I have been so busy with work, finally having some time this Thanksgiving Weekend to fill in my blog. That’s something to be thankful for.
Subway selfie.
Not going to talk about the nail biting things that I do for a living, but more of my usual travel adventures, a recent trip to NYC… partly as a favor to a friend and neighbor, also that I had been wanting to go visit but nobody around me is interested in that trip. Friends and family back home will never understand if I work in NY state and never visited the Big Apple. I just needed to say been there done that and move on to things that interest me more.
Stepping out of the subway, into the 911 Memorial
Ok, so visiting NYC was never big on my mind, but I don’t mind going if the opportunity presents itself. Chai needs help driving a rental minivan to deliver her soon to be abandoned furniture to her siblings who are in NYC. So, I being the person who can drive anything, not many of my types among her circle 🙂 , was roped in for this job. My reward will be a 2 night stay in Queens and guided tour NYC. I like that deal.
I am trying to understand the architect…. no luck tho.
1st, get the van from Alamo at Albany airport. Chai drove me there and we returned in separate vehicles. She then begins the loading while I am stuck in 2 meetings. Good thing meetings don’t have to be in the office… so its just so convenient for me to pop out run a errand, back to join in a meeting call, then out to help Chai, then back to pack my bags.
We hit the roads 1645hrs on a Friday afternoon, hoping we wont have too much traffic going into the city at about 2100hrs. Driving this sluggish 2017 Dodge minivan is ….. boring. The fuel economy is surprisingly good, maybe that’s why the pick up is terribly slow. Interestingly, the sun was beating down on the windscreen and it was not hot. The glass felt cool to touch, and even the black lined fabric ceiling in a black van was cool to touch. Quite amazed at the insulation and technology… Impressive. I like the very black interior afterall.
My picture with Liberty says it all
2000hrs, we made it to the outskirts of the City and traffic is a little bad. 2100hrs we are parked at a H-mart close to her sis’s place and waited to meet her bro. Had dinner in Flushing. A Chinese foodcourt, almost like Singapore…. Not quite the same food, but close enough. Then we drove the van and parked at her bro’s and left it to him to unload the next day. He drove us back to the sis’s place. Sis is on vacation so it was just us. Watched a lot of TV before hitting the sack.
Food discovered.
0800hrs, we walked 15 mins or so to the town of Flushing. A Malaysian coffeeshop breakfast, Nasi Lemak is served here. Pretty good, but I am spoilt by the luxury flavored Singapore style of Nasi Lemak …. :p .. Next, a subway ride to 911 Memorial.
This is not a attraction for me … but I don’t mind being there.
Street food served…. not in a cheapie container. Impressed.
I like the remainder of the day very much tho. We walked from the Memorial in the direction of the water. Found my bearings once I see water. I guess that’s a sign that I need to be close to the water… probably conned Chai into a very long walk that she wasn’t prepared for, on a rather windy chilly day.
The greatest library I have been to.
I got my picture with the Lady out on the rocks… then we walked a mile on the waterfront broadwalk, heading north where I hope to eat lunch at Iron Chef Morimoto’s restaurant… but nope we couldn’t walk 5 miles on this day. After 2 miles, we cut inwards looking for a subway entrance and then food in midtown…. but I spotted activity in a fenced off area with blue tents and found food before we found the subway 🙂
My lunch was great! Yakisoba and grilled squid for $15! Cooked by real Japanese and taste real authentic. Perhaps its was a much better deal than $50 at Morimoto’s… I love the outdoor ambience too.
Guess where I am.
We made it to 5th Avenue by about 3pm, and I got to cross another item off my “if I made it to NYC” list… eating a NY cheesecake and drinking coffee. We found Junior’s famous NY cheesecake by Yelping and I ate a slice all by myself. Yummy… it was rich and very heavy, way I like it… but no, not another 1 for a while. It will take a month to digest it thru my system before I crave it again…
Next on the list, Times Sq and 5th Ave. Ok, did that. And we were attracted to visit the grand NY library. I enjoyed that history and display very much. Its so fascinating to me that librarians are not just the people you see working in the library. There are those in the back working with records and filing away information for future generations. I never thought of it that way before. And at this library, I get to feel the work of generations of librarians, generosity of people who gave to education and the preservation of information, the history of it all.
Not really into tall great buildings, but this is a statement of where I have been.
By now, we’ve walked too many miles. More than 30,000 steps according to Chai. And I have my picture with the Empire State building, so I made my point, been there done that. Time to head back. Got a dinner at another Flushing foodcourt. Another foodcourt meal that I did not finish. Not my kind of taste….
Was past 9pm by the time we got back to her sis place. Another movie marathon and then conked.
9am Sunday morning breakfast with Bro and family at Tim Sum place. Classy restaurant. Much better food 🙂 11am got the van and drove out to unload remaining stuff at sister’s place. Follow by shopping at H-mart where I got $80 worth of frozen seafood. Brought my ice box just for that 🙂 . They have all the exotic seafood just like they have it in their Seattle stores.
Me and the Chirashi in Mitsuwa supermarket in New Jersey.
2pm, we made it to Mitsuwa on the NJ side of Hudson. Its a Japanese supermarket and food court that Norithito told me about. Chai doesn’t enjoy the Japanese culture as much as I do … so this one is all me 🙂 . My best Chirashi since Narita! But otherwise, they are not as well stocked in exotic frozen seafood as the H-mart.
Another 3 hrs of driving North on I87 and we got home before 7pm. Very pooped, as I did all that driving. It was intense in the city and just long on the highway in this sluggish van. But I got what I wanted. Was a fair trade…. I feel like I came out tops 🙂
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