Vault Episode 3: Cameron & Ying Nance - Part 1

What happens when a comic book-loving Utah kid meets the daughter of a prominent Thai family? Something magical, as it turns out. 

Cameron and Ying Nance's story reads like the plot of a Netflix original – he was a Dragon Ball Z enthusiast from Salt Lake City who found himself teaching English to one of Thailand's most revered Buddhist monks. She was the youngest child in a family of Thai pop stars and celebrities. Their paths crossed at a temple ceremony, where the monk eerily predicted their future marriage during only their second meeting.

But this episode goes deeper than their romantic journey. Cameron shares profound wisdom learned during his time living at a Thai temple, including life-changing meditation practices that helped him overcome anxiety by learning to stay present. "People who are depressed are living in the past too much," the monk told him. "You're unhappy because you think about the future too much, which causes anxiety."

Meanwhile, Ying reveals her entrepreneurial spirit that emerged despite an uncle's discouraging words that she was "good at many things, but not specifically anything." She proved him wrong by successfully building a business importing Chicago's Garrett Popcorn to Thailand while still in college, making $10,000 without significant startup capital.

Their journey weaves through Cameron's unexpected stint as a Thai TV star (complete with a shaved head), cultural differences, family expectations, and ultimately to Salt Lake City, where they've built two thriving businesses – Chubby Baker Donuts and Bespoke Custom Clothing.

Ready to be inspired? Listen now to discover how this unlikely pair found each other across cultures and continents to create something beautiful together in the heart of Utah.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
What is up everybody and welcome back to another
episode of the Small Lake CityPodcast.
I'm your host, eric Nilsson,and this is episode three of the
Vault series, where I go backand revisit some of my favorite
episodes from early on in SmallLake City, and this episode is
no exception.
So this is part one withCameron and Ying Nance.
Ying, as you may know, is thefounder of the cult classic

(00:23):
donut shop.
Chubby Baker and her husband,cam founded his own custom suit
business called Bespoke Suits.
Not only are they amazingentrepreneurs, but their story
of how they met, dated and endedup in Salt Lake is nothing
short of amazing and inspiring.
So I'm excited for you tolisten to this one.
Sit back, buckle up, and it'sgoing to be a great episode.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Enjoy.
So super excited today to havetwo of my really good friends on
the podcast, cam and Ying Nance.
When I was originally thinkingabout the podcast and thinking
about a lot of the cool storiesthat I know of, theirs was one
of the first that came to mind.
Not only are they making I meana huge impact in Salt Lake in
such an entrepreneurial way, butjust the heart of their story

(01:07):
of finding themselves here isboth inspiring, heartwarming and
endearing.
So super excited to have themhere and tell their story and
all the fun stuff that they'reworking on.
So welcome guys, excited tohave you here, hi.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
Hey, thanks for having us and thank you for the
kind words.
Wee, phil, and the coffee, andthe coffee, yes.

Speaker 2 (01:25):
Most.
Hey, thanks for having us andthank you for the kind words,
weeville, and the coffee.
Yes, most importantly, thecoffee.
We're actually sitting in theirhome, new home in Draper, utah.
They're starting to build theirbudding family and you go from
a one-bedroom townhome and startto expect your second, and
that's when time and spacebecome more and more valuable
and sleep becomes more and morevaluable.
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:45):
When she started walking.
We're like this place is notgood enough for another one.

Speaker 4 (01:50):
And also like we need places for my family to come
visit, so that old house was notan option.

Speaker 2 (01:59):
And now we got something better.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
So, for those who don't know, cam and Ying, ying
um, and we'll get into the fundetails of everything.
But they have started their owntwo businesses here in Utah uh,
chubby Baker Donuts and Bespokeum suits or what it was.
Uh, bespoke custom clothing,bespoke custom clothing.
So Chubby Baker and Bespokecustom clothing, um, very

(02:22):
inspiring stories in their own.
But then you put it alltogether and it's, I mean,
almost movie-esque.
Uh, I might buy the rights toit at some point to make my own,
uh, hbo limited special ornetflix store, but, uh, but
we'll.
Yeah, we can settle out thedetails later.
We don't have to go throughthat right now.
For sure, you've got, you'vegot exclusive rights.
Definitely, I'll get done inwriting after, don't you worry.
Um, so cool.

(02:43):
So, as always, we always love toknow how our guests got to Utah
and found it themselves.
And we'll kind of go inchronological order to help tell
the story a little bit betterand start with the Cam side of
things and start to bring inYing when she starts to come
into the story.
But she can also add her pointof view throughout it all of how
it became such a momentousexperience for her in moving

(03:06):
here.
So, cam, so I mean, obviouslyyou're born and raised in Salt
Lake, but I mean, what part ofthe Valley are you from?
What did life look like?
Any hobbies, activities thatyou participated in?

Speaker 3 (03:18):
Yeah, so I grew up in Mill Creek.
I was in Highland Boundariesbut everyone in my neighborhood
went to Olympus High so Itransferred to that district
just because that's where all myfriends were going.
It was great.
Growing up in Salt Lake wasawesome.
I had a great childhood, greatfriends, great neighborhood,
great community.

(03:38):
As far as activities, I mean, Iplayed basketball my sophomore
year at Olympus and thenfootball my sophomore and senior
year.
But like I didn't start oranything like that, I just kind
of I enjoyed playing and it wasdid it largely for the social
life.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
Um so, how many siblings did you grow up with?

Speaker 3 (03:58):
I'm the oldest of four.
I have two little sisters andone little brother.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Were you pretty close with them or you're mostly
hanging out with friends?
What does that look likeGrowing up?
Yeah, brother, were you prettyclose with them?
Were you mostly hanging outwith friends?
What did that look like?

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Growing up.
Yeah, we were always prettyclose, honestly, with my little
brother.
He's the youngest and we'relike eight years apart and we
didn't get close until he hithigh school just because there
was such an age gap.
But with my two sisters, yeah,we've been close our whole life.
I mean, we see my little sisterHelene All the time, like every

(04:27):
other day almost.
I work out with her husbandevery morning.
So, yeah, siblings were great.
Parents were together up untilI was like 25.
So I grew up in a two-parenthousehold, which is, you know,
statistically speaking, a hugeimpact just having that and you
know, great neighborhood.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
And then, uh, yeah, and obviously I know, I know,
knowing you better than most, Iknow that, um, comic books,
marvel, that was a big part ofyour life.
Dragon Ball, you have all ofyour collections still, probably
boxes on boxes, probably awhole corner of a garage.

Speaker 3 (05:07):
I'll show you my office that I'm working on
downstairs.
Yeah, I got a lot of cool stuff.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
Love that as Ying shakes her head.

Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah, when we moved into our I've got like a lot of
Dragon Ball Z figurines andshe's like you cannot have these
in the house.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
So I put them all in my office, but she let me have
two in our bedroom because, likeI'll be looking at me every
night just frieza glaring at you.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
Yeah, it's probably vegeta, if I know.
Okay, well, that guy.
No again, yep g is the best.
So yeah, I'm a huge comic booknerd.
Um, dragon ball z.
I love to draw um like, yeah, Imean as far as like the and as
far as the lore goes, as far ascomic books, star wars, like.
I kind of know the ins and outsof a lot of that stuff.
I get kind of obsessive aboutnerd nerddom and and hobbies

(05:55):
that I enjoy.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Um, and I always respect that.
That's something, because Idon't know.
There's always one thing thatkind of rubs me wrong in growing
up in the and I've seen it inlots of friends but it's like
they have this picture of whothey need to be as an adult and
it's like, oh well, I'm in mythirties now or I have kids now,
so I can't do this, this orthis.
But in reality, like I'm thesame person to an extent that I

(06:17):
was when I was a kid, teenager,twenties, thirties.
At least some of those samethings I love are still today.
Like there's so many things Inerd out about from like I mean
video games, I mean anime andall those those fun things.

Speaker 3 (06:32):
And well, dude, one of the best parts about being an
adult is I can afford all thestuff I wanted when I was
younger.
Like I've got.
I've been purchasing likegraded Pokemon cards, hallie,
yeah, saving up for a for afirst edition shadowless
Charizardizard.
I told her the price and she'slike are you kidding me?
So it's like almost anotherhouse.
Yeah, exactly.
So I've been buying just likethe little bit less expensive
ones.
Um, yeah, it's just fun because, like, like, you don't have to

(06:54):
give that stuff up and it suckswhen people are like oh yeah, I
left that go.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
I'm like, why, like, why it's like made you joyful,
yeah, exactly well, at leastyour mom didn't randomly give
all your pokemon cards to the di.
Did she do that?
Yeah, I was like because, likeyou remember, when I mean like
year or two ago, when pokemoncards like this whole resurgence
just came back, I was like, allright, let's go find them.
Look under my bed, where I knewthey were in my old room, I was
like they're not there.
I'm like, hey mom, like whereare they?

