The whole story …

The whole story … New York, NY Start of travels: Sep 30, 2009 End of travels: Oct 14, 2009

^{Been to New York on a number of occasions, but they were work trips and I have not had the chance to really see the big apple for myself. The opportunity was, well, forced upon me when I woke up one day in June, and suddenly realised I haven’t received my Krisflyer miles online statements for nearly a year (they had normally sent it quarterly). My instincts turned out good, because it so happened that if I hadn’t checked, I’d lose all my flyer miles if they weren’t redeemed within the next few days … sneaky, those bastards.
Made a quick call to YH to check on when’s a good time for her so that I could bunk in, and low and behold, this trip was born. Given that the air ticket was redeemed, and that I had accomodation, this was the best opportuity for me to visit New York, if there ever was one.
I’d like to say, though, that this trip had its good and bad … good in that I got to attend concerts at venues that I’ve always wanted to go, like the Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera House … seen some great sights and got some really good street pictures, and some really great meals. Bad in that I met a total jerk amongst my friends who totally spoilt the last day of my stay … it also made me think very hard on a lot of things that I saw there as a result …
Read on .. if you are bothered …}

New York, NY

Since I did not travel from city to city like I always do, I’m gonna put everything in one entry. Damn, I hardly even got out of Manhattan, barely stepping foot into Brooklyn, literally. 🙂

Unlike most times when I wrote about the trip on the fly or soon after I had gotten back home … 3 months have passed since. So I ain’t gonna be as detailed about it for a start and I’d summarise the trip in to a few broad categories to talk about.

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  30 sec exposure … had to fend off strong winds and loads of prying eyes and questions … 🙂

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  A favourite amongst my friends, this triptych.

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  My favourite shot from central park. Leaves falling and the mood set by this gentlemen gets the autumn mood at its best, for me.

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  Think this was along 5th Ave, outside the St Patrick’s Cathedral. Panning shot and colour-popped …

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  Shot was taken opposite the Guggengheim. I like the feel this picture gives me.

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  Up from the Top of the Rock …
  Split toned for a different effect of sunset.

Music

You can’t beat this city when it comes to the arts … it has everything … world class. 3 main memories here that I’d carry for life …

First was at the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art). I was there on my first Saturday there. I reached the Met at about 3-4 pm, as I had drinks with Kiren the night before, or morning actually, till 6 am. (we had one of those long-ass catch up sessions that we do once in a few years, on the rooftop of their apartment with a great view of Manhattan … cold winds, whiskey, old friend … can’t ask for more.)

Anyway, back to the Met. Fortunately it was opened till 9 pm that day. And when I stepped in, I saw big posters saying that Itshak Perlman was playing with the Alumni of the Perlman Music Programme. Wanted to get tickets but they were sold out. The lady at the counter was nice enough to tell me, though, to come back 15 mins before the concert was due to begin and check if there were uncollected tickets for sale. I went about the museum then, and came back to the box office and true enough, a ticket became available … woohoo!! So I got to listen to them play Brahms’s String Sextet No. 1, Shostakovich’s Two Pieces for Double String Quartet, and the highlight was Vivaldi’s Autumn and Winter from the Four Seasons where before each, he read the peoms that Vivaldi had written as preludes to each movement, suggesting that perhaps the composer should have stuck to his day job. 🙂 It was hilarious. That aside, the music was simply fantastic. It was a very unexpected treat indeed. Went away very happy that night. New Yorkers are a lucky bunch, though a lot might not know it … 🙂

Second, was at Carnegie. Had booked the ticket before I came up to attend the concert by Orpheus Chamber Orchestra with YH. Had originally also wanted to also attend the Boston Symphony’s season opener featuring James Levine and Evgeny Kissin, but decided on it too late and tickets were sold out. But I got to go to Carnegie anyway, and took a couple of minutes to feel the carpets and kiss the railings, to the amusement of YH, before being wowed by the orchestra and Henning Keggarud’s performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto. 🙂

Third, was attending Le Nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera. Now for this, we had to dress up big time … YH in a beautiful and formal black number and me all suited up for the occasion. It’s opera, after all … 🙂 I don’t get to go to opera performances much, so this was something to savour, especially at the Met Opera, one of the world’s finest. The performance was definitely not a let down and I was particularly impressed with Danielle di Niese, who sang and acted the title role of Susanna very very well indeed. 🙂

Then there was Susan Enan’s CD launch at The Living Room which we attended. I became a fan overnight. 🙂

Food

Before I came up, YH has asked me if I was willing to splurge a bit more on food, because as much as some of these meals might be expensive, they are way better than what we can get back here, if at all … 🙂 Having saved a little on my airfare and accommodation, I did not see why not, and left it to YH (and open tables) to decide 🙂

The noteworthy ones were Sushi of Gari (my gosh!!!) and WD50’s molecular gastronomy. Some of the finest stuff I’ve ever had in my life … oh boy … 🙂

There were other little bits that were nice too, like the Pho we had after the concert at Carnegie, the gyros that I simply grab as I exit the station on 54th on Lex, the hole-in-the-wall Jap Hot Pot that YH took me to on my first day, Tal Bagels, the set lunches with Kiren and YH … food, whether cheap or expensive, are all good in NY.

