Day 32-34 - NYC - 1st-3rd Jan 2008

I'm running around 15 days behind right now. And my memory isn't to be relied upon at the moment so I'll give my best shot with the rest of NYC with the notes I currently have, which are running about 50 words a day. So depending on how much my photos tell me, these entries might be a bit short.

Here we go.

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Day 32 - 1st Jan '08

Ahoy we're finally into the new year and we started off by getting kicked out of our rooms and moving into new ones. Our new rooms were only slightly bigger than our old ones but now at least I had a bed. A shared bed, but a bed nonetheless. Settling into life in Tribeca (where supposedly Robert De Niro also lives) I basically lived off the 2 24 hour markets a block away from the hotel. Soup, pound food, bagels with cream cheese and of course all the general supplies, fruit and water. It's so brilliant having markets which never close. Craving something at 1am? No problems.

So after starting the day with some soup and bread I headed off to Bryant Park to skate in the early afternoon. I've probably mentioned it before but Bryant Park has free ice skating...like OMFG. I got there and there was hardly a line and I got in pretty quick, but problem is that it was packed to the rafters. Although you couldn't skate really fast because of the people, and despite the fact that all the people have made the ice very choppy, it was still nice dry ice, none of the wet crap in Sydney.

At 17:00 they cleared to ice to Zamboni it. 20min later I was one of the first people on and although I got told to slow down, my god was it cool. The feeling was absolutely sensational. Fresh ice, middle of New York, flying and then SCHhhhhh STOP. Skategasm.

When I had enough I went back to the hotel and was told that Megan would bring back dinner. So I waited hungrily for a long time and ended up with Pho, which is totally fine except for the fact that raw beef was put on top of noodles which were separate from the now warmish soup. Fine if I had a microwave but I didn't want to take my chances with the raw beef, especially when half of Megan's clan was sick with some viral crap. So a very soupy dinner was had along with a tv menu of Kill Bill 1 & 2 and the new Superman.

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Day 33 - 2nd Jan 2008

I went skating in the morning after a bagel with cream cheese...Mmmm. I'm going to get back to Sydney and totally be craving that. It was cold and about 10 people were on the ice which should have been fantastic except that after about 20min the blisters I received from last nights marathon session started playing up and I couldn't go for any longer. Which sucked. Anyhoo.



I trotted up to the Avenue Q box office and managed to get quite good discount tix to tomorrow nights show. Then I headed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art which was fantastic baring a few things.

- random exhibitions which closed early
- dickhead staff
- the sea of people

Museums really start sucking when there are way too many people, and there where way way too many people. But on the plus side I saw a lot of Picassos, Miros and Monets...Mmmmm awesome. And they have an entire Egyptian Temple rebuilt inside it. Like Whoa. They had an entire wing of Rembrandts but then I wasn't really a big fan so I passed through pretty quickly. Andy Warhol's huge portrait of Chairman Mao was however, brilliant.



Came back to the hotel and had expensive Japanese for dinner near the hotel.

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Day 34 - 3rd Jan 2008

Today was FREaking FReezing....-9C. I walked out with Megan's cousin Michelle and it was so cold we had to run most of the way through the city. It was so cold water froze from the fire hydants and I cold feel my thermal pants cracking when I walked. In other words, it was BLOODY COLD!!!.



So the day went like this, cream cheese bagel, nintendo world, get top of the Rock tix for later and then to the Natural History Museum.

The Museum was freaking awesome. Much more friendlier than the Met, cause largely it was aimed at kids. As a big kid myself I absolutely loved it. I went totally giddy at all the Dinosaur fossils and went around embarrassing myself shouting...OMFG STEGASAURUS...and the like for most of it. The other stuff was generally creepy dioramas but sure hell beats the Australian Museum which I think has like butterflies and that's it.



We met up with Megan and her Dad at the Top of the Rock at around sunset. Going up it doesn't seem that high but it is. And of course it was freezing. The good thing was that all the outside decks had perspex walls stopped some of the wind. It was nice cause we got to see the sunset and also NYC at night. And it was pretty bright.



Got back to the hotel via the Rockefeller and got some pretty bad pound food (it's like a buffet but you get what you want and then they weigh it and it's like 6 bucks a pound) from the market and then Megan, Tracey and I headed to Avenue Q on Broadway.

Since I've already seen the bootleg I new what was pretty much going to happen but it still didn't diminish the awesomeness of this musical. You will never look at puppets again and I also had a brief freakout moment when I realised by this time next yeah I'll just be like Princeton, 23, with an Arts degree and no purpose. ARRRGH.

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More photos are here http://picasaweb.google.com/LJK131/RestOfNYCLotsOfMuseums

DAY 29 - Random NYC cont... - Dec 29

I had another late start to the day, sleeping on the floor hardly puts me in a good mood. However after having what could be considered lunch I headed to the ice rink and picked up my skates, lined up for about 30min and finally got in.

It was fantastic, skating in the open. I haven't done that since I was 10 in Beijing. But this was in between skyscrapers. Although it was so full you could hardly skate, and that I also had to break in my new skates, I couldn't do much, but the prevailing feeling was of utter sweetness. The rinks in Sydney could never compare, even when the surface is choppy the ice doesn't turn into slush and by the end of the sessions you're not swimming in a shallow pond. Did I also mention no actual session times? So you can literally skate from 8am to 12am, a whole 14 hours if you wanted. But I was pretty spent after an hour and desperately hungry too, so I decided it was time to leave.