(07:18):
She's like oh, it took them tothe di.
You didn't want them, right.
I was like it's like thatultimate like a record scratch
moment of like I'm like cool, Ihad my shiny charizard and my
shiny blastoise, my shiny, soyeah so I bought a.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
I bought right before I left to my mission.
I bought a like a, a high gradecharizard card, and put it in
my collection, and my littlebrother's friend stole it while
I was on my mission.
I came home and it was justmissing.
I was like, oh my gosh, brandon.

Speaker 4 (07:48):
So yeah, right, ying well, we don't know who stole it
.
You can't really say I know Iknow, we know.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
Yeah, there's only one that knew I had it I love
that.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
So, yes, let's talk about mission.
So where, where did you go onyour mission?
What years was that between?

Speaker 3 (08:06):
I left on my mission 2000,.
Uh, april 2008.
Um, and I went to Thailand.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
What parts of Thailand were you in
specifically?

Speaker 3 (08:14):
So the mission technically entail like includes
um, Thailand, Myanmar and Laos,but Laos and Myanmar aren't
open to the missionaries, soit's just mainly Bangkok and
then outside of like north andnortheast of Bangkok.
So Bangkok, obviously massivecity, there's like 17 million

(08:36):
people there A little biggerthan Salt Lake A little bigger
than Salt Lake, but the majorityof the population I think
there's 70 million in Thailandnow the majority live outside of
Bangkok, but it's just likethat's that one hub and
everything else is just kind ofrural small city.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
I spent most of mine like in the rural part.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Okay, and did you like that more than always?
Oh yeah, absolutely it was.
I don't know.
I just felt kind ofdisconnected from everything.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (09:00):
Yeah, like, especially compared to, like the
childhood you had, like that'sgotta be such a difference
culture.

Speaker 3 (09:06):
Well, I got super lucky because growing up I was,
I was pretty.
I loved Asian culture, like um.
So in Bangkok, there, there'sthe grand palace.
It's like, uh, the palace, andit's right next to this really
famous like temple, massivetemple grounds, gorgeous gold
plated.
It was my bad, I didn't knowwhere it was, um, in high school

(09:27):
, but on my laptop it was mywallpaper for like two, three
years.
This is before your mission,before a mission.
I didn't, I didn't even knowwhere this was.
I would just look up like Asiantemples and I would like plot
like a poster picture, teenagekids, great wall of China, um,
and then also like the goldpavilion in kyoto, japan.

(09:48):
I love that place, so I justloved it.
I love, like my favorite, one ofmy favorite movies it's top
three is the last samurai.
I watched that so much in highschool.
Just like his adventure, likenot finding himself in this in
the states and all the issues,and then he goes to a simple
life in like rural Japan andlike I guess, like absorbs their

(10:08):
values and then fights for it.
Yeah, it's crazy, like I love,absolutely loved it.
So, um, before I got my call, Ijust remember thinking I didn't
want to go stateside or toBrazil, because that's where all
my friends were going and itwas Bangkok and I was like I
don't even know where that isand I googled it I think google
was a thing then, right, yeah,um, looked it up and then what

(10:28):
popped up?
Was that my background?
I was like whoa, that's trippy.
Yeah, so, um, and yeah, it wasgreat two years there, um, and
that that single decision led tolike everything in my life now,
like like literally everythingthat I'm doing, who I'm with, uh
, further experiences is 100%because I made the decision and

(10:52):
I almost didn't go.
Um, the church has always beeniffy with me, but I don't know.
I'm glad I decided to go and itwas one of the top, top two,
three best decisions I've evermade.

Speaker 2 (11:04):
So, and it was one of the top two, three best
decisions I've ever made.
Got it.
So you come back from yourmission.
You started working atClearlink, if I remember right.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
And how long were you there?

Speaker 4 (11:16):
for before you decided to go back to school.

Speaker 2 (11:21):
Let's take a quick break.
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(11:41):
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Speaker 3 (11:51):
Um, I wouldn't.
I started up at so this is afunny story.
So I I got back and, um, at theend of my mission I was
applying to every single BYU Icould get into.
I was just like full ondrinking the Kool-Aid, like BYU
is where I want to go.
I'm going to go home and find aMormon girl.
I'm going to get married, starta family, right?
Um, byu Provo rejected me, byuHawaii rejected me and BYU Idaho

(12:14):
let me in.
And I was like, well, I'm notgoing to BYU Idaho.
So, um, the other way to get toBYU was, uh, what was then
called LDSBC, lds businesscollege, and then you do your
like two year degree there andyou can transfer to BYU, pretty
simple, like pretty easily.
So signed up for classes and my,I had one day there and it

(12:37):
turned me off so hard.
So, like I think I had gonemaybe a day and a half without
shaving and I've got prettythick facial hair and if I, if,
like, even on my mission, like Ihad to tell my mission
president like, hey, I have toshave every two days, cause if I
shave every day, I get liketons of razor burn, right.

(12:58):
So it was like the day before Iwas going to shave, like a
teacher called me out for just,uh, distracting from the spirit
of learning or something likethat, like publicly in front of
everyone, and I was like whatthe hell, what the hell is going
on, yeah, and then theywouldn't take my photo for the
id and I was yeah, because Ibecause you didn't shave, I

(13:20):
didn't have, yeah, I had didn'tstubble like as much as as Eric
has right now, maybe less.

Speaker 2 (13:25):
And just in comparison, this is a week.

Speaker 3 (13:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:28):
Like I have zero hair .

Speaker 3 (13:30):
Yeah, so I was like, and so I dropped that day.
I was like, not doing that, andI went to Slick instead.
Nice, and yeah, worked atClearlink full time while I went
to classes at night.
Nice, and then transferred tothe u cool.

Speaker 2 (13:47):
So the?
U is where I met cam.
So we were both members of thesigma chi fraternity of pledge
brothers, and I won't say theyear because I don't want to
date us, but, um, I mean that'swhere me and cam became, I mean
really really good friends.
We, we became close in pledgeship oh, totally yeah, because I
remember at first I don't I'msure I've told you about this
before, but I remember seeingyou and I was always like

(14:08):
because you don't need to get agroup of guys together, and
there's always kind of this likealmost like chest puffing and
like you seem like whoa, who'sthis guy?
And like what's going on.
And I, because, like I, we wereboth returned missionaries, so
we were a little bit older thaneverybody else, yeah, and I was
like well, who guy?
Like I know who, some of theseother guys from before, but
almost had this kind of likestandoffishness which I in
hindsight realized like that's atotal me thing.

(14:29):
And once I put that down andlike got to know you as you was
like oh yeah, like this guy'samazing, like we connected so so
quickly, we had so much to bondover, especially going through
this experience together, I mean, which led to us being, I mean,
roommates in Foothill,roommates on Harrison.
I mean it's just kind of funnyto see how like that decision

(14:50):
introduced me to like.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
So we've been friends for 12 years.
Yeah, that's wild.

Speaker 2 (14:55):
I hate that.
Yeah, just like.
No, I don't hate that we'vebeen friends for that long.
But like when time startscoming into things it's creepy.
Yeah, like time starts cominginto things, it's creepy.
Like when me and Tanner movedin together I was like staring.
I was like wait a minute, we'vebeen friends for 20 years.
Like I remember going to middleschool because like he went to
Uinta, I went to Bonneville andlike middle school's the first
time we like kind of integratedthose two and I was like I just

(15:18):
like needed a minute to sit downand just like two decades okay.

Speaker 3 (15:22):
Also, everyone has been roommates with Tanner at
one point.

Speaker 2 (15:24):
Oh yeah, I have told him about it.
It's hilarious, good luck.
And I was always I mean pre memoving into Tanner, like I was.
I was like everybody got thatexperience and I didn't Push
come to shove.
I get that.
Here you go, I kind of get it.
He's gone all the time but heworks down in working there.

Speaker 3 (15:41):
But it's, it is very funny for anyone who doesn't
know tanner, too is, uh, one ofthe best people we know oh, yeah
, a really good friend one of myyeah, my best friend right now
in my life, for sure, yeah he's.
He's been there for us, he'sbeen there for so many people.
Yeah and uh.
Yeah, he's a cancer survivorfought through.
It was positive the entire time, like, oh man, makes me

(16:03):
emotionally been thinking aboutit but yeah, he's he's a good,
we're happy, we're lucky to havehim with us.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
So Totally and like that.
I mean those college years iswhen everything kind of came
together for us and kind ofcreated this, this friend group,
that we were going throughcolleges Again.
It was like these returnmissionaries, but also finding a
lot of ourselves, because Imean mission, we've come home,
we think we know who we are, andthen we start to grow and
progress in our 20s and all of asudden we find out who we
actually are, passions and ourhobbies and what drives us, and

(16:33):
so I kind of want to go from.
College was cool and that iswhen Cam started his first
suiting business.
True, gentleman, talk to me howthat came to be.
A lot of it is with yourconnection to Thailand and your
mission that came to be.

