That being said, I figured it was time to reboot the blog and talk about my adventure of owning a spa in Thailand, and trying to run it while I'm on the other side of the world. I knew it was going to be an adventure. Boy-howdy, what an adventure.
As a self-professed spa-whore, I got this crazy idea into my head, years ago, that I wanted to own a spa. I'm not really a business man, and I've never really run a "legitimate" business, but I figure 30 years of being self-employed has to count for something. While I was doing Lion King in Singapore, I had a long, drunken discussion with my dear friend Kate, owner of South Coast bar and grill, about running a business, and whether it was crazy to want to jump in knowing as little as I do. Her advice? "Look, mate, if you wanna do it, do it!"
The conversation with Kate that started it all
Not long after that conversation, I rented a villa on the Thai island of Koh Samui to celebrate my birthday with my buddy Tim. On that trip, I met Ajay (His Thai name is Ratchatapong. They all choose English names for themselves since foreigners just can't get their tongues around Thai). Ajay is a tiny but oh-so-industrious Thai guy with a hunger for success. We kept in touch after my trip was over and became friends.
About a year later, I was living in New York and doing Lion King Broadway, and made a second trip to Samui. I went to see the new men's spa that Ajay had just opened on his own, and we began discussing the idea of opening a place together. The Thai government mandates that you cannot open a business unless you have a Thai business partner who must also be the primary director. They don't want the poverty-stricken people of this country being screwed over by avaricious foreigners. We discussed various concepts and locations, basic ideas really, and put the whole thing on hold until I could scrape a little extra money together as start-up capital.
Fast forward another year(ish), and I am now working for The Lion King National Touring Company. I make a third trip to Samui, this time with the intention of getting serious about coming up with a business plan, forming our legal Thai company, scouting for some possible locations and just getting a feel of what the market is doing and how much money will be required to start this new venture. It was at this point that the old Gypsy curse came into play..."Be careful what you ask for because you just might get it"! An Australian guy had a "bar" in the busiest, most tourist-heavy part of Chaweng, which was run by his Thai wife. Sadly, his father was very ill and he had to move back to Australia to be a caretaker. He was so short on time and options that he was desperate to sell so the price was just to good to pass up, even though we weren't really ready to make the move yet. (It's important to note here the I didn't buy the building, I bought out his lease on the place. The building was a little out of my price range) The reason I used "bar", in quotes, is because, though they actually did serve liquor and play music downstairs, there were rooms upstairs. Rooms with mattresses in them....so you need not think to hard about what kind of a "bar" this really was.
All the better for us because the upstairs could become our treatment rooms without having to renovate a single thing. And so.....we jumped. There was a few days that were a blur of cash transactions, lawyers, shopping and negotiation, all while I was still trying to finish my PADI certification! Aussie guy dropped the keys in my hand and left the next morning, leaving behind everything that was a part of the bar....all the glasses, kitchen utensils, booze, commercial fridges, tvs, stereo, of course the mattresses, a rather large supply of condoms.......everything.
The Neon Moon Bar
Since we had not planned on starting the business this quickly, the last few days before my scheduled departure were insane. What we bought certainly didn't need any reno, but it hadn't been properly cleaned in years, badly needed painting, and most of what was in there needed to be moved out. I did as much as I could before I had to leave, and then had to leave the rest in Ajay's hands.
Cleanup and remodel begins
The shower room before redecorating
The redecorated shower room
The reception area as it looks now
While buying and redecorating the place was certainly exciting, it was when I got back to work in America and started trying to run the business from afar that the real adventure began...
Next chapter: "My way, not the Thai way!"
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