Espresso

Espresso should be drank in porcelain or bone but never a in a paper cup. Just doesn't taste the same.
Always take the time to enjoy espresso. Its not just an energy booster; that's why there's Red Bull; espresso is to be tasted.

What we had -

Lunch!

1- Curry Laksa
2- Phad Thai
3- Broccoli in Oyster Sauce
4- Rashed enjoying!

Lunch with Rashed

On my way to Noodle House to have some deliscious thai food with Rashed. Will definitely post pictures.

TWITTER? Who needs twitter when you have a blog haha

Luminous

Panerai 312 showing off why its called Luminor Marina 1950.

Im not used to being a blogger

I may sometimes drift in and out of blogging. Some times its because I am busy and other times because I forgot I blog.

Here is is a little show and tell that will make some happy and others indifferent! This is to make up for not blogging the past few days.


A comparison of my Rolex Milgauss GV with my friend's Rolex Daytona in Stainless Steel:

 Im not a super Rolex professional like these people here(click me for an enlightened life) but it is evident that the lugs on the Milgauss GV are slightly broader. If you look at the last image, you will notice that the shoulders (lugs in watch world) begin to emerge slightly wider and deeper into the watch case than the Daytona. The bracelets are identical though.
Also the Daytona bezel(where units per hour is written and the numbers gauge) is slightly flatter than the slanted polished (chrome) Milgauss bezel. I guess the flatter bezel aids in calculating the units (speed for example or products processed) per hour.

In my opinion both watches are beautiful and cannot replace each other. Meaning they are not substitute goods, they are complimentary goods. The Daytona is the sportier model (evident from the more robust shape and chronograph)  for sport or active occasions whereas the Milgauss GV is for more casual or sport chic occasions. They compliment each other nicely.

Although the Milgauss GV is popular and has a waiting list, its not even comparable to how popular the Daytona is. Firstly, the average wait for a Daytona (due to high demand and low production numbers) is about 3 years (world finance state dependant -hint hint). The Daytona is an icon from at leasy 25 years ago. I think hundreds of small time companies (catering to the budget consumer) have emerged and existed ( and some even flourished) simply from:

1.  the success of the Daytona design 
2. the acceptance it received from the market

There are hundreds of fake Daytonas and thousands of look alikes. Nothing says more about a brand than imitation in direct form (thanks China) or indirect form (no need to mention the brand's name).

I will not go into why or how but I will say one thing. One of the major reasons (IN MY OPINION) for it's success was simply marketing in the correct way. Rolex did this in several stages. First they utilized Paul Newman's liking to it to publisize it and make the consumer identify it (Rolex) to a rolemodel or super cool guy Paul Newman. Later on in the late 90s (this upset me) they aroused demand by limiting production. Rolex almost mass produces watches (compared to watch houses like Audemars Piguet or Vacheron Constantin), so why limit the Daytona? And why in the comfortably priced model (the stainless steel)? You can buy a solid gold Daytona any time of the year without any difficulties. Obviously they knew that there was demand for the watch, so how to fuel the fire of demand? Dont get me wrong, I am a capitalist but an honest one (is there such a combination?). Rolex can easily provide the neccessary quantity of Daytonas to market, the only reason they're not is to increase demand which increases thier revenue. Sure they may argue that they want the end user ( the buyer ) to feel special i.e: exclusive, "i've got a high demand watch" feeling and that thier only reason. I would  be convinced if the watch sincerely needed to be produced at a controlled level due to limited resources such as natural resources or financial resources or man power resources. I am not convinced this is a "special watch" because :

1. It can easily be mass produced (mass in Rolex terms not Japanese/Chinese terms)
2. Nothing physically/naturally makes it limited. Its not like it needs to be hand made by highly skilled watch makers who are rare.
3. It is only in high demand because it renders the owner a feeling of exclusivity for having to have waited for so long or paid a high premium to own one instantly and less commonly - bought one during the 2009/2010 financial crisis (hahahah).

