2nd Article for The Bullet

Temasek’s $100 Million Bet — Brilliant or Brash?

New Column for KrASIA

I was recently given a new column at KrASIA — The Bullet. Here is first article

Big Upcoming Trip

Over the past week, I’ve been working on finalizing an upcoming trip, and it’s been a bit hectic.

Here’s where I’ll be:

• CM — BKK (August 26–27) | Quick 1 day visit, layovers from CM — Bali were a mess, so staying overnight was cheap and a lot less of a hassle.

• BKK — Bali (August 27–September 17)

• Bali — Singapore (September 17)

• Singapore — CM (???)

In Singapore, I’ll be attending Token2049 as a reporter for KrASIA, and then checking out Formula 1 just by myself. Things were getting a bit too comfortable (and boring) in Chiangmai, so I thought I needed to take advantage of my remote work situation and do some traveling. My buddy and his GF are in Bali doing visa stuff, so spending a few weeks there with them will be a nice change of pace.

I’m not sure when I’ll leave Singapore, but hopefully sooner rather than later. It’s expensive, and it’s so “curated” that things get boring real quick, especially since I’ll still be working and not as keen to go out, especially at the cost of $10 beers. From now until my first flight next Friday, I’ll continue going to the gym, working, and getting everything ready for my trip.

Driving Range

Hit some balls the other day. Only left-handed club was a 7 iron, and my obliques are paying for it today, but nice Sunday afternoon.

Lamphun Temple Tour

Lamphun is located about 20km south of Chiangmai.

Wat San Pa Yang Luang is one of the 5 most beautiful temples in Thailand. The temple, also the first Buddhist temple of Lanna Kingdom, was established in the year 531.

The giant gold rock is Phra That In Kwaen, a historic site in Lamphun. It shares the same name as the one in Myanmar and resembles the appearance also. If you’re trying to go there, do NOT follow Google Maps — follow the local signage instead.

Sunday Market

So, marijuana is now “legal” in Thailand, but the government didn’t really establish any regulations on it. So throughout the country, including in Chiangmai, dispensaries are popping up, and paraphernalia (lower right pic) are being sold in public — which wasn’t the case in the past. It’s a whole new world in the land of smiles.

Muay Thai is Back!

Happy 4th of July

Macaroni and cheese burger with bacon.

Job Hunting in Singapore

Looking for a job in Singapore is proving to be more of a challenge than I had thought. I knew that COVID would play a factor, but the other issue is that many companies are only looking to hire Singaporeans or Permanent Residents. I get that hiring a foreigner right now is tricky, but it’s super discouraging when I read the job description, get excited about the opportunity, and then at the very end, I don’t qualify because I’m a foreigner.

The other thing, and maybe I’m just dumb, is many job applications will ask “Are you eligible to work in Singapore?” Technically, yes but do I currently have a work visa? No. So what does that question mean? Also, if I choose “no”, it’s hard not to think that my application immediately gets sent to the trash because some algorithm determines that a “no” answer isn’t a candidate worth pursuing.

The other tricky workaround is that when I click “apply”, for over half the jobs, I’m taken to a Singapore government website in which I’m required to enter my SingPass ID number, which is something that foreigners/non-permanent residents don’t have, so I can’t apply for the job and the company doesn’t need to look bad by writing “Singaporeans only”. Well played.

Job hunting is tough, especially when you factor in COVID, closed borders, and HR teams that seemingly don’t want to have to file paperwork to hire a foreigner. I’ll continue searching and filtering through jobs that I qualify for, though it’s certainly not a process I enjoy.