Hong Kong | Basic Vs Baller Travel TV Show (Full Episode)

What's up everybody? I'm Marko.

I'm Alex, and we are the Vagabrothers, and we're super stoked to announce

the new premiere of our television show, Basic vs Baller,

which just went live on the Tastemade Channel on YouTube TV.

The concept is pretty simple:

We arrive to a new city, have a little competition,

the winner gets to live it up like a big baller on a huge budget, while the loser

has to scrape by on bare minimum.

That being said, I don't think it was actually a case of winner and loser.

It's good either way. It's informational; it's aspirational, and it's really fun to watch.

As many of you know,

we spent the last 6 months working with

Tastemade to make the show as awesome as it could be.

We're super stoked to finally get it out there in the world.

We wanted to share the first episode with you guys and give you some more

information on how to watch the rest of the series on YouTube TV,

which is basically a skinny bundle.

You get 50 television networks, plus premium content from digital first networks, like Tastemade.

Our show Basic vs Baller goes live 9 pm pacific time on Thursdays,

but with YouTube TV, you can save the show to your favorites and watch it whenever you want.

There're already two episodes live, and with the link in our info box,

if you sign up, you get two free weeks.

Last week we hosted an intimate screening at the YouTube space in Los Angeles,

and now really happy to share it with you.

Please share your favorite moments on social media using the hashtag #Basic vs Baller

and let us know what you think.

Without further ado,

this is Basic vs Baller Episode 1 Hong Kong.

You might need to cut because I'm going to be making sweet sweetener to this crab carcass.

I'm Marko. I'm Alex and we're the Vagabrothers.

We love travelling and a little brotherly competition.

So we're crossing the globe and putting our local trivia skills to the test

to see who's spending 24 hours living like a baller

and who's pinching pennies.

This is Basic Versus Baller.

Welcome to Hong Kong, the most baller city in Asia and

easily one of the most beautiful.

Hong Kong is a former British colony in China where East meets West in superb style.

It's also one of the wealthiest and most densely populated places on earth

where just having space is a luxury.

With some of the best street food on earth,

we're guarantees to eat well, regardless of budget.

But only one of us will be the baller.

Hong Kong

How you doing ? Welcome to Hong Kong.

I'm so excited.

I've been wanting to get to this city for a very long time.

Never been here before.

You have sung its praises.

I've been here, but I was on such a tight budget and was not very comfortable.

I'm assuming you want to be the baller, but guess what?

So do I.

Only one of us can be a baller and the other will be living in a shoebox.

Sounds like it's time for a competition.

In what year was Hong Kong returned China?

Yes, the correct answer is 1997.

I put 1999.

It's all good brother. I've done the city on the budget, and you will be fine. You will survive.

I hope they have air conditioning.

I do too. See you later, bro.

I just rolled up to my hotel, the Intercontinental Hong Kong.

Not too shabby. I have a feeling my room is going to be epic.

I've booked a standard suite at nearly a thousand bucks.

But just when I thought my suite couldn't get any sweeter

I heard the magical words we all hope for: free upgrade.

Whoa.

Oh my god, this is gigantic.

Now if this is not baller then I do not know what is. There're multiple stories;

There's a gym up there; and there's an infinity pool.

There's a private pool in this hotel room looking over the entire city of Hong Kong.

I just got here, and I can already tell this is going to be the best hotel stay

I will probably ever have in my life.

The bedroom.. I'm going to get some very quality sleep right there,

and this view is amazing.

There's something about Hong Kong that just has tons of class.

I'm super stoked to explore the city with a bit more of a budget than I did last time.

This city's got 60 Michelin stars,

and that means I'm going to eat a lot.

But most importantly, my producer just told me

they want me to take my shirt off and jump in the swimming pool.

So let's just get these muscles just a little bit more toned before I do.

Sipping champagne and lounging in my private penthouse pool high above Hong Kong.

If that's not baller, I don't know what is.

Weaving my way through the hustle and bustle of the concrete jungle, I'm hoofing it to the hostel.

My name is Alex Ayling. What does mahjong mean?

I see there're birds.

Everywhere is the sparrow.

Let me give you this card.

Thank you. I see you guys won the 2017 Hoscar Award

Best hostel in Hong Kong. Yes. Awesome. Thank you. You're welcome.

