NYC
Friday
Travel
Left the airport early. My father was being a mother hen and I talked back. Wasn't a great start to the trip. I got on a small flight, and end up sitting at "row 13" which was the first seat facing the back. I watched "Something Borrowed" on the connecting flight to Newark, International Airport in New Jeresy. I read the book and it was just as good. We met up with another friend and took the train to Penn Station.
Ktown
After dropping off our luggage, we headed to ktown (close by our hotel) and ate our supper. It was crazily busy. There were people everywhere Friday night. We ended up at a place that was cafeteria styled - "Food Gallery 32". I ordered ramen, but spotted spicy rice cakes and begged my friend to order rice cakes (I was craving them), The ramen was like instant noodles but the rice cakes were awesome (a bit spicy). In the cafeteria, they played kpop videos, I spotted a Lee Hyori one.
I don't remember the rest but we conked out.
Saturday
Sony Wonder Lab
We walked up 5th Avenue to Sony Wonder Lab - an educational place of some sorts. It's probably more geared towards under 18 year olds. It was still fun though. I already knew about binary signals, pixels and sound waves. But it was fun playing with the robots (I was doing virtual surgery, but the equipment was not working properly and wasn't precise enough). My friends and I also did some animation (hehe fooled around and made the cartoon pose awkwardly), sound editing and played with the PS3 move.
FAO Shwarz
Remember Big? The movie with Tom Hanks? I went to the store and it looked so fun. The outside were these "guards" dressed like toy soldiers. Inside toys were everywhere. Staff were busy demonstrating the different gizmos and gadgets. It seems like a fun place to work. I ended up buying a teddy bear.
Times Square
I ran out of batteries for my camera and we were planning to visit Top of Rock (a tall building, with an awesome view, supposedly better than the Empire State building) in the evening so I ran back to the hotel via subway (which was very awesome and efficient btw). Ate from an Indian food truck along the way. Shoved it in my mouth then headed to Times Square, where I started gawking and wandering the streets before catching the show "Chinglish" at Longacre Theatre.
The M&M store has pricey merchandise... so I ended up going to square or whatever you call it, where there were no cars and just people. I watched people videotape the SNSD/SM town ad, but I couldn't do it myself, as my batteries had ran out
Chinglish (theatre)
Chinglish itself was a mix for me. I think it could have had better pacing. The opening was hilarious (they were speaking both in mandarin and english about not videotaping the performance and eating). They had the classic Chinglish signs - Mistranslated English signs found in China. They used quite a bit of mandarin in the play, it was full of subtitles. A bit annoying but at least I understand a bit of mandarin. It actually flowed better with the full language then the disjointed Mandarin. Perhaps I didn't find the "chinglish" part that funny because I can hear it at work. Quite a few of my coworkers are new immigrants from China, and I sometimes can not understand their English. This play's Chinglish made my head hurt. Perhaps I should have stuck with the conventional Broadway show. In any case, I bought a cool Chinglish tshirt.
I went to the Top of Rock just as sunset approached. My friends didn't make it back there in time so I walked around there for 2 hours by myself. It was beautiful though...
I ran back to my hotel, took a shower and headed to Macy's department store at Herald Square, which was just a block away from my hotel. It was a disappointing shopping experience. I couldn't find any outstanding deals. I bought 2 purses and a cardigan.
Sunday
Ah the day finally arrived for the concert. I hung out with my friends at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My favourite exhibits were the Egyptian and weapons gallaries. We ended up splitting up during the visit, as we all had our own interests. I met up with one of my friends at the end of my visit to head back and meet a Pikachu mascot at the Nintendo store. lol we were too early and didn't realise it, and just took a pic with the cardboards. It wasn't until later, after my other friend (who spent the noon hour at Century Park) showed us her pic that we found out we missed the BIG pikachu :(. lol w/e.
I think I wandered around Herald Square a bit more after heading back to charge my batteries at the hotel (I really should have bought a spare battery). I bought some more stuff at a mall close by. I also found Uniqlo and bought one of those "garbage bag" jackets that was so popular in NYC. It is a light downfill jacket. Perfect for NYC, but unfortunately not for the low of -45C weather I get back at home.
