By Grant

Life is never linear and that is frankly what makes it so much fun. You might not know this about me but I like to be very organised. I like to have a plan. But I am also very comfortable changing plans if the world conspires to offer us another new path.

When we finally reached Phuket (please see last post updating our journey from Lombok to Phuket) we had planned to make a short trip to Hong Kong and China to “show face”. It had been too long and we needed to see our wonderful colleagues who have been driving naked Retreats (the company we still very much own in China), a few of our new resort owners and obviously the government officials. Apparently rumours were rife that I may not even be alive anymore. Haha fat chance of that unfortunately.

A quick update on naked is we are now operating 5 resorts (2 of which we wholly own) and have a pipeline of at least 15 resorts due to open in the next 3 years. So lots is happening in China. However our expectation of a short trip was short lived and after arriving in China we realised we needed to spend a little more time. So 1 week turned into almost 4 in a very short time.

My time in China on this trip was as eye opening as the first day I arrived there almost 20 years ago. So much had changed. I hadn’t been to China since before Covid and the world just isn’t the same place. Without getting into a heavy conversation about China and the world I will share a few of my key observations.

The contrast between the city and the countryside is stark in comparison to the rest of the world. The city folks (who are often described as middle to upper income earners) were generally pessimistic, disappointed in the real estate sector and stock markets and generally fairly concerned about the future. Whereas the countryside folk seemed as content and as happy as I have ever seen them. Obviously this is very anecdotal but I have a better grasp than most on this basis due my historic relationships in the countryside. The irony is, it couldn’t be more different in the rest of the world today where you can safely say the roles are the exact opposite with farmers across the world rising up against the establishment. Think France, India, Canada, UK and America. I am not sure the complete significance of the above and this would require a much much longer post but I can tell you which environment I would prefer to be leading, if I was the president of any of these countries. Good luck trying to make a farmer happy. :-)

Secondly, China is way too clean and organised. I can hardly recognise the place. Not that it wasn’t always clean and organised before but now it feels almost Singapore like. Couple this with the fact the place seems very designed for locals and foreign tourists would find it similarly hard to enjoy when I first arrived here. Just without the dirty fun.

Anyway, I had an amazing visit and travelled to all our resorts and met with many folks, drank lots of Baijiu and can safely say that I fell completely in love with China all over again. And that says quite a lot considering how much I loved it before. There is nothing I am more sure about then the next 10-20 years will be wonderful opportunistic years for entrepreneurs like myself in China.

I also had the opportunity to spend time in our home in Hong Kong. Getting to go out on our boat Londolozi and enjoy my man cave thanks to Melanie hosting her 50th there. I went out for dinners and even enjoyed a few all nighters. The type Hong Kong was all too famous for. It is safe to say that things are different but not in a bad way. Just a different way. Lovely to see Charlie, Jon, all the Tipsy Troopers, Justin Walkey. My Clear Water Bay golf buddies and obviously those few friends who only know how to lead a man into dark late night parties. I promise I will be back soon. But I find Hong Kong best enjoyed in smaller doses these days.

Love to you all. We are now at sea on route to Sri Lanka. More posts coming soon and maybe another Marlin?