gan bei!

was too drunk last night to post anything. left my camera in the car so didn't take any pics!!

met another electronics company for brunch.. another meeting+eating meal again. this time, quite glad to see another father and son team. the dad was a pioneer for something and his son, andy, is helping to run another company whose end product requires his dad's products. the son is 27yrs old.. still i'm the youngest. he's a friendly guy with the make of a businessman.. glad to know him and should really learn the way he entertains.

started drinking since the brunch... gan bei gan bei.

met another partner after that and did some local market survey for some other things we are doing. simply jus knocked out in the car cause of the drinking at brunch.

went for dinner with my dad only this time at a local porridge restaurant.. really nice.

then at night....

drinking again..

went to this club 'barcode' with andy... and my dad, together with 2 other partners of theirs. heard that only through bookings then u can get the table.. true enough, the crowd there seems to be some sort of high end younger crowds.. lots of pretty girls of course. met a few others there and also a few pretty girls.. but didn't bother to know them further also.. afterall my dad was beside me.

taiwanese can really drink... it was gan bei gan bei again.. within a while.. 2 bottle of whisky gone. respect their alcohol level. and they are really fun people to drink with.

morning woke up with hangover... then went to walk around myself for a short while. too bad my camera not with me again. didn't took any pics.

taipei day 2

woke up early in the morning and met the rest of the people at 915 after breakfast. This time, guess wat car came...


a mercs.. and a Volkswagen Phaeton, 6 litres v12 engine! Singapore only has up to 3.2 litres.. 450bhp 0-100 less than 5. Was nice to be in that vehicle all the way and made friends with the owner.



then headed down to a meeting with a company in the electronic industry. Won't be convenient to give further details of the products or company as everything is still under pending, it was an eye opener. First time of me attending a rather formal meeting with a presentation that most of its higher management came for it. First time attending meeting with a Taiwanese comapny. Quite 'Sua Ku' at first and many were wondering who am I this young man here. Of course, I was introduced as my dad's son.. This experience was a fruitful one, was quite impress with a few of them, especially those with higher position, the way they speak and present themselves, you can tell the difference and dominance they portray.


spotted this San Tai Zi statue along the way, really big, really nice...

lesson learnt.

Its the same as back in holland, the higher level u are, the more power you have, thus, the more decision making power you have which comes in hand with more say and dominance. Its a two way thing, buyer and seller. Its always important to head towards a win win situation as the end state without compromising each others intentions. Always have a basic knowledge of your products and their products and the purpose of this meeting. To cut cost? to save something? or to seek improvement? or safety? the purpose behind it must be at the back of the head such that one would not backtrack or sidetrack and get the attention diversified. then weight the scale of pros and cons and differences between now and then, returns and potential. negotiate further be it production or price and aim to be a partner instead to make something special.


Headed down to a second company, despite being smaller in scale and the presentation wasn't as good, their products was impressive, very impressive. this one is associated with the energy industry, I became very keen, as well as many others, about their products. I strongly feel that it has immense potential but just lack of the capital to maximise it to its fullest.


lesson learnt.
have foresight, don't be bias or too light headed and take in every single word the person say. Always see from another perspective, then question in a nice way. to verify and ensure yourself that it is good. do not be convince too easily but instead be open minded and that its possible. don't rush and jump into it. always leave some space for consideration and further analysis. ask for sample to test out then decide again.

this moth or butterfly flew all the way up to the 85 storey..

went to taipei 101 for dinner at the 85 storey, this particular restaurant only takes reservation 3 months before hand! So... it was quite nice to be dining there at night with the city lights by our side. it was a pretty nice dinner.. but didn't took too much pics as usual..

Yeah wore my suit for the first time today, just got it from this very nice local tailor/designer by the name of Roy. most were wearing suit and to avoid being too special, I decided to put it on.. afterall the weather was alittle chilling.

check the name of this place next to the restaurant..

taipei

took off from terminal 3 on a afternoon flight and reached here around 5pm.. its nice to be back here again but this time using a passport. =) coming here this time for business trip again with my dad and not holiday, how i wish it was a holiday.One of dad's friend came to pick us up and head striaght to the hotel, The Landis, nice place and we've got a very gd discount through another friend whom have very gd contacts with the hotel.

This trip we're going to register a branch of our company here, Ariki Taiwan. been running around embassy and law firm back in sg to validate documents.

Glad we're expanding up further north, afterall I strongly feel that Taiwan would be a booming economy in time to come. With a positive outlook on its political climate. I think its economical potential would be unleashed and further capitalise. Hopefully we would be able to tap on this trend in future. Afterall, Taiwan is already a rather advance and developed place.

Checked in at the hotel and got ready for dinner. Gonna be meeting some people here for dinner which to me they are highly successful people. the weather is rather cold tonight though.

Quite surprise when the vehicles that came to fetch us was a Porsche Cayenne and BMW X5. Went on the porsche of course and headed down to 'bei tou' for dinner at this very nice place. Its fine dining and everything was quite nicely arranged. service here was different back in sg, the waitress was nice and explained everything very nicely etc. of course, i didn't know how much the bill was.. it would be better to not reveal whom i dined with as some of them have a certain level of status back home. It was nice having to know them and talking to them over dinner, was quite pressuring cus its fine dining! mus be careful with the 'tools'.

