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June 2010 • ScandAsia.South East Asia 1 ScandAsia.se
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Coming Events Merdeka Month Celebration Malaysia: 1st August - 31st August 2010
Your FREE ScandAsia Magazine
The date marks a commemoration of Malaysia’s 53nd year of Independence, celebrated in a joyous mood by all Malaysians all over the country. Highlights include parades, fireworks displays and much more! Join in the merriment! The celebrations will take place throughout the month of August.
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Editor-in-Chief: Gregers A.W. Møller gregers@scandmedia.com Advertising: Finn Balslev finn@scandmedia.com Piyanan Kalikanon piyanan@scandmedia.com Nattapat Maesang nattapat@scandmedia.com Graphic Designer: Disraporn Yatprom disraporn@scandmedia.com Distribution: Pimjai Chaimongkol pimjai@scandmedia.com Printing: Advanced Printing Services Co., Ltd.
Daily news and features here: www.scandasia.com
Vietnam: 15th August 2010 This festival is all about the children. It is held on August15thtopromoteeducation,culture,music, art, poetry and sports. The festival begins at noon and ends at midnight, and features activities such as games, dance performances, martial arts demonstrations, and children parade on the streets, while singing and carrying colorful lanterns of different sizes. It is customary to give Banh Trung Thu, boxes of moon cakes, which are traditionally very rich in taste. The cakes are filled with lotus seeds, ground beans and orange peels and have a bright yoke in the center to represent the moon.
ScandAsia is the only magazine that covers all the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish residents in South East Asia.
Publisher: Scandinavian Publishing Co., Ltd. 4/41-2 Ramintra Soi 14, Bangkok 10230, Thailand Tel. +66 2 943 7166-8, Fax: +66 2 943 7169 E-mail: news@scandasia.com
Children’s Moon Festival
Rowing to Sail Banda Marine Festival 2010 Indonesia: 24th July - 17th August 2010 Venue: Banda Islands Join in the international event Sail Banda 2010 and explore the marine beauty along with the marine lovers from all over the world in a spirit of adventure, graced by the marine paradise of Banda Sea. Sail Banda 2010 is jointly organized by the Ministry of Marine and Fishery Affairs, Provincial Administration of Mollucas, Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and Navy Force of Indonesia, supported by the Directorate General of Immigration and other government institutions. For more info, please visit www.sailbanda.com
Kadayawan sa Dabaw Philippines: 3rd week of August 2010 Come experience a celebration of the bountiful harvests of fruits and orchids during the season.Activitiesincludefruitandflowershow, tradefair,tribal,civic,militaryparade,traditional sportsactivities,horsefight,SearchforB’yaneng Kadayawan and street dancing. The harvest celebration takes place during the third week of August.
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June 2010 • ScandAsia.South East Asia 5
Jungle, Sweat, and Danish By Charlotte Donvang Parks
E
verybody was clean and keen at the beginning of the 3rd Danish Constitution Day run in Commonwealth Park 20 kilometers outside Kuala Lumpur. Helle Sejersen Myrthue cut the ribbon in front of some 120 runners and guests of various nationalities at 6 pm on the 2nd of June 2010, the Deputy Head of Mission herself also dressed in running gear ready to hit the jungle with the pack of runners. This special run to celebrate “Grundlovsdag”, or the birth of the Danish constitution given to the Danes in 1849, was a treat to Danes and friends of the hashing club, the KL Harriettes. For the third year running,theDanishteamconsisting of Anette van Geyzel, Ib Larsen, Farooq Syed, and Charlotte Donvang had prepared a special event for their weekly running friends from the Harriettes. Thanks to a fine number of generous and loyal Danishsponsorstheycouldalsosurprise some 50+ Danish guests who are not running regularly and other local guests, in fact the largest number ever attending this event. The run site and starting point was at the park centre and resort of the Commonwealth Park, a beautiful spot with a small restaurant, some accommodation and a large car park. The run started off downhill on the road but that was about it for gentle walking or jogging. The rest of the trail through the picturesque and natural Commonwealth Park was somewhat more difficult as the park boasts an immense variety of flora and fauna including stretches of secondary jungle, rivers, mosquitoes and leeches just to mention a few. The park is covering a hill range so gentle slopes were something that guests could only fantasize about when they saw the steepness of some parts of the trail. It was definitely not a Sunday walk in the relaxing sense but more of an adventure trek for guests who had never been to a hash run before, while regular hashers simply got on with it, like they do every week. As runners of the day were from all walks of life and nationalities, the responses to the actual run were also quite varied. Regular runner’s responses included “Excellent run”,
Above:TwoyoungDanishmaidensin traditionaldresseswereservingsnaps andsnackstorunnershalfwaythrough the run. Left: Danish style Hotdogs, slurp! Below:SingingtheNationalAnthem before the run.
