What are your jeans doing today?

[almostnice]

little dogs are worst.

bloody hate them,makes your sole dirty.

[Forbidden]

My PBJs at the Hall of Mirrors of Versailles

They have a sculpture of me as a baby. I was furious that they found such an embarassing version of me (jk)

And my birthday cake.

[kansas]

^^ i would not wanna F$%^ with that snapping turtle!

[ranonranonarat]

sorry for the monster update but this was from a couple of weeks back, always wanted to share but never got around to making a proper post. so here we go!

the day started with me heading to the post office to pick up a certain package since nobody was home to collect.

turned out that it was a pair of LVC 66's i picked up from the philip browne sale a couple of weeks back. it was a great deal if my hazy memory serves me right.

headed straight to the airport after that to pick my girlfriend up from the airport since she was back for her winter holidays.

after we got home and got all our stuff settled, it was off to head out for dinner with some friends. we had a bit of time so we spent it around borders while waiting.

funny things they decide to sell at bookstores these days. its no wonder that they have to close down. a pity though, i used to spend a lot of time here as well as work at the store. good times.

had thai food for dinner at a nearby mall, pretty authentic and tasty food and great prices. tom yum soup never fails!

how could i ever miss out pineapple fried rice. great flavours, love this shit!

headed out for some dessert after that with an earthquake at swensons. didn't manage to finish everything since it turned out a yucky mess before all of us were even halfway done. thats the bad thing about having ice cream in this part of the world.

met up with another bunch of friends for beer after that. nothing special to brag about but just some good honest drink. good times!

the next day saw me heading out to the mall. she wanted to get some makeup thing.

[ranonranonarat]

settled on a quick, simple and fuss-free lunch. supermarket sushi! not half as bad as what you think. good thing is that its pretty fresh, nothing up to fancy standards but you can't complain for the price.

more sushi! after that we headed home to finish up packing for our flight that same evening. last minute people we are, thank goodness we made it in time. a good friend kindly came down to pick us up to head to the airport.

there, we checked in early and had a quick dinner.

me being me, of course i wolfed everything down in a sec.

something about airports make me feel happy. of course theres nothing better than heading out on a trip with someone you already know well. being in the duty-free zone just makes me feel more psyched up for the trip, knowing my destination is just another plane ride away.

boarding passes all ready and of course we were heading to bangkok. being from singapore, its great that bangkok is just a couple of hours away. no-frills cheap flight on a budget airline to one of south east asia's hottest holiday destinations.

completed the arrival card in the flight, PSYCHED for more hot weather and great street food.

touched down in the thai airport! great people they are, always smiling and too friendly! got a cab to our hotel where we had a good chat with the driver along the way. we booked a budget hotel for this trip, choosing to spend our money on shopping instead. the driver was nice but we got to the wrong hotel at first because of the language barrier and our hotel was in a little dingy area which was difficult even for locals to find. nevertheless, we got there in one piece and the service staff was great and the room was clean and comfortable as we slumped into sleep, tired from the journey there and resting for next day's activities.

started the day off with a simple breakfast complimentary of the hotel. you can't go wrong with a breakfast like that. raisins, cereal, sunflower seeds, milk and juice, what more can i ask for?

made use of one of the most common ways to get around in bangkok – the tuktuk. if you don't know what it is, its a motorcycle with a sidecar, except the sidecar is behind. a great way to get around as you get to see and experience the uniqueness of the city without being cooped up in an air-conditioned vehicle. thing about this is that you always have to negotiate a price to your destination as they dont run via meter. cabs are really cheap there, but whats the point of being in bangkok if you dont take the tuktuk? real fun.

[ranonranonarat]

went to siam paragon and saw some EDC (for all the EDC heads) that i dont typically see where i come from. prices weren't too bad.

wanted to pick up a blade but was going to be difficult to smuggle back to singapore.

more cold steel goodness. they have all kinds of shit at the mall.

by the time we were done, it was past noon and time for some lunch. headed to one of the restaurants at the mall for a buffet spread. price was really reasonable and they had a good selection of food. great steamboat if you're into that kind of thing.

they have cooked food and sushi as well if you're not into steamboat. but i'd pick the steamboat anytime! did more shopping with the g and then had dinner and shopping again before heading back to the hotel for a good night's sleep.

the next day saw me heading to take5 in bangkok. fuck yeah! great guys with great service but a pity i didn't pickup anything there or saw anything i liked. there was a great selection though, just that i'm a picky one.

you have your SDA's, Warehouse, Samurai, R.J.B etc. great store, have never been to a T5 before and it was way better than any denim stores we have back at home

of course at T5 they have a union special for chainstitch hems. not sure if this was just for display or the actual one used for hem jobs. real sweet though!

more denim madness. very cool guys who didn't mind letting me grab a few pictures even though i didnt pick anything up.

after that, we headed down to platinum mall where it was a crazy wholesale place for female clothing there. spent the rest of the day there and picked out a couple of quirky items for great prices.

