Autumn in New York

Finally, I'm getting around to posting this! It's deep in the middle of a freezing winter now, so what better thing to do than to reminisce about warmer days past! Last fall, Adel came to NY/Chicago for a holiday and I spent two days hanging with her.

We met in Chinatown, and promptly proceeded to eat at 56 Mott Street (Still haven't caught the name, even though I've been there subsequent times!), a place which came highly recommended from Ronald and Aileen as having good and affordable Chinese food.

My huge plate of chicken + char siew rice

The funniest part of our day must have been our visit to the Chinese medical hall right opposite the restaurant after our meal. I had been looking for Chinese herbal cough/sore throat medication, and voila, there the store was! And in the end, both of us walked out with purchases of at least US$50, I think. Who've thought that we'd come all the way to NYC to hang out at a sinseh place and get Chinese medicine? Hilarious, really. Well, we thought so anyway. Anyway, Adel's medication apparently worked wonders! Alas, mine did not fare quite as well.

Fog/A really low-hanging cloud/? blocking out an entire third of a skyscraper downtown, as seen from Chinatown. You can clearly see that the /effect-of-nature, whatever it was/ extends to a distance, then suddenly ends, because the top building on the left, which is further forward, wasn't blocked up. Pretty nifty.

We didn't really take many (well, relative to some) pictures in our two days because all we basically did was walk around plenty. Also, Adel is not one to visit tourist trappings (you didn't see the Statue of Liberty et al, did you?). In fact, she's not one to see anything at all! My memory of October is fuzzy by now, but I distinctly remember that as we were walking up 5th Ave towards Central Park and chatting, I tried to point out various things around, like the NY Public Library, Saks, etc., because Adel was totally oblivious to everything around her, much to my bemusement. I remember remarking about this point, saying that it's as if we were merely just walking down Orchard Road for the zillionth time, to which she replied (paraphrasing somewhat here) that the company is much more important than the sights. And I do agree with her. It was really nice just strolling uptown and conversing with a good friend (and in cool weather!).

But Adel, now you know the next time you're here that there're nice public toilets right next to Grand Central at the Hyatt Hotel! :)

We did, as mentioned, walk around Central Park.

Getting (if memory serves me right) a Swedish tourist to take a picture of us on the bridge that was featured in Spiderman 3 (me & pop culture references. How refreshing!)

An adorable (squee!!) animal (what is it???) hanging out in its little cubicle in a tree trunk. This one has star appeal. At least a dozen snap-happy tourists were trying to capture a pictorial keepsake of its squee!ness.

Auto-timered shot on one of the many rock croppings. Featuring a guest appearance by a New York guide book, sponsored generously by the NLB.

It was evening and time to head our separate ways soon, so we tried to search for a restaurant to have dinner nearby at in Time Out magazine. We settled on Southern Hospitality, a restaurant opened by Justin Timberlake, somewhere near 3rd and 76th. And we walked there. I know what you're thinking, and we made the same comments. How teeny-bopper of us to want to eat at some celeb vanity joint. But, the prices suited our budget, and it was sorta near.

Still, we were on the southern tip of the park, aka 50something street, so that was a twenty block walk. In the end, due to time constraints, we gave up halfway and settled on a Japanese restaurant along the way, and Adel gave me a birthday treat. Merci beaucoup! (Don't I sound like a pretentious twat with my random and tired French insertions? lol. I do know more than two phrases now though, seriously!) (Anyway, Ad, I walked part Southern Hospitality last week by chance. Didn't look atas at all. Look like a typical sports bar/restaurant, with TVs showing football, baseball, etc. Just thought you should know!)

One of the places we explored was the East Village, with its assortment of small, indie clothing boutiques (with astronomical prices), record shops and art galleries. Strangely, it was what I thought SoHo would be. But SoHo has since gone more generic-upscale, so the more artsy-but-still-pricy establishments moved eastwards.

Captured in East Village. Heh.

