Back In The Good Ole US of A

I’m back! In the states. In one piece. And yes it’s been a while since my last post…

Starting in New Zealand, through Australia, to Indonesia, continuing north through South East Asia until I reached Hong Kong, I headed west in order to stay in the southern hemisphere skipping India because they wouldn’t accept me, and over to South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and walked across the border into Zambia for my final stop.

Regarding India, for whatever reason, Canadians can go to India with a simple Visa-On-Arrival. As a U.S. citizen, if I want to visit India I have to go through a pre-computer age visa fed-ex’ing process that leaves much to be desired. I completely missed this step so I was denied at the gate for my Hong Kong-New Delhi flight; I made a snap decision to fly to Africa instead. One of the many benefits of traveling light and traveling solo is ultimate flexibility.

By far the most exhilarating facet of the trip was stepping off the plane in a completely new town with no connections and little to no prior planning. I was forced to start from scratch and rebuild my local contacts every week or so. This same element ultimately became the reason I decided to end my trip. It was somewhere around my 38th city/town, at an average of 3 1/2 days per location, that I figured I could really benefit from staying in one place for an extended period. The shortest stay in any country was in Macau at just 5 hours – long enough to confirm that there is no shortage in the world’s supply of phlegmatic Asian gamblers – and the longest stay was within South Africa at over a month. Language was not an issue: “More than 300 million people in the world speak English and the rest, it seems, try to.”-Bill Bryson.

On the lower half of Africa where I spent seven weeks: local corruption persistently kills off competitive free market forces so basic services, such as airlines and cell phone providers, charge artificially sky high rates. Regardless, it’s wonderfully diverse, wild, beautiful, and really unlike anything you’ve ever seen. It’s also intimidating to outsiders. One of the most dangerous places in the world if you’re from any other place in the world. As a quick aside, despite the references you may hear, Africa is not a country but a continent. You’ll hear this confusion in BBC and CNN stories when they refer to “the issues in 3rd world countries such as India and Africa.”

Here’s a quick list of what happened during my time in Africa:

I did go to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe where I got a glimpse of what it might be like to be in the Peace Corps. Or at least I met a lot of Peace Corps people on vacation from their regular Peace Corps lives. Great time with these guys. I have enormous respect for them for actively working to solve these near impossible challenges bit by bit.
I didn’t get the obligatory photo with 15 African kids. Maybe next time.
I did meet the owner of a terminator style motorcycle who managed to drive it well over 6,000 miles to Zimbabwe from Germany. This was not his first time making the trip either.
I didn’t have any actual visa papers at the border between Mozambique and South Africa, my fault.
I did pay off the officers at said border to let me pass through to their country. It came out to $100. And for the British guys next to me with the gold necklaces and watches. $250 each. Ouch.
I didn’t lose my wallet in the lobby of a budget hotel in Maputo, Mozambique because the bartender handed it back to me in the morning, 12 hours later, with everything still in it. Still cannot believe that one.
I did go on a booze cruise on the Zambezi river with the local Peace Corps; along with some elephants and hippos.
I didn’t get to swim on the edge of the Victoria Falls, the water level was too high, but I did get to walk on the opposite side where you can watch the spray from the falls shoot up into the air and rain right back down on you with torrential force.
And I did get a food bag ripped out of my hands by a baboon who was nonchalantly walking next to me while pretending not to notice me.

Here you get the sense that anything could happen. The African elephants are enormous, and potentially very dangerous. Elephants, if angry, will completely disregard any safety you might feel inside you car, which as far they’re concerned could be made out of paper-mache. You can’t drive through national park zones after dark even though they happen to be major arteries to the surrounding areas. Why? Because nightfall is prime time for the animals to hunt for their food. Of course.

At one point I distinctly remember feeling like bacon on wheels when I rode a bike alone the two miles from my hostel to the falls on the Zimbabwe side of Vic Falls. To get there I had to cross through what was referred to as some kind of national park. “Park” in Africa does not invoke confidence. “Park” in Africa is generally associated with vicious circle of life national geographic instinctual perfect killing machines. Every few seconds I couldn’t help but imagine the headlines, “US guy’s shoes found near bike in Zimbabwe, no other traces found.” I was imagining running into a not so friendly band of baboons, like the one who stole food bag at the border. The local baboons are about the size of middle school students; but much more capable and ill-intentioned.

To return to the States I flew Zambia to Los Angeles – which had roughly five layovers. While there I secured three job offers from two tech start ups and an SF based hedge fund. Even with great offers on the west coast I wanted to settle in Boston to begin work at Osbon Capital.  Max Osbon Joins Osbon Capital. I don’t plan to go on another excursion, but I don’t plan not to. For now I am staying put.

Safari Truck. Possibly elephant proof??

Elephant crossing on random afternoon in Zimbabwe.

There is, in fact, a fence between us.

Baby Giraffe.

Victoria Falls

Don’t be the one stuck sleeping at ground level.

Mural at the entrance of the Victoria Falls Hotel in Zimbabwe.

View from the Victoria Falls Hotel

This is the motorcycle I mentioned above that drove to Zimbabwe from Germany.

Out on the Zambezi river booze cruise

It’s A Big Day In Nelson Mandela Square

It’s a big day in Nelson Mandela Square, Johannesburg, SA. I showed up to the test center, Pearson Vue, at 7:30am with a thick stack of Series 65 notes. The administrator wouldn’t let me take any study materials into the waiting room so I sat in the hallway next to the elevator reading over convoluted, but nonetheless important, legal jargon while trying to ignore the distracting detail that three hours from now equals freedom.

Pearson Vue testing center is where fun goes to die. It’s purgatory. In case you’ve never been there, it’s the epitome of printer paper fluorescent tube office lighting cubicle tedium. Before you enter the test room you’re patted down to make sure you have no objects in your pockets that would give you an opportunity to cheat, like coins or keys or a wallet – TSA security could learn a thing or two from Pearson. Being in the test room itself is not unlike the police interrogation rooms you see on TV. You’re being filmed and recorded and there’s an admin sitting on the other side of a glass wall watching you. It’s anything but a comfortable and/or natural situation.

