Amidst the industrial, working class facades of Taipei, Les Suites clean exterior hints at the modernity awaiting inside. The lobby’s balanced marble grey and blond hues welcome weary travelers with efficiency and crisp attention. An elegant floral arrangement of wild orchids set a graceful complement to the breakfast lounge as we arrived well before our room was ready — the hotel was sold out from the night before. Once we settled in, we effortlessly signed on to wifi in 10 seconds, and enjoyed the morning buffet, a blend of chinese dumplings, meats and rice gruel with western offerings like pancakes, boiled eggs and toast. After a stroll ’round the neighborhood of clothing and jewelry shoppes, we returned at 10 AM and checked into one of our two rooms (the King) that occupied the top floor of this nine story boutique gem. A bamboo filled terrace was perfectly placed next to the comfy reading chair. The room was lovely overall, the closet space generous and the desk area came fully equipped with everything from a stapler to an art eraser and exacto. Les Suites got everything right, from mechanicals (just the right temperature inside to offset the scorching heat) to proportion (the lounge and rooms were both user-friendly dimensions without being either too large or cramped) to professional, helpful and friendly staff (smiles and clear directions to a particular address we needed.) Remarkably pleasant, warmly bright and continental and a great value for the money, Les Suites was, well, a sweet surprise in Taipei.

This is the first picture installment consisting of fairly random shots from a quick walk around Shibuya in Tokyo. Special thanks to Pentax and my Micah– the official trip photographer! Enjoy more shots after the jump…

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Nothing anyone ever told me about how wild Tokyo is could have prepared me for what this place is really like. I arrived earlier today with just enough time to dip into Shibuya around the corner from my hotel to grab some noodles for dinner and start walking around and exploring. Shibuya makes Times Square in New York look amateur– the sheer quantity of people, noises, flashing lights, people yelling, stores and ‘things going on’ is simply unreal. The sweet side-streets with the record stores and small boutique shops are really the treat in this area, but I simply can’t describe how mesmerizing the central district is. The jet lag is catching up to me quickly but the first picture installment from Tokyo is coming right up!

Only having one day (really 26 hours) in Taipei was a big ol’ tease, luckily I’ll be spending another day there on the way back home. I did manage to check a few pretty nice shops I found walking around last night– one of them was a place called Patchwork– a small-modern designer toy shop. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many tiny Kubricks and Bearbricks in one place. They were all lined up along the walls with numbers and prices, pretty neat. The shop called it self ‘where apparel, toys and design collide’. Well, whatever back street I ended up on was an absolute blast at night. A few doors down from Patchwork there was a sneaker shop called Magnetic– it reminded me of the Alife Rivington Club in NYC, hardwood floors, shoes behind glass, the works. Unfortunately they were totally over-protective and wouldn’t let me take any pictures for a write up, so they just won’t get one.

With the competition in visual arts getting tougher and tougher, it’s nice to see that the guys at Bang Bang Studios still bring their A-game. Launched by creative heads Rick Morris and Luca Giannettoni in 2003, B B’s work is limitless in its imagination, possibility, and application, which extends from film titling (Bait, The Soprano’s DVD) to graphic design and illustration. Their new spot for Kyocera combines invigorating music with stunning visuals and the Nike “Run” spot Director’s Cut will make you want to lace up your shoes and hit the trail! Keep up the good work guys…