The Nikon D70 Review - New York City, New York (The City of Dreams)
After battling the tremendous beauracracy in the NS civil service (I did say that the Police National Service Department really really cannot make it, right?), I managed to secure enough leave to join my Dad on his business trip to the States. To New York. To the City that Never Sleeps.
After my last photoshoot on Friday a week ago (read previous post), I had to rush down to the base for night shift and immediately after duty ended I was whisked away to the airport for the eighteen and a half hour direct flight from Singapore to New Jersey. Basically, I just slept throughout the entire flight, since I was really tired from night shift duty the previous day.
All I can say about the flight was that it was really fantastic. Even though it was a super long haul direct flight, I can say that time passed by very quickly. The "executive-economy" class seats on these new long haul airbus freighters are really much more comfortable than the cramped 747s that can't even fly as far. Food was great, seats were good, entertainment aplenty - after all its SIA. Indeed, probably the best airline in the world (despite Malaysia Airlines reports to the contrary).
Landed in Newark, New Jersey and basically as long as you have one of those Machine Readable passports from a visa waiver country - the immigration process becomes effortless as there is no need to even go through the two fingerprints and a photograph security check. Later we checked into the Grand Hyatt, New York after a long (and expensive) taxi ride from NJ to Nu Yawk CT.
The Grand Hyatt in New York's in a really convienient location - 42nd street. Just 4 blocks away from Times Square. It borders Park Ave as well as Lexington Ave and its right smack in between the world famous Chrysler buidling as well as the Grand Central Train Terminal in New York. After dumping our luggage, we proceeded to walk to Times Square on a Saturday Night. Very happening, indeed.
Times Square. A place that I've always wanted to set foot on in particular. After so many countless episodes of TRL (Total Request Live) on MTV during my JC days. I've always imagined what it would be like to be at the most happening traffic junction in the most happening city in the entire world. I'm not dissapointed. The place is jammed packed. Awash with people from practically every race and probably religion too. The sidewalks are akin to Chinatown just a few days before the Lunar New Year.
As by law, there must be advertisements for the first 6 storeys of all the buildings in Times Square, one can just imagine how much vibrancy it adds to the place. The Nasdaq sitting around the corner with the world's largest television screen. There's alot of things even in this one small area - banks, shops of all kinds, roadside stalls, Falungong demonstrators, really good buskers, artists that paint your face, yellow cabs that just keep honking away and lots of policemen too.
There are manners of all people - whites, blacks, chinese, indians, japanese, koreans, east and west europeans, russians, africans, latin americans and so on. Its like people come from almost every part of the world. The diversity of people in New York is indeed unrivalled. And that possibly makes it the best melting pot of peoples, beliefs, cultures as well as acceptance and tolerance.
Notably, everytime I pass a Fa Lung Gong demonstrator. That person can either be a young teen, perhaps younger than me, to an elderly woman. And its quite interesting that they pass out the English flyers to most of the people, but leave the Chinese flyers for the "possibly chinese people". These FLG demonstrators have blanketed Manhattan. They're at almost every junction, every corner, every main area that garners a great deal of human traffic. Its amazing to see such an actual visualisation of the First Amendment being acted upon for the first time ever. While I don't know what their cause or motive really is, I guess one reasons that that 42nd street, which intersects Times Square is also the street that hosts the United Nations at one end of it all.
As the Jet lag was gatting to me, I headed back to the hotel rather early, only stopping next to the hotel to pay homage and take the classic photographic shot of the New York Grand Central Terminal. Its the biggest room in America and I can see why. Next to the room in the picture is this smaller adjoining room with 4 humungous chandeliers. They elevated so awkwardly high that I can't take a picture with the chandeliers and the ground in the same one picture.
My second day in NYC was spent on the tour buses. As it was a Sunday, the traffic was notably lighter and everyone in the hotel to the people on the streets were in their Casual wear. Basically the sight seeing tour brought me both to uptown and downtown manhattan. There's just so much to see even on the short bus rides. Uptown there's the Upper East Side, Harlem, Central Park. Downtown is where Wall Street, Ground Zero, Skyscraper Mile are. And not to mention even as the tour bus, which is of the upper deck roofless variety, passes by Fashion Ave, 5th Ave and so on, there is so much life on all the streets. In just a tiny city like New York, there's just too many things from all the around the world squeezed into it that can be found here.
