Monday, December 19, 2005
Travelogue from NY Part 1
15th Dec
Shutch's flight was delayed so I had to wait for 2 hours at JFK airport. So we finally boarded the subway; and Shutch's first subway ride saw her sitting next to a schizo guy who made funny hand signals and worst of all, got up periodically to scratch his groin (and his pants were apparently unzipped!!!! He was facing me so guess who was the one who noticed...). Yeah, he wore white underwear. Luckily not bright pink or something! Lucky he wasn't talking or harrassing Shutch, or else I'll whack him.
So we arrived at the 114th Street apartment which's really cosy. Most of all we have a very high queensize bed to ourselves!! First time in my life I see a bed so elevated; it makes me feel short each time I enter the room. Heh.
After lunch we headed for Times Square:
Note the cup noodles. It always intrigued me as to why there is cup noodles up there! Heh.
First store we went into was *drumroll* Toys 'R' us! We found a really cool geography toy - it's a globe which you can rotate (by manouvering a plane) to locate the place the toy wants you to! We were there playing with the thing for like 20 minutes. Heh. Oh then we noticed this moving toy bear in a pram but guess what? It's actually a baby wearing an animal bear cap which's so cute!! Anyways I then found another car she likes and started driving it around, only to find that it cannot make turns!! Here's us with my new-found car:
We walked down 42nd Street browsing the stores and ended up eventually at Hersheys! Yum Yum. No free samples were supposed to be given but we still managed to knick some to eat. Haha. Saw the world's largest Hersheys choc bar and loads of Hersheys merchandise. Resisted the temptation to buy any though. Instead we took photos with the bears...
And more photos with hats in GAP.
We were told we would never get lost in NYC but well we still did =P Happily we would hop on the subway without checking the direction it's heading, until a few stops down then I went 'Oops!' Yea so then we have to get off, head up again to the cold outside and cross the road to access the opposite platform (only to realise later that you can actually access the opposite platforms via underpasses...) But it's quite fun lah. Just chuang (3)...
We went to a Korean restaurant along Broadway. I must say I haven't really eaten authentic Korean food... But this was good! I had spicy tofu in a hot pot. It was yummy!!! Yum yum yum!!
16th Dec
Spent the entire morning making plans for our post-NYC leg. Checked out car rental, routes, etc. Found out that booking from NYC costs $100 more per day coz of the under-age surcharge, so thank God that I thought of booking from Boston instead.
Finally went out for lunch.. couldn't find anything nice till we walked 9 streets, and ended up at a Texas grill! Shutch had lunch next to a cow:
And in front of a duck:
We decided the weather was good enough (yar rite) to walk so we kept on trekking from 97th Street to 59th Street. Along the way we entered the lovely grocery stores to ogle at wholesome foods. And I was finally bound by a leash in a pet shop!!! (Yeah take a duck for a walk. It's the new "in" thing!) What friends I have ya... wanting to leash me up in order to prevent me from destructing stuff.
59th Street's in fact Columbus Square. There's a really nice posh shopping centre there, with rather interesting statues. (read: naked statues) Yea so well we walked into Borders wanting to get our road maps, yet we actually bummed into the friends we had dinner with the night before!! Apparently Singaporeans love to congregate at shopping centres and especially Borders! Even in a big city like NEw York!! We thought perhaps posh people don't pee so we weren't harbouring too much hopes of finding the restrooms. When we did, we were indeed disappointed at the spartan-ness of the restrooms compared to the rest of the mall... Ohoh the real highlight is the gourmet supermarket in the basement!!! Though we were running late for our next appointment we still went in and had a good tour of the mart which sells organic foods... from fruits and veges (see Daffy with the apples below in their assemble of colors!!) to hot food to yummy desserts to cereals to gourmet coffee to branded (Neal's yard) cheese, etc. etc... Everything's just so wholesome and yummy!!!!
