ScandAsia Southeast Asia - August 2010

August 2010 • ScandAsia.South East Asia 1

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Nokia Couple in Bali Adventure

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Coming Events

Vikings Golf Annual Outing in BaliLocation: Nirwana Bali Golf ClubDate: 10 - 11 (FRI - SAT) September 2010

The Vikings Golf Annual Outing will be held at Nirwana Bali Golf Club on September 10 - 11 including Texas Scramble Team Competition on Friday and Monthly Tournament and Gala Dinner on Saturday. Monthly tournament will be played in 3 classes. A & B strokeplay and C stableford. Further information and instructions please contact The Vikings Golf Club in Bali at www.vikingsgolf.co.id. Welcome and see you at Nirwana Bali!

SWEA Asian Regional Meeting in Hong KongDate: 10 - 18 (SUN - MON) October 2010

During 10-18 October 2010, there is a huge event in Hong Kong which is SWEA Asian Regional Meeting. All SWEA members in Asia will gather to share common ideas and make activities together. SWEA members from all over the world are also welcomed. Many interesting activities are prepared such as shopping in Shenzhen, golf tournament, Hong Kong excursion, or dinner with the stunning altitude views of Hong Kong. The agenda is provided to download at www.swea.org/hongkong. Any inquiry please email to [email protected].

Scandinavian Society Malaysia Crayfish PartyDate: SAT 25 September 2010

Take note that the Scandinavian Society Malaysia Crayfish Party 2010 will take place on September 25 2010. Enjoy a true Scandinavian summer night, deli-cious crayfish, plenty of snaps, beer and wine. The Crayfish Party will start at 7.30 pm. Make sure you don’t miss this opportunity to party with your Scan-dinavian friends in Malaysia. Check up on this and any event at www.scandasia.com.

MNBC Waterhole Networking SessionLocation: Norwegian Ambassador’s ResidenceDate: THU 23 September 2010

The Malaysia Norway Business Council would like to invite you, your spouse and business asso-ciates to attend MNBC Waterhole Networking Session on Thursday 23 September 2010 at the Norwegian Ambassador’s residence. Refresh-ments will be served. Please RSVP by 18th Sep-tember at [email protected]. Come and join us for the upcoming Waterhole Net-working Session. See you there!


6 ScandAsia.South East Asia • August 2010

leave I realized that I would never return to the hectic life at Nokia. I would never do that to my child. I wouldn’t be fair”, says Kristiina, 37. The position of her husband Marko was more unclear. He was at the summit of his carrier as a coun-try manager for Nokia in Indonesia. “It wasn’t easy. I very tempted to quit Nokia but on the other hand I had a fantastic job. During my time with Nokia in Indonesia I was re-sponsible for erection of more than 7.500 communication mast and it had given me an excellent knowl-edge of how thing works in Indone-sia,” Marko explains. “But then eventually I took the

decision of leaving Nokia,” Marko says.

Fast decisionsSantai Hotel with nine up scale cot-tages was still doing well with local management. Then they heard of a Swedish woman who had a house and a restaurant situated two differ-ent places in the Seminyak area for sale. “We liked the house and bought it. Then we checked up on The Ve-randa restaurant at Jalan Raya Semi-nyak and bought that too”, Marko explains. “In Singapore we had en-joyed to have dinner at a Brazilian

Marko and Kristiina Kytoharjo did well at Nokia in Indonesia but the birth of their daughter four years ago was the catalyst of giving their dreams a go. Still in their 30’s they said farewell to the hectic expat life. Now they are running three different businesses in Bali all in properties owned by themselves. The newest project is a five star villa project in Armed in the eastern part of the island.

By Bjarne Wildau


Marko and Kristiina Kytoharjo both said goodbye to a life as Nokia professionals when they became

parents and instead started on their own with tourism in Bali. While Marko was still country manager for Nokia in Indonesia and Kristiina worked as a financial con-troller they bought Hotel Santai in Armed, Bali, during a holiday. But at that time they never got “hands on” with the business as everything was taken care of by a hired manager. Then after Kristiinas pregnancy things started to take shape. “While I was off on maternity

restaurant with Churrasca grilled meat and seafood. When we had our own restaurant it was obvious that we would bring that grill style to Seminyak, an then consequently we changed the original name “Ve-randa” to “Rio.”, Kristiina says.

