The writing has been on the wall for a long time but it falls to me to deliver the final coup de grace to Eshin Direct. This is the last post that will be penned on this website.

For close to 12 years, Eshin Direct has been a self-stylized Digital Nomad, an apt description for a place that held the digital ramblings of Eshin. The ramblings, and even writing under a nom de guerre, claimed asylum from any meaningful intent or even a purpose beyond which to state, with some arrogance, I am here.

As I embark on a professional journey into corporate social responsibility with my own consultancy, I must also critically look at the personal impact that I am leaving on the world. Blogs are powerful communication tools. My responsibility as a would-be content greater is to provide something meaningful to the outside world beyond just the rants that have been the staple of this blog.

I have an affection for Eshin Direct that only really comes from a 12-year relationship. It means that I have no intention of revamping it into something that it isn’t. So while it will remain here as long as the bills are paid, it will not be continued to be updated.

In an effort to deliver a more meaningful personal-cast, I hereby offer you my new blog, the Good Bean Project. Find out more about the Good Bean Project by reading its inaugural post. It will make the pain easier I suppose.

As this will be goodbye from here, I would like to thank all of you who have stopped by – to say hello, to read my content, to say less than nice things about me, what have you. Without you, this blog will not have lasted as long as it did but now it really is time to say good-bye as Eshin on Eshin Direct.

Please switch the lights off when you go out.

Also, never take your lunch guest on in his home territory – especially when it comes to quietly paying the bill. The Four Seasons staff at Jiang-Nan Chun refused to take my credit card for payment and actually circled back to our lunch partner to verify the bill payment arrangements. Now that, I must say, is very impressive.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZ5UTf4p8i8

Follow the online travel romance as our protagonists continue their relationship against the backdrop of Bangkok and a Starwood Hotel.

Visit http://www.starwoodmadeforchina.com/ for the complete webisodes, behind the scenes footage, downloadable screensavers and desktops.

Come what may, I’m very proud of the team working on this campaign for turning around a great looking video in such a short space of time. And it’s always nice when the press takes some notice – Starwood Hotels now Made for China.

A lazy Sunday afternoon spent at Tiong Bahru market with the missus eating fishball noodles and kuey.

Wait a minute, thought I. He called me and he wants me to give my verification information to him. So I asked him if he could verify that he was from Citibank. Odd that – he couldn’t or wouldn’t. So I asked him to send me any information that he had on the upgrade, cross-sell or whatever he was selling to my email address and I’ll happily review it then. And the strange thing is that when I called Citibank to ask them if they were conducting a marketing exercise on my account, they refused to give out that information.

I reckon it was a scam or I bank with a financial institution that hasn’t yet realised the security holes it has in their marketing team. It’s also been about two weeks since the call and I still don’t have anything in my email box from aforementioned Citibank employee.