Live from NYC: Quick Update before I sleep...
Hi ya'll from the Big Apple!!! This is a really old post, my computer hung due to weak internet signals. But I bring to you what I can.
The three days alone have been very quick, and also a great time to spend alone with myself. I've been walking for 140 blocks on average everyday, my eyes might be playing tricks on me, but I doubt my clothes are,because everything's getting a little big. My dress size aside, I guess you'd probably already know, the States is celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend. And hence, I bring you this post.... in chronology of how I saw it.
Note: I'm doing the whole blog post thing because I don't want to come back and do that annoying thing where people force you to go through their pictures. And people are cordial and oblige because they are your friends. So if you're not keen, don't read. I won't take offense. Also, I'm not attaching the images yet, because bandwidth here is LIMITED!!! I'll update with images once i get back.
Day 2: J goes EXPLORING!!!
It's Day 2 and already I'm sick of 'ang moh' food. There's only so much wraps, bread and jalapenoes a person can consume. After a while, it seems as though everything tastes the same. And so.......... I've been starting the day with cup noodles, mostly for practical reasons because I need to energy to wander around the city in the morning.
I live on the Upper West Side. It is an upscale Black neighbourhhood it seems. Very nice apartment buildings are all over the place, and it fronts Central Park West. So when you walk out in the morning, you're greeted by falling leaves, squirrels scampering amongst the leaves searching for nuts, kids at the playground. It seems to me also, that New Yorkers are very healthy people. Everytime of the day, there are people running in the parks and along the streets. People are friendly. Even though I'm travelling alone, I've been chattng with lots of New Yorkers. They are always asking me where I'm from.
I also happen to live along the Museum Mile. So a 20 minute walk down the street, (about 20 blocks or so, alternatively, you can stroll through Central Park if you are feeling up to it), will land you in in front of the Museum of Natural History. The museum is the star of the movie A Night at the museum. And as you would expect, the statue of Roosevelt stands guard at the entrance. You might or might not know, but the MNH also serves as the starting point of the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade - the parade both native New Yorkers and tourist flock to every year like brandwhores to Prada.
I hiked 50 blocks down to Broadway and Times Square. It's actually a lot more organised, and less overwhelming compared to what is portrayed on TV. You've got people selling LV knock-offs on the streets, which are really inferior to what we can get in Asia, guys selling self-made CDs. You only get hussled (in a nice way) by people selling Broadway tickets. Currently, Mama Mia, Hair, Wicked... the list goes on and on, are showing. What I really want to catch is Hamlet starring Jude Law on Broadway. Tickets are expensive, but might be well-worth the watch. G, though, is of the opinion that I shouldn't support and adulterer.
Half way through Broadway, towards Times Square, I stopped for lunch at Pret a Manger, an organic sandwich bar which has since left Singapore due to its steep prices and an unappreciative audience. I personally am a fan, and am so stoked that it's all over the place here. This old guy from Long Island sat next to me, asked me if I was Chinese, and immediately assumed I was from China. He said I spoke English really well... well.... I told him our first language is English. He raised an eyebrow. It's kinda funny the stereotyping here, although, I can tell you that 10 out of 10 dry cleaners I've seen so far, are really run by Chinese. And money changers, really are ALL Indian.
For an early dinner, I found this fabulous place called Fluffy's. I walked in because I wanted to get a cupcake, but got distracted by the sandwiches, which taste great by the way! The service staff are so nice. Honestly, the servings here are too big for me. I almost always only eat half.
The walk back was a bit of a nightmare, because it started to rain. Rain in New York is not lie what we experience in Singapore. It feels like someone is taking a sprayer and spritzing you for hours, in my case. The remaining walk was long, I was only on the 60-something street, so I had to go to Borders to get me a rainbow-automated brolly. When I walked to about the 70th street, traffic was diverted to Columbus Avenue because the parade preprations were underway. I had to bash through throngs of people becaus everyone as gathering to watch the inflating of the parade floats and attending the stalls that had gathered in the square behind the museum. Took me double the time to get back man! Beat, I fell asleep for 4 hours.
Day 3: Don't Rain on My Parade
And it didn't. The weather was perfect. At 9am, I took a stroll to 72nd to watch the parade. Usually, I'm not the type who lies to take part in events such as this. But I thought, tourist, so what the heck right? I've never seen such incredible floats in my life!!!! It's fun, and it really makes you feel like a kid all over again. I had to give up my 'stalking' halfway because the NYPD was marshalling everyone across to the next block. The reason why, I'll never know.
Fast-forward one week or so...
It's raining tonight, and I missed the Rockefella Christmas tree lightup because the place was too packed, and it just didn't seem like a good idea to get stuck in human traffic for hours. I did, however, meet Irene and Uncle Jo for dinner at TGI Fridays, the restaurant Kang wanted to try. And so we did. The food was so, so, nothing too spectacular (Cafe Metro carbonara earlier today was far more sumptious). I happened to watch part of the event on a large flatscreen TV in the restaurant (which was on silent). Barry Manilow and Michael Buble were performing.... oh the woes of a weak will. To comfort ourselves, Kang and I decided to catch WICKED, the musical. It was fantastic.
More details later... it's almost 1am, and I'm beat. so I'll check in with you later. Miss you all my poodles!!!
Love,
J