“Great climb down to the waterfall”, “Two hours of great adventure”, “A little too long” and “Thank you so much” while the guest responses were more diverse. Guestresponsesincludednegative feedback such as “I’ll never do it again”, “It was scary being in the junglewhenitwasgettingdark”and also acknowledgements like “I’ll be back”, “… and I thought you guys were only here for the beers, you are all very fit” and “Wow, I really enjoyed it”. It took the fastest runners just around 1.5 hours, while the last visitors came out of the jungle after 3 hours on the approximately 7 kilometers route. Everybody came back
6 ScandAsia.South East Asia • June 2010
safely but sweaty and some were very, very tired. The tiredness was however, relieved a little by Suntonicdrinksandsnacksimmediately after the run, then a little cleaning and a change of clothes made most look livelier and ready for next item on the agenda - food and drinks. The food was a chapter in itself as the Danish host team were themselves in charge of the catering and had cooked or prepared almost everything from home. With the hands of an army of helpers, mostly young trainees and other young Danes, they managed to serve up hundreds and hundreds of open sandwiches as well as warm dishes and Danish hotdogs with all the
h Hotdogs
trimmings for the now very hungry runners. The thirst was taken care of by Carlsberg. The “circle” is a traditional part of hashing and on this occasion it was a special one with British David Hirst making an excellent show, making fun of Danes and Denmark. Like a stand-up comedian he managed to keep the audience captivated and laughing till tears streamed down their faces. He was assisted by the young Dane Lone Larsen. As the sponsors had been generous, so was the organizing team. Every one of the 120 plus hashers and guests went home with one or more presents including a T-shirt, Danish jam and Vitagen drinks. All
sponsors were duly acknowledged at the function with a great thanks and a down down in no particular order to: Carlsberg Breweries, Emborg, Mechanalysis, Kenweld, IEN Consultants, SAS, Grundfos, Suntonic, Chr Hans, Q2 Engineering, Arla and Novo Nordisk. The third Danish Constitution Day run ended successfully and very late to happy cheers from guests who thanked profoundly for the experience of not only a jungly and sweaty run, but also for having the opportunity to taste Danish delicacies not normally available in KL, including Danish hotdogs.
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Danmarks bedste priser og biler. Danmarks-klubben giver specielle rabatter og fordele. Reservation: www.avis.dk Vivi With-Seidelin Telefon +44 20 7381 6333 E-mail v.seidelin@avis.dk www.avis.dk
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June 2010 • ScandAsia.South East Asia 7
16/03/10 17:01:05
John Lundin Sells Spe In the middle of nowhere Swedish John Lundin and his Indonesian wife Lizza are designing and producing high speed boats for patrolling and to ambush pirates with the help of some of the world’s sharpest brains in designing speedy boats. The latest project is a gigantic trimaran 60 metres long with the speed of around 150 kilometres per hour. The details are still covered as military secrets but the Swede lifts as much of the curtains as he can in this feature. By Bjarne Wildau
S
hrouded in military secrecy, an extremely powerful speedboat is about to be built for the Indonesian Navy by the Swedish boat builders John and Lizza Lundin at their boat yard in Sokuwidi in Banuywangi, Indonesia. The couple have already sold many smaller patrol speed boats to the navy, but this is something special. “We have a contract with the Indonesian Navy to deliver one trimaran patrol boat 60 metres long
made in carbon glass fiber and we have the option of three more boats,” John Lundin explains. “The Americans have made a trimaran 120 metres long but in aluminium. The only sort of comparable boat on the market is Kockums Visby which is more advanced - but also much much more expensive,” John Lundin adds. John and Lizza Lundin’s path into being a regular supplier to the Indonesian Navy started when John designed a seaworthy high-speed boat suited for pleasure, fishing, diving that could fit into a 40 foot container and called it X2K. Since then hehasproducedandsoldmorethan thirty of these X2K speed boats “A couple of years after we sold the first X2K we painted one grey andlaunchedatamilitaryexhibition in Indonesia”, says John Lundin. Since then him, his wife Lizza and PT Lundin have gotten stronger and stronger.
Military Suppliers
“The entrance to be a supplier to the military was a whole new ballgame for us,” John Lundin concedes. John Lundin with his wife, Lizza. “Without her, I would never ever have been able to do what we did,” says John. 8 ScandAsia.South East Asia • June 2010
“The importance of Lizza’s part in this can never be overestimated. Without her I would never ever have been able to do what we did,” he says. “It’s common knowledge that friendshipandbusinessgotogether. But with the military that business culture is much more developed. For us, Lizza became friends with the navy decision makers at the navy. They never talked business, but she made the important socializing with the wives of the generals”, says John Lundin. While Lizza was busy making contacts with the navy, John made his design department create an almost seventh wonder in the world of patrol boats. The X2K became first X2K Fast Interceptor and then the additional X2K RIB was born which has a combination of a fibreglassbody/hullandaninflatable part. “Plus night vision, special chairs designed in Sweden and so on,” John Lundin adds. “The Indonesia navy was happy with what they got. Since the first delivery we have sold more than thirty to different military units or police units in Indonesia. Today, MalaysiaandSingaporearealsoamong our customers.
eed Boats to the Navy Together the two neighbouring countries bought more than 40 boats. Then Brunei followed, the same did WWF Indonesia. “And we are still developing on the original X2K concept,” John Lundin laughs. The latest PT Lundin product at the market is X-38 Patrol and combat Catamaran whose design was commissioned in-part by the Swedish Search And Rescue Service. The boat reaches a speed of 40 knots or approximately 100 kilometres per hour.
“Something Truly Special!”