Slow startThe restaurant is a terrific place with lots of space and a nice design. But it’s situated at the bottom of the maybe 30 metres long small street. It was not the easiest task to get costumers down the. “It was a tough start and it took a while before the place started to work. We tried to change the menu

Kristiina and Marko have in a short time build up an active business in Bali - and enjoy working together.

so that beside the Churrasca we would also have an international menu. That helped a lot and now we are the place that guests keep coming back to dine time after time and even bring their friends”, Marko explains. But in the middle of a relaxed life with two different businesses situated more than two hours drive from each other there were new thing to be done. Many years ago the young cou-ple bought an apartment on time-share basis in Goa. “There was something about timeshare we could use in our new project”, says Kristiina who is still the financial expert and controller. Be-fore with Nokia - now in hers and Marko’s Bali empire.

The Griya Villas and SpaIn 2008 just before the financial cri-sis took off they bought 1 hectare of land in Armed close to the Santai Hotel. “The politicians and tourist pro-fessionals has often called for five


star hotels or project in Ahmed. We answered that call with our plan about building The Griya, Villas and Spa with a first phase of 14 villas was designed to encapsulate some of the local charm and way of life that is expected of an island like Bali, whilst at the same time retain the comforts of a modern residence.” says Marko. The cheapest villas cost 155.000 dollars everything included. With a

lease scheme that you can say is in-spired by timeshare Marko and Kris-tiina are ready to promise the buyer their investment back within six or seven years. With his background he knew well how to work with architects, designers and subcontractors. “There will always be things to discus and change but in general its very easy and convenient to build here in Bali,” Marko says. “The first five villas were sold with a discount. Then we will start building the common facilities like bar, restaurant etc,” says Kristiina emphasizing that the Bali tourism industry last year had its best year ever. The locals say it’s the Thais who screwed it up for them selves and that the 2009 records will never be repeated, but there are still lots of problems in Thailand. So maybe this year will be another record breaking year in a row. “I am very optimistic about The Griya. The villas have a direct view to the ocean and islands and to the

mountains as well. There are all the other facilities like diving and snor-keling as well and Bali has a good reputation now with tourist return-ing again and again,” says Marko.

Wedding partiesThe Finnish couples first invest-ment in the tourism adventure and bought during a holiday, Santai Ho-tel in Ahmed is also still doing well. A new trend coming on strong is wedding parties. They have room for parties with up to 30 or 40 guest and until now the couple has suc-cessfully arranged weddings for Finns, Americans, Hungarians and people from the UK. “Again, we are very optimistic. Indonesia in general is improving month by month and the same is the case with Bali. Good for us and good for our investors and guest,” Marko smiles while Kristiina is busy checking the accounts.


Nga was amazed about the spec-tacular way the steak was served. Chefs arrived at their table every five minutes to cut off some slices of meat, seafood or chicken and place it on her plate.. And the taste. Nga’s eyes were rolling in every possible direction. And so did her thoughts. She started to spin a plan. She wanted to open a restaurant like this back in Vietnam. Nga and Jan returned to the daily life with children and work in Saigon. An environment where a thought like opening a Brazilian style restaurant could easily have been erased and forgotten. But Nga didn’t forget it. When foreigners go into the hospitality industry in the Far East, it’s normally because they can’t to anything else. To open a restaurant is often just a way to kill time and money. And maybe the marriage too. That was not Jan Tromlers situ-ation. Before Nga started rolling her eyes in Portugal, he had never thought of entering a restaurant in any other capacity than as a guest.

“I resisted a whole year”“It took Nga a whole year to con-vince me about the idea”, Jan says

while Nga is smiling at the opposite side of the table at what is today the third Au Lac do Brazil restaurant in Vietnam. During that year the couple did an investigation or two into what to do about equipment, cooking meth-ods, recipes and not to forget, how to find Brazilian staff. “We found out that Singapore had already had several Churrasce-ria restaurants for years. That was important news for us staff wise. It was clear for Nga and me that if the concept should work, we had to keep the atmosphere, and the spectacular setting witch is such an important part of the Churrasceria show. Brazilian chefs walking around in the restaurant with beautiful “churrasco” meat and a huge knife and all that. Just to know that the region already had Brazilian chefs helped us a lot,” Jan Tromler ex-plains.

Slow startWhen the decision was taken to give the Churrasceria idea a go, Jan and Nga combined Jan’s profession-alism as a businessman with Nga’s hardworking Vietnamese attitude and just got going. “It was a very slow start”, Jan ad-mits. From the first day he and Nga

focused on luring in Western expats but they did not exactly queue up outside their first Au Lac do Brazil. But at this point Jan was already a strong believer Nga’s Churrasceria idea. Au Lac do Brazil first became a success when a TV program intro-duced the restaurant. “It went on for twenty minutes. And at least 17 minutes of it was about Au Lac do Brazil” Jan laughs.

