ferry moved along, I can't help playing a fool again. Looking around for inspiration, I spotted a nice green curtain for me to pose for beautiful picture.

Like a professional, I tidied my hair, pushing any loose strands behind my ears.

Pose!

Oh my goodness, what has a year and a half in Thailand done to me!??!! Luckily I now have a wife to constantly remind me that I am actually a man, haha!

I would like to end off by saying that I really did not expect much from Sam Chuk Market initially, and had my doubts to whether it was worth it to spend 4 hours travelling to and from Bangkok to experience it. However, after the visit, I love it so much that I am sure I will be back soon, before another fake Floating Market and international visitors take over, though I really hope it does not happen.

The weekend getaway gang, so where next?

The Uncle in Bangkok welcomes the Year of the Rabbit in his native Kuching

Hello everyone, 恭喜发财！

The Chinese New Year festivities have not ended, but I am already back in Bangkok and has worked like a donkey for a week, nonetheless, I will not forget wish everyone a healthy and prosperous Year of the Rabbit.

First and foremost, I think many friends, old or new, might not actually realise that the Stranger in Bangkok is not from Singapore. Yes, I was born and bred there, and my brain has been washed by PAP(not entirely though), but my blood is well and truly Sarawakian (Sarawak is a province of Malaysia located on the island of Borneo).

Actually, the biggest attraction of Kuching has always been its food, especially the Kompia, Sarawak Laksa, Kolo Mee, Kampua Mee, Oyster Omelette.... I could go on all day. I would usually plan where and what I wanted to eat before I even make my way to Kuching, but not during CNY man. My favourite stalls were already closed on the eve of CNY and refused to open until the 5th day, when I have already left. For a week, I did not eat anything from any of my favourite stalls and restaurants, how sad!

However, there's always light at the end of the tunnel. There's of course another reason to visit Kuching, family! And how times have changed. Within 12 short months, the Yii family has enlarged to 7 people from 5, that's quite an alarming rate I have to say:

5 in 2010 (I was taking the picture), ok, 5.5 bcause my SIL was pregnant

To 7 in 2011! Newbie 1 on the far left and Newbie 2 on my dad

Presenting Newbie 1, Li Li, became an Yii officially in September 2010, married to the Uncle in Bangkok, and immediately became the Auntie to newbie 2, Rene Yii, born in September 2010 18 days after my wedding in Singapore. The smiles on my parents' faces this year were bright and sunny this time round, who can blame them?

Being based permanently in Bangkok for the foreseeable future, it was such a precious opportunity to spend some time with my niece. I could potentially only see her once a year, and I will miss most of her growth process. She's cute and lovely, mostly smiley and sometimes chatty with her elongated ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhs.

She enjoys spending time with her Yeye and Popo

But we finally found out her favourite activity....

Sleeping with Uncle in Bangkok!

She really brings out the Uncle in me...............

The Stranger in Bangkok finally gives a hint of what he is actually doing

What a month. After an extended lull season, the sudden upturn in business hit us so so hard. Time and again I find myself toiling away in the office until goodness-knows what time to finish the bare essentials to ensure everything runs smoothly and customers are kept satisfied. Anyway, this is a good thing and I really should not be complaining, it's just draining.... and I'm tired.

Still, it's not a good reason to neglect this blog which I had spent so much effort to maintain over the last year. On the eve of returning to Kuching for a week to celebrate a very special Chinese New Year with my family (my wife's coming along and there's a new baby in the house called Rene), I shall finally blog in length for the first time about my company.

Ok, basically, I have been given the task of helping my company open a branch here in Bangkok, selling small equipment and their corresponding spare parts, covering the entire Thailand market. My instruction was simple: build a team, get customers and at the end of the day, earn money.

To cut the story short, I just have to say that to carry out that simple instruction is easier said than done, especially in a foreign country, grappling with a foreign language and for the first time, realising the how small Singapore is and how merciless large geographical areas and extreme weather conditions can be. I came in August 2009, and this being January 2011, I have been here across 3 calendar years now, quite incredible when it wasn't so long ago that I was still sleeping in a room with nothing but a bed and a closet with the sun shining right at my face every morning because my curtains took months before they were delivered. That was the time when I woke up everyday, running a new company all alone, not knowing what's gonna happen on the next minute.

A team was gradually built and business picked up. However, being in a small townhouse, moving our goods is always going to be our sticking point. Every month, up to 2 containers reach our office, each carrying nearly 800 cartons weighing 10tonnes on the average, and my staff and I would painstakingly carry every box manually into the building, of course, out again when each box was sold.

The recurring theme at the company, carry goods, carry goods, carry goods.

There were times when the goods arrived in the night, and everyone would flex their muscles till as late as 2am. I also remember goods arriving on exceptionally rainy days/nights, and everyone just moved around drenched. It sucked, and as a manager, I really did not want my staff to work like that, but the more we sold, the more we had to carry, seemed like a never-ending vicious cycle.

Thankfully, within a year, we did enough to convince the management to rent a bigger place, and found a 806m2 warehouse (more than 12 times bigger than our space now!). It all finally started to sink in when I saw this picture.