Simple economics dictates that when supply decreases , which is what they drastically did, demand increases. I know a couple of people who got on the waiting list only because it existed hahaha. Had the watch been readily available they may not have bought it (they would probably have been on another watch's waiting list as some people need to feel exclusive while others need to feel like pioneers for newly launched products - probably to feel exclusive- the loop never ends haha). I have been offered the Daytona in stainless steel about 4 times since the financial crisis began less than a year ago. Economic theories are rarely wrong. Demand is decreasing and therefore supply is increasing.

What do I think deserves the title rare and limited? The Vacheron Constantin Métiers d'Art Les Masques collection. Basically they produce watches with mask for a certain culture in compelte replica form of the actual. The little mask is hand made by an artisan who copies the original mask and come in a set of 4.

Here is the 2009 release:
I will not argue that the metals are precious ( they are, red gold, yellow gold, white gold and platinum). Nor will I argue that the movement in these 4 watches is superior as Rolex or any watch house has the right to claim superiority. So I will only argue that the idea from plan to execution required an ambitious team to think of replicating famous cultural masks to finding the higihly skilled craftsman to do it. I will not argue about dial background design as again any watch company has the right to claim that thier designs are the best. But in the area of innovation, Vacheron Constantin dominated.     
 info: site 1 site 2                                                                             

I will say though, the Daytona is the nicest looking chronograph watch out there. The 3 counters balanced inside the dial using the combination of size, location and colors outruled any sports watch out there.

South Korea Autumn trip - part 2

I should have mentioned this earlier but I personally do nor believe in the current state of South and North Korea and Democratic People's Republic of Korea as different entities. To me , its all Korea. Just because there is a very gruesome militarized political border doesn't mean they are different or distinguishable. India and Pakistan are very different from China even though both nations share borders with China. The differences between them are like day & night.

Here is the remainder itinerary for our upcoming fortnight trip to South Korea but first a summary of Part 1.
We will arrive in Seoul and spend 5 nights in the upscale part of metropolitan Seoul (south for the River and in Gangnam area). We will then rent a vehicle for about 6 days to travel from Seoul to Sokcho (North East South Korea) which is only perhaps an hour's drive from the border of Democratic People's Republic of Korea or better known to the rest of the world as North Korea. From there we will take the 6 hour car ride via coastal highway to historic -museum w/o walls- Gyeongju city for 2 or 3 nights. This is a short summary of the initial trip itinerary.

Part 2:

Hopefully we will be able to fit Hahoe village into our schedule. Hahoe is a traditional and authentic Korean village. It is about an hour drive north of Gyeongju but certainly worth a visit. Ahh how I gravitate towards the less beaten path. Based on our schedule (mine actually - Rashed is not fond of adhering to schedules as opposed to me worshiping a timetable) we should be heading north via expressway to Seoul but..... I hear there's a really nice lush Bamboo Forest in the Damyang region. Damyang is very near to Gwangju. Damyang is not on our way to Seoul. Seoul is north of Gyeongju whereas Damyang is west or a west south west. I am a bamboo forest fanatic. A year ago my wife and visited super cool China for 2 weeks in October and managed to take a mini trip to mini bamboo forest. I was not satisfied and in fact yearned for more!
In any case, our final leg of the journey is Seoul where we will spend the remaining 5 days. We will stay north of the river that slices through Seoul the second time in Seoul as it is the commercial, historic and hustle&bustle area of Seoul.
But because we would have already spent 5 days in Seoul we will take the opportunity to take day trips out of Seoul. A definite day trip will be Suwon which has some delicious Korean cuisine ( bbq beef ) and Kimchi. Kimchi is basically fermented/pickled cabbage served in many forms and variations as a side dish. I guess it would be like french bread and butter to the French and hummus to the Lebanese and prawn crackers to the Singaporeans.
I am not going to mention what we will be doing in Seoul as there are tons of guides and articles on the net, plus am prolly going to update this blog with our daily activities and post pictures. I say prolly because I'm not too sure how my Blackberry Bold (model 9000) is going to work in SK. I know from dysfunctional Etisalat that they (Etisalat) have a partnership with major SKorean telecoms giant SK Telecoms so technically my BB Bold should work and technically I should be able to upload blog entries and images on the go via email but that will be confirmed when I get there or if some kind soul (not Seoul haha) confirms it.