Oh yeah, this is nice.

I think somebody might be sleeping there.

This is much better than my last hostel.

Two pillows, a duvet, and most importantly air conditioning.

I'm going to leave my bag and go into town.

Although it's tempting to lounge in my suite all day, I've got a table with my name on it, and it's just an elevator ride away.

Let's start things off with some lunch here at Yan Toh Heen,

the two Michelin star restaurant on the ground floor of the Intercontinental.

Luxury comes in many forms, but here it's about pairings.

This beautiful view with this exquisite jade colored interior

And each plate paired perfectly with a tea

recommended by the house tea sommelier.

And here we have Te Quang Ninh.

It is a oolong tea from Fujian province, and it is boiled with water from Tibet.

Whoo, it's very nice. It's very delicate.

What makes this tea special is how it's paired,

specifically with my first dish, dim sum.

Please enjoy our Yan Toh Hin Superior Dumpling.

This is the chef's invention,

which fuses the best of east and west cuisine.

Did I mention that my place settings are made entirely from jade and silver and

worth about $1,000 apiece. Not bad.

Okay. We have the king crab.

Mmm

Oh, wow. Dim sum is one of the most popular cuisines in the city, but this is done at a level

that is not seen in many other places.

Got birds nests, a delicacy in Chinese cuisine.

It's one of the most expensive ingredients you can use in a product.

This is nice. Life is good.

Please enjoy this Crispy Taro Nest with whole abalone.

Thank you.

It's one of those dishes that is so beautiful, I don't even want to eat it.

Mmm

Wonderful.

Given how last time I was here, I was a budget backpacker eating instant noodles,

I like to see how my fortune has improved.

I don't know what my brother is eating, but I'm sure this is better.

Marko may be having a Michelin star lunch, but I've got a trick or two up my sleeve.

I'm at Tim Ho Wan, the world's cheapest Michelin star restaurant.

It's famous for dim sum, and I'm more than ready to get some.

These are baked buns filled with barbecue pork and supposedly

they're quasi orgasmic. Oh

Wow, yeah, there's sugar on the outside of the bun, but then when you get in there, it's like barbecue pork.

Hands down the best bun I've ever had.

I could wake up in the morning roll out of bed, grab a pork bun, have a coffee,

grab another pork bun, lunch break, pork bun.

Dinner?

Pork bun.

Marko...Balling? well, guess what, dude?

Being on a budget ain't half bad here.

Because I got baked pork buns.

I see he's eating at a one-star Michelin restaurant.

Well, I have two, and what does one even mean these days?

This is obviously a superior experience with my superior dumplings.

So enjoy your meal, Alex.

Next up we have Har Gow, which is steamed shrimp dumplings.

The flavors are on point..Super yummy.

Last up we have Siu Mai.

It's a steamed pork and shrimp dumpling.

You do not have to be the baller to have a baller ass meal.

This is incredible. It's budget-friendly

Michelin star for the masses, and I am so down.

There are a few things as baller as getting a custom-made suit,

and Hong Kong is famous for its tailors.

So I'm here at Simpson Sin Tailor.

They are some of the best in the city, if not the world.

They've made suits for Bill Clinton, Aziz Ansari, and many many more.

And now they're going tp make one for me.

What do you have in mind? I want something that is light weight for summer.

And now we say you're better off with light wool.

Sounds good. Any particular color in mind?

I was thinking blue. You guys have tons of different fabrics.

You prefer something maybe like this?

As you can see it's not really solid with the kind of pattern.

There's a slight pattern and would give you some more choice.

Oh, I like this

This is nice, a little bit brighter. Mmm. It's kind of royal blue.

Yes, really can see the weaving in there. The texture make it that you can use it as a whole suit.

Yeah, as well as you can wear the jacket alone as a blazer and match different pants.

This is exactly what I'm looking for.

Make a nice classic trendy look, a single breast..

Yeah more or less line mine, which has two buttons.

Yes, skinny look. Skinny look and the backside of it to open like this, right?

I like that. Good. Okay, go measure you up.

Let's do it. Alright

Custom suit, ultimate luxury.

Just eat? I just ate, yeah,

But you know, let's just keep that to be the standard. Okay.

Yeah, I don't think it's going down.

How long have you been working as a tailor?

