Is Hong Kong the 51st State of America?

Last day in Asia

So, after a quick tour of Asia (Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Taipei) I will leave the last words for Mui Mui, Tina's beautiful, but quirky cat. Actually, I'll leave it to pics and videos.

She's not the smartest cat, but she's the cutest!

Hong Kong receives Sp

I went wandering in the chic part of town yesterday. Think Agnes B, Viv Westwood, but the cool thing was seeing the local boutiques. Of course, I printed out the location of a few stores I want to see, especially as I took an empty suitcase to fill?! ;-) IT is a store within a store - like Fred Segals, but without the kitch. This is industrial store interiors and Comme des Garcon window displays. Inside, I saw Jez Scott's drainpipe colourful pants. "I met him" I said to my sister who wasn't at all impressed. Hah!

I searched for those Nike Dunk x Mita's and found a pair, but in size US9. They were the only pair I saw in HK, but I know eBay has them, so no sweat. My fave store had to be the Giordano Concept store. It's like The Gap x Prada! I walked out with a dope leather jacket, shoes, cardigan...I left a stretch drainpipe pants...I don't care how much they look like Prada ;-)

Donkey Kong The surprise find of the night (the stores stay open till 10-11p on a Sunday. Can u imagine Robertson or Melrose doing that?!) was finding the Donkey Kong T-shirt I saw on a dude at a airport recently. I thought, "I got too many Ts, but if it came in a sweatshirt..."And then I found a sweat - black with Pac-Man on it. OMG. I got both of them anyway!

Love to Hate I didn't reach the Billionaire Boys Club store which recently opened in Hong Kong. I'm a hater, but I did want to check out the architecture and design from Japan's Wonderwall (who is behind stores for "A Bathing Ape" (Japan) and "Colette" (France)). I heard the first two floors are devoted to an ice cream parlor theme while the upper floor builds on the BBC astronaut theme. (Here's BBC/Ice Cream's spot in Harvey Nichols (UK)).

It's been too long...Hong Kong

It's been a while...I haven't been back to Hong Kong since 2001. Actually, we realised that we have never been to Hong Kong or China together as a family before. Odd, but I guess one of the folks was always too busy working to get away when we were younger.

So, what has changed? Tina is still here, and has bought an apartment (and gutted it) near her old place in Mid-Levels. Grandma has passed away now; Aunt and Uncle Wong have returned from Toronto; cousin Catherine has married (well) and had two kids...and sneaker street is under threat ;-)

My first night in town was a USC IBEAR MBA night as my classmates, James and Wallace, were celebrating the arrival of Tak from Tokyo. I passed on that night of revelry and headed to Tina's apartment after my 14-hour United flight into Chek Lap Kok, Hong Kong International. Even though it's better in many ways, I kinda miss Kai Tak and that amazing Star Wars "Death Star" landing of the plane between the apartment blocks!?

So what are my plans? The family is here so there was a fair amount of meeting and greeting. Importantly, we also met up with Aunt and Uncle Siu and cousin Grace to go see Grandma's grave. It's the first time I've been there since her passing. But, the highlight was a trip to Guangzhou, China to see Dad's childhood neighborhood that Tina organized.

Fake kicks: Shenzhen, Hong Kong and beyond...

October's Complex magazine has an article on the fake sneaker epidemic which seems to be the road to easy riches.

"Still rocking fake kicks? We won’t tell, but after you’ve read our in-depth look at the sneaker bootlegging frenzy that goes on in Hong Kong you’ll switch your steez real quick."

Tap into 'Sneaker Freaker's' guide to spotting fakes...