Gaya

My first night back in Korea saw me heading without delay straight to one of my favorite places to drink on earth – Hof Gaya.

A great start.

In Korea the custom is to drink from evening until morning in traditional beer houses called Hofs (호프).  Hof comes from the German hoffbrau and basically just means a hybrid restaurant/bar where you can drink copious amount of beer and soju while eating a lot of tasty Korean style bar food.  In our time in Korea we spent a few (probably more) nights exploring district by district in search of the best of the best, but at the end of the day most Hofs are more or less the same.  The exception to this rule was Shinchon’s Gaya.

Classy (ish), Dark, Awesome, Tasty, Social.

This Hof can be found in Shinchon just off the main street a few stories below ground.  The whole place is covered by slightly raised platforms with cutouts for each table which is lit by its own spotlight.  The effect is a classy, social, and overall just fun place to drink.  The food is good, the prices as with most hofs, are quite reasonable.  And we certainly had no problem spending hours here.

It doesn’t matter if you’re just visiting Seoul or a resident, you owe it to yourself to spend a solid night drinking and eating here.

Shinhye rocks the soju crown.

We have had ourselves no shortage of  good nights out while we were there and have actually written about this place before (worth a look).  But I think this image sums it up pretty well.  And while our friend Shinhye is not the offical spokesgirl of Gaya, I for one think that she should be.

Get to know what Loi Krathong actually celebrates here in Thailand and witness one of the MOST INCREDIBLE NIGHTS EVVEEERRRR!!!!

PS: This was on my List of Things To Do Before I Die. Swish!

San Francisco saw our longest day of test shooting.  We took to the streets and tried to hit the most photo-worthy spots one by one.  Union Square, Chinatown, Coit Tower, the parrots of Telegraph hill and last and most importantly the Mission district bars.

Heading down to Bart in the Mission.

Home of the greatest pork buns on earth.  You can tell they’re awesome due to the giant pictures of Clinton eating one.

Chairs.  In a pile.

High kick if its time for another bar.

Andy gets his game face on.

Street pizza is often better than indoor pizza.  This was quite true this night.


Bars, music, and Landerworld.  A complete night.

More photos and videos from the trip coming soon.  This time from an even rad-er camera.

We discovered this tiny little bar called “Yen” the other night. It was difficult to find but once we were there we fell in love with the space. I could have lived there it was so cool. The bar itself was really atmospheric and quiet – lots of hushed voices and overpriced drinks. They had a Vietnamese acoustic trio there the night we went and although the lighting was shitty for video, I took a few shots of them playing various English songs. They covered a very wide range of genres and did a pretty fabulous job for three guys, two guitars and one dude playing one of those box/percussion things. See if you can pick out all the songs!

I love going to karaoke at home, but karaoke here is a whole different animal. The Vietnamese love their music here and karaoke is a huge part of their culture. Each group gets their own private room, and the music is ear-bleedingly loud. But what fun it is! We sang for almost four hours and it cost us around $20 (divided by 6). In true Asian style, the words to the songs were often wrong (Neil Young singing 4 “days” in Ohio?). I was able to get a few shots of the action before my battery died for your viewing pleasure. Unfortunately, my epic rendition of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” did not make the cut but stayed tuned for it in an upcoming episode – one of my better performances if I do say so myself. I’m sure we’ll be back!