Absolutely Fobulous

Investing maven, Jim Rogers, is a really, really huge fan of China. So much so that he packed his bags in 2007 and made his way over the Singapore to be where all the action is. He once said in an interview that he thinks “the 21st century is going to be the century of Asia, of China. If I’m right about the future, you are going to have a better life [if you move there], better opportunities, and better everything going where the action is, where the assets are.”

He recently revealed just how strong his support for Asia was by making a public comment on welcoming Chinese husbands for his daughters. Apparently, a Chinese student who heard Rogers speak told the investor that he will do his best to meet Rogers’ requirements for a son-in-law — intelligent, older than his daughters, possess a wide variety of experience, and a great career. Rogers then jokingly gave his business card to the student.

Nice to know that Rogers is doing his part to help the single bachelor problem in China, but it’ll be a long time before he’ll have to fend off suitors; his two daughters are currently only nine and four.

(Thanks, Lu!)

So I’m back on the sunny island of Singapore (yay!) and discovered a new show on TV…the Asian Glee!  Well, kind of.  At first, Kitchen Musical seems to be Asia’s spin on the American hit series Glee, but the concept is actually pretty fresh.  The musical TV series’ predominantly Asian cast star as chefs, waitresses, and even a sexy sommelier at a high-end restaurant.  Each episode has a full menu — appetizer, two mains, dessert, and wine pairings — and at the end, they give recipes for the featured dishes.

I don’t know about you, but I’m convinced fobs tend to be die-hard foodies, so the show’s dedication to cooking and eating is smart.   Right now, Kitchen Musical airs only in Asia and Europe.  But don’t worry, Ben Silverman, who adapted BBC’s The Office and the Colombian show Ugly Betty for US viewers, is working on bringing Kitchen Musical to the American audience.

Amy and I tried the fish pedicures in Japan, but we never had the guts to leave our feet in the water for longer than five seconds. The purpose of these treatments is for the little fishies to eat the dead skin off your body, but it’s a very squeamish experience. Seems like Asian spas are taking the fish treatments a step further and letting these little sea creatures nibble at your whole body. According to BBC, these whole-body services have up to 800 fishes chomping on your dead skin.

But you might want to think twice about doing this before you head to a fish spa. Although this sounds like a more “natural” treatment, fish pedicures have actually been banned in some US states because they are deemed unsanitary.

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Emily and I were talking the other day about how the culture of cities like Singapore and Hong Kong is extremely brand-conscious, much more so than even the US.  Maybe it’s just us, but it seems many Asian high-end consumers are more concerned with status symbols than fashion statements.

In fact, I recently read how Prada’s Chairman and Gucci’s CEO claimed that Asia is their number one market. “The top luxury market is with Asian customers today,” said Prada’s Deputy Chairman Carlo Mazzi.  So despite all the fake stuff you see sold on the streets, sales in China contributed the most to the Italian company’s revenue for the first half of this year.  Even the CEO of PPR, which owns the Gucci brand, admitted that China is the biggest market for their luxury line.

Seems like fobs might be even more materialistic than Americans.  Or maybe Emily and I have just been hanging around too many granola-eating, Prius-driving, Etsy-buying San Franciscans…

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I found a video of Miss Thailand’s interview on the Miss Universe 2011 YouTube Channel and her answers were certainly a little cringe-worthy. However, I feel bad for these straight-from-Asia contestants because their poor grasp of English is obviously holding them back in their answers. I must say however, the Thai beauty really should’ve stuck to a less complicated organism when they asked her what animal she’d like to be. Even I would’ve found it hard to articulate the joys of being plankton in English!

It’s kind of sad that the candidates who blew me away with their answers are those whose first language is English; it is a Western competition after all. Be sure to take a look at how the polished Miss Malaysia eloquently (obviously thanks to English being her native tongue) answers the questions in the video below:

Thailand:

Malaysia:

On another note, can we give a hip, hip, hooray for two of our fobby sistahs — Miss China and Miss Philippines — who made it to the top five finalists of Miss Universe 2011???

Confession: I am really, really terrible at baking.  I blame it on the fact that in Asia, most kitchens aren’t equipped with ovens.  The first time I used an oven was after I moved to the US, since my college dorm room had an oven.  I happily tried to bake banana bread for my boyfriend.  I successfully ended up with a nice little banana brick.

Despite the lack of ovens in most Asian kitchens, there’s something I’ve realized:  Chinese fruit cakes are effing uhh-mazing.  I admit the decoration is usually a little on the fobby side, but it’s the only kind of cake I like (I’m not a big cake fan).  It’s so soft, light, not too sweet, and topped with fresh fruit.  Drool.

If you haven’t tried a Chinese fruit cake yet, Yelp “Chinese cake bakery” in your local neighborhood.  You’ll thank me later!

I hate fighting the crowds when I travel during the holidays…but at least I’m not traveling in China during Chun Yun, or the Chinese New Year season.  Tomorrow marks the first day of the year of the Rabbit, and this month more than two billion people in China will be packing into trains, buses and planes to visit family.  In fact, according to BBC News, Chun Yun is actually the world’s biggest annual migration of people. Yikes!

Check out these incredible black and white photos of Chun Yun over the past 10 years.

2011 - Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, a migrant worker holds the train ticket he just purchased between his chapped and cracking fingers.

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Our pal on Twitter shared an interesting fact about the #Asian tag. If you just take a look at 99 percent of the tweets under #Asian, you’ll see that most of them look pretty pornographic. But if you go to the #Black #AfricanAmerican #Mexican tags, you won’t find the same “phenomenon” over there. I’m gonna open this up to you readers — what do you think is going on? Is the model minority also the most sexualized ethnic group?

I recently found that my local grocery store sells Yakult. . . yay!  Not only that, but come 2012, Yakult is going to build its very first US factory in Southern California.  I LOVE Yakult and have been drinking these tiny bottles of goodness since I was a kid back in Singapore.  Unfortunately, they only sell the original flavor here — I used to love the multi-flavor packs when I was little.

Yakult’s big selling point is that it’s supposed to be good for digestion.  It’s packed with the friendly probiotic bacteria, Lactobacillus casei Shirota, a special strain of live bacteria that a Japanese scientist, Minoru Shirota, discovered back in 1930.

I’ve noticed that Yakult has been airing a cute commercial on TV here recently.  It looks like this delicious fobby health drink is making its way into mainstream America. Holla!

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There’s always talk of Asia — particularly of China — becoming the economic powerhouse of the 21st century, but did you ever think of the implications it would have for your kids? Investing maven, Jim Rogers, moved to Singapore to better position himself and his children near countries that would reap the greatest financial rewards in coming years. I guess if you want your kids rolling in the dough, consider packing your bags and buying that one way ticket to Asia.

It seems a lot of people are following the same train of thought. A recent Gallup poll revealed that Singapore is the number one country that could have the largest growth in adult population caused by immigration.

International Business Times reports:

“In 1807, if you had moved to the U.K., you and your heirs would have been much, much better off for the next 100 years. If in 1907 you had moved to the U.S., you and your heirs would have been much better off for the next 100 years.

In my view, moving to Asia in 2007 means my heirs are going to be much better off in the next 100 years…My view is that the 21st century is going to be the century of Asia, of China. If I’m right about the future, you are going to have a better life [if you move there], better opportunities, and better everything going where the action is, where the assets are.”

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