Yujian's Exchange In USA: New York Saturday

¡Hola Amigos!

As promised, i will be showing you guys pics of my new york trip. Seriously, being back in NYC for the second time in a month isn't really exciting. Same places, same people. I don't think i'll go back to NYC anytime soon.

Anyway, the day started at around 0845 when Ivy, Janan, Kieren and I met at my place. After taking a short trolley ride to 30th Street, we boarded the P2P (Philadelphia <-> New York PENN Station) bus. Its really not that expensive with 25 bucks return tickets. After my 2-hour nap, we arrived at New York City Penn Station (i.e. 34th Street), beside Madison Square Garden. With Janan strongly demanding to go check out the statue of liberty, i brought them towards wall street where he could take photos with both the bull and the statue of liberty. Problem came when we arrived at wall street. The skies turned dark and it started to rain. The drizzle slowly grew and eventually became a downpour. As we sought shelter near battery park, i left the group to meet renhua for lunch.

Lunch with renhua was really good. After many years, i finally get to meet up with him for a small chat. Really appreciated that we could meet up and talk abt everything from the past to the future. Thanks dude!

After lunch with renhua, i joined back the group at times square. Times Square was a bit different from when i was there with may. Firstly, there was the naked cowboy. Basically, he's an artiste who stands in the middle of Times Square wearing only briefs and carrying a guitar. He was quite an icon for times square. Hoardes of Ang Moh women rushed towards him and gave him tips to take pictures with them. I guess the Ang Mohs are really kinda open. The second thing different about times square was that there was a pasar malam along 7th avenue. The Pasar Malam was really big but the stuff was damn expensive. Imagine a corn dog for US$5? Siao bo...

Other places where we visited in Times Square included M&Ms shop, Hershey shop and other shops. Anyway, there was this machine in M&Ms that was supposed to test the type of personality (represented by a color) you had. Keiren bet that it would be orange (stereotype of a smux lover). As we were all curious, i stepped on the platform to get my personality tested. After being "scanned" by the machine, i was told that my color is "dark pink" and that i am friendly and amable. Wahah... how true indeed =]

The day ended with some shopping and eventually a dinner opposite madison square garden. The dinner totally sucked. It was an italian fast food restaurant. I ordered a small plate of pasta and a large root beer. I paid freaking 10+ USD for it... it really sucked. Fortunately for me, mine was one of the cheapest. Meatball pasta cost Kieran about 12+ USD. Janan paid 15+ for Alfredo pasta with 2 meatballs... totally expensive and totally disgusting.

All right, so here's a summary of the places that I've been in NYC:
1) Madison Square Garden
2) Wall Street (NYSE + the Bull)
3) Chelsea District for lunch
4) Times Square
5) Manhattan Mall
6) Borders @ Madison Square Garden

Here's some pics: