This was a busy and short week with a public holiday and a two-day conference in Bangkok, here’s this week’s list!
Best thing I ate this week
I was able to catch up with an old colleague over dinner at Le Du Kaan, rated one of Bangkok’s top 20 restaurants this year by Tatler. This rooftop masterpiece is headed by Michelin Star Chef Thitid Ton, and it absolutely lived up to the hype. The ambiance was super luxurious and memorable, from the entrance downstairs to the restaurant interior and the amazing terrace. Stunning art installations and perfect ambience radiated across the restaurant. The food was fantastic as well, we stuck to seafood and vegetable dishes, which were all modern takes on Thai classics. I especially enjoyed the somtum puunim, papaya salad with soft-shelled crab. But the highlight of the evening was the miang kam dessert, an upscale version of a traditional Thai snack. The dessert contained both sweet and savory elements that made it super unique, and the texture of the biscuit went perfectly with the betal leaf ice cream. Highly recommended for the views and food.
Interesting marketing article this week
This Forrester report declaring “annual plans are dead” really struck a chord this week, especially considering the dynamic nature of our work here in the APAC region. For those of us navigating the complexities of B2B SaaS marketing across Asia, the idea of rigid, year-long strategies struggling against the tide of rapid market shifts, diverse economic conditions, and evolving customer behaviours is a familiar reality. Forrester highlights the critical need for agility within our marketing functions, compelling us to lean even more into data-driven decision-making that allows for quick, intelligent pivots in our demand generation efforts, content strategies, and ABM initiatives. In a region as fast-paced and varied as APAC, our ability to continuously read the landscape, adapt our campaigns, and collaborate effectively with sales to translate these insights into measurable pipeline impact is no longer just best practice, it’s fundamental.
Thoughts on Thailand this week
My wife and I have discussed retiring in Thailand before, but this week my trip there really put it on the map for serious consideration. The top things we like about Thailand are the cost of living, quality of healthcare, friendliness of the people, and the food. Other Southeast Asian countries have retirement visa options, but none of them are as attractive to us. With the cost of living as high as it is in Singapore, we really need to start considering what we want our retirement to look like and when it is realistic to start. Since we don’t have extended family in Singapore, going back and forth between countries could be a great option to make our lives more relaxed and varied, I don’t want to end up sitting at the coffeeshop reading Straits Times every day. We have at least 20 years before the traditional retirement age, and I hope to have a long and fulfilling career ahead of me, but I really got excited about what our retirement there could look like.
What I watched this week
I’ve mentioned before that I love watching old videos of Singapore and other places and seeing how things have changed over the years. So I was thrilled when I saw that Singapore Airlines currently has a couple of series from the National Archives documenting the 60s and 80s in Singapore. I binged both on my flight and really enjoyed these higher-quality videos from the past. I think the reason it captivates me so much is that if there were such videos of many places in the US, you’d see different cars, fashion, and technology, but it wouldn’t be that different than now. But the rapid growth places like Singapore, Shanghai, or Seoul have gone through in the past 50 years is really highlighted when you watch this kind of thing. Check out this YouTube video to see what I mean.
Have a great rest of your weekend!