The latest secret speed monster started with another lunch appointment which John Lundin had three years ago with the head of the Indonesian Navy. “At that meeting I was asked to come up with something truly special.Somethingworthycomingafter a proven success as X2K,” says John Lundin. John tries to explain as much as he can about the creative process of thismilitaryprojectwithoutbreaching any military secrets. At first, he looked around for a design with lots of speed. It was obvious that it had to be a trimaran At that time some designers in New Zealand were designing a speed ghost called EarthRace. The boats later won the around the world race. EarthRace has been proven the fastest boat ever designed and built. “Lizza and I plus seven other staff went to New Zealand where we got the attention from day one. I asked them what would happen if we more the less made EartRace
three or four times bigger. The answer was that the result would be much much better. The people behind the EarthRace were very ready to take part in the development of a super patrol boat witch would almost be a competitor to the much more expensive Swedish patrol boat. Three years after the Lundins’ first trip to New Zealand the couple has spend more than 5 million US dollars in design and development. Lesser than half of that amount has been sponsored by others. Today the production facilities are ready in Banuywangi. A 63 metres long hall has just enough space for the new project. Workers already prepare wood to make the skeleton for the carbon fibre boat. The carbon fibre witch is also used for production of air planes and Formula One cars are 20 times stronger than steel. Upstairs at the offices some of the world’s best on design of speedy boats do their best to make a difference. “We have done almost whatever to hire the absolute best available designer and engineers on the market. We have designers with experience from The America Cup, Volvo Ocean Race and have also
hiredexperienceddesignersspecialising in Patrol boats from Sweden”, says John Lundin. While this big project is progressing, John Lundin and his staff also have their creative fingers on some of the smallest boats John has ever had his hands on - patrol boat designed for rivers. “The need of patrol boast is huge. The new product is for small rivers. You just put it into a container and off you go to the river, you need to patrol,” says John Lundin. Read the full story of John Lundin and his life in Indonesia on the website www.scandasia.com
June 2010 • ScandAsia.South East Asia 9
Norwegian Students Bali attracted 533 Norwegian students during the spring semester 2010 of which the majority studied at Gateway College By Joakim Persson
W
ho would not want to study abroad and for example on a tropical destination like Bali and study in your own native language just as if the studies would be at a university in your home country? For Norwegian students this is no dream but a reality, thanks to some Norwegians who came up with idea of moving the national education abroad – and pioneered the concept on Bali of all the places. Ever since, Gateway College (with head office in Oslo) takes students to metropolitan cities and faraway places in order to get a better international understanding while avoiding any obstacles that studies at a foreign university could mean. Bali is however where they have operated the longest. Bali alone attracted in total 533 Norwegian students during the spring semester 2010 of which the majority studied at Gateway College. There are in total four institutionsofferingNorwegiancourseson Bali; the others being Go Study, ActiveEducation,andKulturakademiet offering pre-university courses and studies in philosophy, psychology, cross-cultural communication, cultural psychology, social anthropology,socialenvironment,journalism, Baliisbecomingapopulardestinationfor Norwegianuniversitystudentswhowant a semester abroad. With surroundings like these, who can blame them? Ivar Schou (right) with Student Coordinator Martin Aas.
tourism management, sport and Indonesian language. The reason for choosing Bali the founder of Gateway College came in touch with a Balinese and they conjured up the idea of trying to settingupinstitutionsforNorwegian studies outside the country in order to offer to get to meet other cultures,” explains Ivar Schou, Director ofStudiesandlecturerinphilosophy at their Bali entity. “Then they got Arne Næss, the famous Norwegian philosopher, on boardwithanidealisticbackground and a wish to make meetings between different peoples easier and 10 ScandAsia.South East Asia • June 2010
promotecross-culturalunderstanding.” Said and done and the first students were sent to Bali in 1993, to what was at that time named De Norske Studiesentra. Arne Næss came along as the first lecturer and constituted an important pillar of support, described as “a man whogreatlyinspiredourcontinuing work”. Eventually the Arne Næss Centre for Ecology and Philosophy in 2002 changed name to Gateway College and the operation has expanded to nine campuses worldwide where students get a unique opportunitytocombineNorwegian university studies in other exciting cultures. Studying on Bali with its Indonesian culture, students get deeper knowledge of cross-cultural communication and multi-cultural understanding. Free language studies in Indonesian is being offered to all Gateway College students on Bali.