50 years? Wow.

Okay that will be fine.

Thank you very much. Thank you.

Just 24 hours for my custom suit to be made, and my wardrobe's finally going to match my baller status.

Alex is going to be so jealous.

Seeing the city on foot has its charm, but I just got onto the Star Ferry.

Taking it from Kowloon to Hong Kong Island.

The best way to get a feeling for the city is to take a ferry,

and the Star Ferry is the historic

transport ferry between the island and the peninsula of Kowloon.

It's definitely a great way to get a bearing here in the city.

It's cheap. It only costs around one US dollar.

It's really the local way to do it,

and you get a beautiful view of the city. Check it out.

My time here in Hong Kong has been going swimmingly,

and it's about to get a lot better.

That's because 118 floors above me is Ozone,

one of the hottest bars in Hong Kong with panoramic views of the city and some great cocktails.

I'm texting my brother Alex to join me,

and we're about to turn Ozone into Brozone.

Now this is a view.

I'm going to put in a drink order for me and Alex.

We'll enjoy some cocktails with a million-dollar view of the city.

Bro

Oh . Wow.

Oh my god, what a view. Yeah.

Thanks for the invite. Getting up this

really puts Hong Kong into perspective.

It really is just this

incredibly dense, enclave of urban right up against nature.

This is it.. all the skyscrapers of finance which is making it rich these days.

and then its port which is what made it wealthy back in the day.

It's quite the baller destination.

Thanks for the cocktail, man. Oh, my pleasure.

Mmm. It's like an old-fashioned mescal with lychee fruit on top of this big ice cube.

You can see my hotel room from here.

There I am right there in the corner of the Intercontinental.

You can see mine, as well.

It's just in there somewhere over in that direction.

Yeah, and then if you could just look through a building and then look through another wall, there would be me and

six other people sleeping very next to each other.

That's my pool and my private hotel room

Okay, stop bragging, dude. I get it.

But you know what? it's good to share a moment like this with you.

Thanks for bringing me up here.

Whoo for dinner, I got something special I'm eating that happy paradise is the new restaurant from Mei Chao

She was voted the best chef in Asia for taking traditional Chinese cuisine in new directions

She's young. She's pushing the boundaries and I'm excited to see what's on the menu

So my first dish is a sourdough egg waffle

This dish is a classic here on the streets of Hong Kong usually served as a street food

But here they do it with this beautiful dip made from bottarga, which is a mullet roe

Excellent next up. We got sous-vide chicken with fried rice

Mmm

Okay, last but not least. I have this dish it looks like an avocado

but in reality

It's an eggplant. The green is actually a puree of zucchini and broccoli. The black is a black garlic sauce

Wow flavor combinations here are really doing it

highly inventive and

I

Am enjoying myself thoroughly. Wonder we're Alex eating

All right, ladies and gents. I've just arrived to Temple Street Market

It's basically a big collection of stalls vendors. There's street food

There's all sorts of things on offer and I am very excited because I'm planning on filling my belly. Let's do this

Temple Street Market is the biggest night market in Hong Kong sprawling across several blocks

It has it all trinkets electronics fortune tellers and endless food stands with everything you could imagine

Well, I've wandered around I've seen and I've sniffed my way to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant right here on the corner Hong

Kong spicy crab a meal fit for a king on the budget of a pop. This is insane

It's actually a two-for-one. I'm pretty sure there's two

Crustacean carcasses just waiting for me to crack into these are peppers

which means this is gonna be spicy as

Babe, I can't wait to dig into this. Oh

Wow the flavor is incredible. Oh

It's spicy. Oh

They wanted Lion spicy crab, baby. It's so rich and

Absolutely delicious. I

Hate to leave anything on the table, but honestly, this crab has bested me. It's very spicy. My lips are on fire

Extremely delicious. I don't admit to feed easily, but I think it's time to head back to the hostel

Crab, you were delicious. Thank you for a good meal hasta luego

In Kowloon Park, there are tons of locals exercising stretching and doing Taichi

Marko agreed to join as long as breakfast was on me. You'd think the baller would foot the bill

Well, it definitely is not Tai Chi but we did find a group that let us join in

Even though we clearly had no idea what we were doing

Next stop breakfast egg noodles and pork pickles anyone

I'm treating Marco to mock man ki another of Hong Kong's affordable Michelin star restaurants

