Spotted: Visiting Gossip Girl Scenes in New York

My most fond memory of Grand Central has to be Gossip Girl. Yes, it's my guilty pleasure. Gossip Girl makes New York sounded so cool. So since we are in New York. Why not?

Gossip Girl : Hey Upper East Siders. Gossip Girl here. And I have the biggest news ever. One of my many sources, Melanie91, sends us this: “Spotted at Grand Central, bags in hand: Serena van der Woodsen.” Was it only a year ago our It Girl mysteriously disappeared for “boarding school”? And just as suddenly, she’s back. Don’t believe me? See for yourselves. Lucky for us, Melanie91 sent proof. Thanks for the photo, Mel.

Gossip Girl: Spotted: Lonely Boy. Can’t believe the love of his life has returned. If only she knew who he was. But everyone knows Serena. And everyone is talking. Wonder what Blair Waldorf thinks. Sure, they’re BFF’s, but we always thought Blair’s boyfriend Nate had a thing for Serena.

We can't miss out the Met when it comes to Gossip Girl.

I tried looking for similar outfit but... Never mind.

And the most epic place that reminds me (and every GG fans)  of Gossip Girl has to be this...

3 words, 8 letters, say it and I'm yours. 

I totally said it to Flora.

I m Hungry. 

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Those Location T-shirts

It has been awhile since I did a proper OOTD blog post. I mean I don't do it A LOT. In fact I think I only did it once? 

If you are a shopaholic fashionista like myself, you would have noticed that there are a lot of these t-shirts out there that has locations printed on them. Usually cool places like New York, Los Angeles, USA, Las Vegas, etc etc. 

If you haven't seen any of them from places like ZARA, Cotton On, HnM etc, your t-shirt probably says "Under The Rock".   

Tucking the jeans into them. 

Picking up my 1st Dr. Martens, can't say enough how happy I was. (Okay fine, I didn't really look THAT happy but trust me, I was/am happy about my new boots) .

T-Shirt: ZARA
Jeans: Uniqlo (I'm big on fast fashion.)
Boots: Dr Marten

These new Dr Marts feelss so good! Not only were they pretty but it feels very comfy when I bought it with their Dr Marts Socks. I'm still trying to figure out how best I can pull it off though, Should I tuck in my jeans or not?


Not exactly the same set of pictures with the same set of outfit but I'm sharing this HnM Beckham modern essential here for your reference of how the boots look like with the pants tuck out of my boots.

Anyway, I love these location t-shirt to be honest. It's some sort basic but at the same time it still gives a touch to the t-shirt instead of slapping mega huge cartoon or a very big S logo on it. I mean if it's not the size we are trying to indicate, the "S" serves no purpose. (nor give you super power_)

What makes location T-shirt so cool that it got every brand doing it? Is it a case of brands being FOMO or a fact that people really like these t-shirts with locations? Are they the born and breed locals who buys them or the pretentious aspirational full time travellers buying them to shoot OOTD?

About location t-shirts... Food for thought, would you wear these t-shirts?

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Staying in New York City - Archer Hotel

I would imagine my soundtrack for the past week to be "Empire State of Mind" since I was in New York (ultimate basic bro lol) but it's more like "The time of my life". Can't say enough how happy I am to be in New York City.

New York has always been at the top of my bucket list. It's one of those places that I grew up with because of heavy influence from the TV, radio, and of course, NBA. Being in New York is like walking directly into my TV and straight into the scenes from the movies and magazines, in a foreign yet strangely familiar kinda way.

When it comes to travel, I've always believed in the 'eat and breathe local' experience, but for New York, I am actually quite embarrassed to say that I've been SUPER touristy.

I've visited places like the Empire State building, Top of the Rock, Central Park, Times Square, Bryant Park, Grand Central Station, Madison Square Garden etc and I love them all!

See what I mean about being a typical tourist? My wife back home actually suspected that I took these photos off Google images. LOL.

I mean besides the wife, I also gotten a few texts as well asking me how long am I in NYC for exactly. Truth is, I'm actually here for work but in between meetings, we managed to sneak around the hood to snap some shots... I even got a new tattoo! #WorkHardPlayHard 

Truth is, New York City is actually really very easy to navigate around. Their city planning is so good. The Street and Aves are extremely organized and you just have to get a hotel which is well located and all these places will literally be in your neighborhood. 

Like the NBA store on 5th Avenue. Guess whose life is complete now?

For the curious minds, I actually stayed at Archer Hotel located at 38th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. And yes, all the major tourist spots I mentioned earlier are all within walking distance. No need for Uber and/or the Subway!

 Malin+Goetz bath amenities! :love:

Love their complimentary bedroom slippers! Not only is it pretty but it also fits! Yeah, my feet are usually too big for standard slippers from hotels in other parts of the world. (*cough, and you know what they say about guys with big feet... cough..) 

And if you are wondering how near I was really to the Empire State building, it's just 5 minutes away and this is the view from my window:

That tall building to the left? Yup, that's the Empire State.

