Saturday, December 20, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
Another Linga Accolade
I was so happy to finally see the article written by Ed Peters that included Linga Bar. Ed interviewed me sometime ago and I recently asked him for a copy of the article. I was amazed to find out that the article was about Asia's Best Bars. We are included among some great bars in the region and it is so nice to get this amazing recognition. Even better, there is a picture of the bar with one staff member, Semah, making a cocktail while two others are mention by name: Bean and Krisna. They certainly deserve the recognition as they are the ones who do all of the work. Here is a copy of the article from Sphere Magazine:
Linga Party Celebrations
Since I did not write much the last month as I was busy preparing the staff for my absence, I missed the chance to write about two big parties we had at Linga Bar. The first party was Halloween which we have re-named Linga-ween. It is our biggest and most fun party of the year. The staff love it, the ex-pat community loves it and of course the tourist love it because they never expect to see Halloween in Cambodia. I love Halloween and we try our best to put on a good party every year. I buy our Halloween decorations in Thailand or the US and we have a lot a great decorations now that we have added more each year. This year being the first time we have had Linga-ween on a Friday, we wanted to make it even bigger so we setup and outdoor bar and added a big screen to project scary movies in the passage. Well, we were rewarded with an unbelievably fun night. A fantastic turn out and some great music. Even the huge rain storm that came could not stop the party because thankfully everyone had already arrived. The party went on until 3am and afterwards I took the staff out for some food. By the time I got home and to bed it was 6am and I had a cold, blisters on my feet but it was well worth it. Here are some pics from Linga-ween. A more complete set will be on the Linga Bar website as soon as our web designer can get to it. Next year will be a Saturday night Halloween, I can't wait!
The next party was for Linga's birthday. This year we celebrated our fourth anniversary on Saturday, 15 November. Like last year, we wanted to put on a show so I enlisted the help of Love Ramos and his friends Brewster and Vincent. They helped my staff to learn a dance routine and I picked six of the staff to perform. They really enjoyed it and I was happy to have them get a chance to make a show for our customers. We had a lip sync performance by "Apple" from Phnom Penh which was good. Last year we had three drag performers but this year I could only find Apple. She performed two songs and I was impressed with her elegant outfits. Even Brewster and Vincent performed. It was not a big night like Linga-ween but just a chance for us to thank our customers for their four years of support. Again, a few pics here and the rest on the website when we can get that done. Enjoy!
The next party was for Linga's birthday. This year we celebrated our fourth anniversary on Saturday, 15 November. Like last year, we wanted to put on a show so I enlisted the help of Love Ramos and his friends Brewster and Vincent. They helped my staff to learn a dance routine and I picked six of the staff to perform. They really enjoyed it and I was happy to have them get a chance to make a show for our customers. We had a lip sync performance by "Apple" from Phnom Penh which was good. Last year we had three drag performers but this year I could only find Apple. She performed two songs and I was impressed with her elegant outfits. Even Brewster and Vincent performed. It was not a big night like Linga-ween but just a chance for us to thank our customers for their four years of support. Again, a few pics here and the rest on the website when we can get that done. Enjoy!
CAMBODIA: Open for Business!
Last Saturday, 22 November, I left Siem Reap for a trip home to the US to enjoy the holidays with my family. I had three nights in Saigon before flying back. For me to be gone five weeks during high season was a big decision but I have been working quite closely with the staff to ensure they know exactly what to do and how best to take care of our guests. If I was not confident they could do it, I would not have made the trip. Then, just as I arrived back home in Indiana what happens? Thailand turns into chaos by shutting down the airports. I can not believe these protesters would do something as idiotic as this as the long term effects on the tourism industry ($16 Billion per year) there could be massive.
I have been in constant contact with my staff by email and phone calls to make sure our guests are taken care of during this time. After all, it is only a matter of finding transportation or re-routing around Bangkok to get here because Siem Reap and Angkor Wat are open for business as usual. The staff have done very well, even going to meet one guest at the Thai border that decided to come overland rather that cancel their trip. We have had guests that have had to stay longer than planned which worked out well. We have only had one cancellation so far which is good and have picked up some new bookings from people not wanting to be in Thailand.
The reason for this post is to look forward about the situation in Thailand and what it means for travelers to SE Asia. My personal opinion is that one can easily make a wonderful trip to this region and completely avoid Thailand in the short term until they resolve the issue. Siem Reap is easily accessed through Vietnam which has so much to offer in terms of interesting places to holiday whether it is the scenery, the culture, the beaches or the big cities like Hanoi or Saigon. In addition Siem Reap is easily accessed through Kuala Lumpur and Singapore both by full service airlines (Malaysia Airlines and Silk Air) as well as budget carriers (JetStar or Air Asia). Laos is also a great destination but a bit trickier to get in and out of when avoiding Thailand. There is so much more to see in the region other than Thailand that maybe this will give travelers a chance to find some new discoveries. If you want to know more or need help planning your visit, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have. No reason for Thailand's problems to affect us in Cambodia.
I have been in constant contact with my staff by email and phone calls to make sure our guests are taken care of during this time. After all, it is only a matter of finding transportation or re-routing around Bangkok to get here because Siem Reap and Angkor Wat are open for business as usual. The staff have done very well, even going to meet one guest at the Thai border that decided to come overland rather that cancel their trip. We have had guests that have had to stay longer than planned which worked out well. We have only had one cancellation so far which is good and have picked up some new bookings from people not wanting to be in Thailand.
The reason for this post is to look forward about the situation in Thailand and what it means for travelers to SE Asia. My personal opinion is that one can easily make a wonderful trip to this region and completely avoid Thailand in the short term until they resolve the issue. Siem Reap is easily accessed through Vietnam which has so much to offer in terms of interesting places to holiday whether it is the scenery, the culture, the beaches or the big cities like Hanoi or Saigon. In addition Siem Reap is easily accessed through Kuala Lumpur and Singapore both by full service airlines (Malaysia Airlines and Silk Air) as well as budget carriers (JetStar or Air Asia). Laos is also a great destination but a bit trickier to get in and out of when avoiding Thailand. There is so much more to see in the region other than Thailand that maybe this will give travelers a chance to find some new discoveries. If you want to know more or need help planning your visit, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have. No reason for Thailand's problems to affect us in Cambodia.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Hotel Be Angkor Makes DestinAsian 2008 Luxe List
The first thing I did after arriving in Bangkok is to rush to the news stand to get a copy of DestinAsian to see for myself Hotel Be on their 2008 Luxe List. What an honor! Have a look at the article below:
Traveling Again - In Bangkok
Wow, I can not believe it has been a month since my last post. Sure, it has been a busy month and I guess I did not have so much to write about but now I am bursting with things to discuss. The first of which is the on-going Thai political problems. This is an issue for us in Siem Reap because many of our customers visit Thailand before or after coming to Cambodia. The Thai political situation has been in a mess for so very long now. But, after traveling to Thailand frequently over the last 20 years and after having lived in Thailand and now Cambodia for the more than six years, the political problems are completely internal and have almost no affect on tourists here. If you really wanted, you could see some of the demonstrations in the government center of Bangkok but that is far removed from the mainstream tourist scene in Bangkok. In fact, if you were an average tourist here you would have no idea that there is anything going on, other than business as usual.
Now comes the problem between Thailand and Cambodia over a tiny disputed area around the border at Preah Vihear temple. I spoke to an ex-pat not long ago who works in the area on an ecological project and he said you would never know that there is anything going on there. That is before the recent border outbreak though. It seems to me such a silly and small thing. There is no dispute that Preah Vihear is on Cambodian soil and in my view the Thais are wrong to dispute the area near the temple. They are being petty and should follow what the international courts have decided decades ago about this issue. You really have to question why they are being so irrational.
Anyway, I bring both of these up because the media loves (and of course feeds off) these kind of stories. They get so worked up and blown out of proportion as to be comical in terms of the true functioning of daily life in the whole of each country. They really have no correlation whatsoever to tourists traveling in the region to Phuket, Chiang Mai, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap etc. It reminds me of the media frenzy over the tsunami which was a horrible tragedy of a grand scale. However, in the big picture of the region, it affected such a tiny, tiny part of the countries involved. But, if you followed it in the media from afar you were left to believe the whole of the region was wiped away. How bad was it? I had friends write to me (I live in Siem Reap!) asking if I was ok and how awful it must be there. I live 800km from Phuket! Even if I was living in Bangkok it would have had no affect on me. To put it in perspective, it reminded me of the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 which I experienced. From the media reports you would have thought that San Francisco had fallen off into the Pacific Ocean. When I finally reached my family they were surprised to learn otherwise. So, based on this example and comparing it to the tsunami, it would have been the equivalent of calling your friend in Denver to ask if they were OK after the SF earthquake and that it must be horrible there. The media has a job to do, and I am grateful for the news that we get. However, they have the ability to blow things out of proportion and distort reality. Long story short, I am in Bangkok and enjoying myself like usual. Buying things for the hotels, bar and spa. I will be traveling back overland and have heard of nothing but normal operations at the border. I will be glad to report back next week after I have made it back to Siem Reap.
And if you want some background on this issue, here is an article from a Thai group.
Now comes the problem between Thailand and Cambodia over a tiny disputed area around the border at Preah Vihear temple. I spoke to an ex-pat not long ago who works in the area on an ecological project and he said you would never know that there is anything going on there. That is before the recent border outbreak though. It seems to me such a silly and small thing. There is no dispute that Preah Vihear is on Cambodian soil and in my view the Thais are wrong to dispute the area near the temple. They are being petty and should follow what the international courts have decided decades ago about this issue. You really have to question why they are being so irrational.
