Analyst

Poly, let's see some pictures!!!!

I'll play...

I'm not sure if they are still around, but there are two clubs that are worth mentioning; however, both are a little outside the city limits.

Chez Diane and Grand Prix...

Definitely a good time and much, much better than the ones in the actual city. The only thing that sucks now is the FX rate for USD/CAD.

Does anyone know anything about a leather goods company named Kayenta?

I found them in a recent issue of Lightning. Their website is http://www.kayenta.jp . Really digging the Wallet C-2.

other colours by orhan pamuk - i think rajio of all people put me onto this with a post of his a while back

Good read.

In Other Colours, the essay about his father, "My Father's Suitcase", I think it's called, is amazing. I've read it so many times and never get tired of it.

It was used as his acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2006.

Been wanting to finally read his other books, Istanbul and Snow, too.

we're doing it for a few nights in bosnia. it'll be awesome, or we'll end up in Hostel III.

Poly, have a good time out there and make sure to report back.

I just saw Hostel I and II, recently. I know it's just a movie, but some parts of Eastern Europe and probably the Balkans, too, seem really out there. Pretty intense stuff.

Elite Hunting. WTF?

Interesting to see a thread started about Thai "indie" music. Most of the so-called "indie" music here still seem like derivatives of generic Thai pop, to me. But, some locals swear by a few "indie" labels and artists that they faithfully hold on to.

For the most part, Thai pop music is produced through two main labels: GMM Grammy and RS. Like most pop music in Asia, music produced through these labels are mostly influenced by Japanese, Korean and Chinese pop. Lots of upbeat catchy pop tunes or the melancholy love ballad. Various artists are heavily marketed and promoted through their two labels and are mostly characterized by cute, dolled-up girls or boy-bands with crazy hair that try to emulate the success of the Korean artist, Rain.

Because of the heavily commercialization and perceived superficiality of artists and music emerging from the GMM Grammy and RS camps, independent artists such Boyd Kosiyabong decided to start their own label that promoted more personalized song-writing and performances. Boyd started his label, Bakery Music, which featured artists such as PRU, ModernDog and Ben Chalatit. While music on Bakery doesn't really sound that "indie" to me or "alternative" to Thai pop, much of the respect given to Boyd and his label comes from the roots of the label and its singular focus on music/artist, rather than the pop image. Other Bakery artists include Groov Rider, Rudklao and Crescendo.

Another label is the Black Sheep compilation series which often features music produced by independent bands made of Thai kids in the US and UK. Yai Monotone and Vacation (Seattle) are featured a lot.

This is my very rough synopsis of the local Thai music scene as told to me by my wife. Honestly, my very minor preference falls on bands like Potato and Peacemaker, based strictly on their catchy acoustic music and the fact that I've seen them perform live at a few clubs. Of course, they don't garner a lot of respect, based on my wife's preferences for Bakery music. But hey, it sounds pretty good to me....

If you're looking to get some crabs, then you're definitely in the right city. Go to any one of the strip clubs in the infamous Block. Trolling the dark streets of Charm City should provide you with exactly what you're looking for. Plenty of crack whores and trailer trash and ghetto booty around hosting those nasty critters....

Now if you're looking for a bucket of steamed Maryland blue crabs, then go to any place in the Inner Harbour. Should be easy to find Cheers!

I should be in Tokyo in November.

I will eat ramenz, buy BAPE and get hustled by Nigerians. I would also like to visit a Panchira cafe. Maybe Mr. Matsu can recommend one.

Definitely get some locals to take you out. TKO is a tough place to crack if you don't speak the language and are a foreigner.

I was there in March and was lucky enough to go out with some peeps from the Tokyo office. Just some semi-tame karaoke, excellent dinner in Ginza and a visit to some interesting places in Shibuya. Unfortunately didn't get a chance to go to any panchira cafes or simulated subway "feel-up" trains or image clubs. Next time. Next time.

This thread could use some more pics: horseriders and DJ-501XX.....

Anyone tried out the DJ-Union's yet?

I can't speak for the IB side but as for getting international experience in strategy consulting, working with McK/BCG/Bain should offer the best chance for engagements in Europe/Asia. If you're trying to target a particular region/country, then it's possible to transfer but it might not happen as fast as you would like. I'm not too sure about working in Japan, but might be able to share a little bit about the broader Asia Pac region.