We then packed ourselves onto the subway and experienced the sardine effect. Wanna know how the sardine in the sandwich feels? Come NYC and take the subway =) Our destination was Columbia Uni's bible study for asian/asian-american students. Apparently the chicken in our stomachs didn't run around as much as we did so they left us no space for dinner. When the talk started, I fell asleep (what's new?) so she could only remember the speaker talk about how wrestling makes the entire body ache (when the talk's about Jacob's wrestle with God).
Went for late night cheesecake (yum yum!!) before coming back... to a late night girly chat till 3 am before we had a pillow fight (with my inflatable pillow which I keept using to whack Shutch!!!) No prizes for guessing who got more hits! Hahaha!
17th Dec
This is another attempt to compete for the longest blog ever.
We headed down to Chinatown for lunch. Dim Sum! Yes. We wanted to experience what the other half of the company would be experiencing... so we ended up at this rather authentic cheena restaurant... the kind that traditional Chinese wedding banquets are held at. The most amazing thing to us was probably the long long long long escalator which took us up to the restaurant itself. The food was okay... we din order much... and Shutch finally knows what ee fu mian is! Well, Shutchie Hot Mama was feeling a little too hot, so we had to send her home to rest. So much for travelling all the way to Chinatown! hahah! Not that it realy matters lah... her health is more important.
So while she went upstairs to rest her unwell self, SX and myself went grocery shopping. He wanted to make porridge, and I decided a fruit salad would be good cos of all the vitamins and nutrients... and it helps perk one up. Fruit prices here are exorbitant! (Organic or not...) There was cantaloupe, grapes, oranges, apples, pears, kiwis and bananas (yes, nua nua ones, Pengy jiejie... cos they are organic and they SUCK! For once. Heh.) Had a fun time peeling and slicing them. Felt like I opened a fruit stall! Hee.
This is how the fruit salad turned out:
And this is the kitchen... cool huh? I think I want a nice nice kitchen in future... to carry out all my big ideas!
In the process of preparing dinner, Shutchie started making reservations for hotels on the computer and I think we were too blatant about it, especially since she had yet to have "the talk" with SX. And I could imagine how he was feeling. I felt so guilty. But luckily there were unrelated topics to talk about during dinner, like organic foods and agriculture. (I learnt quite a bit though. Hee.)
Anyway, the wonderful thing is that God answered our prayers! He made Shutch well again!! =) Woohoo!! Praise God! She was so well that she entered her obnoxious mode. Wah buay tahan!! For instance, I invented this game to balance on this big yoga ball without your hands or legs touching the ground and she would go "I can definitely do better than you." (but she would suck. Hahahah! Ooops.) Heh. We have videos on that. They are hilarious!
And I noticed that her PINK (ew!) jumper was on the sofa beside green pillows. And the first thought that entered my mind was "So Neh (Ah-bu-neh)" and then I started pretending that the jumper was a person hugging the pillow. Later we improved and dressed up Mr Platypus. We thought it super amusing and hence entertained ourselves for almost half hour! Achery he looks quite scary hor?
Then I went to shower. I vaguely heard SJ and SX engage in "the talk"... so I had another shower. And tried to do all things possible so that I could lengthen the time in the bathroom. But soon I got bored, so I emerged and darted into the room and plugged on my ipod. After "the talk", we had another late nite chat. "I'm lovin' it!"
18th Dec
Wow this blog is sooo loooonngggg that it's as tiring for us to write as it is for you all to read! But treasure it lah... we won't have constant internet access very soon.
I woke up and presented Shutch the birthday video! The one which Pengy and myself painstakingly produced. the one with Pengy's voice over "Call me Shutchie Hot Mama! Now!" (It was disgustingly funny! Hahaha!) It's both heartwarming and hilarious at the same time. Corporate video? Haha. Oh yes Shutch gave me a big long hug. =) I like hugs. Heh. It was all worth it... just to see her laugh and cry at the same time!
Headed out wanting to see Brooklyn Bridge first but ended up at South Ferry Terminal instead. (That's cos some smart person mistook the red line for the green line! Talk about imparting some smart genes to the streetsmart one... haii... and to think I trusted her! -daffy) For lunch we had our first NYC hotdogs and pretzel (which's so huge it looks like a handbag!) Hopped on the ferry to Staten Island to take photos of the city along the way.
