Royal Origin

Tag: nguminh

  • Japan Again Part 3 | RO Explore

    Japan Again Part 3 | RO Explore

    This past Japan trip I wanted to show my wife everything I have ever experienced from my past 7 trips to Japan and that meant I would need to condense 7 Japan trips into one week. We took the earliest train from Tokyo to Hiroshima so we could visit the Hiroshima Memorial Museum and be able to get dinner in Osaka.

    Convenience store food is still the best thing about Japan.

    I really like public transportation in Japan and the architecture at small train stations.

    Hiroshima Memorial Museum.  I decided I didn’t want to experience the sadness of the memorial museum again and opted to go explore around the area while the rest went to the museum.

    Very relaxing and mellow mood around this area. Also loved the cherry blossoms everywhere.

    Always a good time for some green tea soft serve.

    After the museum, we headed back up north to Osaka and spotted this cross dresser with manlier legs than me.

    I love capturing photos of people just going about their business here. I’m kind of a creep..

    We got settled in our little apartment before heading out to explore Osaka. Damn this place was condensed.

    Coffee trip 123109238 for Abbitt. Abbitt’s blood is mostly caffeine.

    Spotted this Civic running a muck inside the small streets of Dotonburi.

    Dotonburi for one of the best street food Osaka has to offer.

    Gotta get a photo with the Glico man.

     

    Abbitt wanted this soft serve because it looked cool, but it ended up tasting bad.

    Everyone knocked the fuck out, except this American.

    The next morning we went to Kyoto to check out the old architecture of Gion City.

    Next on the list was the Inari Shrine, I’ve been to this place almost on every trip to Japan. This place still puts me in awe whenever I visit.

    This lady was pushing her Shiba around in a stroller, so awesome.

    The street food at the Inari Shrine is so good and affordable. Check out how much Yakisoba you can get for 400 yen.

    Abbitt dying of food coma and decided to lay down while we wait for our train.

    The Golden Temple. A must see and to get the green tea ice cream.

    I love finding gems like this BMW wagon on SSRs on the way to dinner.

    I found this place on Trip Advisor and I really wanted to check it out because the ramen is literally fire.

    No ramen no life.

    Love this shot of Julia, the bokeh is amazing.

    Made it back to Tokyo and met up with Ryo and this girl he’s trying to get at for dinner. Super cute couple.

    Krstina was trying to say his friend was cute by saying she was “kawaii”, but Krstina was pronouncing it “Kowaii” which means scary. So she was confused the whole night why this girl was calling me scary.

    Thanks Ryo for dinner and it was great seeing you again.

    Check back for part 4 of our trip..

  • Kiki’s Cars | Daily Life

    Kiki’s Cars | Daily Life

    The bosses over at 714 Tires recently purchased a Ferrari 360 and since I had to pick one of them up for work the next day he let me use the Ferrari for one night. The Ferrari was an impulse buy because it was so cheap, but now all it does is sit in the garage at 714 Tires.

    Italian perfection.

    Kiki running out to check the Ferrari out.

    Kiki looking for the motor in the trunk.

    “I can’t find it?”

    I love my dog. 

    So cool to see both of my cars in good condition. It won’t last long tho…

    It always amazes me what a wrap or a color change can do to a car. I never thought the SC would come this far after sitting for 6 years with the faded matte cancer black paint job.

    Old and new wheels about to be built for the IS250..

    Sara came to visit with her CR S2000.

    Ketchup, mayo and dirty mustard.

    Also I got my Elantra for sale 8.5k obo let me know!

    Also a new addition to the family is this 96 Civic I got from Nimo. I bought it originally for my brother, but it’s been pretty cool to drive. I might just steal it from him…

    -NGUMINH

  • Friends Turn Into Family | Daily Life

    Friends Turn Into Family | Daily Life

    We decided to go up to Sacramento because Vinh Luong planned a river rafting trip for Memorial day weekend. That meant there would be a fun road trip up on the way up. We had a big group of 11 coming up for river rafting, but we all decided to go at different times. Nimo, Shavi, Julia and I ventured up to NorCal on our own, but first we decided to stop by our old stomping grounds Guppy’s Anaheim Hills for dinner.

    The last existing Guppys in SoCal.

    Woke up in Milpitas and immediately went to Pepper Lunch. Guess that jaw?

    Krstina eating a salad is so elegant.

    Don’t forget the garlic butter when you’re at Pepper Lunch!

    Mace sad he can’t get any.

    Nimo’s face when he’s about to eat you out, I mean eat ice cream.

    Clinton really enjoying his ice cream and Krstina confused on how you can reuse a tenga.

     

    Found the “Truffle Man” at Dolares Park.

    Can you smile Shavi? Damn.

    Hiked up Tamalpais Mountain to catch a sunset.

    Nimo dying from the hike up.

    Hayle ready for food.

    Almost perfect sunset…

    Now perfect… Abbitt brought us up here to propose to Krstina and she said yes! Congrats Abbitt and Krstina!

