Hey Imjin, I'm going to try and do a bit of digging this week but as far as phone records that would be a non-starter. I got in touch with some realtor contacts a while back I have to see if they knew anything about any offices being let to a company of this name. The answer I got was negative but I'm going to follow it up.

I did have a contact within the authorities in Lam Dong but he's gone completely silent I'm afraid.

To Bob (no more posts sorry) i think you would love Vietnam and I'm always happy to meet a friend for beer!

Yeah but then it's a toss-up between the current plethora of moans or the moans that would follow from no CC and no further communication. I honestly think Kim means well but when it comes to timeframes and expectations, he (understandably) suffers from some naivety and inexperience.

I'd rather it weren't the case but it is and I've been here long enough to come to expect it and know that I have a choice to either live with it or to bail. I'm going nowhere, the road less travelled is inherently the most difficult one to take and we are the first people to take it.......... therefore I make allowances and continue to wait.

Notwithstanding the above, I am as eager as anybody to see something happen. I have a deposit on a house that I currently can't afford due to the fact that I have been without a job for 5 months, I need this badly but it doesn't affect my position whatsoever I'm completely committed to this and would sell my apartment back home before selling out.

Ha ha ironically enough, it's not far from the truth. Trying to get people to meet their deadlines here is pretty hard!

Hi Patrick, no such luck. It's dry season, hasn't rained for a few months! Fingers crossed eh?

Here's hoping for some post-Tet (lunar new year) news. I hadn't mentioned this before but it is very common in Vietnam to intentionally delay business dealings or contracts until the New Year. It is commonly believed that a new business or contract in the New Year may be blessed with luck. Let's hope the superstition has been carried through on this occasion......

Ok ha ha

Thanks, I'll also enjoy imagining you scampering to get back in some day

If you truly believe that then you would have to be an idiot to not sell all you have now. Either that or you don't truly believe it.

I think your perception of Hyundai is the very same thing that causes Hyundai to be considered a second rate manufacturer (at least in the UK that is the opinion).

Public opinion of Hyundai may have improved but it was damaged beyond repair by early quality issues. I don't want MS to be tarred with that same brush. If Kim said the quality wasn't good enough then keep it in-house till we get a quality product, reputation are much more easy to destroy than they are to rebuild.

Hello promaster, you are correct in saying that the textile industry in Vietnam is large and profitable and I am sure the government here would like to think long and hard about upsetting that applecart. However with KBLB we are not talking about disrupting the textile industry in Vietnam. We are talking about disrupting the SILK industry at this point in time, an industry that has had it's troubles in the recent past and has barely been edging it's way towards profitability. I see a big difference between one and the other.

To start off with the only industries I see Kraig 'disrupting' in Vietnam are obviously the silk industry; could this truly be seen as a bad thing? To have Vietnam catapulted to being the country that produces the best silk in the world in one fell swoop. I also see them disrupting the technical textile industry worldwide but fortunately this market does not even seem to exist in VIetnam so there should be no apprehension there.

I don't think it is hubris or arrogance to believe that introducing KBLB's silk would be an automatic positive step for Vietnam, it is a shoe-in, educated confidence I would say.

I don't have a come-back for the Vietnamese believing that it could be an environmental threat, they could well believe it is but with a small amount of DD (or a minimal amount of knowledge of the domesticated silkworm) anybody would see that the point is moot.

GLTY

Ha ha love it.

Can't argue with your thinking Truth. Last post sorry

Hello King/Silk,

In reality the country will be almost completely shutdown for a fortnight and partially shutdown for another week either side. In my industry (oil & gas) we would plan for very little activity for a month around the Tet holiday.
Cheers
DOD

Merry Christmas from across the pond dudes!!

Yeah not that often although admittedly I have no experience or knowledge of these sort of matters.

From a project point of view it makes no sense to plan/schedule much at all for a minimum of a fortnight.

If it doesn't happen before Christmas I just hope it happens before end January because once the Tet holiday hits, the country is on shutdown for up to a month (unofficially)

Not true HP, generally government offices will all be open. Tet (THE biggest celebration) is early Feb so Xmas will be comparatively insignificant. No public holidays through the period at all.

Sounds to me like somebody has shares to sell!!

I'll be in the air flying back to Blighty during the CC, I'll be eagerly awaiting to hear what went down, fingers crossed I'm not disappointed!

