Alright. I’m sure everyone’s curious as to what went down when I took my trip to Macau/HK. We really went to Macau with the fam with my sister and I just taking a short half-day trip to HK to get some things done. I was a bit disappointed really… well, that and I didn’t have time to really go around and do the stuff I wanted to.

Macau was a major disappointment. As the place is really more of a touristy place, there weren’t any major sneaker stores aside from the usual Marathon Sports and other similar sneaker stores. I went through stores only once and just saw the usual releases. There might’ve been some special releases but I guess my fault was that I was too focused on copping AMs more than anything. Jordans, AF1s and other Basketball releases were bountiful. NB limited editions were also available, but that’s pretty much it. I was in Macau a couple of years back and there was one serious sneaker store that carried some crazy ish like the Fantastic Four Pack. I tried looking for it but it wasn’t there anymore.

There was a Nike store over at the Venetian (and damn is that place huge!) and once again, it didn’t really bring any surprises. There might’ve been some surprises here and there, but nothing to write home about. Well, there were a couple of things I did see. They had the Air Max Light from the Tecmo Bo Pack. I don’t recall these being released here so I had to take this stolen shot. They were ok, but not enough for me to bring ‘em home. The Max Light uses the KC Royals color blocking with pixels by the blue toe box and a pixelized Bo Jackson playing baseball (which can be found on the old Nintendo game Tecmo Baseball).

Another surprise here were the AM 180 Ultramarines (that also didn’t drop here btw) and the AM1 OGs. Yes, the AM1 OGs came out here but it seemed like they were GRs there! I even saw the OGs over at New Yaohan, the mall across our hotel! What’s great about the Nike store there was that they did have a pretty good selection considering that it’s inside the department store. And for some reason, the stuff they had were on sale! I decided to get the Blue AM1 OG (which hasn’t been re-stocked yet unlike the Red 1s) at 3o% off retail price! They came out to about 520 HKD (which is about 3250, a good 2k less than they sell ‘em over at Hideout!).

I did take the trip to HKG a day before heading back here. It sucked that they also dropped the Space Jams on the 23rd at the Nike Store. Here are some kicks that I saw at the Nike Hong Kong store. Lebron 7 Red Carpets, Kobe Beijing to Finals, Yi Jianlian Skyposites. As you can see with the photo above and below, a lot of QS that never made our shores. Like I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a fan of the AF1s but there were a lot for you guys to see. There were a couple of Jordan 1s that also didn’t make it here. Seeing all these J1s, now I realize that they did release a whole ton of Jordan 1s last year. From Phat Lows, Hi Straps, Premiers and Quickstrikes, we were abundant in Js last year.

Ocean Terminal Stores were a bit of a disappointment. I breezed by the NSW store, Adidas Originals and Performance stores, Onitsuka Tiger and the rest…and nothing….. or not within my budget. Another surprise occurrence here were the abundance of Brain Wrecks and other SBs. Though they didn’t have the Guccis. I purposedly didn’t pass by Visvim and the other stores nearby as I know I’d only be salivating over the kicks on hand. D-Mop was ok but once again, nothing to write home about. Streetwear stuff was pretty cool and the sale was just too tempting. But time wasn’t on our side and I didn’t get to go back to check them out.

After lunch and Ocean Terminal we scooted on down to Fa Yuen street, the fabled Sneaker Street over at Mongkok. The place was crazy! Even the streets leading to it was already filled with kicks. But sadly, my AM90 Infrared journey was all for naught. No one had, and if they did, they didn’t have my size. Fa Yuen, like this whole sneaker trip, was a bit of a disappointment. But I guess it was a mistake I had a goal in mind. The stores offered pretty much the same thing and nothing really stood out.

I did however drop by the Nike Basketball over at Fa Yuen. The store was really nice and found my surprise pick up there. I’ve been pretty down on my luck up until then. Among all the basketball releases so far for this season, I’ve been riding only on a couple– CP3 IIIs, Kobe Vs, Skyposites (still not there), and the Cradle Lows. It was just unfortunate HK didn’t have the Philippines Asia Pack version, but I was lucky enough to pick up the Chinatown edition (photos to follow real soon!). The colors are pretty funky and I just had to get ‘em! Though I am selling them. So if there are any takers, do drop me a line (10.5 US)  let me know if you’re interested. I’ll PM the details but I’ll post them soon enough.