Speaker 3 (16:44):
A lot of it is with your connection to Thailand and
your mission.
Yeah, so two years after I gothome from my mission, um, a
buddy of mine went to Thailandfor for a couple of weeks just
to go back and vacation it.
Uh, we stayed with a memberthere whose daughter was like
the middleman or the person whoruns fabric and coordinates
orders and everything foranother custom suit shop, um in

(17:06):
Salt Lake.
And uh, the owners of that hadbeen missionaries a couple of
years before me and they werestarting to do that and I was
like you know, I was makingdecent money at clear Lincoln.
I was just like I I I'd made acouple of suits for myself.
I got measurements from somefriends at the time, uh, got

(17:29):
some orders for them.
And then when we were at thisat our friend's house there
that's where we were staying inBangkok she had piles of fabric
books and I was like, can I takesome of those?
I bet you I could like sellsuits on the side.
It was merely just like a hobbyto fund me being able to
purchase more suits, you know.

Speaker 2 (17:48):
So I'm all about passions paying for themselves.

Speaker 3 (17:53):
Yeah, so it was.
I mean it was, I mean it wassuper early, like I had just is
it?
Yeah?
Rushed Sigma Chi when I waslike taking this year's.
I got back from Thailand a fewmonths later I rushed and people
asked me what I do and I juststarted telling them I own a
suit business.
I hadn't registered anything,I'd sold like four suits ever,

(18:15):
you know.
So I was like pitching this tothe Bowman's and everyone just
like trying to be a salesman andum after rush, like prior to,
um, like after getting intostuff, and then you have uh like
formals, you know, people juststarted like, like you know,
jeremy Peterson PD, like allthese guys were like hey this.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
And then someone would be like oh, I just got a
suit from cam.
Be like well, what do you mean?
You got a suit from cam, I wantto get a suit from cam.
And all of a sudden you justlook around like these formals,
and you just see everybody inthese customs.
It was kind of cool, like inhindsight I didn't appreciate it
before it was.
But everybody's in these like acustom fit, like really nice
suits compared to like you go toother ones and just see people
in there.
I I mean J crew, h&m, bananaRepublic suits and you're like

(19:04):
there's a very stark difference.
I do remember that.

Speaker 3 (19:06):
Yeah, so the, and during that time, like, I
completely used that as like,okay, I'm not great at this yet,
so my, my upcharge was like 50bucks, like I was not like
making money on this, but it waslike funding it, and then if I
had alterations, I just madesure I didn't go into the red
with it, um, and then eventuallywhat would happen is like the

(19:28):
guys would refer their parents,you know, um, so I'd, I'd make a
suit for someone's dad orsomeone else's wedding, and then
it just started to to grow alittle bit.
So a lot of issues.
I mean, again, custom suitingis not easy, like like body
logistics, yeah, but, um,because of sigma chi, and just

(19:51):
like everyone was just, yeah,cool, 300 bucks, let's do it,
you know so, especially comparedto like anything else they
would get anywhere else.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, like, why wouldn't you yeah?

Speaker 3 (20:01):
so and then I, uh I partnered up uh, another member
of Sigma Chi and we started a,started a brand that um had some
differences of.
We didn't work very welltogether, so we decided to
separate Um and I he just likebought my ownership of the
company and I was like you knowwhat, maybe I'm done with
suiting, I was just going tofocus on, focus on my degree for

(20:23):
a bit, and that was like youknow what, maybe I'm done with
suiting, I'm just going to focuson, focus on my degree for a
bit.
And that was like mainly mytime in Sigma Chi.
Like I sold suits on the side alittle bit, but I was focusing
on like having a good time.

Speaker 2 (20:33):
Oh, totally Like, which if anybody ever asked me,
which they probably would neveris like what should I do in
college?
Like, be present, make friends,enjoy.
Yeah, because I mean, eventhough I'm thinking today of,
like, the people who tookcollege super seriously are in
very little, very difference inplace of where the other people
who just enjoyed it and thepeople who thought what they
were studying was so serious areusually doing something

(20:54):
completely different.
Yeah, and so enjoy the journey.
Don't take anything.
I mean, that's kind of life ingeneral.
Don't take anything tooseriously.
Yeah, you're going to end updead regardless For sure.
So cool.
So you're going to school,you're doing all this and then.
So I want to like, so this iswhen Ying starts to come more
into the picture.
Not yet Right.
Yeah, okay, so we're going toget there.
So let's talk about the firsttime you go back to Thailand for

(21:17):
an extended period of time.
All the monk, and I don't knowthe details of it.
I want you to explain it better.
So you get this opportunitywalk us through how you got this
and how you ended up back inThailand.

Speaker 3 (21:27):
Okay, so this is a little bit of a preface before I
rush SIG, because I rushed SIGpretty late, like 23, 24, 23
years old, right, which is, incollege terms, a late time to
rush Some do it older, but it'susually like 18 to 20 years old.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
It also isn't like completely weird in utah,
because it's just because it'spart of the dynamic.
Exactly.
If you go anywhere else to belike, what the hell are you
doing?
But here it's fine yeah.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
So, um, what happened is I got home from my mission
and all of all of my like reallyclose friends from high school
they got married quick.
So I was without friends and Iwas just hanging out with people
at clearlink and I never waslike close to anyone.
But through someone that Iserved my mission with was
really good friends with someonein Sigma Chi and introduced me

(22:13):
to them.
It was like Dag, brandon Bean,a lot of these guys and like,
hey, you should rush, hey, youshould rush.
I'm like I don't know, like itsounds like something I want to
do, but I'm old, you know.
And then on the day of rush, Iwasn't going and my phone just
started blowing up Like wherethe hell are you Get your ass

(22:33):
here?
And I was like, okay, so I'llgo check it out.
And I went up and I liked theguys I met, because during rush
you meet everyone in the house.
You know, I remember meetingTanner Bowman and just be like,
yay, there's a lot of good guyshere.
So um decided to rush.
Now, prior to, um, my return toThailand, I found myself in a
similar situation.

(22:54):
I was wrapping up my junioryear.
Um, garrett was engaged, youwere with Jasmine.
I think Parker was datingsomeone, or he was just not
present in our apartment, tannerwas.
Tanner was like all of myfriends were in relationships,
engaged or married.
True, and I found myself likenot hanging out with anyone

(23:14):
because I was single and I waslike what the?
So I just finished my lastfinal.
I get back to the place onHarrison street and open up my
laptop, scrolling throughFacebook, and a guy served my
mission with had a post fromlike two weeks before, and he's
like hey, I work for thiscompany that does tech work for
this.
Uh, this company that teachesEnglish, um, through like video

(23:39):
calls.
Uh, worldwide big, mostly inChina, and they're looking to
expand to Thailand.
And they have like a Thaipartner and, in order to get in
the good graces of the Royalfamily, to get accepted as a
foreign business into thecountry, uh, they're looking for
a like an English tutor who'swilling to go and live in

(24:00):
Thailand.
And I was like, hey, man,what's this about this?
That sounds kind of interesting.
And he gave me a call.
He's like hey, they're prettydeep into the interview process
Just letting you know, but, uh,I'll put your name in and maybe
you'll, maybe we'll get a phonecall.
So I got a phone call, I thinkthe next day, and they just, and
that turned another interview,another interview, another

(24:21):
interview.
And then I got on the call, Ithink, with the vp of the
company and he's like we want tosend you, can you leave in two
weeks?
You know, I've got a carpayment, I've got, you know, the
rent, all that stuff, and I waslike, yes, like absolutely I'll
figure it out.
so I figured out someone to payfor half.
So my sister I was like I willlike you just pay for half.

(24:42):
So my sister I was like I willlike you just pay for half of
the car payment and I'll let youdrive it, just like, absolutely
.
So she did that, and then I wasable to find someone to take
over the remainder of my leaseand I just moved to Thailand.
So it turns out the guy that Iwas teaching English to is a
really um famous monk in town.

(25:03):
Who, how would you compare hisfame to someone here?
Like I feel like everyone inThailand knows who he is.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
Like and while you're thinking about that, yeah, Like
the Dalai.

Speaker 4 (25:11):
Lama of Thailand.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
Yeah, Well, cause I remember it was after you got
back and we went to get Thaifood at that place on 8th South,
like right by Liberty Park.
Yeah, and you I mean, as wealways happen when we went
anywhere Thai related like youstart talking to them.
And I could tell that you werestarting to talk to them about
when you were back in Thailandand the monk and like I saw
their like just kind of demeanorchange and one of them ran back

(25:33):
and came back with a picture ofhim and was like you like all
like, and people just keptcoming forward.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
I was like, so Pad Thai coming, or is it none?
I think it was at Chinon.
Yeah, he's.
Yeah, he's very famous.
Yeah, and um, I get there andhe's extremely busy, so he wants
to learn English, but, like,the time that I have to like
teach him English was like sosmall.
So what he?
When I met with him, he's like,look, I don't have a lot of
time.
What I want you to do is I wantyou to teach my, like my temple
ground staff how to um speakEnglish, or at least help them
to be better at it, because weget a lot of foreign visitors.

