diamonds

day three:
I mentioned my job was for a jewellery company, but did I mention the diamonds?
mirrored set?

amazing crew?

when they heard I lived next door to the studio in an industrial building models' apartment, they couldn't resist the temptation and had to come check it out. They didn't realize I meant literally next door and almost walked past the entrance. This is the ride up in the elevator. I love HK.

polaroids & curry

Though not a huge fan of the incredibly spicy foods which one ingests purely in order to elicit an amazed response from one's dining companions, I am a curry lover. Tonight I was treated to some curry, japanese style:

My dining companion of the night was the gent pictured above, who I've worked with numerous times at a magazine studio here in HK. He came equipped with a polaroid camera. am-az-ing. Curry and polaroids in one night; it doesn't get much better than that. I anticipate many curry moments in the next month or so, as I hear singapore has a Little India! as well as lots of thai and chinese food...basically a multi-cultural mish-mash, and my kind of city!

show me the money

Lucky for me, I managed to book what we models refer to as a 'money job,' a.k.a., one which pays the expenses (or a solid chunk of them) for an entire trip. This one is for a jewellery company, and tonight I wrapped up the second of three days of shooting...

day one:
photographer and crew assembling the 'field' in which i was to spend the day frolicking...

day two:
one of the perks of modelling: fun co-workers. this one kept me company (as my groom) for part of a 12.5hr day, and burst into laughter with me at the photographer's instructions to 'put out, put in, put out slowly, put in [the wedding ring]'...we're pretty sure that meant 'put on and take off'

another one of my favorite things about modelling in asia: all the foreign delicacies I get to sample. Dinner tonight was a perfect example
A closer look:

That, my friends, is a chocolate pizza. no kidding.

Day three to come...

more adventures to come

here's a photo of a photo of me from my shoot yesterday for which every millimeter of my face was painted with glitter... I'd already worked with some of the crew before, and mostly because everyone was so sweet, we had a lot of fun (even though I was suffering from a minor case of food poisoning due to my mistake of ingesting food in Guangzhou)...

p.s. I just found out today that I will be departing HK on a singaporean adventure august 21st, to be represented by mannequin models (http://www.mannequin.com.sg/) ...off on another adventure!!! until then, I'll keep the posts coming from HK

one day in china

Just got back from a long day in Guangzhou, 3rd most populous city in China if you believe the rumours. The video below is mostly me pointing out the obvious...such as the sun...which does look different from China afterall (due to all the smog)

We found the subway station, my translator left me partway to my destination in order to catch her bus home, and I made a friend! The oddity of seeing another young foreigner on a Guangzhou subway was enough to merit a conversation, which led to a tour of a nearby park and brief stop at starbucks before boarding my train back to HK

(that's the tallest building in Guangzhou in the background)

Raul is from Ecuador and has been living in Guangzhou for about FIVE months studying mandarin and enjoying it (!!!) Considering that this is a place many models dread and which had been described to me previously as 'either the armpit or asshole of China, not sure which one...' I find that quite the feat...but then again, I thoroughly enjoyed my Guangzhou Experience as well.

translation?

I'd have a hard time believing anyone who tried to convince me that the name of this clothing store is the result of a poor translation. Then again, I'm not sure any explanation for this one would make sense...

my view

step one: look out window

step two: squish face up against window and look to the right

.

..

...

at least I have a window now. I'm loving the natural light thing.

sightings

in between yoga and watching The Dark Knight:on the way home:

the more common sight being swarms of roaches on the street, rather than me with a fringe (courtesy of some fake hair and a professional hairstylist, of course)

faves

something I've been meaning to post for awhile: a shout out to some of the most amazing people I have had the opportunity to work with thus far, and whose work and individuality continue to inspire me...
below are some of the images from my collaborations with these incredible artistsshot by Greg Swales (http://www.gregswales.com/), with hair and makeup by the beautiful Ashely Gesner (http://www.ashleygesner.com/)

photo by Donald Chiu (http://www.donaldchiu.com/) for HK Harpers Bazaar

shot by Evaan Kheraj (http://www.evaankheraj.com/), who also has a blog(http://www.evaankheraj.com/blog/)!!!! with styling by Luisa Rino and hair and makeup by LucyAnne, who are both represented by my mother agency, Lizbell (http://www.lizbellagency.com/) <3

hk colours

Though my roommates and I sometimes find ourselves bored living in a chai wan apartment so removed from the city centre, the truth is that this city is anything but boring. From flowers and palm trees to typhoons and traffic, there is always something to see wherever you venture. There is never any shortage of interesting people or interactions to observe and I am constantly astounded by Hong Kong's diversity, which, much like the diversity amongst human beings, is one of its most endearing qualities.