So there, that was my trip. I know it could’ve been better if I had more time. I also know that if I had a little more time, I would’ve been able to appreciate other releases. I guess the Net is also a curse as it makes you think that you’ve seen some of the sneakers before, especially for some pairs you’ve seen over and over again on all the sneaker sites like mine. So to a certain extent, especially for the Nike releases, it felt like there was nothing really amazing. But I’m definitely sure there was heat behind some pairs there. So ’til the next time, I’ll keep my eyes peeled for the other stuff and not just the elusive Infrareds (word has it that the AM90 Infrareds are gonna come out later this year. so yay me!).

Most of us got our paycheck yesterday. Now here’s my question- how long will that paycheck last with all the sic drops we’re having? From Hideout’s drops to 5-0 and WeLegendary’s SBs, and now the rest of the Nikes for the month? I dropped by the Nike store by Greenbelt 5 and saw these performance pairs  worth your hard earned dineros.

AJ12 “Flu Game”. I was never a fan of the Jordan 12s. Even with the Rising Suns dropping a few weeks back, they never really grew on me. Now, these AJ12s, are dubbed as the Flu Game Jordans. Way back in ’97, MJ made a mistake of eating some bad pizza before game 5 of the NBA Finals against the Jazz. It could’ve been some die hard Jazz fans’ version of Celtic Pride for all we know. MJ wasn’t in any shape to play but he had to what he had to do. Jordan pulled through and had one of the best games ever in Finals History. 38 points. Game winner. Nuff said. This version of the shoe he wore has the 97-sick face-38 on the heel as well as on the tongue. Pretty nice touch.

Cradle Rock Low Steve Nash PE Away. A few posts back we featured the Cradle Rock Low Home PEs for Steve Nash. Here’s the Road/Away version. Not bad right? Now when will the Philippine version drop?

Nike Hyperize Decades Pack “Infrared”. A few months back, right around the same time the White Men Can’t Jump Pack came out that they were going to release the Decades Pack for the Hyperize. This, I believe, is the first of the pack. This is inspired by the AM 90 Infrareds. The others of the pack are the Safaris, AM95 and the Foamposite, all classics of the Nike family. I’m still waiting on my Infrareds (wherever they may be), but for now, this will do.

and the rest. Nice releases but didn’t strike me all that much from the get go. A new colorway for the Trainer 1s, another Kobe IV colorway, a St.Vincent/St.Mary’s colorway for the LBJ Ambassador IIs, Zoom BB3s, and Jordan Phat Lows. These pairs should be available all around the metro and possibly some Nike stores in the province. So yes, choose wisely. and enjoy your cops.

The Kobe love never ends over at Nike. With the huge success of the Kobe IV, Nike’s been churning out colorway after colorway of the kick ass shoe. I honestly don’t own a pair but it’s one of the better pairs Nike has released in years. Getting to meet the guy makes it even more special. This month (though I am 2 weeks delayed on this post. blame it for not having a camera around), they release 2 more (and if you don’t get it this week, chances are you’ve missed the boat…again) colorways- the 4 Rings and Del Sol Splatter. The tongue you see here is from the 4 Rings. The 4 Rings has a gradient from Purple to Gold. Even the laces go gradient too! The Del Sol Splatter is basically the same shoe but with a splattered outsole by the forefoot. The first Del Sol had a white forefoot. Better hurry, Kobe 4s don’t stay on shelves long.

Aside from the Kobes, Nike’s other big gun has his shoe out. LeBron James’ signature shoe, the Air Max LeBron VII has been out a little after the start of the season. I believe this has been LeBron’s lightest shoe to date (outside of the Ambassadors and Soldiers). Pictured here are the 2 out of 3 available. The Midnight Navy (for their alternate road jersey) and the traditional white/black/red (not really the colors of cleveland but what the hell). The third colorway, the Mooncake, is also a special release and from what I recall, there’s only 24 pairs available at the store. This is a gold/white colorway, usually Asia exclusive. There is still some available at the store. I’m a low cut guy, so I’ll wait on the Lows to come out before I rep ‘Bron.