(26:17):
So, he, he, he's got thisbeautiful temple grounds called
right, shouldn't the one inChiang Rai?
It's like the most northernprovince of the country.
It's absolutely beautiful,mountainous terrain, jungle.
It's nice and cool, except inapril, but it's like super hot
there in april.
But, um, and it's absolutelybeautiful there, massive temple

(26:38):
grounds, got, he has, he ownsfarmland surrounded that he
brings like people, like morerural people in the area that
need work.
He come and teaches them how tofarm for free so they can go
get jobs at farms, like in theprovince.
Oh, cool, right, so, um, hedoes a lot of stuff like that.
He, he, uh, a lot of the moneythat gets donated to him, he, he

(27:01):
gives back you know hundreds ofthousands of dollars in
scholarships, like just a reallygood, influential person, right
.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
So and you just happened to like Facebook posts
like, oh, I'm going to go teachEnglish, but I don't know who
it's to or why.
And then all of a sudden you'relike and two weeks later.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
So at this point, okay, I guess I'm not going to
teach him, I'm going to teachthe staff, right?
So for the first like week ortwo, like I never really talked
to him.
I was just like meeting hisstaff, getting close with them.
And one day I was out with theChow Na the like the farmers,
and I was helping and I was likewhat are you guys doing?
They're like I'm plantingstrawberries.

(27:49):
I'm like can I help?
I had nothing to do, right.
So he in his like van thattransports him from the airport
back and forth he saw me in thefield like planting strawberries
, like harvesting, like workingin the field.
He's like, what is that whiteguy doing in the field?

Speaker 2 (28:00):
and so he called especially if you're like what
are you six, four, six, yeah, sothe six two guy in Thailand
working in a field I'm prettysure you stuck out.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
I had like the Asian Raiden hat on and everything
Like I was yeah, so he calls forme into like the.
There's this building that's amute, that's an art museum for
local artists that he likes topromote.
And so I go in there and I andI talk to him.
He's like what are you doingout there?
And I was just like, well, youtold me to teach your staff

(28:31):
english.
Like I thought I there's no oneelse, there was no one here.
And he's like, so you just likewent out, like it's like, do
all white people do this?
And I was like I don't know,like that's just what I'm doing.
Then he looks at me for like 10seconds without saying a word
and goes do you want to go toIndia?
I was like like he's just likeby India.
My, I was like like what, whatdo you mean?

(28:52):
Go to India, do you want to goto?

Speaker 2 (28:54):
he's like, he's like me, I'm a little busy teaching
English to some of the people inthe farm.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
Well, I was like I don't have any money, like
literally like I had no money,like the company that sent me
there was paying me a thousandbucks a month and that was going
to, um, my car payment, andlike just saving up so I could
go to school.
When I got back in for the nextsemester.
So, um, he, he's like no, no,don't worry about, we'll pay for

(29:32):
it.
Do you want to go?
Don't, I'm not asking you, canyou go?
I'm like, do you want to?
And I was like yes, I want togo to india.
He's like, okay, give me yourpassport.
And I like, go get my passport.
He hands it to his like monkassistant and he's like he'll
take care of it.
He'll go to the embassy.
You might need to fly tobangkok tomorrow.
We'll pay for your ticket.

(29:52):
I was like what is happening?
So then, two weeks later, I'm inindia and I spent a ton of time
with him, just like chattingwith him, teaching him english.
And then we started to getreally close.
Cool um, every morning with him, just like chatting with him,
teaching him English.
And then we started to getreally close, cool Um, every
morning with him we'd practiceEnglish, and then he started
teaching me, um, so here I'mjust going to unload with

(30:14):
content.
You can choose what to what tokeep.
So he, one day I'm teaching himEnglish and he's or like we're
practicing English, like talkingabout breakfast terms or
something like that, or he, he'dcome with he was he could get
by in English for sure, if youspeak slow, like he can get by.
He just wanted to like knowbetter grammar nuances.

(30:34):
Anyway, we are, um, we're justgoing through a normal morning
routine before the visitorsstart to arrive at his, at his
temple, and, um, he's juststaring at me.
I'm asking him questions.
He's not responding.
He's just like looking likedeep into my eyes, right, and I
was like what's up Me lie by,like did I say something wrong?

(30:59):
Or whatever.
He goes, yeah, he goes.
He's like Rubaiwa Cameron yeah,he goes.
He's like, which means like.

Speaker 4 (31:08):
Do you know why you're unhappy, do you?

Speaker 3 (31:09):
know why you're not happy right now.
And I was like what?
I'm hungry Seriously, bitch,you can't eat until the monks
are finished eating.
But anyway, a lot of cool rulesthat you figure out and like
new vocabulary and type met alot.
I'll get to that in a sec.
So, um he he, I was like no,why am I like?

(31:32):
Why am I not happy?
You know I wouldn't considermyself unhappy at the time, but
was I bursting with joy at thetime?

Speaker 2 (31:38):
No, and, of course, if there's this famous monk in
front of you, he's like do youknow why you're not happy?
The last thing you're going tobe is like no, go away, don't
like you know, yeah, for sure.

Speaker 3 (31:47):
So he's like.
He's like people who aredepressed are living in the past
too much.
Yes, and I was like, okay, hegoes, you're not depressed, but
let me tell you about it.
I was like, okay, I don't feeldepressed, and he goes.
People who are depressed arespending all of their time with
their thoughts in the past.

(32:08):
If it's focusing on somethingnegative, they're reliving the
worst parts of their life overand over again, or they're
focusing on better times thatare better than now.
And how could the best times ofyour life in the past compete
with the mundane of today?
He's like that's not you.
You don't struggle with thepast.
He's like you're unhappybecause you think about the

(32:29):
future too much, which causesanxiety.
Yeah, exactly so.
And I was like, all right, I'mgetting chills saying it.
I'm like he's like, okay, I'mlike all right, he's like you're
too worried about things that90% of them won't happen, and
the 10% that will happen youcan't prevent.
Now I'm getting chills, yeah,so I was like all right, this

(32:52):
makes sense to me.
And he goes what you need to dois just learn how to be in the
present.
Yes, and the best way to dothat is what I teach, is a way
of meditation, and I want you to, and for $59.99 a month, you
choose.

Speaker 2 (33:06):
I'm just kidding.

Speaker 3 (33:09):
And he, yeah, and he's like, do you want to learn?
I'm like, sure I'll learn,let's go.
And so he taught me how tomeditate and at first it was
tough but it became part of mymorning routine.
I'd wake up, I'd run like threemiles around the perimeter of
the temple grounds, I'd shower,I'd go teach him and then I'd

(33:32):
meditate and I started 15minutes but I was getting to two
hours in the morning, juststraight, no thoughts.
I love that.
I was so zenned out.
My hair was long, I had a manbun I was wearing like I don't
know I was so zen, right it was.
It was really cool.
But it taught me how to and Ithink it's stuck with me because

(33:52):
I I've never struggled with.
Luckily I've never had anyissues with depression, but like
when I'm feeling anxious, Iknow how to ground myself again,
even though I don't meditate.

Speaker 2 (34:04):
Those are great tools to have like because whatever
happens in life, there's alwaysgoing to be periods of high
anxiety or even, like I mean,bouts of depression.
Think about the past and like,being able to have those tools
is there and like.
So, when you were saying I wantto interject really quick, good
, I remember when I was in my20s, mid-20s and I was going to
therapy, for I mean, like I meanI was in and out of therapy and
big fan of it.

(34:24):
But I remember I heard mytherapist say the same thing,
because they're like I can tellbecause, like in my family
history, we have a lot ofanxiety and depression and they
said the like listen, like youget depressed and you think so
much about the past and youfixate on it and your anxiety is
thinking about the future.
And the best way to battle thatis to be as present as you can

(34:46):
in the moment.
And there's nothing that forcesyou to be present than
meditation, because it literallyis sitting still in the moment,
focusing on breathing, focusingon calming your brain, because
your brain's usually processingall that anxiety and all those
thoughts and bringing you backto that.
So I love that there's becauseobviously, like with mental
health and getting to a place ofpeace.

(35:07):
There's a lot of schools ofthought you can have, I mean
even like with you in Asianculture and literally sitting
across from a Buddhist monk, buta lot of the principles remain
the same, yeah, and so I lovethat you were able to find that
and find that peace, becauseeven like knowing you before
then, um, I mean I wouldn't lookat you and be like cam you're
depressed, cam you're like havehigh anxiety, but I wouldn't.

(35:28):
I knew that you could be abetter person and that there
were inner battles and a lot ofjust I mean storms, storms in
your head, and so I love thatthat experience not only kind of
set the foundation for the restof your life but also gave you
so much peace to help tacklethat was to come.