SMTOWN Live NYC
After heading back to the hotel and picking up my fully charged batteries, my friends informed me that SMTown has already been selling SM Town merchandise since 3pm at the Madison Square Garden. My friends left to check it out. I dropped my shopping bags and ran out of the door. Grabbed a pretzel and water along the way - food truck. While I waited in line to buy merchandise, I purchased a Kyuhyun glowsitck from some guy selling them by the line up (unofficial). After 2 hours of waiting in line, we finally got to the front of the line. Apparently we could have just walked in without lining up and head straight to the table where they were selling the stuff, like some fan told me to do earlier, but I was too chicken to follow through... At the merchandise table, everyone(fans) was really aggressive, trying to buy their idol's fans... It was like the equivalent of a coat check at a bar.
After witnessing the last Kyuhyun fan get sold, I giggled at everyone whining. There was no Yesung in sight (I thought Kyuhyun was more popular than Yesung). No Shinee (not that I would get one) and hardly any SNSD left. My friend finally got to the front and bought a Siwon fan on my behalf (they were out of my favourite members, Kyuhyun and Yesung). I also purchased an SMTown glowstick/fan
I bought a $5 bottled water (that better have been from the mountains for that price:/) and found my seats.
There were some ads showing on the sides which got everyone squealing. I didn't give them much thought. I think they must have featured SM Town artists on them...
The lights when dim and then the show started:
Sea of blue - with splashes of red. A lot of the people bought the SM supplied ones, which were pale purple so it blended with Suju's.
F(X) performed first. Amber got the most cheers. Kangta performed soon afterwards. There was a cute duet between a member of F(x) and Kangta. They had a disappearing mic act throughout. Then Shinee did Replay....THEN it was KRY <3 The whole reason I was there. They performed "Sorry Sorry Answer".
My own fancam sucked (I was just getting acquainted with the camera and didn't realise I couldn't zoom once I hit the record button) but this person shot a really good one
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The rest of the concert was all a blur really. I had 3 glowsticks - red (DBSK), blue - with Kyu's name on it (Super Junior) and a SM NYC one. I was swapping between performances - using the SM town one unless DBSK or Suju performed.
My favourite performances were KRY's Sorry Sorry Answer, Shinee's Lucifer, TVXQ's Medly ( The Way You Are and Mirotic), TVXQ's Rising Sun. BoA's I did it for Love, BoA's Eat You Up.
Here's the one fan cam I've uploaded. I have others, but I didn't quite get used to the camera until the end.
After the concert, we bought more goodies (the SM Town bag) and headed back to our hotel, which was about a 10 min walk.
Concert goodies (mine and my friend's. I got the Kyuhyun, Yesung and Siwon fans)
Credit: Amethystsand
Monday
South
I went "downtown" in the morning. Along the way, I stopped by Chelsea Market for a latte (Ninth Avenue Express) and a croissant (Amy's bakery). As for the latte - I had better in Toronto (Bull Dog). Mine tasted a bit burnt... maybe it was an over done roast. It wasn't too bad though. My croissant was AMAZING. It was so buttery and fluffy...sigh. I'm definitely going back to this place if I visit NYC again.
We walked to the 9/11 site, hoping that we can visit the memorial. Unfortunately it required tickets, so we didn't bother going in...Across from ground zero was the Wall Street Protest...That was crazy. Lots of people...but it was very disorganized. I have no clue what they were protesting about. Still don't. Some people were singing songs. Others were ranting. I left when they started to argue.
Soshified SNSD - Fan Meet
I shopped at Century 21 and bought a lot of stuff. Headed back to the hotel There was the SNSD fanmeet at 4:30. My friend informed me that people were lining up at the Best Buy Theatre at Times Square and I should get a stamp.
I got a stamp but stuck around for 2 hours for no reason...>_< I guess everyone's eager energy made me want to stick around. I don't even know all the members name. The organizers (Soshified) passed a sheet of paper of some lyrics from SNSD's first song (which I never even heard) to the fans. And I was clueless. Someone let me listen to their ipod, so I would have some clue what song that was...I started chatting with the fans and it was fun. I was given a picture of a SNSD member and some SNSD balloons ...
It was dark in the theatre. Since I lined up early, I got into the first section, but not early enough, so I was stuck in the middle. I am short - 4'-11" so being stuck in the middle sucked. I couldn't see anything when they performed and the fans squished me. After SNSD performed Boys, I got out of the crowd and found out that standing near the back of the section actually had a better view of the stage. I watched SNSD answer questions. Grimaced when they were throwing tshirts to the crowd... After this experience, I was glad that I didn't get floor seats the the SM town concert and I was super glad I brought ear plugs to block out the shrieking fans. I don't think I'll ever go to a fan meet again - unless I'm a bigger fan.