Hotdogs!
Handbag!
Statue of Liberty...
When we came back to Battery Park, we stopped to chase a big bird, many small birds (seagulls) and watch some baskers perform dance moves.
After that we began our long and arduous (oops I mean adventurous) journey to Brooklyn Bridge! Stopped by Southside Pier which looks like a ski resort!! I bought Shutch Haagen Daaz Bailey's shake which was yum =) but ex. heh.
Shutch had remarked earlier that the bridge was 'so near ah??' By now she had begun to swallow my words. We ended up having to climb over roadside barriers, only to end up on the wrong side of the bridge so cannot get onto dear ol' Brooklyn!! We became major jaywalkers, walking in the middle of the roads, crossing here and there to finally get to the right side!! I guess it was all in His perfect timing though, for as we walked on the bridge the sun was slowly setting, gradually changing. It was really beautiful.. the sky, the sun, the stars (and plane), the bridge, Manhattan and its city lights, cars zooming past beneath our feet, seagulls flying above our heads.. (It was my favourite memory of NYC, and to be able to relive it again with Shutch was awesome. Aww... did I really mean that??!!) So romantic. Haha. So we took some romantic photos:
By now we are both experts at taking the subway *green grin*. But in a way we're both getting a little saturated with NYC... the people (many of whom seem very angsty), the pollution (esp the noisy trains!!!), the skyscrapers and lack of nature... Geography of fear? Romanticism of the 'natural' landscape? Hmm.
Went to Redeemer Presbyterian Church's christmas service which had really good songs (performed by really good singers!) and a really good sermon (by a really good pastor!!!) But somehow I couldn't get into the mood? Mebbe cos I felt like I was watching a concert more than I was at a service?
Ended the evening with Chinese dinner which wasn't terribly exciting although the portions still never fail to amaze us!!!
Shutch's flight was delayed so I had to wait for 2 hours at JFK airport. So we finally boarded the subway; and Shutch's first subway ride saw her sitting next to a schizo guy who made funny hand signals and worst of all, got up periodically to scratch his groin (and his pants were apparently unzipped!!!! He was facing me so guess who was the one who noticed...). Yeah, he wore white underwear. Luckily not bright pink or something! Lucky he wasn't talking or harrassing Shutch, or else I'll whack him.
So we arrived at the 114th Street apartment which's really cosy. Most of all we have a very high queensize bed to ourselves!! First time in my life I see a bed so elevated; it makes me feel short each time I enter the room. Heh.
After lunch we headed for Times Square:
Note the cup noodles. It always intrigued me as to why there is cup noodles up there! Heh.
First store we went into was *drumroll* Toys 'R' us! We found a really cool geography toy - it's a globe which you can rotate (by manouvering a plane) to locate the place the toy wants you to! We were there playing with the thing for like 20 minutes. Heh. Oh then we noticed this moving toy bear in a pram but guess what? It's actually a baby wearing an animal bear cap which's so cute!! Anyways I then found another car she likes and started driving it around, only to find that it cannot make turns!! Here's us with my new-found car:
We walked down 42nd Street browsing the stores and ended up eventually at Hersheys! Yum Yum. No free samples were supposed to be given but we still managed to knick some to eat. Haha. Saw the world's largest Hersheys choc bar and loads of Hersheys merchandise. Resisted the temptation to buy any though. Instead we took photos with the bears...
And more photos with hats in GAP.
We were told we would never get lost in NYC but well we still did =P Happily we would hop on the subway without checking the direction it's heading, until a few stops down then I went 'Oops!' Yea so then we have to get off, head up again to the cold outside and cross the road to access the opposite platform (only to realise later that you can actually access the opposite platforms via underpasses...) But it's quite fun lah. Just chuang (3)...