Flock to Bali Courses in Examen Philosophicum and Examen Facultatum (both obligatory subjects within most Bachelor educations in Norway) are among the most popular study programmes and were also the first offered on Bali. The study institutions offering Norwegianuniversitystudiesabroad caters to a need among Norwegians who would otherwise be reluctant to go overseas for studies because of language barriers and as they can get an education according to the standards for Norwegian university education, according to the Director of studies. All study programs are partly taughtinNorwegian,partlyassisted by local employees. Inpracticeallstudyprogrammes are arranged in cooperation with four university colleges in Norway that have the academic responsibility: curriculum, evaluation and final examinations of all Gateway College students, including giving final grade transcripts. “So you take one part of a programme at a university and a discipline, for example psychology, and place it here and we fulfil the teaching. As the director I follow the lecturers all the way and oversee. Then we have speakers from the universities in Norway. And when we have exams in the end of the semester here, a person in charge is sent here to oversee the exams and close the term. So we collaborate closelywiththeuniversitiessending lecturers and representatives of the respective institutions to qualitycontrol the exams.” “Those we collaborate with are very satisfied. We are well structured here with a good management, good teachers and happy students. So they are seeing this as fruitfulandtheresultamongthestudents is just as good here as if they had been studying in Norway,” he replies about the results. All students in are eligible for financial support from Norwegian State Educational Loan Fund (NSELF) and they achieve 30 credit points each semester (Norwegian higher education system). The longest period one can study at Gateway College Bali is two years, while most stay for up to a year. Located in beautiful Jimbaran,
onKedongananBeachthestudent’s centre is Gateway Café, located just 50 metres from the beach. Gateway College Bali has built its own campus,includingclassroomsanda new sports centre with an auditorium. Several rooms in a hotel complex are also used. The students are spread out but many also live in a hotel 5 minutes from the campus. Some also use the on Bali so common ‘home stay’ alternative. The opportunity to study on the tropical, Hindu island has become increasingly popular – to extent that the education facilitator are being forced to consider implementing certain criteria in order to qualify for applying,alternativelysettingamaximum quota. “Also thinking of the local community it cannot be too much pressure on one single area. In order to expand further my suggestion will be to expand by building several centres here on southern Bali so we don’t make a too large footprint in one place,” says the director. The existing premises are not fitted to cater to more students than they already have. “When the organization was founded there was a also a wish to get insights into cultures one become part of and to give something back to the local community, and not only to be a one-way directed programme but to also have guest lecturers from the university here on Bali. We collaborate with Udayana University here on Bali. And that will be expanded.” But Ivar Schou also ponders other expansion plans: “I also have a wish to establish a programmeintheEnglishlanguage, so we could have students from all over the world. But the programme would be in English and then Indonesian students could also join that programme.” In conclusion, the abundance of blond Norwegians seen here and there on the island will continue to come – and most certainly in increasing numbers. In the spring of 2010 the four Norwegian institutions were also honoured with a Certificate of Appreciation from the Indonesian Embassy as a result of their work to boost closer people-to-people relation between our two countries.
June 2010 • ScandAsia.South East Asia 11
Klaus Krogh: Successful by The founder of the Scandinavian bar and restaurant Storm P. in Saigon became a wood machinery specialist while he was “doing” the States by pure coincidence. He came to Vietnam by the very same pure coincidence, but when he met his wife Hang, he made a very deliberate choice and they have been together ever since. By Bjarne Wildau
K
laus Krogh was meant to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father was a blacksmith in Jutland in Denmark and Klaus was supposed to go into the metal working industry when he grew up. By coincidence, it became the wood working industry instead. “I went to the States to visit my sister and her new boyfriend,” he explains. “I wanted to “do” America, so before I left Denmark, I sold a farm and some horses I had. When I landed in the States, I had more than 100.000 DKK in my pocket.” “We are talking 30 years back; it was a lot of money at that time,” says Klaus Krogh who is a former Danish champion in “Eventing”, a horseback riding discipline, which combines dressage, cross-country and show jumping. In Danish called Militær Riding. But just because you have your pockets full of money, you don’t have to throw them away. So Klaus contacted a good friend of his, a Danish Circus Princess married to an American Circus King in New York. “They asked me if I could make some horse stables to take along on road shows. Some simple constructionsyoucouldassembleinminutes,
12 ScandAsia.South East Asia • June 2010
Wedecidedtobuythis placeandnowitisoursnobodycankickusout. Otherbarsareforcedout ofthecitycentrewhen theircontractsexpire,but we can stay in the very heartofSaigonforever.
and take apart again when the show had to go on to the next town. It was a small job, just some weeks, and then I bought a Toyota Van for 700 $,” In his new bought car, the Danish horseman drove off to California. The address of his brother in law he kept on a piece of paper. When he parked his car and walked into his office, there was nobody there. But the phone was ringing. “So I just answered the phone. A guy calling from Canada was in need of a tool engineer specialised in machines to the wood industry. The guy calling ended up offering me a job at an exhibition. In Canada.
Klaus in front of the Storm P. bar and restaurant. In the beginning it opened as a Danish place. Later it is was Scandinavian.Nowonly20percentofthe guests are Danish.
I had to bee there in two or three days.” Why not? The plan was to do America. Canada is America too, he thought. And after he finally met his sister and her boyfriend, he left to Canada. It all went well, and he returned to another job that his sisters boyfriend offered him. Forget the horses. Now the Dane was a specialist in wood machinery. “Eventually my sister left her boyfriend, but I stayed with the guy,” Klaus is laughing. “We made a deal so I helped out in his business, and I got money in my hands every week. At that time I had hardly touched the money I brought with me from Denmark.” Everything was fine. The Dane did America as he planned. Everything went better than expected. After two years he sold the Toyota Van for the same price he had paid earlier. And now Klaus returned to Denmark an experienced wood working specialist.