Seeing some of them really inspires me alot to strive and work hard, hearing their stories and experiences, it somehow keeps me thinking and thinking, hoping one day I could achieve something. didn't took much pictures. going for such dinner hard to take photos.....

standstill. standup

past few weeks is low low low.. things seems to be not going smoothly. with all the drive and motivation, things just came into a standstill at times.

standstill
jus me trying to soar, jus hard stretching my wings, alone.

one person doing all. one person making calls, doing the typing, communicating, doing the research, doing the planning, thinking the next step.

but effort doesn't means returns. its luck? fate? or wat?

some don't believe, some say its just for a moment, some say it won't happen, some say won't make it.

the first few steps is hard, some say. tt's very true.

with a paradigm shift, i should look further. maybe this don't work out for a purpose, maybe something better is arising and waiting for me.

strawberry wine on the hold first. enough of the waiting game and confirmation. I'm looking at other options already. so so so... see how see first. did out a whole new updated company's portfolio to satisfy curiousity. now they want more information and this and that. even the trade office wants to check me out. If they're unsincere in giving the distributorship and no way to handle their products. y waste time shooting into blank air, why waste time and effort with hopes. don't let something slow down just because someone who doesn't even own that company doesn't have the foresight and see this as a shopping trip. so when a someone starts keeping his strawberries to himself and don't wanna share. make one myself. =) lesson learnt.

smoke is on the way, its quite an hassel to be dealing with tobacco. from the tax to the license to the regulations and the cost. take a puff to relax. now the branding and launching. must be very very careful with everything, the figures, the rules. ithis is my first.

strategy strategy strategy. the divine ones up there, I standup and put my hands to pray. huat ar!

waiting game.

its was a waiting game. waiting for replies, waiting for confirmation, waiting for all to be in place. No replies at all yet, even from the embassy trade office. Need to squeeze them. but did all I can, so it was jus waiting.

finally, first phone conversation with the supplier in europe at 12 midnight plus. then was a mail sent. So damn glad! after fretting the whole damn day asking myself what's my next move if this or that don't happen.

still, gonna squeeze the trade office that has no replies. the person was quite 'ya ya' when she promise to check out some details and reply this morning. by 1500 the office closed with no news to me. can hear she was trying very hard to 'slang' but in vain.

don't try to throw me your potatoe smoke. so don't action with your command of words or pronouncation when you have nothing solid behind.

so... planning the next step in process. delighted to see some progression in place. huat huat huat ar! think think me.

no no, tour replaced by meetings. again..

too shag last nite to blog after touching down..
last day at groningen, going to catch a night flight at around 9..
woke up early as usual at the same breakfast at the hotel, then plan to walk around laer around the city square leaving my dad alone for his meetings. in the end, kenna dragged to the meeting. ...!!! thought can walk around to buy some nice stuffs.

checked out and arben came to pick us up. went to the office and carry on meetings and deals. finally finally finally. the meeting finished. everyone was very happy. made lots of good deal. fritz then took us out for lunch as Arben gonna rush off for his flight to London, he's going to watch the Chelsea vs Arsenal game... at the stadium of course. went to fritz girlfriend restaurant to eat some asian food, she's of indonesia origin. guess wat i ate... Nasi Padang! they're selling nasi padang and had a factory selling ba-pao at the back. fritz got us a 1class train tickets to the airport. it beats taking a car there cause sure jam.. its friday and after work. nice ride to amsterdam airport though.

after 5 days didn't get to buy much soveniers, after all i'm there for business not tour.. went to buy chocolates and some small soveniers at the airport. after check in we went to this dfs shop and bought some hugo boss stuffs, its alittle cheaper than Singapore.

13 hours flight. knock out on board. touch down at Changi Airport with blessings from the sky. haha. finally. its good to be home somehow.

meetings. dinner. CASINO

the day started off with chilling breeze and light drizzle. got up as usual and met frits again. drove my dad and i to the office 40mins away, lucky them having the office away from downtown, so the avoid the traffic both going and after work.

long long meeting today, sat buy the side and see the deals being made.. 'WOW' again, never did i expect such figures. Being a director is not easy task, seeing Arben and my dad making decisions, never stop pressing the calculators against the exhange rate. its no easy task, respect them. In business its also about give and take, I help you, you help me and find a equilibrium at the end of the day that both sides gain from it. Not always its all profit where only one party will gain, but also helping each other to gain with the overall margin. many things comes into play with business, the logistic, the operations, the finance, the manpower.. etc etc. of course the higher you go the more risking taking decision you'll make.. but those below running the errands have to work hard too. finally finally it was fruitful and deals made. Arben really impress me alot with his way of doing business, the way he talks, he react, he decide.. not bad at all. He's actually not a dutch, but he's actually from Kosovo. He's really someone who absorbs the good essence of different cultures fast, smart fellow.

Went to dinner at humphrey's.. a typical local cafe that they wanted me to experience how the people chill out there. Met up with more nice people there. Arben came to fetch us together with his wife, Ergyn's brother Erkang and his wife.. on the table was 10 person, though we're in groningen, there's only one dutch and that's frits. the rest are from kosovo and 1 turkish. seeing the unable-to-understand menu, i anyhow pick up something though erkang was explaining to me.. it came a quail! so i was telling them about my experience on JCC in Brunei on how i killed the quail to eat during survival.. Hearing so much conversation, I think i wanna visit Kosovo one day. afterall, it could be a good place to invest next time.

Casino! finally.. went over to this casino known as 'holland casino'.. i won about 400 euros about S$800+.. jus by playing blackjack. quite cool having the whole bunch of us there playing for fun with our age ranging from me 21 to ergyn 27.... to my dad and Arben around their 40s. though the culture are quite different back home, but they're really fun-loving people. especially those guys like frits, ergyn etc.. not proud or wat, jus happy always, of course, afterwork.

tmr gonna roam around the area alone, its my off day! lol.. finally a day without meetings.