Sights

Many things to see in New York. Metropolitan Museum of New York itself requires a day. The Guggenheim, Whitney, International Centre for Photography (for photography buffs), Top of the Rock for that wonderful bird’s eye view of the city. There’s the Brooklyn Bridge, and there’s Central Park, where there’s so many nooks and crannies to explore, it’ll take a few good days … enjoy it for what its worth, cos a lot of effort is being put into it by the Central Park Conservancy (apparently funded by donations, not the govt). The Chelsea Art Museum and Galleries are nice for a chill-out and unhurried day.

Didn’t go to Liberty Island though, cos the queue for the ferry was a total put-off. Took the cheaper (ok, free) alternative of taking the Staten Island Ferry to and fro, with a good view of the Lynx/Rexona icon to view, and some decent pictures with a 70-300mm zoom (lousy lens) … those on the island could not get up into the statue anyway, something which they’ve enforced since Sep 11.

The subway itself was a sight. Derelict as it may be, there’re many ways to see a picture in it all. There’s a picture everywhere … including fire escapes. 🙂

Experience

Now here though, I’m gonna write about an unpleasant experience. The source of it was from a Singaporean living there. Let’s just call him A for a****** (though his name also begins with A). Long story short, A lives in NY, because his wife is working there and at the time I was there he was just bumming. Good life, and nothing against that, but not when all he does is spout filth from his mouth about anything and everything anti-white (boy does he have some inferiority complex). Talks big, like he knows everything (which I suspect is pretty much on the surface only) and seems to know every name mentioned in our conversations. Claims he knows me, though I was blatant upfront by telling him I’m sure we’ve never met. (I can’t help it, I’m honest). I told Kiren and YH that I didn’t really like him, but unfortunately the Singaporean clique hung out very often (at least while I was there), so I had to see A more often than I’d like. A minor incident where he p***** me off was for assuming I was gonna share in the bottle of whiskey he and Kiren ordered. I let that go cos hey, no point embarrassing my friends over money.

The main incident occurred on the day before I left, we had brunch at YH’s, where she cooked and I supplied the wine (bought 3-4 bottles from the wine shop nearby) and in fact some food as well … not that I mind, so long as it’s for people I enjoy being with. ‘A’ saunters in with his wife and sat and ate like like a King (ok, I am biased cos I don’t like his face), then moved himself to a corner as he was not getting into the conversation while his wife was trying to get into a boisterous conversation that a few of us boys were talking up … We were taking piss about some of the bosses back home, since we knew a lot in common, I passed a casual comment to her and the actually addressed to the entire lot, not just her, to ‘not tell our bosses back home about what we are saying and shut the f*** up about this’ … all in jest of course. Everyone was laughing at this comment, A’s wife included, except YH who was in the room changing. A, though, took offence and told me off for saying that to his wife and promptly took his wife and walked out. ‘No one tells my wife to shut the f*** up’. Piece of work now, isn’t it, that fellow … He’d want to think that he was a man protecting his wife, but in all likeliness he just showed he was a petulant little boy. Story doesn’t finish there, but if you wanna know more, you’d need to buy me a drink. 🙂

Well, back to the objective part of my story. It’s like the centre of the world, New York. There’s no lack of things to see, do, shop and enjoy as a whole. And its still the financial centre of the world … for how long more remains to be seen. I get the vibe that as a visitor, its alright to spend a couple of weeks here, be it on business or pleasure. I’m not sure if I wanna live in New York, though, and if I did, whether I would enjoy it. Would I become more impatient and even more cosmopolitan and city-like than I am now? I already don’t like myself very much sometimes, or what my city has made me into. But I can understand the attractions of living and working in a place like New York. It’s way better than Singapore. It’s Singapore on steroids (now that’s a scary thought) and every bit more culturally diverse as Singapore … think of our influx of foreign workers (think Chinese from China) and their equivalent in the Hispanics and you get what I mean. Its interesting though, with many instances when it was assumed I could speak in Spanish (hablo poquito espanol … pero lo es muy mal).