The first thing in order to be a New Yorker: The words "Don't Walk" are negotiable. Really. I'm so used to stopping at the pedestrain crossing when the cars have the right of way. New Yorkers seemingly just don't read the signs. They just walk across like nobody's business. What's more interesting is that the cars actually slow down or stop to give way to all these "errant pedestrians". Maybe its because everyone is so used to it here already that its an accepted facet of life. My goodness, no such thing would exist in Singapore. Driver's here rather horn and flash their lights and knock people down than to stop for a few seconds. On major intersections during the morning rush hour, there are traffic police station at the junctions, not to direct the flow of car - but rather, to direct the flow of pedestrains and preventing them from jamming the morning rush hour traffic.
Overall on my second day, I got to see most of the key sights in New York. Technically, we could get off from the bus, explore a little bit and then hop on to the next tourist feeder bus that plys along the same route - be it uptown or downtown. Interestingly, everyone was pretty lazy and just rode the tour bus that started from Times Square all the way back to Times Square again. I managed to see the very beautiful Riverside Church, the Inspiring Architecture of Columbia University, the unique civil engineering of the Flatiron Building (above) as well as to ride down Broadway and the like. It was really and eye treat. The only thing was that as I was not used to the jet lag. I actually fell completely fast asleep on one of the night bus tours of the city. Imagine - the weather's pretty chilly at night, I'm sitting at the front of the bus. And I'm fast asleep. Waking up only to realise the whole entire tour is over and that've completely slept through my tour of Brooklyn. Sigh.
I did however, managed to take a stroll through Central Park. The whole entire park is artificially created. But really looks like a well taken care of natural reserve to me in the heart of a concrete jungle. Its not just free and large and spacious. When you look at the map of Manhattan. Central Park is this one big green patch that blankets maybe 10% of the entire Manhattan Island? I'm not sure, but it sure looks like that at least.
On my third day. I resolutely made up my mind to head to the Statue of Liberty. I thought that the whole deal would be over in half a day. I was so wrong. The queue was endless and due to fire safety restrictions and other security measures, I spent a great deal of time just queueing up for my chance to head to the Statue of Liberty. Not to mention the security checks. Three checks! One before I board the ferry, one more check after I disembark from the ferry and another just before I enter the museum of the Monument of Freedom. And its not those simple security check. People have to remove their belts and sometimes shoes as well as go through those super brand new expensive walk through detectors that sniff the atoms off your body for traces of anything dangerous.
There's this scene towards the end of the movie Titanic that shows Rose heading into the Harbour while glancing at the Statue of Libery as it welcomes vessels into the New York Harbour. Its a pure moment of silly serendipity to relive that imaginarily in my head. I mean, that symbol of freedom has been standthing there longer than ACS has ever existed. Imagine how all the people who fled wars and persecution in Europe coming to the New World a hundred years ago felt when they first set their eyes upon it. Indeed, although its just a steel framework and 300 copper sheets hammered by a french guy more than a 100 years ago. The thing is that, it represents a very human ideal - freedom. Liberty. Freedom from fear? Maybe control? or does it speak to us in its own unique manner? Some things I can never know. Yes, but the visit was wonderful.
We're no longer allowed to climb up the staircase inside the statue due to "security reasons" so everyone has to be content taking a lift up to the top of the pedestral that She stands upon firmly. To glance out at the beautiful Manhattan Skyline and the New York Harbour with the Brooklyn Bridge making a nice contrast to the whole scene. As my camera's CCD is really dirty, most of the photographs I took of the Manhattan Skyline came out awful. So that's why there are no pictures!
Later on, the ferry that took us to Staten Island (where Liberty is) also ferried everyone else onboard to Ellis Island. Its just this small place with a museum about the immigration history of Americian via the New York side of it all. Nothing really much about that place except that its a very nice place to have a picnic by the sea. Comes with a great view of the Manhattan skyline as well as the New York Harbour too.
After that the ferry took me back to Battery Park - another place in New York that sees many activities taking place on the weekends. This time round, I ended up queuing for a tour bus whose stipulated operating hours had already ended. I guess that's just a good gauge as to how long it took to visit the Statue of Liberty and Staten Island and get back. However, so many other people were queuing for this one particular bus that gives a guide to Brooklyn (the one I slept though the previous day) that the bus company actually chartered one more tour bus specially for everyone who queued about 2 hours already. Overall, Brooklyn was just ok. Nothing much actually except that crossing the Brooklyn Bridge makes for some really nice scenic views of New York. Or maybe I was just tired.
