Sitting now in between fashion shows at the convention center, I am so happy to discover that there is 1) free wifi and 2) that it is pretty darn quick. So while I wait for the next show to begin, I’ll book some tickets and finish some work, oh and tell you about the Hong Kong Fashion Week scene.

Everyone involved today, hopped a tender over to the convention center early this morning. Each person needed to make sure that all of his/her business was taken care of and set up properly. Whether it was our crew with all our cameras, Ylan with all his pieces or the models with all their make-up, we were not going to make any mistakes.

Arriving at the convention center, those of us on the production team who hadn’t been there realized that we would have a lot of ground to cover in not a lot of time. The first show would be soon, so all of the “welcome” activities and ambiance shots needed to be done ASAP.

When I say show, I mean our own show, in our booth. I believe we were the only booth to have a runway and models to glam up our product. In all seriousness, it looks really cool. We have the lights, the monitors, the music, everything that a fashion show should have, but this is just on a smaller scale. I like to call it “doll house” fashion shows.

Anyway there should be three shows today and it will continue each day in a similar manner throughout the week.

Before the next FTV fashion show starts, I’m going to check out some of the other designers. Until tomorrow!

I think Ylan wins the prize this time for most crazed person on board. Our darling fashion designer has been missing in action for the past day or so, making sure everything is perfect. We sometimes see him in brief flashes through the ship’s corridors, but that’s about it. Perfectionists will be perfectionists, and after all, this is the big debut of his baby, his new fashion line.

I have yet to see our booth at the convention center, but I have seen sketches. It looks pretty cool to me. Everyone will finally get to see it tomorrow, as it is the first day of Hong Kong Fashion Week. And I must say, the models all seem pretty excited, despite being used to events such as this. Perhaps it’s still the Miss FTV after-math buzz of the past month.

Now, I have never personally covered any international fashion week, but my friends that have say that it is absolutely insane.

I might be crazy myself, but I look forward to this type of insanity. Once you’ve had to fight for a shot, or fight for a story, the piece takes on a whole new meaning to you. I haven’t had this kind of opportunity in a while, so bring it on!

Since we are fast approaching our arrival in Hong Kong, I’m going to give you guys the usual quick facts I love so much.

GOOGLE IT: Hong Kong (Hong Kong Special Administrative Region)

• Population: 6,921,700
• Currency: Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
• Languages: Chinese (mainly Cantonese, though Mandarin is also spoken) and English
• “Hong Kong” means fragrant harbour
• Voted 4th out of 178 countries in World Bank’s “World’s best place of doing business 2007”
• Is one of the world’s most densely populated areas
• Is 13,000 kilometers from New York City

Phew, well, I’m glad that is all sorted out. She is fine, she just missed her flight. All we need to do now is make sure she gets on another one…

I don’t know if I mentioned this previously, be we are currently en route to Hong Kong.

I am pretty excited about Hong Kong because, though I’ve seen the airport twice, the traveler in me feels that that really isn’t up to par. Also, most of the girls still on board are a lot of fun to hang out with. I hope we all have a day, or at least a few hours to really enjoy all that Hong Kong has to offer.

As I had suspected, we had some issues with one of the models who had a flight after Ioana. When we received the news, we were already out in the middle of ocean. No phone and barely internet… in fact only enough internet for an email to pop up in my inbox from the travel agent saying that from his records, one girl did not board the flight.

That is all I know and unfortunately, I let my imagination run wild. Deep inside me, I know everything was ok, but to be honest, I am surprised how desperately concerned I am. I even went up to the bridge to wake the captain up to place an emergency phone call from the distress phone to someone who may be able to contact her.

Why didn’t I just call her?

Well, a lot of the times, a model’s contract says she is not allowed to release her personal phone number, so they often write an agent’s number or email address. News to me.

After the call didn’t help, I realized there was nothing I could do until the internet started to work again.

So for now, I will try to sleep, though I’m sure I won’t get much shut-eye.

I could breathe a sigh of relief when I saw 15 suitcases and 15 girls walk out the door. Not because I was happy they were leaving, but because it was more like 15 of the things on my “to do” list had just crawled off the paper and walked out the door. Still, some of the girls didn’t have flights until the following day, despite the ship’s departure from Sanya. This was a little concerning to me. We would be gone and the girls would still be in China. For the models that had flights before and with Ioana, I felt fine, but it was the few who had flights after Ioana that gave me a bad feeling.

Sitting down in a group, Nelu, Ioana, Alexandra (Miss Telegenic, fortunately, was feeling quite helpful), and myself, we made a careful map of all the girls, all their respective countries and all the dates they needed to leave the ship. With Hong Kong Fashion Week approaching, many of the models have decided to extend their stay to participate in the promotion of FTV and FTV’s new collection. This is great for us on one hand, but in terms of flights, slightly problematic.

The biggest problems lie in the fact that we are unsure when a majority would like to leave and that if we don’t know before we leave for Hong Kong, we won’t have a cell signal and will be combating pretty shoddy internet out on the open sea.

We do have about 15 girls leaving the ship tomorrow, but still what seems like a ton left on board.

I’ll keep you posted on the dramas that are sure to unfold in the next few days.

An exciting night for Juste, this will be her first chance to speak with the media after winning the title of Miss FTV 2007. This press conference will invite many of Sanya’s most important, in terms of promoting FTV, as well as Miss FTV. As I wrote above, many of the Miss World competitions have been held here, I would imagine, because of its beauty and tourist-friendly environment. I would love to experience it myself, but that’s ok. At least we are anchored somewhere with a nice view.

Anyway, Juste speaks very well for herself, so I hope realizes what a great opportunity has entered into her life. With a smile and a few graceful words, she can go anywhere.

After the press conference, there will be a fashion show of the FTV collection as well as a line of swimwear. We are in tropical Sanya after all.

Wish you were here!

All right kids, so here we are, anchored in Sanya, China. I have some disappointing news though… I can’t go ashore because of some visa issues. Although I won’t be able to report directly from land, I can give you guys a little information about Sanya:

GOOGLE IT: Sanya, China
• Population: 485,000.
• Main ethnic groups: Han, Li, Miao and Hui
• Currency: Chinese Yuan
• Business: tourism, ecotourism
• Host city of Miss World 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007

What does matter is that all the girls are able to go out and experience China. I imagine I will hear some interesting things when they all come back. Stories are better than nothing I suppose!

Devoted to our new project for Hong Kong Fashion Week, Zev and I have been quite busy with compiling all of our photos to design the catalogue. He is in charge of the actual design of the catalog, whereas I am focused on the initial preview package for the line.

This includes making sure the whole FTV world has access to the line, because many of our own haven’t seen it yet.

Since the guys at the broadcast center in Israel are super fast at posting web galleries, I can provide a link for you to check it for yourself!

http://www.ftv.com/fashion/page.php?P=3071

Enjoy!