New York Here It Goes

Wow, I didn't expect myself to be up rather early today. By the way, it is frosting outside, which sort of lifts my mood. It would be heck a lot better if it snowed -dream on, Mate! The reason why I start blogging rather early today is because I feel the need of finishing a little this and that about some (if not all) of my past trips -trips I want to write up in entries anyway- before this Friday. We're leaving for Las Vegas this Friday, wooooot hoooooooot!!

But before I get to a point of writing up the Vegas trip some time next week, by God willing, I shall not forget the Big Apple. To be quite frank, I did not plan much for this trip, or I'd say, not much as I wanted to. It came rather fast because before that Summer break this year I was still battling with the hardest subject in the history of nursing prerequisites. Actually, all kids going to professional schools in the medical field pretty much have to take the anatomy course, but let's just pretend it's a nursing thing to make it sound more personal and exclusive for me lol.

It was Summer this year, not a sizzling-hot Summer unfortunately *sarcasm intended*, and I hopped on the plane by myself to step my foot for the first time in New York City. I knew I was gonna get lost. But that's part of the deal, eh? Of course I didn't know the exact twists and turns on getting to the hostel that first day. A lovely lady I met at the airport was apparently kind enough to let me know which metro station I needed to get off at. She's Asian, by the way, not older than 30 years old. And cool thing was that she just got off the plane (like me) after spending the weekend visiting her boyfriend in Toronto, which is adjacent to NY (the only difference was I got off a plane from Dallas, the American Airlines hub I had to get through from Portland). So I told her my in laws lived in Toronto and all that, and there it goes.. I think that's how we sort of clicked.

The hostel was neat, Mate!! I stayed for a total of six nights (06/19-06/25). The building's pretty huge, I think it has four -if not five- floors. The name of the hostel is HI, standing for Hostelling International. Seattle has one too, I stayed there back in Summer 2010 with the exchange student who then lived with us. Oh, anyway.. 8 PM in NY and it was still bright outside around that hour, so I stopped by McDonalds to get some chicken nuggets and fries on my way to the hostel. That must have been my most unsophisticated decision!! I regretted what I ate as I walked closer to the hostel. Dang, lots of good options on my right and left, which I shouldn't have missed: Malaysian, pizza, Chinese, to name a few. Arghhh!! But stupid stomach was full already and I could not reverse what had happened.

Hosteling International on 891 Amsterdam Ave

Hostel was super cool. I mean, for a $55/night kind of place (that is pretty cheap for NYC), I got to have quite a few of entertainments. Not that I actually used any of them. I didn't play pool (hey, I can't even play pool!), nor did I sit in the common area drinking beer in a can like many others did. But it was cool really. I enjoyed sitting on one of the couches at the lobby just to use the free wifi after a long tiring day. You're right, Mate, I didn't hang around do nothing like I did in that Puerto Plata trip, I actually got to walk and sight see a lot of things and places. It's New York City, an overwhelming city with a ton of stuff to do!

From Top of The Rock, overlooking NYC

It was actually Glen's plan; he's the one who insisted that I should have bought a three-day pass so I could visit as many attractions as I wanted in a three-day time frame. He bought the thing online, and I had to pick it up at the Planet Hollywood (somewhere downtown New York, too lazy to google the exact location). I gotta admit, it's a very cool pass. On the other hand, being the type who likes to make things worth, I was exhausted getting as many places possible done. I think in the end, I ended up with a good number of places. If I had to play favorites, mine would be Madame Tussaud Wax Museum, Ellis Island, and Top of The Rock, respectively. I had fun taking pics with celebrities at the Wax Museum. On top of that, I got a great partner I met up there. She's Polish, and she's cool with our taking-turns, as far as photography concern.

Guess where I ended up going everyday while in NY? China Town! You bet! Good call! I was a big fan of their bubble tea stores. I thought to myself "I gotta try as many as I can". I wound up going to four different stores, and was determined to stick with 'Quickly' in the end. That damn thing is a franchise, isn't it? I know you can find the outlets at malls in Jakarta and Surabaya. Not a problem, I still enjoyed my Quickly bubble tea! It was overwhelming, I'm telling ya. I drank the average of two cups of bubble tea like EVERY SINGLE DAY. I scored!!

If there's anything I regret about the trip, I'd say it would be when I lost the self-sketch of me on the EWR airport light rail. I got it done at a park upon getting off the boat from the Ellis Island. Dude, the Chinese guy who put me on a sketch is soooo talented! How stupid can you get kind of question kept popping up in my head, and it still actually does.

My mate that afternoon at Central Park

Man, I am now reminiscing the time when I got to spend an afternoon just chilling at Central Park. It was the day after I was done checking out The Guggenheim Museum. The museum was partly renovated at the time so there was not much to see. I remember I was a bit hungry, and saw this halal Indian-Mediterranean food cart right outside Central Park. So I just sat there and ate, and brought the chicken biryani leftover stroll around the Central Park with me.

Later that night I found myself at a Vietnamese restaurant called 'Tu Do', eating a hot bowl of bo kho (some beef soup) and sipping my taro bubble tea. Don't tell me you have read the entire entry if you don't know where I was.

Solo travel was fun!