Most of the firms will have established global development programs which will let you migrate to an overseas office for a specific period (~2 yrs) with the understanding that you will return to your respective home office. In these cases, there is usually a minimum requirement to qualify varying by firm: minimum senior consultant/associate level (sometimes manager/project leader), 2 years with the firm, etc. This will differ by firm and is often very competitive.

To be hired into a entry-level business analyst position, firms usually require local language fluency or a high level of proficiency. That, or as djrajio indicated, you have a very unique skillset or background that fills a local need. Basically, at the BA level, they usually have no problem finding qualified candidates coming home after graduation from target schools.

Another way is to get hired into a highly-regarded boutique/specialist firm that is doing a lot of work in the region. For example, Mercer Oliver Wyman does not "officially" have an office in Bangkok but due to need in the local financial services industry, they have around 20-22 people here on the ground. So in this case, you may have more chances to be staffed on an overseas engagement with MOW, for example, due to their reputation for risk management and Basel II implementation in Asia.

I suggest doing anything to secure the McK opp, which should have the best name brand cache in the region and allow excellent exit opps. Work your ass off during your internship/business analyst role. M/B/B will have up-or-out policies so everyone is gunning during this time. Even if you can't transfer as soon as you like, McK's name opens a lot of doors and you might able to find very interesting roles with foreign/local firms (i.e., international business development, chief-of-staff to CEO, etc.) Perfect for rounding out your resume for B-school and getting the international exposure you desire.

Any big high rollers on here have an IWC watch?=D

3706 Pilot Chronograph on croc strap.

Unfortunately don't have one of the IWCs with proprietary Pellaton seven-day movements or any other serious complications.

Very interesting. Would be interested to see pics and hear more about the experience. Thanks!

I usually live over in Superjetset but wanted to diversify a bit. Here are my overdyed blue-black Sorohikos purchased from the Mercer Street store in 2005. These jeans are stubborn as hell and take a while to get any fade whatsoever. I wear denim only on the weekends mostly and am shuttling between these and some Denim Junkie DJ-501XX.

The Block?

Oh, Panerais are most definitely hype.

But man, do they look good.

Panerais have been incredibly successful by creating this cultish, exclusive brand, despite utilizing a rather common movement in most of their models in the 4-6K range. But most watch makers like IWC or Breitling, with the exception of Rolex, are also using modified ETA/Valjoux movements for watches within the same price band.

But Panerai is also starting to produce watches with their own in-house movement (with JLC and A. Lange & Sohne creating the mainstay and hairsprings) such as the caliber p.2002 or p.2003. These watches have 8 day or 10 day movements and incorporate numerous functional refinements, such as bi-directional winding.

If you've worn most automatic Panerais or even a IWC Chronograph (3706), you'll notice that the watch wobbles when the rotor is spinning really fast in the non-winding direction. Of course, this produces unnecessary wear on the parts and is not elegant as one would want in a well-made timepiece. The new bi-directional winding solves the "rotor wobbling" issue scene in most ETA/Valjoux 7750 movements. As you can imagine, an in-house movement with 8-10 day power reserves and various improvements pushes the price range to 12-15K, well into the early range of some APs, VC, JLCs.

The difference between Panerai and other brands is that you'll be hard pressed to find an authorized dealer that will offer any discount on Panerais. Maybe 5% if you are lucky or have an outstanding relationship with the dealer. On the other hand, if you're buying IWC or Breitling, then 25-30% is common and even expected with authorized dealers. Even more if going gray market with unauthorized dealers. The demand for Panerai is so strong that its even rare to find the model you are looking for in the store. Mostly, it's going to be a 6-9 month wait, even with OEM straps/buckles. This is my perspective from the Asia Pac region.

But I tend to agree with you. Despite the hype, aesthetically, they look amazing as an everyday sport watch, with a vintage feel. Once you get use to wearing 44mm, it's hard to go back to 38-39mm. Plus, when you change the strap on the Panerai, it completely remakes the watch. There is no better watch to wear with jeans and a t-shirt.

check on Chowhound...the foodies on there should have debated this topic 10x over

analyst you're leaving thailand?

xColdRicex,

Sadly enough, but there 's a strong chance that I may be leaving Bangkok by this summer. Looks like I may be going back to DC for a bit before coming back overseas....

^That's pretty cheap--I have a few friends who live adjacent to meridian hill park--I think they're paying $1250 (+ parking for a studio) and $1350 (+ parking for a nice 1br with a GREAT view).

