If there is any doubt left that Macau is the new Las Vegas it’s quickly disappearing. I received an email last week announcing the arrival of the first Asia Adult Expo set to take place in Macau next December.

Vegas is known for this sort of exhibition, which seems to match the town’s reputation as “Sin City.” Macau is likewise an appropriate destination for this type of event. The territory has a certain notoriety as a bastion of adult entertainment. Beyond the casinos, the city’s nightlife is dominated by saunas, escorts and adult karaokes.

Yet with the recent building boom, Macau seems poised for change. (more…)

Racks MDB, Hong Kong’s favorite casual hangout is holding the grand opening of their Shanghai branch this Friday and Saturday. Similar to their location near Lan Kwai Fong in Hong Kong, Racks Shanghai is located in Xintiandi, a major entertainment capital of the city. Despite the huge 16,000 square foot space, expect a packed party filled with Racks regulars, many of whom made the trip up for the weekend. Celebrity watchers can count on being dazzled by big name actors, singers and models from around the region. (more…)

I took a quick trip up to Shanghai to celebrate New Year’s 2008. As the former most international city in China, Shanghai is eager to reclaim its title. The city has been booming for a decade with foreign companies flocking there to open operations and brands seeking to establish a foothold with consumers in Shanghai’s relatively affluent market. Foreign concepts are pouring into the city making it more international all the time. The dual barriers to entry - high rent and staffing costs that make Hong Kong difficult to do business in, are lesser issues in Shanghai.

While Hong Kong is considered the “Manhattan of Asia,” Shanghai is often sighted as Hong Kong’s biggest threat. Instead of viewing Shanghai as a threat, smart Hong Kong companies have already embraced the city as a new market, leveraging their expertise and proximity to create spin-offs suited for China. The pace of these role-outs is getting faster and faster.

My brief trip allowed me to check out several new world-class additions to the city that have close ties to Hong Kong. (more…)

Last week I took a whirl-wind tour of Manila’s nightlife. It was my first trip to the Philippines despite the fact that it’s only an hour and a half away from Hong Kong by plane. Heading over for a week, I didn’t really know what to expect.

After the short flight, I was greeted at the airport by my friends, Borgy and Ornusa. These two are a power couple in Manila’s hipster scene. Ornusa is one of the top models in the Philippines and a fashion trend-setter. Borgy is involved in TV, radio, fashion and nightlife. The pair are united in their knack for surrounding themselves with creative people. Their friends are active in all aspects of media, nightlife, fashion, art, and entertainment. My one-week trip was a peek into their world and a chance to feel the pulse of what’s happening in Manila at this very moment. (more…)

Last Tuesday I spent the day walking around Macau. I’ve been there several times and it’s fun for a change of scenery. As far as the lay of the land, Macau is divided into three parts: the Macau peninsula, which is attached to China at Zhuhai, and the territory’s two islands, Taipa and Coloane. So far I’ve mostly explored the peninsula.

Cruising the old streets it dawned on me that Macau is a perfect destination for film-making. Why? Where else can you find two-hundred years of authentic sets? Every architectural trend (or mishap) from the grand colonial era to Art Deco elegance, to the worst of the 60’s and 80’s is here, preserved in a state of suspended animation. (more…)

With the monopoly on ownership of casinos in Macau lifted, seasoned, corporate American casinos are pouring into Macau, giving the industry a much needed face-lift. Formerly controlled by Stanley Ho, the new guys in town include The Sands, The Venitian, MGM, Wynn, and several others. They are literally making the front part of Macau into a strip similar to Las Vegas. Construction is everywhere.

The charm of old Macau, with its slow winding streets, and alleyways can still be found. However, luxury condos catering to future high-rollers, mostly projected to come from Mainland China, are beginning to encroach on the borders of the city.

Taking a page from Las Vegas, Macau is reinventing itself, with all sorts of weird semi-historic concoctions. On a recent trip I walked around the main part of the city, and shot some of the new buildings going up. Some of them are interesting looking.

