Life is an Experiment!

THE THINK TANK : The date is 02 January 2006. The location, Siem Reap, Cambodia. I had just touched down at Siem Reap International Airport on my next assignment – To take charge of an ailing hotel, tasked of turning it around. This property had a turnover of 3 Hotel General Managers over a period of 4 months and was swimming in, almost to the neck, in hot water. I was taken aback when my HQ in Kuala Lumpur decided to pick a nobody like me, with no prior experience in Cambodia, unlike the former Hotel General Managers.

Checking out of the Airport, I was filled with a myriad of emotions, excitement, anxiety and fear all at the same time. It was kind of like a dream …. I was physically in the historical yet mystical Land of Angkor Wat, Cambodia! Looking out of the taxi, reality slammed into my face, for the entire journey to town, the roads were lined right to left, with Hotels, Hotels and nothing but Hotels! Somehow, the realization of my foolish impudence began to surface. However, if not for Cambodia, The Lab Ratz may never have been born. The extreme competition of Hotels coupled with the incredulous market forces forced me to be creative and resourceful, something I normally have a knack for, but had to up my game a couple of notches up. It was Cambodia who taught me about survivability in it’s dense, unforgiving Hotel Jungle. Part of my survival gear was online marketing; so I took a deep breath, jumped off the deep end, sinking into the the abyss of the world wide web …..

As thing settled down in Siem Reap, Cambodia, I had a little more time and was soon marathon watching my favorite documentaries [I am a sucker for documentaries] on History Channel [Malaysia did not have this channel then], National Geographic, Discovery, etc., in my tiny comfy room. After watching an episode on how Laboratory Mice actually helped Humans in various forms, I could not help but to compare the significance of this to life itself. Hence, The Lab Ratz was born. The tagline of of Life is an Experiment! draws parallel to the very laboratory mice that I had just watched, as, in my opinion, we are all part of the rat race, looking for answers and at times, taking that precarious leap of faith whilst foraging for food! I thought about it and yelled in delight! Yes, it’s a little raw, but in recent months, I have in fact found a very elegant clip that explains, in great depth, that very essence I was dreaming about … Ladies & Gentlemen, I present to you …. IF – Live Curious by The National Geographic Channel.