Speaker 3 (35:43):
Yeah, and I think a lot of it was just I've always
had lofty goals and, and I stilldo.
It's just I can't help butpoint to the future.
But what I found is like I liketo write down my goals of what
I want in the future and then Ithink about what do I have to do
now?
And then that kind of likegrounds me back to today.
Yeah, and whether or not ithappens, I'm okay with like

(36:05):
there's a, there's an element ofacceptance, because it's like
you can't control a lot of it.
And another part of this is itdoesn't have to be buddhist
meditation, it could be prayer,it can be Islam.
I mean, it can like you can.
There are techniques to getyourself in the present in a lot
of different ways.
I just found that what Ilearned with him was really

(36:28):
effective for me, reallyeffective.
So, um, I definitely gained waymore from that little adventure
than uh, than than he did,cause he's just so busy, like
his English got better, but yeah, he, he's just a really
generous, generous person, so,um.
So he started teachingmeditation.

(36:50):
We kept getting closer andcloser and just talking about
things.
He talked about his issues withBuddhism in Thailand and how he
wanted to change it and affectthe world.
What his goals were like a lotof really about things.
He talked about his issues withBuddhism in Thailand and how he
wanted to change it and affectthe world.
What his goals were like a lotof really cool things and being
with him so often like people inThailand started to take notice
.
Like the rumors about us inThailand are hilarious.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
Oh yeah, yeah, you want to tell them about that.
Oh yeah, let's hear it.

Speaker 3 (37:13):
So, because he there is a group of people in Thailand
that do not like this monk.
Yeah, like just like anyone,like there's a.
There's a.
There's a subset of any groupthat doesn't like any person.
True.

Speaker 4 (37:24):
And so for some reason, he thinks that the monk
is gay, like they think that themonk is gay, and so there would
be like pictures of Cameron andthe monk and it was like a
weird angle but it looks likethe monk is touching Cameron's
knee and so they were likemaking fun that like Cameron's,
like you know, the gay couplewith the monk there's a legit

(37:47):
rumor that people think that himand I are TMZ Thailand
spreading rumors.

Speaker 3 (37:51):
Yeah, exactly so, um, that was always fun, but anyway
started to take notice.

Speaker 2 (37:57):
I started meeting some really cool, important
people like some of those, somelike uh, what are some of those
people, would you say?

Speaker 3 (38:05):
just, uh, like people high up.
So thailand right now is run bythe military, so I met I never
met the prime minister, but Imet like his like right hands
you know what I mean like likehis second hands, the head of
the military police, and like alot of celebrities, like a
couple of celebrities Thaicelebrities got married at Rai
Chintawan and they have foreignfans and so I would translate

(38:29):
for, like the person running thewedding Cool, you know so
little things like that.
Cool, you know so little thingslike that.
Um, there's also big eventsthat happen at his, at his
temple grounds, and TV their TVstations would come.
So I'm, this is going somewhere.
This is kind of like how I metYing and then how I kept Okay,
so this is when you met thefirst.

Speaker 2 (38:50):
Okay, because I couldn't remember if it was this
or the next one.
But yeah, keep going, so TVwould come.

Speaker 3 (39:03):
So I've started meeting people high up in, like
the big television stations.
Just because I was with him,they're like who is this guy?
And then they'd come up andlike who are you?
Like this is interesting, thisis interesting, like you know,
um, a talent, yeah, and thenwhen I, and every once in a
while, like the monk, would takea few days off and he'd like go

(39:23):
down to Bangkok, go see yourfriends in Bangkok, right, and
so I'd meet up with people thatI had met, it was really fun, so
one of the so.
And then also he started takingme to different countries with
him, because he has followerskind of all over the world, and
he'll set up events and then hisfollowers will come see him in
the places where he need.
And it was really beneficialfor him that I was there,

(39:45):
because I, would you know, puton headphones and have a mic and
everyone who didn't speak Thaiput on headphones.
I translate.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
So what are some of these places you went to, or
some of the highlights?

Speaker 3 (39:57):
So I went to Japan.
That was my favorite.
Haven't been back since, but wewill go soon.
I'll tag along for that one.
It's the best dude.
Unreal, like, surreal, likejust so many wallpapers on my
computer.

Speaker 2 (40:12):
You're just slowly checking off your like high
school wallpaper.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
Seriously, I just remember in Kyoto we walked up
and I turned the corner and Isaw the gold pavilion, which is
this beautiful gold buildingnext to a like a little pond
during cherry blossom season.
Like I was just like, how am Ihere?
Yeah, like, pinch me, like, andI'm not paying for any of it.

(40:37):
Even better you know I was justlike this is.
It was why it was crazy.
It was so surreal.
Yeah.
So, um, and I'm Myanmar, laos,so I got into me.
I don't know if I can.
Anyway, I got into Myanmarwithout a passport, so it's the
only country I've been to that Idon't have proof of it, fbi,
we've got them.
Yeah.

(40:58):
So we got to the border and Iwas like I forgot my passport
and the monk's, like doesn'tmatter.
And he went and talked topeople at the border and just
let me through.
So, myanmar, laos, cambodia,japan.
And then, near the end of mystay, he invited me to go to

(41:18):
Europe for three months with himand I didn't go and I'll get to
that in just a sec.
But when I got back from Japan,there was a big event at the
temple grounds where they wereordaining a bunch of novice
monks, like 300 or somethinglike that.
Tv was there, celebrities werethere, big events.
So Ying, my beautiful wife, herfamily is very famous in

(41:42):
Thailand.
Um, she's the youngest of fiveand her four older brothers are
pop stars and two of them aremovie stars.

Speaker 2 (41:51):
So, um, I don't know why my brain just like when you
say that just goes to just likeBTS, that you see them, and I
guess I've like seen pictures ofher brother.
So it kind of is more or lesstrue, but yeah, totally.

Speaker 3 (42:02):
Yeah, that's it, dude , Like seriously like golf and
Mike.

Speaker 4 (42:05):
In their times.

Speaker 3 (42:06):
In their time and they're doing a reunion tour in
December, which is why we'regoing back.
But give me a T-shirt.
So we, so, uh, we where was Iat, so my mom forced me to this

(42:27):
event, I usually don't like togo up north.

Speaker 2 (42:28):
She's not a religious person I mean, I am buddhist,
so let's pause here for a second.
So so I love that now you getto come in, because you're an
amazing person and I lovehearing from cam, but I love
hearing from both of you too, sogive us a picture of like what
your life is like at this point.
Like, what are you doing?
Where are you spending yourtime?

Speaker 4 (42:40):
So I just barely graduated um school, and it was
in 2015.
I think college or high school.
Sorry, it was college.

Speaker 2 (42:50):
Okay, and what did you study there?

Speaker 4 (42:52):
I was in arts faculty and it's like language and
culture, because that's the onlyone that I can get in.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
At Jula, though, yeah , but it's like a like.

Speaker 4 (43:04):
It's a really good like school.
And then I was kind of workingwith my dad a little and he owns
like a leather company,handbags and stuff like that.
But it wasn't serious, Verysuccessful, it wasn't anything
serious just because you knowI'm the daughter of the owner,

(43:24):
so it's like you can go anywhereyou want.
But yeah, back then I wasn'tdoing anything much, Just being
like a young girl kind of kindof.

Speaker 2 (43:38):
And then just having your little hot girl summer
moment.
Do you had a boyfriend?

Speaker 4 (43:42):
I don't have a boyfriend, but it was just
something.
I was someone, I was involvedwith gotcha, and so my mom loves
forcing me to buddhist events,especially with this event,
which is like 200 novice monk,which will give you such good
karma like you have to go haveto go, yeah.

(44:03):
So, and you have to meet thismonk.
He's so famous, it's so hard tomeet him, we have to go.
So I was like, okay, I'm justgonna go.
So I went there.
And then once we got there, um,we talked to the monk and then
he called Cameron in to come andtake care of us and, like,
showed us around.
I met him and I was like, oh,cute boy.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
She did not treat me like this.
She was so in me.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
Yeah, so games are the same games in any language
and country.

Speaker 3 (44:35):
I'm eating breakfast with the staff in the back of
this building that he's Rupkag.
What is that in?

Speaker 4 (44:41):
English, Just like you know, for guests.

Speaker 3 (44:44):
So he'll sit in a room and people will come in one
by one where they chance tomeet him.
He was just doing that, so herand her mom came and then he's
like, hey, go get Cameron.

Speaker 2 (44:55):
Why he knows what he's doing.
He's like listen, cam prettygirl.

Speaker 4 (44:59):
Like the third, like the second time we met.
He said something really likeweird.

Speaker 3 (45:05):
Yeah, we'll get to that.
Yeah, we'll get to that.