Jan and Nga and Au Lac do Brazil

It’s a Tuesday afternoon in Sky Garden II in Saigon’s Singapore like suburb Phu My Hung. Jan Tromler, 68, has kept his promise to bring along his wife

Nga for the interview. And it soon becomes obvious that an interview about Au Lac do Brazil without Nga would be like serving pepper steak without the pepper. After all, it was Nga who got the idea to open a Churrasceria restaurant in Saigon. The story goes back to 2001. Jan Tromler had invited his Vietnamese wife to join him on ‘just another trip’ to Portugal to visit his company Investkonsult´s office in Porto.

One fateful eveningOne evening the Swede - who made his professional life and his fortune from selling second-hand European spinning mills and other textile ma-chinery to Asia - took Ang for din-ner at a Churrasceria restaurant where they served “churrasco”. A Churrasceria or Rodizio restaurant is the Portuguese BBQ restaurant tradition adopted from Brazil. Jan Tromler had been at that type of restaurant dozens of times before. He enjoyed even more now his wife Nga was with him. But that was it. Nothing less, nothing more. On the other side of the table

We found the first location in the very centre of HCMC /

Saigon in Pasteur Street in District 3. Au Lac is the original name for Vietnam so it was not difficult to name the

restaurant Au Lac do Brazil .

“It took Nga a whole year to con-vince me about the idea,” Jan says

Au Lac do Brazil is a Portuguese restaurant concept adopted from the Brazilian Churrasceria or Rodizio BBQ concept. The Swedish-Vietnam-ese couple Nga and Jan Tromler have so far opened three Au Lac do Brazil in Vietnam.

By Bjarne Wildau


But the guests that now came were not the expats but well off lo-cal guest who fancied the new spec-tacular way of serving the food. And they came back with more friends who later did the same. “Au Lac do Brazil became one of the new ‘hot’ places in Saigon. When Mothers waited for their children in front of the schools or at the preschool they would talk to the other mothers about us. And the more they talked, the more business we made”.

Instant success in HanoiThe next step was to open a simi-lar restaurant in Hanoi. That was in 2005. “The Hanoi branch took off from the very first day. No hesita-tion there. And very soon the Bra-zilian ambassador brought his busi-ness partners to Au Lac do Brazil in Hanoi. Later we started to take care of the Brazilians National Day party at the ambassador residence. Which we have done ever since”, Jan Tromler smiles. A sister to Nga takes care of the

restaurant in Hanoi, but in HCMC/ Saigon the people behind the Sky Garden II in the Saigon’ suburb Phu My Hung began to push for Jan and Nga to open a much bigger restau-rant in their complex. It was just before the financial crisis embraced the world Jan and Nga took the final decision and signed the contract at Sky Garden II. At the same time Jan was starting an eco spinning mill outside Saigon with a Swedish manager. “It has been a busy and chal-lenging years. I can see now that it was too much to start two different projects at the same time. And the crisis did not make it easier”, Jan ad-mits. But the spinning mill is up a run-ning with 40 people employed. And the same is the case with Au Lac do Brazil in Sky Garden II in the Phu My Hung. “It’s clearly the biggest of our three restaurants. We have space to 250 people here. And at the same time the kitchen can prepare catering for up to 600 people” Jan explains.

The restaurant is divided in a normal restaurant in A/C, and guests can also be served at two different verandas. The place does also have a section with a local band a sing-ers and dancers from Cuba. And the guests love it.

Let’s do a few more..!Although the couple leads what you could call more than usually busy lives, especially Nga has started about opening one or two, maybe even three more restaurant during the next year or three. “Phnom Penh in Cambodia is obvious a place for us” she say. Jan is not sure. But until now Nga has been right about what she had been suggesting. So he just cau-tiously says: “Well, let’s see..”

Jan and Nga and Au Lac do Brazil

The most important right now is to stick to our concept. Quality,

quality, quality all the way. We use meat from

New Zealand. And the wine we serve is

manly from countries like Chile, Argentine and South Africa. No cheating. No shortcuts.

Always stick to the concept, Jan is repeating .

http://www.aulacdobrazil.com


The place is Scandinavian Divers in Big La Laguna near Puerta Galera four hours by bus and boat from Manila. A jump

in the blue and you are soon sur-rounded by star fish, sea squirts, cat fish and corals.

