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April 19, 2012 Hong Kong One of the defining characteristics of EVERY boom is the presence of a small elite seeking to enrich itself through graft, corruption, and unethical behavior. When the music stops and the boom busts, these same people are frequently put to the sword of public opinion. Think Bernie Madoff, Ken Lay, and Silvio
April 18, 2012 Madrid, Spain The US Passport Act of 1926 is an obscure piece of legislation that was enacted decades ago when the idea of passports starting catching fire around the world. Subsequently absorbed into US Code Title 22, the law was originally intended to authorize and issue passports for US citizens
April 17, 2012 Vilnius, Lithuania In the terminal collapse of the Roman Empire, there was perhaps no greater burden to the average citizen than the extreme taxes they were forced to pay. The tax ‘reforms’ of Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century were so rigid and unwavering that many people were driven to
April 16, 2012 Vilnius, Lithuania The consistent theme from my travels so far in Europe– the UK, Scandinavia, Lithuania– has been noticeably higher prices. Shockingly so, in some instances. London, where I spent a rather pleasant and rare sunny weekend with friends and colleagues, has gone from being ‘stupid’ pricey, to just plain
April 13, 2012 London, England Jim Rogers has famously commented that, if you were smart in the 18th century, you moved to France. If you were smart in the 19th century, you moved to England. If you were smart in the 20th century, you moved to the US. And if you’re smart in the 21st century,
April 11, 2012 Hoi An, Vietnam Here’s something you don’t see every day: Banks in Vietnam will actually pay YOU to store your gold in one of their safe deposit boxes. I was pretty surprised to find this out for myself; neither Simon nor I have seen it anywhere else in the world except here. This
April 10, 2012 Singapore The flight from Bangkok to Singapore is a quick 2-hours south down the Malay peninsula… though it might as well be 2-years given their differences; Singapore and Thailand are about as distinct as Switzerland and India– it’s yin & yang. Order vs. Chaos. Safety vs. Insanity. I spend a
April 9, 2012 Bangkok, Thailand One of the things that sets Thailand apart from nearly every other place on the planet is how absurdly cheap things are given the high quality of service. This becomes crystal clear to even the most casual observer who wanders in to one of the country’s thousands of
April 6, 2012 Pattaya, Thailand After an exhausting series of meetings in Bangkok, my partners and I are going to spend a long weekend relaxing on the beach in Pattaya before heading out to Laos, Malaysia, and Singapore next week. I’ve always liked this place; it’s easily the most internationally diverse city in the world on
April 5, 2012 Hanoi, Vietnam For the past eight days I’ve been spending time with friends in Vietnam; I’ll be leaving in a few days to link up with Simon in Thailand, but for now, I’m really impressed by Vietnam. The country has a great deal going for it. In the ancient town of Hoi An
April 4, 2012 Hong Kong Strolling around the streets of Hong Kong last night trying to (unsuccessfully) ward off the jet lag, I was a bit surprised to stumble upon the local ‘Occupy’ movement. A small group, maybe a few dozen at most, has pitched a mini tent village in the open-air atrium of HSBC’s headquarters
April 3, 2012 Hong Kong Six centuries ago, when London and Paris were irrelevant, plague-infested backwaters, and New York City wasn’t even on the map, the greatest city in the world was Nanjing– the capital of the Great Ming. At the time, Nanjing was not only the most populous city on the planet, it was also the
April 2, 2012 Vancouver, British Colombia, Canada After a long trip up from Santiago and making stops in both Miami and Dallas, I arrived to Vancouver last night a bit tired… but excited for the the trip ahead. I’m leaving in just a few hours for a 2 1/2 week, 11-country tour that
March 30, 2012 Santiago, Chile One the more interesting investments I’ve made over the last few years was buying a sizeable chunk of a successful baby products company; our products sell around the world and in top retailers like Target, Babies R Us, Bed Bath and Beyond, etc. The managing partner forwarded me
It wasn’t too long ago that nearly every human being lived their entire lives without traveling more than 10-miles from home. For the small handful of people who actually did venture out, you could make it across the globe with no official documents whatsoever. This began to change rapidly in the 1920s. The
