Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand - February 2013

[Giles]

Last night was the first night we ate alone.  We did Shabu Shabu.  And given the way ALL the staff stred at us all night, you would think that it was the first time they had seen Japanese - food was delicious…

[MikeC]

Nice, your earring made the shot.

[urbanwoodsman]

@MikeC:

Nice, your earring made the shot.

@MikeC:

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha…...

If I could add….

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha......

[Giles]

IHThaiHQ
Our office in Bangkok.
The girls try and look busy, Haraki doesn't bother..

Going through samples with Chnanon.  Poor Chnanon, he saw everything including stuff we knew he would not be interested in, Haraki he say, "I bought all this stuff with me and have not shown some of it at all, so today we show everything - make it worth me carrying it"..

[Giles]

I thought I may need a massage.  On second thought's, decided against it….

[ky]

@Giles:

Going through samples with Chnanon.  Poor Chnanon, he saw everything including stuff we knew he would not be interested in, Haraki he say, "I bought all this stuff with me and have not shown some of it at all, so today we show everything - make it worth me carrying it"

i want to switch places with him…. where's the teleporting machine?

[obbigood]

Here is one of the many videos uploaded, both interesting and educational…

[obbigood]

[Giles]

Todays classic, and apologies to any French who may read this.

Over dinner tonight we had a European history lesson.  One of the thing I explained was the "Hunded Years War" between the English and the French.  Haraki's comment which Sarina had to translate between fits of giggles….

"Fighting the French for a 100 years, that's like flogging a dead horse!"

[Giles]

Do not jump to conclusions and do not make assumptions…

I have been talking to Pronto for some time now.  Indeed I met Chnanon, the owner, in Berlin lat summer.  A nicer more unassuming person you would be hard pressed to find.

His low key bearing, combined with both his decision to concentrate on his home market and the fact that I have very few direct Thai customers, led me to assume, Pronto was a nice little niche denim store in a country with dubious demand for Japanese denim.

I got an inkling of how wrong I was, when his orders started coming through, they are large.  I won't tell you how large, but I started to concentrate.

This guy has 7 stores, with plans to open a few more this year.  I only saw two, but they were amongst the best I have seen anywhere.

I popped into the Siam Square store today unannounced and on my own (the Japanese lightweights needed a rest).  Chnanon was there, so we got to talking.

I asked some questions about how many of X, Y and Z he ordered.  The answers made my eyes water. When I told Haraki, his eyes popped.

If I learned one thing from this trip it was do not judge a book by its cover.

[MikeC]

It must be nice to live in a country where there is not an exclusivity contract…...

[Chris]

And yet Pronto is the only retailer in Thailand.

[MikeC]

^Look in the thread, Shops that sell Iron Heart.  There are definitely 2 other ones.

[Giles]

Adjective sell some Tees and Take 5 sell the Take 5 Collab.

[Giles]

Popped into to Pronto in Siam Square this afternoon and saw 2 things that interested me…

Throughgood/Pronto collab Roofers...

A great mod to the 43200G.  Get ready for some surgery Unity…

Popped into take 5 for a look/see.  great shop and great people…

And had to buy this for Seul…

Am now waiting patiently at Bangkok Airport for my plane to whisk me home….

[Giles]

More great pics here…..

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.602759019739757.150986.314908188524843&type=1

[Chris]

What's the Union Special mod?

[Giles]

The oil reservoir on top of the machine.  Normally there is just a trap door though which you add oil to lubricate the main bearings.  The oil reservoir allows a much larger volume of oil to be added and thus longer time between oil top-ups.

[Finn666]

have a safe trip G. and thanks a bunch for all the pics and story telling…I really enjoyed your tour and Sarina

[Giles]

Plane leaves in min, so signing off now.  Poor P (which probably means Seul too) has to get out of bed at the crack of dawn tomorrow.  The plane lands at 6:20 local time….