Matti Nurmi is a Finnish electrician-engineer-turned-restaurant-and-kindergarten-owner who has lived in Vietnam for over 20 years. He is one of Vietnam’s first Finnish settlers. Maybe you know him as his name became pretty well-known in Hanoi back in the 90s when “waterfall” bangs, Hip-Hop, Nintendo Boys and horn-rimmed spectacles were hot. Back then Matti opened one of Hanoi’s first Western bars “the Sunset Pub”. If this still doesn’t ring any bells maybe you remember him as the man in the fancy Porsche which he used to cruise around…
Denmark, Philippines
Filipino Au Pairs in Denmark Are Forced to “Black Work”
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According to new research from Center Against Human Trafficking in the Danish Service Agency (Servicestyrelsen) – Many of the Filipino au pairs who live and work in Danish families have had to ante up thousands of Danish krones to mediators and employment agencies to get to Denmark. This means that the girls – who typically…
Singapore, Sweden
The Swedish Trade Council Starts New Office in Singapore
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The Swedish Ambassador to Singapore and the Singaporean Ambassador to Sweden were both present at the inauguration event on the 12th of December along with prominent business leaders in the local Swedish community. The ceremony started off with remarks from the President of the Swedish Trade Council, the Swedish Ambassador to Singapore and the President of…
Sweden, Thailand
Elephant Ride Gone Wrong
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Like so many other tourists visiting Phuket, Swede Gustav Karlsson, 31, and his brother-in-law John, thought it would be a fun experience to go on one of Thailand’s numerous elephant rides. This trip however didn’t go quite as they had expected. Suddently the elephant went crazy and tossed the two chocked men from its back injuring both of them, reports…
Norway, Thailand
Norwegian Survives Eighth-story Plunge
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At about 8 am Tuesday the 19th, Kathu Police were informed that a foreign tourist had fallen from his room on the eighth floor of the Phuket Palace Hotel, at the south end of Patong on the road to Karon.Fearing the worst, Kathu Police Duty Officer Nitikorn Rawang and rescue workers from the Kusolharm Foundation…
Norway, Thailand
Surviving Tourist Puts Pressure On Police
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Today 7 months after the deadly incident in May 2009 investigators still haven’t found an explanation for what killed Karina Refseth’s friend Norwegian Julie Bergheim, 22, and fellow tourist Jill St. Onge, 27, from Seattle.What was intended a holiday in paradise turned fatal when Julie Bergheim and Jill St. Onge died shortly after having experienced breathing-difficulties and terrible stomach…
Cambodia, Denmark
Danish Second-hand Shop Supports Cambodian Kids
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2009 was a good year for the second-hand shop “LUMI-genbrug” in Agerskov. Compared with last year the turnover in 2009 rose by 17,000 Danish krones increasing the 2009-turnover to 659,000 krones. “It makes us able to donate 500,000 krones to street kids in Cambodia and we are very glad about that,” says shop coordinator Aage…
Denmark, Thailand
TV Show About Danish Phuket-Guides
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Every Wednesday at 20.00 the Danish TV channel TV2 will show the new television series “Guides in Paradise” (“Guider I Paradis”). On the show TV 2 follows five young and lively Danes who are all working as guides on Phuket Island for six months. Although it is not a holiday job being a guide in…
Sweden, Thailand
Young Swedish Woman Raped By Gang on Phuket
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According to Phuketwan the Swedish woman, aged in her 20s, said she and a group of her friends had been partying at a Nai harn bar near the beach until 4am. She met a Thai boy she liked at a bar the night before, they had some drinks together and early Saturday she had sex…
Denmark, Indonesia, Philippines
Novo Nordisk Threatened in Southeast Asia
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The French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis has entered 2010 with a new and aggressive pricing strategy for a number of countries in Southeast Asia and Novo Nordisk will inevitably be affected by this low-cost competition.So far, Sanofi-Aventis announced that prices will be lowered in Indonesia and the Philippines, but Thailand and several other countries in the…
