Asia After Hours

Bali : a journey beyond the infinite, 2009 – 2 new edits

The video that I originally released end of 2009 got quite popular : 580.000 views on youtube and doubling in the last month before it had to be taken down. I used this opportunity to edit 2 new versions for the video.
I believe that of my 500+ videos this one might be one of the most complete videos. In case you just got to know Global Nanpa, this might be a good first video to watch. Check the Th.S.version :

It is funny that I actually get most of the credits and good feedback not for the naughty stuff but for explorer trips, reviews and for rather romantic videos. Check the B.M. version :

The Penthouse hotel, Angeles City, construction ground, November 2011

The Penthouse hotel built by the Lewis Grand hotel group will most likely be opened around early 2013. I just stayed at the Lewis Grand hotel and spoke with the young Mr. Lewis about the project. He believes it makes no sense to push the opening still into the year 2012, as the christmas times and end of the year is rather slow in Angeles City anyway, so it would just cost more money.
The project is a USD 5 million investment, 10% is self-financed by Mr.Lewis, most of the rest is financed with Filipino banks at an 8% interest rate. The interest rate is pretty high, but you have to consider that the risks for the bank is high as well and because the Filipino central bank interest rate is at 4.5% at the moment, it is really hard to bring such investments down to 5% which you could get right now in Europe or the USA because of much lower ECB and FED prime interest rates. They expect 25% return on equity which would be great, but the risk is high without doubt.
Gerard from the ABC hotel/Fields Plaza suites considers the interest for too high to make much money but he is in the comfortable position that he doesn’t really need debt. He is now growing organic with the money he generates. In 2006 people were laughing at him, telling him he would go bancrupt with such a luxury place in Angeles City. How wrong they were…From my point of view, it was the opening of the ABC hotel in 2006, together with the Dollhouse group who initiated the rapid growth and change within Angeles City – since 2006 : things go really mad/dynamic there.
Mr.Lewis aquired/opened quite a lot of bars (Dirty Duck/Forbidden City)/clubs (High Society) in the meantime this year as well. The Penthouse hotel looks really good on the computer models, still it doesn’t really fit yet in the poor area on Santos street and surroundings though. Santos street is known as the “blow-row”, blow-job bars with rather unattractive girls. The Wild Orchid is close to it as well. People who loved the “old Angeles City” won’t be happy about that development. Expect more skyscrapers to go up in Angeles City soon and some small, dingy bars to be disappearing.

Popularity: 2%

Central Embassy and Park Hyatt construction site, Bangkok

Central Embassy will be a new shopping mall from the powerful Central group who own several malls and hotels across Thailand. The retail zone of Central Embassy is 144k sqm, about half of the size of Siam Paragon with 300k sqm. Stores will focus on the Gaysorn Plaza / upclass customers. The Park Hyatt will be built on top of that and scheduled to open maybe end of 2003. The computer model designs I saw from that complex look absolutely amazing. If there is a new hotel that could challenge the St. Regis in Bangkok, then it might be the Park Hyatt.
The location is great, at a useful intersection of Wireless/Witthayu road. I stayed at several hotels on this road the past trip and I really liked it there. The video got shot from a balcony of the new Sivatel hotel which is lovely. The new japanese Okura hotel will open close it soon as well. The Pent, G-club, is just 100 meters away from it also.
Street food around there is decent as well. It is not as busy as Sukhumvit but you get there superfast with motorbikes anyway. It is just more quiet, more clean there than Sukhumvit. Yep, I really start to like Witthayu road.

Popularity: 1%

The Siam hotel, Bangkok : construction state from around mid of November
The Siam hotel at the riverside is a new boutique hotel that shall open around mid of June 2012.
There is a lot of buzz going on about this hotel.
Jason, the first manager of the Four Seasons Tented Camp, will operate it for creative director and celebrity Krissada Sukosoi Clapp who owns it with his family. Bill Bensley, of whom I am a big fan of, is one of the main architects and designer of the project.

It is still too early to really write something about it. The construction state from mid November gives you a first impression of the location and stage of progress. The design and used materials are very impressive I can already testify.
The location is pretty far away and isolated at the Krung Thon bridge, in the Dusit area. I recommend to have a map or photo with you to show the taxi driver, it is more easy to find it by boat from the Chao Phraya river.
They focus on luxury tourists who enjoy the private service, peaceful location and unique design. Rates start from THB 16.3k++ and end at THB 46.5k++. They are not really competing with the other two big riverside luxury hotels Peninsula and Mandarin Oriental. Their style is more boutique and personal.
They are planning to open a Thai restaurant named Chon there as well.

