Post #447913 by nuKKe on Sat, Apr 18, 2009 8:43 AM

I've been meaning to do a follow up to this thread for a while, so here it goes:

found in Tel Aviv's Friday secondhand market. It's small and resin and resembles a Moai. I spotted its sibling on Bigtikidude's bookshelf when we viited last December, and he said that it's probably an Aztec. bummer.

Yup, Ye Olde Ugly "tiki" buddy. Found in a secondhand store in Kfar Shmarihau, one of Israel's richest towns. I go there often to get designers cloths for cheap and found it on a side shelf. At least the stupid straw crown was removed. Please be patient, it does get better, promise.

Luckily, South America is on the Israeli travel map. This wooden Moai and its whimsical ceramic friend below were most likely brought here from Chile. Picked in Jaffa's flea market.

I can't seem to find the box where I keep my postcards - included the Hanalei one that Ran posted here. There are a few good ones hiding there. I scored the following two a couple of months ago at the Tel Aviv Friday market and left them in the living room.

One from the Kon Tiki museum in Oslo:

and one (actually two) of Hotel King Kamehameha in Kona:

And now, for my favourite pieces in our small collection. Over the past few years we bought, received (and recently - created) a number of mugs and ephemera. I've been coveting all kinds of mugs from many companies and mugmakers, but nothing beats 20+ years of drooling over these Benihanas:

In 1983 my maternal grandparents went on a trip to the US, and brught along three awsome souvenir mugs, with holes for straw and everything, from one of the restaurants they dined at. My grandmother loved the Buddha the best. I loved the Geisha, which broke sometime in the past decade. The mugs were displayed in my grandparents' uber-fancy living room. Grandma passed away in 1996. Last year I asked my grandfather if I could receive the Samurai and Buddha mugs and he agreed. Turns out that they're Benihanas, tho the Buddha is a bit different than the usual. Last December I found a newer (and not as slender) Benihana Geisha to complete the trio, but I found it in San Diego and therefore she doesn't belog in this thread.

At the same trip, my grandparents went to Hawaii. They sent me postcards (which are in that lost box), bought a hula girl doll that I gave away with my entire collection of ethnic dolls when I got into punk and was too cool for that stuff and leis. Last year my grandfather had to sell the apartment. When my brother and I visited there for the last time we looked through old pictures and I found two souvenir shots that neither I nor my parents have ever seen before. My grandfather gave them to me and I just love how they look there - happy and beautiful.

look! it's Ku!

Keren.