Anyway, I bring both of these up because the media loves (and of course feeds off) these kind of stories. They get so worked up and blown out of proportion as to be comical in terms of the true functioning of daily life in the whole of each country. They really have no correlation whatsoever to tourists traveling in the region to Phuket, Chiang Mai, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap etc. It reminds me of the media frenzy over the tsunami which was a horrible tragedy of a grand scale. However, in the big picture of the region, it affected such a tiny, tiny part of the countries involved. But, if you followed it in the media from afar you were left to believe the whole of the region was wiped away. How bad was it? I had friends write to me (I live in Siem Reap!) asking if I was ok and how awful it must be there. I live 800km from Phuket! Even if I was living in Bangkok it would have had no affect on me. To put it in perspective, it reminded me of the San Francisco earthquake of 1989 which I experienced. From the media reports you would have thought that San Francisco had fallen off into the Pacific Ocean. When I finally reached my family they were surprised to learn otherwise. So, based on this example and comparing it to the tsunami, it would have been the equivalent of calling your friend in Denver to ask if they were OK after the SF earthquake and that it must be horrible there. The media has a job to do, and I am grateful for the news that we get. However, they have the ability to blow things out of proportion and distort reality. Long story short, I am in Bangkok and enjoying myself like usual. Buying things for the hotels, bar and spa. I will be traveling back overland and have heard of nothing but normal operations at the border. I will be glad to report back next week after I have made it back to Siem Reap.
And if you want some background on this issue, here is an article from a Thai group.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Backpacking Honeymooners?
Why not? When The One Hotel opened we put up a sign outside that just our logo, the symbol for "One" in Khmer. No mention of hotel so if you were walking by, you would never know. I just did not see the need to advertise a one room hotel with a sign, better to make it exclusive to those that know about it. When we opened Hotel Be, however, we put a a beautiful sign that shows our logo:
Now we have so many people walking by that see our sign, look at our beautiful lobby sandwiched between AHA Restaurant and McDermott Gallery and come into ask about the hotel. As a result, we have been able to get last minute or walk-in bookings for Hotel Be. This past Saturday I was in the lobby and a couple comes in with their big backpacks. They asked about our rooms and I told them the price for deluxe was $95 which was a little too high for them. They are from Berlin, on a five week honeymoon trip so they are on a budget. They wanted to see the room and I told them when they got back I would make them a better deal. They loved the room and I was able to offer them a discount they could afford so everything was perfect. Except I forgot the deluxe room was booked for the next night and they want to stay three nights. What to do? The only thing I could do was to upgrade our honeymoon couple to a suite. Naturally they were surprised and delighted and they have been enjoying the last couple of days relaxing and spending time at Linga Bar having a drink, reading a book and talking to the local book sellers that wander by. Not only was it nice to have them stay with us, that means both hotels sold out for two nights. The honeymooners may stay one more night so that would be three nights sold out. Great!
Now we have so many people walking by that see our sign, look at our beautiful lobby sandwiched between AHA Restaurant and McDermott Gallery and come into ask about the hotel. As a result, we have been able to get last minute or walk-in bookings for Hotel Be. This past Saturday I was in the lobby and a couple comes in with their big backpacks. They asked about our rooms and I told them the price for deluxe was $95 which was a little too high for them. They are from Berlin, on a five week honeymoon trip so they are on a budget. They wanted to see the room and I told them when they got back I would make them a better deal. They loved the room and I was able to offer them a discount they could afford so everything was perfect. Except I forgot the deluxe room was booked for the next night and they want to stay three nights. What to do? The only thing I could do was to upgrade our honeymoon couple to a suite. Naturally they were surprised and delighted and they have been enjoying the last couple of days relaxing and spending time at Linga Bar having a drink, reading a book and talking to the local book sellers that wander by. Not only was it nice to have them stay with us, that means both hotels sold out for two nights. The honeymooners may stay one more night so that would be three nights sold out. Great!
Friday, September 12, 2008
Gay or not Gay?
About six months ago we had a very nice couple stay with us. They enjoyed their stay and it was a pleasure to have them as our guest. A few weeks after they left I was pleased to see they had written such a nice review of us on Trip Advisor. But, I was a bit puzzled by the last line of their review: "Just a comment: if you are not comfortable around Gay men, you should probably look elsewhere." There is no hiding that fact that I am gay, and no reason to hide it. But, I wonder who where the other gay men they were talking about? True, we had a gay couple in another hotel room and for sure there are going to be some gay people at Linga Bar, but they are customers just like all of our guests. I did not respond to this at the time because it is true, if you don't like gay people then you may not be our kind of guest. Recently we had another guest make a similar comment: Loved the hotel but noted about the gay people. So, now I was left to wonder, did these two different guests mistakenly think the staff are gay? That happens often at Linga Bar. The customers assume these cute, friendly Cambodian guys working at a gay owned bar must be gay. Well, that is why I am writing this blog entry to set this issue "straight."
I currently have 20 staff working for me in the bar, hotels and spa. Out of this number there is only one staff member that would be identified as gay. All of the rest are straight, and believe me I know because I know who they are dating, who they are married to or who they are interested in. If I could only get them as excited about getting cute guys in the bar as they are in looking for cute girls, we would be much more successful. Once again, it appears that my all-male staff are guilty of being gay by association to me and the bar. The main reason I feel this happens is that Cambodian men are very sweet, gentle and very kind. Many of our hotel guests are overwhelmed by how wonderfully friendly they are. But, Cambodian men just don't show a Western macho side, it is just not there nature. And when it comes to gay acceptance, they are refreshingly unencumbered by homophobia, macho hang ups or what other people perceive. It may be difficult for Westerns to understand this, but Cambodians generally grow up in very close quarters, and closely linked with their surrounding community. And without any stigma (i.e. Catholic guilt) issues, they are happily who they are. I have had to correct many customers, on many occasions, who assumed the staff were gay. They found it hard to believe these sweet guys were straight but after four years I know.
One story I like to tell to point out just how differently masculinity is viewed here is that one night a long time ago I went with my staff to a local dance club. I really do not care for the place as the music is lousy but I went to be with the staff. The style of this place is that they will play some upbeat dance music and then switch to some slow dance songs. When they switched to the slow songs, couples came out to dance together. So, I am watching this scene when I see two of my male staff slow dancing together! I know for a fact they are both straight so why would they be dancing together like this? Well, the answer is easy, there are not many girls they could ask to dance with since the guys out number the girls. So, what should they do, not enjoy a slow dance or enjoy it together? I can not imagine this same scene playing out in a club in the US. Straight guys in the US are just not very likely to slow dance with each other. Here, it is no big deal as they know it does not make any difference to their sexual preference if they dance with another guy. It is this attitude that is so refreshing. That is why our gay customers feel so at ease here because they are welcomed completely.
So, am I running a Gay hotel? Not at all. We have not done any marketing towards gay guests, ZERO. Why? It is not necessary. We are here to run a beautiful, unique hotel experience and we welcome all guests regardless. So, naturally, most of our guests are straight and with no gay marketing about 25% of our guests are gay. But more importantly, as I have said before, we have the nicest guests. And the fact that we have had two guests over the last six months mention about gay people is beside the point, since they enjoyed their stays. I will say these guests skewed into the older age bracket for our guests. Our guests tend to be in early 30's to mid 40's age range. When we have had older guests, I am always sensitive to making sure they are comfortable and happy. One lovely couple that stayed with us sometime ago were a retired couple from Portland. I wondered if they would enjoy the vibrancy of our location. Sure enough, they told me the live in the downtown Portland area and routinely walk from their house to go shopping, eating etc. I was talking to the husband and he told me they just came from scuba diving in Phuket and when they get back they have scuba diving trips scheduled for Mexico and South America. I was worn out just listening to their schedule!
The final issue I wanted to address is Linga Spa. The last guest that mentioned about gay men also mentioned that she could not go to the hotel spa as it was "men only." Well, that is false on both accounts. First of all, it is not the hotel spa for either The One Hotel or Hotel Be. It is a separate business that is housed in the complex. Yes, our target market for Linga Spa is the gay market. Why? Because there are about 15-20 other spa/massage places within a couple of blocks of us and none of them cater to this market so we have it all to ourselves. It is a small spa and not big enough to market to all types of customers. That said, we do use it to accommodate our hotel guests when needed. We have used the largest of our three rooms to do a "Couples Massage" for guests from The One Hotel. And, we had three ladies from Singapore staying in a room at Hotel Be that we were able to accommodate at Linga Spa.
So, are we all clear now? I hope so. Everyone is welcome here, always. But probably the only gay guy you will meet here, except for some Linga Bar customers, is me. Come and see for yourself!
I currently have 20 staff working for me in the bar, hotels and spa. Out of this number there is only one staff member that would be identified as gay. All of the rest are straight, and believe me I know because I know who they are dating, who they are married to or who they are interested in. If I could only get them as excited about getting cute guys in the bar as they are in looking for cute girls, we would be much more successful. Once again, it appears that my all-male staff are guilty of being gay by association to me and the bar. The main reason I feel this happens is that Cambodian men are very sweet, gentle and very kind. Many of our hotel guests are overwhelmed by how wonderfully friendly they are. But, Cambodian men just don't show a Western macho side, it is just not there nature. And when it comes to gay acceptance, they are refreshingly unencumbered by homophobia, macho hang ups or what other people perceive. It may be difficult for Westerns to understand this, but Cambodians generally grow up in very close quarters, and closely linked with their surrounding community. And without any stigma (i.e. Catholic guilt) issues, they are happily who they are. I have had to correct many customers, on many occasions, who assumed the staff were gay. They found it hard to believe these sweet guys were straight but after four years I know.