Morimoto
After the fanmeet, I went to Morimoto's, a fancy Japanese restaurant owned by the Japanese Iron Chef. I wore my crappy clothes cuz I didn't change before the fan meet, as I should have. I blew $100 on Tuna Taro, Sea Bass, Shrimp Tempura rolls and plum sake. The sea bass was amazing, Tuna Taro was interesting, Shrimp Tempura was forgettable. I love the plum sake.
Tuesday
Buildings
I took pictures of the Empire State Building (outside), JYP's NYC building (it looked more like someone's house), and my friend took pictures of an SJM building (it's not SM's SJM building, just has the same name). Then it was Chinatown. I ate at Big Wong's restaurant. Had bubble tea at Ten Ren's (no clue why since I visit the one in Toronto). Walked around the Soho district, but I didn't buy anything cuz I was over my $400 limit for Canadian customs, though it was very tempting.
Century Park
I walked around Century Park until it was about 5:30pm. I didn't want to be there after sunset. It was nice...but not a big deal for me since I live in a city with trees everywhere (and I also live by a lake).
Totto Ramen
My last dinner in NYC was at Totto Ramen. There was a bit of a line up, but I got in after 15 mins because I was by myself. I ordered spicy ramen...it was OK. It was no Kenzo though (a chain in Toronto). The noodles weren't as good as the one at Kenzo's and I couldn't enjoy the soup because it was too spicy to drink up.
Then it was back to the hotel.
Wednesday
I flew back home...
Overall
It was a fun trip. Too bad I didn't see Donghae/Henry and Yunho at Century Park playing the guitar. That would have been incredible. I had figured out the subway system, which was a bit confusing, but as soon as I figured out that "Uptown" = North East and "Downtown" = South West, I was all set. NYC was pretty safe where I was walking. There were so many police patrolling that I have sense of security, more than I do at home. It was very crowded though. The prices of things were about the same as home, so I didn't go too crazy...Macy's was disappointing, but Century 21 was good. I would love to come back here again and spend more time here and soak it all in...I think 2 weeks would be perfect, but unfortunately, hotels in Manhattan costs twice as much as I'm willing to pay for.
Now that I have gotten the concert bug in me...I hope that JYJ or Super Show 4 comes to an accessible city close by and I hope when they do, I will be able to take a day off.
Travel
Left the airport early. My father was being a mother hen and I talked back. Wasn't a great start to the trip. I got on a small flight, and end up sitting at "row 13" which was the first seat facing the back. I watched "Something Borrowed" on the connecting flight to Newark, International Airport in New Jeresy. I read the book and it was just as good. We met up with another friend and took the train to Penn Station.
Ktown
After dropping off our luggage, we headed to ktown (close by our hotel) and ate our supper. It was crazily busy. There were people everywhere Friday night. We ended up at a place that was cafeteria styled - "Food Gallery 32". I ordered ramen, but spotted spicy rice cakes and begged my friend to order rice cakes (I was craving them), The ramen was like instant noodles but the rice cakes were awesome (a bit spicy). In the cafeteria, they played kpop videos, I spotted a Lee Hyori one.
I don't remember the rest but we conked out.
Saturday
Sony Wonder Lab
We walked up 5th Avenue to Sony Wonder Lab - an educational place of some sorts. It's probably more geared towards under 18 year olds. It was still fun though. I already knew about binary signals, pixels and sound waves. But it was fun playing with the robots (I was doing virtual surgery, but the equipment was not working properly and wasn't precise enough). My friends and I also did some animation (hehe fooled around and made the cartoon pose awkwardly), sound editing and played with the PS3 move.
FAO Shwarz
Remember Big? The movie with Tom Hanks? I went to the store and it looked so fun. The outside were these "guards" dressed like toy soldiers. Inside toys were everywhere. Staff were busy demonstrating the different gizmos and gadgets. It seems like a fun place to work. I ended up buying a teddy bear.
Times Square
I ran out of batteries for my camera and we were planning to visit Top of Rock (a tall building, with an awesome view, supposedly better than the Empire State building) in the evening so I ran back to the hotel via subway (which was very awesome and efficient btw). Ate from an Indian food truck along the way. Shoved it in my mouth then headed to Times Square, where I started gawking and wandering the streets before catching the show "Chinglish" at Longacre Theatre.