In sharp-enough-to-pierce-through-10-Balenciaga-crocodile-skin-bags contrast to Ronald's couture hedonism, Adel shopped very little. I remember her buying something from the indie record shop, and a hippie-ish hairband thingie from Urban Outfitters from our two days. That was it. I, however, was looking for a pair of shades (The NY sun is seriously much more glaring than that of SG's. Ostensibly due to serious lack of cloud cover). So, I got Adel to accompany me to Century 21, which I recall Ronald saying is known for cheap designer lobangs (Must thank Ronald for doing all the NYC groundwork!).

The fierce-looking pair of shades inspired Adel to strike her best Charlie's Angel pose.

Who strikes the better pose? *ooh, I have a bony-looking thumb*

Why, when both come together, of course! Though the gun pose ends up looking more Japanesey kawaii cheese than sophisticated cool, I must admit. Adel, stop smiling so cheerily!

Anyway, I ended up getting a pair of Kenneth Cole shades at US$15. Though it didn't come with a case, so I've had to carry it with extreme care inside my bag every time 'lest I break it. Lol.

Our plan was to head over to Ground Zero for a tour, as it's right across Century 21, but again it was raining, so that scuttled the plan (It was also raining when Ron, Aileen and I wanted to go. What's up with that?).

I believe we ended up just strolling around SoHo, which I much prefer to 5th Ave. The same labels, but without the crowds! [Outside of post context] Seriously, this past few weeks, every time I walk down 5th, there's a stampede. And at the flagship Abercrombie store on 5th and 56th, there are queues around the block everyday to get in. WTF! And it's not as if there was any blowout sale![/Outside of post context].

For our farewell dinner, we ended up at this small, dark and cozy pizza place in Greenwich.

It was so dark that I had to lighten this pic by quite a bit. (That was a pointless comment for a typical-of-every-blog kinda self-taken before-meal boring picture, just so I had comments for every shot.)

Thin-crust goodness. Though I'm not especially discerning of good quality pizza. (Boy, I'm running out of caption ideas.)

Obligatory subway shot (And it comes down to stating to obvious). I do find the "Priority Seating" backdrop sorta amusing though. No? Just me then.

Adel then went on to catch some live music (Happening!), before heading back to SG the next day, as I trudged back to school. 'Twas a fun time had by both of us for sure though! Miss ya lots, Ad! xoxo. haha.

Livin' for the Weekend

The weekend of about 3 weeks ago (time flies!), I third-wheeled along on Ronald and Aileen's NYC travels. You might recall the previous weekend I spent with Ronald, where I bunked at his exceedly crummy hostel room. Well, thankfully, Ron and Aileen's room this time was much improved (there was a en-suite bathroom!), though not Plaza-esque or anything like that still of course. There was only one big bed which they shared, thus I lugged to the city a thick comforter borrowed from my room-mate, which I laid on the floor to serve as my bed. My improvised pillow? A pack of Ronald's clothes. Well, I slept soundly enough, so it sufficed.

Saturday was supposed to be outdoorsy, with a trip to the WTC site and Coney Island, but the rain put paid to that plan. Thus, we spent the afternoon at the Met. Incidentally, one can pay any price >$1 that one chooses, though the "recommended" adult and student prices are $20 and $10 respectively. I paid $5, and got a stare from the cashier. Whatever! Heh.

The entrance to the museum. Unfortunately, you need a super wide lens to capture the entire museum.

Maybe I could make it a thing to do each time I'm out in Manhatten: Find a replica of the Statue of Liberty to pose with

I (literally) scared the shit out of Ronald, which you can see he was trying desperately to hold in.

It's tragic how we don't know how to appreciate art and instead concern ourselves more with taking pictures with the art pieces, which are reduced to mere props. Oh, the (sorta) young and shallow...

All sorts of Greek/European sculptures. Perhaps NSFW? The top middle one is young Hercules, if memory serves me correctly. Ronald, with his flamboyance, adds a dash of colour to the collage.