    The best thing about this proposal is that Mace and Maui are in it.

    Hayle smiling from the all the good vibes.

    The many faces of Hayle.

    Perfection.

    Shavi’s new okcupid photo.

    Krstina glowing from the proposal.

    A big congrats to Abbitt and Krstina and I was so glad I was there to witness it. Love you guys and hope you have a long and happy life!

    -NGUMINH

  • Japan Again Part 2 | RO Explore

    Japan Again Part 2 | RO Explore

    Part two of our adventure begins with an early morning to get some ramen and explore more of Tokyo..

    Crazy how many people are up so early for work and school.

    Foot traffic is crazy.

    Blue Bottle to get the day started.

    First time at Ichiran ramen, it’s one of those spots where eating by yourself is cool.

    But we were talking the whole time.

    Took a trip to Roppongi Hills to see the view of the Tokyo Tower.

    Marvel had a installation at Roppongi Hills with cool Marvel stuff we couldn’t take photos of.

    Nearby we stumbled upon the Yayoi Kusama art show.

    I was told not to shoot anymore photos after this.

    It’s fun to do bad things.

    Had an early day and decided to rest up early to get us prepared for our 5AM trip to Osaka.

    -NGUMINH

     

  • Tom Nguyen’s Lexus GS350 | Car Feature

    Tom Nguyen’s Lexus GS350 | Car Feature

    The best thing about the internet is you can see what people are building even if they’re hundreds of miles away. I recently saw Tom installed an AIMGAIN kit on his GS and it looked really good. Luckily, he was already coming down for Toyotafest and had time for me too shoot his car. Here are the results, sorry if I’m a little rusty..

    VIP GT style.

    Tucking all four wheels is the best kind of tuck even better than getting tucked in at night by Gigi Hadid.

    Advan GT in magnesium looks so good.

    I thought checking out the art installation behind this art store would be pretty cool.

    The photos were cool, but I still felt like I didn’t get the money shot yet. So, we decided to go to the beach and see if we can get some shots with the sun setting at the beach.

    Tom giving the GS a quick detail before the shoot.

    Damn I got a money shot with the first shot.

    Perfection.

     

     

    Thanks Tom for letting me shoot your car! Hope you enjoyed the photos! Hit me up if you’re trying to shoot or if you want to take me out to eat.

    -NGUMINH

  • Japan Again | RO Explore

    Japan Again | RO Explore

     Ever since I went to Japan in January for Tokyo Auto Salon, Julia has been bugging me to take her. So on Valentines Day I bought her a ticket to Japan to shut her up. Just kidding, but I did buy her a ticket because I love her and now she won’t shut up about going back. 

    Caught this rare glimpse of another airplane flying with us on the same route.

    For this trip, we traveled with Krstina and Abbitt and it happened to be Krstina’s first time too! Here we have two tourists posing with a rock that looks like the famous Hachiko.

    Night exploring, looking for something to eat and we then decided to go to Yakitori Center where Abbitt fell down a flight of stairs and broke his hand.

    Cold chicken wings, beef and chick skin! So bomb.

    Our next stop would be the World’s Second Best Freshly Baked Melon-Pan Icecream. It’s literally called that and one can argue that it might be the best!

    The melon bread is so good and the ice cream combo just makes it better!

    1. The look on their faces says it all.

    The next morning we woke up early and got some cold udon that Abbitt found near our place.

    It was my first time eating cold udon and it was delicious! Full of flavor and it was easy to eat.

    Most of the shops and places we wanted to go were closed, so we got some coffee at Streamers Coffee in Shibuya.

    Coffee lovers.

    Shout out to Streamers Coffee for letting us put our sticker on their wall!

    Julia is an avid cat lover and no one loves cats more than the Japanese. They have cat cafes all over Tokyo just so you can spend time with like 20 different types of cats.  The cat cafe we went to was in Shibuya and it’s called Cafe Mocha.

    So many pretty cats in this cafe, too bad I’m allergic.

    A munchkin cat!

    You pay about $10-15 USD to hang out with cats and some cafes offer beverages. For foreigners this might seem like a waste of money, but for the Japanese this is a place where you can relax and calm your stress by playing with cats.

    We spotted a park with a bunch of cherry blossom trees and we had to stop by to take photos.

    We got lost in Shibuya and came across this crazy looking building.

    Passed by Genki Sushi and saw the RO sticker I placed the first time I came to Japan. Crazy how it’s already been 4 years. What a life.

    We took a long train to West Aoyama Garden where they have the interesting fluffy pan cakes.

    I also ordered this ham grilled sandwich that was pretty basic just like the pancake. I would not recommend going here, unless you’re just going for Instagram photos.

    That’s all for today, check back for more on this 4 part saga of Japan Adventures Again.

