Konnichiwa from Fukuoka. I’m on day 13 of this round-the-world tour and you couldn’t ask for a softer landing than Japan’s biggest southern city. It’s a perfect autumn evening, hovering at 14C – there’s a gentle breeze and the city’s bars and bistros are glowing with pizza ovens and open grills, while gentle lighting frames diners along bustling boulevards and cosy side streets. As it’s Saturday evening here and this column needs to be filed in time to hit New Zealand in the coming hours, let’s pick up where I left off last Saturday.
A British Airways A350-1000, Heathrow to Austin
I haven’t been on BA for nearly a decade, I reckon, and my flight to Texas confirmed why. I am not a disinfecting hygiene freak but so much had spilled and caked onto every surface around my seat that I had to find some disinfecting wipes from Matsumoto Kyoshi and give everything a good scrub. The airline is unique as the cabin crew have their own accent that is hard to pinpoint: 30 per cent camp, 10 per cent wannabe posh, 25 per cent daytime television and a mix of huffs, eye rolls and disappearing acts. From the cockpit, it’s a whole different story, however: perfect vowels, clipped clarity and smooth reassurance. A bit of a relaunch has been announced for the carrier but a deep clean would be a better investment in the immediate term.
Austin – part one
I’ve been to Houston and Dallas many times but Austin only once and it wasn’t memorable. Last Saturday that all changed. I checked into the super buzzy Proper Hotel, dined at the tasty Hestia, was invited to Elon Musk’s Halloween party and went to my room smelling as though I had been chargrilled.
Austin – part two
I woke up Sunday morning and decided on a little trot through town. At 07.00 it was about 22C and I made my way to the river, passing a fit jogger in shorts and no top. It was a guy, I might add. A woman in Lululemon passed on my left and then, around the bend, came another guy without a top. And then another and another. If it were 30C, it would have made sense. If they all had killer bods it would have been even more on the mark but it was neither. Anyway, topless trotting is a thing in Texas’s state capital and I didn’t follow the locals’ lead.
Austin – part three
I’m not big on hard hat tours but I happily obliged when I was offered a tour of Herzog & de Meuron’s new project dubbed Sixth & Blanco. Masterminded by hospitality and retail clever clogs Larry McGuire, the new development builds on his Westside enclave up the street and his surrounding ventures along Sixth. Still nine months from completion, it will surely be the best mixed-use project in North America when it throws open its doors with a small hotel, an array of cafés and restaurants, a private members’ club and cluster of residences on top. Low-slung, woody and concrete, it’s a whole new design language for US retail and hospitality and, a week later, I’m still thinking about how sharp it’s going to be.
Austin – part four
I’ll admit it. I had a “I could live here” moment after walking the aisles of Central Market grocery shop. It is perhaps the best food retailer in North America and must be in the global top five. I loved my Casa Santa Luzia moment in São Paulo a few weeks ago but this is on a different level in terms of scale and offer. There are branches in other parts of the state but it is truly worth a visit if you get off on people who know good grocery. And while we’re offering up big Texan praise, First Light Books and magazine shop Tomo Mags are world class.
Over the north Pacific
The Cathay flight from Dallas to Hong Kong is freaking long but I slept for 12 of the 16-plus hours without any chemical support.
Manila
Where to start after a 13-year absence? It was a treat to be back in the lush and bustling Makati district. Super fun to get a full 30 minutes of airtime on morning show Headstart with Karen Davila asking the questions. Magical for me and my colleagues to be hosted by a Monocle patron in his modernist compound. And long overdue to spend an evening with our fun, chic and charming subscribers. Salamat, Manila. We will be back very soon! There is much to do.
Hong Kong
It was too hot for early November for starters but efficient as ever on the business front. Carlyle & Co adds a layer of attentive care to a brisk business trip and its fried HK beef-noodle dish is all the fuel that you need to power on as Europe wakes up and keeps the business day rolling well past midnight.
Fukuoka
It’s time to wrap and head out for dinner. I am accompanied by two colleagues and we’re armed with a good restaurant to get rolling and a few drinks to round out the evening. Will report back next Sunday. Have a good week.
Enjoying life in ‘The Faster Lane’? Click here to browse all of Tyler’s columns.