One story I like to tell to point out just how differently masculinity is viewed here is that one night a long time ago I went with my staff to a local dance club. I really do not care for the place as the music is lousy but I went to be with the staff. The style of this place is that they will play some upbeat dance music and then switch to some slow dance songs. When they switched to the slow songs, couples came out to dance together. So, I am watching this scene when I see two of my male staff slow dancing together! I know for a fact they are both straight so why would they be dancing together like this? Well, the answer is easy, there are not many girls they could ask to dance with since the guys out number the girls. So, what should they do, not enjoy a slow dance or enjoy it together? I can not imagine this same scene playing out in a club in the US. Straight guys in the US are just not very likely to slow dance with each other. Here, it is no big deal as they know it does not make any difference to their sexual preference if they dance with another guy. It is this attitude that is so refreshing. That is why our gay customers feel so at ease here because they are welcomed completely.
So, am I running a Gay hotel? Not at all. We have not done any marketing towards gay guests, ZERO. Why? It is not necessary. We are here to run a beautiful, unique hotel experience and we welcome all guests regardless. So, naturally, most of our guests are straight and with no gay marketing about 25% of our guests are gay. But more importantly, as I have said before, we have the nicest guests. And the fact that we have had two guests over the last six months mention about gay people is beside the point, since they enjoyed their stays. I will say these guests skewed into the older age bracket for our guests. Our guests tend to be in early 30's to mid 40's age range. When we have had older guests, I am always sensitive to making sure they are comfortable and happy. One lovely couple that stayed with us sometime ago were a retired couple from Portland. I wondered if they would enjoy the vibrancy of our location. Sure enough, they told me the live in the downtown Portland area and routinely walk from their house to go shopping, eating etc. I was talking to the husband and he told me they just came from scuba diving in Phuket and when they get back they have scuba diving trips scheduled for Mexico and South America. I was worn out just listening to their schedule!
The final issue I wanted to address is Linga Spa. The last guest that mentioned about gay men also mentioned that she could not go to the hotel spa as it was "men only." Well, that is false on both accounts. First of all, it is not the hotel spa for either The One Hotel or Hotel Be. It is a separate business that is housed in the complex. Yes, our target market for Linga Spa is the gay market. Why? Because there are about 15-20 other spa/massage places within a couple of blocks of us and none of them cater to this market so we have it all to ourselves. It is a small spa and not big enough to market to all types of customers. That said, we do use it to accommodate our hotel guests when needed. We have used the largest of our three rooms to do a "Couples Massage" for guests from The One Hotel. And, we had three ladies from Singapore staying in a room at Hotel Be that we were able to accommodate at Linga Spa.
So, are we all clear now? I hope so. Everyone is welcome here, always. But probably the only gay guy you will meet here, except for some Linga Bar customers, is me. Come and see for yourself!
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Cambodian Traffic Laws
Now that it has been a year since we lost Manit in a motorbike accident, I thought I would write about driving here as a way of explaining what goes on. I guess, technically speaking, there are Cambodian traffic laws but you would never know. Every rule in the book is broken in every way. Example: Imagine driving down a one way street and have oncoming traffic on both sides of you. Driving a car, you are supposed to have a driving license and there are driving schools for that. But, since the vast majority of the traffic is from motorbikes, that does not count for much. So, everyone on a motorbike (no age limits enforced) drives however they want or know how to. And you can see everything on a motorbike. A family of five, three or four adults, a driver and two huge pigs upside down on the back. And everything possible in between. So imagine all of these motorbikes and no enforced traffic laws. Utter chaos. The only thing that makes it work in a small way is that most people do not typically drive fast and therefore can avoid accidents or they are minor.
There are about five traffic lights in town but there is not one stop sign. Think about that for a moment. No need to stop when going through an intersection, turning on to a road etc. I can, and have, gone from my house on one side of town all the way to the airport on the other side of town without having to stop once. There are some half-hearted attempts at traffic enforcement. Well, half-hearted is being very generous. Police will stop people for going the wrong way but it does nothing to change behavior. Cambodians do not like the fact they have to pay fines when they do this because they know the police pocket the money. When my staff complained about this I told them they should follow the rules and that would avoid paying a fine. And, it happens in other countries where traffic violations are enforced and it cost significantly more that the small fines they pay here.
I read recently that there was a more comphrehensive traffic code that was written and came into law in Cambodia. Laws banning driving under the influence, mandatory helmets on motorbikes etc. The irony was it was passed in the same month that Manit died and there has been little or no effort to enact the laws. One local Siem Reap official was quoted as saying something to the effect that by enacting the law it would create a hardship on the people. As if not allowing someone to drive drunk would mean they could not go out and have a good time and that would be a hardship. I would love to have the chance to tell this person that death is a far greater hardship than the inconvenience caused by not being able to drive while drunk. With that kind of mentality, when will anything ever change?
One thing you rarely see on a motorbike here are rear view mirrors. They are just not used. Even our staff moto had them but they ended up being taken off because they were not used. In Phnom Penh they tried to enforce having rear view mirrors on all motorbikes but it never took hold. If you go there today I don't think even the majority of motorbikes have them. I always thought it was an apt metaphor that in a country with such a dark period in the not so distant past that Cambodia has, that they would not want to be looking behind, only forward.
There are about five traffic lights in town but there is not one stop sign. Think about that for a moment. No need to stop when going through an intersection, turning on to a road etc. I can, and have, gone from my house on one side of town all the way to the airport on the other side of town without having to stop once. There are some half-hearted attempts at traffic enforcement. Well, half-hearted is being very generous. Police will stop people for going the wrong way but it does nothing to change behavior. Cambodians do not like the fact they have to pay fines when they do this because they know the police pocket the money. When my staff complained about this I told them they should follow the rules and that would avoid paying a fine. And, it happens in other countries where traffic violations are enforced and it cost significantly more that the small fines they pay here.
I read recently that there was a more comphrehensive traffic code that was written and came into law in Cambodia. Laws banning driving under the influence, mandatory helmets on motorbikes etc. The irony was it was passed in the same month that Manit died and there has been little or no effort to enact the laws. One local Siem Reap official was quoted as saying something to the effect that by enacting the law it would create a hardship on the people. As if not allowing someone to drive drunk would mean they could not go out and have a good time and that would be a hardship. I would love to have the chance to tell this person that death is a far greater hardship than the inconvenience caused by not being able to drive while drunk. With that kind of mentality, when will anything ever change?
One thing you rarely see on a motorbike here are rear view mirrors. They are just not used. Even our staff moto had them but they ended up being taken off because they were not used. In Phnom Penh they tried to enforce having rear view mirrors on all motorbikes but it never took hold. If you go there today I don't think even the majority of motorbikes have them. I always thought it was an apt metaphor that in a country with such a dark period in the not so distant past that Cambodia has, that they would not want to be looking behind, only forward.
Friday, August 22, 2008
The Sadness Continues But Memories Remain
Saturday, the day after Manit's funeral I had to go to the hotel and meet with Lisa, our architect, as we need to choose the plumbing fixtures for Hotel Be and get them ordered. The company representative had come from Phnom Penh to meet us. I did not want to go but knew it was important to place the order. I got on my bike to ride to the hotel not thinking about where the usual route would take me: right past Wat Damnak and where Manit was cremated the day before. As I approached the place it began to hit me again and I started crying again as I drove past. By the time I got to the hotel Lisa was shocked to see me as she had planned on going on with the meeting without me. I did the best I could in the meeting and then left.
The days, weeks and months that have passed since then have been a struggle but I have moved on and still have my wonderful memories of Manit. Never one to wear jewelry or such things I got a red band to wear on my wrist. Actually, they gave us this red thread at the temple to wear and I knew it would not last long so I got the red bracelet to wear for the next year in remembrance of Manit. It is starting to wear but I think it will make it two weeks until the anniversary comes.
I guess I should be grateful to have had Manit in my life, even for a short time. As I mentioned, he was a friend of Sima's from when they were children. Sima worked for me at my house when I worked at Shinta Mani and then came to work at the bar. Manit would come around on occasion and I never really talked with him too much. When, in April of 2005, we need a new bartender, Sima recommended Manit. I interviewed him and he started work right away. Within a few hours of working with him I was thinking, "Why didn't I hire him before?" He was such a delight to work with, great with the customers, staff and a hard worker. When we opened the hotel, he began helping out there until he finally was working there full time. The hotel guests loved him and he got things done, things that other staff members could not figure out. But, he could also get lazy when we did not have hotel guests and when I was not around. I had to talk to him about it finally, just to straighten him out as I knew he could do the job.
I helped Manit to get his passport and we went to Bangkok together to buy things for the hotel. He was a great travel companion, always wanting to see and try new things. Of course he was a bit intimidated by the big city of Bangkok but he would do his best and could usually figure things out. We went to Bangkok a second time and this time we flew from Siem Reap to Bangkok and came back by land. His reaction to flying was a bit subdued but I knew he enjoyed it because of what he told his friends. One thing I did ask of Manit's Mother if she would let me keep his passport as a remembrance of him, of the time we spent together travelling. I was very grateful that she said yes.