We went to a Korean restaurant along Broadway. I must say I haven't really eaten authentic Korean food... But this was good! I had spicy tofu in a hot pot. It was yummy!!! Yum yum yum!!
16th Dec
Spent the entire morning making plans for our post-NYC leg. Checked out car rental, routes, etc. Found out that booking from NYC costs $100 more per day coz of the under-age surcharge, so thank God that I thought of booking from Boston instead.
Finally went out for lunch.. couldn't find anything nice till we walked 9 streets, and ended up at a Texas grill! Shutch had lunch next to a cow:
And in front of a duck:
We decided the weather was good enough (yar rite) to walk so we kept on trekking from 97th Street to 59th Street. Along the way we entered the lovely grocery stores to ogle at wholesome foods. And I was finally bound by a leash in a pet shop!!! (Yeah take a duck for a walk. It's the new "in" thing!) What friends I have ya... wanting to leash me up in order to prevent me from destructing stuff.
59th Street's in fact Columbus Square. There's a really nice posh shopping centre there, with rather interesting statues. (read: naked statues) Yea so well we walked into Borders wanting to get our road maps, yet we actually bummed into the friends we had dinner with the night before!! Apparently Singaporeans love to congregate at shopping centres and especially Borders! Even in a big city like NEw York!! We thought perhaps posh people don't pee so we weren't harbouring too much hopes of finding the restrooms. When we did, we were indeed disappointed at the spartan-ness of the restrooms compared to the rest of the mall... Ohoh the real highlight is the gourmet supermarket in the basement!!! Though we were running late for our next appointment we still went in and had a good tour of the mart which sells organic foods... from fruits and veges (see Daffy with the apples below in their assemble of colors!!) to hot food to yummy desserts to cereals to gourmet coffee to branded (Neal's yard) cheese, etc. etc... Everything's just so wholesome and yummy!!!!
We then packed ourselves onto the subway and experienced the sardine effect. Wanna know how the sardine in the sandwich feels? Come NYC and take the subway =) Our destination was Columbia Uni's bible study for asian/asian-american students. Apparently the chicken in our stomachs didn't run around as much as we did so they left us no space for dinner. When the talk started, I fell asleep (what's new?) so she could only remember the speaker talk about how wrestling makes the entire body ache (when the talk's about Jacob's wrestle with God).
Went for late night cheesecake (yum yum!!) before coming back... to a late night girly chat till 3 am before we had a pillow fight (with my inflatable pillow which I keept using to whack Shutch!!!) No prizes for guessing who got more hits! Hahaha!
17th Dec
This is another attempt to compete for the longest blog ever.
We headed down to Chinatown for lunch. Dim Sum! Yes. We wanted to experience what the other half of the company would be experiencing... so we ended up at this rather authentic cheena restaurant... the kind that traditional Chinese wedding banquets are held at. The most amazing thing to us was probably the long long long long escalator which took us up to the restaurant itself. The food was okay... we din order much... and Shutch finally knows what ee fu mian is! Well, Shutchie Hot Mama was feeling a little too hot, so we had to send her home to rest. So much for travelling all the way to Chinatown! hahah! Not that it realy matters lah... her health is more important.
So while she went upstairs to rest her unwell self, SX and myself went grocery shopping. He wanted to make porridge, and I decided a fruit salad would be good cos of all the vitamins and nutrients... and it helps perk one up. Fruit prices here are exorbitant! (Organic or not...) There was cantaloupe, grapes, oranges, apples, pears, kiwis and bananas (yes, nua nua ones, Pengy jiejie... cos they are organic and they SUCK! For once. Heh.) Had a fun time peeling and slicing them. Felt like I opened a fruit stall! Hee.
This is how the fruit salad turned out:
And this is the kitchen... cool huh? I think I want a nice nice kitchen in future... to carry out all my big ideas!
In the process of preparing dinner, Shutchie started making reservations for hotels on the computer and I think we were too blatant about it, especially since she had yet to have "the talk" with SX. And I could imagine how he was feeling. I felt so guilty. But luckily there were unrelated topics to talk about during dinner, like organic foods and agriculture. (I learnt quite a bit though. Hee.)
