6 April

April 6 - It's too hot to do anything outdoors on Koh Chang today. So far I've answered emails, written a press release on peripheral vascular disease for a stem cell research company, churned out an article on real estate on KC for a property mag and drank far more fruit shakes than most doctors would recommend. So, it's time to take my brain out and do a quick update of the site.

I get quite a few emails from people considering moving to Koh Chang to open a small business and asking for my opinion (for what it's worth) about their projects.

I thought it'd be interesting to highlight step-by-step, how the locals do it. I've enlisted the help of expat expert Bob, a representative of the Koh Chang Amateur Businessman's Club and author of 'How to lose your life savings in 30 days or less', the popular guide for expat bar owners and restaurateurs, to talk us through this case study which explains the process of how one arrives at the decision to open a particular type of business in a particular area.

Somchai arrived on Koh Chang with nothing more than a smile and the contact details of a T-shirt & beachwear supplier, he setup shop in a small corrugated iron shack roadside. Business was good. Somchai invited his friend, Narong, to open a shop next door. Seeing the success Somchai was having the two decided that they could double their sales if Narong also opened a t-shirt & beachwear shop. A week passed and Narong's cousins, Nit & Nat, who was visiting from Isaan suddenly had the idea that what the area really needed was a third beachwear shop. Two weeks later they were in business. However, due to a dispute over the overcharging of tourists - Nat insisted prices should be double what locals paid, Nit insisted on triple. The two split and Nit went solo, setting up 'Nit T-shirts and beachwear' next door.

Meanwhile, in the paddy fields of Isaan, Somchai's younger brother had heard tales of his brother's booming t-shirt and beachwear emporium. And, as it was conveniently located in the midst of a thriving expat Isaan community, he loaded his wife, kids, dog, and mother-in-law in the back of the Isuzu and drove south. Within a week, this 50 metre stretch of roadside had it's fifth t-shirt and beachwear vendor. For a while business was good with some shops seeing daily profits of well over 120 baht. However, the bubble burst in March with the end of the high season and the arrival of Narong's aunt who after researching her options carefully over the course of a 2-hour somtam and sticky rice business lunch with Somchai's wife, decided that the current investment climate could support a sixth t-shit and beachwear shop, albeit one that focused on beachwear more than t-shirts, which would set her shop aside from the others, thus 'Same same but different beachwear and t-shirts' opened for business. Despite insisting that she hardly made a profit, the other traders placed the blame for their drop in sales on this new arrival, who didn't display a plastic, paw waving Chinese 'welcome cat' in the shop, and thus placed a jinx on all other traders in the vicinity. Somchai is rumoured to be mulling a move into the lucrative sunglasses and sandals market for the 2006-07 season.

And just to prove that the truth is often stranger than fiction, a new bungalow resort has recently opened on the roadside several kilometres south of Dan Mai, on the unvisited east coast. Its name . . . . 'White Elephant Resort'. (Really)