After my three hours were up my screen froze in place for a few seconds while it calculated the score and came back with a form that contained a bold PASS. The response was so understated that I reread it a few times to make sure. I don’t know what I was expecting, balloons? Apparently Pearson doesn’t share my elation for having finished the Series 65.

It’s amazing how your laptop enables you to work from anywhere. Before the exam I was in Cape Town where I rented a room in a big house for two weeks at $200 from a friend in a very nice area that, by comparison, would have cost near 10x back in NYC, Boston, or SF. With the laptop I had access to Investopedia and any other online resources to stuff my head full of topics such as trivia on the Investment Advisory Act of 1940, among other things.

The best part about this is that between studying at home or at coffee shops I would take breaks to meet up with friends to go hiking, trail running, orienteering, bike riding, etc. etc. – Cape Town is seriously underrated. But without ubiquitous wi-fi and exponential growth in online learning resources I never would have been able to even get started. Don’t be fooled, I hit the material hard, but the difference is I wasn’t limited to spending my study breaks re-watching episodes of Breaking Bad because it’s below zero outside.

By comparison, Morgan Stanley locks you in a room for two weeks, nine hours a day, to prep you for the Series 65. A pass is a pass; I’ll take my approach.

To top it off I got a nice letter from a buddy back home who also works in finance.

“Congrats on passing that exam, I thought you were just jerkin it out there.”
–Tim from my SCU Rugby Team.

Onward.

Elephants Lay Eggs… Don’t They?

What do we know about South Africa?

From my experience, very little to absolutely nothing. I experienced this first hand while landing in Johannesburg when the lady on the plane next to me, from Canada, wondered out loud at the lack of elephants, lions, and/or giraffes visible by the airplane window. Apparently she expected the runway to be somewhere in the middle of the savannah.

South Africa, despite everything that it has to offer, does not take the world stage very often. We know it’s politically corrupt and unstable, but getting better, and was featured in a favorable light on the cover of last week’s Economist. We saw the movie Invictus and we’ve all had South African wine at some point. But still. To many Americans, South Africa just refers to the southern part of the continent.

To follow on this track for a moment, I heard some great ‘ignorant foreigner’ stories from a wild game reserve ranger. One story involves a woman who, after spying a large pile of firewood at the game reserve, inquired, “Aww, is that an elephant nest?”. At the risk of losing his tip the ranger replied, “No ma’am, the elephants lay their eggs in the trees where they are much safer from predators.”

Or. While driving in the range and pulling up to a giraffe standing off to the left and a wildebeest standing roughly 15 yards away, one guy asked, “Hey, is that giraffe going to eat that wildebeest?” Regardless of any size advantage, the giraffe’s predatory instincts, as you could probably imagine, leave much to be desired.

The corruption is laughable.

The Free State provincial government very recently shelled out R140million (~$15million) for their WordPress based website. When questioned, the organization countered by claiming the cost was instead only R40million (~$4million) as if that were more reasonable. By comparison, my website uses the exact identical service and cost me less than $100 to produce and maintain.

South Africa does not have your back.

Josh is a 24 year old white engineer who works on fly-in fly-out projects for a major contract construction company. Recently he was asked to go take a job in Nigeria. His employer handed him what was essentially a survival textbook for how to live/work in a country as unstable as Nigeria. He turned it down based on a very legitimate fear for his life. If anything were to go wrong for him in Nigeria he would have no hope for the South African government to save him.

Compare Josh’s situation to the Algerian hostage situation in January where it was immediately national news that U.S. citizens were involved. Another example is with the Somali pirates when they were successfully overtaking dozens of foreign tankers. The moment they touched a U.S. boat we sent in our top ten secret agent Jason Bourne snipers, in the mismatch of the century, to take out poor pseudo-soldiers with AK-47s. I don’t blame Josh for not accepting the job without that backup.

Cape Town is a hidden gem.

Despite the high crime rate in South Africa, the Cape Town quality of life is hard to match. Forget visiting the south of France or San Diego. Cape Town’s got all of the wine & brandy, ostrich steaks, surfing, beaches, a huge barbeque(Braai) culture, hiking & natural wonders, festivals, art & design, coffee shops, beautiful women, and what not to keep you occupied. There’s a sense here that Cape Town is just at the start of its boom. When the political issues get sorted out, which is no casual task and is bound to take a few generations, South Africa is going to take off. Pick up your real estate now.

I wonder if drawing from Arizona’s reputation is really the optimal marketing strategy here…

The pass up to the top of Table Mountain.

This guy hangs out near the top of Table Mountain playing music all day.

You see these paragliders everywhere.

…No, thank you.

View of Table Mountain from Victoria Harbor. The giant guy is made of coke crates and has the 6 2012 Olympic medals around his neck.

And Then I Woke Up In Africa…

Sitting in the Hong Kong airport I’m scrambling to confirm if I will be allowed to board my flight to New Delhi. I was denied entry based on visa issues, admittedly this was completely my fault, and canceled my ticket without much penalty. Even in the age of unlimited connectivity you still have to mail your physical passport all the way to New York and wait five days to get your documentation back. All of my visas up to this point have consisted of a $20 bill and a digital photo. Short of obtaining a personalized excuse note from Obama there is absolutely no way to expedite the visa application for Americans to India – Canadians on the other hand can fly to India without any prior paperwork. Whatever Canada. Have fun in India.

I’m stuck in the Hong Kong airport without any plans or plane tickets.

I pull up Google maps and start taking a pole from my friends via whatsapp on where I should fly next. I took a leap of faith and chose South Africa based on a few positive stories. Turns out it’s very inexpensive to fly from Hong Kong to Johannesburg so I bought the ticket and set off on figuring out what I will do when I land in 48 hours.

I linked up with a friend from Finland who I met in Bangkok, and found two locals who just started a tourism company out of Cape Town called This Is Africa. I found them via Couch Surfers where they had posted an advert for people in town to test their weeklong tour through southern SA. Perfect timing for me and Finland.

