Orchard Tower disco was his first business venture. Today, he also owns:

• Two multi-million-dollar resorts
• A $2m shopping complex
• A $4.7m plane

IT was a roomful of suits at the Tanglin Club on a Tuesday afternoon.

At the Deli Lounge where businessmen conferred over single malt whiskies and gourmet sandwiches, one man stood out, and it's not just because of his ponytail.

For this is the man who once made the headlines when he held an indoor barbecue - roasting a 240kg ox - on the dance floor of his Orchard Towers disco, Top Ten.

Crazy fellow, you may say.

Photo by:Mohd Ishak

If you don't know Swiss expatriate Peter Bader any better, you wouldn't be able to tell that he is an audacious explorer and avid trailblazer underneath his calm, soft-spoken and plainly-dressed exterior.

It is this same daring 'crazy' streak that launched his $12 million hotel business in Koh Samui, Thailand.

And the same get-up-and-go fearless spirit that sees him flying his own plane halfway across the world when he wants to get from Singapore to the US - with his family on board, no less.

Over a cup of Earl Grey tea, the club operator talked about his wilder pursuits - he is a licensed pilot and proud owner of a $4.7m Socata TMB 700 six-seater aircraft.

'I got my flying licence in the Philippines in 1988,' said the 52-year-old father of two teenage sons, 'and I bought my first plane the next year. I fly to Koh Samui thrice a month for business, sometimes with my kids.'

Koh Samui resorts

Koh Samui was where this high-flier built his first resorts, Blue Lagoon and Beachcomber, in 1990 and 1991 respectively, at a time when the sleepy island off Thailand was not known to many tourists.

'Pattaya and Phuket were the first two choices I considered but the land prices were costly, so I settled for Koh Samui,' he said.

At that time, there was only a ferry terminal on the island, he recalled.

'There were no flights because the airport wasn't ready.

'But I was optimistic that it would be as famous as Bali. I struggled with poor occupancy rates for five years - it was only 35 per cent full.'

'In the sixth year, the resorts finally saw a healthy growth,' he said. There was more publicity on Koh Samui and he started working with travel agents to promote the resorts to travellers from Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Located at the popular Chaweng Beach, the 75-room Blue Lagoon resort is a four-star accommodation with a sprawling land area of 430,556 sq ft. It was built at a cost of $7.8m.

The Beachcomber resort, a three-star hotel with 60 rooms, cost $4.7m.

Both resorts have indoor and outdoor restaurants, pools, bars and Thai-style villas.

At that time, Mr Bader was also running the successful Top Ten disco in Singapore, the equivalent of Velvet Underground today. He set up the nightclub in 1983 when he was 29.

Born to a homemaker mother and businessmen father who is the founder of Mistral - the famous brand for windsurfing boards in Zurich - Mr Bader said the hospitality business runs in his veins.

He is also the head of the alumni for the prestigious Ecole Hotelier de Lausanne in Switzerland where he graduated in the '70s.

'My first job was that of a cook,' he said with a hearty laugh. 'I worked as a waiter, concierge, at the front desk, and more - to be an all-rounder.'

It was his posting to Orchard Parade Hotel in 1982 that brought him to Singapore.

He worked at the hotel for a year before he opened Top Ten.

He recalled: 'I met Dr Goh Poh Seng who then owned the Rainbow Lounge at Ming Arcade. That was how I got into the nightclub business.'

At 36, Mr Bader already had it all - the club, hotels and private jet.

It must have been easy for him to lead a rock 'n' roll lifestyle, but the hotelier laughed at the suggestion.

Not flashy sort

'I'm a boring man who spends his time reading books on architecture, hotels and aviation. I'm not the flashy sort,' he declared.

And you are inclined to believe him - his understated sense of style reflects his quiet disposition. The only hint of luxury is his gold Breitling watch peeping from under his cuff.

He said: 'I met my wife, Rose Marie, when I was taking flying lessons in Manila in 1988. We got married five years later and she moved to Singapore.'

The couple have two sons - Chris, 15, and Mark, 13. They live in a 10-bedroom house with a swimming pool along Swiss Club Road.

The two-storey house, with a land area of 9,000 sq ft, is worth at least $3m.The family also has two cars, a Volkswagen sedan and Landcruiser Prado, and a chauffeur.

Not one to sit still, Mr Bader is now handling two projects: a new restaurant and the $2m Saraphi Plaza in Koh Samui.

The plaza is a 16,145 sq ft single-storey shopping mall at Centre Chaweng.

'It is an open-concept bazaar very much like Holland Village.'

It opened this year with 25 shop units. The restaurant is also located in the centre.

In Singapore, there are plans to re-open Top Ten disco along Orchard Road in the first quarter of next year, Mr Bader revealed.

Work may be endless but there is always time for play - with his favourite set of wings.

He said: 'Flying is therapeutic. I even flew to Australia and America from Singapore. It took me less than a day to reach Australia, and eight days to reach the US.

I took off from Seletar Air Base and flew to Kuching, Sarawak, for re-fuelling before I continued the four-hour flight to Darwin.'

Nine stopovers

The US route had nine stopovers including Mandalay, Tehran, Istanbul, Zurich, Iceland and Canada. 'I travelled half the world in eight days,' he said jokingly.

His wife, however, does not share his enthusiasm.

Mrs Bader, 41, recalled: 'We experienced severe turbulence when we flew from Switzerland to Italy some years ago. The aircraft was flying over the Swiss Alps and we had to make an emergency landing in Milan.'

Since then, Mrs Bader travels alone on commercial flights while the kids follow daddy.

'I worry for my husband and kids sometimes,' she said.

Mr Bader turned and looked at his wife, unfazed.

By then, his mind had probably taken off to some other exotic destination - or enterprise.