My Mother was especially fond of Manit because when she stayed he really spoiled her. She does not do well with stairs so she would just call him when she wanted to come down or go up. He would make her bloody mary's or vodka tonics whenever she wanted one. He would walk her down the Passage to get her manicure or massage. She brought a camera but he knew she could not walk around the area too much so he went out and took pictures for her and brought the camera back to show her what he captured. Same with my friends John and Art. They got to know Manit and see how special he was. They were all very saddened when he passed away.
Another funny Manit story took place in May 2005. My friend's John and Art came to visit Siem Reap. I was going to back to Bangkok with them so on their last day in Siem Reap we took all of the staff to a local hotel to swim in the pool, which is something they rarely if ever have the opportunity to do. It costs $3 per person for a day at the pool, more than the average daily salary in Cambodia and I am happy to treat them to a day like that. So, we arrived at the pool and the staff were splashing around and having a good time. Less than 45 minutes after arriving Sima, Manit and another staff are packing up and leaving. I thought that was strange and not to cool that I pay for them to enjoy the day and they just take off. The next day when I was ready to go to the airport Manit did not show up. Sima said he was not feeling well. I later found out that since Manit had never swam in a pool before, he did not know that the water was chlorinated and not for drinking. He drank so much in such a short time that he got sick and that is why they left early. So, I forgave him but teased him about it later. Here is a picture from that day with Teb on the left, Manit in the middle and Sima on the right:
Manit had a sister living in the USA he told me at the bar one night. "Where?", I asked. I don't know was his reply. I asked him if maybe he could find out from his Mother where his sister lived. A couple of days later I asked him again and he still did not know. So I pressed him harder to find out. The next day he came to me and said, "My sister lives America. My sister lives Colorado. My sister lives Denver." Well, at least I got the answer and it was his sister, brother-in-law and nephew. I helped him to get an email account and Yahoo messenger and Skype and he was able to chat with them online. When Manit died I got their email address and wrote and told them the same things that I had told their Mom, about how special he was and how much he meant to me. I did not hear back from them for a long time but finally received a nice email from them. When I went home that December I brought a package from Manit's Mother that I mailed to them.
So many reminders remain about Manit. He was the one who contacted the person who built the building next to The One Hotel (the old building was torn down and a shell put up). The builder came and showed us the place. Later, when I decided to lease the building he arranged the meeting with the building owner. I thought we would just meet and talk about the possibility but within a couple of hours I had signed the lease and put down the deposit and we were on our way to making Hotel Be. So, Manit's touch remains throughout my life here in Cambodia. This is one of the pictures of Manit I keep on my computer desktop, so he is always there:
The days, weeks and months that have passed since then have been a struggle but I have moved on and still have my wonderful memories of Manit. Never one to wear jewelry or such things I got a red band to wear on my wrist. Actually, they gave us this red thread at the temple to wear and I knew it would not last long so I got the red bracelet to wear for the next year in remembrance of Manit. It is starting to wear but I think it will make it two weeks until the anniversary comes.
I guess I should be grateful to have had Manit in my life, even for a short time. As I mentioned, he was a friend of Sima's from when they were children. Sima worked for me at my house when I worked at Shinta Mani and then came to work at the bar. Manit would come around on occasion and I never really talked with him too much. When, in April of 2005, we need a new bartender, Sima recommended Manit. I interviewed him and he started work right away. Within a few hours of working with him I was thinking, "Why didn't I hire him before?" He was such a delight to work with, great with the customers, staff and a hard worker. When we opened the hotel, he began helping out there until he finally was working there full time. The hotel guests loved him and he got things done, things that other staff members could not figure out. But, he could also get lazy when we did not have hotel guests and when I was not around. I had to talk to him about it finally, just to straighten him out as I knew he could do the job.
I helped Manit to get his passport and we went to Bangkok together to buy things for the hotel. He was a great travel companion, always wanting to see and try new things. Of course he was a bit intimidated by the big city of Bangkok but he would do his best and could usually figure things out. We went to Bangkok a second time and this time we flew from Siem Reap to Bangkok and came back by land. His reaction to flying was a bit subdued but I knew he enjoyed it because of what he told his friends. One thing I did ask of Manit's Mother if she would let me keep his passport as a remembrance of him, of the time we spent together travelling. I was very grateful that she said yes.
My Mother was especially fond of Manit because when she stayed he really spoiled her. She does not do well with stairs so she would just call him when she wanted to come down or go up. He would make her bloody mary's or vodka tonics whenever she wanted one. He would walk her down the Passage to get her manicure or massage. She brought a camera but he knew she could not walk around the area too much so he went out and took pictures for her and brought the camera back to show her what he captured. Same with my friends John and Art. They got to know Manit and see how special he was. They were all very saddened when he passed away.
Another funny Manit story took place in May 2005. My friend's John and Art came to visit Siem Reap. I was going to back to Bangkok with them so on their last day in Siem Reap we took all of the staff to a local hotel to swim in the pool, which is something they rarely if ever have the opportunity to do. It costs $3 per person for a day at the pool, more than the average daily salary in Cambodia and I am happy to treat them to a day like that. So, we arrived at the pool and the staff were splashing around and having a good time. Less than 45 minutes after arriving Sima, Manit and another staff are packing up and leaving. I thought that was strange and not to cool that I pay for them to enjoy the day and they just take off. The next day when I was ready to go to the airport Manit did not show up. Sima said he was not feeling well. I later found out that since Manit had never swam in a pool before, he did not know that the water was chlorinated and not for drinking. He drank so much in such a short time that he got sick and that is why they left early. So, I forgave him but teased him about it later. Here is a picture from that day with Teb on the left, Manit in the middle and Sima on the right:
Manit had a sister living in the USA he told me at the bar one night. "Where?", I asked. I don't know was his reply. I asked him if maybe he could find out from his Mother where his sister lived. A couple of days later I asked him again and he still did not know. So I pressed him harder to find out. The next day he came to me and said, "My sister lives America. My sister lives Colorado. My sister lives Denver." Well, at least I got the answer and it was his sister, brother-in-law and nephew. I helped him to get an email account and Yahoo messenger and Skype and he was able to chat with them online. When Manit died I got their email address and wrote and told them the same things that I had told their Mom, about how special he was and how much he meant to me. I did not hear back from them for a long time but finally received a nice email from them. When I went home that December I brought a package from Manit's Mother that I mailed to them.
So many reminders remain about Manit. He was the one who contacted the person who built the building next to The One Hotel (the old building was torn down and a shell put up). The builder came and showed us the place. Later, when I decided to lease the building he arranged the meeting with the building owner. I thought we would just meet and talk about the possibility but within a couple of hours I had signed the lease and put down the deposit and we were on our way to making Hotel Be. So, Manit's touch remains throughout my life here in Cambodia. This is one of the pictures of Manit I keep on my computer desktop, so he is always there:
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The Funeral
Manit died on 5 September and on 6 September the entire day was spent at the Wat Damnak, not far from my house. On Friday 7 September, very early in the morning we gathered again at the temple for the cremation. As this was my first experience of a Cambodian funeral, I was not sure what to expect. As you must know Cambodia is a very poor country, so poor that there was no embalming done for Manit. His body was put into a coffin and covered with large bags of ice to slow the decomposition. This meant the funeral had to go on quickly. We gathered that morning, with all of mine and Manit's friends and family there. There were monks to do chants and then they prepared for the cremation by removing the bags of ice. Then his coffin was lifted and carried three times around the temple before being led to the crematorium. Once there, the lid was lifted off the coffin for us to take one last look at him. I could not do it, I could only lift my eyes enough and saw his foot and that was even too horrible to consider. Then, the coffin was lifted up and put into the fire and the doors closed. I don't know if I have ever felt so horribly sad and empty to know my dear friend was gone.
One of the more interesting things that I learned and experienced from the funeral was the stoic and unemotional reaction from all Cambodians attending, except for Manit's mother, sister etc. The others, including my staff who had worked with Manit for the past year and a half never showed any emotion about his death. I understand that it is their Buddhist nature but it was difficult to reconcile with my frequent crying jags. There point was that he must have had a bad life and the next life will be better. All I could see and feel that someone I cared so much about was gone.
Later that day there was a ceremony at Manit's family's house. I had not met Manit's mother before but Manit was so obviously her son, reflecting her grace and warmth. I found sometime to talk to her, with Sima as my translator. Sima, Manit's best friend, was a true rock during this time but I knew he was really hurting inside like I was. I told his Mother how much her son meant to me. I told her that I considered him my friend but almost like a son because he could make me so proud by the things he did and then could frustrate me with his carelessness or laziness. I wanted so much for him to be a part of my life here in Cambodia and that I hoped that he, like Sima, would be with me forever as long as I was here. She was grateful and understood what Manit meant to me and that he was happy to be a part of my business.
Pictures from the funeral, the viewing:
Preparing for cremation:
One of the more interesting things that I learned and experienced from the funeral was the stoic and unemotional reaction from all Cambodians attending, except for Manit's mother, sister etc. The others, including my staff who had worked with Manit for the past year and a half never showed any emotion about his death. I understand that it is their Buddhist nature but it was difficult to reconcile with my frequent crying jags. There point was that he must have had a bad life and the next life will be better. All I could see and feel that someone I cared so much about was gone.