    -NGUMINH

     

  • Greddy Racing FRS | Car Feature

    Greddy Racing FRS | Car Feature

     I got an opportunity to shoot the Greddy FRS for some of their future promo work. Check it out and good luck to Ken Gushi and the Greddy Team in this year’s Formula Drift season.

    We got permission to shoot at the SEMA garage and use all of their equipment. Kenji and Ben putting tire stickers on for the shoot.

    This livery was designed by one of our own Kevin Sanchez. It looks so good.

     

    Ken ran a marathon the day before and was feeling the pain. Amazing that he endured the soreness for this shoot.

    Kenji telling Ken to man up for this last shot.

    Make sure you check out Greddy for all of your performance needs!

    -NGUMINH

  • Street Slickers Meet Up | Event Coverage

    Street Slickers Meet Up | Event Coverage

    I’ve been itching to drive the SC around since the last time I took it to the IDL Design opening and coincidentally, Shavi happened to hit me up to check out this car meet by Street Slickers. The best part about this meet that it was just down the street from my house and it was Kups one of my favorite spots for italian ice cream.

    There was a grip of S13s that showed up, all of them with their own unique styling.

    A pair of clean S13 coupes with Enkei Rpf1s and Work Emotion D9R.

    Shavi brought out the M30 for me to take it into 714 Tires tomorrow for an alignment. This thing is too ridiculous for me, it scrapes on everything.

    This meet had a little bit of everything from VIP to off road trucks.

    An old school Toyota Corona with a SR swap. Pretty awesome.

    Itasha to off road.

    Sweet 86, I’m digging the livery.

    Hong’s S13 on Enekei RPF1s.

    Boso style Nissan Maxima with a crazy tall exhaust.

    Shavi approves of this exhaust.

    Man I should’ve washed the SC before coming out.

    Jun’s new Yaris and the reason why he’s selling his ISF.

    Todd’s Passatt. Love the polka dot vinyl job. Shout out to Street Slickers for the stickers and I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip!

    -NGUMINH

  • Wonderful Goodbyes | Family Time is The Best Time

    Wonderful Goodbyes | Family Time is The Best Time

    As some of you may know, my boy Vinh Nguyen aka Big Vinh is getting married this year. It was a mix of happy and sad feelings I had when I found out this news. Happy he found someone to love and sad that he’ll be moving away to North Carolina to be with her. His sister put together a little going away party for him and all the homies came through for one last “LET’S DRINK!!”

    Some of these guys I haven’t seen in years. Crazy how life fast forwards so quick.

    The funniest Filipino I know.

    Shavi approved.

    Linda was a stage 4 clinger on Vinh all night.

    The Lorna street family.

    Vaqueros.

    North Dakotans.

    Take care of this troll. Thanks Cindy.

    “I love you guys man”

    Nimo arrived all late and shit, but it’s cool because he was rocking authentic Phat Farm gear.

    And he rolled up with this.

    GoodbyeVinh and good luck with your life in North Carolina. We’re going to miss hanging out in your garage, getting our air fixed by you, being able to call you for Homie AAA and all of the times you trolled the fuck out of us. There’s no one like you, a big guy with an even bigger heart. Thanks for always being there. I am glad though, because we won’t be over ordering anymore when we go to all you can eat restaurants. Also can you face time us just like the way you did for Cindy in North Carolina?

    -NGUMINH

     

  • LA Lights | RO Explore

    LA Lights | RO Explore

     Ever since I’ve had good melt off the spoon brisket, I’ve been wanting more and better tasting brisket. Shavi said Bludso’s BBQ made the best brisket he’s ever had in his life, so we decided to head out to LA. Abbitt and Krstina came along to see if it even comes close to Texas BBQ. 

    Anti Abbitt Abbitt Club.

    Foodgasm.

    It’s crazy when you’ve had something and you thought it was the best ever and then something else tops it. This is what Bludso’s BBQ did for me. What a life. I can’t wait to try some Texas BBQ in June. Let me know if you have any suggestions!

    Kyren getting real nice with a strand of meat.

    We are releasing a new HOODRATstuff slap. The black glitter slap is available at shop.royal-origin.com.

    There’s always room for dessert.

    When you walk in the club in unison with your squad.

    Who makes eating dessert look the best?

    After dessert, I wanted to do a shoot at the high way pass that over looks the freeway. Abbitt trying to show Krstina something related to stickers probably.

    That leg lift.

    You find love in strange places.

    Krstina has content.

    We were close to the US Bank tower sky space, so we decided to go ahead and check it out. Abbitt living in the moment of a moment.

    Krstina has more content.

     Whenever I’m high up like this, I just think all the problems we stress about are just so small when you look at the big picture. Maybe you just have to live for the small things like the feeling you get when you bite into a piece of brisket or laughing so hard that you accidentally fart and make all your friends smell it in the backseat. Maybe those feelings are the only things that matter at the end of the day.

    We all got a lot of content on this trip, but Krstina especially.

    What a life.

    -NGUMINH