Like a bombBut only four years ago it was a dif-ferent story. “In November 2006 the area was ravaged by a typhoon. I woke up in the middle of the night, and it looked like somebody had thrown a bomb. All roofs were gone, and many houses ruined. But everybody helped everybody, and within a week most of the houses were re-build,” Peter Larsen tells. Even the

coral reefs are almost back to nor-mal – much faster than expected. Together with his brother Peter Larsen opened Scandinavian Divers in year 2000. “But before I worked in a neigh-bouring diving resort, so this is my 17th year in The Philippines”, Pe-ter Larsen says. He has a Master in Marine biology from Copenhagen University and initially came to Phil-ippines to dive but soon he found himself in love with a Filipino and that was his destiny. When Peter Larsen and his brother bought the resort it was just a ramshackle restaurant, and there were only a few hotels at Big La Laguna. First they opened the div-ing centre, then the restaurant was added, and five years ago the hotel

Diving and Relaxing in ParadiseThe waves kiss the beach only three metres away. Danes and Filipinos sit in the bar ; others are handling their diving equipment getting ready for the day’s first dive.

Text and photos by Jesper Kiby Denborg

The Friday nights at Scandinavian Divers are a especially popular when live musicians enter the stage

Diving and Relaxing in Paradise

and pool were ready for the guests. Today Peter Larsen co owns the place with a Dutch and an American.

Hygge makes the customers come backEight out of ten guests are Danish, and most of the guests come again. “Some of our American cus-tomers have told us they feel a very special atmosphere here. It is more social, intimidate and “hyggeligt”. We only have 14 rooms here, so it never gets impersonal”, Peter Lar-sen tells. “Yeah, some of them even buy their own houses in the neighbour-hood, but still comes by everyday for a beer or some food,” Peter A. Smith adds. He works for Scandina-vian Divers as a diving instructor and has known Peter Larsen since they were young. Together the two Pe-ter’s are locally known as “RePete”. The location is perfect accord-ing to Peter Smith. “It’s quiet, the water is clear and Peter Larsen (left) and Peter A. Smith in front of Scandinavian Divers.

we don’t even have cars. You can sit and look at the sea while the kids play in the water. It’s the perfect place for families or relaxation – it’s our own small paradise.” If it gets too quiet, Sabang – the pick if you want some fun - is only ten minutes away by foot, motorbike or banka – a special Filipino boat.

Diving in DanishPeter Smith is certified PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, and he teach many Danes who wants to get a diving certificate. “There are many difficult techni-cal terms, so many prefer to learn diving at a place where everything from the instruction to the book and the video is in Danish. And un-like other sites you don’t have to take on a day trip to dive. There are so many great diving sites in Philip-pines, and several can be reached within 10 to 15 minutes,” Peter Smith says and gets ready for the day’s first dive.


Erling Østerhaug was on his way back to Norway, after having lost his guest-house and restaurant ‘Uncle Bobs’.

“I would simply have left Cam-bodia if not my father had insisted that I kept my promises of giving him and our family and friends a Grand Tour of Cambodia as a 70 year birthday gift for him”, Erling Østerhaug laughs. The tour was a fantastic suc-cess. It was clear that it could be an extremely good business, if he could start a new business as a sub-contractor for a Norwegian Travel agent. “I am a skilled worker with an extra education as a building techni-cian. And I have skills using a calcula-tor,” say Erling. If he had an agent in Norway, he would be able to make the same money with five six weeks of work, as he had done in a whole year running his guesthouse “25 hours” a day. Erling who was born in Trysil, a famous ski resort 200 km. north of Oslo, came to Cambodia first time in 2000. And almost before he saw it coming, he had a share in his cous-ins guesthouse “Same Same but Dif-ferent”. “I was there one year, and after that I started my own place on The Serendipity Beach in Sihanoukville, named “Uncle Bobs”. At the same time Erling Østerhaug involved him-self privately with a Khmer wife and a child. “I had only five rooms, a res-taurant, and arranged some boat trips. Is was on the latter I made my money. At that time it was still pos-sible to make a proper profit at the budget end of the industry”, says Erling who recalls the first four years with “Uncle Bobs” with a smile. But the smile disappears when he recalls the last year. The owner of the land had problems with the future usage of the land. “It was very tough to run the guesthouse in it self. I was mar-ried, we had small children, and there was always something, which needed me. It was truly a 24 hours job. And at the top of that, I suffered from the insecurity of the future of my guesthouse. One day everything was OK, but the next day all the

problems could easily be back. But we always hoped the best. I even managed to pay 10.000 US $ in de-posit for the next contract”. Never the less, it all felled apart, but out of the 10.000 US $ deposit, Erling Østerhaug managed to get 9.900 US $ back.