Speaker 4 (45:08):
So Cameron got there and he started speaking Thai and
I was like, oh, you speak Thai.
And then Cameron was like, oh,your English is really good.
And so I looked at him with aside eye, kind of rolled my eyes
, and I was like, yeah, and inmy head I thought you think Thai

(45:29):
people can't speak English.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
I was like I've met so many Thai people and they
cannot speak English like youcan Do.

Speaker 4 (45:36):
You think you ride buffles.

Speaker 2 (45:37):
He's like.
You're absolutely right.
Your English is amazing.
I've experienced all of this.

Speaker 4 (45:43):
Yeah.
So yeah, do you want?

Speaker 3 (45:44):
to tell them how you got your accent.

Speaker 4 (45:47):
Well, I go to American school and and what,
what show?
Oh, and I watch Gossip Girls.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
So Axe, yeah, and she would copy Blair.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
I was going to ask if you were a Blair fan.
Yeah, so I speak anotherlanguage and the way I speak
Spanish is very different thanthe way I speak English and
almost like my personality isdifferent.
Your personality changes.
Yeah, and it's alwaysinteresting because if I could
go back, I would almost be likeall right now, who am I gonna

(46:21):
emulate?
Because I speak very mexicanspanish but like to be able to
be like learning english, beinglike british no american, no
this, oh blair, blair yeah,let's do this because it's like
lively right, I am blair like no, it's not.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
Like yeah, yeah so, um, so, you meet there.
She rolls her eyes at me andI'm like oh, attitude doesn't
scare him and so I I'm walkingaround her and her mom, showing
her the temple grounds,explaining things, and they do
not anything.
Is your mom like no, no, I am adick.

(46:47):
What we're not like, you're adick what deck.
What a temple boy.
I am not an eligible bachelor,for her daughter Got it.

Speaker 4 (46:55):
Yeah, and also like he's white, so he's not an
eligible son-in-law.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
Multiple boxes not checked for what would be
considered eligible.

Speaker 3 (47:07):
Not Chinese background, not from an
extremely wealthy family.

Speaker 4 (47:13):
Just not what she.

Speaker 2 (47:14):
She's just enjoying the tour with the temple boy of
this famous monk, yeah.

Speaker 4 (47:18):
And also like he's not Buddhist.
My mom was like why are you notconverted yet?

Speaker 3 (47:24):
Yeah, that was a common question, so I'd never
like have considered myselfBuddhist.
We don't need to get into why.
But she's just like what areyou?
I was like I don't know, Ithink I'm like more culturally
Christian, I've got a lot ofChristian values, and she goes,
what do Christians believe?
And I kind of explained it andshe's just like you can't be
forgiven of sin.
You know, she would just likeI'm like yeah, my mom is my mom.

(47:47):
Yeah, she's very straightforward.
I'm like, okay, that's fine,convert you right now.
It's just answering yourquestions.
But yeah, she she's not givingme the time of day and the event
starts and there's a ton ofpeople there and it's like a
religious place is not a reallygood place to flirt.
So, especially when you're thelike guy who's right next and

(48:13):
like doing the events with theperson who runs the place,
what's it called the deck?
Wall, yeah the deck, what thedeck what?

Speaker 4 (48:18):
yeah kid temple it was kind of hard because like,
yeah, it was under the templeand like my mom's there and
everything, my brother's there,my grandma's there, and I'm just
like, okay, how do I, how do Ido this?

Speaker 2 (48:31):
yeah, so the next day it's like mission impossible of
flirting religious place.
Family's all there.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
Multi-generational always like right next to me,
like there's no way.
And there's this one time wewere just sitting in the back of
like a golf cart, just the twoof us, and my mom was doing
something, and so we were justlike chatting and to the point
where I was like, so do you havea facebook?

Speaker 3 (48:54):
not on.
It wasn't on the golf cart,though.
It was in the forest with allthe rubber trees and everyone
was piling out.
The event was over and I wasjust sitting on this like
turquoise chair and I wassitting there too and then you
come over it's like so do youhave a facebook or something?
No, we were chatting.

Speaker 4 (49:10):
Oh, we were.
Um, we were like kind of okay,have you been to bangkok?
Blah blah.
And then I was like, well, ifyou come to Bangkok, you should
hit me up.
Do you have a Facebook?

Speaker 2 (49:20):
Yes, Ying the power move he would make a move and I
was in.
I'm sure, cam, you're in aposition where you can't oh, I
made plenty of moves after thatwere Well, I mean, like in that
situation you probably weren'tin a place where you're like,
hey, like what's your whatsapp?
Or like you know, likesomething that in most places
would be, but because of all ofthese other dynamics, you're
like, yeah, probably not gonnawork.

(49:41):
So, yeah, I wasn't at sigma chi.

Speaker 4 (49:43):
Yes, I couldn't just like make a move, you know so he
is that I grew up super shy andthe time that I met him was the
time that I was trying tochange myself.
It's the time that I feel likeI need to start being the first
one to make moves, to like makethings happen.
So I made a move by asking forhis Facebook.

(50:03):
Maybe we could meet up inBangkok, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (50:07):
Very innocent too.
Like you could meet up and dowhatever, like it's nothing
romantic.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
So I went onto her Facebook and started liking all
of her pictures of her in abikini.
So there was, so there was nomistake.
So there was no mistake that Iwas interested, right?

Speaker 1 (50:21):
I love that so much.

Speaker 3 (50:22):
So why don't you tell them what you would do?
So when I was there, I did haveopportunity to.
I mean, a flight round tripfrom Chiang Rai to Bangkok at
the time was like 60, 30 bucks,if you like.
Bought it four days in advance,60 bucks day of yeah Right, it
was cheap.

Speaker 4 (50:38):
So after that time we met, I went up again to the
temple.

Speaker 3 (50:43):
Why.

Speaker 4 (50:44):
In July To like yeah, Well, there was a chance
because my brother was going upthere to for like a small event,
and so I was like you know what, I'll go with you.

Speaker 2 (50:54):
I'll go with you, brother.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
There's no other ulterior motive and I had told
the staff.
The head of the staff, vrung.
Yeah, if she shows up, let meknow.
I'm like anytime she shows up,let me know.
Right, and she showed up.

Speaker 4 (51:09):
And they let you know .
That's where the weird thingthe monk said was because we
were sitting right next to himand he said you two should get
married no, he said.

Speaker 3 (51:18):
He said you two are, so he's.

Speaker 4 (51:20):
He's sitting there and you guys were donating his
lunch or something yeah, we weredonating lunch and we also, uh,
donate like a big bell for thethat's right yeah, that's right,
it's still there family nameyeah, it's still there.

Speaker 2 (51:34):
Family name yeah, it's still there.

Speaker 3 (51:35):
I'm thinking like Liberty Bell, like like bell
bell, yeah, but it's like aBuddhist bell, Okay, right, and
it's beautiful, absolutelybeautiful.
So um and then um.
Also Mike was.

Speaker 4 (51:46):
Mike is my brother.

Speaker 3 (51:46):
Was asking was asking to be a monk with him, or
accepting an invitation, orsomething like that.

Speaker 4 (51:51):
Something along that line, yeah.

Speaker 3 (52:00):
So I'm along that line.
Yeah, so I'm, I'm at again.
I am with this monk like almost24, like all day, right.
So I'm just like helping withthis event and I'm just sitting
there, um, and then he's givinga talk to her family and then
all of a sudden just says thatying and I are going to get
married in the future and welike looking at each other which
is like this is what, like thesecond time I have met and like
obviously cam by now isobviously interested, ying is
interested, but to have someonebe like you're going to get

(52:22):
married and her mom was like mymom wasn't there.

Speaker 2 (52:26):
No, no.
What did Mike say?
Did he hear this?

Speaker 4 (52:28):
He didn't hear this, he didn't care.

Speaker 3 (52:30):
He's got other things going on.
Yeah, he's super busy.
So, and then another cool thingwe in one of the what's a sala?
What is that?
Tamasapah, what was that?
I don't know?
It's like a building on thegrounds where everyone was
eating lunch.
And who took the photo of you?

Speaker 4 (52:48):
One of my brother's friend, who was there as well,
took a photo of us like sittingand just like like we're sitting
next to each other and we'rechatting.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
And I have a nervous habit when I'm nervous, I pick
my calluses on my same fromworking out and in this photo,
like I'm just picking a land,pick an oil, yeah, but like the
eye contact that we have in thephoto is just like it's
something yeah for sure so.
So every time I go to bangkok Ihit her up and she would either

(53:21):
ignore me, not come, or, in therare time when she would come
hang out with me, she wouldbring a friend or two I would.

Speaker 4 (53:29):
I'd never not come, but I would always bring to me
why was that?
It's easier to get out fair andalso it's like why, like, why
would you want to go and likehave something more, when he's
not here, he's in america?
Yeah like there's totally, Ijust wanted to go yeah there's

(53:54):
no chance.
And yeah, and also one morething is that because of how
close he is with the monk andhow like my brothers are famous,
I just don't want to be likethe talk you didn't want to end
up because the next thing on tmzthailand

Speaker 2 (54:14):
the gay monk is now interested in Mike and Golf's
sister.