y Coincidence Traffic accident
Ten years later, his life was tumbled up side down when he had a very serious traffic accident. “I broke my right leg and lost 10 centimeters of it. Later I got five centimeters operated in from my hip, and later again I got five centimeters extension of my leg via a Russian method, where I over five weeks screwed a little on a tool the doctors had operated in to my leg. I stretched the leg a little day by day, and the body itself extended the leg,” explains Klaus. What is left of the accident is today only a slight limp when he walks. “I had ten operations in all. After the last operation I got in contact with Dan Engross in Jutland, near to my home. I could not work hands on with the machinery, but they gave me a job a the office.” Slowly but steady, Klaus came back to the life. He loved working withassemblingmachinerylinesfor wood working factories and most of the time, assemble the used machineryagainsomewhereinadeveloping country. That’s how he came to Bangkok first time. “I came to Asia and Bangkok for the first time in 1994 on an extended Easter holiday. My boss in Denmark had sold a lot of second-hand machinery to an IKEA sub supplier. The payment turned into a prob-
lem, so I had to stay in Bangkok for ten days,” he recalls. Later, Klaus Krogh was asked to dismantlethemachineryatafactory in Sicilia in Italy, and assemble it for a British costumer in Vietnam. When the machines were running, his job was done. “But the British company was worried about the project which included more than 300 machines, and asked me if I could stay. So I signed a contract, and I was there more than two years. I trained more than 20 electricians; I made a computer based maintenance program and many other things. It was a good time, but eventually I got so bored with the daily routines. I simply had to get away, so I quit the job.”
New life
DuringthattimeKlaushadnosteady girlfriend and spent a lot of his time bar hopping in Saigon. But one day it just became too much. “There was a manager in one of my favourite bars in Saigon with whom I talked a lot. One evening I asked her if she knew a good girl who had never been in contact with the bar environment, who could be interested in me and establishing a proper relationship. She went straight to the phone. And half an hour later my wife Hang arrived and said hello to me - and we have
been together ever since. The last five years including our son Kevin,” Klaus laughs. Until Hang met Klaus she had been working all her life in her parent’s coffee dealer shop. The couple married on December 2. 2002, and in the spring of 2003 Klaus finished another contract. At the same time his wife talked a lot about opening a shop with clothes. A small thing to keep her occupied. “I got the idea to open a Danish bar and restaurant, and after some long evening talks with Hang, we rented the first place and opened June 15 in 2003,” says Klaus and “the rest is history” as they say. “Except for the first month after Storm P. was opened, I have been occupied with my daytime jobs in the wood industry. Today, I would say that the bar and restaurant is my wife’s business, but of course I am here if I am needed.” And needed he was when the first housing contract was about to expire.
“I asked our landlady what we could expect the new rent would be. For five years we had paid 1.500 US,andduringthattimeSaigonrents had gone crazy, so it was clear that we would have to pay an increase if we wanted to stay where we were.” 5000 US $ per month was the new demand,soKlausandHangdecided it was time to buy their own. “At that time the bank was still a place where you could borrow money. So we bought this place where nobody can kick us out. It’s simplywonderful,”Klausislaughing. “While many other bars are forced out of the centre when their contracts expire and they cannot afford the raised rent, we can stay here in the very centre of Saigon for ever.”
Address:
Klaus Krogh and Hang Krogh Storm P.- Scandinavian restaurant 5B Nguyen Sieu Ward. Ben Nghe, District 1, HCMC www.stormp.vn
Klaus Krogh and his wife Hang was broughttogetherbyonesinglephonecall and they have been together ever since. Thelastfiveyearstogetherwiththeirson Kevin who starts preschool very soon..
June 2010 • ScandAsia.South East Asia 13
The Swedish Pirate on 32 year old Johan Bratt has set up a life for himself on the tropical island of Perhentian. With immense experience and a high level of education, he runs the dive shop at Alu-Alu Divers and Bayu Lodge, and after three years, the island off the Malaysian East coast has become a part of him. By Katrine Bach Sigvardt
E
ven from a distance, Pulau Perhentian looks as if ithasbeenpickedstraight out of Pirates of the Caribbean. Perhaps that is why, at first glance, Johan Bratt has that kind of pirate air around him. He looks like someone who has travelled the seven seas more than once and the scars on his legs add to the illusion. As do the tattoos on his back, and the limp to his walk completes the picture. That is, until he starts to speak. Then the illusion of being stranded on a desert island with a Jack Sparrow-likecharactervanishesintothin air and is replaced by the spirit of someone with an extremely adventurous personality, who, as it turns out, got his scars and the limp from riding down a Thai mountain side on his bike way too fast. Behindthesomewhatroughappearance is a man with friendly eyes and a real talent as well as genuine passion for what he does. With a laugh that comes easy and a soft spot for his business, Johan is truly in hisrightelementatPulauPerhentian in the middle of the South Chinese Sea. It is the combination of that and the beautiful surroundings that makes a visit to Alu-Alu that much more memorable.
A passion for scuba diving
For Johan, the road to Malaysia was a long one. He grew up in Karlstad in Sweden but after high school, he moved to Gothenburg where he
developed a passion for scuba diving. “I started doing a bit of work at the local marina to earn some extra money,” he says, but the diving soon took on a life of its own, and Johan’s interest in the underwater world kept growing. He completed the base of his diving education in Sweden, and at 22 he left with a desire to explore the world. That decision led him to some very remote corners of the planet, and it brought him into situations he never imagined before finally putting him at ease. During his first adventure abroad,JohanlivedinthePhilippines for six months. When his time there was up, he found that Sweden had becomemuchtoosmallfor him, and in 2003, he got a job in the island of Phi Phi in the South of Thailand.
