Hong Kong - Day 9 and 10

Last days in HK.  it was 10 days in total i think

on the way back from the airport from Singapore

met jennie and her friends for someones birthday.

why?!!!!! they look korean.

so this whole two weeks i had been running around trying to find a tailor that would be a reasonable price but still good quality.  Eisuke gave me some really expensive wool chashmere fabric, enough to make a suit out of and i had been carrying it around all over asia to get a suit made in HK (carrying fabric is heavy!).  I really lucked out with these guys Andover Tailors.  they are in the building right next to Chungking Mansions.  I asked the guys at Ashoka hostel i was staying at for a tailor recommendation and they took me to this guys shop.  Its 2 guys Richard and Paul.  My guy was richard.  I bargained with him.  I've lived in china for a while so i know the bargaining game little bit, especially when there are so many other tailors.  i went around and checked with the famous tailors, too expensive.  i checked cheap tailors, seemed like i would get bad quality.  I went back to richard and he gave me his final lowest price.  i wanted lower.  i went back the next day, he wouldnt budge.  i left my fabric there again said you can keep it cuz i don't want to carry it around anymore and left and he still didn't budge.  it was looking like it really was the lowest he could go, he wouldn't even knock off the $80 HK ($10).  Finally i went for it cuz he seemed like he would really do a good job and if he wouldn't even take off that last $10 then i guess he has principles.  And i was right they did an excellent job, even my fashion designer friend said so.  I paid $150 for this 2 piece suit (but i brought my own fabric remember).  They're called Andover Tailors because of Andover boston USA, i forget their history with that place.  the other guy Paul speaks Japanese, he lived there for 12 years in the 80s as a professional field hockey player, crazy!  I heard him talking to a japanese customer and he's the real deal.  

http://www.andovertailor.com/

2/F, Shop No. 150-151,
36 Nathan Road, T.S.T.,CupertinoKowloonHong Kong SAR   (852) 3488 4833

didn't have the right tie, shirt or shoes with me but hopefully you get the idea.  this is def a winter or fall suit cuz its so thick and heavy.  was going for the skinny suit style.  can't wait to rock this thing.  i brought in my herring bone suit i had made in beijing that was expensive.  Richard said it was ok but he would do a much much better job.  he said the suit fit perfectly but he walked me through how they took shortcuts and what he would do.  and he delivered.  stuff like leaving ample extra fabric so i can take the suit out when i get old and fat, ample reinforcement in key areas, etc...    Richard cuts the fabric himself (super important stage) and they have a woman from Shanghai sew it.  I guess in HK its Shanghai people that sew for some reason.  i wanted the sleeves shortened just a little more and he understood.  As for the cheap tailors in china you get what you pay for, and they only know how to make suits for old guys.  i paid $450 for my grey herringbone suit that my friend made (remember including fabric) and the quality of that was night and day.  the quality of andover tailors suits is even better than that.  These guys get my highest recommendation.

kung fu demonstrations in kowloon park on sundays.

doing the fuk fu form.  i studied Hung Ga for 5 or 6 years in New York.  hung ga is from southern china so you see it a lot here.

Filipinos rule sundays.

Goldfish market.  it runs the length of Tung Choi street.

lookin' good everyone.

i thought this said scrambled egg sandwich with corned beef hash or some kind of meat but everytime they bring me just a scrambled egg sandwich and i have to ask them to bring me what i ordered, or thought i ordered.

Hong Kong Skyline from the peak

i took a timelapse video from day to night that i'll show someday here when i get around to it.

what a sweet house and location.  all real estate on the peak is super expensive.  i can't even imagine how much this is.  it's at the top of the peak basically

well i finally got my pigeon and there isn't much meat on these guys to make it worth it really.  Well in conclusion Hong Kong is 100x better than chinatown NYC or anywhere else in the world, obviously.  but you won't know until you go and it's in your face.  its crazy there.  i love the compactness, the density of HK.  the whole place is moving and living.  love the architecture, the peak and the many physical levels of the city.  See you next time HK.  Now back to NY!

Singapore - The Lion City - Day 3

day 3 last day in singapore.

another day, another food court

seems a little unappitizing to have their logo be of a gas tank

mee soto, mee rebus and gado-gado from indonesia and malaysia

accidental chinese baller

Soursop juice time

pretty racist.  Ang Mo Kio is where the foreigners once lived, it means red hair bridge, red hairs is what they used to call the foreigners cuz i guess there were a few people with red hair instead of black hair.

Yayoi Kusama sculputures on top of Orchard Central.  it seemed like we walked through interconnecting malls for miles.

went to visit the good people at Kult, the design agency i've worked with a bunch of times before on things like that facebook project, the fear of crossing bridges piece i got a medal from the society of illustrators for, and the kid with the little flying tigers around him.  I make my best work with them because they say do whatever you want.

Raja is one of the bosses

singapore art museum.  Raja said if i have an idea for the front lawn i should submit it to them because they work with the museum and just had the other boss, Steve's melting superman made and installed a while ago.  So I should think of something!

yes it's my first time having a coconut.

chili crab and pepper crab are famous.  pretty good stuff.  I have to go with pepper crab if i was forced to.

Caeser Milan the dog whisperer was eating chili crab too

punk girl with anpanman tatoos.

bungee jumping

mist rolling out of the club we would soon be entering

kind of weirdness

thought these packages were cool.

merlion cake mold.  i'm gonna bust this out at xmas to freshen things up so their are a few merlions amongst the snowflakes, santas, reindeer, wreaths, naked baby jesus bob complete with wang, etc....

maya

can it get anymore accidental singaporean hipster than this?  he's even wearing bracelets and two tone vans.

i missed my flight back to HK on tiger airways.  i was able to book another flight for $100 but they only took cash and i had $97 cash.  i had to go all the way over here to exchange some HK money to get $3.  steam was coming out of my ears.

back to HK.  Lesson learned slightly more this time about missing flights and getting the airport early because of the money exchange thing.