On my third day. It rained. Heavily. In fact, very heavily. And when the wind blew, it was really cold. Overall, the weather in New York the previous two days had been really great. Imagine, bright sunshine yet the place feels so cool that no one even breaks out in a sweat. The rain really dampened my plans for that day so I ended up visiting the Musuem of the American Indian. Its a tribute to all the native American Indians of yesteryear. What's amazing is that the musuem is completely free and all its artifacts are now stored in what was previously known as the US Customs House. Its a very grand and fitting building as a tribute to all the native people of America.
Once again, when I enter the museum, there's this whole slew of security checks that I must go through. Bags must be thoroughly checked, and I have to do all that nonsense that comes with walking through a metal detector. I was quite amazed to find out that the museum actually allows photography - as long as there's no camera flash being used within its premises. So besides viewing the exhibits, many of them more than a hundred years old that pertained to the American Indians, I managed to take a few photographs as well. In addition, they were giving out free books that tributed to all the heroes of 9/11. The way they support the arts is just incredible. After 2 hours, I had only seen about 1/4 of the whole musuem. Just a huge place with beautiful architecture.
I didn't stay too long I guess. The minute the rain started to subside, I took a short walk over to Ground Zero. Its just around the corner from the museum. What's really a strange parrallel is that even though the Twin Towers have now been destroyed. There remain two shorter Twin Towers of the World Financial Center that seemingly look like a chilling reminder to us all. The entire place surrounding Ground Zero has been covered with thick steel girders while construction works goes on at the site for the Freedom Towers. And interesting name, but the design of the buildings aren't exactly what I'd call aesthetically pleasing. Then again maybe all great buildings are controversial in their time.
I can just feel this deep sense of sadness in the whole area. I don't know why, at the same time, its like this heavy weight suddenly grips my heart and tells me to start reflecting and thinking about the past and all the good times I have and how many countless times I've been blessed. I'd say even to be alive in good health is a blessing in itself already. As I shot the picture above, there was this girl, my age or so, just crying uncontrollably while gripping at the steel framework of the fence. Its just so unsettling to see grief being displyaed so openly and not being able to know what to make of such.
Definitely one big group of heroes on that day were the firemen that rushed into the building even as people ran out. To run into a burning building where people are fleeing for their lives isn't just being brave, it isn't just be courageous. Its true self-sacrifice and unconditional love for those whose lives are in peril. And even though New York firefighters are the worst paid in America in the city with the highest cost of living and even to this day they have not even been giving something as much as a "pay rise". Its really unsettling that we do not laud the true unsung heroes of society sometimes. But heroes live forever - in our hearts at least.
I ended my third day by visiting the world's largest camera store. Its at 9th Ave, 34th Street of New York City. I was rather surprised when I walked into B&H Photo Video to buy another compact flash memory card that the entire shop was really the world biggest camera stall. Just studio lighting alone - lamps and shades and clamps for all kinds of studio lighting fixtures would dwarf all the camera shops in Singapore combined. Its really huge. And the best thing is that I could finally get a proper personal test usage of the latest Canon 20D camera. Believe it or not, the Canon 20D was released about 2 weeks ago worldwide. And its completely sold out in the largest camera stall in America - what I could touch was the camera reserved for hands on usage only. Later on, the people at the shop were nice enough to let me play with Canon 1D Mark II and rev the shutter at 8.5 frames per second. Argh. But its four and a half grand. US Dollars.... Not including anything else... What a way to end the day - having not enough money to buy something that I want so badly for so long.
It rained really heavily on my Fourth day in New York as well. The weather forecast was for Sunshine and good dry weather. Once again, I had to change my plans at the last minute. As I didn't really know how to take the subway or the bus uptown. I ended up walking about 50 blocks. From 42nd street all the way to 92nd street on the Upper East Side to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Yup, security checks and all again and this time, the admission fee is 12 bucks. I've been highly recommended to visit this musuem by a good number of people. Indeed, it was a very good trip I'd say.
