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Home Investing

Travel Malaysia

Kathleen Peddicord by Kathleen Peddicord
Apr 12, 2010
in Investing
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Sunset on Nipah Bay, Pulau Pangkor
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Going For The Big Money–Bird’s Nests In Malaysia

“Vicki and I visited a tiny fishing village on the northwest coast of Malaysia,” writes Intrepid Correspondent Paul Terhorst. “While we were there, a local guy named Chin befriended us and showed us around.

“Chin recently retired after 20 years working in Singapore. He was a buyer for a company that makes motherboards for cell phones. But Chin says margins are too small, it’s too tough a business. He decided to retire, move back to his village, and go for the big money: bird’s nests.

“Consumers buy the nests and boil them to make bird’s-nest soup. The thick broth supposedly strengthens the lungs, immune system, libido, and more. Wikipedia says bird’s nests are ‘among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans.’

“Chin mentioned several times that bird’s-nest soup helps the lungs. I asked Chin if the soup could cure lung cancer. ‘Paul,’ he said patiently, ‘if bird’s-nest soup could cure lung cancer, we wouldn’t have people dying of lung cancer, would we?’

“Certain kinds of swiftlets make the valuable nests with their saliva. Chin’s village borders on a huge mangrove forest that produces a steady supply of what swiftlets prize most: mosquitos. Swiftlets have been nesting in the area for years.

“Chin built his first bird house about six months ago. While standing nearby, I heard a steady racket coming from the bird house, birds singing and squawking.

“I said, ‘Your bird house seems to be full already. Just listen to the noise.’

“Chin said, ‘No, I’ve had very few birds so far. What you hear is an MP3 player I hooked up. It plays bird sounds 24 hours a day, although I turn down the volume at night. My neighbors need to sleep.’

“Buyers who export to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States show up regularly and pay 4,000 ringgit (US$1,250) a kilo. About 130 nests make up a kilo. Chin hopes to produce a kilo a month beginning in a year or so. And that’s just a start. Swiftlets tend to return to their place of birth to set up their own nests. As long as Chin can attract birds in the first place, with a fine setting and the right bird sounds, volume should increase exponentially. And there’s very little cost.

“Chin needs only to harvest the nests and to disinfect and carry off the bird droppings. The droppings can carry disease, which could kill off the bird’s-nest business, not to mention the birds themselves.

“As soon as he can tap into his retirement fund, Chin plans to build a second bird house. He’ll go into business with his brother, who owns a cafe in the village. They’ll tear down the cafe and build a new, four-story building with a ground-level cafe, an apartment on the floor above, and then two levels for birds.

“Chin has never married. I told him he should look for a young wife. That way, when the business gets going, Chin will die and leave all his bird’s nests to his rich young wife and kids. Chin laughed, a hearty, full laugh, but I suspect he took me seriously. People, and generations, come and go. But bird’s-nest production is forever.”

Kathleen Peddicord

Tags: 'best places to retire'investment opportunitiesproperty investment malaysiatravel malaysia
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Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord

Kathleen Peddicord has covered the live, retire, and do business overseas beat for more than 30 years and is considered the world's foremost authority on these subjects. She has traveled to more than 75 countries, invested in real estate in 21, established businesses in 7, renovated historic properties in 6, and educated her children in 4.

Kathleen has moved children, staff, enterprises, household goods, and pets across three continents, from the East Coast of the United States to Waterford, Ireland... then to Paris, France... next to Panama City, where she has based her Live and Invest Overseas business. Most recently, Kathleen and her husband Lief Simon are dividing their time between Panama and Paris.

Kathleen was a partner with Agora Publishing’s International Living group for 23 years. In that capacity, she opened her first office overseas, in Waterford, Ireland, where she managed a staff of up to 30 employees for more than 10 years. Kathleen also opened, staffed, and operated International Living publishing and real estate marketing offices in Panama City, Panama; Granada, Nicaragua; Roatan, Honduras; San Miguel de Allende, Mexico; Quito, Ecuador; and Paris, France.

Kathleen moved on from her role with Agora in 2007 and launched her Live and Invest Overseas group in 2008. In the years since, she has built Live and Invest Overseas into a successful, recognized, and respected multi-million-dollar business that employs a staff of 35 in Panama City and dozens of writers and other resources around the world.

Kathleen has been quoted by The New York Times, Money magazine, MSNBC, Yahoo Finance, the AARP, and beyond. She has appeared often on radio and television (including Bloomberg and CNBC) and speaks regularly on topics to do with living, retiring, investing, and doing business around the world.

In addition to her own daily e-letter, the Overseas Opportunity Letter, with a circulation of more than 300,000 readers, Kathleen writes regularly for U.S. News & World Report and Forbes.

Her newest book, "How to Retire Overseas: Everything You Need to Know to Live Well (for Less) Abroad," published by Penguin Random House, is the culmination of decades of personal experience living and investing around the world.

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