Besides the really good location, the place is really well-furnished and their bed is incredibly comfy. I have been travelling quite a fair bit lately so I can tell you their 5-star bedding is really one of the best around.  

The hotel also houses the David Burke fabrick restaurant which serves what is probably the BEST bacon in the world. 

No, I'm not kidding. Just look.

This restaurant is usually packed from what I've observed. Most of the diners are non-hotel guests who come here for the great food... and the very photogenic Foyer bar.

And then there's also the rooftop Spyglass bar which offers an amazing view of the Empire State Building.

With a location so near to Times Square and 5th ave, it's no surprise I did a lot of shopping, like seriously a lot. And you know with all these shopping bags all over the place, we'd actually left some stuff behind but their chef concierge, Anthony, promptly arranged to send it to us by Fedex almost immediately without any charges. How's that for excellent service?!

More information: 

Address: 45 West 38th St, New York, NY 10018

Phone: (212) 719-4100

Website: http://archerhotel.com/

Instagram: @Archerhotels 

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Bang Bang Tattoo in New York.

That's Kevin King aka @blvckwork

Hello from New York City!! The land of pizzas, blonde girls, and basketball! (I'm pretty sure there are more than just these but these are the things I love and this is my blog, so I'm calling it whatever I want. :p)  I'm so so so glad I'm here at this time of the year where the NBA season just returned and there are so much buzz about it!! I love love love this place despite the murderous cold weather. > <! It was forecasted that it's going to be around 15-18 degrees but there were a few days that it went as low as 3 degrees along with heavy rain and strong wind! OMG.

I love my inks but I'm not exactly the most adventurous tatt fan out there. I've always wanted to get a tattoo at every country/city I visit but the fear of aids is real. Can't blame me if you have seen some of those tattoo parlors at places like Bali, Phuket, Malaysia, or even Philippines. I've to give it to those people who have their tattoos done at such touristy spots where it just simply spells AIDS on their signboard. :x

Despite that, I've finally gotten my first travel ink at Bang Bang Tattoo at NYC! I first got to know of them via Instagram. (they actually have over a million followers!) What's so special about them that actually change my mind about getting a tatt overseas?

These guys are professional. Bang Bang is not just a single tattoo artist but it's actually a tattoo parlor that house a team of over 10 professional artists. Not only is the place neat and clean but they are so so so organized. Unlike most tattoo parlors in Singapore where it's a one man show, Bang Bang actually have an admin to help take care of their customers and bookings. They will not only help the artist to manage their time to avoid double booking, they will also take brief for them to know more about what the customers want before allocating to a specific artist for the specific style.

Very spacious studio that goes wayyy deeeeeeper in. And they have a very clean toilet and free wifi too. :p

Of course, you can choose which artist you want if you have a preference or simply because you want Bang Bang himself to do it because of his long list of celebrity portfolio. Yup, he is the guy who also inked famous people like Beckham, Bieber, Selena Gomez and many more.


He is also an author! You can read more about his stories with different celebrities in his autobiography.

Me, not knowing any of them was introduced to Kevin. Kevin is a nice young chap who is not only friendly and easy to work with but also very very very good with the thin lines. Trust me, those thin lines ain't the easiest thing to do and many artists in Singapore actually avoid doing such line artwork.



For those who are interested, Bang Bang Tattoo is located on Broome St NYC which is near to Little Italy as well as Chinatown. Or the famous "Egg Shop" which in my opinion is super overrated. (That's another story for another time)

Do not get cheated by its shop front and think that it's a very small unit. This place is huge. Like I mentioned earlier, they have more than 10 artists and when I was there, around 7-8 of them were working on their customers at the same time. And the others were either doing consultation with customers or working on designs on their iMacs. 

If you know when you are traveling, it would be best that you make an appointment way before hand. According to Shawn (the guy who replied my appointment emails), it will typically take at least 2-3 months for you to arrange for an appointment. Also according to Kevin, they get a lot of tourists coming in and out from around the world so I guess playing the "I will be out of town soon" card might not actually work.

So what did I get?

If it's a travel tatt, it has to be a tatt of my favourite city in the world and where I'm currently at isn't it?



For tatt fans who get a chance to travel to NYC, I would highly recommend Bang Bang Tattoo!!!

Anyway, I'm currently surviving on loads of coffee and my favourite bagels, doing work while trying my best to fight the jet-lag. It's not like I'm getting it bad but I actually need a few hours more of sleep as compared to my usual 4hrs avg sleeping time back home. And I'm putting on so much weight from all the good food here I actually can't wait to go back and hit the gym!!!

Can't wait to share more adventures with your guys but I've limited time in between work. So meanwhile do remember to stay tuned to my IG where I erm, give faster updates than on this space. LOL.

"New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There's nothin' you can't do
Now you're in New York
These streets will make you feel brand new
The lights will inspire you
Let's hear it for New York, New York,
New York"

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