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Comfort and Convenience

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A Thai couple and their two young children opt to live in the heart of down town Taipa for the convenience of being close to work and play
 
 
Pawin Sriusvagool and his wife Bee moved from Hong Kong to Macau in September 2012 when he took up the position of general manager and head of Zung Fu Motors (Macau), the exclusive retailer of Mercedes-Benz cars in the city.  Zung Fu is a subsidiary of the Jardine Motors Group, which is a member of the Jardine Matheson Group, one of the original Hong Kong trading houses or ‘Hongs’, founded over 180 years ago during the times of Imperial China.
 
When setting about looking for their new home in Macau, their priorities were having enough space for family visitors and ‘location, location, location’.  They quickly settled on a 1,700 square foot, 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom apartment in the Manhattan, Taipa.  
 
“This place is comfortable and suits us well as everything is nearby.  My office is a one-minute walk away and the show room is about three minutes walk away,” explains Pawin.  “One of the great things about Macau is that it’s small and easy to get around; in Bangkok I spent four hours on the road each day getting to and from work!”
 
While much of the earlier open sea view of the apartment has sadly been obscured – “The apartment can get quite dark being penned in by other buildings” – there’s still a little bit of greenery to see.  
 
And the furniture, provided with the lease, is tastefully modern.  The master bedroom and ensuite bathroom are off the living room, and the guest room, study and guest bathroom are at the back of the apartment off the dining area.  The galley style kitchen, long and narrow, contains all the mod cons including an oven (rare in Macau!) and temperature controlled wine storage cabinet.
 
Standard to all Manhattan apartments are the dark chocolate brown wood floors throughout.  The dining table is chocolate brown, and the dining chairs and sofa, in cream suede, add an elegant contrast.  
 
Within a short time of arriving, Pawin and Bee started a family – daughter Nami is almost three, and son, Saint, born in Macau, is almost a year old.  Especially with the children, they make the best of the Manhattan’s extensive clubhouse facilities.  It’s convenient to pop downstairs to the playroom, pool, BBQ and entertainment areas.  
“On alternate evenings I either swim or do Thai boxing.  The Thai boxing keeps me fit, both physically and mentally,” says Pawin.  “It teaches me resilience, how to never give up, and it’s a good form of stress management too”. 
 
So after three years here, what do the Sriusvagools love most about Macau? 
 
“Well it’s not so crowded for a start,” notes Pawin. “I’ve lived in many different parts of the world, from Philadelphia, to New York, Singapore, Hong Kong and of course Bangkok, and while the pace of life here is slower, Macau still has a cosmopolitan element, a deep and interesting culture and a blend of the Western and Chinese which we enjoy.”
 
“Macau is very expat friendly and small enough that it is easy to get to know people and the community,” adds Bee.  
 
She attends the International Ladies’ Club of Macau events and there are numerous play dates with different mums for the children.
 
The Thai community in Macau is small but that doesn’t worry the gregarious Pawin who has built up a huge network of friends in his short time of being here.  He’s a seasoned networker and generous with his time in making introductions for new arrivals.
 
“Some people move from place to place to find happiness”, he says, “but the key is to be happy on the inside”.
 
 
 
In addition to being in charge of overseeing and managing sales and after sales operations of Mercedes-Benz vehicles for Macau, Pawin is also the Jardine chief representative for Macau.  This involves coordinating various company activities and making sure the spirit, camaraderie and communication amongst the group’s different business units is strong in Macau: One Central under the HongKong Land badge, the Mandarin Oriental, Starbucks, IKEA, Schindler, JEC and the San Miu supermarkets incorporated recently into the group under the Dairy Farm badge.
 
He’s also the Jardine representative at the British Business Association of Macao, where Zung Fu Motors (Macau) is a Platinum Member.
 
And how does Pawin see the car business for the months ahead? There’s no denying that it will be “tough for everyone, with the economy expected to contract by at least 25 percent,” he says. “The first thing people cut their spending on is luxury items.”
 
“We aim to be the brand and company of choice, so it’s important to us that we don’t simply concentrate on product and price.  Our focus is on the whole experience of being a Mercedes-Benz owner.  We capture people at different stages of life; a father, a mother, the son, the daughter, newly weds, those with an active lifestyle – we have a car for a wide range of people and their needs.”
 
“To sustain continuous growth we need to pay close attention to employing, training and developing the best people in Macau.  After all, we’re in the people business – we are just people selling to people, people servicing cars for people.”
 
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