48 hours after landing I was out of Johannesburg, aka Jozi, and into Cape Town. Nice places do exist in Johannesburg but more than anything it’s like visiting one giant Harlem. TripAdvisor rates the #2 most popular activity in Jozi as riding the Gautrain, which is the train that connects you to the airport, which means that the 2nd best thing to do in Johannesburg is to head directly out of Johannesburg.

Cape Town is hugely underrated.

South Africa, with its innumerable political and social issues has a long way to go but also has a fantastic opportunity. When the terrible poverty, wealth inequality, and government corruption start to subside, South Africa will boom. They have incredible food here. Braai (aka. BBQ) is not just an event but a lifestyle. The vineyards are everywhere and are the oldest in the world behind Europe. There is no shortage of activity from surfing, long boarding, trail running, hiking, snowboarding on sand dunes, etc etc.

First thing I see in the local newspaper is this photo. Clearly the local news in South Africa would include something like this.

Nelson Madella square outside of Johannesburg.

Springbok rugby jersey that Nelson Mandela wore when he publicly congratulated the white captain of the white national team on defeating their New Zealand rivals in a title match. This was the subject of the movie Invictus.

No One Is Having Fun In Macau

When I think of the worlds best and most well known party cities Las Vegas is always on the list, no surprise there. I assumed that Macau would be somewhat similar given that it’s full of big money which usually brings big personalities and big parties. Not so fast. Macau, very simply, is where the Chinese like to go when they want to give away their money on a massive scale. I arrived at Macau on a big night, the last night of the Chinese New Year, expecting big things.

I did see big things. Mainly I saw enormous floors of roulette tables, poker tables, blackjack tables, and literally a million Chinese gamblers stoically watching their money disappear. Not to be too obviously negative about gambling, there are small chances for a small few to make a profit, but the majority of casino games favor the house. It’s the price you pay for the gaming rush I guess.

The streets are, for the most part, empty because everyone is glued to a seat in the casino. The only people outside are the owners of the astonishing number of pawn shops – whole blocks of pawn shops. For me, I lost about $25 over about 30 seconds which was enough for me to reconfirm my dislike of casino games.

Chihuly sculpture on the ceiling at the MGM Grand.

Main room at the entrance of the MGM Grand.

2013 is the year of the Snake.

The Grand Lisboa

The Venetian in Macau is a carbon copy of the Venetian in Las Vegas.

Hong Kong was much better by comparison. I’ll give Macau another shot in a day visit. Macau does have the bungee jumping off the Macau Tower and the old villages to explore. For a non-gambler there’s really no point in going at night. The nightlife is much better back in Hong Kong, as confirmed by most travel websites. Sorry Steve Wynn.

Post Apocalyptic Angkor Wat in Cambodia

Here’s a quick post to share some photos of Angkor Watt, Cambodia’s epic 12th century Hindu temple that sits eerily frozen in time in the outskirts of Siem Reap. Ankor Wat is a stark reminder that great civilizations can very quickly turn into mere skeletons of their past form. Angkor Wat refers specifically to the main temple with the three peaks shown below. The entire compound contains roughly a dozen equally impressive and awe inspiring temples over 154 square miles. Almost all of the temples are slowly being overtaken by tree roots. It reminds me of a scene from the movie I Am Legend where Will Smith is driving a mustang down an unkempt Madison Avenue covered in trees, bushes, and vines.

This peaceful tree lined street is a complete contrast to the dirty and frantically crowded city streets in Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. We opted to rent bikes to make our own way through the grounds which definitely added an hour or two onto our time there. Most people hire tuk-tuk drivers.

These temples are crumbling under the pressure of the trees growing directly out of the foundations.

Tomb Raider was filmed in Angkor Wat. Here’s Angelina Jolie in the same spot.

The size of this doorway is not unique to Angkor Wat. Too many doorways in South East are built for the inconvenient average height of people who are less than 5ft tall. It only took hitting my head 100+ times over two months in South East Asia to make me forever wince every time I walk through a doorway or up the stairs.

Cows and Rocket Launchers in Cambodia

Have you ever wanted to shoot a Tommy Gun? How about an AK-47 or an M-16? In Phnom Penh, shooting military grade weapons is a popular and completely unregulated tourist attraction that’s left out of most guidebooks. Nonetheless it is extremely easy to seek out. It’s also technically illegal, but the local Cambodian government is perpetually out to lunch when it comes to enforcing its own laws.

My first insight into this activity happened not even ten minutes after arriving at the airport. A tuk tuk driver handed me a laminated sheet with photos of smiling tourists holding machine guns and wearing ammunition belts. Sold. Within 20 minutes I had at my disposal a diverse arsenal of machine guns fit for a small army.

No disclaimers, no formalities, just an annex full of weapons and a few guards in military dress. One of the guards handed me a thick menu featuring pictures with associated prices ranging from AK-47’s ($25), to Tommy Guns ($40), all the way up to B40 rocket launchers ($350). All I had to do was point and hand over the cash and I would get my hands on any one the machine guns casually lying around on the floor, leaning against the wall, or from the pile out back.

You can youtube “b40 Cambodia” and see the amateur cellphone videos of the tourists who pay to fire the rocket launchers, known as B40 RPG-2′s. They don’t appear particularly well maintained and based on age alone there is a definite possibility that the mechanisms will not operate 100% as designed which would effectively render them as sticks with dynamite that you hold 20 inches from your face.

The place I visited was named the Happy Club – not kidding. This particular venue looked as though it was in a residential neighborhood; I bring this up because the other venues are actually on the military bases where you pay the soldiers directly for their weapons. Imagine taking a taxi right into the heart of Fort Bragg in North Carolina and handing a soldier two $20 bills in exchange for his weapon and a full magazine.

No smiling allowed on the Cambodian Gun Range.

The name “Happy Club” is ironic. Cambodia has a large surplus of weapons due to the multiple horrific conflicts that have plagued the country over the last 50 years. The most famous, and brutal, was the reign of the Khmer Rouge (1974) when the psychopathic communist dictator Pol Pot attempted to return the country to an agrarian state through the genocide of 2-3 million intellectuals, lawyers, teachers, religious figures, and businessmen. Pol Pot attempted to kill anyone who represented progress, which in the end amounted to the death of roughly 25% of the country’s population. In short, traveling to Cambodia to play with these guns is not far removed from traveling to Auschwitz to play with left over holocaust weapons.