Aside from Nike’s big guns, there are other PEs, Player Exclusives available at Nike BHS. That’s what’s great about Nike Philippines, they bring out the PEs to the Philippines. On a previous post, I posted the Sharkalaid PEs for Deron Williams and Rudy Gay. Not exactly your favorite players but they definitely go to work every time out. The Hyperize, following the success of the Hyperdunk has been out since July but the PEs are out just now. Here you see the PEs for Pau Gasol and Ben Gordon. Aside from the colorways matching their team colors, their PE logos can be found at the tongue. Nice touch, right? Ben Gordon gets love from Nike with two Detroit colorways (home and road CWs) while the Pau just gets his home whites here.

Lastly, we have the third tier superstars. I really don’t think they are but in terms of popularity, they would be considered as such. We have the Blue Chip II for Caron Butler and Jermaine O’Neal. O’Neal’s Black/Reds have his PE logo at the back while Caron has his 3D logo there. People may wonder why it’s 3D (which is also Boris Diaw’s nickname)  and not Tough/Tuff Juice for Caron. Caron holds a basketball camp called 3D  (Butler fans, correct me if I’m wrong). The black/royal blue/gold is definitely the Wizards’ colors and the Black/Reds are for the Heat, Jermaine’s 4th team in the L. Ofcourse there are other Nike Basketball shoes at BHS but these are my picks for illest for November.

As this week is mostly a run through of the sneaker shops over at Trinoma, today’s article is all about the swoosh. As Nike’s been riding high on so many great releases over the Summer (US, that is), this 2 week hiatus since Ondoy/Pepeng has brought about a flooding on their Nike stores. Take the shoe on top, the Trainer 1, for example. Yes, this is the same exact shoe as the Light Out MPs, obviously in a different colorway. This is quite similar (but not the exact one) to the original Air Trainer 1 worn by Bo Jackson. Yes, kids. If you’re wonderin’ where the PacMan Knows design came from, it came from this man’s campaign with Nike some 20 years ago. Bo Jackson’s a multi-sport athlete, wherein he did play a lot of football and baseball in his heyday. So when Bo was all over the place, Nike had a brilliant campaign of stating that Bo Knows. The ads went on something like Bo Knows baseball.  Bo Knows football. Bo Knows (fill in sport). It was pretty cool and like Mike, everybody wanted to be as awesome as Bo Jackson. There’s another colorway of the Trainer 1s available here- the Red/Grey/White/Blue (i think). They’re also priced cheaper than the MP Trainers.

This Nike Dunk Low is for the ladies. There are 2 in this pack, one with a red colorway. The midsection of the upper has that glitter-y fabric that if you do look closely, are separated in flower-like sections. I just had to put these on here for the lady readers of the blog (so that I’m not too biased when it comes to the updates). And besides, they look good!  The Dunk, over the past 2-3 years has really blown up in terms of the mainstream crowd. The hardcore sneakerheads have been harping on the Dunks as early as ’01 if I’m not mistaken. You can always find someone rocking a pair of Dunks at the mall or at the club. In the Dunk’s defense, they are quite comfortable and they reall look great. You can find the Red ones over at the Nike section of the gallery.

Here’s another one for the ladies. Dudes, you’ll get yours in a bit. This Air Max 1 is also part of the 3-part pack for the ladies. The other one (no picture though) is white and cream if I’m not mistaken. They (along with a black version which I haven’t seen in store) are part of the Speckled Pack. If you look at the midsole, you can obviously see, well, the speckles. The suede/mesh upper’s pretty straightforward but poses a simple yet classic look, perfect with any get up. This is obviously part of their Holiday releases. In the coming weeks, we’ll surely see a lot of the nice colorways pop out of the woodworks from the Swoosh.