I could have spent the whole day in the museum. Even though owing to the fact that its half closed due to renovations and relocations of some art pieces. The place is HUGE I tell you. HUGE. I spent 2 hours looking through the sections of ancient Egypt. When I look at the map of the musuem, I realised that I had only covered about 5% of the place. And there are so many displays and so many things to see! From the egyptian section alone there are totems, all sorts of carvings, wall inscriptions, mummies, inner coffins, outer coffins, sacophargi. Then there's this other huge section which ancient pieces from Iran and Iraq. And at the Chinese historical section, they have pieces from the Shang Dynasty - 5000BC? I toured their other sections that housed beautiful Buddhas from Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal and Tibet and there was just not enough time at all to see everything!
Then there's this section of modern art with pieces of art by famous artistes from the last 200 years or so. A 35 million dollar Vincent Van Gogh sits nicely next to a 55 million dollar Paul Gauguin piece. Yet receives no particular special attention in the various galleries. Truly, the musuem is really a world class one. And what's even better is that they allow people to take pictures of the paintings. Once again, no flash photography. I didn't snap at all. Because I felt that no camera is worthy to take a photograph of a 50 million dollar piece of art that is well received worldwide. Its better to take photographs of the interior of the museum - which in itself, is astoundingly beautiful architecture.
Later on, the rain cleared up sufficiently as to give good clear skies once again. I took the opportunity this time round to ride the subway up to 34th Street Station to visit the Empire State Building. Its now the only skyscraper that keeps its observatory open for the members of the public to have a view from. Yet again, security is very tight and there are the usual litany of checks to go through before having to queue for half and hour to purchase a ticket to the top. After buying the ticket, basically a lift takes me up to the 80th floor where I'll have to walk through some promotional stuff and all followed by another lift ride up 6 storeys. The lifts are very fast, 80 storeys can be covered in slightly less or more than a minute. And the updraft air current when leaving the lift due to the difference in pressure to the height is one strong wind indeed. The observatory is on the 87th floor and it literally feels like I'm on top of the world.
The New York Times professional photographer Vincent Laforet has a very famous picture of the men who have to change that one red bulb that blinks on top of the transmission tower of the Empire State Building once a year. How he managed to take that photograph, I'm not sure. But one things for sure - you'll need a lot of guts and a great freedome (liberty?) from altophobia to do THAT.
The view from the top is absolutely heavenly. I went up after the rain had cleared, so the visibility was about just 25 miles only. Still, this was far enough to see all the way to New Jersey. And the best thing was that the wind had subsided after the rainstorm, so it wasn't too cold and chilly up there on the outside. However, when the wind blew. It was COLD!
I tried to pay the Jewish Museum a visit on my fifth day. Unfortunately, the museum had been closed for a few days for a Jewish Holiday. Ah. And it was being reported on the news that their new exhibits were drawing a large number of people that would have to queue outside the musuem to gain entry. So I ended up wandering around Chinatown instead. The cheapest place for food is in Chinatown. Not only is the food in large portions. Its also cheaper and tastes just as good at the Chinese food back in Singapore. New York's Chinatown is home to the largest group of chinese people in the western hemisphere. Not to bad I guess. There are chinese here who have fled the 1949 communist revolution in China and have been in New York for more than 40 years, then there are others who have migrated from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. It seemed that everywhere I went, the waiter could almost identify that I was Singapore by the way I spoke my English and Chinese (ACS Standards? Perhaps?).
Later on I walked through Little Italy. Both Chinatown and Little Italy are in the place south of Canal Street. Just cross one side of the street to the other and from Chinatown, it becomes Little Italy. Even the paint jobs on the buildings are significantly different in style as well as color. I didn't do much photo taking - just a simple walk through Chinatown, Little Italy, followed by SoHo (South of Houston Street) and then to Tribeca (TRIangle BElow CAnal street) and then it was back to 7th Avenue for more sightseeing, finally ending up in a long walk up 5th avenue back to the hotel to rest.
On my 6th Day, more or less the momentum had slowed down considerably. I ended up walking in the park. Literally. For almost the whole day till late afternoon where I went to the world famous Carnegie Deli. They serve the biggest burgers and sandwiches in New York. And as I reached there, it started to rain. The restaurant was so crowded that I had to queue for quite some time in the rain before being let in. And it was not dissapointing. One ham sandwich came with 4 inches of ham in between two thin slices of bread. For a guy like me to tends to eat a lot. I skipped dinner that day and ended up watching TRL on MTV and the Presidential Debates of CNN in the hotel. Once again, just sit back and relax.
