New York - Manhattan
So, I've got internet! I decided that instead of leaving my picture posting to the end, I shall do it as soon as I can so I still remember all the stuff. My dates right now are so messed up because of the 12 hour time difference between Singapore and New York but basically, let's start with the 7th.
I spent most of 7th packing my last minute things and making sure my bags aren't overweight. The US system works that not even a kilogram of overweight luggage is acceptable and they don't do averaging out either. I am allowed to carry two 23kg luggages but both would have to be below 23kg (if one was 20kg and the other was 25kg, they would ask us to transfer some stuff to even it out). So I packed my stuff and ate my last chicken/duck rice for lunch.
I barely finished packing before I went out for dinner with Sonia and Muzna just for a small catch up session. We went to Fish & Co. for dinner and just chat about random stuff. They may be coming over to Buffalo in Spring depending on the circumstances. We went on to Jurong because I had to collect something from there before I left, and went to Yoguru to have desert and continue chatting. I think it was 10+ that we left for home. I basically went home to cuddle with Mew for the last time and we slept together till about 1am. She was really snuggly asleep and so warm in my arms.
From then, I packed some last minute stuff and decided to remove some CDs from my packing since they are all in my laptop already. Somehow, even up till now, this whole living in New York thing doesn't feel real to me. I feel like I am here just for vacation.
We headed for the airport at about 2.30am, reaching there at about 3am. We had to wait for Andrew to come over from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 because apparently the skytrains don't operate from 2.30am to 5am and he had to take a different shuttle down. After a few hiccups here and there, he finally managed to join us just in time for checking in.
We checked in our countless number of luggages before we finally entered the gate. We decided to keep out luggages in small handcarry bags since we are renting a car and aren't too confident in fitting in so many large-sized luggages. Since we had 6 people going together, that allows us for 12 luggages in total. We took advantage of that in hopes that everything would fit better when we get the rental car.
We took a 7+ hour flight down to Narita in which I slept uncomfortably for less than 2 hours before a 1 hour transfer and another 12+ hours flight to New York. The 2nd flight was really tight and there were practically no free seats left around. We ended up having seats in the middle and we sat somewhat like this:
Stranger | Andrew | Me | Stranger
Stranger | Mum | Dad | Stranger
Stranger | Mike | Liyen | Stranger
It was quite borthersome because none of us want to disturb our neighboring seats whenever we want to go to the bathroom (which in a 12 hour flight is very likely). Apparently, the person seated next to me slept for like 8 hours straight and I really needed to go to the toilet so badly. It was horrid. And I couldn't sleep much either.
Andrew was really nice though. He made sure I stayed hydrated and stuff because I skip meals and everything when I am on the plane so he just gets me water and milk and stuff like that. I gave up sleeping halfway through and ended up watching Ted, Captain American and Snowmen and the Huntsmen. Snowmen and the Huntsmen was so boring I zoned out most of the show (added with the fact that I was totally urgent to go to the bathroom). I couldn't even take my laptop out from my bag despite the lone flight because the seats were really tight together. I could hardly move. There was this really cute kid seated in front of me though, so somewhere in between I started making funny faces at him.
After the torturous flights, we finally arrived at New York! At first everything seemed... a little below expectations. It looks so normal and not like the bustling city we have all heard of. The customs were really slow despite having like 50 counters open, and by the time we got through customs, the luggage belt had stopped running. There wasn't any free wifi in the airport either, and phone sim cards were impossibly expensive there. There was no way for us to get in contact with anyone at all.
Speaking of which, my phone line has been suspended for the period where I am in USA. I can still receive whatsapps but not SMSes. Tiffany, Muzna and Sonia texted me well wishes before I left and I couldn't send back a reply because of that. I have no idea if anyone else texted me after that because I stopped getting my texts at about 1AM (my flight was at 5.50AM).
Anyway, we ordered a large van to send us to our booked apartment in Manhattan and even then, the service was really slow. We just sat there, talking for a long time before the vehicle came. The ride all the way down to the city took really long because of jams and stuff. Even then, we were still not all that impressed with what we saw. We even teasingly said that it looked like Taiwan, Thailand or Malaysia from afar. We referred to what seemed like the empire state building from where we were, as the Taipei 101 building. It was totally different, however, when we actually entered the Times Square area and drive down the roads there. Everything just seemed so happening. The lighting, the musicals, buskers, people in general, practically everything was an eye-opener.
We went ahead to dump our stuff down in the apartment before heading out to walk down to the Times Square. We were staying on the 53rd Street so we made our way down to 40+ Street. The streets were really interesting to us in a way that everything is in literal rows and columns and it is so easy to find your way because they are numbered with a street or an avenue.
It was just something that came as a surprise because I have honestly never seen a map looking like this before. It looks like an excel sheet!
Since one of New York's must-try food is Hotdogs, we decided to buy some even though we were on our way to dinner. We shared 2 among us but we highly believe we were scammed of our money. Mike paid USD$6 for each Hotdog.
We popped into Hershey's store and got free kisses (hershey ones of course xD) and saw these giant kisses and chocolate bars! The chocolate bars are 2.27 kg each if I remembered correctly.
Those giant chocolate syrup bottles, however, are fake. They are completely empty.
Is this the place where Spidermen was filmed (the part where he was fighting against that electro fanboy)?
We were discussing over why there was this seating area arranged in the middle of such a busy street and couldn't come to a conclusion on our own.
Finally, the empire state building. That was along 34th street. Andrew, Mike, Liyen and my Dad bought Ice-cream softies slightly before we arrived here, and they were USD$3 each but they were so milky and filling.
We finally arrived at our destination at the 32nd Street, the one full of Korean food and karaoke. It was quite a long walk down and everyone was exhausted from the long flight earlier and all that walking. We were almost falling asleep in the restaurant. I was totally stoning, that I know.
The meat has so much fats and oil, and I literally never said this before, but that looks so sinful.
We went to the Korean supermarket 2 doors away after dinner because we had to buy toilet rolls for the apartment and some drinks as well. Everyone was dead-tired though, so the shopping trip wasn't as long as it probably would have been otherwise. We ended up taking cabs back to the apartment (USD$11 and $15 since we had to take 2 cabs for all 6 of us). After a nice shower, I came here to upload all my pictures and day's explorations. We're going out early tomorrow so I probably should get to bed now. Good Nights, Tatas~
Labels: daily activities, Manhattan, mew, NY, Pictures, travel, USA
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