You can pay as much as you want though--plenty of nice rentals in that area.

Thanks for the info. Surprisingly, those prices aren't that bad at all. Which side of the park do they live? 16th Street or 15th Street side?

About 3 years ago, the 15th Street side was much more ghetto, compared to the embassy row side.

I may be back in DC soon.

Can anyone provide some current "ballpark" information on monthly costs of renting a one-bedroom apartment around 14th Street (P-Street to U-Street) and 16th Street (P Street to U-Street to Mt. Pleasant) ?

a suggestion-

when adding bookmarks, make a descriptive link as done in the previous page rather than something like http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=33353, which is uninformative as well as headache inducing

makes it a lot easier to find things

if you can't find the link, you can still post the suggestion here (or PM me), and i will try to find it and add to the front page in the relevant section.

this thread is extremely helpful....

thanks!

haha...no.

but there are those (most) who are dead set against/never going to save the money for a 3k+ watch. So it'll be form over function.

& frankly, for ~ 4 bills, you could do a lot worse at Macy's.

I myself am doing an about face & renewing my lust in swiss. Any persuasions in going toward the latest SS GMT-Master II w/ceramic bezel or IWC Mark XVI?

Depends on if you're looking for a sport watch or not. The Rolex is more versatile and the new GMT Master is a big improvement on the old GMT, in my opinion. I really like the ceramic dial. But, I also think Rolex is a bit overdone i.e., everyone has one - whether it's the black sub or an old oyster perpetual.

I would pick up the IWC, but I prefer the Mark XV, which just got discontinued before the Mark XVI came out. Exact same design but the case is around 2mm smaller and it comes on a deployant buffalo strap. I think the croc strap on the Mark XVI makes it just a little too dressy.

Hmm....Dunno, VSL in Dupont was an easy place for walk-ins, especially on Sundays. PR Partners on K Street was also good, depending on who you scheduled.

Basically anywhere in Dupont or G-town I would imagine...

I think Soi Cowboy is the best place for some red light bar hopping. Nana is kinda annoying with all such girls and katoeys trying to pull you in. Patpong has one decent spot which is the "Funky Dojo". Of course you can't compare it with any real nightclub but it has its own distinctive flavor and crowd. One area is electro the other is hiphop/charts/rca sound.

Around Patpong, I did also find a few nice breakbeat/drum&bass clubs on Silom Soi 2/1. Now the " /1 " is important, as the Silom Soi 2 is quintessentially the gay version of Patpong.

I briefly hungout one night at Breaks on Silom Soi 2/1. Small upstairs club with some locals and young Japanese tourists and a few farang. The local DJ was excellent. He even dropped the white label DJ Zinc remix of "Ready or Not" from 1996-1997. Lots of old jump-up and jungle records from ages ago. No idea where he would have found this record. Vinyl and not CD.

Good times. Cover 200bt, I think, which got you one drink.

I'm reposting this from the Singapore discussion page, as the thread has descended into shit-talking about Supreme key chains and what not. Then again, this report is quite a descent as well....

Wrote this back in late 2005....after a quick trip to Singapore...

Just got back to BKK after a two day visit to one of the most modern cities in SE Asia. I didn't initially know what to expect from Singapore, but it left quite an impression on me. Amid the humidity and tropical trees and plants you'd expect to find in SE Asia lies a city as clean as Charlotte, NC and brim with US stores like Borders Books and Music, Starbucks, and Toys R Us. Globalization in all of its glory. The sidewalks lining Orchard Road, Singapore's main shopping promenade, are filled with faces from Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, USA, Mainland China, Japan, and other countries around the world. Actually the city reminded me a lot of DC with so many ethnicities milling together in one big salad bowl.

During my one night in Singapore, I met two American executives working for a US-based contact lens manufacturer. They had taken the 40 min boat ride from Bhutan, Indonesia, where they operate one of the firm's business units. One of the expats, Tim, in his mid-forties, had made numerous excursions to Singapore for the last 10 years. The other expat, Carl, recently arrived in Asia during the last month. Tim explained that the Singapore's "nightlife of ill-repute" centered on a random building officially known as Orchard Towers that sat right on the main strip. Unofficially, the building was also known as the "Four Floors of Whores."