Tsunami
Johan stayed in Phi Phi for four years, and he was there when the tsunami in December 2004 hit.
14 ScandAsia.South East Asia • June 2010
“I woke up that day to the sound of people screaming,” he recalls, grateful and fortunate enough that his own house was so high up that the wave had missed it. As he tells the story of the horrors he experienced that day, chills and vivid pictures fill the air: Lifeless women lying in the streets with their lungs filled with water. Young girls baking on the beach andslowlydyingbecausetheirbacks have broken from slamming into trees. The overwhelming smell of rotting corpses the next day. Those were the real life images Johan battled with for months after the tsunami. It took a long time for him to recover from the experience but in the end, his love for diving got the better of him and he returned to Phi Phi.
Malaysia
Johan stayed on the island for another couple of seasons but in 2007,
he booked a one way ticket to Long Beach; a backpacker paradise in the MalaysiantropicalislandPerhentian. He had heard a lot of positive things about the place, but when he arrived, it did not live up to his expectations. His disappointment led him on a walk around the island, and that is how he ended up at Alu-Alu, which is the Malay word for “barracudas”. “I have travelled a lot,” Johan explains, “but when I came to Malaysia, for the first time ever I thought ‘yeah, I can see myself living here’.” He got a job at the Alu-Alu dive shop and a couple of weeks later, he met his new boss; Ari from Malaysia. Ari owned the resort with her sister, and when she returned to the island from a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Johan was quite nervous about the encounter. “I was the new guy and I had just planned a party for 400 people here at the beach. She didn’t know about it,” he says and laughs at the
Perhentian Island thought of how badly things could have turned out. Luckily, Ari did not mind and the Swede and the Malay started a friendship, which later turned into a relationship. Today, that relationship is also a partnership as Ari is in charge of the resort, while Johan runs the dive operation. He loves his job, and being just one of two with his level of diving education in all of Malaysia, he knows what he is doing. Johan got his training from Scuba Schools International (SSI), but the dive shop does both PADI and scuba courses.
Running a dive shop – Swedish style
As an experienced diver, Johan is the ideal person to manage a busi-
ness that requires high levels of safety and professionalism. He has been diving for 13 years and he is very aware of the responsibility that lies on his shoulders when he takes people out for a dive: “It is important that we do things slow from the start and take inexperienceddiversthroughallthe steps before we take them diving,” he says and adds that he really believes that is the best way to go. “I know of a lot of other dive shops that rush through everything and don’t even cover the basics. The customer often doesn’t get a very good experience and it can be quite dangerous to do things that way, too. In the end, I am the one who needs to make sure that my guests are safe and leave with a positive experience. They are my responsibility.” His ambition is to run a place where people feel safe and comfortable – both at the resort as well
Johan Bratt has been around the world. Now he has settled down on the Malaysian island of Perhentian and he encourageshisfavoritetouristgroup-the Scandinavians - to visit him there.
as diving wise. This approach has resulted in service, safety, and professionalism levels that are the same as they would be in any of the Scandinavian countries. On top of that, he and Ari have taken as many measures as possible to make the resort self-sufficient and environmentally friendly. You can even drink the tap water! The next modification is to install solar panels to achieve total independence from other sources of energy.
Scandinavian discount
As a Swede in South East Asia, JohanencouragesotherScandinavian expats to visit him at Alu-Alu. The staffanddivinginstructorsaremultilingual and speak a variety of Nordic languages as well as English. All nationalities are welcome but for the remaining part of this year as well as 2011, he is running an exclusive promotion for members of the South East Asian Scandinavian Societies. “In March-April-May and September-October, we offer a 20 percent discount to the Scandinavian Society members.” The promotion covers everything: Snorkelling, kayaking, island hopping, and even the yoga classes that will be starting soon.