The guy running the range offered me a live duck for target practice for $20. Sorry to disappoint but we turned this down as a particularly insane activity. I shot at coconuts instead, which satisfyingly burst on impact. The most popular rumor about the gun ranges is the potential to fire a rocket launcher at a cow. I wasn’t able to confirm as I didn’t want to pay the $350 for the rocket launcher nor drive about 2 1/2 hours out of the city to a nondescript hill where you can safely shoot it. If anyone wants to go back with $400 or $500 I’m sure you could eventually get them to bring you a cow – not that I’m endorsing this in any way. Anything for a dollar in lawless Cambodia.

Yosemite On The Beach In Southern Thailand

I’m in Southern Thailand at the moment and in case you were wondering, yes, it’s exactly like Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie The Beach – complete with isolated cove beaches, great fishing opportunities, hippie communes, and ruthless drug farmers with AK-47s. Kidding on that last part.

Krabi, located near Phuket, is an incredibly scenic and awe inspiring place – imagine Yosemite Park on the beach. It’s also basically Russia’s version of the U.S.’s Caribbean. When picturing the local tourist scene, think of a plethora of beautiful Russian women in bikinis traveling with the likes of Steve Wozniak in a speedo. The area is also unsurprisingly a favorite for film makers as it is the location for the hit Leonardo DiCaprio film, The Beach, and home to James Bond Island.

Deep Water Solo’ing, rock climbing without ropes over water, is by far the best adventure sport I’ve encountered so far. It’s practiced on sea cliffs at high tide in places where the water is confirmed to be very deep; Southern Thailand happens to be one of the best locations in the world to do this. The goal is to successfully climb up the face of the cliff sans rope, and when you reach the top, you jump off - because really what else would you do with a bunch of cliffs over the water. If you fall during the climb, you fall into the water. Simple as that.

The great thing about DWS is the benefit of falling into something forgiving like water. If you can’t quite make the next grip, or your fingers get fatigued, or you loose your balance, you just fall to into the ocean which is fun in its own right.

I’ve always been hesitant about outdoor rope climbing. That might be due to the many movies I’ve seen growing up where the opening scene features a decision to cut a family member’s rope to save one’s own life, with the alternative being certain death for the both of you. It could also be that most of the rock climbers I’ve known tend to be constantly high, which is not exactly the type of demeanor or personality trait that I tend to entrust my life with. I don’t want to rely on Cheech & Chong’s craftsmanship when it comes to suspending myself 70 ft in the air from an amateur bolt rig.

The color of the water varies throughout the coastline but is primarily very green.

The beach resort in this picture is completely isolated to that one area. There is no road up in those cliffs. That means the entire compound, swimming pool, fountain, and all, was imported from other areas in Krabi via boat. Every tourist and box of beer has to arrive by boat.

The rock climbing community in Krabi is full on. The base camp in Ton Sai beach is exactly like the community featured in DiCaprio’s The Beach where everything is run like a self sustaining hippie commune. Every building is a wooden hut and features its own bar, there’s no shortage of hammocks, there are (?)artfully(?) placed beer bottles lining most of the paths, and Bob Marley and Jimmy Hendrix are stuck on repeat. You will end up looking like the guy in the left of this photo if you stay here too long. He’s only a few years away from adding the facial tattoos. Didn’t manage to snap a picture of one of those guys.

Road to the Wall St. Decathlon 2013 Begins In Bangkok

The Osbon clan is participating in the Wall St. Decathlon this July in NYC with the team consisting of myself, 24 years old, and my father, 61 years old. This will be our second dual challenge – we ran the Tough Mudder in Vermont back in May 2012. In preparation for the event I am searching around in my current location, Bangkok, for the best places to train.

One of my favorite places to exercise in NYC is Thompkins Square Park. It’s a completely real workout experience that you won’t find in an air conditioned, Lulu Lemon’ed, hand sanitized, hair gelled, puff palace like Equinox. There are no weights, except for bricks and cinder blocks, and if you want to run you don’t get on the treadmill and practice theoretical running. No, you actually put foot to pavement. Oh, and it’s free, and home to some of the most fit people I have ever met (Google: The Bar-Barians). So when I saw this outdoor gym in Bangkok’s Lumphini Park I became immediately nostalgic for my workout days in TSP. Although it’s not free, it still has that same primal appeal.

One of the Wall St. Decathlon events is the bench press. It’s hard to explain why but sometimes it’s just more satisfying when you’re benching tires.

Dips (bars on the right) is the 5th event. Goal for this year is 50 reps.

Without membership, access to this weight lifting area is 20 Baht per day, which equals out to $0.60 cents.

On the completely opposite side of the spectrum, the best winter location to workout in NYC is the New York Athletic Club – NYAC, for short, where I am a member. Essentially it is a country club, but it’s also home to some highly obsessive and top-notch athletes. The NYAC rugby team went nationally undefeated last year and members consistently bring home Olympic medals. The central park south club boasts an indoor track, basketball courts, boxing gym, pool, etc etc. Being a NYAC member gets you access through reciprocity with the Royal Bangkok Sports Club.

RBSC is an oasis in the center of Bangkok. Along with the gym and pool, it has its own private driving range, practice golf holes, and a horse race track. NYAC, take notes. The horse track is a great place to practice the 400m and 800m sprints so long as you watch out for incoming golf balls.

In the mean time… putting in work on those tires.

Illegal Gum, A Boat In The Sky, And Eduardo Saverin in Singapore

William Gibson, in an article for Wired Magazine, famously called Singapore Disneyland with a Death Penalty. That was almost twenty years ago, written in Feb 1993, but Singapore’s reputation as an Orwellian city state and the oasis of order and prosperity is still very true. Singapore is relentlessly micro-managed to the point that gum is illegal [to import for sale] and it has one of the highest capital punishment rates in the world. Nearly 1,000 people have been hung in Singapore since the 1950s and with a current population of 5 million the stats are not in your favor. Drug related offenses are among the most common reasons. Just know you can get fined for just about every offensive imaginable – don’t even think about littering.