As I passed through Times Square on the way back from the hotel, I could see people removing the blinds from the MTV building in Times Square. Normally when they start removing the blinds, it means that a show is going to be broadcast on TRL soon thereafter. I wasn't dissapointed to turn on the TV and see Times Square - four blocks away from my hotel room, playing the top 10 songs of the day. Oh, how I wish I could get into the TRL studio and shout my head off for just once in my lifetime. Argh! Besides TRL, the presidential debates were really interesting as well. Its amazing to note that 60 million Americans tuned in to watch a show on politics. I think back in Singapore election day is just a time to sleep late. Sigh.
My 7th and last day in New York City was spent in Chinatown once again. I went to tour the older and more derelict parts of Chinatown. Its interesting to note that the iron staircases that are now noted as fashionable parts of a building were once used to identify buildings where poor immigrants would stay and live in. Later on, I took the train to 14th street - Union Square. On Fridays, they have this small marketplace that springs up like a flea market that sells produce straight from the farm. I can even smell that the mud on the vegetables smells like fresh mud! Notable to see that some "enterprising" dog owners bring their pets to the market to feast on vegetables that have "accidentally" dropped onto the ground.
At Union Square I met a handicapped and disabled person who was spending time feeding the pigeons and the squirrels in the park. I tried to shoot the birds, but ended up only getting one good passable shot. Its really true. If not for things like bird photography and sports. Then there's no need for all those big mama lens systems with ultra lightning fast autofocus. My camera could even track the bird when it flapped its wings. That perhaps is one big distinguishing feature between a "prosumer" and a "professional" camera.
After this it was a short walk to Washington Square Park at Washington Square North. Its where the campus of NYU is based at. My parents want me to come here. Dad says he can visit me on his business trips. Mum says she won't mind flying 18 hours direct to see me at the campus. Not to mention that the doromitory rooms are along 5th Avenue itself. And there's no shortage of chinese food at Chinatown. Maybe I'll apply to NYU next year. See how things go. New York University. Wow....
My flight out of New York was at 11. So this gave plenty of time for sleeping in the afternoon to make up for the potential loss of sleep as well as jet lag on the flight thereafter. Dad and I took a taxi from the hotel to Newark Liberty International Airport. After checking in, I realised how efficient Changi really is - I took 20 minutes to check in. Just to key in a passport, check in a luggage and collect a boarding pass takes 20 minutes. My goodness. That's really inefficiency. The counter staff at the SIA were quite bad, really, to put it mildly. But I think the other airlines were even worst. For some airlines, their counters stretched lengths that would be unimaginable back in Singapore. What was worst was that I was told to leave my luggage unlocked since it was to be checked or something. Later on I found out that it was "optional" to leave my luggage unlocked.... Nonsense right?
Well, I guess that's how Changi and SIA win best airport and airline every year. If all the competition around them are slow, incompetant and fuddy-duddly, then SIA's efficiency at Changi really indeed takes the cake.
Overall, its been a great trip. I arrived back home safely today. Managed to blog most of this out. Didn't really sleep on the 18 hour flight back home and I've not even rested yet before editing all the pictures and typing out this blog post. I wonder why I do this. Maybe its because I'm just another case of a obsessive-compulsive disorder sufferer. Then again, maybe I do enjoy sharing a few facets of my life to people whom a good majority I don't know. And of course, this' a blog for me to keep in touch with my mei. As always. I wonder who actually read up to here. =) Maybe everyone just browsed the pictures and that was it. Or started out reading a little and realised later on that it was just too long.
New York's really a great place. I don't see any problem migrating there. Language, culture, racial barriers are more or less broken. I can get good chinese food at chinatown. Perhaps all I need is a good, well-paying and stable job in the city, an apartment to stay in and a few friends to kick start my pathetic social life that leaves me with time enough to blog this long and we'll see how things go from there. No doubt New York's very expensive. Even more pricey than Japan on all fronts. At the same time, after having seen a resonable deal of the city, travelled on its subways and tried to live life like a normal New Yorker, its not too hard I guess. Perhaps I'll have to first start by figuring out how the train system works so that I don't get lost all the time on it. Its safe too, New York's the safest large city in America. Police are everywhere, yet people too are nice most of the time.