[ranonranonarat]

really funny t shirt that made me laugh out loud. i told the g that it was the exact situation we were in and she drew some flack for that. HAHA. funny though!

headed back to the hotel after platinum mall and we went to this little market near our hotel where they sold all kinds of knick knacks. the g picked up a pair of slippers here for approx 4USD? great!

rounded the tiring day by having lots of great street food just downstairs from our hotel. not the most sanitary of palces but we have this saying that the dirtier/dodgier the place is, the tastier the food! here we have some kind of grilled chicken, i dont know how they do it or season it but its the tastiest i've ever had. really oily but its a holiday so who cares!

they had some kind of powdered fish and chicken wings as well. the scent of barbequed food just filled the streets, whetting our appetites.

more food bought and back in the hotel we had our dinner. had the most delicious pad thai(a stir fried dish with peanuts, garlic, sliced cucumbers, beansprouts, glass noodles, shrimp) ever on the top left. bbq-ed chicken on the top right, fried chicken rice (mediocre) on the bottom right and this really really good salad (bottom left) made with sliced squid, hot dog, shrimp, crabstick, vermicelli and lots of vegetables and chilli. this was so good we had it 3 days in a row. awesome but i have no idea what its called. that was how we ended the night.

on the third day, we went back to platinum mall because it was so huge it would take a couple of days to cover everything. had a good lunch here at the local food court. i ordered some curry chicken rice which wasnt bad.

who could miss out on mango sticky rice? mango with glutinous rice which is staple must-try for tourists. had this twice.

also tried out some fried quail's egg which was good too. really sticky yolk and high in cholesterol but its was amazing. the entire day was spent at the mall and then more street food at night for dinner before heading back to the hotel. was dead beat after that and in bangkok, do expect A LOT of walking.

on the last day of our trip, we headed to chatuchak market on a saturday and spent half a day there. took a tuktuk from our hotel which was great as we stopped by a croc skin wholesale factory. didn't get pics there but bought a couple of leather lighter holders.

there are tons of great stores selling some vintage and new products as well as some local designs. they had this store with some carhartt pants and whatnot. couldn't tell the authenticity but whatever. chatuchak is a great place to head to on a saturday as they are only open on weekends and there are a lot of good finds to be had. really interesting and vibrant place.

[ranonranonarat]

also had a shop selling aroma therapy stuff and candles and waxes. really nice packaging but the scent didn't sit well with my sensitive nose. do pop by to have a look if you are around though.

they also had a ton of toy stores and vintage stores. always something for everyone.

on a hot day and in a hot city like bangkok, its always good to have some herbal jelly to cool things down. this bittersweet jelly was not too bad. cools you down.

along with this milk tea thing, its always a sure winner for reprive from the heat!

as we were done with one of the small lanes, we exited and realised that there were tons of other lanes to explore. you can spend your whole day there if you have time (which we didnt have since our flight was that night) and patience. A LOT of good finds there, so do bring enough cash.

a whole lot of thai fake repros and vintage and "vintage" items. its hard to tell from the untrained eye but there are some amazing finds to be had as well im sure.

some of the fake repros as i mentioned. they go for about as low as 15USD.

had a quick lunch at one of the lanes. best tom yum soup i ever had in thailand. this was was tangy and spicy enough and the ingredients were plentiful. they certainly dont stinge.

paired some seafood fried rice off with tom yum. this was great as well! walked around a bit more before we had to head back to the hotel to pick up our bags for the airport.

[ranonranonarat]

this was all in all a great trip with some very nice people, food and weather. wanted to explore khao san as well but on our last night it was raining heavily so we didn't get to. a word of advice to all is to bring shorts (even though i wore jeans the entire trip but i am used to it because i am from a humid country), lots of cash and an open mind. the food is always great, so dont feel afraid to try something different. hope you all enjoyed the long post.

[Max Power]

Damn you! Now I want a knife, new jeans and duck for breakfast. Just great

[riff]

^Yes!

Amazing monster post Ranon - I've been waiting to hear of your travels! Looks like a superb trip!!!

[ranonranonarat]

it was a great trip, would like to do it all over again!

[Paul T]

SO… a manic week, pimping my book on the airwaves. I arrived in NYC Tuesday worried I didn't have enough to do. Then they worked me like a dog. Good.

I had just one meet my first day, over towards the West Village. This is one of my favourite parts of town, altho this time i'm in the East Village. It's crazily hot compared to London - I was envious of these kids at the Bleecker st playground. I got nostalgic and thought my nipper would love the fire hydrants spraying out water, then I spotted the rainbow…

But then - wtf? English weather is suddenly here?

