Just like any other weekend out

It was 8.00pm on a Saturday night and I was sitting in what passes for a lobby for a crummy hostel (Candy Hostel) in the Upper West Side waiting for Ronald to arrive, trying to read as much of the boatload of homework reading I was given. It was amazing, I thought to myself then, how the scenario was sorta like our meetups in, say, Borders in Wheelock Place, on a typical weekend night out in Singapore, except that it happened 12 time zones away.

I mean, here I was, having taken both a train and the subway to get there, waiting for him for an hour, because he's late (The shuttle he took from the airport made many stops ostensibly). Even in NYC, our culture of inpunctuality persists! It would be infuriating if it weren't so amazing.

Ten minutes later, he finally arrives to check in. By this time I had $0.90 cheated away from me by the hostel; In my hunger waiting, I (attempted to) purchase one packet of M&Ms from the vending machine next to me. And the packet of M&Ns got stuck and didn't drop. "Try kicking," the receptionist indicated, so I did, in as relatively inobstrusive a manner I could posibly do. A large black dude and his pal came along and tried to help me shake the machine, but alas, it was bolted to the ground. No candy for me then.

We went up to Ronald's 'room' and I use the term very loosely. Size-wise, picture those typical one bed, one toilet bowl jail cells you see in movies. It's about that size basically, except there's no toilet bowl (three communal bath/toilets per floor) and there's a door instead of bars. And here's the kicker: The ceiling lamp, the only source of light, was operated by pulling this long dangling string which hung in the middle of the room, right above the bed. And once we had switched on the light, we could not turn it back off! Not very conducive to sleep then, as I'd soon find out.

First order of business was dinner, and we settled some typical greasy diner after walking aimlessly for a few blocks.

The portions, as expected, were Supersized-up. I could only finish half of my pasta. Worse still was Ron, who had somehow became afflicted with a stomach bug over the course of the journey to the west, and kept having to, well, head to the gents. (Sorry, Ronald. It's too significant a part of the weekend not to be documented!)

Back to the jail cell it was after that to retire in preparation of a day of exploration on Sunday. The plan: To cover lower Manhatten (but not the extreme South ie. Financial district).

The day began at 5+ am when we both woke up from our 'sleep', thanks to that cursed light. Some brief planning and we were off to take the subway down South.

It was 8am when we reached Chinatown, and from therein on to about 7pm, we walked ALL day, with only 2 stops for meals.

It was a massive mistake to have started the day so early, we were to discover. Shops were closed and streets were desserted. So much for the city that never sleeps. It is thus that I could get this pic in the middle of the road in, erm, somewhere around Greenwich Village.

At Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village.

The cafe we finally settled upon for brunch at about 11-something, after some three hours of wandering.

Yay for alfresco dining in cool temperatures! And somehow we only took pics of us when dining (We didn't take many pictures at all in fact). I remember remarking to him about how great it'd be if the gang were here together. We'd be able to do our trademark camwhoring in so many fresh! exciting! new locales!

The Flatiron Building

Dinner at some Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. Not too bad food really, though the skin on the xiao long baos was as thick as Ron or Ivy's.

A blurry picture of us on the moving subway take by a neighbouring commuter as we headed back to the hostel and I went back to campus. In all, we covered Chinatown, Little Italy, Greenwich Village, Chelsea and SoHo, taking plenty of pitstops along the way at various Starbucks for loo breaks (Ron's crummy stomach, remember?). It's great really, then, that there're approximately 6995956 of them in the city, because otherwise you'd be hardpressed to find a public toilet. Here's a handy tip: Get a cup of coffee from there, and just keep it for the rest of the day. It's currency for you to enter any of them to use the restrooms! Heh.

So it was back to school for me, while Ron got to continue holidaying. No fair!