At first I was thinking of booking a pool villa riverview but when I realized how small the plunge pool is, I rather will book their top room, Connie’s cottage my first time there.
The plunge pool is more something for the optics but I doubt many people will use it to actually “swim“ in there, maybe to cool down shortly ?
The only “real“, almost private pool hotel that exists currently in Bangkok is the Siam Kempinski with its duplex suites and their direct pool access.
What very much excites me about the place is the amazing design of the rooms/villas. You can check a few photos on their website already.
The setting shall reflext the golden ages of Rama V (1853-1910).
There are also some Jim Thompson influences. Connie was a friend of Jim Thompson. He built her a villa and they now transported it back from Ayutthaya, totally refurbished and equipped it with more comforts.
Connie was known for throwing the “hottest” parties for the high society those days in Bangkok. Show me some video/pics to give proof of that, hehe !
I guess it is their ultimate dream to revive something of those good, old days at their place and to bring such clientele there.
I actually consider the price levels almost to be too low. Even if they get a constant 75% booking rate, which is hard to achieve there, they won’t be making much revenues and even less profits. It is a nice, prestigious object and a museum-like collection of memories of an old, golden era in Bangkok – but don’t expect it to be big business.
I hope the rooms will be as inviting as they look on the pictures. Anyway, I am pretty excited to check out that place.

Popularity: 1%

Six Senses resort, Koh Yao Noi

My 5 days stay at Six Senses Yao Noi I consider to be one of the highlights of my last trip. 3 days I spent there with Tar. Because of the floodings those days in Bangkok and her family’s house being slightly flooded, she had to leave earlier to manage a few problems.

On our 2nd day there, the news came in that Brad Pitt and a Hollywood crew want to rent out the entire resort in December. On my day of leave, they decided to delay the plans because of too much worries about the flooding situation around Bangkok those days.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie upset the Thai government in early 2009 when they visited a refugee camp at the Thai-Myanmar border and allowed themselves to be critical.
Anyway, 2012 they will ge going in again for sure with Brad Pitt most likely working a new Thailand project of an impact scale comparable with “Hangover 2″ ?!

I had booked/prepaid a beachfront villa and got Nr.4 which I really loved. Prepayment allows you to get a 10% discount. Price for me for 2 person was something around THB 40k++ which I consider to be a great deal for money.
However the activities are priced rather expensive, similar like at Ritz-Carlton, Phulay Bay, as well. So they try to make more money on the activities and food/extra services : because of the isolated location they have you fully in their hands.

The structure of the resort is well thought out. The walk ways and buggy availability makes it pretty easy to get around, a very different experience from the Tented Camps which I will review later. I understand why the very old people love Chiang Mai : because it is super-convenient at places like Dhara Devi.
The boat arrival, the strong sun can cause problems for people above 60+. The medium age of guests there was also more around 40 years-old.

Staff people I liked most there was our “third gender” butler Sunny, the cute girl working in the dessert area and Pai, the spa receptionist from Chiang Mai. I want to thank them again for their kindness and for the guidance they gave me. Many thanks.

The problem with the service at Six Senses Yao Noi is that about half of the people are well trained and good, the other half just isn’t good and I discovered some lazy people as well. This is always sad for the hard-working staff because it also falls back at them.
An example : On Loy Krathong I had to wait 1 1/2 hours for my entree. There weren’t many guests in the restaurants that day, I asked twice in the meantime for the dish but hardly saw anyone walking by anyway. Thailand is full of celebration days, you cannot really expect me to tolerate that only because of a celebration day, the pricing is also the same like every other day.
That day another well-known German guest family was sitting just next to me and complaining a lot about the service : The Zumwinkel (ex Deutsche Post CEO) family. He got into negative press about tax evasion. I really cannot say anything about this. I got to know him as a friendly and intelligent person. The family from their chats actually strongly reminded me of my old friends, family Erlen (ex Schering/Bayer CEO).
I think he knows my website, he started to discuss ladyboys after a while, sometimes looking over to me. His son got a Thai girl-friend ! The way she talked she could be a consultant. Klaus, the senior, started his career with McKinsey. Maybe his son works there too and that’s how they met ?
She looks prettier than Tar but Tar has a more charming and fun character from my point of view. I just cannot imagine her doing the same silly stuff we did on the long-tail boat sunrise and beach discovery tour. They were pretty reserved. I hope he knows that he eventually marries her family – and not her !
Anyway, I was impressed of the intelligence of the senior, Klaus. Their chats reminded me strongly of my old life.