Speaker 4 (54:17):
Yeah, like we don't know if he's going to talk or
anything, so like it's better tojust you know date someone who
doesn't know anyone.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
Yeah, yeah, so nothing really like we were
Snapchat friends Snapchat, Idon't know if that's still big,
but yeah, no-transcript.

(54:57):
Um, I got to a point where Ijust started to feel like I
needed to do something with mylife, like the part of my life
where school partying adventureI had checked off so many boxes
that I was like I feel like it'stime for me to get to work.
I want to, I want to accomplishsomething now.

(55:22):
And I felt like if I went toEurope for three months with
this monk all expenses paid,seeing you know, england, france
, spain like and he stays at,like his followers donate enough
to make sure he's stays in verycomfortable places and I felt

(55:46):
like, like, like, um, I feltlike if I accepted that I was
signing up long-term, yeah Right.
And I was like, well, I couldstay here for another three
months, but after Europe I comeback, I'm going to want to go
home and I can't just go toEurope and then peace.

(56:08):
Yeah, like I can't do there nowor you're in for the long haul.
I'm in now and I'm here for afew years at least is what I was
thinking.
So I was like, I went up and Iwas like thank you so much for
your offer.
And I told him how I felt, um,but I want to go home and
accomplish something.
And he gave me his blessing.
He's like, absolutely, youalways have a home here, which
is something he says every timewe go see him.
Um, he's like, right, chintawanis your home.

(56:30):
So anytime you need to likeground yourself and come home,
it's always here.
So word got out that I wasleaving and, uh, I don't have a
manager or anything, or a cellphone or anything like that.
I may have my cell phone, but Idon't have a tie number or
anything.
Um, so, uh, some ex anexecutive at a TV station in

(56:54):
Bangkok heard I was leaving andcontacted a member of the staff,
one of the leaders of the staffat the temple, and asked her to
ask me if I could meet withthem in Bangkok before I leave.
And I was like what, for?
She's like I have no idea.
Okay, so I go meet with them andthey come out and with an
English speaker and I startspeaking Thai and the

(57:16):
executive's like Whoa your Thaiis really good, like okay, cool,
well, we have a, a treatmentlike prescript, but as an idea
for a show and it's about awhite guy from New York who
becomes a monk and would you beinterested in playing that role?

(57:37):
And I was like I've never actedbefore, I've never had any
aspirations for acting before.
Sure, like let's do it.
Yeah.
And they're like, okay, well,it's still in the early stages,
it may not happen, but if itmoves forward and if you know
every like if we can get fundedand like there's an interest for
the premise, um, no-transcript,this is.

(58:11):
And then this.
And I moved back in with my momand then Tanner got cancer, so
he moved in with, he moved backhome, and then I moved in with
Scott and while I was livingwith Scott, I got contacted to
do the TV show.
Like we're going to start, likein in a few months, like you in

(58:31):
, and so we negotiated terms andI went and started a TV show
and while I was there before Ishaved my head.
So first they flew me out toNew York to film all the, all
the scenes of my character there.
And that was my first time inNew York and I was like I'll be
back here.
I love this city so that thatlike planted the New York seat
in my head, new York seat in myhead.

(58:52):
And so then the TV station flewme out, they put room and board
, and and is this in Bangkok?

Speaker 2 (59:00):
or was it?

Speaker 3 (59:07):
It was in Bangkok, yeah, so we filmed some of it at
the temple grounds that Istayed with, um, cause once one.
One thing that they did is, uh,to help get funding.
Is the monk that I taughtactually helped with the story
idea?
Yeah, so once it started to getpicked up, he got involved and
a lot of it was filmed there, um, but most of it was in Bangkok
or just outside of Bangkok.
So my schedule was on, let'ssee.

(59:29):
So Monday morning they'd pickI'd have like a team pick me up
at around 4 30 AM, yeah, andthen we drive out to where we
were filming that day and wewould get there coffee,
breakfast, everything, do a runthrough script, reading all that

(59:50):
stuff, make sure everyone wason the same page, and then we'd
start filming until about seven,8 PM at at night.
Well, that's a long day, longday, um, and that would be
monday, tuesday, wednesday,thursday four days in a row of
this.
So it was like 60 hours in fourdays yeah, 4, 30 to 8, 30 every
day.
Yeah, that's really brutal, sonot easy work, believe it or not

(01:00:11):
.
So, and then on friday eveningI would get the scripts of the
scenes that we would be shootingfor monday, tuesday, wednesday,
thursday, the next week so, andthe scripts were all in thai,
no english.

Speaker 2 (01:00:27):
My thai started to get really good it's gonna say
because, like, if anybody's everlearned a language like,
especially like from myperspective of mission, like you
learn that vocabulary reallywell, like I could talk religion
with anybody very fluently.
But then it's like oh hey, youwant to talk about manufacturing
.
Take me a sec you have to ask alot of words, but then a lot of

(01:00:47):
vocab you have to learn so it'slike now you have like your
mission vocabulary, you haveyour like your monk vocabulary
and kind of all that whichexpanded a ton, and now it's
like pop culture vocabulary ofyou like your monk vocabulary
and kind of evolved out whichexpanded a ton, and now it's
like pop culture vocabulary.
So I'm sure it's just at thispoint I mean as good as native
almost.

Speaker 3 (01:01:00):
And, um, the monk that I played, uh, Steve, like
Steve monk speak in a higherlanguage.
So there was a ton of vocab Ihad to learn.
So I would spend Friday evening, all day Saturday and a little
bit of Sunday.
It was like my, okay, I've doneenough, but I would just like
memorize my lines and practicelike all day, Cause I did not

(01:01:23):
want to show up on set and andand slow things down, Right?
So, um, I did that and then on,like when I would have downtime
and whatnot, I would hit upYing, and anytime she'd come see
me for lunch or coffee orsomething, she'd bring a friend
and I was just like man always afriend.
Yeah, she'd always bring afriend.
So um did the TV show and, uh,after the TV show, work gets

(01:01:51):
crazy, cause then you're doing aton of interviews and morning
TV shows like talk shows andstuff and like going around.
Um, and then that was finishedand then the show aired and I
moved back to the U?
S again.

Speaker 2 (01:02:07):
And the thing I like.
So it was always interestingtoo, cause, like back in Utah, I
mean, we knew this was allhappening and he'd send us
pictures and we'd like the showwould go live and we'd go to
Scott's apartment and we'd watchit and like, none of us speak
Thai.
So we're just kind of liketrying to piece together the
plot based on what we're seeingand keep in mind, like, so up
until this point, cam had, Imean, long hair when he was in
Thailand.
He, I mean, it was always justby nature, he kind of always has

(01:02:31):
been, and we turn it on and allof a sudden he is like shaved
bick bald.
Yeah, eyebrows, eyebrows,shaved bald.
So like what did he get himselfinto?
But like also just likewatching this and giggling and
trying to figure it all out.

Speaker 3 (01:02:46):
So I was so scared, my hair wasn't going to grow
back.
I would like look in the mirrorlike, oh, is it gone?

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
forever like look in the?

Speaker 3 (01:02:55):
mirror like, oh, is it gone forever?
What have I done?
Yeah, speaking of anxiety,seriously talk about, uh, it was
crazy.
So, um, I took that money and Imoved home and my intent was to
finish school.
I'd why I still have onesemester left.
I never finished classic and soI was like you know what?
That was fun.
Maybe I should start the suitthing again.

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
Yeah, you know so I've again, because, like you
had this experience in thailandwhere, like you found I mean
probably oversimplified, but youfound yourself, you found more
grounding, um had all theseexperiences that you knew you
wanted to check off.
Those are done and now you havethis kind of like itch to
scratch, of like okay, now it'stime to build my life, build my,

(01:03:32):
my empire.
And now you're like all right,let's go back to the suit thing
and see what we can do.

Speaker 3 (01:03:36):
Yeah, Cause I knew I enjoyed it.
I and I felt I don't know, Ifelt like maybe I'll do this,
let's try it.
So I put, I took the money thatI got from, uh, the TV show,
which was more money than I'veever had in my life, but still
like it wasn't like lifechanging in that sense, Like oh,
I'm but gave you a little bitof freedom in life to make a
couple of decisions, yeah.

(01:03:57):
So I was like I'm going to takea good chunk of this money, I'm
going to put it into Googleadvertising.
And I started to get reallybusy.
And then they hit me up.
I got contacted again, the showgot renewed for a second season
and I was like all right, let'sdo it.
So, negotiating, I was gettingpaid like triple what I got paid
before and I was like is thisgoing to turn into something?

(01:04:19):
You know?
And I get there and it was likea week before we started
shooting and the, the yeah, theKing of Thailand passed away,
which, if you know anythingabout the Thai culture and the
Royal family is, it's veryrevered, especially the ninth
king.
He, he was the king for what?