As mentioned on my Shoe Salon post, Nike’s also got this East vs. West campaign going on (if I’m not mistaken this is part of their Fall collection- just in time for school in the US and other parts of the globe not named Philippines). Initially, we showed you the AM1 for the West. Here’s an AM90 reppin’ the East (to be honest, I’m not sure if I read the tag right). For all I care, it’s reppin’ the south or the north or even the west. Bottomline, they look good. Part of the whole pack also carry Dunks, AM1s and AM90s. I’m sure there are more, so stay tuned and check out the real from the Movement on this Pack.

With Vans hogging the limelight a bit from the big boys, Nike had to come out with something that can kick Vans’ butt. The Talache Mid ACs, in brown and black suede, come with the vulcanized sole as well. They’re pretty clean cut and straightforward. What’s great about this is the stitching around the upper and the red-orange eyelets creating a nice accent to the shoe. The black one can be partially seen at the gallery as well under the Nike section.

For the performance/basketball junkies out there, I have something for you guys too. With the ZKIVs being such a huge hit, they really had to bring out another one! This has got to be the umpteenth release of the neo-classic Kobe shoe. Can we all agree that this is the best Kobe signature out there? Nothing against adidas and nike’s earlier works, but for a shoe to have a year’s worth of drops, in various moments of kobe’s career, wow. That’s all I got to say. This version is the White/Grey-Varsity Purple version. The shoe has a white base with purple flywires and a speckled mudguard. About the speckled look, is this Nike’s new trend? Earlier this year, it was the whole safari look that came out in a lot of AM1s. Now it’s the speckled effect. I’m not complaining, I actually like it. This is actually a clean one. I’d buy this over the Gold Medals or even the Black-Reds.

There’s also a new Hyperize colorway, and the some Jordan 1 Phat Lows in attendance. The Jordan 1 Phat Low 60+ pack is also available in the Atlanta Hawks colorway.

To add to the speckled effect, we’ve got a pair of Dunks- a low and a high, in the mix. I’m not quite sure if they glow in the dark, but my instincts say that they will look good in proper lighting. The low reminds me of their Dunk Low Notebooks they released last year. The color blocking on them as well are reminiscent of the Japan Dunk Pandas- well, minus the faux panda fur ofcourse. The Dunk Highs look a lot like the AM 90s I featured earlier. These Dunks can be purchased at other Nike stores as well. I’ve seen them at the Fort or at Glorietta too.

And last but certainly not the least, the Footscapes. Actually, the other two came out months before and I believe I was able to feature them already. The one listed right  below is the third one to the puzzle. The black/grey/yellow version also carries the flywire technology making this re-release more than a retro. The Footscapes are actually popular in Japan. So guys, don’t sleep on these! These are actually cool! The sideways laces may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but at least it’s different, right?

There you have it folks. A whole slew of  drops from the Swoosh. Look to find them all over town at various Nike Parks/Stadiums. Though if you want the fresher ones, do try to find them over at BHS or Trinoma. They seem to have the better ones in stock.

• Nike Park BHS, Glorietta 4 ,Trinoma, Gateway, Mall of Asia, Robinsons Place Manila, Ayala Center Cebu
• Nike Stadium Powerplant, Megamall, Greenbelt 5, Alabang Town Center, North Edsa, Shangri-La Plaza
• Nike Forum Greenhills
• Sportscenter Robinsons
• Athletic Club, SM

thanks to marqueesole.com for the photos

What’s great about these special drops is that they come with a host of other kicks that don’t get the same shine but are quite as great. Check out BHS’ ne w kicks for the school year. Rock them to the school or to work!

Air Jordan 1 Phat Low Polka Dot Pack

Jordan Brand released an AJ1 retro Polka dot piece 2 months ago and they’re now following it up with a Phat Low pack. There should be a chlorophyll colorway to go along with these two. These are limited releases or quickstrikes, if you will so get your hands on them. You may never seem them again.

KD1- new colorway

KD1′s been one of the few surprises from Nike Basketball. A lot of people are on the fence with this release. I personally like it, especially with the 50-50 color blocking-reminiscent of the mid-90s Rbk releases (NVE’s Blast, Shaq’s Shaqnosis, Kamikaze’s, you know the deal). This one has the feel of the AF1 Scarface as well. Some don’t like the height on these shoes but they’re extremely light and clean as heck. C’mon, isn’t the elephant print on the tongue even remotely enticing?