I headed to the burger joint on 57th St which came highly recommended on several top burger lists. I bypassed it with really knowing a couple of days ago when I was near Carnegie hall. However the actual address directs you right into the Le Parker Meridian Hotel, the thing is that the Burger Joint is a hole in the wall place in the lobby of the hotel. No signs other than a neon burger directing the way, and both days there was a hefty line outside. So I join the back of the line.

35min I was finally inside. It was small 6 booths, 1 stool table and 2 normal tables, the kitchen resembled some of those floating stalls in Blade Runner and the Fifth Element. The food was quite expensive for the fare, $11.75 for a burger, fries and a drink. The burger was small compared to most, but the pattie was thick. It was tasty, but I can't help thinking I would have enjoyed the entire experience if I had lined up for less time and had more time to enjoy my food rather than scoffing it down because everyone behind you is giving you the death stare. Then I found out you could actually call in and order, I think I might do that next time, but still, I guess you'll loose the atmosphere, and the price is a tad too high for takeout burgers.



I digested in the lobby of Le Parker Meridian. New York nearly doesn't have enough resting spots, I think hotel lobby's are a fab replacement. Usually I guess in Sydney, I just bum on the UTS couches.

I headed down 5th Ave later, and squealed thoroughly over the NBA store, pity that it only sold adiddas stuff though. And there wasn't anything particularly old school to tempt me. Walking down 5th Ave I realised that New York fashion is so much more hip and heaps cooler than the west coast. Although San Fran had its indie moments, I just want to take all of NYC with me in my suitcase. Every clothing and shoe store I pass I'm like ohhhh, that's nice. Whereas in LA it was like, yeah that's nice if I'd like to go hang with my homies in south central.



The crowds around Rockefeller and Times Square were insane, shoulder to shoulder and to cross the road you had to shuffle. Through the rockefeller, I found something that I was looking for since I got to the city.



The nintendo store, 2 levels, full of Wiis and DSs for your pleasure....and pleasurable it was. I need to go back and get countless nerd T-shirts I've always wanted. But I could just spend days in there playing every single game they have. And they even had the Wii Raygun system setup too, *salivates*...heaven.



At night I had cheap roast duck wonton noodles which were cheap and totally fabulous and a wonder through chinatown and little italy. Maccas and Burger King both had signs in Chinese, like wtf? And little Italy was like a bright more neon sparkly version of Norton St, not very Godfather at all. I was a little disappointed.


times square at night

DAY 15 - San Jose, Ice Hockey and Ice Skating - 15th Dec

My aunt took me around Fremont this morning, showed me the park etc, my cousin's high schools, then I got dropped off at the HP Pavilion in San Jose, for the San Jose Sharks ice hockey match.


Fans walking to the HP Pavilion, the Pavilion itself and the pregame show

OMFG was it fantastic. I've been waiting to see a live hockey match for YEARS, ever since I first saw the Mighty Ducks and became absolutely obsessed with ice hockey. It was San Jose Sharks vs Dallas Stars, the first 2 periods were fantastic with some great goals and great fights, but San Jose totally lost all momentum and energy in the last period and ultimately lost which sucked.





Megan, Tracey and their 2 cousins Michelle and Frankie (Hey, ho) came as well. Frankie is only 13 but can pass for at least 16, and is the only 13 year old I've seen who's taller than my brother. We ate expensive subs made by Viets after the game. I've since discovered that San Jose is very much Viettown and much of North California is Asianfied, more so than Southern California.


frankie, me and michelle outside the Pavillion, frankie is 13, michelle is 12, go figure the height difference. Sights of San Jose

We were meant to go skate at the downtown outside ice rink afterwards. However there was a 25min wait to get on the slushy small piece of crap they called a rink for an overpriced $14. So instead Frankie called his dad to pick us up and go to the local rink. Got to the local rink, and after picking up my jaw off the floor (cause I realised they had 3 rinks in the one complex, with one dedicated solely to hockey) we found out that the public session didn't start until 7:30pm. It was a saturday and no public session till then? stupid. Anyhoo, I resisted the urge to by skates and Sharks merchandise, but it was still only 5:30 so we decided to crash back at Frankie's (hey ho) house till it was time.

At Frankie's house, the one Megan and family are staying at, we got fed, like in any Asian family and killed time on Guitar Hero, which was boring yet strangely addictive.

Time to skate? yeeehaawww

Coolest thing about US rinks? They actually hire out proper hockey skates...like OMFG...HEAVEN. I carved up the rink but I was disappointed with the amount of people (there were heaps) and the actual lack of awesome skaters. I think I might have actually encountered better skaters at Macquarie. But then again this is California.

It was Michelle's first time on the ice and by the end of the session she was doing awesome.



And what more is there to love? The last 30min the direction was changed so your skates got less of a wear and tear on one side and you can develop your weaker leg. I had no idea exactly how weak my right leg was until I was forced to do right crossovers. But omfg, I can almost stop in the other direction now. I wish Aussie skate rinks did this, my skates would be balanced and I can turn right and not only left like an anti-zoolander.

Overall, awesome, awesome day.