Shopping is one of Singapore’s primal passions. Catering to one of the highest concentrations of millionaires in the world, Singapore can feel like it’s made up of 80% retail space. What Starbucks is to Manhattan, Louis V is to Singapore. Actually I can see three Louis V’s from where I am sitting at this very moment. A more fitting title may have been Rodeo Drive with a Death Penalty.

River in one of the shopping malls.

Not too long ago Eduardo Saverin, of Facebook, ditched his U.S. passport for citizenship in Singapore. He says it is simply because he likes it here, although this move was more than likely for tax purposes. Not that he needs a job but the unemployment rate is near an astonishingly low 2%. He’s a bit of a minor celebrity here on the night scene so I can understand that he’s probably enjoying the boost in celebrity status by being in a smaller pond. There are even supposed blogs dedicated to advice on how to run into Mr. Saverin in the club scene. Jim Rogers, famous investor and economist, also lives here because he found it to be the cleanest of the financial hubs in Asia where his kids could grow up speaking Mandarin. Clean doesn’t do it justice. Singapore is spotless, I’d even eat off its subway floors.

Marina Bay Sands

The Marina Bay Sands is a massive architectural marvel and the crown jewel of Singapore’s harbor. The ship in the sky links the three towers together with the worlds largest infinity pool. Las Vegas Sands built this compound for $8 Billion in 2010 as the pinnacle of opulence in the most expensive city of Southeast Asia. They have one of the largest casinos in the east – Singaporeans are charged $100 to enter whereas for foreigners it is free. 

View from the terrace in the apartment building called “The Sail” on Dec 31, 2012. There are worse ways to celebrate New Years Eve (See Marina Bay Sands on right)

“Rainy Season” doesn’t begin to cover it. In Singapore the Monsoon Season is December to March. December and January in particular are known as the wet phase. Yes, the wet phase of the monsoon season. It’s January here right now. It’s sunny at the moment but in less than 20 minutes I could be sitting in the middle of a torrential downpour. Here’s a video we took from the Marina Bay Sands swimming pool when a flash lighting storm paid us a visit.

Lastly, Singapore has spectacular food from all sorts of five star restaurants to the food courts at Raffles Market (personal favorite). Food stands are a perfect way to get a delicious and inexpensive meal and due to the Singaporean standards of perfection there is absolutely no need to question the hygiene standards at any of these places. Start with Dim Sum at $3 a plate with a cold Tiger beer.

And do your best not to make egregious gum chewing mistakes. Remember, in Singapore, Big Brother is always watching…

World’s Most Expensive Coffee Is Not What You Think It Is

One of Bali’s most expensive exports will run you up to $400 for a pound. No, it’s not drugs, well, sort of. It’s the coffee beans known as Kopi Luwak. These beans are revered by a devoted following, despised with a passion by the competition, and rated unspectacularly average by world wide coffee critics. So why is there a sustainable and established market for coffee that costs 20x your typical bag? Just as elegant French labels can add significant value to wine, the Kopi Luwak comes with an exotic and bizarre story worth the premium.

You don’t want to know, but you do because that’s where the value is:
These beans have been partially digested by the Luwak, a close relative to the mongoose known as a Civet Cat. Luwaks supposedly will only select the very best beans to eat from the local coffee plants. Their stomachs digest only the skins, leaving the whole coffee beans to ferment for roughly 12 hours before being “returned”.

Luwak, aka Civet Cat in Ubud, Bali.

These Luwaks are on display for agrotourists, otherwise all of the farm’s participating Luwaks live in the wild.

Coffee Beans

The Process:
On this particular farm in Ubud, Bali, the Luwaks live free in their natural habitat on roughly a hectare. Balinese farmers walk around the woods collecting Luwak droppings from the forest floor. After cleaning the beans, the workers sort out by hand the black ones which move into further processing.

The winners are hand roasted just a pound at a time in what looks like a stir fry pan. Some beans are packaged whole and the rest are ground, again by hand, with a mortar and pestle. (remember, in Bali, manual labor is cheaper than electricity).

Luwak product.

This farm makes teas, chocolate, and other more normal coffees.

The SCAA (Specialty Coffee Association of America), among others, is at odds with the Luwak product actively claiming that the process is a sensationalist scam and that the finished product is mediocre at best. Whether or not these claims are worth anything, it’s clear that the competition is bitterly jealous of Kopi Luwak’s marketing success.

After trying it myself, I was unimpressed, but that could be due to their brewing (non)method. They basically pound it to a fine powder and put it in hot water. I’m sure it would have been much better if a barista got their hands on it. Other than that, its basically smooth and mild.

Jack Nicholson drank it in The Bucket List and Oprah mentioned it a few times.
The pop culture references in the last 5 to 10 years regarding Kopi Luwak caused an explosion in popularity which led to a huge increase in price and counterfeiters.

I researched 1lb bags listed on Amazon and saw enormous differences in price. It’s highly likely that most Kopi Luwak you see advertised is not the authentic product considering it sells for such a high premium and is difficult to impossible to authenticate. It’s well known that far more Kopi Luwak is sold than is produced.

Why would anyone think to invent this type of coffee?
The story is that Kopi Luwak was discovered by resourceful native plantation workers whose only access to coffee beans were in the Luwak droppings. After washing, roasting, and brewing the beans the natives discovered that they liked the unique flavor. After the Dutch took notice they jumped on the opportunity to package it for world wide sale as a premium, exotic, and unusual coffee drink. The more satisfying theory is that this was all a prank by the farmers on their plantation owners.

While I’d like to think that this laborious process would produce a Macalllen 25 caliber cup of coffee, in the end it’s really worth far more as a story than it is as an actual cup of Joe.

How To Become An Entrepreneur On The Banana Pancake Trail with Andy Taylor

“A lot of my business meetings have been done sitting in these little huts on the beach, coffee in one hand cigarette in the other.”

In 2006, 24 year old Andy Taylor worked as a risk analyst at Bank of America in London, his first job out of UMIST where he earned degrees in chemistry and forensics. He was on a promising career path to a cushioned lifestyle working in London’s banking industry.

