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Published: February 24th 2007
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View from Empire State building
Dense is the concrete jungle of NYC indeed! My words won’t justify it - you’ll have to feel experience it for yourself.
Anyhow, the trip began with an upgrade on Virgin Atlantic - we didn't mind the extra legroom, champagne and non-stop food at all! 8 hours later, T & I arrived at JFK all ready to fling our suitcases onto the back of a yellow one. It must have been all that drink though for we changed our minds and hopped onto a bus instead. We were only going to Forest Hills in Queens, which would have been about 20mins cab ride away, but with the bus, we had to pass through Jamaica Ave, horror stories of which T had been regaled with by her friend. Understandably, we were a tad nervous, but felt brave in numbers.
Upon boarding we found that we could only pay by exact cash in coins, or by the metrocard, neither of which we had. Fortunately the driver was patient and a kind passenger offered to exchange loose change with us. The pair of us must have looked quite ridiculous with our baggage for we drew quite a few stares...
In Jamaica Ave, we alighted to transfer to another bus.
I’m not sure if it was just that part that intersected with Metropolitan Ave, but Jamaica sure didn’t look especially shabby or dodgy to me. Some of the houses were actually quite big and some shops even suggested a moneyed clientele. Having said that though, earlier en-route we did pass some streets that could pass off as a little rough.
During the transit, we were so inexplicably hungry again that we decided to grab a bite from a local bagel shop. And do they do their bagels differently from the ones in UK! None of that measly slice of ham between thick dry bread thingy - we were talking beefy chunks of meat cuts sandwiched by moist bread. We were impressed.
For the remaining 4 days that I was there, it was nothing but delicious food in very generous proportions, at very reasonable prices. Piping hot croissant overflowing with egg, bacon and gooey melted cheese for breakfast on the go, fluffy pancakes drizzled with golden syrup for sit-ins at the diner along Queens Blvd, massive New York style pizza in Forest Hills, extensive Indian buffet at Jackson Heights, excellent Thai-Japanese cuisine (loved the sashimi!) at Planet Thai in
Brooklyn and fantastic ‘shawafel’ (a combination of spit-grilled lamb shwarma and falafel - bright green with cilantro and parsley here) at Chickpea in Third Ave, East Village. All that and I busted little more than US$60.
It is easy to see why Sandra has takeaway all the time - it's so affordable to eat out! Which was great because her not having to cook meant we had more time to catch up. It was also nice to see little Charlie once more. That lucky t*** - he slept first class on his flight to NYC, stretching out all of his 70cm 1 year-old frame. I’m so jealous! Well, he was a real sweetheart and it was very funny watching him go ‘da-di’ to everything he sees. Really, he was saying ‘katz’ which means cat in German. He displayed an innate talent at dee-jaying and a profound fondness for shoes, which he distributed lovingly onto our laps at every opportunity. He is also a little difficult to drag away from a puddle, big or small…
I was looking to chill out in a jazz bar or club one of the evenings and both T and I also wanted to
don our little black dresses and shake it at some swank NYC club, except we never made it. The sightseeing and shopping zapped out all time and energy. Traipsing around Mid and Downtown Manhattan is a marathon for the fit and clearly I need to hit the gym. Every night I manually lifted sore abused feet onto the bed and promised to be kinder to myself the next day. Well, we all know what happens to promises…
But there’s just so much to see and do. All the main sights were great - loved the view from Empire State Building, found the Iron Building cool, thought the Christmas light-up at Rockefeller pretty and Central Park charming. I was well amazed by Chinatown however. That place is sprawling. With areas where you literally need to read Chinese to understand what’s going on too. It’s just so cool - there were loads of roadside stalls so typical back home, selling fresh fruits and there was a massive fishmonger with housewives clamouring to get the best piece. Oh the sights and smells were so wonderfully familiar. I even passed a guy selling tao-huay on the streets! Can’t say I’ve seen that in
Freshmonger in Chinatown
Pinching your noses yet?!? So foul yet so good! London (though perhaps I might not have been eager-eyed enough). That was quite early in the evening so I thought I’d come back for it later but I never did manage my way back to that same street but ended up in Little Italy with all the posh restaurants instead. Chinatown was bright with colourful lanterns and auspicious red and gold decorations in preparation for Chinese New Year, whilst Little Italy was still draped in Christmas tinsels. I guess I just got lost in the enchantment of twinkling festive lights…
As for the shopping, think my plastic was smoking a little by the end of the trip. But hey, what’s a girl to do in streets after streets of boutiques calling her in with their massive bargains?! And to resist a little good old-fashioned haggling over Canal St’s mind-boggling array of bags and jewelry? C’mon!
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