Got ourselves into this NY City Tour. Boarded this cute little mini bus which could hardly fit my father in and departed the hotel @ 10am. Our fantastic bus driver/tour guide was Anthony - Jamaican migrated to NY. Plenty of them here actually.
Very personal and really friendly and a Methodist! My mum had a good time chatting with him about evangelism throughout the stops where she didn't want to get out and walk around. Papa and yours truly did most of the touring on foot. Basically covered several main NY highlights...
First stop, United Nations. Pity the flags weren't up coz' they only display them only on sunny days, 9am-5pm, Mon-Fri. It was Sunday. Went through the security check which took 10mins. *American accent* Put your bag in the box. Take out your shoes and belt, watches, cash. No liquids... body search. All that for 20mins in the building. I mean it was cool being in the UN but there wasn't much to see. In fact more action happened outside the UN.
An 80+ old French guy was silent protesting with a big white signboard saying the UN has had enough of NY and should be moved to Paris. He claims it's too far from the rest of the world where world issues are. I say, if that's the case they should move it to Afghanistan or Asia at the very heart of the issue but who listens to me right? Ha...
Passed by Bill Gates and Harrison Ford's NY apartment @ The Trump World Towers and Saks Fifth Avenue aka Billionaire's Mall. Second stop, Empire State Building. Looking back, think the 45min queuing, security check and the 20min queuing to get down was quite uncalled for for the 15min time @ the top... But boy was the view spectacular!
Stopped by NBC's studio store for a walk along Manhattan streets and glimpsed St Patrick's Cathedral, NY's largest Catholic church. Took pictures with security guards and police officers - don't ask. Haha! Got a few hotdogs from street vendors. Everything US$2. So we bought 2 hotdogs and a huge pretzel for 6 bucks. The hotdogs were aiight. Reckon IKEA's hotdog in SG tasted better. The pretzel? Could have cost lesser. =P
Then, drove past Wall St and the Bull to catch the ferry to Liberty. You see her in the movies, you see her on the tele, it's nothing like seeing her in person. The ferry was fantastic and really scenic! On the boat, you see all sorts of people, hear all sorts of things.
Then came Ground Zero. Looking at the deep hole in place of where the twin towers once stood, realization of how devastating and terrifying it must have been on 9/11. This reminds us of the assurance and comfort we have in Jesus, that even in times of desperation, we can come to Him at the foot of the Cross.
Our last stop - China Town and for the first time in 4 days we ate 'sior-bak'! You can really get good deals in Chinatown. It's just like bargaining at a pasar malam in SG! By the time we all got back to the hotel, we were dozing off on the bus and arrived around 9pm.
Day 5 - Monday
Got out of the hotel in the arvo and hopped into a cab to Macy's @ 34th St and Broadway! A full 10 storey in vogue shopping mall! They were supposedly having a sale on and me and mum supposedly fell for it haha! Bought a couple of stuff... and my winter jacket for touring. Gosh can't believe I'm thinking of the holidays before school even begins! Anyway, spent the whole time there before ending up in Time Square in the evening to meet my dad's friend's sons (I know!), who have all gone there for work and are either happily married with kids or about to marry and have kids.
We went to Korea for dinner. Great place! Good food! Then caught the yellow cab back to the hotel. Packing was madness when we got back coz we had to catch the airport shuttle at 6:30am. So!
Morning of 15th. 5:30am alarms rings. 6am all of us are scurrying about. Pack this in check-in!! No! Pack that! Remember to pack the liquids in check-in! No gels, no water!! Finally made it half asleep to the domestic airport and boy was that a mess. The queues were unforgivably long inside and outside and it was chaotic! People were just standing there, lost. Looking lost, feeling lost. I was lost. Thing was, my ticket wasn't purchased yet. It was reserved but not purchased. Why? Apparently, my credit card didn't go through due to my foreign address and phone number (Singapore... hello!? Of course foreign!?!) So yea... I went up and down n up and down the aisle asking around went up and down up and down again. Finally my dad who checked in our luggage outside (the price was $2 per bag not including tips) Checking in inside the terminal was free but of course you had to brave the queues and chaos.
So my flight departs at 8:30am, I finally got my ticket at 8am. Past security quickly, which they confiscated BOTH my lipbalms!!! and ran all the way to the gate. Harrowing I know.
All in all, NY's really a melting pot of races and cultures. Being there, the whole city doesn't come off as a "white people" place but like an international meeting point where people of every race, start off their ambitions and dreams. I reckon it'll take me a while to learn to appreciate NY in its "raw-form". We'll just have to see on my nxt trip there this Christmas I guess. Long long post. I'll leave you with photos of Manhatten Times Square and Lady Liberty.
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