Fighting pedophilesSitting here in Sihanoukville with the most experienced Scandinavian in the Cambodian Hospitality busi-ness, there is no way to avoid asking about pedophiles. Did he have any bad memories down that lane? “We had a guy from England, and we kept an eye on him. But one morning I lost the attention, and before I new it, he had invited a boy who sold baguettes into his room, and closed the door. I called the NGOs and the police, and the police arrived in time. But it was so sad to see, that they did absolutely nothing. They just stood there, do-ing nothing. So the guest left, just like that, with out anyone trying to stop the man.” To make a long and compli-cated story short, the NGOs used the scanned passport Erling made, to get the man in Phnom Penh. But nothing ever happened to him, despite he had several children in his room when he was caught in Phnom Penh. “I am sure he paid the police off,” says Erling Østerhaug .

Just as we are done talking about that, a new and much more positive story takes over - still with a connection to the issue of pedo-philes in Cambodia.

Street children“For more than six months I had six street children living under my pool table!" Erling laughs. "We also had a huge tree be-side the guesthouse, and they also used that as a shelter for sleeping at night”. The street children gave Erling the idea to do something more than offering a shelter for a night. Inspired by the tree outside, Uncle Bobs, along with some NGOs, started the organisation “M´lop Tapang” (www.mloptapang.com). The idea was that this organisation should take care of the street kids, not only by giving them a meal three times a day, but also giving them some education. If the children didn’t go to school, they were not allowed to get food,” ErlingØsterhaug recalls. “The people behind M´lop Tapang have done a fantastic work. They began in 2003 with fifty chil-dren, and there are now more than 2000 children benefiting from the work,” Erling Østerhaug says.

The tour agencyHere we turn back to the story about Erling Østerhaug s father’s birthday, and the plans about turn-

Erling Østerhaug lost his guesthouse in Siha-noukville as a victim in a land dispute. But his farther insisted that he made a tour for him and his family to celebrate his 70 years birthday anyway. The tour went perfect - and that be-came the start of a new business for the Norwe-gian family-man.

By Bjarne Wildau

Fathers Birthday Gave Him a New Business


ing the family tour into a proper business. “In 2002 I started to work with a Norwegian travel agent, Orkide Ekspressen. And I turned to them with my tours program. It was all documented on paper thanks to my stubborn farther and his birthday,” Erling Østerhaug smiles. Again, the birthday tour was tai-lor-made to the elderly and middle-aged people. And that was matched extremely well to the typical cus-tomers of the Norwegian travel agent, which focused on 50+ guest, mostly couples. “It was - and still is - a great suc-cess. It’s also because I have the lo-cal knowledge. And because I know the Scandinavian concept of travel-ling. If a local Khmer person had the same job, he would show only nice and positive places. Whereas I, on the other hand, always try to make a balance, also showing some of the Cambodia outside the track. It's like living on a knife edge, but until now everything has worked,” Erling Østerhaug says. Except when the airport in

Fathers Birthday Gave Him a New Business

Bangkok was blocked by demon-strators in November 2008. “Because the cancellation came so late, I was paid as normal. But later I got one group tour cancelled because of the swine flu, and that economic setback I had to shoulder all by my self,” says Erling Øster-haug.

Cambodia on the way upAsked directly about the develop-ment in Cambodia, Erling Østerhaug doesn’t have to think twice: “I was very positive the first five years I was here. Lots of things hap-pened. But now it’s like the develop-ment in the hospitality industry has stagnated here in Sihanoukville. First and foremost, we need an airport,” says Erling Østerhaug . He also asks for more competi-tion at the top-level of hotels. Sokha is the one and only five star hotel in the area. And the owner and the management of the hotel know ev-erything about it. “Its very, very expensive, and the service for a costumer like me is non existent. When I visit the ho-

tels I am using in Phnom Penh or in Siem Reap, I get all the service I can ask for, including discounts, and free stay for me. But when I visit Sokha that take no notice of me.” A new five star hotel is on its way, but there is Sokha money be-hind it. Sokha competing with Sokha will make it even more difficult for other investors to provide a real al-ternative. “But we need much more here in Sihanoukville. People can’t stay on the beach or beside a pool six days in a row. However, there is almost nothing else to do. I arrange a river trip for my guest, but I am the only one doing that,” he says.

Busy lifePrivately, Erling Østerhaug has no lack of activities. After a divorce he married his then maid, and the happy couple now have three chil-dren. Except during the rainy season when Erling Østerhaug is back in Norway making money as a carpen-ter, everything works well.”

When the interview is finished, Erling

Østerhaug takes me on a ride on his BMW motorcycle. While we

are turning a corner, the Norwegian says:

Some times it’s very difficult for me to understand, that it is

really me, who has such a wonderful life, with a wonderful wife, amazing and lovable children, and

a fantastic business.


Finnish KONE Keeps Lifting Asia

The Finnish elevator com-pany KONE celebrates its 100 years anniversary in the world this year. In Southeast Asia, KONE

has been active for over 30 years. A big anniversary happens very rarely and for that reason it is a good time to tell your history and celebrate says Arttu Salmenhaara, Managing Director for KONE in Southeast Asia. KONE started 100 years ago as a small Finnish company which then merged into a Scandinavian com-pany, then expanded into the Euro-pean and North American markets. For the past 30 years, KoNE has also been well established in Asia. Actu-ally one third of all KONE’s new equipment sales are from the Asian markets. And the future for KONE looks bright according to Arttu Salmen-haara. According to him some of the mega-trends in society are favour-able for KONE. Especially trends like urbanisation and population ageing demand for more elevators and es-calators:

“Big cities mean bigger and tall-er houses, and population ageing makes a need for easy transporta-tion. And that means there is a long term demand for our products,” he says adding that another factor is the rising awareness of safety in Asia, and a lot of older elevators in the region need repair or replace-ment.

Booming economies need to be liftedAnother factor that is a benefit to KONE are the fast growing econo-mies in Asia. Big scale construction projects are booming all over Asia. One of the most exceptional is the construction of Marina Bay Sands Luxury Hotel Resort and Casino in Singapore:

This year the Finnish elevator company KONE celebrates its 100 years anniversary and its more than 30 years in Southeast Asia. And the future looks bright for the family owned business listed on the Helsinki Stock Exchange with more people moving into big cities and growing economies in Asia. The latest mega-scale project for KONE is one of the most impressive resorts in the world: The Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. . By Niels C. Jensen

The Singaporean Skyline and KONE's Managing Director Arttu Salmenhaara with Technical Manager Paul Hendry, and Project Director Vincent Teng on top of The Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.


Finnish KONE Keeps Lifting Asia “A project of this scale with more than 2500 hotel rooms is sim-ply not possible without elevators,” says the Finnish elevator boss. And there certainly seems to be some-thing about it when you take a gaze at this enormous three pillar mon-ster of a house with something that looks like gigantic surfboard on top. I met with him and two of his employees, project director Vin-cent Teng and technical manager Paul Hendry at one of the biggest KONE projects so far: The Marina Bay Sands. The construction of Marina Bay Sands has been one of the most special and complicated in the world according to Arttu Salmen-haara. With excitement in his eyes, he tries to explain how the huge building was made: “Nothing is built straight, first one part of the building was made leaning to one side and then the other side was built straightening the other side up, literally moving the building,” he says.

Up and down at Marina Bay Sands“The elevators are built as jump lifts, which means they grow with the building. But just like the building the shaft was inclining and then later in the construction process straight-ened up,” explains KONE’s techni-cal manager Paul Hendry, who has joined us seated in the delicate open restaurant-bar area at the luxurious hotel. “Another fascinating fact is the speed in which the project has been done, in only two and half years it went from soil to full functional lux-ury hotel,” he adds. “And not less than 18.000 workers were working on the proj-ect at the highest point” says Vin-cent Teng, KONE’s project director at Marina Bay Sands. In Singapore, the construction business is booming, and for that reason workers were hired from both China and India. But also the size of the Marina Bay Sands is very rare. Even though KONE in South-east Asia has many big projects in the future, most of them will not be bigger than one-fifth of this project. “Before we started the project I was actually a bit scared like ‘Can we do this, can we really do this mega project,’ but we could,” says a smiling project director Vincent Teng.

The numbersThe exact number of people mov-ing machines at Marina Bay Sands are 136 elevators in total and 10 escalators. 13 jump lifts and 10 low rise elevators up to 22 floors. In one building. All finished in 15 months.The main elevators run at 7 meters per second. And the VIP elevators 8 meters per second, in fact the fast-est in Singapore according to proj-ect director Vincent Teng. “The biggest joy is to come here and press the button and it all works,” says technical manager Paul Hendry. And it does indeed work, when we take the elevator to the rooftop bar and restaurant. In seconds we are at the top of the more than 200 meter tall building, which has a huge swimming pool, restaurant, bar, and palm trees at the rooftop. When we go down again, we walk the stairs for two floors and then take the even faster VIP eleva-tor and Vincent Tang reminds us that we are in the fastest elevator in Singapore running 8 meters per second, which is felt in both stom-ach and ears when we again stand at the ground floor.

Does the elevator boss take the stairs?Yes - the Finnish elevator boss Arttu Salmenhaara and his employees do occasionally take the stairs, because it can sometimes be more conve-nient and it is healthy too the Finn says, in fact he and his team did one time take the stairs all the way up to the top of Marina Bay Sands.


