2018_09_asia

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Sept 2018 - Asia Trip

Soon after returning from Europe, we embarked on another big trip to Asia, leaving Kyle behind with grandma. Alan went first to HK, via Guam for the first time, and then to Bangkok and finally Chiang Rai, to visit Thai coffee, tea and macadamia nut farmers to see if we could come up with a blockchain-based product to help them rise from subsistence. Our hosts from WorldVision were awesome. As from any field trip, we learned a ton and had to pivot from some of our original, naive thoughts.

Alan returned to HK to meet up with ML, and we spent the next few days preparing for Aunt Rose's 70th birthday party held at FCC. We also met up with old Shanghai buddies at the fancy Madame Fu's, made even fancier with the wine brought by Tjun.

From HK, we stopped in Taipei for a day and stayed at the infamously "romantic" hotel WeGo. My dad and stepmom wanted to visit the room to see what an hourly-rate place looked like.

Then we were off to Singapore, where ML was feted like a princess returning home. We stayed at Gina's awesome house, ate stupendous amounts of food while reuniting with all of our friends. After ML left, Alan continued the party at the hip 1880 private members club and then on Chris' boat. I also networked with old friends / colleagues on Monday. it's great to see everyone doing so well.

Finally, I returned to Taipei to hang with my best friend Ed at the W. I attended some of the conference and met up with my own contacts as well. As always, I feasted on beef noodle soup and Taiwanese food. In the evenings, I checked out the clubs, which were raring up for Ultra Taipei.

Map | First time in Guam, en route from Hawaii to HK.

Map | Gorgeous dim sum restaurant in HK

Map | talking blockchain over dim sum

Map | Eating Indian in Wanchai

Map | Great live music in Wanchai

Map | Bangkok dinner, discussing how to help poor Thai farmers with blockchain tech

Map | Breakfast nook at the Bangkok Somerset

Map | Arriving in Chiang Rai for my first time

Map | Meeting up with our WorldVision contacts

Map | local Thai lunch at WorldVision Chiang Rai offices

Map | Learning the Macadamia process

Map | Oasis.farm team goes on field trip

Map | not easy getting to the farmers

Map | amazing view at the top of the mountain

Map | learning from coffee farmers

Map | Coffee being grown in Thai mountains, replacing opium

Map | White temple in Chiang Rai

Map | Built by famous artist, sponsored by a rich business man

Map | the bathrooms

Map | cat coffee lounge

Map | dinner while we try to take in what we've learned from the field

Map | night market

Map | tea farmers

Map | this tea farmer's daughter is going to college in Bangkok

Map | tea farming on incredibly gorgeous land - but the minority tribe farmers are not Thai citizens and do not own the land they farm on

Map | coffee shop run by students at a school

Map | Thai taxi warnings

Map | great craft beer establishment in Bangkok

Map | 30 beers on tap

Map | so hard to decide

Map | We stumbled upon the famous Jenny's bakery early morning in HK

Map | Great catching up with Josh and Cleo in HK

Map | Tiffany joins us

Map | approrpriate beer at FCC

Map | modeling for the picture wall

Map | FCC

Map | prepping for Auntie Rose's 70th birthday bash with Emma

Map | Shanghai reunion

Tjun brings the goods

Map | Expats of Shanghai now in HK

traditional dim sum in Sheung Wan

Map | Amazing home cooked meal at Auntie Rose's house with all the kids

Michelle looks great, even without the iphone app filters

Emma looks like a kid!

Map | Lemon place holders, to match Auntie Rose's "life is like a lemon" simile in her speech

Map | ML and Emma did a bang up job for the birthday bash

Japanese - Peru meal in HK

Map | Awesome catching up with Marianne and David, and meeting Tiffany's husband Jake

Map | very interesting lights at Tokyo-Lima

Coffee-infused beer at Starbuck!

not just an ad - it explains how China leap-frogged in the US

Map | Wego "romantic" hotel in Taiwan

Map | His and Hers toiletry boxes

Map | huge room had a huge bathroom with jacuzzi and even steam room shower

Map | DTF with Dad and Auntie

Map | Gina's amazing flower arrangement

Map | Perakanan lunch at CandleNut

Map | Gina opened up her stunning house to us in Singapore

Map | breakfast waiting for me after my little dip in the pool - life is good

Map | Australian breakfast in Singapore, meeting up with old work colleagues

Map | Visiting Akshay at his nice home

Map | and meeting his newborn - good to see our old furniture put to good use

amazing home cooked Indian food, since we can't go to BBQ Tonight for lunch anymore

Map | Welcome back to Singapore dinner at Basilica, where we had our farewell dinner when we left SG

Map | ML feted like a queen - rose petal bed and in-room massage

ML visits her old Apple colleague Flora; she sends us a pic of when she first met Kyle...

Map | ML entertains Lexie and Asher with her stickers

Map | posh brunch at private members club in Singapore

Chris invites me onto his boat for a sail in the SG harbor

Map | I get to sign the Founders wall for the Visa SG innovation center

Map | Back to Taipei

150 NTD haircut - about $5

Map | 3D art in Taipei pavement

Map | swimming at the W TPE pool

catching up with Chooake

Map | Beef noodle soup at my favorite Muslim restaurant in TPE

Map | Grand Hyatt in TPE

Map | Founder of Razer

The guys at Proverb hotel bar

Map | packed nightclub after midnight on Thur in TPE

Map | late night ramen - like a Japanese working man

Map | had to get clear broth beef noodle soup as my stomach starts revolting to all the spiciness

Map | Dad introducing me to different beef noodle restaurants

Map | What? In Taipei in Breeze mall

Map | We opt for dim sum - good catching up with Carl and his daughter Sienna