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
70 years, something like that so it's almost like
the queen of england dying, buttiger bigger, bigger it's like,
yeah, it's like jesus dying dude.

Speaker 3 (01:04:45):
It was mourning in the streets like all television
production, like tv shows weretaken off and it every station
was just tributes to him.
24, 7.
Yeah, black and white, no color.
Nobody's wearing anything butblack Doing their day-to-day
work.
Wow, it was crazy.
Like so everything got put on ahiatus and I saw bills at home.

(01:05:07):
I saw the business I'm runningat home, like I.
You can't take a hiatus and Ijust started running out of
money.
I'm running at home, you can'ttake a hiatus, and I just
started running out of money, soI stayed waiting for it and the
TV station kept saying like no,it'll come back.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
Of course they're just like, yeah, just wait.

Speaker 3 (01:05:20):
Next week I'd been there for three months and I'm
like I have $5,000 left in myname, Like I need to buy a
ticket home, all this stuff.
So I haven't, yeah, and likethe company's not.

Speaker 2 (01:05:35):
And during this time where you're waiting for this to
happen, are you seeing Ying atall or are you just mostly just?

Speaker 3 (01:05:39):
focused on the store.
No, I'd given up on Ying atthis point, so uh and so Ying
like so during this time.

Speaker 2 (01:05:46):
So you had gone, so you graduated from school,
working for your dad a littlebit.
And so, during this time, likewhat were you doing, um, in your
own life?

Speaker 4 (01:05:57):
so I was trying to work with my dad but because of
how the company is set up it isso hard to try to change them
we've got a special guest umtheir youngest dot.
Well, only daughter now, lizzie, who just woke up from a nap
yep, trying to work with my dadstill, but it was hard to change

(01:06:18):
how the company was structuredand with, like, older people and
older workers they don't wantto change yeah they don't want
you to go in and change things.
So so between those years that Imet, cam was 2015 to 20, like

(01:06:43):
17, 18.
It was just me trying to workwith them but not working, and
so I was traveling most of thetime, to be honest, pretty much
not doing anything productive.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
Yeah but fun stuff nonetheless.
And is this like when youstarted posting some of your
like travel stuff to youtube?

Speaker 4 (01:07:00):
no, not yet I didn't start youtube until I started
dating him.
He was the one who convinced meto start a youtube channel.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, he was the one who saidlike hey, like you have a lot of
things that you want to share,like why didn't, why don't you
start a youtube channel?
Like people would watch youryoutube channel.
And I was like no, they won't.
And like I can't speak in frontof a camera, like I can't do

(01:07:23):
that yeah, and it's.

Speaker 2 (01:07:24):
It's so funny.
You say that because the likethe gang I know now because I
mean I watch your youtube videosand like subscribe.
And it's funny now because ifyou watch those YouTube videos I
would never guess that you'relike I don't want to be on
camera, I don't like this.

Speaker 4 (01:07:37):
Yeah, I mean, I'm not like.
I'm a person who, like I don'tlike going on, like I don't like
doing presentations in front ofa lot of people.
I get nervous if I'm on stageor anything like that.
So it took me a while to getused to being on camera and
talking to the camera alone.

Speaker 3 (01:07:56):
Well, tell them what your uncle.

Speaker 4 (01:07:59):
just a lot of the belittling and stuff, just
because my uncle, who I don'tknow, I don't think if it's
jealous or anything, that he'sjealous of how my dad is

(01:08:23):
successful and like my mom ishaving like a good life.
So he likes to tell he saidsomething to my mom that I heard
and it was like your daughteris good at many things, but not
specifically like anything.
She's like a duck, like she cando a lot of things, but they're
not like like she's not thebest at anything.

(01:08:44):
You're like thank you and I'mlike is that true?

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
And she like took that to heart.
I mean, yeah, it's like anuncle, it's like family.
I was like eight.
That'll sit with you for awhile.

Speaker 4 (01:08:59):
And he loves bragging about, like his daughters, how
they get A's and stuff like that.
And I've never been good atschool Like I've never liked
school.
And I'm good at other things,like selling stuff online.
Like when my brother was famous, I would go into my dad's um

(01:09:21):
factory and like make braceletand sell it to them like the
fans yeah, and then sure theyjust bought it all yeah, like
I'm good at like those stuff,but I'm not good at school.

Speaker 3 (01:09:35):
She's a really good entrepreneur.
Talk about Garrett Popcorn.

Speaker 4 (01:09:38):
Oh.
So I went to a show with mybrother, like a TV show, and I
won like a like a kind of like aprice, and it was like three
hundred dollars, and threehundred dollars was a lot for me
back then and I was like, oh,what am I going to do with this
money?
So I went to get some popcornand it was Garrett popcorn from

(01:10:03):
Chicago and I was like, why isthis thing so expensive?
It's like 12 bucks for like asmall box.
And so I tasted it and I waslike holy crap You're're like.

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
It all makes sense now.
Like what kind?

Speaker 4 (01:10:15):
of popcorn.
Is this like I need this.
So I was like maybe I can getit to come here and like sell it
too.
Like maybe I can like import it.
So I started looking and wewent to my family and I we went
to Hong Kong so I got about likeI used that money that I went
to the show and got the priceand spent all of it on popcorns

(01:10:40):
and brought it back home fromthat trip and started an
Instagram, started postingonline, having my brothers hold
it and, just like all hiscelebrities friend posted.
I started taking orders.
And then I know that I, likeone of my friend, just started
to like study abroad inSingapore, and so on the

(01:11:04):
weekends I was like, hey, canyou do me a favor, can you go to
the mall?
Can you get the manager'scontact from Garrett popcorn?
And she did.
And so I reached out to her andI was like can I place an order
from you and have you guysdeliver it to my dad's shipping
company?
And they're like, yeah, sure.

(01:11:25):
And so I didn't use any moneyto like like I only use that
$300 to invest in it, but Iwould take orders from the
customer and have them pay halffirst, so basically that half of
the money would fund the order.
And I was making like $10,000.

(01:11:46):
Yeah, and so that time I was incollege and it was to the point
where I was like I don't careabout college anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:11:56):
I care about exams.
You can go make money sellingpopcorn.

Speaker 4 (01:11:59):
Yeah, I'm just going to sell popcorns.
And yeah, I just startedselling it to the point where I
wanted to bring the franchiseinto Thailand.
But the manager told me, likedon't do it, it's not worth it.
Like, once it's good, thecompany's going to come in and
take over.
Like don't do it, it's notworth it.

(01:12:19):
Like, once it's good, thecompany's going to come in and
take over.
Like, just don't do, it Makessense.
So I was like, okay, fine, Iguess I'm just gonna do it for
fun.
And then people started copyingand doing the same stuff.
So much like so manycompetitors.

Speaker 2 (01:12:27):
So it was always a good sign that you're doing
something right.

Speaker 4 (01:12:29):
Yeah, it was good, a good sign, but also, like I was
in my third year of college andI was like, okay, I need to, I
need to finish this right.
It was a really tight thingwhere you need, you need to
finish college.

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
so how much did you work?

Speaker 4 (01:12:44):
what do you mean?

Speaker 3 (01:12:45):
like, weren't you like up all day your dad's yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:12:47):
I was up all day, I was just you know not going not
going yeah, I'm obsessed.
I'm not like studying anymore,but I have good friends, so they
would like help me study.

Speaker 2 (01:12:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:13:00):
And I like passed, like at like 51%, like just
barely passed, C's get degreesLike barely passing.
I'm lucky that my parents arenot super strict.
Yeah, as long as you pass,you're fine.

Speaker 2 (01:13:17):
And you did.

Speaker 4 (01:13:19):
And I did.

Speaker 2 (01:13:19):
Yeah, that's awesome.

Speaker 4 (01:13:22):
Yeah.
And then when I met Cam,started dating him.
That's when I actually grew up,yeah.
So I am not proud of this, butI would say that I was a really
spoiled kid, like during thosethree years after college.
I would just go on trips.

(01:13:42):
I would go to New York, I wouldgo to Paris.
I would just go on trips Withdaddy's credit card.

Speaker 3 (01:13:49):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (01:13:50):
With daddy's credit card and I mean, and I always
thought that I will always havedaddy's credit card.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
And like at this point in life you're like okay,
like family's pretty successful,I can do all these fun things
without too much work.
I'll probably marry someonefamous from Thailand and just
kind of continue.
This Is that kind of what youexpected at that point.

Speaker 4 (01:14:10):
Yeah, like I would probably marry someone from a
good family in Thailand and likethings would be okay, like you
don't have to worry about money,even though I know that my
dad's company is kind of likestruggling at that point.
But I always thought he willfigure it out.
He's smart, he'll figure it out, no problem, and he works up
he's 70.

Speaker 3 (01:14:31):
He still works like crazy yeah he's 70 right now.