There're many artists and art students who sit around various sculptures to draw/sketch them. This dude, who's hella talented, is one of them.

I took this while he went off for a while, perhaps for a pee. Beautiful, isn't it?

A pretty nifty-looking, if unwieldy, chess set. It sorta reminds me of wizards' chess in Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone.

And whilst on the subject on Harry Potter, here's the Mirror of Erised!

This could very well be the very first (or at least amongst the very first) advertisement in the world! It's promoting sculpture services, I think. Can't you just picture this in Singapore's JC Decaux ad stands next to bus stops?

On to the ancient Egyptian collection. Here, Ronald and I present Posing with inanimate objects: An Introduction.

Men of ancient Egypt. It's extremely insensitive of me, but the first thing that popped up in my head when I saw this was: "That's the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists List".

Ron's practicing his product endorsement pose.

The only picture of 3 of us for the weekend! Oh, I didn't take any with Aileen too.

Sunday was mostly spent in Brooklyn. Under the pretty darn glaring sun, we walked across Brooklyn bridge. Tried B&W pictures just because.

It's hard to comment on pictures of oneself. What can one say except "lookin' good"?

Manhattan viewed from the bridge.

Empire State Building viewable thanks to the kickass 12x zoom function of my camera. Thanks Ash!

Spot anyone (or two) familiar?

Across the bridge finally! We went to the Brooklyn ice-cream factory just next to the bridge and I got myself a huge triple-scoop!

Next, it was a 30 min subway ride to Coney Island, which, with its old-school amusement park and quaint charm, seems a world away from the urban sophistication of Manhattan.

We took this ferris wheel ride, which was more thrilling than the usual, because there are two times along the ride where the cage would slide. It was a tad too thrilling for some though. That's the view of the beach through the grills of our cage.

And that was the end of the weekend! I un-thirdwheeled back to school, while Aileen and Ronald continued onwards to Dallas. Next up, Adel!

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!

天下无不散之筵席 (or there ain't a party which don't end, dude!)

Last night out with what could be considered as the Windows 95 (or Mac OS 8.0, if you're so inclined)-equivalent incarnation of the gang. It was our annual 'reunion dinner' with Jac too. Happy belated birthday once again, fellow United fan (and therefore, superior human being all round)!

It was on this night that I discovered my repertoire of 'quirky' expressions is, sadly, rather limited. Ronald, this padawan still has much to learn from you.

I had originally planned to write an emotionally-charged post of my pre-departure reflections. I had it all mapped out in my head last night whilst tossing about in bed (due to insomnia, you dirty bugger!) : individual thank you notes to each one of my awesome pals, callbacks to memorable times, miss you and love you lots mush, blah blah blah....

不过, 最终想了想, 一切尽在不言中.

A trip to the Singapore Zoological Zoo (sic)

It was an eventful Saturday (in more ways than one). Empty fuel tanks, damaged handphones, missing friends (Jack, where art thou?) and other misadventures couldn't combine to hinder my maiden (if memory serves me correct) trip to the zoo though. And now I get to make photo collages! How quaint!

Guess which one is Ah Meng? None actually. Perhaps it was her day off.

Guess the odd one out. Obviously, it's those two zookeepers.

Giraffes weren't as tall as we thought they'd be. And there were only white tigers in the zoo. Where are the yellow ones? Western cultural imperialism extends to animals!

Guess what they have in common? All three have skin to die for. Snake and croc skin are obviously for leather products, and a quick google search informs me that seal pelt is used for fur coats. Ugh. See this site for more information.

All the way to Mandai, and we take pictures with . . . vehicles. Incidentally, the pic on the left was taken at Bottle Tree Village, a super-duper ulu chinese restaurant in Sembawang. We went there, walked around for 10 minutes, then left (not before taking a picture for posterity of course). A perfect capture of our meaningful aimlessness.