Ohmygod my Roy's have just had another soak! It's all over! Sun was back the next day. Just a couple of blocks away, off Lafayette, I love this building - an original Singer shop front, beautiful sinuous cast iron just like the sewing machines themselves.

LAter tha evening, a hook up with entertainment! at the Old Town Bar & Restaurant, a beauitufl old (1890s) bar just north of Union Square. I

I had a great evenin sharing lots of architectural geekery, and he told me about some buildings in the UK I have to visit. Cheers, John, it was a wonderful night.

Friday, more meetings, went well. I walked down to the west side, near the meatpacking district, where I've stayed in the past. I love that some parts are so well-scrubbed, others semi-derelict…

Friday night was one of those blissful times, after a crazed day. I returned to an old hangout from my last couple NYC trips, Jones Cafe on Great Jones, a little, rough street which was the haunt of Warhol and Basquiat (who worked, and then died of a smack overdose, at Number 57) and the location of Don Delillo's heady, hypnotic novel Great Jones Street - the story of a rock star who disappears (fittingly, the street's a few blocks from David Bowie's current abode). Then I read about the snow on the warehouse window ledges - and I remembered how I wrote the obituary for Ron Asheton, the architect of the Stooges' moronic inferno, on this street during the January 2009 freeze - I had to perch in the snow in search of a wifi hotspot to send the copy in. David didn't rate Ron - he thought the Stooges sound was all down to Iggy. He was wrong. I miss Ronnie.

And still that full moon. And still it's pretty hot. I sleep with the ceiling fan running . THen Sat morning, the train for Boston. Looking back over Manhattan. This reminds me of the view as you come into London, there's an electircity about the place.

Further out, lots of beautiful, old factories, many of them derelict.

plus the idyllic coastline of connecticut. Looks so well-scrubbed, nothing out of place.

[Paul T]

Finally, Boston itself. Found a bar that claimed to be 100 years old (not sure about that) and to have the best local selection of beers (that was more plausible).

I had a pint of Lost Sailor IPA - excellent, five stars - then a Coney Island Amber lager - passable, three stars - and a bottle of Stone Levitation amber ale - very good, a bit warm, four stars. They served a humungous amount of food, so I made friends with adjacent drinkers who ate my French Fries and explained how the hell I could get to somerville, where I've rented a room in an old house I found via airbnb. By now I was knackered but remembered to write down directions so I wouldn't forget the way.

So. I'd gone up to Boston to meet up with Al Kooper, the founder of Blood Sweat 7 Tears, who's maybe most famous for playing organ on Like A Rolling Stone. I was a bit beat by now but managed to keep it together. Wish I'd brought my film camera with me, I try and photograph every interviewee for posterity but the digital look is a bit too clean for me…

Before the train back I had time for a leisurely lunch. Legal Seafood, by the harbor, is the place everyone knows about and it was pretty good.

I like that you can eat at the bar in the US and get chatting to people. A lovely woman called Heather and I were laughin at how anyone can eat a cute, cuddly creature like a lobster…

Train home: of course, being a Brit I love your school buses, the way they're so chunky and uniform.

SUn nigh I headed midtown to meet xrevengex, unfortunately I drank too much and messed up the photos, sorry matt. I"d bumped into him on the most Superfuture style… he recognised me via the Veldtschoens and Roy x Cone. THen it was a manic Monday. One meeting and four radio interviews in different bits of town, it was edgy, made every interview with two minutes, one minute to spare… so really, it was a blast.

WNYC was the biggest one of the day. This is Jiohn Schaeffer, who has a good show that I've only ever done remotely, from a BBC studio, before.

Tuesday, a quick run round before the plane home. Makeup for the mrs, nintendo game for the nipper and spent some cash on myself. It was well-deserved.

$5 Save Japann tote from here. Nice shop.

And I went to a good, swanky guitar shop. And blew a dollar.

Finally, home, wonderful. Picked up the nipper from school - and he loved his surprise present, built within a few minutes. (He's checked out the sodas and hot chocolate at the Guggenheilm Bilbao and it's therefore a fave place). A bit of New York will always be with us...

Friday, was out with the family to take them for a sushi, as they were jealous I'd eaten so much in NYC. If only they could compare. As Frankie sang, it's nice to go travelling - but it's oh, so nice to come home. (and I did make a pizza).

Finally, Saturday…I could have worn the Roy X Cone pants unwashed for another month or two in Europe. But a week in NYC did for them. permanently damp with sweat throughout the day, and suddenly the crotch was wearing real fast (mrs t seemed somewhat suspicious about this). So… an early wash.

[zissou]

^Looking great, Paul! Here's another Roy x Cone crosspost...

Still caught up in negotiations over the house, and trying to relax a little! Saturday started out the usual way, with coffee and pastries down at the bakery.

Class went great again yesterday. Historically, almost all of the mountains in Utah were stripped of timber and over grazed in the 50 years after pioneers first arrived. I'm not sure if you can tell in this photo, but the mountains were bare for many years. It's one of those cases where things just weren't better back in the good ol' days.

We had a forester spend the day with us and teach us about sustainable forestry. This is a photo of a hillside where an experimental clear cut was made in the spruce about 55 years ago. You can see how slow it is to recover. The rest of the hillside was logged using sustainable practices three times since then. The difference is remarkable.

Here we are measuring tree heights with our Biltmore sticks, and when coupled with diameter, we calculate board-feet of timber in a particular tree.

All in all, it was a beautiful day up in the High Uintas. The wildflowers were spectacular! This photo was taken at about 9,000 ft.

Back to today, just hanging out with Coconut the corn snake. We're taking care of him for a couple weeks. He's a very friendly snake, and always wants to crawl into our shirts. Time to feed him his weekly baby mouse!

Brave snake, smelling that denim with his tongue...

[dimpra]

went to dream theater concert last night, i was actually into that kind of music when i was in high school (8-9 years ago) and now i finally got a once in a lifetime chance to see their act

i swear that their live act is a lot better than their recordings....i left the concert amazed by their skills and humbleness (especially john petrucci, the guitarist)

and for today, i went to a local community fest that was held in park that was right next to my house. great atmosphere, and most of all....great weather

[zeen]

Yesterday, I received last minute tickets to our National Day Parade 2011 Preview. August 9th this year will be Singapore's 46th Birthday. Here are some iphone shots of the event which took place at The float at Marina Bay.

Marina Bay Sands

Floating platform where event was held.

"The Fun Pack" aka goodie bag. It contains a mini flag, 2 packet drinks, battery operated light sticks, free cap and loads of other goodies all in a neat tote bag.

Sang the national anthem. Moment of patriotism.

Fireworks for finale.

Hope you guys enjoyed the post!

[Baeyer-Drewson]

^I was at a rooftop bar directly opposite the Marina Bay Sands when I was in SG. That is one seriously impressive building...

[CrashTestBrummie]

Made my usual Sunday morning trip to the city centre carboot sale, held at the Birmingham fruit 'n' veg markets:

There are dozens and dozens of sellers, all setting up stalls in the lanes of the market itself; the pics don't show the half of how many people are roaming the area. You can get allsorts here, from vintage clothes to Islamic art, and all sorts of goodies, tat and kitsch from bygone decades...

Found a few goodies, all for the princely sum of £10.50:

And my favourite treat from a local bakery:

[ranonranonarat]

some hobbies never die! like shoe collecting that is. would love to see something good sprout up at this sale the next time you hit it. HA! repped.

[CrashTestBrummie]

And yeah, they're bbq pork pastries...

[Paul T]

Great post, Ben! Even more photos of some of the articles next time, please!

[CrashTestBrummie]

Check the shoes thread, Paul!

[khoumphonh]

at the yerba buena gardens opera festival in sf. catching rays and tanning my wallet. i need to get on oiling it up. haven't oiled it once at all and have owned it since earlier this month. jeans are sexdbxsxs12 on day 40 at the moment. can't see the fades because of the filter i used on instagram.

[kayodic]

(caution, pictures overload)

On July 22nd Amsterdam based Red Wing store celebrated the wicked one year anniversary. The shop in the nine streets pays tribute to the rich history of the brand, which was launched in 1905 by Charles Beckman, having spotted a growing demand for sturdy work boots.

Together with denim boutique Tenue de Nîmes the American brand set up shop in the distinctive Reestraat, carrying a substantial assortment of Red Wing shoes as well as various accessories including American Optical, Duluth Pack, Heritage Leather Company, Royal Republiq, Tanner Goods and The Hill-Side.

Red Wing Amsterdam threw the mighty cool one year anniversary party by providing Beers, Bourbon, Burgers, Brownies, Band and Bags (a sturdy tote canvas bags which are very limited, and specially made for Red Wing Amsterdam).

Thank you Red Wing Amsterdam for such a great event, i'm more than happy and honored to take part of this party so here they are the pictures that i took for Red Wing Amsterdam one year anniversary party.

to be continued.....

[kayodic]

part 2

to be continued.........

[kayodic]

The People

Menno Van Meurs and his daughter (my fave shot of the day)

[kayodic]

and the only girl wearing Red Wing!!! (not Engineer but Moctoe)

Thanks for watching....

[ranonranonarat]

great pictures ika, you look like you had a blast! those burgers look fantastic and how can you go wrong with beers and burgers! looking good in that outfit as well, great times, great times! must spread unfortunately..

[Obbigood]

[

and the only girl wearing Red Wing!!! (not Engineer but Moctoe)

Thanks for watching....

Excellent event, favourite pics

And Benzak, you are appearing more and more