The beach directly in front of the resort isn’t fantastic but it is clean and not too small. From the beachfront villas you easily walk down there and swim in the sea which is very convenient.
The view from the private pool overlooking the rock limes I miss most of all. Moreover Yao Noi is pretty green and there are many different trees growing.
The food isn’t exceptional, but good and overprized. The breakfast is excellent.
On the day of Loy Krathong I got an awkward feeling how they tried to motivate their guests to cheer and dance around near the beach. It was totally club style, the resort organizing and doing everything for you, maybe even getting a little angry if you don’t accept their pre-determined schedule they have for everyone. They even have an info terminal, I am not a fan of those things.

In terms of activites I did a lot, only 1 day I really chilled out and relaxed. The villa is fantastic for re-energizing.
The speedboat tour to Koh Phi Phi, Maya Bay, Koh Hong, Koh Roi, Monkey beach was fun. With the long-tail boat we explored a few more beaches and lagoons. I had seen James Bond Island before that’s why we skipped it. I did sight-seeing around Koh Yao Noi, Sunny did show me around the entire resort, seeing the yoga platform and mangroves.
There are still more things to be explored that I didn’t manage last time. More videos of some activities are following. Moreover I might be cutting a little romance video of the 3 days with Tar there later.

The spa is very fresh colored and designed, like a little tropical jungle, surrounded by lemongrass they grow themselves. The treatment itself is quite good as well. All luxury resorts/hotels I visited outside of Bangkok simply never were able to match the highest standard I would expect in Bangkok. Only maybe Chiang Mai, at Four Seasons or Rarinjinda you get the standard.
Some people often believe that those remote, isolated resort locations would speak for high performance in terms of spa and service quality – the opposite is often the case : the stinky, polluted, grey Bangkok still offers the best service/quality in general.

That spa room 5 is very beautiful. Thanks Pai for showing me around. Smile for me when you read this and get sweaty again – different climate than Chiang Mai, right…

Below you see the German GM from Cologne. Overall the place is a fantastic beach spot, one of the very best Thailand most likely has to offer. I already prepaid my next booking.

Popularity: 3%

K. from Bangkok surprisingly visited me for a few days in Berlin. She only contacted me 2 days before she already arrived. She came on someone else’s Schengener Visa from Zurich, Switzerland. Because I just work all the time, I only really was able to show her around on a Sunday. I made a video as well, but I don’t feel like releasing it at the moment.
We had some interesting chats, she spoke so fascinated of her travels in Europe. She really had seen a lot of countries : Switzerland, Italy, France, Turkey, Belgium and now her second time Germany. She still wanted to see the pyramids in Egypt soon and go on a wildlife track in Africa.
She managed what no one else was able to do : Breaking my SEA addiction. I still continue to have my focus on that area, but already for my itinerary next year I included a few new countries outside of Asia where I had never been before. Thanks K. for the eye-opener; I guess I worked myself a little bit too much into all this. It is good to get some distance from time to time and have some outside views with the same people having met earlier elsewhere. Hope you arrived safely back in Bangkok now and still collected lots of cool memories before.

The Raid : 1 ruthless crime lord, 20 elite cops, 30 floors of hell

The Indonesian movie “The Raid” by Gareth Evans could become the best action movie of 2011. Iko Uwais could move up to ranks of a Tony Jaa. I heard Tony Jaa is totally pissed off from movie-making and would rather live as a monk than shooting movies again. There is still Tom Yum Goong 2 coming next year and then that’s it ?
Back the to Raid : The trailer looks fantastic ! I think there is only one guy in real life who could be the crime lord : anyone been to Stadium lately and hearing about the myth…Damn, the trailer excites me about Jakarta again.