Anyway, the wonderful thing is that God answered our prayers! He made Shutch well again!! =) Woohoo!! Praise God! She was so well that she entered her obnoxious mode. Wah buay tahan!! For instance, I invented this game to balance on this big yoga ball without your hands or legs touching the ground and she would go "I can definitely do better than you." (but she would suck. Hahahah! Ooops.) Heh. We have videos on that. They are hilarious!
And I noticed that her PINK (ew!) jumper was on the sofa beside green pillows. And the first thought that entered my mind was "So Neh (Ah-bu-neh)" and then I started pretending that the jumper was a person hugging the pillow. Later we improved and dressed up Mr Platypus. We thought it super amusing and hence entertained ourselves for almost half hour! Achery he looks quite scary hor?
Then I went to shower. I vaguely heard SJ and SX engage in "the talk"... so I had another shower. And tried to do all things possible so that I could lengthen the time in the bathroom. But soon I got bored, so I emerged and darted into the room and plugged on my ipod. After "the talk", we had another late nite chat. "I'm lovin' it!"
18th Dec
Wow this blog is sooo loooonngggg that it's as tiring for us to write as it is for you all to read! But treasure it lah... we won't have constant internet access very soon.
I woke up and presented Shutch the birthday video! The one which Pengy and myself painstakingly produced. the one with Pengy's voice over "Call me Shutchie Hot Mama! Now!" (It was disgustingly funny! Hahaha!) It's both heartwarming and hilarious at the same time. Corporate video? Haha. Oh yes Shutch gave me a big long hug. =) I like hugs. Heh. It was all worth it... just to see her laugh and cry at the same time!
Headed out wanting to see Brooklyn Bridge first but ended up at South Ferry Terminal instead. (That's cos some smart person mistook the red line for the green line! Talk about imparting some smart genes to the streetsmart one... haii... and to think I trusted her! -daffy) For lunch we had our first NYC hotdogs and pretzel (which's so huge it looks like a handbag!) Hopped on the ferry to Staten Island to take photos of the city along the way.
Hotdogs!
Handbag!
Statue of Liberty...
When we came back to Battery Park, we stopped to chase a big bird, many small birds (seagulls) and watch some baskers perform dance moves.
After that we began our long and arduous (oops I mean adventurous) journey to Brooklyn Bridge! Stopped by Southside Pier which looks like a ski resort!! I bought Shutch Haagen Daaz Bailey's shake which was yum =) but ex. heh.
Shutch had remarked earlier that the bridge was 'so near ah??' By now she had begun to swallow my words. We ended up having to climb over roadside barriers, only to end up on the wrong side of the bridge so cannot get onto dear ol' Brooklyn!! We became major jaywalkers, walking in the middle of the roads, crossing here and there to finally get to the right side!! I guess it was all in His perfect timing though, for as we walked on the bridge the sun was slowly setting, gradually changing. It was really beautiful.. the sky, the sun, the stars (and plane), the bridge, Manhattan and its city lights, cars zooming past beneath our feet, seagulls flying above our heads.. (It was my favourite memory of NYC, and to be able to relive it again with Shutch was awesome. Aww... did I really mean that??!!) So romantic. Haha. So we took some romantic photos:
By now we are both experts at taking the subway *green grin*. But in a way we're both getting a little saturated with NYC... the people (many of whom seem very angsty), the pollution (esp the noisy trains!!!), the skyscrapers and lack of nature... Geography of fear? Romanticism of the 'natural' landscape? Hmm.
Went to Redeemer Presbyterian Church's christmas service which had really good songs (performed by really good singers!) and a really good sermon (by a really good pastor!!!) But somehow I couldn't get into the mood? Mebbe cos I felt like I was watching a concert more than I was at a service?
Ended the evening with Chinese dinner which wasn't terribly exciting although the portions still never fail to amaze us!!!
# posted by Banana Saviour @ 11:26 AM 
