it was a boring lecture of 'Behavioral Neuroscience' (as usual) when my mind drifted off to making travelling plans... (whats new?!) thats when i decided to make a trip down to ny to find dionne! HAHa.. well, the shopping part in ny kinda motivated me as well...
Day 1: Took the GREYHOUND bus to ny... it was disastrous to start with! I was supposed to reach ny at 0715 21/9/2007. Lo & Behold, there was a bomb threat! no... you didn read wrongly, a BOMB threat. WEll, we were at the US border and the police came and literally took us hostages for full 5 hours... i ended up reaching ny at 1+pm... and missed my trip to WOODBURY:( ooops...
Well, i shld be glad that the BOMB threat was a false alarm and reach ny safe & sound:D thank god! Arrived at dionne's hostel and we went for dinner with her frens to celebrate her b'day! good korean food:D well, i'm sure better than that in montreal....
really authentically furnished korean restaurant...
Making my bed for the next 4 nites! All thanks to Dionne's fren who loaned me the air bed! Its kinda like the one i slept @ Tika & cindy's place! HAHa.. i'm soo amazed at the airbag! its so sophisticated! And guess what, its 10 bucks from target!
day 2: Jersey Gardens! Resourceful dionne found a way for us to take the NJ transit to New Jersey for FREE! HAHa... apparently NJ transit was having some free tix for tertiary students. The coupon didn really state tertiary students in New york so whatever... as long as i get a free bus ride;) I literally went crazy... HAHAH.. we kinda only had 4 hours to cover the whole mall and i had to chop chop.. seriously. HAHa.. the 4 hours werent even enuf... oh... and we had REALLY great burgers.. again, i doubt montreal will have such good ones... thumbs up for JOHNNY ROCKETS!
My burger and i!
My ORIGINAL burger....
Dionne insisted on taking this UNGLAM pic of me...
My shopping and i....
Lasagne dinner! at a REALLY authentic italian resto where we couldn even understand the menu... which shows how authentic they are! HAha...
Day 3: As usual, we woke up late..... i think... haha.... Dionne brought me to check out Times Square. Seriously, it was really a land of billboards... +neon lights at nite! HAhaa.. there were billboards of every single thing you could think of... cars, broadway musicals (how can we forget that!), phone companies.. etc. We checked out some shops like M&Ms, Hersheys, Hello Kitty shop. Lunch was at the makeshift stalls along the Flea market (i think its the Hell's Kitchen Annex) which is only open on the weekends. Well, its kinda like singapore's pasar malam... hehhe... but FAR bigger...
Billboards!
More signboards....
Lunch... from flea market.
Annex's flea market!
Dionne suggested to check out a church: Times Square Church. I was kinda looking forward to it since i haven attended a service for a month! ooops... due to unforseen circumstances rather than my own will though. Well, it was very Sister ACt church, which wasnt really to my taste. Didn really feel comfortable there and i could only think of 'how nice it would be if this was hillsong church'..... interseting vocals and band though!
Of course, we had to catch a broadway musical. my FIRST broadway musical: RENT! Dionne and i went for the 20 bucks rush tix and dionne's plaque card was the first to be called out (34 FRONT ROW tix are allocated according to lottery style). HAHAH... you shld see teh smile on her face when she went up to collect her plaque card. She looked like she had won a million dollars! hahaha.. Well, we got the FRONT row! how cool is that... and we could TOTALLY see every single cast's expressions, fine facial hairs (lighting) and even the occasional saliva spurting when singing... hhahaa.. well, they are humans too. It was REALLY awesome! I even bought the mug as a souvernir, or rather to brag that i've watched a broadway musical in NY! HAhhaa..
One of the many WEIRD buskers in NY....
Dionner & her beloved Mr Reese!
Speedy lunch at a 'Kenny Rogers look a like but FAR better' BBQ resto. 
Church service...
Day 3: Dionne has school... ooops.. i felt guilty bugging her over the weekend and she couldn do her readings and studying. Hope she's finally caught up with her work! well, i had to entertain myself then. HAHAH.. i spent a full hour the nite be4 poring LONELY PLANET:USA and GOOGLE search machine to check out places to see... I ended up with this itinery: Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Century 21 shopping mall, Chinatown, SOHO. HAHa.. not bad huh?! for a day...
Took the metro to WHitehall station to catch the FREE ferry to Staten island. Well, the statue isnt at staten island but its cool cos the ferry PASSES by the statue! HAHA.. well, its free. cant expect much yeah?! IT was good enuf for me... cos you'd realize that teh statue of liberty is after all... a statue! which doesn move.. nor animate on its own. The zoom function in my camera will do the trick;) hehe.. There was an half hour interval in between the ferr ride from staten island back to manhattan. So i toured a little of Staten island. Seriously, the place kinda freaked me out... oops... weird pple... and weird shops! hope no staten island peeps reads this. I highly doubt so... hehe..
Upon returning to manhatten, i walked all the way up to Ground Zero, the previous World Trade Centre. It's kinda ironic to finally see the place, which i only had a glimpse of it through the black box. Ironic in the sense that its a momentous place significant of USA's current war on terrorism. Yet, it lies in the realm of normalcy with TALL skyscrapers surrounding it, cars passing by, passengers walking past. As if nothing happened and the empty land was merely one of the many ongoing construction projects. Well, a busker playing the song 'Amazing Grace' with his flute was kinda the only one giving meaning to Ground Zero....