Mostly for divers – and everyone else
Although the initial impression of the happy Swede at Alu-Alu was a bit off, Johan does have stories that are worthy of any pirate. He will happily tell you about the time he went swimming with hammer head sharks and manta rays, and about the guy who scratched his car at the IKEA car park. He has a ton of stories to share and whatever he has not experienced is probably not even worth mentioning. The resort was initially built around the dive shop, which makes it the perfect place for divers who are looking for a safe and unique experienceunderwater.Becauseofhis ownpassionfordiving,Johanwilldo anything in his power to give people a chance to know the world he himself is so fascinated of. For everyone else, however, there are many other ways to entertain one self for a couple of days. In fact, Johan and his stories are more than enough make a trip to AluAlu at Perhentian worthwhile and a great experience. June 2010 • ScandAsia.South East Asia 15
The Legendary Stable Stable Lodge is an institutioninBangkok. All Scandinavians know the Danish restaurant and hotel. But how many know about the history and origin of the place?The same goes for owner Steffen Ingemann. He is there all the time, however not many know about him either. Now, you have the chance. By Rikke Bjerge Johansen
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here in Bangkok do you go when you get a craving for a piece of Danish rye bread for lunch or fried slices of pork with parsley sauce for dinner? Where can you celebrate Danish Christmas or Morten’s Night with duck ad libitum? There is only one place, and that’s Stable Lodge on Sukhumvit soi 8. The legendary Danish restaurant and hotel is a whole institution in Southeast Asia and a regular meeting spot for Scandinavians. Both tourists and expats gather there when they are in need forsomeDanish‘hygge’andScandinavian food. The man who runs Stable Lodge isSteffenIngemann.Hespendsmost of his time at the restaurant, keeping an eye on both guests and staff. Everyone knows who he is – and yet they don’t. Because the fact is that Steffen behind his very social role at the restaurant, is a private man who doesn’tliketotalkabouthimself.Just to do this interview with ScandAsia
took a good deal of convincing and encouragement to happen. “Well, you know… there is not muchtosayaboutme,”SteffenIngemann, 62, says, sitting in the restaurant by a table with the characteristic redandwhitechequeredtablecloth. He orders a cup of coffee. “I never drink alcohol before 5pm… and only two beers maximum per day. Then maybe a glass of red wine and a drink later but that’s it. I also exercise every day,” he reveals. Stable Lodge is Steffen’s second home, and no doubt about the fact that he is proud of it and its great success.
“We are the best Scandinavianrestaurant outsideDenmark,both intermsoffood,service and Danish ‘hygge’. Youwillnotfindaplace withbettertraditional Danishfoodthanhere. GotoSpain,Pattayaor anywhereelse.Ourfood beats it,” theDanepromises,adding: “All credit for the good food goes to Erik ‘Budda’. Everyone knows how much he loved food. We still have the same Thai kitchen chef as 18 years ago when Erik taught her to make the dishes”.
Freedom as travel guide
To get to know the history of Stable Lodge we need to go back to the mid 70’s in Bangkok. Here, a Danish guesthouse named ‘Mermaid’ opened on soi 8, on the opposite site of Stable Lodge and closer to the Sukhumvit road. It was the Dane Jørgen Lundbeck who started Mermaid which was mainly used by Danish seamen who came to there Steffen and his wife, Nim, work side by side at Stable Lodge, and she is part of the reason the restaurant has become suchagreatsuccess.Heretheycelebrate her 50th birthday. 16 ScandAsia.South East Asia • June 2010
to get a place to stay or some Danish home cooked food far from home. In 1979 the young man 31-years oldSteffenIngemannfromNykøbing Falster arrived to Thailand as a travel guide for Tjæreborg. He had been a guide for two years and worked in many different countries. “I had been married nine years in Denmark, had a house, a big car and a really good job for the Scandinavian Tobacco Company. But then I got a divorce and went on a charter trip to Italy. I saw how the local travel guides lived their life. The sun was shining, the wine was plentiful and it simply looked like a good life. Shortly after, I quit my job in Denmark. Everyone thought I had gone nuts, but I didn’t care. Money isn’t everything. I grabbed the opportunity to enjoy my new freedom and exploring the world,” he remembers. He travelled to many countries and enjoyed it; however, when he arrived to Thailand, he was sold. “I had already seen a lot of Asia but I knew that I would not find a better place than here. But hey… it’s the same old story. Everybody falls in love with Thailand.”
The Stable name
As a part of the Danish community in Bangkok Steffen started hanging aroundattheMermaidGuesthouse. However, as Thailand became more and more popular among tourists in the beginning of the 1980’s, Mermaid with its 25 rooms became too small. The owner Jørgen decided to get a new apartment building in the same soi 8 on Sukhumvit, and he did it with Erik ‘Budda’Winther and Steffen. However, it took a few years before it became the Stable Lodge we know. First, a rich Thai woman bought the whole place, made it into a hotel, which didn’t work and then she asked Steffen, Jørgen and Erik if they wanted to run it again as a Scandinavian concept. They agreed and it is now 18 years ago. “We needed a new name for it and the name ‘Stable Lodge’ was actually suggested by an American friend. We loved the name instantly; it had a catchy sound in English but also in Danish ‘På Stalden’. It sounded good and we decorated the place after its new name,” Steffen
Lodge in Bangkok says and looks around in the restaurant. The team of three – Jørgen, Erik ‘Budda’ and Steffen – expanded the hotel with the restaurant and has run it ever since. In the late 1980’s Steffen stopped working as a guide and was now fully devoted to Stable Lodge. It isn’t a secret that Erik ‘Budda’ was a man who enjoyed life, including a lot of food and beers. Unfortunately, he got very sick, had a leg amputated and needed to move back to Denmark four years ago.
Jørgen and Erik took over his share of Stable Lodge. “Erik used to be the restaurant entertainer and front figure while I was running the hotel and administration. When he went to Denmark, I had to come out in the spotlight,” Steffen says with a shy smile. His partner Jørgen is busy with other business and is a ‘sleeping partner’ as Steffen describes it. “Jørgen doesn’t interfere but trusts my judgment and work. He is a perfect partner”.