The M&M store has pricey merchandise... so I ended up going to square or whatever you call it, where there were no cars and just people. I watched people videotape the SNSD/SM town ad, but I couldn't do it myself, as my batteries had ran out
Chinglish (theatre)
Chinglish itself was a mix for me. I think it could have had better pacing. The opening was hilarious (they were speaking both in mandarin and english about not videotaping the performance and eating). They had the classic Chinglish signs - Mistranslated English signs found in China. They used quite a bit of mandarin in the play, it was full of subtitles. A bit annoying but at least I understand a bit of mandarin. It actually flowed better with the full language then the disjointed Mandarin. Perhaps I didn't find the "chinglish" part that funny because I can hear it at work. Quite a few of my coworkers are new immigrants from China, and I sometimes can not understand their English. This play's Chinglish made my head hurt. Perhaps I should have stuck with the conventional Broadway show. In any case, I bought a cool Chinglish tshirt.
I went to the Top of Rock just as sunset approached. My friends didn't make it back there in time so I walked around there for 2 hours by myself. It was beautiful though...
I ran back to my hotel, took a shower and headed to Macy's department store at Herald Square, which was just a block away from my hotel. It was a disappointing shopping experience. I couldn't find any outstanding deals. I bought 2 purses and a cardigan.
Sunday
Ah the day finally arrived for the concert. I hung out with my friends at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. My favourite exhibits were the Egyptian and weapons gallaries. We ended up splitting up during the visit, as we all had our own interests. I met up with one of my friends at the end of my visit to head back and meet a Pikachu mascot at the Nintendo store. lol we were too early and didn't realise it, and just took a pic with the cardboards. It wasn't until later, after my other friend (who spent the noon hour at Century Park) showed us her pic that we found out we missed the BIG pikachu :(. lol w/e.
I think I wandered around Herald Square a bit more after heading back to charge my batteries at the hotel (I really should have bought a spare battery). I bought some more stuff at a mall close by. I also found Uniqlo and bought one of those "garbage bag" jackets that was so popular in NYC. It is a light downfill jacket. Perfect for NYC, but unfortunately not for the low of -45C weather I get back at home.
SMTOWN Live NYC
After heading back to the hotel and picking up my fully charged batteries, my friends informed me that SMTown has already been selling SM Town merchandise since 3pm at the Madison Square Garden. My friends left to check it out. I dropped my shopping bags and ran out of the door. Grabbed a pretzel and water along the way - food truck. While I waited in line to buy merchandise, I purchased a Kyuhyun glowsitck from some guy selling them by the line up (unofficial). After 2 hours of waiting in line, we finally got to the front of the line. Apparently we could have just walked in without lining up and head straight to the table where they were selling the stuff, like some fan told me to do earlier, but I was too chicken to follow through... At the merchandise table, everyone(fans) was really aggressive, trying to buy their idol's fans... It was like the equivalent of a coat check at a bar.
After witnessing the last Kyuhyun fan get sold, I giggled at everyone whining. There was no Yesung in sight (I thought Kyuhyun was more popular than Yesung). No Shinee (not that I would get one) and hardly any SNSD left. My friend finally got to the front and bought a Siwon fan on my behalf (they were out of my favourite members, Kyuhyun and Yesung). I also purchased an SMTown glowstick/fan
I bought a $5 bottled water (that better have been from the mountains for that price:/) and found my seats.
There were some ads showing on the sides which got everyone squealing. I didn't give them much thought. I think they must have featured SM Town artists on them...
The lights when dim and then the show started:
Sea of blue - with splashes of red. A lot of the people bought the SM supplied ones, which were pale purple so it blended with Suju's.
F(X) performed first. Amber got the most cheers. Kangta performed soon afterwards. There was a cute duet between a member of F(x) and Kangta. They had a disappearing mic act throughout. Then Shinee did Replay....THEN it was KRY <3 The whole reason I was there. They performed "Sorry Sorry Answer".
My own fancam sucked (I was just getting acquainted with the camera and didn't realise I couldn't zoom once I hit the record button) but this person shot a really good one
Click to viewAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The rest of the concert was all a blur really. I had 3 glowsticks - red (DBSK), blue - with Kyu's name on it (Super Junior) and a SM NYC one. I was swapping between performances - using the SM town one unless DBSK or Suju performed.
My favourite performances were KRY's Sorry Sorry Answer, Shinee's Lucifer, TVXQ's Medly ( The Way You Are and Mirotic), TVXQ's Rising Sun. BoA's I did it for Love, BoA's Eat You Up.
Here's the one fan cam I've uploaded. I have others, but I didn't quite get used to the camera until the end.
After the concert, we bought more goodies (the SM Town bag) and headed back to our hotel, which was about a 10 min walk.