In a world full of green buzz words these days such as ‘or-ganic’, ‘carbon footprint’ and ‘green tech’, and where the threat of global warming has

moved into the common conscious-ness of people, the ‘green touch’ is increasingly becoming a selling point. But how sustainable and en-vironmentally friendly are in fact the companies, products and services claiming to be ‘green’? “There are many hotels which have something ecological about them but only a tiny part - and then call themselves ecological,” says Nils Wetterlind, the developer as well as real estate broker operating on Bali in Indonesia. “That is the same as talking about a clean energy coal power plant - that simply does not exist. Either you pollute or you don’t; if it’s only an element - then you are not green,” states “Some natural decoration here and there and an organic salad at the restaurant are simply not enough!” Nils gives this example when he is about to explain how he himself one day did some serious rethink-ing about the way he operated his businesses and conducted his way of life.

Unmistakably EnthusiasticHis enthusiasm cannot be mistaken when he describes his new-found mission and what he has in the mak-ing on Bali: the world’s first entirely ecological five-star villa estate, The Green Village at Ayung River. “And when I say the world’s first five star eco resort I really mean it, ‘cause there really is no such resort which is completely neutral on this planet yet.” “What I dislike the most is hy-pocrisy. I have been doing it all my life as a builder before I started this. I’ve built luxury villas – this one [points at a picture of villa] has 800 square metres of living space on a 3000 square-metre land plot.” “Only the pool wall made of glass cost 170 000 Singapore dol-lars. So we have built these kinds of houses. Then you use old planks and call yourself ecological – Sooo green! And that does not really work. It’s all lies, flattery, just a veil,” Nils admits as if he has made a con-fession. A new kind of green wind is blowing on verdant Bali and the lux-ury builder has become an advocate of green solutions instead of wait-ing for ‘someone else’ to solve the problems.

No more non-sustainable lux-ury villas synonymous with energy waste, carbon-dioxide emissions, not to mention deforestation.

Luxury with BambooWhat is equally fascinating is that the Swede - who has spent his whole adult life abroad and has so far lived on Bali for close to 8 years - will still be able to build and sell luxurious things. “You either chop down the rainforest or you don’t. One cannot be half green. So… the challenge was to build something 100 per cent ecological – but doing it five star,” he continues. And the magic solution to this? Bamboo – this sustainable and an environmentally friendly quick-growing natural resource! Building furniture and interior materials out of bamboo is not a new thing in the tropics; for exam-ple on Bali itself creative craftsmen conjure up all kinds of bamboo fur-niture. But when it comes to high end villas Nils at the eco developer Trop-ical Homes is most certainly bound to break some new ground, where the fascinating Green School on Bali and its founder, world renowned jewellery designer John Hardy, play a significant role and inspiration. Green SchoolWhen Mr Hardy wanted to give something back to the community he created this school on Bali, de-scribed as nothing short of amazing and which gives its students from all corners of the world a relevant ho-listic and green education. The Green School is striving to have the lowest carbon foot-print of any international school anywhere, through use of bamboo and rammed earth for its buildings, growing its own food in its gardens, and by generating its own power from the river. The school – which is a land-mark use of the strength, flexibility,

and tenacity of this natural product – contains the world’s first bamboo building which is three floors high, 23 metres, and 60 metres long.

Ecological SolutionTropical Homes’ partner for the up-coming Green Village next door, PT Bambu, built the school and they are now jointly combining environmen-tally conscious design with organic, contemporary architecture. Built with the strongest and most durable materials, engineered bamboo and re-claimed timber, this green villa resort will offer the buy-ers a 100% ECO solution consisting of total comfort, lavish luxury and ecological living. A 3 bedroom bamboo villa sells at US$ 375,000 as starting price. “Then some things you can of course not have in bamboo, like toilets, showers and piping. So what we do then is calculating the carbon credit, including it in the price and plant bamboo for that,” says the Nils. A foundation has been started where they give bamboo saplings to farmers around Bali. After only five years they can start harvesting and the developer will be able to buy bamboo from them on the island.

Fast growing bambooThe greatest advantage of bamboo is undoubtedly its enormous grow-ing speed. Bamboo shoots in tropi-cal countries grow up to 30 meters within six months, which directly shows the potential of bamboo to substitute slower growing wood species in terms of annual yield, reports Delft University of Technol-ogy, The Netherlands. “There is nothing more easy to cultivate than bamboo; it grows practically anywhere, and incredibly fast,” says Nils. ”The thing is also that when bamboo grows, you get sprouts and you don’t harvest everything – the root stays and just keeps on grow-ing and growing and last for up to 90 years.”

Bamboo Living - An Awakening on BaliSome natural decoration here and there and an organic salad in the restaurant are simply not enough if you want to claim that you are “ecological” says Nils Wetterlind who has rediscovered bamboo – this sustainable and environmentally friendly quick-growing natural resource.

