New York, New York

I visited New York City a few weeks ago during one of the long weekends here. It took 2 flights to get there, around 5 hours of time from where I stayed in Arizona. And it's so different from the small little town where I live in. I already have the full album up on Facebook, so do check out the photos there. For this blogpost, I'll just briefly sum up where I visited during the weekend in NYC.

On the first night after touch down I visited Time Square, and then the top of the Empire State Building. Both were magnificent. I was speechless and both locations, and was in awe of the sheer spectacle presented to me. The bright lights as well as the crowds of people were a sight in itself. I was totally immersed in the environment and it slowly struck me that I was in the heart of NYC itself. On the top of the ESB, the view was equally mesmerising, if not more.

Next day I met up with my twitter friend Christine, who was so kind enough to give me a tour around the Manhattan and Brooklyn area. We took the subway and walked across the Brooklyn bridge, which was really awesome. I took a panoramic photo too, and more photos can be found in the album on FB. 

We also went to Toys R Us at the Time Square area, which was great. There were so many display items and sets there, including a fully operational ferris wheel inside. I was particularly impressed that they showed off actual Amazing Spider-man props, including Peter's mask, bag, and skateboard. They had a lot of other life sized displays too, not to mention a T-Rex from Jurassic Park.

We made our way to Wall Street too, where I got to take photos with the bull, iconic statues, and also a NYPD police officer and her police car.

Another important location we covered on that day was Central Park. Though, I didn't really had enough time to walk through it (it was huge). But it looked beautiful and if only I could have woke up earlier for a run inside it would have been a great experience.

The next day was spent in Chinatown, where I had my first good dim sum in quite a while. Next on the itinerary was The Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The queue took over 90 minutes, due to the crowd congestion and also the security checks. But it was worth it. Although there's nothing much to see on Liberty island except for Miss Liberty herself, I spent quite a bit on the souvenir shop there :p

The last day was spent in Chinatown and Little Italy, buying souvenirs and having some good Chinese food before heading back home. There's just too many things to see, and there wasn't enough time to do the attractions justice. At least I've covered the important spots and got a feel of how life in the Big Apple feels like.

This is probably my only visit to NYC in the next couple of years, since it's so expensive to visit and it's too far away from home. I wish I could have brought my family along though. But I'm thankful that my work allows me to visit places which I would normally not have the chance to. I'll be updating the next few entries on my other trips around the US, but please don't have the impression that I'm not doing any work here. The weekdays aren't that much fun, I assure you :)