25th May 2010, Tuesday – New York!

and so we decided to venture to new york for a short trip. we woke up at 5:30 or something? we caught the 6am train if i didn’t remember wrongly.
this was the train which brought us there. $15.50 for a one way ticket to new york. the whole ride took around 2 hours.

NJ transit to NY Penn station photo 29845_443851176208_6124654_n.jpg
one way tickets :$15.50 photo 29845_443851191208_4016234_n.jpg

In fact, my first touch with New York wasn’t pleasant at all. The immense heat greeted me as I stepped out of the train. There was no escalators or whatsoever, we had to climb stairs to get out. Oh wells. After we exited Penn Station, all of us just stood outside Madison Square Garden and started taking a lot of pictures. Like typical Singaporeans. Trying to take as much photos as possible, to prove that we have been there.
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There was some filming or photoshoot going on as we walked down the streets.
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It was really awfully fast paced and noisy. With all the taxis and cars honking. People walking super fast (comparable to Sg), cars won’t give way to you, unlike in point pleasant. And being in New York made Point Pleasant seemed even more pleasant. And it was kind of irritating that I kept hearing alicia keys the new york song being played everywhere =/

First stop was breakfast! We went to a random small cafe and gosh their portion is huge.
breakfast at $3.99 photo 29845_443851261208_6247511_n.jpg
justina's wheat pancakes photo 29845_443851266208_4303988_n.jpg
interesting.
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haha they seem to like this photo that i took. the feel of this photo was really good.
how we looked so tourisy. photo 29845_443851491208_6975199_n.jpg
there was countless billboards everywhere.
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broadway shows! photo 29845_443851506208_4407386_n.jpg

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ahh the 3-4 storey m&m shop!
omg the M&M place! photo 29845_443852166208_7956214_n.jpg
The never ending rows of m&m..
heavenly m&ms photo 29845_443852311208_1929538_n.jpg
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and i think across the road or something was hershey! and it was so cheap comparatively to the hershey store in citylink. oh wells.
Hershey's.. rather disappointing when compared to m&m photo 29845_443853156208_6908930_n.jpg

later, we tried to get tickets for the letterman show. had to go for an interview. but some dear friend did not bring any identification that we are above 18 or something.. they didn’t call us so probably we weren’t selected to be part of the audience. otherwise it would have been rather cool and interesting. oh wels.
we tried to get tickets for the show and they told us it was a random lottery which we found it, really hard to believe.. maybe we had black hair.. thats why.. photo 29845_443853211208_6578977_n.jpg

and in new york..
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i really love the random chairs and tables they have around the city. it is very nice to just sit down and chill. the buildings are so tall such that the sun won’t be the problem. the temperature that day was somewhat cooling.
pretty sidewalk chairs and tables photo 29845_443853256208_4521706_n.jpg
after that, it was off to central park! this is a rather bad photo. but then again there are people everywhere.
central park! yes, the extremely big park. photo 29845_443853266208_8312341_n.jpg
central park is really really really really really HUGE. there is no way you can walk through the whole park. and we only managed to cover a small tiny weeny portion of it and we got really tired.
met some kids when we went to the playground. one’s jap and one’s chinese. not brothers though. just friends. aww.
inside the 'zoo' of central park where they cage young children up. photo 29845_443853296208_3179314_n.jpg
one is japanese, one is chinese. photo 29845_443853301208_3031343_n.jpg

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we didnt bother to find out the price for this..
horse carriages which were way to expensive photo 29845_443853366208_2014443_n.jpg
it’s really pretty in a way. this was the hotel the one in bride wars.
the plaza! and they realised this is not the one whereby gossip girls was film.. photo 29845_443853401208_7567095_n.jpg
and we slowly made our way there. it was a freaking long walk i swear.
pretty pretty! photo 29845_443853416208_3830712_n.jpg
800USD a night. honeymoon maybe.
i think it cost 800usd a night. photo 29845_443853431208_3783090_n.jpg
and after asking for directions, they finally found the place that they were looking for in gossip girls. i was supposed to watch it somehow but seems like i never did and i never knew how it was supposed to look like but then again, this is it. The palace.
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do tell me if these look familiar to you if you watch gossip girls. haha.
after searching for so so so so so so so so long. photo 29845_443853536208_2822753_n.jpg

