Archive for May, 2007

Bizarre bar names in Japan

On this blog there’s a long list of bizarre bar names, like Bollock Paradium, Pub Smell or Bar Jerk. Hilarious :)

I once discovered a restaurant in Seoul, South Korea with the unusual sign “Folk Customs a Dining Room”. Obviously the owner tried to look up the Korean equivalent of “Traditional Restaurant” in a dictionary.

Another restaurant in that area was called “Moonbird only dreams of the moon” – how poetic.

Hotel Chelsea Blog

Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog. In the Hotel Chelsea in New York William Burroughs wrote Naked Lunch, Andy Warhol shot his movie Chelsea Girls, Dylan Thomas wrote Under Milkwood, Sid Vicious killed Nancy, and according to this blog it’s still a lively place.

Restaurant in Hong Kong used in Wong Kar-Wai movies

It’s a so-called Canto-Western restaurant , early Hong Kong fusion cooking. Borshtsh and steak or Eisbein (German pork knuckle) with Chinese broccoli. Not bad at all, but the reason for visiting this place is the beautiful sad atmosphere (pictures below) – it hasn’t changed a bit since it opened in 1963, it’s the Hong Kong that doesn’t exist anymore outside of these doors.

That’s why the great director Wong Kar-Wai shot here some scenes of “In the mood for love” and “2046″. I was having dinner in one of those booths where Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Maggie Cheung were sitting. The friendly staff is fluent in English and will certainly point at a large film still of “In the mood for love” and ask you if you know this movie. My answer (“Yes, it’t the reason why I’m here”) was obviously appreciated.

It’s the Goldfinch Restaurant / Caf???? de Goldfinch, at 13 Lan Fong Road, Causeway Bay. MTR station Causeway Bay, exit Times Square.

goldfinch-3.jpggoldfinch-2.jpggoldfinch-1.jpg



All look same!

Can you tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese and Korean people? Test yourself here. There are also tests about food, traditional architecture and more.

My score is 8/17, quite bad, although on traditional architecture I did a 13/18 and on food a 14/18, somehow I think being able to distinguish these cultures is more important.

Hong Kong MTR Song

Here is a clip on YouTube with a song (the melody is from the Sound of Music), consisting of the names of most of the subway stations of Hong Kong, followed by some sound samples typical for the MTR (Mass Transit Railway). “Please mind the gap”. “Next stop Admiralty”, etc. Great pictures from the MTR stations too.