SAN FRANCISCO  – So, I’m what you’d call comic book challenged.  I’m the guy who asks (while watching the recent Avengers movie) whether Captain America can die and whether Black Window and Hawkeye actually have super human powers and, if they don’t, then how can they be super heroes, let alone members of the Avengers (okay, perhaps in [...]

    SAN FRANCISCO – I miss so many things about Hong Kong:  the perfectly temp-controlled, the over-the-top shopping malls, that incredible skyline (one of the best, up there with Chicago), the blunt and often endearing pessimism of the locals (who claim “HK died in 1997”).  I even miss the city’s fascinating (and often frustrating) yin and yang aspects – [...]

  NEW YORK – Located smack dab in the middle of NYC’s Upper East Side is one of my favorite NYC art venues, the always interesting but often-overlooked Asia Society Museum (ASM).  I say overlooked because it’s not officially grouped in with the nearby venues along Museum Mile (that includes the Met and the Guggenheim) nor is it officially part [...]

  TOKYO - Okay, some might say that Japan tries too hard when it comes to art but, for me, some of the most original and engaging shows I’ve seen have been in Tokyo…and I don’t mean those mega put-ons at the National Museum in Ueno or those over-hyped, what-were-they-thinking exhibitions at the Mori. Rather, it’s the small-to-medium sized venues that [...]

    TOKYO – Summer, spring, winter or fall?  Due for a Tokyo fix but not sure when to go?  As with everything in Japan, it’s all about choices and options, quite often way too many.  Just have a look at the beverage section at any Japanese convenience store or the pen/pencil selection at any stationery shop (Ito-ya in Ginza [...]

    CALIFORNIA – To some, the train is one of the most enjoyable modes of travel.  To others it’s archaic, a thing of the past.  For me, it seemed an interesting way to spend some of my newfound, Cali-based free time and what I hoped would be a great way to a see a bit of the US. I [...]

  HONG KONG – They’re old-style, double-decker, eco-friendly and come in multiple, cute colors.  They’re called street trams and Hong Kong is one of a few cities to still use the double-decker version.  It’s also my preferred way to get-around the city. Yes, the double-decker street trams…possibly the slowest way to transverse Hong Kong, but also one of the most [...]

  MACAU, CHINA – If you’ve spent any time in Hong Kong, then you know how bloody crowded and claustrophobic it can feel.  If you’ve actually lived there, you also know that there’s only one way to deal with all that craziness – the weekend getaway, the key to making HK living bearable. It seemed like everyone I knew in [...]

    By GARY FONG So, I was having drinks with a few friends the other day and somehow we got on the subject of cities when one of them posed this question:  what makes a great city, truly great?  In other words, if you set aside the obvious things that make a city just great – e.g, fab restaurants [...]

    LOS ANGELES – While most visitors to LA flock to the renowned Getty Museum, they often forget about the city’s first major museum dedicated solely to art:  the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Granted, LACMA may not be housed in a beautiful, mountain-perched Richard Meier-designed building (like the Getty) and can’t boast an unrivaled collection of [...]