Seven years later, this is what Andy is up to…
Our Banana Pancake Trail Entrepreneur:

“One of my friends passed away prematurely and it was a catalyst to get me to move. Basically within two weeks of his funeral I had packed my bags and left England for Bangkok.”

Andy is the purveyor of Aquaddiction, a dive shop, hostel, bar, and classic ocean side bungalow with twenty employees located on Gili Trawangan. Here he is a full time resident living with his girlfriend and sharing the island with 800 locals and 250 other expats. He caters to the Banana Pancake Trail backpackers: primarily Europeans traveling through the popular destinations throughout South East Asia. There are no motorized vehicles allowed on the island. He doesn’t even have to wear shoes.

When Andy got to Bangkok he traveled throughout Thailand until he made it to Vietnam where he got a job as a dive instructor. Over the next few years he worked, basically beach to beach, at dive locations learning the ins and outs, networking, and ultimately building towards his current business. When the opportunity presented itself he got a manager position at a dive shop in Bali that was, in his words, “A war zone”. None of the employees were properly trained and few even knew the basics of safely maintaining the equipment. After sharpening his managerial skills he set off for Gili Trawangan where he managed a very small location from the ground up. Eventually he found himself thinking, “I can do this myself” and when his current building came up for rent he jumped on the opportunity.

Andy teaching a certification class in the upstairs bungalow

“I put $20,000 to invest in a boat and some dive equipment. And in June 2009 opened Aquaddiction”

Andy has the great advantage of being an excellent communicator – something that is extremely valuable to tourists who, in this part of the world, sigh with relief when they run into someone who can provide concise, reliable, and accurate information.

“Gili’s just been blowing up over the last couple years. It’s constant.
There’s always something going on, which makes doing business here just so interesting. There’s no health and safety, there’s no planning, there’s no idea of what’s going to be next and opportunities arise all of the time.”

The only means of transport around Gili T is by horse and buggy

Aquaddiction has grown over 200% in the past year and went from about 300 certifications last year to around 800 certifications by the end of this year. A scuba diving certification costs $370… back of the envelope math puts a portion of his revenue at $300,000. He wouldn’t comment on revenue from the full range of his services. “Every time you have money in the bank, it’s time to invest in something else. Major costs are, for me, building right now. My overhead is investment, it’s building more rooms, upgrading my power, building new high end accommodation bungalows at about $7,000 each and there’s five of them.”

“It’s always good to have an envelope under the desk just in case something goes wrong or someone comes in, you can go, “well this says, this envelope with like a $50 or $100 in it, says that it didn’t happen, ya?”
“I’ve never before known much about corruption but from running my business, yeah, it is rife in this country. I never ever was exposed to this before. It’s just business operation here which is something that’s taken a real long time to get used to. Because, I’ve never offered a bribe before in my life!” Corruption has not hindered Aquaddiction but it has required Andy to adapt to an unfamiliar aspect of doing business in Indonesia.

“Even at the passport control in Jakarta main airport, I was trying to get through with a working visa, they were like, ‘Oh, no no no, you haven’t got the right paper, you’re going to have to pay me $250′. And they even blatantly said, ‘But, there is another way. Go put some money in your passport and come back.’ I went and put $50 in my passport, I came back, gave it to them, they were like, ‘oh no no no.’ Went back, put $100 in my passport, ok, ya, stamp stamp. Ya it’s that obvious. And these guys are stand up full on members of the system in one of the biggest international airports in Indonesia.”

Gili T’s harbor

“I’m just glad I came out when I did.” Andy aspires to turn Aquaddiction into a brand name with locations on different islands and wherever he finds a good spot.
“There’s lots more islands around here and Indonesia is huge. There’s 18,000 islands. If you spent a day on each island it’d take you 50 years to get through them all. Our next step is to get a manager in so we [girlfriend] can get focused on other things but it’s really hard to let go of the baby.”

On Andy’s favorite story or moment as a dive shop owner operator:
“The next day we found him handcuffed to a hut, still dressed as Shrek, and hungover as shit. They made him pay for it. $250 dollars.”

“The final test of the dive master is the snorkel test. We put a mask on so they can’t breath through their nose and it’s sealed. And we get a jug of whatever we can mix together, dress them up in stupid clothing, pour the jug down, and they’ve got to drink the whole lot. And then they’re welcomed into the world to be a dive professional. This one guy, we dressed him up as Shrek. And there was a big lobster sitting in the tank in front of the restaurant and it was way to big for the tank. And being eco-minded we were all yelling at the restaurant employees, “you can’t do this, you can’t do this”. When he got really drunk he said, “I’m going to do something about this, now!” So he gets up in his Shrek costume and sprints to the tank, grabs this lobster out and runs with it down the beach, security came and basically rugby tackled him, and at the very last breath he managed to throw lobster back into the ocean. And the next day we found him handcuffed to a hut, still dressed as Shrek, and hungover as shit. They made him pay for it. $250 dollars.”

And lastly, sage advice from the expert himself on avoiding financial pitfalls in Gili T:

“…..Watch your drink bill”

———————————————————————————————————-

Scuba Diving Certification Classes and Trips with Aquaddiction
Andy Taylor
+62(0)81 339 798 555
+62(0)812 27 257 437
http://www.aquaddiction.com/
info@aquaddiction.com

Frank Sinatra on $6.50 in Bali, Indonesia

I’m in Bali, Indonesia eating at the Kuta Playa hotel on egian beach. There’s a waterfall, attentive and choreographed staff, and a well equipped wine and spirits list. To top it off, we’re being serenaded by Frank Sinatra over the sound system. I ordered chicken tikka, spring rolls, and a pint of beer. All of this came out to just $6.50.

In Bali manual labor is cheaper than electricity so $1 will get you just about any service you’d like. If you want someone to order and serve you lunch on the beach, $1 is more than enough. You can rent a surfboard for the day for next to nothing, at $2 we overpaid. On Legian beach there are at least 50 surfboard rental stations each only a few paces apart. Just goes to show how much the tourism economy drives Bali. The currency is extremely devalued to the point that when I withdraw IDR$1,000,000 from the atm it amounts to just roughly US$100. This makes for a very satisfying experience to see all of those extra zeros when your account balance is quoted in rupiah.