By day, Orchard Towers houses numerous overcrowded electronic stores hocking digital cameras, laptops, plasma screens, and DVD players. As a side note, these shops are more along the lines of the Ali's Electronics you'd find on West 34th Street (NYC) rather than the Bang and Olufsson or the Bose Boutique in Tyson's Corner(DC). Among the other drug stores, cheap clothing shops, and phone card kiosks in the Tower, you'll also find several bars with names like Country Road, Crazy Horse, and Ipanema. During daylight hours, each bar looks deserted with extinguished neon tubes aligning the windows. At dusk once the sheet metal screens come down over the store entrances, the Tower turns into quite a unregulated night spot in a very regulated city.

A steady stream of Western men simultaneously enter and exit the infamous Tower, according to Tim, until 4am. Until then most enter in groups and then later leave paired with female in hand. Apparently, the quality of women (and $$$ to play) increases with each floor level. We decide to make a round robin walkthru of a few bars on each floor. On the second floor we hit Country Road which sports the obvious and cliched Western theme strangely popular in Asia. We make a quick walk through the mostly empty bar and rodeo competition on a plasma screen and exit into the next bar: Ipanema.

This cavernous den on the third floor boomed with activity. Inside women of all nationalities immediately make eye contact with you. All of them are on two to three week tourist visas from Malaysia, Thailand, Russia, Portugal, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bulgaria, or Romania and all are vying for a share of expat dollars flowing through the greater Singapore economy. The price is $200SG or about $110US for all night back at your hotel. Walking through Ipanema with Tim and Carl, I am approached by a pretty Vietnamese girl. Her name is May and she arrived two days ago. May latches on like a vise and is determined to find her bed for the evening. I quickly motion that I'm with my friends and try to nicely disengage her as she finally leaves me alone. Tim erupts in laughter and tells me to be careful. Sunday is a slow night and the women start to get ultra competitive.

Next stop is Crazy Horse on the Fourth Floor. As soon we enter I realize what type of establishment have walked into. Unlike Carl, who has never been to Asia and represents the cliched-middle age-balding-nearsighted-cheaply dressed-overweight-American middle manager, I have seen plenty of ladyboys in BKK.

On first glance, the women are all tall and skinny and beautiful. But on closer examination something seems very unnatural. Their faces look almost plastic. Too plastic. Too pretty. They bodies are hairless and slender with large breasts and no Adam's apple. For some you have to look at their hands or feet to tell that they were formerly male. Unless you talk to them, their gender can be somtimes ambiguous. I've seen many drunk Westerners wandering off from Silom Road in BKK with ladyboys and I've often wondered if they were aware that the "hot" girl on their arm used to be fully equiped downstairs! As a guy, you take for granted your ability to differentiate between male and female. In the US, it's easy and often too ridiculously obvious of the tranny or transgender person working behind the counter. In Asia, sometimes it takes a few seconds or minutes to tell if that girl is really female or male (genetically).

Asia has a very tolerant attitude toward gays and transgender folks. This is further complicated by the fact that Asian men often are very thin and have androgynous features. It fucks with your head especially if on first glance you do a double take on what you thought was an attractive girl, only to realize that its a ladyboy. In some ways, you begin to question your own sexuality (also something you can take for granted). You ask yourself, "How can I be attracted to that? I'm straight." But looks can be deceiving. It's a girl but it's also not a girl. What does gender really mean? Does gender matter only genetically? Or does it matter only on a physical level. Genotype versus phenotype.

We stay in Crazy Horse for about a minute before quickly departing and entering the creme-de la creme spot, Top Ten. Inside we grab a few drinks as Tim approaches a blond Russian girl. I talk to a light-skinned Asian girl dancing to the live band covering Outkast's Hey Ya. She's Thai and from Bangkok and reminds me that she's here looking for work (as if it wasn't already painfully obvious). Sensing a lack of interest from my part on taking her back to my hotel, she moves on to a pack of Australian rugby players all sporting FBI t-shirts (with Female Body Inspector in large script). By now I realize I'd rather sleeping than wondering through Singapore's underground at 2:30 am and decide to call it a night. Tim and Carl, still wearing his wedding ring, are determined to find the "perfect" girls for the evening. I bid them farewell and make my way to the door.

Please explain this one a little. is this some mad code for something else? or are people really slinging water?

A-Wolf,

The "water trade" is just a Japanese term for the sex industry.

Poipet is such a grey area, that the local "water trade" definitely skirts various legal boundaries. You can imagine what happens when you combine the lack of law enforcement, lots of cash flow and lots of Thai mobsters.