Family business
Steffen spends 10-12 hours every day at the Stable Lodge. However, he still sees his family a lot, since his Thai wife is the one with the overall responsibility for staff and paper work. They met in the beginning of the 1980’s, she went to Sweden to get an education. 17 years ago after finishing her education, she came back to Thailand and later became a lawyer. She is working fulltime at the Stable Lodge, making sure that everythingisupandrunning.Together her and Steffen have 15 year-old daughter. “Our daughter is more European than Thai and speaks Danish, ThaiandEnglishfluently.Shestudies at an international school out here and is going on a Danes Worldwide summer camp to Denmark this year for the first time,” Steffen says with a proud smile adding: “After my mom died three years ago I haven’t been to Denmark. However, this Summer I will go with my daughter, so she doesn’t have to travel all alone to Denmark,” he says with a warm smile.
Future of Stable Lodge
Erik “Budda” and Steffen cutting and enjoying the cake at the Stable Lodge’s 10 year birthday party.
Last year was tough all over Thailand for hotels and restaurants. However, Stable Lodge with its 41 rooms managed to get by. “Usually we help filling up the neighbor hotel since we can’t accommodate all our requests. We couldn’t help them last year, but even though it went slower than the previous year we were never in a crisis. We are fully booked ten months of the year,” Steffen says.
Pailin is Steffen’s 15 year old daughter. ThisSummer,theyaregoingtoDenmark together for the first time in three years.
Being 62 years old, Steffen has thought about the future of Stable Lodge. “I’m getting older and one day we want to sell. Of course the price should be right, but the ownership is also very important. I really hope it will be kept on Scandinavian hands with the Scandinavian concept. I would be sad to see it being turned into an Indian restaurant,” he says adding: “I mean, why change something that is such a success as Stable Lodge.” Steffen has to go and the interview is done. ScandAsia’s reporter forgot to thank him and his partners. Thank them for the little piece of Danish ‘hygge’ that exists in Bangkok, far away from home.
Vi glæder os til at møde dig kende sine rødder g. en er det vigtigt at rd ve t re ise at være barn og un al ob gl I en ge steder i verden yg tr t es m og te ds de be klasse til 3.G. og Danmark er et af – kostelever fra 6. G. 3. til se as kl er r fra begynd rer. Vi optager dageleve irere vores brochu or du også kan rekv hv k, t.d os ktor gk ba Re w. n, ww my Burnett Nielse Få mere at vide på Med venlig hilsen Jim
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The Three Kitchen Gods
Buying offerings for Tao Quan.
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hen you have completed the above puzzles, please send your solution by fax to +66 2 943 7169 or scan and email to puzzles@scandasia.com. We will make a lucky draw among the correct answers and five lucky winners will receive a high quality ScandAsia polo shirt. Deadline for submit your solution is 15 August 2010 Name:
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here is a popular belief in Vietnam that Tao Quan, the Three Kitchen Gods, are present in the kitchen of every home. These gods observe everything that takes place there. At the end of the lunar year, on the twenty-third day of the twelfth month, they depart to make their report to Ngoc Hoang, the Jade Emperor, supreme divinity of the Taoist Heaven. On that day Tao Quan are offered the best of food and spices and are presented with gifts of money and clothing. The idea of a trinity is unique to this story. More often the kitchen god or genie is described as a single person and may be called Ong Tao, Ong Lo or Ong Vua Bep. Long, long ago, when Earth and Sky met in the Valley of Whispers, in the dense, green forest there lived a woodcutter and his wife. They were very poor and oftentimes the man was unable to earn enough to buy their food. Frustration and worry drove him to drink, and he would come staggering home at night in a vile mood. When he took to beating her she could endure it no longer. One night, she fled the cottage and was never seen there again. For days and weeks, the woman wandered in the forest. Finally, she came to a hunter’s cabin. The owner was an honest man, who gave her food and permitted her to rest in his home. She kept house for him then, and after some time they were married. They lived together in great happiness. One day, when Tet (Vietnamese New Year) was approaching and the hunter was out in the forest looking for game, a beggar knocked at the door of the cottage and asked for alms. He was clad in rags and his hair was matted and unkempt. The compassionate woman prepared a meal for the man; while he was eating, she suddenly recognized him as her former husband. The beggar was still eating when the woman heard the steps of her returning husband. In her mind’s eye she saw rapid end of her newfound happiness and became panic-stricken. Quickly she hid the beggar under a haystack. The hunter had been very successful that day and was returning home with some excellent game. As soon as he entered the cottage, he prepared to roast it in the haystack quite unaware of the beggar’s presence there. When the beggar found himself ablaze, his first impulse was to cry out; then, fearing that the hunter might kill the woman on discovering him there, he remained silent. As tongues of flame consumed the haystack, the poor woman was torn with grief. She realized of course that her former husband was meeting death for her sake and she could not accept that. Hesitating for no longer than a moment, she threw herself into the fire in order to die with him. The hunter cried out in dismay when he saw what his wife had done. He tried to pull her back but was unable to do so. Thinking that some act of his had driven her to such desperation, he too jumped into fire, preferring to die with her rather than to continue to live without her. When the people learned of this touching story, they bowed their heads out of respect for the noble motives that had brought on the deaths of the woman and the two men. They were later acclaimed as Tao Quan, the Three Kitchen Gods.
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