The former face of gambling in Macau, Stanley Ho’s Casino Lisboa:

On my walk, I stumbled across some cool graffiti and an old shop covered in gears, cogs and springs - there’s still culture to be found!

Click on the image below to get a close-up!

Seems like all my vacations revolve around my friend’s weddings! I jumped over to Bangkok on the 24th for a few days to check out Bangkok and attend my friend’s wedding on the 27th. The last time I was in Bangkok was 2 years ago for another friend’s wedding.

Bangkok is a short flight - only two and a half hours away from Hong Kong by plane. One of the pleasures of living in H.K. is the close proximity to so many other countries and cultures. Thailand provides an alluring destination for a number of reasons - the weather is excellent, the beaches are amazing, shopping is extensive, and it’s very inexpensive compared to Hong Kong.

I was looking forward to my trip. I’ve been to Bangkok three times previously, and I still only know basics about the city. It’s much more sprawling than Hong Kong.

My flight got in smoothly and I took a taxi to the serviced apartment that my friend had booked for me. Many savvy visitors to Bangkok avoid hotels and instead choose to rent serviced apartments. Their locations and services are excellent and prices even cheaper than hotels.

The suite that I got was very spacious with a good view of this part of town. I was located near the Emporium, one of the high-end shopping centers in Bangkok. The Emporium is located on the BTS Sky Train line, at the Phrom Phong station. It’s a convenient location. One note about Bangkok - traffic can be terrible, so being on the BTS Sky Train is a time saver. The trains go to most major areas and are clean, easy to navigate and new.

I got in at night. After I checked in, I called the groom, and he invited me to join him and his in-laws at the Suan Lum night market near Lumpini Park. I hopped into a taxi and was there in about 10 minutes. (Traffic was light due to the time of night.)

Despite visiting the city several times, I’d never been to the Suan Lum night market before. The night market featured several large buildings divided into small to medium sized stalls featuring everything from clothes to home furnishings to artwork. I was impressed by the cool local designer t-shirts I saw, and made a mental note to remember to come back. (As it turns out, I returned a few days later and picked up 8 shirts at a few different stalls. The prices were around $160 Baht per shirt and up, which is between $4 and $5 U.S.!) After shopping for a few hours, and grabbing dinner, I headed back to the apartment.

The next day was Sunday (Christmas day,) and I decided to visit the famous Chatuchak weekend market. This place is no joke! It’s the largest market you could possibly imagine. I don’t know exactly how much area it covers, but it’s several square blocks filled with small stalls selling almost everything you could possibly think of. It’s a browsers paradise, there’s just so much here. A quick rundown of what I picked up: old school fat shoe laces, local designer t-shirts, a book on film, retro underwear (to give away as a gift), and some electrical plug adapters.

After a few hours wandering around Chatuchak I decided to head to my favorite neighborhood in Bangkok - Siam Square for a quick look around. On my previous trips I’ve found it to be the epicenter of youth culture and perhaps shopping in Bangkok. There are several large malls on one side, Mahboonkong, an enormous shopping center on another end, and a network of cool shops tucked away in several older buildings and blocks on another side. I’ve found cool clothes and music shops here in the past, and I was anxious to see what had changed.

I was happy to see that my favorite movie theater - the Scala, was still around. It’s an old movie palace with a grand lobby and a huge screen. They still have cool hand painted billboards as well.

I darted through the mazes of shopping centers, finding that several of the shops I had patronized before (with weird names like ‘Burger Queen’) were now gone. I checked on a shop called KINKY where I got two shirts many years ago, and found that it was still kickin’. I was about to ask about the owner - Nat - when he walked into the store.

I met Nat last year in H.K. I had been to his shop a few years ago and liked the clothes he designed, but didn’t meet him until mutual friends introduced us in H.K. Apart from having a cool shop, Nat just released his first CD on Sony BMG. It’s his own style of Hip Hop music.