Later that day there was a ceremony at Manit's family's house. I had not met Manit's mother before but Manit was so obviously her son, reflecting her grace and warmth. I found sometime to talk to her, with Sima as my translator. Sima, Manit's best friend, was a true rock during this time but I knew he was really hurting inside like I was. I told his Mother how much her son meant to me. I told her that I considered him my friend but almost like a son because he could make me so proud by the things he did and then could frustrate me with his carelessness or laziness. I wanted so much for him to be a part of my life here in Cambodia and that I hoped that he, like Sima, would be with me forever as long as I was here. She was grateful and understood what Manit meant to me and that he was happy to be a part of my business.
Pictures from the funeral, the viewing:
Preparing for cremation:
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Tha Thimanit
The first anniversary is soon approaching for an event that I wish I could put out of my mind: The death of my best friend in Cambodia and my best staff member Tha Thimanit. Last September 4th was one of the worst days in my life, when I found out Manit had died in a motorbike accident. There are so many reasons why this hit me so hard. Of course it was because I cared so much about him but also because I have been so lucky in my life. Everyone that was near and dear to me that had passed on, like relatives or friends, had died of old age or as expected by long illnesses. Never had there been a sudden loss of someone so close to me. Just earlier that day I had spoken to Manit about some things we need to fix in The One Hotel. He came to my house and I told him what we should do. Late that night I was at the bar when his Uncle came and told Sima (his best friend) about the accident. Sima came running back into the bar and exclaimed, "Manit die!" Stunned, I told Sima to go and find out. But, no word came by the time we closed the bar I went home feeling empty and confused. At some point I wrote out an email to my family and friends describing how this was the my worst day in Cambodia (and not to mention Manit's worst day). I drank myself to sleep that night hoping against hope that the news was not true.
The early morning brought the bleary-eyed reality. My staff came to ask me to go with them to the temple where Mani's body laid in rest. I went but was not much more than a zombie. Somewhere early on in the morning I began crying, and there was very little that day that could stop the flow of tears. How did Manit die? The story was that he had gone outside of Siem Reap with some friends and was coming back on Highway 6 that night and, in Cambodian style, had three people on the motorbike. He went to pass a car and collided head on with another motorbike with three adults on it. At 50km per hour (30mph) that would have been an impact at 100km per hour and not a single person wearing a helmet. Manit died instantly I was told, and I believe either 3 or 4 of the six people on the motorbikes died. For those of you who do not know, Camboian traffic, and traffic laws, are a joke. No regulation, no education, no enforcement etc, etc makes for a very bad situation. I had talked to Manit and other staff members (who had accidents) about how to drive more safely, defensively etc. In Manit's case, we had gone to Phnom Penh where I loaned him the money to buy a bigger motorcycle. I rode on the back of the bike with him on the way back to Siem Reap. I kept telling him along the way that he was driving too fast. His response was that it had a good motorcycle and that he was a good driver. I tried to explain that it is not about your motorbike or ability, because there is so much you can not control: like a dog running into your path (or cows here), a child and their ball, other drivers who are not paying attention. You are only as safe as your ability to anticipate and react to what others are doing. But when you are young and feel like you will live forever, the message is not easy to get through. But to this day I know that I tried.
For that first day, I will be forever grateful for the friends that came and paid their respects to Manit and offered their support to me: John and Narisa McDermott were so very kind, Nick Downing from Hotel de la Paix, Dirk de Graaff from Golden Banana Boutique and others who I am sure I am forgetting. I was a mess and yet felt the warmth of their friendship and their appreciation of what Manit meant to them. Later that first day, after spending most of the day at the temple I decided that we would go ahead and open Linga Bar that night. What else where we going to do, sit around and look at the walls and do nothing? No, I felt it best to be together with all of the staff and it was the right idea as we made a small memorial for Manit and many of our friends stopped by to offer their condolences and spend some time with us. It certainly was not about the revenue as I could have cared less. We served drinks to our friends that stopped by but would not take any payments. If they wanted, they could donate to a fund that we would give to Manit's family to help them during this difficult time. Here is a picture from that night:
$2,000 and 10 inches
I just came back from another trip to Bangkok yesterday. I had bought some new plate ware as what we bought originally was from when Linga Bar opened four years ago. I was a bit distressed when I walked into the kitchen recently and saw that we had very little left after four years of use, breakage etc. So, as I was bumping along in the taxi from Poipet to Siem Reap praying that our new plates would not arrive in broken pieces, I remembered a funny story from the opening of The One Hotel.
The story goes that several months before we opened I was given the opportunity to get a flat screen TV delivered locally, at 42" plasma TV. I jumped on the chance realizing that it would be much easier to get it that way. When the TV arrived earlier I brought it to my house and used it in the interim. We measured the area at The One Hotel where the TV would go, built a really cool bracket that would mount on the wall flat and then swing out to be viewed from the bed. A day before we were to install the TV I had to come to the house with our architect Ivan to take some final measurements. He commented that the TV was not very secured (it was being held upright in a base). Nothing to do at that point as it was going to the hotel the next day. That night I went to bed and at about 5am I heard the loudest and worst shattering noise. Somehow the TV had tipped over and landed on the floor. When I leapt from my bed and found it face down on the floor of the living room I kept repeating to myself, "It is ok, it will be fine, it will still work." When I turned the TV over you could see the shattered insides. I then went to my computer and logged on to do a Google search about how to repair broken plasma screens. The results were unanimous: You are out of luck, just scrap it and buy a new TV as the replacement cost is the same as buying new.
It was a tough blow. Later I went to Bangkok and bought a new 32" LCD tv. It was through this process I learned the difference between LCD and plasma. LCD is crisper and cleared and good for smaller rooms (perfect for The One Hotel) while plasma was better in bigger spaces. The new TV cost $2,000 so my joke was that I lost $2,000 and 10" and I don't know which hurt more.
Even though I got the new TV I was determined to get the broken plasma screen fixed. I took the TV back to Bangkok and asked everywhere. The problem was that it was not a name brand TV but a knock off. No one knew what to do with it. I looked everywhere but to no avail. Finally, I found one store that would come to look at it. They said, no way. At this point I was not about to let this TV go (that I had spent more than $2,000 on) so I brought the broken TV back and asked my friend Loven to turn it into an art piece. It now hangs in Linga Bar's dance area and certainly does not receive the proper recognition it should. Someday I will turn it into a coffee table. The interesting thing is that the exact same TV we bought for The One Hotel to replace the broken one was $2,000. For Hotel Be I bought nearly identical TV's for only $700 which shows you the direction of pricing for flat screen TVs. But, word to the wise, keep them secure!
The story goes that several months before we opened I was given the opportunity to get a flat screen TV delivered locally, at 42" plasma TV. I jumped on the chance realizing that it would be much easier to get it that way. When the TV arrived earlier I brought it to my house and used it in the interim. We measured the area at The One Hotel where the TV would go, built a really cool bracket that would mount on the wall flat and then swing out to be viewed from the bed. A day before we were to install the TV I had to come to the house with our architect Ivan to take some final measurements. He commented that the TV was not very secured (it was being held upright in a base). Nothing to do at that point as it was going to the hotel the next day. That night I went to bed and at about 5am I heard the loudest and worst shattering noise. Somehow the TV had tipped over and landed on the floor. When I leapt from my bed and found it face down on the floor of the living room I kept repeating to myself, "It is ok, it will be fine, it will still work." When I turned the TV over you could see the shattered insides. I then went to my computer and logged on to do a Google search about how to repair broken plasma screens. The results were unanimous: You are out of luck, just scrap it and buy a new TV as the replacement cost is the same as buying new.
It was a tough blow. Later I went to Bangkok and bought a new 32" LCD tv. It was through this process I learned the difference between LCD and plasma. LCD is crisper and cleared and good for smaller rooms (perfect for The One Hotel) while plasma was better in bigger spaces. The new TV cost $2,000 so my joke was that I lost $2,000 and 10" and I don't know which hurt more.
Even though I got the new TV I was determined to get the broken plasma screen fixed. I took the TV back to Bangkok and asked everywhere. The problem was that it was not a name brand TV but a knock off. No one knew what to do with it. I looked everywhere but to no avail. Finally, I found one store that would come to look at it. They said, no way. At this point I was not about to let this TV go (that I had spent more than $2,000 on) so I brought the broken TV back and asked my friend Loven to turn it into an art piece. It now hangs in Linga Bar's dance area and certainly does not receive the proper recognition it should. Someday I will turn it into a coffee table. The interesting thing is that the exact same TV we bought for The One Hotel to replace the broken one was $2,000. For Hotel Be I bought nearly identical TV's for only $700 which shows you the direction of pricing for flat screen TVs. But, word to the wise, keep them secure!
Friday, August 1, 2008
Cambodian Elections
I arrived in Siem Reap to live about four and a half years ago, just after the last election here in Cambodia. In that election no party won a majority of parliamentary seats so for the next year there was no formed government here. Not that you could tell any difference as things went on as normal. So, I was interested to see how this year's election would happen. There was not much suspense as Hun Sen's Cambodian People's Party had a firm lock on the political landscape. As the election neared I met with my staff to let them know that I expected them to vote, that I would give them the time off work to do so and I would compensate them for travel expenses or a bonus for those that voted. I did not realize it but voters have to go their home towns/provinces in order to vote, no absentee votes possible. So, some of my staff could not vote due to living to far away. Also, many were not registered to vote. In the end, only three of 15 staff voted but it was kind of a mini-holiday for us as businesses were closed.