Synopsis :
Deep in the heart of Jakarta’s slums lies an impenetrable safe house for the world’s most dangerous killers and gangsters. Until now, the run-down apartment block has been considered untouchable to even the bravest of police. Cloaked under the cover of pre-dawn darkness and silence, an elite swat team is tasked with raiding the safe house in order to take down the notorious drug lord that runs it. But when a chance encounter with a spotter blows their cover and news of their assault reaches the drug lord, the building’s lights are cut and all the exits blocked. Stranded on the sixth floor with no way out, the unit must fight their way through the city’s worst to survive their mission. Starring Indonesian martial arts sensation Iko Uwais.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmYAvikSPrA

Popularity: 2%

A Journey Through Vietnam – by Leon Visser

This must be the coolest video I have seen so far of Vietnam. I am really impressed. Those 2 guys are from the Netherlands and they enjoyed having some “tour-guides”, imported from Thailand. Their honeys don’t look bad and they seem to have a good time together. On the one hand it shows well how easily the westerners fall for the SEA girls and on the other hand also how available “normal” girls are for such spontaneous trips with white foreigners. I would not call them good girls but also not bad girls. For Bangkok I would say such “normal” girls are best to find for white foreigners at Bed Supperclub or Flixx or Shock 39. Those girls don’t have fixed jobs and they will take every opportunity they get to travel the country with, in their terms, quite wealthy and good-looking guys. The attraction on both ends is just really high.
In 3:25min you see a really cool restaurant spot. Thumbs up guys !
One of them seems to have made photos for National Geographic magazine. Check the video :

http://www.vimeo.com/28454865

Popularity: 2%

Thaksin is back !

Thaksin (Pheu Thai/Yingluck) won the elections and will most likely return to Thailand from his exile sooner or later.
I started to get “involved” with Thaksin around end of 2008. On April 4th, 2009 I indicated on this blog the upcoming class war in Thailand which about 1 year later got named “war against the elite”. To the time of this post http://www.globalnanpa.com/blog/?p=582
and the video “Big Bunda Land” (original upload got deleted from Vimeo) no fucking ass worldwide had posted anything or believed that buildings would soon be burning in Thailand.
First I correctly predicted the Jakarta bombings, then I indicated the upcoming class war in Thailand.
Very interesting is that Wikipedia (and everyone else) state that it were the red shirts who burned down the Central World shopping mall, the largest mall of South East Asia. Thaksin always refused to take responsability for that being done by the red shirts. He was talking of a 3rd group who had been active there, a professional group who could plan and execute such a thing. It should be pretty clear that a handful of amateur fires won’t let Central World completely burn out. I don’t think they will ever find out the truth and really investigate on that.

Anyways, I am glad that a bit more truth, justice and democracy is finally returning to Thailand. This will bring a lot of change along. Congratulations Mr. Thaksin !

Popularity: 2%

Bangkok Hospital Pattaya : Not a bamboo hut !

The idea for this video was to show the hospital in a neutral, authentic perspective of a touristic outsider.
You will see people walking towards and away from the camera, strange and “unwanted” things are not getting cut out. Of the 1 hour walk I originally was planning to cut a 30min video but I liked all so much that I actually only cut out 10min of some longer walks. This just shows how authentic the whole video is.
My motivation for this is : I simply love Thailand, if I can help a little a good place like this one, it makes me happy. I am not doing this for everyone, only if I really consider something to be worthy to be portayed.

The staff I encountered at the Bangkok Hospital Pattaya is extremely friendly and helpful. I had the opportunity to have Dr. Ian Corness as a guide. He is a very knowledgeable person, an excellent communicator and he got a great sense of humor. Thanks to him, this whole walk doesn’t appear sterile and boring.

Video 1 explains general things about the hospital : They have 400 beds, are accredited by the Joint Commission International, their international service speaks 22 languages. They are even a little more international orientated than Bumrungrad in Bangkok making 60% of their revenues with foreign patients.
Dr. Corness shows a standard room which costs something around THB 5000 / day. Rates in Pattaya and cost of living in general are cheaper in Pattaya than in Bangkok. Dr. Corness liked to stress that Bangkok is considered as a transit for most people (not me !) whereas Pattaya is a destination. Traffic in Bangkok moreover can be so bad that the transport from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport to Sukhumvit can take sometimes almost same time (usually around 40 min) like driving down all the way to Pattaya (usually around 2 hours).
Dr. Corness explained in a great way why people should not be worried about the standard of the hospital although the city being best known as the world’s largest sex destination.
Nowhere in the world except in Thailand you will find the hospitals being constructed like a hotel. The main reason for the medical tourist coming is still the very lower price which can be around 25% of what you would pay in the USA or Germany.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZMoAvm1RBs

In video 2 we see the dental cosmetic & implant center where 28 dentists work. We learn about the efficiancy of the health promotion center : for example you get your blood test results only 45 minutes later after the blood was taken. Some befriended MDs in Germany might get mad when they read it here. Things in Thailand just work easier, heavy beaurocracy like in Europe helps creating extra jobs but it won’t get more efficient…

The hospital employs 12 cardiologists who all have extensive experience and are fully accredited specialists. I have a quite high trust that hospitals like Bangkok hospital and Bumrungrad employ physicians that really work on a very high level. Local universities like Chulalongkorn or Chiang Mai university for example have reached a standard that appears really good to me.
Because they are a private hospital they are able to pay higher salaries to their physicians than a public hospital could pay. This is clearly an advantage to get and maintain some of the best doctors of Thailand.

