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Published: November 19th 2008
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The United Nations
Yay! I'm back and heading out with Mourad to go see the
United Nations. I can actually check this off my bucket list 😊. To my surprise Mourad suggests we take the subway. I guess he had enough walking while I was in DC...lol. The trip down to the UN doesn't take too long but the walk from the subway station takes longer than expected. Oh well, so much for not walking much today. The building itself doesn't look all that impressive. In fact, it looks kind of old and run down. Not what I was expecting. To top it off, I couldn't find the Canadian flag in the row of flags outside the building. Mourad must be really lucky. He found the Moroccan flag literally two seconds after we got there. As we head inside, we go through...surprise, surprise...a security check. What I find interesting is that there is a bag check. No one is allowed to bring any bags into the UN building. There is a paid tour of the UN but the wait is over an hour long. We decided to skip the tour and head for SOHO. Before we leave the UN, we see a
large crowd on the lawn. It's a press conference and I actually get to see the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon. He looks shorter than I thought...lol. I'd go asking him for a picture, but I think the security guards would tackle me before I got to him and I'm not sure Mourad would bail me out of jail...lol.
SOHO/Chinatown
With the UN out of the way, we walk over to
SOHO as it's not very far according to our map. The only problem is that it's really cold walking in the shadows of the buildings. Damn, I wish the wind would stop blowing. I feel sorry for Mourad as he's only wearing a t-shirt and jeans. I'm wearing a hoodie and shorts. I think I'm better off 😊. The stores in SOHO are not as impressive as I thought they would be. I guess I was expecting too much.
Note to self: lower your expectations when shopping. After our little shopping excursion, I suggest we head to
Chinatown for lunch. Mourad agrees and off we trot, looking for food 😊.
We hit Chinatown only to find an endless stream of gold shops. Tons and tons of gold
shops. I've never seen so many gold shops in one place. The worst thing is we can't find a single damn restaurant. WTF is going on? Do Chinese people not eat in Chinatown? We spend a good 20 minutes walking up the main street in Chinatown before we finally find restaurants on the smaller side streets. Thank god! I thought I was going to starve to death. I'll looking forward to some good food, unfortunately, my expectations were too high. I guess when I compared the Chinese food to what I can get in Vancouver, it's on par but not better. Mind you, it could also be the fact that we didn't know which restaurant was the best one in Chinatown and we had to settle for a place that had lots of people inside. You know what they say: lots of people=good food or high turn over in food.
A Stroll in the Park
After lunch, Mourad wants to head back to the hostel to take a nap...didn't I say the guy can sleep? We take the subway back up to 103 Street but we are on the other side of Central park (East side) and need to
walk through it to get back home. It's simple enough. We should be home in no time...or so I thought. Remember how I said the park was well designed? Well, it turns out there isn't a walkway or road that leads in a straight line from one side of the park to the other. This walk is going to take a while. We go up the hills, down the hills, around the ponds, follow the road, switch to a path. It's like we are in a bloody jungle here. It takes us a good 30 minutes to find our way from one end of the park to the other. It would have taken us longer if we got lost. It was a good thing we took that tour. On a side note, we actually bumped into a New Yorker who was lost, but we couldn't help her as we didn't know exactly where we were in the park.
The Long Night
I actually take a short nap at the hostel in preparation for my all nighter (I know that's not a real word). I need to be at the airport by 3am to catch my early morning flight.
Note to self: schedule overnight flights so you sleep.
In my room, I make a new friend, a Brazilian guy from Sao Paulo. We get talking and he's a really cool dude. He gives me his business card and tells me to call him when I get to Sao Paulo next year. This is very cool, I now have three friends I can visit in Sao Paulo. At this rate, I may end up spend most of my time partying with my friends in Brazil 😊. He invites me to go clubbing with him and his friends, but I decline as I don't want to go out, come home, take another shower, check out of hostel, go to the airport, fall asleep and miss my flight. Although, getting stuck in New York my not be such a bad idea....
After dinner, I meet up with Mourad again. He slept for two hours (that was some power nap) and we end up talking for a good hour or so before he heads off to bed. I feel kind of sad saying goodbye to my friends. At least I can try to visit all of them when I leave for
my big trip in January.
Thank God for the Internet. I don't think I would have been able to stay up all night if I wasn't on the Internet. The cab ride to the airport is uneventful. I'm surprised at how many people are checking in at 3 am for flights at JFK. I guess this really is the city that never sleeps. Wish I could...lol. I check-in and wave goodbye to my luggage. I'm all set with my trusty laptop for the long wait ahead.
The biggest problem: there is no free Internet at JFK. Shit! Good thing I have a movie sitting on my hard drive. Next stop Vancouver 😊, well, Dallas first then Vancouver.
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