I went out for my usual bike ride on Sunday afternoon, election day. I took to the back roads like I tend to do, because the scenery is so much more interesting. I passed several voting booths that had been setup for the occasion along my usual route. It was late in the afternoon and I guess 6pm came and went because as I was passed by a small caravan of motorbikes. On the motorbikes were some election officials with the ballot box and other gear. About six or seven motorbikes in total. I really felt like I was a minor witness to history, democracy as it happened. The caravan continued and I followed along as best I could, interested to see where the ballot box was headed. It ended up a local school and it all felt very normal, very peaceful. Considering the violence of past elections here (with only minor reports of violence this time) I felt a sense of relief about where Cambodia is heading. Then again, with the CPP so firmly in control the prospect of real reform here is not strong. But, progress is not always as fast as we wish it would be but it is nice to know it is going forward.
I went out for my usual bike ride on Sunday afternoon, election day. I took to the back roads like I tend to do, because the scenery is so much more interesting. I passed several voting booths that had been setup for the occasion along my usual route. It was late in the afternoon and I guess 6pm came and went because as I was passed by a small caravan of motorbikes. On the motorbikes were some election officials with the ballot box and other gear. About six or seven motorbikes in total. I really felt like I was a minor witness to history, democracy as it happened. The caravan continued and I followed along as best I could, interested to see where the ballot box was headed. It ended up a local school and it all felt very normal, very peaceful. Considering the violence of past elections here (with only minor reports of violence this time) I felt a sense of relief about where Cambodia is heading. Then again, with the CPP so firmly in control the prospect of real reform here is not strong. But, progress is not always as fast as we wish it would be but it is nice to know it is going forward.
Monday, July 14, 2008
The Long Road Back
I was in Bangkok last week. There are many reasons to go there: Having a break from Siem Reap, visiting friends, going to see a movie (sorry, no movie theaters in REP) but mainly to source all of those products that we need to run our business that we can not find in Cambodia. I would love to buy everything here in Cambodia to support the local economy, and I do the best I can, but many things can not be found here. So, about once a month, I am off to Bangkok.
This time, like the last two times, I flew to Bangkok and came back over land. My free advice: Never, ever go through the border crossing of Poipet unless you really must (or you have some desire to see the armpit of SE Asia). Poipet could have doubled as the back drop for the filming of Mad Max. The drive from Bangkok to the border is perfectly fine, however, the cruel disparity of the economic development of two neighboring countries is very stark. The story of what happened to Cambodia is well told and frankly, the distant past which needs to be kept there, in the past. I have been doing this overland trip a number of times over the last four years. The first time I did it I was shocked that there really was no road between Siem Reap and Poipet, just dirt and rocks. My ribs were sore for three days after that first trip from the bone jarring ride.
Here are two pics from that trip. This is not the main road as the main road had washed out and there all buses and trucks were stranded. We detoured through the rice fields and neighboring land (with makeshift toll booths!):
Finally, things are progressing now. I watched last year as they started to string electrical lines from Thailand to bring in cheaper electricity. Then it was announced that they would fix the road. I don't remember the exact trip and how many months ago it was (maybe six months) but on that trip for the full four hour drive I saw a total of six people working.
I came through again this past March and was happy to see one stretch of road that was actually done, smooth as can be! Imagine my surprise this past Friday when I returned and it seemed like nearly every kilometer was either finished or was actually being worked on. Wow, progress! It is a scenic drive and could be very enjoyable if there was a real road so this is a bit of exciting news. And, with the hope that next year Bangkok Airways monopoly on the BKK-REP route will end, there is the promise of reasonably priced airfares for this 35 minute flight. The combination of a nice drive to Bangkok or an inexpensive flight happening within the next year is just too good to be true and will make living here even more enjoyable.
This time, like the last two times, I flew to Bangkok and came back over land. My free advice: Never, ever go through the border crossing of Poipet unless you really must (or you have some desire to see the armpit of SE Asia). Poipet could have doubled as the back drop for the filming of Mad Max. The drive from Bangkok to the border is perfectly fine, however, the cruel disparity of the economic development of two neighboring countries is very stark. The story of what happened to Cambodia is well told and frankly, the distant past which needs to be kept there, in the past. I have been doing this overland trip a number of times over the last four years. The first time I did it I was shocked that there really was no road between Siem Reap and Poipet, just dirt and rocks. My ribs were sore for three days after that first trip from the bone jarring ride.
Here are two pics from that trip. This is not the main road as the main road had washed out and there all buses and trucks were stranded. We detoured through the rice fields and neighboring land (with makeshift toll booths!):
Finally, things are progressing now. I watched last year as they started to string electrical lines from Thailand to bring in cheaper electricity. Then it was announced that they would fix the road. I don't remember the exact trip and how many months ago it was (maybe six months) but on that trip for the full four hour drive I saw a total of six people working.
I came through again this past March and was happy to see one stretch of road that was actually done, smooth as can be! Imagine my surprise this past Friday when I returned and it seemed like nearly every kilometer was either finished or was actually being worked on. Wow, progress! It is a scenic drive and could be very enjoyable if there was a real road so this is a bit of exciting news. And, with the hope that next year Bangkok Airways monopoly on the BKK-REP route will end, there is the promise of reasonably priced airfares for this 35 minute flight. The combination of a nice drive to Bangkok or an inexpensive flight happening within the next year is just too good to be true and will make living here even more enjoyable.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
The Art of Hotel Be
It has been too long since my last post. Since I have just started this blog recently, it will be interesting to see how I can keep it up, keep it relevant, etc. Time will tell. So, where were we?
Ah, I remember, the design of Hotel Be was the topic. Once we had decided on three rooms, I decided with the design team of Ivan and Lisa to let them work on the floor plans, materials etc and that we would have each room be identified with a different artist. Through Linga Bar and The One Hotel I have previously worked with, and admired the work of, John McDermott, Sopheap Pich and Loven Ramos.
I worked with John for the photography for our websites and of course he did a great job. Also, his gallery is a part of The One Hotel building and is integrated into our place. Sopheap designed a gorgeous rattan form that is the light source above the bar at Linga. He also designed a table lamp that is a signature piece in The One Hotel. Loven has done graphic design for us (Hotel Be logo, The One Hotel brochure etc.). In addition, his artwork has been integrated into Linga Bar as a permanent display. So, it was easy to choose these three to work with for the three rooms of Hotel Be and thankfully they all agreed to be a part of the project.
No doubt the hotel industry has evolved and tries to be more innovative today, in attempts to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Just look at the by now tired idea of "boutique" hotels. I love hotels and the idea of new and interesting places to stay. But the problem is so few places can pull it off. W Hotels are my leading example of trying to be mass market trendy which is such a contradiction in terms. Case in point snapshot: At the wanna be hip bar at the W Hotel San Francisco picture the conventioneer, with name badge, wearing shorts (khaki of course) with a bottle of Budweiser being held with his finger in the hole of the bottle. True story, and completely turned me off of the trendy hotel trying to be all things to all people. Then there are the small hotels that are interesting, cool but designed and run by people with no hotel experience. While they can sometimes capture something unique, you are left wanting for the small but necessary details that get left out. Like the hotel in Phnom Penh where I stayed that had glasses for drinking water but did not provide any water to drink (and you don't dare drink the tap water). Places in Bangkok are comical in their attempts to be trendy, they even try to put it in there name: Bangkok Boutique Hotel, Citi Chic Hotel. You know it is bad when they have to tell you what they are trying to be by their name.
Then there are a growing number of Art themed hotels. I stayed at one in Bangkok called Reflections (gone now) that was way over the top in terms of the art theme. Funny and unique for sure, but a bit too much for practical purposes. Then there was the hotel in Singapore that had an art theme that was so minimal as to make you wonder why they even bothered. The room was fantastic: excellent linens, Bose radio, great bath amenities etc. But where was the art? So, my task was to take my hotel experience and attention to detail and amenities and meld it with the art of these three artists. And, at Hotel Be we do not do room numbers, all three rooms have different names. After all, the last thing you want to be to a hotel is a number, right? Well, unless You Are The One at The One Hotel of course. Did we succeed? Come and stay with us and you can be the judge. We are not perfect yet, but I love the rooms and we have received great feedback so far.
Ah, I remember, the design of Hotel Be was the topic. Once we had decided on three rooms, I decided with the design team of Ivan and Lisa to let them work on the floor plans, materials etc and that we would have each room be identified with a different artist. Through Linga Bar and The One Hotel I have previously worked with, and admired the work of, John McDermott, Sopheap Pich and Loven Ramos.
I worked with John for the photography for our websites and of course he did a great job. Also, his gallery is a part of The One Hotel building and is integrated into our place. Sopheap designed a gorgeous rattan form that is the light source above the bar at Linga. He also designed a table lamp that is a signature piece in The One Hotel. Loven has done graphic design for us (Hotel Be logo, The One Hotel brochure etc.). In addition, his artwork has been integrated into Linga Bar as a permanent display. So, it was easy to choose these three to work with for the three rooms of Hotel Be and thankfully they all agreed to be a part of the project.