Joakim Persson

Using bamboo as a viable build-ing material might raise some scep-ticism. But have no doubt – it is 50 times stronger than oak, and just as strong as steel but much lighter, pli-able and physically attractive.

Bamboo timberNils shows various bamboo planks and explains: “A bamboo pole is slice in thin shreds and then glued with a Swed-ish non-toxic wood coating product. Then you press it together and you get solid timber and with different thickness.” “We make planks out of it that are 3 metres long and up to 40 centimetres wide. And now we are

building whole houses with this.” Then there is another type of refined bamboo and Nils displays flooring which looks very similar to oak panelling made of Strand woven bamboo. “You can make into some eco-logical or non-ecological out of this, but we have found to producers in China who works with WWF.” Bamboo also has other eco-friendly features such as converting carbon dioxide into a solid com-pound, and being an erosion con-troller and water table preserver. The plant is an eminent means to start up reforestation. If there should at this early stage in the use of Bamboo be a draw-

Bamboo Living - An Awakening on Bali

back it would have to be that the refined material is not exactly inex-pensive. And a bamboo house can-not be in a cold country. However, most people live in the tropics and in fact over one billion people in the world live in bamboo houses. “What we are showing is that you can build beautiful homes that are just as lasting as and perhaps stronger than conventional buildings made out of concrete.”

Small beginningFor Nils this is to be part of small beginnings, and he sees a huge un-tapped potential for bamboo to become a replacement material. On Bali alone he estimates that the

equivalent of 10 000 rain forest trees is needed yearly. “What I do know is that there are soon no more rainforests left. That’s our main concern. In ten years from now I believe that there will be no forests left in Indonesia unless we find a material which is cheaper, stronger, more beautiful and popular.” “What we are hoping for is that if we can show the world that it’s possible to build beautiful and sus-tainable homes made of bamboo, people will want to buy them. And if they do, the cultivation will grow as a result.”

You either chop down the rainforest or you don’t. One cannot be half green. So… the challenge was to build

something 100 per cent ecological – but doing it five star!


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When summer changes into autumn and evenings are growing darker, yet you can still feel the warm breath of summer in the air, it is time to arrange the traditional crayfish party. In shops in Sweden and Finland you can find plenty

of accessories to help decorate a table for this occasion; table napkins, table cloths, aprons, lanterns with crayfish patterns and crayfish knives. Out here you will need to improvise. At a crayfish party short crayfish songs are followed by snaps and small speeches to praise the magnificent crayfish. Crayfish should be enjoyed slowly, and as a result crayfish parties can last until the early hours. If you serve crayfish as a main course, make sure that there are at least 12 crayfish per person and plenty of freshly toasted white bread. Usually a light soup or salad is served as a starter, and a fruit pie, ice-cream or parfait for the dessert. The drinks served are ice-cold snaps and beer or white wine for those who find snaps too strong. A jug of water or mineral water should also be included on the table.

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Recipe for Boiling CrayfishPreparationsFor four people you need approximately 50 crayfish, 6 liters water, 2dl sea salt and 10-12 cubes of sugar. Utensils: A big pot, a skimmer, a large basin, big bundle of crown dill (inflorescences), sea salt and lump sugar.

InstructionsCrayfish should be boiled a day before serving for the best taste. Check that all the crayfish are alive. Rinse if needed. Bring water to boil and add sugar cubes, salt and half of a crown dill. Put crayfish one by one into boiling water, not more than 10 crayfish at a time, and boil for approximately 10 minutes, starting from the time when the water again boils after the last crayfish has been put into the pot. Ready crayfish should have small gap between the shell and the tail. Lift crayfish with a skimmer into a large basin to cool. When all the crayfish are boiled, strain broth into a clean pot, add the rest of the crown dill, but remember to leave some to decorate the serving plate. When broth has cooled, put crayfish back to pot for at least 10 hours to get juicy and tasty. Keep in a cool place. Take the crayfish out from broth with a skimmer and arrange them nicely on a large serving plate decorated with fresh crown dill from where everyone can take a crayfish to their plate. Every person at the table should have plenty of paper napkins next to them and a bowl of water, containing lemon juice, to rinse their fingers with. Eating crayfish is a messy job!

Frozen crayfish Shops have a selection of imported deep-frozen, boiled crayfish in different sizes, which are a more economical alternative for crayfish parties. Let the package defrost. When defrosted pour the juice into a pot with fresh crown dill, boil crayfish quickly for a minute or two. Cool broth and leave crayfish to get juicy until served.

Crayfish Party Time


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ScandAsia Southeast Asia - August 2010