After talking for a few minutes, Nat told me that he was on his way to a small get together and invited me to join. The other M.C. from his group came and picked us up. Two hours later we were still driving outside of Bangkok, and lost! Fortunately we found the place after a few detours.

It turns out that the small get together was the birthday party for Joey Boy - one of the top Hip Hop / Pop stars in Thailand. It was in the club house on a private lake of a new luxury development. Very scenic spot.

Joe was out front when we got there, and was very friendly. There was only around 30 people there, and it was an interesting collection of music people, and Thai celebrities. There was a sound system set up and people took turns performing. The music was great!

The rest of my trip was taken up by the wedding. I had to go to the rehearsal, and the actual wedding took up a whole day as well. In the little time I had left, I made another trip back to Siam Square to check out the newest shopping center - Siam Paragon that just opened. It’s amazingly large! In addition to housing a huge supermarket, several floors of shops, it also includes a Ferrari and Lamborghini show room, as well as a full size aquarium! Needless to say, I didn’t get to see the whole place.

On my last day in Bangkok I decided to check out an area called Thonglor that people have said is a trendy part of town. I read an article in the N.Y. Times that made it seem like a hot spot as well. I didn’t find too much myself. There is a big store called Playground that has an excellent collection of design books, interesting home furnishings, and clothes, but the area on the whole didn’t knock me out. Perhaps it’s the growth of small coffee shops and dessert places that make the area famous. It doesn’t have the intensity of Siam Square or as diverse a collection of places.

I D.J.ed a party for Shanghai Tang in Hong Kong last month and all of a sudden I’ve been getting tons of offers to spin. The people that are contacting me are mostly event companies. Luxury brands hire these firms to organize their fashion shows and launch parties. Because Hong Kong is such a wealthy market and because China is such a huge growth market for luxury items, there is a constant stream of events every week in Hong Kong, and now in major cities in China like Beijing and Shanghai as well.

A few weeks ago I got an offer to d.j. two events in Beijing. One was a Ferragamo fashion show in The Forbidden City, and the other was a fashion show for the British brand DAKS. My schedule was to arrive in Beijing on Thursday around noon time, drop off my luggage and then head to The Forbidden City to do a soundcheck. My flight left H.K. at 9:15, which is a little on the early side, especially since I got asked to D.J. my friend Imani’s going away party on Wednesday night. (It ended up going til 1:30, and I didn’t sleep til much later.)

At Imani’s party I tested out Scratch Live, a new hardware / software package for d.j.ing with a laptop connected to turntables. I just bought it a few days before and hadn’t had a chance to test it out. It performed well at the party, and as it turns out, I ended up using it for both the Ferragamo and the DAKS events.

Anyway, my taxi driver dropped me off way too early for the special enterance to Tai Miao (the building where the gig was,) and I had to walk for 10 minutes before getting to the venue. This was a hassle because I was hauling a bunch of equipment and records.

I found the alley way that led to the back entrance of the venue, and followed the sound of music to lead me to the correct spot.

Just came back from my 3 day Beijing trip. I D.J.ed two major fashion shows - one for Ferragamo that was in The Forbidden City, and another for the U.K. brand DAKS. I also managed to see 12 of my friends and caught a music discussion/installation with Brain Eno, as well as checked out N.Y. D.J. Roc Raida on the wheels at MIX. It was a hectic trip, but a great time overall.

Getting lots of calls these days to spin for different fashion shows. Looks like it’ll be busy at the end of the month with parties on the 24th, 27th, and 28th. Ideally I wouldn’t want to spin in H.K. on Thursday night, and then fly to Shanghai to d.j. Friday, but oh well.The music for each of the parties will be different. The 24th will be more Hip Hop, the 27th is a range of older music up to recent songs, and the 28th is dance classics. I might even have a Taipei club to d.j. at too - this month is going to spoil my hard earned reputation of being lazy!