No doubt the hotel industry has evolved and tries to be more innovative today, in attempts to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. Just look at the by now tired idea of "boutique" hotels. I love hotels and the idea of new and interesting places to stay. But the problem is so few places can pull it off. W Hotels are my leading example of trying to be mass market trendy which is such a contradiction in terms. Case in point snapshot: At the wanna be hip bar at the W Hotel San Francisco picture the conventioneer, with name badge, wearing shorts (khaki of course) with a bottle of Budweiser being held with his finger in the hole of the bottle. True story, and completely turned me off of the trendy hotel trying to be all things to all people. Then there are the small hotels that are interesting, cool but designed and run by people with no hotel experience. While they can sometimes capture something unique, you are left wanting for the small but necessary details that get left out. Like the hotel in Phnom Penh where I stayed that had glasses for drinking water but did not provide any water to drink (and you don't dare drink the tap water). Places in Bangkok are comical in their attempts to be trendy, they even try to put it in there name: Bangkok Boutique Hotel, Citi Chic Hotel. You know it is bad when they have to tell you what they are trying to be by their name.
Then there are a growing number of Art themed hotels. I stayed at one in Bangkok called Reflections (gone now) that was way over the top in terms of the art theme. Funny and unique for sure, but a bit too much for practical purposes. Then there was the hotel in Singapore that had an art theme that was so minimal as to make you wonder why they even bothered. The room was fantastic: excellent linens, Bose radio, great bath amenities etc. But where was the art? So, my task was to take my hotel experience and attention to detail and amenities and meld it with the art of these three artists. And, at Hotel Be we do not do room numbers, all three rooms have different names. After all, the last thing you want to be to a hotel is a number, right? Well, unless You Are The One at The One Hotel of course. Did we succeed? Come and stay with us and you can be the judge. We are not perfect yet, but I love the rooms and we have received great feedback so far.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
2 BE
So with The One Hotel up and running, and running into its limitations, it was time to expand. Opposite Linga Bar and next door to The One Hotel was an empty building. And I mean empty. The old structure was demolished and a new shell built. It sat empty for a long time as it was big and the rent was considered expensive. I always dreaded that someone would come along and rent it and put in some awful business that would hurt my hotel and bar (think karaoke brothel). Finally, after more than a year looking at this empty building, I started to give thought to renting it. I knew that I could add hotel rooms on the second and third floors but was not sure what to do with the ground floor. Since I am the sole owner of Linga and The One Hotel and have financed everything myself, I wanted to continue to do that. However, I did not have the money or or concept for what to do with the ground floor. Finally, I decided that I would rent the entire building and find some partners to do the ground floor.
So, now that I decided to do a second hotel, I contact the previous design team of Ivan and Lisa and we started to come up with a new hotel. I had decided the hotel would have two rooms, one on the second floor and one on the third floor, both facing Linga Bar. I was trying to decide what to call the hotel when I realized that the Khmer word for the number 2 sounds very much like BE (more like a P sound). The One Hotel = one room and Hotel Be = 2 rooms. And, I love the Khmer symbol for 2, just look at the logo:
There was only one problem: Ivan convinced me that the space on the third floor facing towards the Old Market could make a really nice room with exterior atrium feeling and roof deck. I agreed and thus it became a three room hotel. But I loved the name so I thought, what the heck, 2 will represent my second hotel. If you look at the logo and the red part it reads 2 BE, so that is where are email address came from 2be@hotelbeangkor.com
Hotel Be became the perfect solution to the limitations of The One Hotel. It gave us the opportunity to accommodate families, three adults in one room, two or three couples traveling together etc. And, with a different price structure, it enabled us to appeal to more customers. It is not like adding a three room hotel solves all of our limitations but it certainly helps to round out our little empire in Siem Reap. How we got to the final product of Hotel Be is great story, which I will happily tell on the next post.
So, now that I decided to do a second hotel, I contact the previous design team of Ivan and Lisa and we started to come up with a new hotel. I had decided the hotel would have two rooms, one on the second floor and one on the third floor, both facing Linga Bar. I was trying to decide what to call the hotel when I realized that the Khmer word for the number 2 sounds very much like BE (more like a P sound). The One Hotel = one room and Hotel Be = 2 rooms. And, I love the Khmer symbol for 2, just look at the logo:
There was only one problem: Ivan convinced me that the space on the third floor facing towards the Old Market could make a really nice room with exterior atrium feeling and roof deck. I agreed and thus it became a three room hotel. But I loved the name so I thought, what the heck, 2 will represent my second hotel. If you look at the logo and the red part it reads 2 BE, so that is where are email address came from 2be@hotelbeangkor.com
Hotel Be became the perfect solution to the limitations of The One Hotel. It gave us the opportunity to accommodate families, three adults in one room, two or three couples traveling together etc. And, with a different price structure, it enabled us to appeal to more customers. It is not like adding a three room hotel solves all of our limitations but it certainly helps to round out our little empire in Siem Reap. How we got to the final product of Hotel Be is great story, which I will happily tell on the next post.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Limitations
As happy as we were with the finished product of The One Hotel, and the many delighted guests we hosted, our limitations were obvious. With one room it was feast or famine: 100% occupancy or 0%. Thankfully we had Linga Bar to bring in some revenue for the days that we were empty. Then, as our popularity grew, we faced another challenge: how to accommodate everyone. If a guest wanted to book a three day stay and the hotel was already booked on one of those dates, we had to work with our guests to find a way to help them. Fortunately, many of our guests realized that we were a special place, and maybe worth the extra effort of changing their plans around slightly. Other guests, who did not have flexibility in their dates, would choose to stay at another hotel on the nights we were not available and then move to our hotel.
Then there were other limitations, like a family or three adults traveling together. The One Hotel can only accommodate single travelers or couples. When I received our first request for a family (Father, Mother and 2 year old child), I thought about it and realized we could not do it. Mainly, we did not design the room in a way that would make it comfortable, but more importantly, it was not designed with the safety of a young child in mind. Also, we could not accommodate three adults because there is no room for an extra bed. We are just the perfect hideaway for singles and couples, the perfect "cocoon."
The other limitation was price. We made a beautiful five star experience and gave it an affordable price(US$250+ per night) compared to other five star hotels in Siem Reap, but with the knowledge that we offered more amenities and a much more unique experience than larger hotels can not to mention an amazing value compare to high end hotels in the US or Europe. In addition, we include more in our rate than most hotels: daily breakfast on the private roof terrace, round trip airport transfers and complimentary drinks from the minibar are always including when staying with us. Besides, with just one room it does not make a lot of sense to discount the experience and try to have some broader appeal in terms of price. But, I am happy to say we are in the process of implementing an online availability check for instant confirmations. What we will do with online availability is offer a discount for last minute bookings, in addition to year round bookings. If you want to stay within 10 days of the date of booking, and our suite is available, we will offer a special rate (currently $195+). At the present time, and we will continue to do so, I answer all reservation correspondence. More time consuming for sure but it helps to walk guests through the process and know there is someone looking after them from the beginning.
I hope the online booking helps those guests that want it but the personalized reservation process with my assistance will always be available.
How to deal with our other limitations? I will save that for next time.
Then there were other limitations, like a family or three adults traveling together. The One Hotel can only accommodate single travelers or couples. When I received our first request for a family (Father, Mother and 2 year old child), I thought about it and realized we could not do it. Mainly, we did not design the room in a way that would make it comfortable, but more importantly, it was not designed with the safety of a young child in mind. Also, we could not accommodate three adults because there is no room for an extra bed. We are just the perfect hideaway for singles and couples, the perfect "cocoon."
The other limitation was price. We made a beautiful five star experience and gave it an affordable price(US$250+ per night) compared to other five star hotels in Siem Reap, but with the knowledge that we offered more amenities and a much more unique experience than larger hotels can not to mention an amazing value compare to high end hotels in the US or Europe. In addition, we include more in our rate than most hotels: daily breakfast on the private roof terrace, round trip airport transfers and complimentary drinks from the minibar are always including when staying with us. Besides, with just one room it does not make a lot of sense to discount the experience and try to have some broader appeal in terms of price. But, I am happy to say we are in the process of implementing an online availability check for instant confirmations. What we will do with online availability is offer a discount for last minute bookings, in addition to year round bookings. If you want to stay within 10 days of the date of booking, and our suite is available, we will offer a special rate (currently $195+). At the present time, and we will continue to do so, I answer all reservation correspondence. More time consuming for sure but it helps to walk guests through the process and know there is someone looking after them from the beginning.
I hope the online booking helps those guests that want it but the personalized reservation process with my assistance will always be available.
How to deal with our other limitations? I will save that for next time.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Good Karma
When I was managing Shinta Mani in early 2004, Time magazine did a short article in which I was quoted as saying, "Seeing the living standard of many of the residents of Siem Reap, you naturally want to try to help." It was true then and remains so today. When we started The One Hotel two years later, I came up with a Good Karma package where, in addition to touring the temples, we would show our guests ways in which they could give back to the local community. We started a similar process before when I was at Shinta Mani and after I left they developed a wonderful program where I, my Mom, her neighbors and our guests have donated water wells, piglets, rice and planting seeds. My donation of piglets was my Christmas present to my family a couple of years ago. I went with the Shinta Mani staff to deliver the piglets. In this small village outside of Siem Reap a family may only have a thatch roof with a simple bed underneath with just a few possessions. Here you can see the proud recipients:
When compared to our sometimes excessive Christmas behavior, it was humbling to see this and at least help in some small way.
When my Mom came back to visit Siem Reap in 2007, I took her to the village where we took these photos:
Running a hotel where you interact with your guests and help them to have a satisfying stay is very rewarding. Even more rewarding is having those guests experience a unique part of Cambodia on their trip and make a lasting memory of their connection to the community. We have since added the package, named Cool Karma, to our new hotel, Hotel Be Angkor. You can read more about our community activities and corporate responsibility initiatives on our One Hotel Collection website.