Hi FBI, I'm very curious to know how Kim reacted to your calls regarding not meeting promises?

I'm expecting some decent news in the CC followed by a PR reinforcing the news and revealing to a wider audience before the open Monday morning.

Disclaimer: I am an eternal optimist.

Surely it's decree 118/2015?

Exceedingly drunk!

Ha ha I hope for everybody's sake you don't get absolutely whellied!

Yeah it's become big business in the country that is for sure. I was unaware to the extent (implied in that article) that some families seem to celebrate it but family celebrations are usually limited to the family (as opposed to externally). Some of the information in that article is definitely a surprise especially considering only around 8% if Vietnamese are Christian.

Regardless, none of the days around Christmas are public holidays and it is very much 'business as usual'.

It's because there is nothing unusual about Christmas here in Vietnam TRUTH. It is getting bigger but only for commercial reasons, 25th December isn't even a holiday here and may as well be 5th of May or 12th July, no difference.

With all due respect to Ben, he has been incorrect a bunch of times before.

It's not a reflection on Ben himself as I do trust him and any information he gives, it is more a product of the way he is excluded from most of the information.

Because the worm is GM and it falls under the umbrella of paranoia

Do you think they'll have the same issue with the silk produced? I certainly don't.

Agree with you 100% Rayo. I see it as similar to the relative improvements in lots of strains of fruits & vegetables that have occurred over the last century or so. By a process of choosing the strong and letting the weak fall by the wayside we have ended up with bigger, juicier sweeter fruit. This has been done by 'unnatural' human interactions but I certainly wouldn't call a(non-GMO) Golden Delicious Apple 'unnatural'.

P.s if anybody attempts to call me out in pointing out that our fruit and veg are inferior to say 50 years ago, that is simply due to the comparatively poor quality of the soil, undoubtedly the genetic quality of the produce is better but unfortunately most is grown in soils that have been abused and damaged irreparably.

Wow, talk about devaluing a superlative. First time I've ever heard anyone be shocked about something that they expected. Contradictory not.

I meant if you were Kim you wouldn't want to make it an open forum. That sort of trash talk belongs on here (unfortunately).

I actually get two posts but much appreciated the best wishes although admittedly it's not a celebration I take part in. Best wishes to you and your family and here's wishing for a KBLB reason to be thankful for in the near future.

Would you want to answer questions by somebody completely biased against KBLB? Naming no names

I genuinely believe there are people present here that would make it their mission to embarrass KBLB in an open forum. Never in a month of Sunday's would I leave it open to that sort of abuse.

GO KAM, GO KBKB!!

Can't help thinking we've missed the boat a bit by not naming our second silk ENORMOUS RED!!

With all due respect I see the statement whereby all nominees must have a representative but what I don't see is the outcome of flaunting that rule.

I certainly don't see anything that says they would change their mind if you don't bother turning up. Would appreciate somebody showing me otherwise.

In all honesty why wouldn't Kim or Jon want to go on this jolly on our dollar? They may have never been to Italy and it would have been a nice all expenses paid holiday. I honestly have no issue with them carrying on with what is truly important.......

Which rules? What is the source?

I find it very hard to believe that a professional organisation and awards such as this would go through the lengthy process of review and analysis for months (entries have to be in by March 2015) and then 'throw the rattle out the pram when the winner doesn't turn up'.

This isn't some crappy little raffle where the next number gets chosen if a no show, the winner is the winner.

Apologies this is my last post so won't be able to respond until tomorrow. Apologies in advance if you can show me that this ridiculous rule exists. If not then I'm glad Kim didn't waste his time on the show when he has other things to deal with.

You are making the assumption that KBLBs representative's presence played a part in the outcome which I am sure is not the case. It may well be that Kim truly had more important things to do and his presence had no effect on the result.

Tend to agree with your theory to be honest Truth. If VN was complete then why wait till 4th December?

I believe that the 4th may either be after some firm deadline or just gives Kim ample wiggle room to get it done. Giving a firm date makes lots of the recent moaning obsolete and he can always bring the date forward if circumstances allow. With Kim's track record on timing it would be wise to err on the side of caution and give himself some contingency......

May well have been that Kim didn't want to fork out as much dosh as Jon wanted, with the agreement that the terms would be looked at in 12 months time. Not uncommon I've worked under those terms myself.

Thanks Col, much appreciated!