hallelujah

With time to kill in between castings today, I stopped in at Pure yoga (http://www.pure-yoga.com/en/hongkong/) and upon realizing that I hadn't attended a proper yoga class (of course classes at the gym and via http://www.yogatoday.com/ in the apartment common area don't count) in *gasp* over a month, promptly signed myself up for a 2 month pass and, in an attempt to get as many people on the wondrous yoga bandwagon as possible, signed up 5 of the girls from my agency for 7 day passes. Of course it was only a few hours before I found myself back at the studio attending an anusara class, which, as fellow yoga-lovers would know, was a purely blissful experience. I don't know what took me so long, but I am oh-so grateful that I finally got my act together.

Another thing I'm loving about HK right now: this newly discovered snack food available (as far as my searches have uncovered) exclusively at Circle K convenience stores (best convenience store chain in HK, no contest). Ingredients: sweet potatoes, maltose, red bean. And yes, that's me dipping this turd-resembling snack food in ketchup. mmmmm

p.s. I love Pure Yoga!!!! (In case the point wasn't clear enough already)

big mistake

Leaving the house today, bag stuffed to the brim with gym clothes, runners, water bottle, wallet, camera, and ipod, I thought I would be safe enough from boredom to leave out a book. Planning simply on hitting up the gym for a bit then mosey-ing directly over to my fitting, I thought I'd be 'busy' the whole time I was out of the apartment (and my ipod of course would be ample company for the public transit commute). But oh, what a fool I was.

Because 'fitting' does not apparently mean work. What it means is: wait for one hour, squeeze into an impossibly small pair of jeans which you won't end up wearing anyways because the outfit they're paired with is deemed too 'triste,' try on another outfit, wait, try on another outfit, wait, then wait some more only to be dismissed, two hours after arrival time. How, may you ask, did I occupy myself during that first hour of pure uninterrupted boredom? The ipod was out of the question (instore music was beng played much too loud to hear own music via headphones without fear of permanent ear damage), thus the task was left to the mirrored shop ceiling and camera:

indeed.

its official

It's official, I definitely have the best excuse for delayed posts ever...

I was in the hospital for three days recieving i.v. antibiotics for a nasty spider bite which developed an infection and started spreading up my leg...it looked even more disgusting than it sounds. It was my first hospitalization in eighteen years, and needless to say, I wasn't too happy about it.

I was also not happy about how many holes got poked in my flesh.

Nevertheless there are a few things that I am already missing about St. Paul's hospital...

-the reprieve from the Daily Quest to Find Toilet while out of the house during the day between castings

-the window over my bed (I lived in a windowless cave of a room for a month when I first arrived in HK)

-the lack of spiders in my bed which lead to hospitalizations, as well as the lack of roaches, ants, and small unidentifiable bugs which I squish whenever I spot small black specks moving across my computer screen

-not having to pay for water or TP

-operational and sanitary plumbing (aka a toilet that doesn't plug and shower that doesn't flood)...I'm noticing a recurring toilet-based theme in this list...

-the other luxuries of living somewhere where other people do everything for you

-last but not least, this menu...

No, I never tried the 'grass crap'

lazy...or busy?

WOW I cannot believe I haven't posted in nearly a month! In my defense, my last attempt was viciously thwarted by a faulty internet connection and quite the epic post was lost forever. I've been pretty busy lately with with work...here are a few shots from the last couple days:

This was from a job for a glitzy HK mall...I saw the current ads plastered all over the corridors of an MTR (metro) station here. Hopefully I will stay in HK long enough to take ridiculous pictures of myself in front of what I anticipate will likely be photoshopped masterpieces...

I don't know where the makeup artist on this shoot got the patience to draw little lines on my face for over an hour, but I certainly admire such dedication nonetheless.