Absolute Gasoline at the convenience stores for $0.50 per liter

Streets in Bali do not have sidewalks. Good luck trying to walk anywhere during rush hour.

There are a ton of these temples. This one was casually tucked away behind an unmarked gate between a barbershop and a convenience store.

Bali is inexpensive to visit, yes. Remember the cartoons where one character would be hungry and imagining the other character to be a giant sizzling piece of fried chicken? Well, in Bali, you’re that piece of fried chicken. With the language barrier, that means you will be taken advantage of at every interaction. Locals will leave with a grin after they manage to sell you a room for $120,000 when it should be $100,000. Really that’s just a difference of $2 but these add up and feeling ripped off is plain annoying.

Nearly every time I’ve mentioned to someone back home that I’m going to stop in Bali they’ve responded with a comment about living like Eat, Pray, Love. Well, apparently this reputation for Bali as a camp for spiteful women is completely correct. Not even 24 hours after arriving I met a girl from London with the travel blog: divorceetraveler.com. Can’t make that up.

Bali is also known as a surfer’s paradise which is what brings me here. Uluwatu and Padang Padang are world famous waves. Haven’t made it to these breaks yet but this is what I’m looking forward to:

Uluwatu

Off to quick trip to the Gili Islands and Lombok…

Cashed Up Bogans, Rocks, Sand, and Great Whites in WA

Perth, the main coastal city in Western Australia, is an anomaly. It’s one of the last places left where a blue collar worker can earn a respectable, even enviable, living. That’s because it is home to a $70B+ per year mining industry consisting of iron ore, oil, gold, etc. Western Australia is incredibly well endowed with natural resources and has a disproportionately small number of residents which means literally everyone living there benefits from the flow of the mines.

America calls them “Rednecks”, Britain calls them “Chavs”, and in Australia they’re called “Bogans”. Armed with no more than a highschool diploma, many local WA “Bogans” are making a killing working at these mines earning AU$150,000 per year as simple laborers. This influx of wealth for the blue collar community has spurred the name: CUBs: “Cashed-Up-Bogans”. The CUBs live in McMansions, have an arsenal of jet skis, and their calling card is the neon candy paint, chromed out, super charged, extra loud, $80,000 Ford Ute.

Ford Ute

Here a local blue collar worker can earn AU$150,000 per year driving a dump truck on a mining site – literally the most boring job in the world. To have a good shot at landing one of these unskilled and highly lucrative jobs you have to not only be a native Australian but you have to have an in, potentially a relative, who will hire you directly. Sorry to burst your bubble if you planned on joining the mining party to get your own garage full of jet skis and Utes.

If you can’t get a job in the mines and you live in Perth you are still able to make a solid income with the minimum wage at $17.50. Although I heard in Perth that the local restaurants, convenience stores, and other generic low income jobs routinely hire for north of $20. This high minimum wage makes Perth one of the most expensive cities I’ve ever visited. Forget what you’ve heard about New York City being an expensive city. A burger at a local Perth pub will run you north of $30.

It’s hot, it’s a desert, and it feels/looks like Arizona.

Perth is an outdoorsman’s paradise. It’s raw and isolated by thousands of miles of Aussie Outback. Some people prefer it this way and some people clearly don’t. My first interaction with a local was with my charismatic British expat bus driver. He proclaimed to be extremely bored with Perth by stating, “If you like rocks and sand, this is the place for you” and “What’s here to do? You can drive out to Rockingham to see the dolphins and if they’re not there, what’s left? F##k All!” and “You can’t go to the beach because you’ll be wind whipped and sand blasted and it’s 40 Celsius out. Only a lunatic would want to go to the beach when it’s 40C out! Or you get eaten by enormous sharks.”

He’s not joking about the sharks. An average of 15 people per year have been killed by sharks in WA with that number rising steadily each year.

Sharks aren’t the only danger, I’d sum up for you how constantly dangerous the conditions are in Australia but Bill Bryson in his book Down Under does it much better than I can:

“It [Australia] has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world’s 10 most poisonous snakes, all are Australian. Five of its creatures – the funnel-web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick and stonefish – are the most lethal of their type in the world.”
“This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip; where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you. Pick up an innocuous cone shell from a Queensland beach, as innocent tourists are all too wont to do, and you will discover that the little fellow inside is not just astoundingly swift and testy, but exceedingly venomous.”
“If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents, or
left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking Outback. It’s a tough place.”

Prehistoric sized pelican. For scale, that little black spot to the right is a seagull.

Perth is a boom town. There is an active crane on nearly every corner.

Perth Bell Tower? or building from the set of Star Trek?

And with that, I’m off to Bali, Indonesia…

Welcome to Sydney

I’m sitting here with Simon, a former Bloomberg’er who ran the electronic trading business out in Sydney, and I’ve ordered an emu and kangaroo meat pizza aptly named The Coat of Arms. Australia is one of only a hand full of countries that eats its own national animals – the two national animals on the coat of arms being the emu and the kangaroo. Not to mention, the place we’re eating is called the Australian Heritage Hotel Bar. Can you image the same situation back in the US: casually wolfing down bald eagle tacos at a restaurant in the Patriot Hotel. Seems almost cannibalistic. 

…I’d order it again.

Not 10 minutes pass after sitting down when, unexpectedly, the Syndey Bloomberg sales team sits down for lunch next to us. Again, proof that the world is smaller than you think… I spoke at length with Huy, a very enthusiastic team leader who gave me great detail on where to visit in Vietnam. After lunch I was fortunate enough to bypass the notorious Bloomberg security detail to check out the local office [view below]. They have only a few hundred employees in Sydney compared to the roughly 6,000 employees back at HQ in NYC.

Every crosswalk – fortunately.

