lonely planet + hainanese chicken rice
Kinokuniya's having 20% off for members right till the end of the year, woot!
So today after work, i trooped down to the Taka main store to do some book-shopping. In the end, I only got Nana Vol 16 and Shoxx. The Shoxx episode was plain weird. The mag was supposed to arrive at the store by 6pm today, but up till about 8pm it still wasn't out on the shelves. I wanted to ask a staff guy about it, but got distracted by a Lonely Planet book (more about this book later..). Got distracted by that book for a good 1 hr (!), then went back to the Japanese magazine shelf where Shoxx is usually placed, only to find.... only ONE copy of it left?? What's this all about?? Were they snapped up so fast, within an hour? Amazing!
Anyway, about the Lonely Planet book. It was an autobio of sorts by the two founders of Lonely Planet, talking about how they started on their first travels & subsequently the LP concept, way back in the '70s. A little-known fact: Singapore played a prominent role in the beginning! Apparently, their first full-fledged LP book was "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring", and most of it was written in a small hole of a place called "The Palace" (gawd, i don't even know if such a hotel exists today!). They spent some 3 months in Singapore, amidst Hainanese Chicken Rice and Komala meals! In fact, they were such regulars at this particular Hainanese Chicken Rice stall, they just had to signal to the owners while they're approaching the stall, and by the time they sit down, their 'regular order' will be on the table waiting for them!
The book was also interesting in that it gave a first-hand account of how the Lonely Planet business just grew and grew, way beyond the two founders' expectations, before hitting a number of major hiccups in the early 2000's. After that, there was a major revamp of the management in the company, which similarly forced a revamp of the focus of the business.
Interesting stuff. Now you know why I was engrossed with the book for a cool 1 hr! U'know, that Hainanese Chicken Rice stall should try to capitalize on this! But perhaps it's already quite a famous stall and has no problems attracting customers. Hm.. must go find out which stall it is.. (see? the publicity's working already!)
So today after work, i trooped down to the Taka main store to do some book-shopping. In the end, I only got Nana Vol 16 and Shoxx. The Shoxx episode was plain weird. The mag was supposed to arrive at the store by 6pm today, but up till about 8pm it still wasn't out on the shelves. I wanted to ask a staff guy about it, but got distracted by a Lonely Planet book (more about this book later..). Got distracted by that book for a good 1 hr (!), then went back to the Japanese magazine shelf where Shoxx is usually placed, only to find.... only ONE copy of it left?? What's this all about?? Were they snapped up so fast, within an hour? Amazing!
Anyway, about the Lonely Planet book. It was an autobio of sorts by the two founders of Lonely Planet, talking about how they started on their first travels & subsequently the LP concept, way back in the '70s. A little-known fact: Singapore played a prominent role in the beginning! Apparently, their first full-fledged LP book was "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring", and most of it was written in a small hole of a place called "The Palace" (gawd, i don't even know if such a hotel exists today!). They spent some 3 months in Singapore, amidst Hainanese Chicken Rice and Komala meals! In fact, they were such regulars at this particular Hainanese Chicken Rice stall, they just had to signal to the owners while they're approaching the stall, and by the time they sit down, their 'regular order' will be on the table waiting for them!
The book was also interesting in that it gave a first-hand account of how the Lonely Planet business just grew and grew, way beyond the two founders' expectations, before hitting a number of major hiccups in the early 2000's. After that, there was a major revamp of the management in the company, which similarly forced a revamp of the focus of the business.
Interesting stuff. Now you know why I was engrossed with the book for a cool 1 hr! U'know, that Hainanese Chicken Rice stall should try to capitalize on this! But perhaps it's already quite a famous stall and has no problems attracting customers. Hm.. must go find out which stall it is.. (see? the publicity's working already!)
posted by scenic at 1:13 AM