Going back to the start of The One Hotel, our second guest in April 2006 was Michael Owen who was here with colleagues looking for ways that they could assist and fund local NGO's. (As a side note, Michael stayed with us for eight nights which is still the record for longest continuous stay at The One Hotel.) During that time Michael met Jon Morgan who was then working at the Angkor Children's Hospital. The hospital and staff have always been the organization I most admired in Siem Reap for the free, quality health care they provide to under-privileged Cambodians and the unassuming manner in which they do it. However, I always wondered about those people farther away from Siem Reap that may not know about the hospital or can not get there. To solve that problem, Jon came up with the idea of a Lake Clinic which he and Michael have been working on since April of 2007. The clinic will actually be on a boat on the Tonle Sap lake and will be focus on delivering basic health care to women and children of the floating villages there (approximate population 120,000). We are happy to add the Lake Clinic to the list of community organizations that we support and include in our Good Karma packages.
When compared to our sometimes excessive Christmas behavior, it was humbling to see this and at least help in some small way.
When my Mom came back to visit Siem Reap in 2007, I took her to the village where we took these photos:
Running a hotel where you interact with your guests and help them to have a satisfying stay is very rewarding. Even more rewarding is having those guests experience a unique part of Cambodia on their trip and make a lasting memory of their connection to the community. We have since added the package, named Cool Karma, to our new hotel, Hotel Be Angkor. You can read more about our community activities and corporate responsibility initiatives on our One Hotel Collection website.
Going back to the start of The One Hotel, our second guest in April 2006 was Michael Owen who was here with colleagues looking for ways that they could assist and fund local NGO's. (As a side note, Michael stayed with us for eight nights which is still the record for longest continuous stay at The One Hotel.) During that time Michael met Jon Morgan who was then working at the Angkor Children's Hospital. The hospital and staff have always been the organization I most admired in Siem Reap for the free, quality health care they provide to under-privileged Cambodians and the unassuming manner in which they do it. However, I always wondered about those people farther away from Siem Reap that may not know about the hospital or can not get there. To solve that problem, Jon came up with the idea of a Lake Clinic which he and Michael have been working on since April of 2007. The clinic will actually be on a boat on the Tonle Sap lake and will be focus on delivering basic health care to women and children of the floating villages there (approximate population 120,000). We are happy to add the Lake Clinic to the list of community organizations that we support and include in our Good Karma packages.
Saturday, June 14, 2008
A Great Start
After extensive renovation of the existing building, The One Hotel opened on 12 February, 2006, for exactly ONE night. Well, we had to open that day as we were committed to a guest. Afterwards, I realized that I did not like the tiles that we used on the roof terrace. So, the only thing to do was rip it out and do something different. It was a great decision as the terrazzo we installed was a much nicer look. That delayed our acceptance of our second guest until April but best to get it right.
In retrospect I am truly amazed at the wonderful reception our hotel received. We made the Conde Nast Traveler Hot List for 2006. We had a two page spread in Travel+Leisure. Mentions in the New York Times, DestinAsian and (my favorite) Wallpaper really put us on the map. It is such an unusual idea, the thought of a one room hotel, that seemed to attract so much attention. Once we had the first few articles written about us, the media requests just kept pouring in. From Hong Kong, from Germany, from Turkey, from Brazil and even Latvia! I like to say that if I had built my first hotel and it had two or more rooms, instead of just one, we would have received 90% less press. That was why the idea of a one room hotel was so brilliant.
When we finally got open and started receiving guests in mid-2006, for the first few months I went to the airport and met every guest upon arrival. We believe that once you land here in Siem Reap, you are OUR guest and as such we meet you at the airport, take care of you during your stay and then see you off at the airport when you leave. So few hotels can really offer such service but we believe it is critical to our success. I was also interested to see what kind of guest we would attract. By the end of the year it was clear: we had THE BEST guests! Fun, intelligent, successful, well-traveled (of course) but just the nicest people. And when you have a one room hotel and a one great guest, it is a pleasure. Here is what some of our guest have had to say about us on Trip Advisor.
Then again, when you have one room and one not so nice guest, it can be a bit painful. Our staff will do, and have done, just about everything for our guests. But somethings we just did not anticipate. Like the guest who went out at 5am for sunrise at the temples and came back at 7am and wanted to know why his room had not been cleaned yet. Uh, it is 7am. It was a good lesson for us to learn because certainly if we knew they would be back by 7am we could have gotten the room ready by then, after all they were our only guests. It does make you wonder sometimes as recently we had a guest stay with us that had booked many months before. When they arrived they were surprised to learn it was a one room hotel. Huh? How could they have missed that detail? Of course they had a great time but I had a chuckle about that. I must say that I am very, very grateful for that our guests are so happy with our staff and our hotel. It validates everything about what being a hotelier is all about.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Why One?
The One Hotel really was an accident, completely unplanned. After working at Shinta Mani for about six months it was easy to Siem Reap was just beginning to take off as a tourist destination. From about 1.1 million tourist arrivals in 2004 to more than 2 million in 2007, Angkor Wat is a wonderful new destination. My original thought in 2004 was that there were more than 1 million visitors and no gay bar in the city. Being gay myself, I listened to visiting friends say, "Where can we go out?" It did not take a mathematical genius to figure out there was demand. So, with that in mind I asked a friend who had a bar on Pub Street and he knew of a place nearby that was for rent. Located on a small little alley was a nice space with two rooms opening outwards. The space was a family residence but they were ready to cash in an move out. At that time there were only three other businesses on the street but, given its location between the Old Market and Pub Street it was an ideal alternative location.
The alley back then:
But truly, I just wanted to make a fun bar, relaxed atmosphere with fantastic cocktails and a place where everyone was welcome. We achieved that beyond our wildest dreams with a huge opening night on 12 November, 2004. Actually, I did not really invite anyone as we wanted to have a nice slow start, get organized and do some training. But, word got out and we were mobbed that night. It seems everyone knew Linga Bar was opening and wanted to come and show their support. We were not ready for the crush and ran out of almost everything but it was a great start. And in our first year of business I jokingly say we were a failure as a gay bar since 60% of our customers were straight. Never did I think that Linga would be covered in the New York Times (twice!). About the name Linga, it really is a cultural reference.
Linga on a party night:
So, with Linga Bar off and running I turned my attention to what really means the most to me, running a hotel. During the first year Linga was open, the little alley we were on started to transform into the charming lane I knew it could become. We started to refer to it as "The Passage" since it did not have a name. In the middle of 2005, my friend John McDermott signed a lease for a building opposite the bar to open his second gallery. The building next to John's was also available and I thought it could be my chance to make a hotel. From the outside I thought it would be big enough to make three or four rooms, however, when I got inside I discovered the back part was an open courtyard. Even if I built it up (at considerable cost), I would have rooms with no windows. So, I looked at the existing structure and was thinking about two rooms, one on top of the other, but it seemed to small for that. Then the idea him me: One Room! Why not make one gorgeous room, provide every possible amenity (the likes of which other luxury hotels would never include, like a laptop, mobile phone, iPod etc) and due to its exclusivity you can provide unparalleled attention since you only have one guest to serve. Well, it was genius by accident but as some people say, "I would rather be lucky than good." So, that is how the idea was born. I hired the same architect that helped me with Linga Bar, Ivan Tizianel and his partner Lisa Samboros. Together, we came up with design of what was to become The One Hotel Angkor. The rest, as they say, is history but I will tell you more of our story soon.
And now, The Passage:
The alley back then:
But truly, I just wanted to make a fun bar, relaxed atmosphere with fantastic cocktails and a place where everyone was welcome. We achieved that beyond our wildest dreams with a huge opening night on 12 November, 2004. Actually, I did not really invite anyone as we wanted to have a nice slow start, get organized and do some training. But, word got out and we were mobbed that night. It seems everyone knew Linga Bar was opening and wanted to come and show their support. We were not ready for the crush and ran out of almost everything but it was a great start. And in our first year of business I jokingly say we were a failure as a gay bar since 60% of our customers were straight. Never did I think that Linga would be covered in the New York Times (twice!). About the name Linga, it really is a cultural reference.
Linga on a party night:
So, with Linga Bar off and running I turned my attention to what really means the most to me, running a hotel. During the first year Linga was open, the little alley we were on started to transform into the charming lane I knew it could become. We started to refer to it as "The Passage" since it did not have a name. In the middle of 2005, my friend John McDermott signed a lease for a building opposite the bar to open his second gallery. The building next to John's was also available and I thought it could be my chance to make a hotel. From the outside I thought it would be big enough to make three or four rooms, however, when I got inside I discovered the back part was an open courtyard. Even if I built it up (at considerable cost), I would have rooms with no windows. So, I looked at the existing structure and was thinking about two rooms, one on top of the other, but it seemed to small for that. Then the idea him me: One Room! Why not make one gorgeous room, provide every possible amenity (the likes of which other luxury hotels would never include, like a laptop, mobile phone, iPod etc) and due to its exclusivity you can provide unparalleled attention since you only have one guest to serve. Well, it was genius by accident but as some people say, "I would rather be lucky than good." So, that is how the idea was born. I hired the same architect that helped me with Linga Bar, Ivan Tizianel and his partner Lisa Samboros. Together, we came up with design of what was to become The One Hotel Angkor. The rest, as they say, is history but I will tell you more of our story soon.
And now, The Passage:
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