This entry pretty much sums up the South Korea Autumn trip.

Trip - Rashed = FAILURE

With out Rashed (also known as Silver) the trip would be boring , unbearable and a waste.

:)

South Korea Autumn trip - part 1

A few have asked about an upcoming trip so here is the story. I've been wanting to visit the moutaineous regions of South Korea for a couple of years now and finally decided to make it my next trip as I would be traveling by myself as opposed to my very cool traveling partner (aka my wifey). I first needed to decide whether it would be an autumn trip or a winter trip or a spring trip ( I avoid travel during summer as the season is too hot and more importantly too touristy). I decided it would be during fall because South Korea is famous for its fall foliage (autumn color) and I miss the walking down the streets paved in crimson colored leaves.
As an avid traveler I regularly mention (more like infatuated) potential upcoming destinations and reasons for the visit. My good friend Rashed decided to join me on this trip. Even though I was initially making this a solo trip I did not mind company, in fact this particular friend made me look forward to it even more.
We will leave sometime late October for a fortnight. Luckily Emirates has daily direct flights to Seoul so there would not be a need for a transit stopover. We will arrive in Seoul at midday and spent 5 nights before renting a car and driving North North East to the town of Sokcho for 3 or 4 nights. Sokcho is the gateway to Mount Seoraksan and Seoraksan National Park where we should enjoy the majority of fall colors. When the colors start to change and when prime time is difficult to say as it depends on the weather/climate. So I took an average of the past 4 years and decided on early November. Last year was a freak year as prime color was in mid November. Hopefully this year it will be early November.
There are several hiking routes for different distances and varying skill levels.
There is a very traditional fish market in Sokcho which we plan to visit. Its interesting to see what people on another continent consider a valid source of nutrition if not a delicacy in their cuisine.
From Sokcho we will head towards our second leg of the journey - Gyeongju(kyongju). During research I discovered that there are 2 routes with different pros and cons. The first route is the local coastal highway which is winding, not modern, passes through several towns/villages and longer than the alternative. The alternative is the newer expressway which shorter in distance and clearer in terms of directions. We definitely chose the former as it would give us a real view on traditional South Korea as opposed to super technomodern Seoul. Renting a car is ultimate freedom. One goes where one wants to go whenever and for how ever long. Sure a train is less complicated and even more efficient but there is something about exploring that attracts me. This way we can stop or even digress on from the 400km route to Gyeongju (Kyongju) our third destination. Thanks to wikipedia I will not need to elaborate on destinations but Gyeongju used to be the old capital of Silla for a for a very long and powerful period. So in terms of historic/ancient archaeology and architecture the area is like Champs Élysées to an Emarati in summer - a haven. Gyeongju is often referred to as "the museum without walls" as the area as a whole is historic. I'm definitely looking forward to Gyeongju.

This is an exotic

This 911 is heavily sought after by collectors. Just look at that wide body.

Ferragamo again

Ferragamo really impressed me with this pair (right in picture). I have to say that this Red Wine color leather has to be the best representation of the color I have ever seen. Unfortunately my HTC HD does not even remotely do the color any justice so I placed another also really attractive colored shoe next to it for contrast. The vividity is further enhanced by the superb choice of stitching color. A pale pink! The paleness of the pink draws out the intensity of the red wine. I am definitely adding this combination of color to my favorites.

The reality of expectations

is sometimes very different

Promotion side effects

A challenge allows one to assess their current skill and future potential!

Weekend highlights

Perhaps for this winter.




Very terribly overrated -


Very sadly - underrated

And the events continue

I have to say I am impressed. Dubai RTA is super organized and prepared for the mass launch. We took a fairly short ride from the Financial pod to AlIttihad major station and back. I do suggest they implement seperate sections of entrance / ticket purchase / board train / exit at a higher price. Something to accomodate those willing to enjoy less crowded scenarios. Good job Dubai!

Dubai Metro launched

Weird series of events led me to try the newly launched Dubai Metro w/ friends.

Its 9 - 9 - 9

This year there were a couple of "never in ur life again" occurences.

Preparing for South Korea

Gathered guide books and phrase books but cannot find a map!