Dr. Corness already works 12 years for the hospital. He explained in a funny way that he came to Thailand 14 years ago like many other foreigners who had been through a lot of shit in their home country. I bet he really could write a best-selling book about life in Thailand from the expats point-of-view. He is a great character. He got re-married 10 years ago with a Thai and got a son and a daughter with her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3ntoLt2nVo

In video 3 we see at first the Arabic reception area and Intensive Care. They are the only hospital in Pattaya that has an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scanner.
Dr. Somchai who studied medicine in Munich, Germany, introduces his supersight surgery which isn’t LASIK. He brought a lot of technology and knowledge from Germany to Thailand. He works together with Carl-Zeiss from Jena for the lenses he uses. Dr. Somchai works since 15 years for the hospital, he developed his technology in 2002 and had 205.000 operations being done with it. Dr. Corness refered to him as one of the leading lights of the hospital. He was also responsible for getting the Icelab from the German company Zimmer to the hospital.
In total the hospital employs 100 full-time physicians and 100 part-time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNGVcsepKBM

In video 4 you see the brand-new, cutting-edge Icelab, a cryo therapy spa, which is the only one across whole Asia. You can heal all kinds of conditions with it at minus 110 degrees, especially pro sports men like to use it for healing faster. I should inform Mr. Rainer Calmund about it to send his football injured pro-players down there for a little fun rehabilitation time. It costs only around THB 1000 per session, around 10 you should do depending on what you use it for. You walk through 2 chambers with different temperatures and try to last in the 3rd chamber around 3 minutes. Next time I come to Pattaya I want to try it. You get a big boost of endorphines and oxygen from it because of the density of the air. After all the heavy partying and drinking in Pattaya that I am used to : this is just what I need. In case they don’t like my video portray, they won me at least for the Icelab already. LOL.

Later you see the cantine and the dermatology & cosmetic surgery center. They employ 5 cosmetic surgeons. The most popular surgery there for forgeigners is breast augmentation (enlargement) and for locals a nose operation from flat to more western looking. A big part of the medical tourism happens within beauty surgery. Pattaya as a nice, touristic beach destination is clearly scoring in convincing patients to stay for a longer time if the operation demands it.

Bangkok Hospital Pattaya is a fully digital hospital. All your data (for example blood tests, diagnosis, X-rays, prescriptions, etc…) is electronically stored and you get identified with a barcode you carry along. Moreover they share data with hospitals abroad, so let’s say you want your doctor in the USA to have all the info on what you did in Pattaya : no problem, they are very cooperative. I am very impressed of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwW5j6LoQOM

In video 5 you see the MRI scanner. The hospital got their own busses and can arrange picking up international patients from Suvarnabhumi airport. The International Service Department can also take care of visa and other issues.
The hospital got 11 ambulances, the majority of ambulances run in Pattaya are public, run by various foundations. Their own ambulances go out with a doctor on board and treatment could already start there.
The Emergency Medical Service got 16 beds. Pattaya, let me assure you, is so much safer than any place in the USA I know of.
We make some jokes about the large amount of public holidays in Thailand : Dr. Corness wants to produce a small pocket calendar for Thais which lists the days when Thais are actually supposed to work. LOL.
The International Service Department will also help you with your insurance, trying to figure out if your insurance abroad will cover fully or partially costs of your stay at this hospital. What I learned about insurances is : they really don’t give a shit about people, of course we all work in the monetary system. The insurance looks at the numbers like everyone does : as long as they don’t have to pay more, it is very likely that they agree to a stay/treatment at the hospital. That’s why price matters so much. Plastic/beauty surgery however is nowhere covered anyway.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vLFKMuByVE

I want to say many thanks again to the entire Bangkok Hospital Pattaya staff, especially to Dr. Ian Corness taking the time and guiding me around that spontaneously. I am always shocked and impressed how helpful people in general are towards me in Thailand, like giving me permission for such video tours. Taking into account my aggressive logo and sometimes controversial website content : When they give me their trust, I am all the more willing to help.

Popularity: 1%