Two trips to Cambodia in one week

As some of you may know I'm presently working on an acquisition with activities in Cambodia and Vietnam and I've been frequenting these places recently.  The first time Umit and I were in Cambodia and Vietnam was in 2003 as tourists.  There was bird flu at the time and it was a surreal experience to travel with so few tourists and spend nights in empty hotels.  Mind you it did increase our bargaining position and as a true Dutchman I secured some very good hotel rates.  We made an amazing trip from Siem Reap to Chau Doc over water.  The most memorable part was traveling down the Mekong in a speedboat going at full throttle whilst drinking wine and looking at the local boats traveling up and down the river with their produce ... I never felt this close to being James Bond. We continued our trip overland to Ho Chi Min City and flew to Hanoi a few days later.  Apart from Hanoi we also did a trip up to Sapa which was very worthwhile and Ho Long bay (fortunately our boat didn't sink like the one recently).  A lot has happened since this trip in 2003 as the people and economies move up th wealth ladder.  Both countries are interesting places with very young and upbeat populations that are eager to improve their living standards.

Three weeks ago I was in Vietnam.  My first stop was Ho Chi Min City which is now completely congested.  I've never seen so many motorcycles flow through the streets and it is scary to think that these people will one day switch to cars.  Business is clearly booming and real estate prices in the old center are going through the roof.  The prices are now comparable to European cities which is a bubble if you ask me.

Traffic in HCMC, mainly motorcycles.

Have you ever wondered how to transport your family? The trick is to stay slim.

Next I flew up to Hanoi and I had not realized that the weather around this time of year is quite cold.  The temperature was between 5 & 10 degrees centigrade and the people were dressed as if they were heading for the ski slopes. With only a thin tropical suit on and no warm cloths in my bag I realized I could be facing a problem.  Non of the buildings have central heating and I was cold for two straight days.  Hanoi has still maintained its nice French Asian fusion feel and although from a business perspective is less bustling it feels nice culturally and this is where the government is seated .... and where government contracts are managed. 

Winter in Hanoi ... where are their skis?

I've also been visiting Phnom Penh in Cambodia a lot recently.  On one of the flights over I was sitting next to another Dutch guy working for Air France/KLM.  It turns out he was preparing their new schedule Paris - Phnom Penh.  This is interesting because it is the first European airline to announce a direct flight to Phnom Penh and confirms that Cambodia is becoming more important economically.  On an aside it is also good for the company I work for because we have and interest in the restaurant concession on Phnom Penh airport.  Phnom Penh is developing fast and you can see it all around as the construction of large hotels and offices is happening and tailoring to the influx of business people.  Also the once sleepy restaurants along the Mekong are being changed to swanky lounge bars for the hipsters.  
Another interesting observation on the trip over was that I was flying over with Bangkok Airways who claim to be Asia's 'boutique airline.  At business school I did cases on airlines and they always showed what poor investments they generally are.  Bangkok Airways was actually very profitable by owning the airports they were flying to (Ko Samui and Sukothai) or had a monopoly (e.g. BKK Siem Reap).  However, sitting in the plane to Phnom Penh where they have no competitive edge would lead me to believe that their margins are falling. 

Traffic in Phnom Penh seems more orderly than in Vietnamese cities.

Prime ministers office ... Stalinist style. The deputy PM has an office that is similar in size ... I guess the French taught them about bureaucracy and and the Soviet Union how to design buildings.

The Cambodian interpretation of a horse and carriage.  These serve as taxis

The main road to the airport .... this will probably need some work.

Finally some family pictures to keep this a family blog:

Quinn preparing for her meetings for the next day ...

Quinn's morning transport to school ... she gets really upset if we even hint not using the Tuk-Tuk.

She's still infatuated by the little temples everywhere.

"Here be dragons" ...

Princess Quinn on her silk sofa

Tibbe Jan van der Linden

Pictures of Tibbe, Born 25/02/11.  No words needed other than to say we're happy and everybody is healthy.

Tibbe 2 minutes old.

Mother and Daughter celebrating.

A victorious moment ... "We did it!"

1st calls

Nurse cleaning Tibbe up.

The nurses combed his hair (with a razor sharp parting). Give him a suit and he can go to his 1st business meeting.

Recovering ... 4 hours old

First meal

15 hours old ... more rest...

By now he's slept over 90% of his life ....

Quinn inspecting the intruder ... he seems to be winning her acceptance.

Jealousy put aside ... I guess she realized he's here to stay

Quinn and Grandma having fun

A proud grandma.

Never off-line ...

A few observations

Selling bananas seems very profitable .... how does selling THB20 (EUR 0.50) bananas get you 2 laptops?
They're either trading banana's online or this is the fruit vendor of the 21st century.

Why are these stupid dogs dressed up like kids?

The bread cutting machine .... the whole loaf get sliced slice by slice.  In the Netherlands we have machines that you put the whole loaf in but here the service is more personal ... and you can request them to remove the crust as well.

Is it a wonder the power fails occasionally?  At night it is rather pretty with the sparks around the connectors.

A Ronald McDonald doing the Thai wai (the Thai alternative to shaking hands).  I always find him a little creepy .... 

"Kung Hei Fat Choi"

Entering the year of the rabbit...

"Kung Hei Fat Choi" or Happy New Year ... earlier this month it was Chinese New Year and for 3 days there were celebrations with red lanterns and images of the year of the rabbit dominating Bangkok.

Quinn's school celebrating Chinese new year

Quinn's school was also decorated with red lanterns as they celebrated the new year.  This is also the time for the dragon dances and Quinn, a duckling in her school (this sounds like the equivalent of a 'pheut' in Dutch universities), also did a little dance. The little dragon moved up and down and from side to side as the other children were playing the bells and tambourines.  All the evil spirits were either tricked and frightened by the noise of the little dragon image or they rolled over laughing at the sight of it.

This is my third post and the first post in February.  We've now been in Bangkok for over a month and I'm almost ashamed to say that we haven't missed Amsterdam for a second.  It's really quite disconcerting if you think about it but I guess we're generally happy here and life has been easy.

Quinn's garden of Eden

Quinn has fully adapted and as soon as she gets up she grabs her books and pulls us away from breakfast to go to school.  This is unbelievable and in one month of schooling here she's probably done more than during the whole of last year in Amsterdam.  I can only conclude that the highly subsidized daycare system in the Netherlands doesn't work; it's too expensive and it lacks quality.  Quinn's school here is private and the parents demand value for money.  If they think the value isn't there they will take there kids out of this school and put them into a school with a better reputation. Education is a simple business requiring limited resources.  As one would expect schools quickly become a commodity and here in Bangkok there are plenty of decent alternatives.  The result is that for less than a third of the price of Dutch daycare you get a much higher quality daycare despite living in what's probably the most expensive residential area in Bangkok.  As a proponent of free markets it doesn't get any clearer than this.

The little dragon dance ...

Just a final series of photos that is becoming fairly typical during our 'mall visits'.  In these hot climates malls are hard to avoid for the routine shopping.  Asian malls can be particularly noisy especially on weekends when there are a lot of sales shows with sales promoters trying to sell people stuff by shouting through microphones, past the point of distortion.  I've never understood the success of this practice as in my view any sane person should walk away.  Quinn hates the noise but she loves reading quietly ... so we escape into a book store, the Kinokuniya is her favorite.  What happens next is typical and look at the pictures ... I guess Asian kids don't like the noise either and prefer reading:

Quinn finds a friend & starts reading.

She's on to something & more kids like the idea

An aisle full of concentrating kids & Quinn struggling with a Thai book.