Noodles breakfast of champions

We try the pork knuckle

dragger live I

Find it a little intimidating. This is like, you know, definitely not back on. No good. God did okay

so I mean the positive is this real no still eating I

Think I still prefer bacon. Yeah, totally but it's interesting travel

Stocks pounding your horizons. We are expanding our home. They are expanded. It's like the Big Bang right now. I

have never eaten this for breakfast before nor have I

But I think that we've got a good start to our day and I feel very confident that we're gonna have a great second day

here I

Definitely have the energy that we need to take Hong Kong on. Nothing says carpe diem like Pig Trotter for breakfast

Nothing says breakfast champions like Mack. Manki, I'm gonna be brother. Thank you for breakfast. You're very welcome

Right now, I'm at the Victoria Peak Tram

I'm at the bottom and I'm gonna be taking it to the top up to Victoria Peak

this tramway was built in the late 1800s and it's definitely the best way to get up to the mountains above Hong Kong and

Really take the city it

Usually I would prefer to walk

But in the climate here were pretty much in a jungle

And it's so steep. The funicular is by far the best way

For a tramway built in 1888, it's surprisingly quick and only took about five minutes to get up here we've gone

368 meters up. It's about 20 degrees cooler up here. It's so nice and breezy and a view it's priceless

Everybody thinks that being a baller is about buying things. Haha. No help assay. It's really about breaking things. Yes

Today we are at an IKE re centre where they're only a hundred dollars you get half an hour

Breaking as many things as you want, so I've got myself a helmet

Sledgehammer and access to a room full of stuff. That's just waiting to get broke

I've got this sledgehammer, and I'm ready to rage

Ever thought yourself. I really need to smash something right now

Well in Hong Kong

There's Akari a place where people come to release anger and stress with something called

Destruction therapy now being the baller. I really don't have that much to stress about but sure feels good to break some stuff

My tailor-made suits ready I wouldn't trade this for all the tea in China

Because you can never have enough million dollar views of Hong Kong Marco and I decided to end the trip high above the city

Where is this guy? Just because you're a baller doesn't mean you can be late

Sorry, I'm late brother. Well when you look that flat you get an extra five minutes salad doesn't wait should we do this?

Let's do it. Okay

Dude you look spectacular

That is an immaculate suit. I'm not gonna lie. I'm a little bit jealous

There's a few things that are as baller as a custom-made suit Hong Kong is the city you get one

So, you know, I think advantage of it having been on a budget they come back as a baller

I really have seen both sides of the city and I like it even more having done that

Definitely. This is just such a scenic city and it has like a real big city vibe

But the fact that you have the water right here really kind of chills it out

So no matter how hectic you can feel you can always make it back to the waterfront and kind of you know

Regain your your Tai Chi for sure. I mean the hotel was insane. It's hands-down nights of hotel ever

I had my own private swimming pool. It was really really really nice Hong Kong is a few City

Yeah, it's the ultimate foodie City. I really loved the fact that the Michelin Guide is really opening itself up

so even on a budget I was able to dine at Michelin star restaurants and

Experience the best of Hong Kong cuisine without breaking the bank the food here. It's not expensive and it's world-class totally

Well, brother, I think this has been a great trip. I'm glad that we both got to experience two sides of this wonderful city

We basically just scraped the service even though we did so much we're coming back

Thank you so much for watching episode 1 of basic vs. Baller

We hope you guys enjoyed it

if you

Want to check out the rest of the episodes click the link in the info box to go check out the tastemade channel on YouTube

TV if you're tuning in from overseas, don't fret you can still see the show by heading over to the basic vs

Baller Facebook watch page. We'll link it in the description of this video

It'll be available there for free with a one-week delay

Yeah, just hit the follow button and it comes up in your Facebook watch feed

so

Anyways guys if you like this video give a big thumbs up and share with your friends and subscribe to vagabrothers

And also the taste may check out tasted a check on taste made travel will be giving updates and behind-the-scenes clips

Across all those different social media for the next few months. And lastly. We just want to say a huge

Thank you to all the Vagabuddies out there

Thank you so much for helping us achieve this milestone, and we really hope you enjoy the show.

So as always stay curious, keep exploring and we'll see you guys on the road. Peace