this is st peter's church, opposite the palace. photo 29845_443853606208_2195840_n.jpg
and so what is everyone queuing up for? the new york guide book recommended us this..
the long queue of shake shack! photo 29845_443853646208_634895_n.jpg
exorbitant prices. but then again, we’re in new york!
but it was worth the wait!<br /> despite exorbitant prices.. photo 29845_443853661208_3539794_n.jpg” src=”<a href=http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b190/h0neystars/Facebook/Work%20and%20Travel%20%20New%20York/29845_443853661208_3539794_n.jpg&#8221; />
awesome food awaits! looking at this picture makes me feel that the carls junior i ate just now was such a terrible choice. gosh and their milkshake was fantastic.
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and i know all the tricks to make food look so awesome :D
wheee photo 29845_443853691208_7045744_n.jpg

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everything together! photo 29845_443853731208_2648329_n.jpg
pretty buildings and windows.
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and when you get so excited about kate spade.
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did you ever knew that jack spade existed? not it is not a joke!
we thought that jack spade was a joke. and it really existed. photo 29845_443863936208_5106150_n.jpg
and i finally understood why the magical school bus is yellow. seriously, how many buses in singapore are yellow? none? but they are yellow, everywhere in the usa.
now you know why it is called the yellow school bus. photo 29845_443863956208_7066570_n.jpg
the buildings are really pretty.
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seems like this is famous in the usa too.
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and such places always look so fantastic.
nice cafe! photo 29845_443864021208_427043_n.jpg
but there is always the different type of artistic..
graffiti photo 29845_443864026208_2551629_n.jpg
we visited the 911 memorial site too.
@ ground zero photo 29845_443864036208_1149929_n.jpg

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9 years on, and the are constructing a memorial. it is kind of sad to think that 2 tall towers just disappeared just like that. and the buildings surrounding are still tall and stuff like that. oh well. it was really a solemn place.
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we went back to times square in the night to see the lights.
we went.. to tkts to try to get broadway tickets.. we reached at 8:06pm.. and it closed at 8pm. photo 29845_443864176208_1109743_n.jpg

times square at night~ photo 29845_443864201208_6061139_n.jpg

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if this looks familiar, the only memory i have of it was.. in Madagascar.
grand central terminal~ photo 29845_443864226208_6414861_n.jpg
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the grand central terminal. there was the bright lights because there was some photoshoot going on. awesome ain’t it. we were kind of lucky in a way.
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we were lucky to have free lodging at some friend’s place where they rented. gosh it was really damn small. i guess houses in new york are really that that that small. there was hardly walking space. it was just beds, beds, a small fridge, stove, a toilet with barely walking space. it was like a small rectangle and you can’t move or walk in the toilet. there was just this spot you can stand. and when you change, you just hit everything. haha maybe i’m exaggerating a little. but it was lucky enough for us to stay for free. otherwise we would have gone back home.
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and this made me thankful of the house back in point pleasant. can’t complain at all.

we woke up really late the next morning. our plan of going early to queue for broadway tickets failed and we went to chinatown for lunch instead. it was really really very hot the next day.i think it was 30 degrees. it’s really crazy. it heated up in one day. the sun was terribly hot. however not that humid so it wasn’t that terrible.
chinese restaurant @ chinatown photo 29845_443864416208_7484626_n.jpg
looks normal.
fried rice! photo 29845_443864456208_6167722_n.jpg

the delicious har kao with huge prawns ^^ photo 156695_443864466208_1692053_n.jpg
i think they spoke Cantonese.
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and we just went past NYU.. i have no idea but it totally doesn’t even feel like a uni at all, cluttered among all the tall buildings. hmm. i guess it would have been an interesting experience somehow.
i was trying to take the NYU flag.. photo 29845_443864576208_2942897_n.jpg

we didn’t want to stay too late in new york as we had a scary experience the night before. when it gets late, unusual people start to roam the streets and it just doesn’t feel that safe somehow =/ and i finally bought pipagao from chinatown. was having a bad throat then. oh wells.

on the way back!
12 for $9 photo 29845_443864586208_6510766_n.jpg

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