Century 21 shopping mall! HAha... a mall where everything branded is going cheap cheap... DKNY, Nine West, Le Sport Sac, Michael Kors.... Americans are such suckers for cheap branded stuff. well, who isnt! HAHa..
Walked all the way up to Chinatown which was totally boring... yawnz... i expected to find some GOOD chinese food there. Apparently, it was merely a mess of makeshift stalls with asian proprietors selling 'I HEART NY' shirts, fake perfumes, fake watches, fake caps... blah blah...
Again, walked all the way up to SOHO! HAHa.. land of shopping... Saw AX (bought a couple of shirts for aud & I. Cheap! 25USD per shirt), H&M (ugly mass produced china made stuff), ZARA (EX!), BAnana Republic ( i love this shop now!).... Found some junk food t-shirts going for 20USD. wanted to buy this shirt that says 'I love my ChEVY truck' for aud.. but no sizes.. oops..
By the end of all these, i was carrying so much stuff! i didn have the energy to go further.. back to home it was! What can i say, it was a REALY productive day... HAha.a.
The 'ball' significant of 911 at Battery Park...
Statue of liberty...
No idea what that bridge is.... looks nice anyway...
Ground zero in the midst of 'giants'...
They kinda barriered ground zero with fences. BUt i managed to peek my lens through the fence.... this is what ground zero actually looks like. Kinda disappointing... expecting to see debris and all! HAhaa... ooops...
Not so nice china town....
Day 4: Well-equipped my body's energy level with a hearty breakfast at TOM's RESTAURANT. Its in the vincinity of dionne's hostel. In case you're wondering what restaurant that is, its the place where they film the exterior shots shown in SEINFELD! Thats what dionne told me. only started watching seinfeld in montreal. I had the breakfast special: pancakes with sausages! now, thats what i call DECENT pancakes and not the wet pancakes from EGGSPECTATIONS, montreal or crepe-look-a-like-pathetic pancakes from CHEZ CORA, montreal. HAHHA.. after certifying that its worth eating, bought a similar set for dionne:D i felt like her food taster;0 HAa.. Walked down all the way from 116th street (dionne's hostel) to 30+ street... explored CENTRAL PARK and a little more of times Square along the way. It's funny how manhattan can be separated from all the madness and hype by merely ONE street. That equals up to approximately 50 steps by foot. Central park was TOTALLY cool! Well, thats kinda cos they actually have tennis courts in the middle of the park! HAHa.. i was sooo excited to see it! i ended up sitting at one of the benches and juz enjoying the weather and the gameplay in front of me... well, i ended up watching how an african american coach THRASHED his students at a doubles games.. HAha.. well, probably cos the students (total blonde bimbos! seriously....) were beginners. You shld hear what they say when they miss the ball.... HAHA.. i almost burst out laughing... i miss playing tennis... :(
I realized that i could possible walk along the paths in central park cos i would end up taking 2 hours to cover the trails in it! so i decided to walk along the road beside the park.. and popped back in once or twice... HAHa...
AT times square, checked out VIRGIN store (this MEGA media store) for cindy... it has 3 levels of music CDs, DVDs and even TV merchandise (i.e. 24, Grey's ANatomy). I think cindy would juz go crazy at the DVD section... Popped by at Toys R Us where there were 2 care bears! not really care bears but you knwo what i mean yeah... all the kids were so attracted to care bear.. and the poor giraffe (remember the mascot of Toys R Us) was standing there.. so lonely... HAHAA... ooops...
Had enuf of walking around and went back early to pack up for my bus back. Bought an apple pie from KITCHENETTE (apparently its ZAGAT rated)... well, never trust ZAGAT then. wasted my 5usd!
MOST arduous part of the trip, lugging my 10KG luggage all the way to the bus terminal! i literally had stairs to overcome at every point! Thank god! he brought kinda pple to help me carry it down the stairs... i looked so flustered... hahaa.. seriously, there was someone to help me juz when i am looking at the flight of stairs helplessly!
I've kinda decided to boycott greyhound cos i had a bad experience.. again on my way back. They were supposed to make only 1 stop at albany on way back to montreal. APparently, the bus that nite made 3 stops! It wasnt exactly pleasant getting waken up every other time when the bus makes a stop... i was soo tired by the time i got back to to montreal.. i juz slept the whole afternoon! well, i was glad to be back in montreal... things start to look bakc to normal only in montreal... when the pace isnt so crazy and buildings arent too high.... and of course, the food aint too good as well! Hhaa..
Breakfast special: Pancakes & sausages! with orange juice and lemon tea and LOADS of maple syrup. HAHAH...
Tom's restaurant. Those who actually watch SEINFELD would know what i mean...
Central PArk!
Tennis courts in the midst of greens..... awww.... fav pic of the day!
Metropolitan Museum opposite Central Park...
Lake in central park.
Horse riding in central park.. they even have traffic lights and cars... this shows how BIG central park is!
Care Bear in the house! arent they cute and cuddly?!
'Dinosaur' in Toys R Us... 
My 'ZAGAT-rated apple pie...P.S. Special and BIG thanks to dionne for alowing me to disturb her peace for 4 nites! hope you got something nice from VICTORIA SECRET;)
P.S. I took 2 days to complete this post! it feels like a school project now... HAHA... enjoy:D
