Who is Chiangmai?
Born and raised in Bangkok, Thailand, I attended Christian schools in Bangkok and Singapore and college in Indiana. English was the fourth language that I learned, behind Chinese, Thai, and Laotian. I consider Chinese and Thai my mother tongues, and Laotian was a language I loosely acquired by being around our helpers at home. I tried learning English and Japanese around the same time. When I could not ask a taxi driver in Osaka to take my dad and me to the railway station, my dad began to have second thoughts about sending me to school in Japan. Meanwhile, I took the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language), and scored 99th percentile, a rare feat for a student from Thailand. It became quite apparent where I would be going to college after secondary school, and it wasn’t going to be my first choice, Japan.
Shortly after college, my wife and I relocated to Hawaii, where I became a commercial real estate broker and subsequently worked as a Portfolio Manager for a major investment company. I retired last year after my company went through countless number of mergers and acquisitions.
We have two twin girls and a boy. From a personal side, I am most proud to have achieved goals such as providing a good education for our children.
Living in Singapore gave me the opportunity to learn other Chinese dialects as well as the understanding of various cultures and religions. I generally view things differently from most people because I have lived in many places around the world.
Finally, I became a proud and happy grandfather this evening. This 7 lbs. 12 oz. baby girl was born on March 30, 2012. What makes this event most special to me is that the my daughter was given up for adoption while I was attending graduate school and I truly never expected to see her again. After 30 agonizing years, we were reunited this past Christmas. I am so grateful she gave me a granddaughter tonight.
With Aloha!