On all fronts, New York's a great destination for quitters. No reservist. Great culture, great events to appreciate and expand one's horizons, fantastic people, a true melting pot. A place with great freedom of speech free of "OB markers". Where there is vigourous and active debate on public and foreign policy as well as a broad range of interests to pursue. All I need is one camera body, 2 lenses and 4 years in New York and I'd probably come out a much better photographer. There are so many things to photograph and to intepret in photography!
I do have a few regrets through. Not watching a broadway play, not being able to see the Yankees play baseball in the stadium when tickets are going at 300 dollars a piece. Not being able to meet up with a certain somebody and perhaps, not being able to experience it all. To completely soak into the culture. I don't think I can imagine it all in one lifetime. So that's why certain parts of New York will always be in that region of dreams and fantasy in our minds.
That's why its called - The City of Dreams
If I can make it there, I'll make it, anywhere. Its up to you New York, New York!
After battling the tremendous beauracracy in the NS civil service (I did say that the Police National Service Department really really cannot make it, right?), I managed to secure enough leave to join my Dad on his business trip to the States. To New York. To the City that Never Sleeps.
After my last photoshoot on Friday a week ago (read previous post), I had to rush down to the base for night shift and immediately after duty ended I was whisked away to the airport for the eighteen and a half hour direct flight from Singapore to New Jersey. Basically, I just slept throughout the entire flight, since I was really tired from night shift duty the previous day.
All I can say about the flight was that it was really fantastic. Even though it was a super long haul direct flight, I can say that time passed by very quickly. The "executive-economy" class seats on these new long haul airbus freighters are really much more comfortable than the cramped 747s that can't even fly as far. Food was great, seats were good, entertainment aplenty - after all its SIA. Indeed, probably the best airline in the world (despite Malaysia Airlines reports to the contrary).
Landed in Newark, New Jersey and basically as long as you have one of those Machine Readable passports from a visa waiver country - the immigration process becomes effortless as there is no need to even go through the two fingerprints and a photograph security check. Later we checked into the Grand Hyatt, New York after a long (and expensive) taxi ride from NJ to Nu Yawk CT.
The Grand Hyatt in New York's in a really convienient location - 42nd street. Just 4 blocks away from Times Square. It borders Park Ave as well as Lexington Ave and its right smack in between the world famous Chrysler buidling as well as the Grand Central Train Terminal in New York. After dumping our luggage, we proceeded to walk to Times Square on a Saturday Night. Very happening, indeed.
Times Square. A place that I've always wanted to set foot on in particular. After so many countless episodes of TRL (Total Request Live) on MTV during my JC days. I've always imagined what it would be like to be at the most happening traffic junction in the most happening city in the entire world. I'm not dissapointed. The place is jammed packed. Awash with people from practically every race and probably religion too. The sidewalks are akin to Chinatown just a few days before the Lunar New Year.
As by law, there must be advertisements for the first 6 storeys of all the buildings in Times Square, one can just imagine how much vibrancy it adds to the place. The Nasdaq sitting around the corner with the world's largest television screen. There's alot of things even in this one small area - banks, shops of all kinds, roadside stalls, Falungong demonstrators, really good buskers, artists that paint your face, yellow cabs that just keep honking away and lots of policemen too.
There are manners of all people - whites, blacks, chinese, indians, japanese, koreans, east and west europeans, russians, africans, latin americans and so on. Its like people come from almost every part of the world. The diversity of people in New York is indeed unrivalled. And that possibly makes it the best melting pot of peoples, beliefs, cultures as well as acceptance and tolerance.
Notably, everytime I pass a Fa Lung Gong demonstrator. That person can either be a young teen, perhaps younger than me, to an elderly woman. And its quite interesting that they pass out the English flyers to most of the people, but leave the Chinese flyers for the "possibly chinese people". These FLG demonstrators have blanketed Manhattan. They're at almost every junction, every corner, every main area that garners a great deal of human traffic. Its amazing to see such an actual visualisation of the First Amendment being acted upon for the first time ever. While I don't know what their cause or motive really is, I guess one reasons that that 42nd street, which intersects Times Square is also the street that hosts the United Nations at one end of it all.
