Thank you, Singapore and Bangkok

Still parsing thoughts from my 12 days in Singapore and Bangkok. I loved everything about Singapore — from the diversity, food, city, harmony, it truly is, a melting pot. Bangkok absolutely blew my mind. I couldn’t help but be that girl, walking around with her mouth wide open. I spent an extended time in the Philippines (Manila and the countryside of Southern Philippines) a while back, so I should have been used to an emerging nation… in theory. But I don’t know what it is about Bangkok that at first, made me a bit uneasy.

Then, I got used to it, and fell head over heels in love. There is so much energy, stimulation and there are movements happening in various communities, industries, that I was very fortunate to see first hand. It’s a bit of a bummer that it seems as though no one is telling the stories, so I definitely plan to do so. I hope I can do it justice.

My initial takeaways:

– Singapore is very developed and civilized
– Bangkok is an emerging nation, yet not as messy as say India, China, or the other BRICS
– there are massive opportunities in both nations
– and there are still many, many, more regions I need to see

The majority of my time was spent as a holiday, connecting and re-connecting with the friends living in SG and BKK (most in the food industry). I will chronicle my learnings on hi.co.

I also had the great fortune to meet and travel with so many great people. I cannot thank Dave McClure and the entire 500 team for allowing me to tag along for portions of it.

Until I get everything out here or on hi, I will leave you all with this tweet which basically sums up how I feel about SEA.