Life will never be the same again

A truck of goods unloaded with a forklift might not be an impressive sight for many of you, but to me, it is well and truly, a milestone accomplished. Not only has the company grown to a good degree in a short space of time, but our capacity, efficiency and staff welfare has now gone up a few notches. I can finally feel the satisfaction of one who has built up something from scratch with his bare hands.

With this post, I would like to thank everyone who has given me tremendous support, including my lovely wife Li Li, my parents, my brother, my management, my staff, my friends and of course my God watching over me from above. Also, to everyone reading this, I would also like you to know how beautiful a country Thailand is. Despite all the political unrest and bad press it has gotten in the past year, a complete Stranger in Bangkok like me has survived unscathed, and even in the toughest of times, I have pulled through, because never for one second has Thailand made me feel unwelcome. Instead, the people around me always greet me with a smile on their faces, offering kind words of encouragement from the depths of their hearts, and I really, really appreciate it.

Our entire team as of now

I finally understand the meaning of the word "company". A company comprises of a group of people with a common goal, who work hard together to achieve it as a team, lending support to each other in the process. Once the goal is achieved, the team will be collectively rewarded, and everyone can gradually upgrade themselves from their current standard of living because of the good work they have done.

This is just my definition, but I hope all of you can take something away from it. I will not stop working hard, because it is my responsibility to push the company forward to achieve its potential, so that I can make my staff's lives (and my own of course) better.

The Stranger in Bangkok would hereby like to wish everyone a very heart-warming Chinese New Year spent with your closest family and friends. May the Year of the Rabbit bring you truckloads of joy and laughter, see you after my one-week break.

The Stranger in Bangkok leaves his footprints on Coral Island (Koh Larn)

Happy New Year everyone! The Stranger in Bangkok has finally summoned sufficient energy to revive this hibernating blog. Since my last post, I have left my footprints in the freezing cold Hong Kong, stuttered through a work-filled Christmas (it really ain't a great feeling to slog in the office on 25 December) battling an inflamed throat and embraced 2011 in a resort island with a group of great people.

Thailand, being a predominantly Buddhist country, does not celebrate Christmas or Chinese New Year. Instead, the biggest celebrations fall on Songkran and the New Year, when Thais flock back to their hometowns to countdown with their loved ones over varying doses of booze. This was the very first time I was here for the party, so I really could not miss out on the fun. Therefore, I called a few new friends and left for Koh Larn (aka Coral Island), 45minutes by ferry off Pattaya on the 1st of January to experience how to party the Thai way.

Why Koh Larn and not Pattaya? I did not know at first, but after a short drive through Pattaya, I realised the answer:

Signs in Pattaya have words in English and Russian (??!!!!) but not Thai. This was really too ridiculous for me to accept, so Koh Larn here I come!

The colourful view that welcomed us on our arrival

Of course, hearing the name Coral Island, I was expecting sun, sand and sea in abundance, and it did not disappoint. The great thing was, though the Russians flocked to Koh Larn in the day to enjoy the turquoise blue waters and fine white sand, they were running to catch the last ferry back to Pattaya by 430pm, giving the island a nice local bustle towards nightfall.

The only people you will see in bikini are the Caucasians, in all ages, shapes and sizes.

Lots of water activities to do under the glaring sun, or you can rent a deckchair under an umbrella for 50THB/day



We don't swim, so we climbed to the top of a hill to enjoy the view.



And made sure we chose the right beach to be mesmerised by the sunset.

Enough of the beach then. It wasn't the beach that inspired me to spend my whole night on this post, but the kind hospitality we got from our hosts, Suntree Home Koh Larn! Just one night at this wonderful homestay made me realise that dreams do come true, as long as you work hard enough for them.



Welcome to Suntree Home Koh Larn



We stay in one of the 2 penthouses on the rooftop

Our rustic but cheerful room for 6

We're forced to bathe in the open, a vulnerable feeling indeed.

This chic homestay situated 10 minutes' walk from the jetty is run by 2 young men, Amp and Oui. Aside of being the only 2 contacts for reservations and customer service, they have to:

Drive the pick-up, (hereby introducing the gang of Nong, May, Par, Xinyi and Li Li)!



While we were waiting to go crazy on snacks and booze



The 2 owners had to prepare all the seafood we bought

Before quickly transforming into acoustic band Bakerou to entertain us on the rooftop



Then waking up early next morning to make sure we had tasty pork porridge for breakfast

Amidst all this busy-ness, they had to endure with me breaking a chair and our constant requests for the 3rd mattress to be quickly placed in the room though we weren't planning to sleep yet. They even took the trouble to make us dipping sauces for the seafood, advising us not to use the sauces we bought as they contained too much MSG.

Anyway, I just want to say a big thank you to Amp and Oui for the great New Year weekend at Coral Island. Seeing them do everything from head to toe at a beach resort on a remote island, drawing pleasure from keeping guests happy, it feels like a scene from Beach Boys, just that this is all real, and they are living proof that anything is possible if you follow your passion!

For all who are thinking of somewhere to go when you have too many days in Bangkok, Russia Pattaya is a no-no but Koh Larn is a go-go because it is really a great place to chill and relax. I believe this will not be the last time the Stranger in Bangkok leaves his footprints there... meanwhile, Sawadee Pii Mai everyone, have a smashing 2011.