Zoom Kobe IVs- more colorways

To me, these are the best selling signature kicks these days. They’ve been selling out and these should satisfy “kobeheads’” cravings. A white/metallic silver, black/varsity red and the MPLS Lakers now available at Nike BHS and other major Nike stores near you. The Real MVP? I think so. LeBron, please DHL your trophy to La La Land.

Zoom FP (Fun Police)

This shoe here represents the hottest kicks in the 90s all rolled into one. I’m not sure how many kids out there remember the Zoom Flight Vs (Jason Kidd), KG’s Air Garnett 3s, and TimBug’s Zoom Flight TBugs. Among all the hybrids, these are one of the bests. With this sneaker, you get 3 classics in 1.

Zoom LeBron VI Denim Low

I’m not saving the best for last. LeBron and his kicks deserve to be in the dumpster after his team’s horrendous showing in this year’s Conference Finals. Yeah, you can sweep your first few opponents. Yeah, you’ve got a beast in LBJ. But what else? Superman apparently is still better than Iron Man. Better luck next year Bron. I take it these denim lows will come in handy when you’re gone fishing with your cursed buddies.

Nike Basketball has been pretty solid all season long. From the Six to the IVs, Nike hasn’t let up in terms of bringing quality kicks to the court. They released a special pack for All-Star Weekend and they’ve now released the Playoff Pack. Originally 6 pairs, the Playoff Pack is now available at all Nike stores nationwide. I wasn’t able to take a shot of the MVP up close (it’s not because Nash and the Suns didn’t make it, but I just forgot), but took shots of the other four- the Zoom Soldier 3, Kobe IV, Max Spot Up, and the Zoom Flight Club.

Zoom LeBron Soldier III

The Zoom Soldiers of course are LeBron’s sleds during the Playoffs and hopes to make some memories with this year’s edition. Not too hot on these, but LBJ fans wouldn’t mind. They’re pretty sturdy, strong and built like a beast, just like LeBron. I’m currently watching them pummel the Pistons to the ground. Looks like the broom’ll be out early for Detroit.

Zoom Kobe IV

The Zoom Kobe IVs are a beaut. I personally like the laces. What’s not seen here are the icons on the other side of all the sneakers. I’m sure these are gonna run out at the stores pretty fast. Flywire’s been a god send for 2009 and I’m expecting a lot more from the technology in the coming months.

Air Max Spot Up- Dirk Nowitzki PE

I’ve always been a low-top kinda guy. These mids are just a monstrosity. Well, it kinda fits Dirk. So I guess it’s ok. I must admit that Dirk’s been showing up lately. Well, except for the 14-point performance yesterday, he’s been pretty good. I guess the weight of the Mavs is just too much for the man form Wurzburg. Well, not Barea’s.

Zoom Flight Club- Tony Parker PE

Don’t they look like Kidd’s and GP’s ride a few years back? Regardless of how they look, this sneaker’s been on the baller’s radar for a while. What can I say, they look pretty cool. And with TP9′s 38 special yesterday, they must feel real good. Tony Parker’s been unstoppable as of late.
So if you believe it’s the shoes, head to Nike now.

The Playoff Pack dropped last Sunday, just in time for the Playoffs. If you’re loving the action on TV, catch it on Basketball TV, C/S 9 and 2 other channels. Here’s the schedule for the next few days:

Wednesday, April 22
8am Detroit at Cleveland G2 BTV
1030am Utah at LA Lakers G2 E*PN

Thursday, April 23
7am Philadelphia at Orlando G2 BTV

Friday, April 24
830am San Antonio at Dallas G3 BTV
1030am LA Lakers at Utah G3 S%AR SPO^TS

Saturday, April 25
7am Cleveland at Detroit G3 E$PN
930am Portland at Houston G3 CS9

Sunday, April 26
1am Denver at New Orleans G3 BTV
4am San Antonio at Dallas G4 BTV
8am Atlanta at Miami G3 CS9