Concert goodies (mine and my friend's. I got the Kyuhyun, Yesung and Siwon fans)
Credit: Amethystsand
Monday
South
I went "downtown" in the morning. Along the way, I stopped by Chelsea Market for a latte (Ninth Avenue Express) and a croissant (Amy's bakery). As for the latte - I had better in Toronto (Bull Dog). Mine tasted a bit burnt... maybe it was an over done roast. It wasn't too bad though. My croissant was AMAZING. It was so buttery and fluffy...sigh. I'm definitely going back to this place if I visit NYC again.
We walked to the 9/11 site, hoping that we can visit the memorial. Unfortunately it required tickets, so we didn't bother going in...Across from ground zero was the Wall Street Protest...That was crazy. Lots of people...but it was very disorganized. I have no clue what they were protesting about. Still don't. Some people were singing songs. Others were ranting. I left when they started to argue.
Soshified SNSD - Fan Meet
I shopped at Century 21 and bought a lot of stuff. Headed back to the hotel There was the SNSD fanmeet at 4:30. My friend informed me that people were lining up at the Best Buy Theatre at Times Square and I should get a stamp.
I got a stamp but stuck around for 2 hours for no reason...>_< I guess everyone's eager energy made me want to stick around. I don't even know all the members name. The organizers (Soshified) passed a sheet of paper of some lyrics from SNSD's first song (which I never even heard) to the fans. And I was clueless. Someone let me listen to their ipod, so I would have some clue what song that was...I started chatting with the fans and it was fun. I was given a picture of a SNSD member and some SNSD balloons ...
It was dark in the theatre. Since I lined up early, I got into the first section, but not early enough, so I was stuck in the middle. I am short - 4'-11" so being stuck in the middle sucked. I couldn't see anything when they performed and the fans squished me. After SNSD performed Boys, I got out of the crowd and found out that standing near the back of the section actually had a better view of the stage. I watched SNSD answer questions. Grimaced when they were throwing tshirts to the crowd... After this experience, I was glad that I didn't get floor seats the the SM town concert and I was super glad I brought ear plugs to block out the shrieking fans. I don't think I'll ever go to a fan meet again - unless I'm a bigger fan.
Morimoto
After the fanmeet, I went to Morimoto's, a fancy Japanese restaurant owned by the Japanese Iron Chef. I wore my crappy clothes cuz I didn't change before the fan meet, as I should have. I blew $100 on Tuna Taro, Sea Bass, Shrimp Tempura rolls and plum sake. The sea bass was amazing, Tuna Taro was interesting, Shrimp Tempura was forgettable. I love the plum sake.
Tuesday
Buildings
I took pictures of the Empire State Building (outside), JYP's NYC building (it looked more like someone's house), and my friend took pictures of an SJM building (it's not SM's SJM building, just has the same name). Then it was Chinatown. I ate at Big Wong's restaurant. Had bubble tea at Ten Ren's (no clue why since I visit the one in Toronto). Walked around the Soho district, but I didn't buy anything cuz I was over my $400 limit for Canadian customs, though it was very tempting.
Century Park
I walked around Century Park until it was about 5:30pm. I didn't want to be there after sunset. It was nice...but not a big deal for me since I live in a city with trees everywhere (and I also live by a lake).
Totto Ramen
My last dinner in NYC was at Totto Ramen. There was a bit of a line up, but I got in after 15 mins because I was by myself. I ordered spicy ramen...it was OK. It was no Kenzo though (a chain in Toronto). The noodles weren't as good as the one at Kenzo's and I couldn't enjoy the soup because it was too spicy to drink up.
Then it was back to the hotel.
Wednesday
I flew back home...
Overall
It was a fun trip. Too bad I didn't see Donghae/Henry and Yunho at Century Park playing the guitar. That would have been incredible. I had figured out the subway system, which was a bit confusing, but as soon as I figured out that "Uptown" = North East and "Downtown" = South West, I was all set. NYC was pretty safe where I was walking. There were so many police patrolling that I have sense of security, more than I do at home. It was very crowded though. The prices of things were about the same as home, so I didn't go too crazy...Macy's was disappointing, but Century 21 was good. I would love to come back here again and spend more time here and soak it all in...I think 2 weeks would be perfect, but unfortunately, hotels in Manhattan costs twice as much as I'm willing to pay for.
Now that I have gotten the concert bug in me...I hope that JYJ or Super Show 4 comes to an accessible city close by and I hope when they do, I will be able to take a day off.