Bondi Beach

Circular Quay

For me, so many things in the Australian experience are exactly the same as in the US. When I showed up in Sydney on Friday these locals were in the middle of a Santa-Con type party, a hugely popular all day beer fest in Santa outfits, which is coming up in NYC this Saturday. The official day for Santa Con in Sydney is also the 15th but these people just happened to be dressed up regardless because people in Australia love to dress in costume for their parties. It’s not uncommon in The Rocks or Potts Point to see large groups of people in transit dressed for an 80′s themed party or a CEO’s and Office Hoe’s party. Ask your Aussie friends, they’ll respond by wondering why Americans don’t have more of these costume parties.

After running into this group, I ended up at a bar in regular clothes, no costume, with a buddy who writes for the sports section in the local Irish expat newspaper. Yes, they have enough expat Irish in Australia to warrant a sizable Irish newspaper.

Sounds like a kids TV show but its a very ritzy and expensive harbor area with a multitude of yachts, high end restaurants, and Russell Crowe’s apartment.

In Sydney I’m staying with Jay who works at Goldman. He used to be my client in NYC before he took a promotion that relocated him to Sydney. During the week he is at work 24/7 so while I was wandering around Sydney I came across this gem at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

It’s name is: Untitled – by Stephen Birch. That’s fine, really, what could you call it?

And lastly,

Australians are, as you know, notorious binge drinkers. You can find these anti binge drinking advertisements throughout the subway system. Thought I’d share this one with you as the best one of the lot.

Off to a quick pit-stop in Melbourne and then off to miner’s paradise in Perth…

World Famous in New Zealand

It doesn’t matter where New Zealand you are, LOTR (Lord of the Rings) is omnipresent. One of my favorite references was on a grocery store billboard that read, “You shall not pass! … on these ridiculous savings”. This is Gollum in the Wellington airport.

The South Island in New Zealand is, to compare it to the U.S., a bit like going to visit Wyoming or Colorado for the full rustic outdoor experience. There are 1 million people living in the south island and roughly 20 million sheep. This is possible because NZ has no natural predators so every living thing on the island thrives and is basically a plush toy.

NZ is heavily promoting it’s South Island to the film industry. Easy to see why because it’s incredibly scenic down here: (That neon blue is the real color of the water) [Lake Tekapo]

I drove 9 hours from Christchurch to Queenstown with a few others I met at the airport. There’s a lot of scenery on the way but it’s an extremely empty territory with towns of just a few hundred residents along the way. These towns exist because they were created for construction projects and the gold rush in the 1850′s. When both of these projects were finished, everyone just stayed… why not?

Finally to Queenstown – the adventure capital of the world for adrenalin junkies seekingbungee jumping, sky diving, jetboating, canyoning, sail planing and hang gliding, dirt biking and mountain biking, ATV’ing and mountain luging, and on and on…  This town is 99.9% inhabited by tourists who never left.  It’s also where they first invented bungee jumping. I’ve been skydiving before so I decided against the bungee jumping and opted for mountain biking. Anyways, easily the best views I’ve seen so far:

In this photo I’m with Jack who’s been traveling to various vacation spots all over the world to work/live in whatever location. He’s 27, from England (Cockney English – think Brad Pitt’s accent in the movie Snatch). He’s got a PhD in the travel lifestyle.

There’s one more experience in Queenstown that deserves mention: The Fergburger – a burger that’s so good – [readers in NYC turn away for a moment] – so good that I’d say it’s even tastier than Shake Shack. Like many of the high quality things in this country it’s dubbed with the popular local phrase: “World Famous in New Zealand“.

Off to hang out with the kangaroos in Australia…

Proof The World Is Smaller Than You Think…

5pm on Monday and I’m standing at the top of Mt. Victoria in Wellington, New Zealand.

Beautiful 360 degree view of the harbor and the controversial site of the wellywood sign.

To get there I trekked up a narrow winding path through the forest from the city centre (yes, that’s how they spell it everywhere but the US). I’m standing at the top platform chatting with some very tattoo’d Maoris – think aggressive face tattoos. Despite their appearance drawing up thoughts of Mike Tyson, they are some of the most friendly people I have known.

Out of the blue a familiar face from the basketball courts at Santa Clara University shows up. He ever-so-casually walked out of the same forested path I had come from earlier as I was walking away from the hill top. We did a, “Wait a minute… I know you… And what the hell are you doing all the way up here?!” I had no idea he was traveling in the same country, let alone the same city. Alex Ritcheson has been through New Zealand for the past few months working odd jobs and enjoying his time. We exchanged stories and updates at Chow’s; a favorite for the cast of the Lord of the Rings actors.

Backing up… I started in Auckland disoriented, dazed, aimless and spent most of the first day drinking coffees and getting everything in order. Just as bars in NYC stay open all night, Auckland’s night life is endless. Auckland has got some interesting architecture, it’s clean, scenic, but is pretty much like other big cities.

So fast forward through two late nights of revelry and I found my way on a bus down to Rotorua which is famous for the geothermal baths. Originally it was built as the World Famous South Pacific Healing Spa known for the health benefits of the minerals in the naturally occurring volcanic bath waters. It ultimately failed: One, because the water is highly corrosive and wreaked havoc on any and all structures that tried to pump it into bath houses. And Two, the place has a constant sulfery stench that, on the spectrum of smells, falls somewhere between eggs and fertilizer. This main bathhouse used to be the big attraction for the upper echelon of the tourist crowd in the early 1900′s.

The town as a whole thrives now with geothermal attractions, local maori cultural experiences, and some of the best mountain biking paths in the world.

Backpackers dominate the scene in most of the towns throughout New Zealand. Nine percent of New Zealand’s GDP comes from tourism. These backpackers may be poor but where they lack in funds they make up in volume. It’s about $20 per night to stay in any one of the hundreds of hostels in the country. Many of the workers in these hostels are travelers themselves who decided to stay to work for free lodging.

New Zealand has a very high quality of life and it’s generally easy to find work here. Minimum wage is $13.50 (compared with $7.25 in the US). They have great wine here, specifically Pinot Noir, which is produced locally. Actually it feels a lot like California: picturesque, it’s got its wine country, potential for a lot of outdoor activity, and lots of good looking blondes (although here they all have european accents). Speaking of blondes, here are some words of wisdom from famous boxing writer Bert Sugar, “Just as Gentlemen prefer Blondes, Blondes prefer Gentlemen.”

Off to the South Island…