As the Jet lag was gatting to me, I headed back to the hotel rather early, only stopping next to the hotel to pay homage and take the classic photographic shot of the New York Grand Central Terminal. Its the biggest room in America and I can see why. Next to the room in the picture is this smaller adjoining room with 4 humungous chandeliers. They elevated so awkwardly high that I can't take a picture with the chandeliers and the ground in the same one picture.
My second day in NYC was spent on the tour buses. As it was a Sunday, the traffic was notably lighter and everyone in the hotel to the people on the streets were in their Casual wear. Basically the sight seeing tour brought me both to uptown and downtown manhattan. There's just so much to see even on the short bus rides. Uptown there's the Upper East Side, Harlem, Central Park. Downtown is where Wall Street, Ground Zero, Skyscraper Mile are. And not to mention even as the tour bus, which is of the upper deck roofless variety, passes by Fashion Ave, 5th Ave and so on, there is so much life on all the streets. In just a tiny city like New York, there's just too many things from all the around the world squeezed into it that can be found here.
The first thing in order to be a New Yorker: The words "Don't Walk" are negotiable. Really. I'm so used to stopping at the pedestrain crossing when the cars have the right of way. New Yorkers seemingly just don't read the signs. They just walk across like nobody's business. What's more interesting is that the cars actually slow down or stop to give way to all these "errant pedestrians". Maybe its because everyone is so used to it here already that its an accepted facet of life. My goodness, no such thing would exist in Singapore. Driver's here rather horn and flash their lights and knock people down than to stop for a few seconds. On major intersections during the morning rush hour, there are traffic police station at the junctions, not to direct the flow of car - but rather, to direct the flow of pedestrains and preventing them from jamming the morning rush hour traffic.
Overall on my second day, I got to see most of the key sights in New York. Technically, we could get off from the bus, explore a little bit and then hop on to the next tourist feeder bus that plys along the same route - be it uptown or downtown. Interestingly, everyone was pretty lazy and just rode the tour bus that started from Times Square all the way back to Times Square again. I managed to see the very beautiful Riverside Church, the Inspiring Architecture of Columbia University, the unique civil engineering of the Flatiron Building (above) as well as to ride down Broadway and the like. It was really and eye treat. The only thing was that as I was not used to the jet lag. I actually fell completely fast asleep on one of the night bus tours of the city. Imagine - the weather's pretty chilly at night, I'm sitting at the front of the bus. And I'm fast asleep. Waking up only to realise the whole entire tour is over and that've completely slept through my tour of Brooklyn. Sigh.
I did however, managed to take a stroll through Central Park. The whole entire park is artificially created. But really looks like a well taken care of natural reserve to me in the heart of a concrete jungle. Its not just free and large and spacious. When you look at the map of Manhattan. Central Park is this one big green patch that blankets maybe 10% of the entire Manhattan Island? I'm not sure, but it sure looks like that at least.
On my third day. I resolutely made up my mind to head to the Statue of Liberty. I thought that the whole deal would be over in half a day. I was so wrong. The queue was endless and due to fire safety restrictions and other security measures, I spent a great deal of time just queueing up for my chance to head to the Statue of Liberty. Not to mention the security checks. Three checks! One before I board the ferry, one more check after I disembark from the ferry and another just before I enter the museum of the Monument of Freedom. And its not those simple security check. People have to remove their belts and sometimes shoes as well as go through those super brand new expensive walk through detectors that sniff the atoms off your body for traces of anything dangerous.
There's this scene towards the end of the movie Titanic that shows Rose heading into the Harbour while glancing at the Statue of Libery as it welcomes vessels into the New York Harbour. Its a pure moment of silly serendipity to relive that imaginarily in my head. I mean, that symbol of freedom has been standthing there longer than ACS has ever existed. Imagine how all the people who fled wars and persecution in Europe coming to the New World a hundred years ago felt when they first set their eyes upon it. Indeed, although its just a steel framework and 300 copper sheets hammered by a french guy more than a 100 years ago. The thing is that, it represents a very human ideal - freedom. Liberty. Freedom from fear? Maybe control? or does it speak to us in its own unique manner? Some things I can never know. Yes, but the visit was wonderful.
We're no longer allowed to climb up the staircase inside the statue due to "security reasons" so everyone has to be content taking a lift up to the top of the pedestral that She stands upon firmly. To glance out at the beautiful Manhattan Skyline and the New York Harbour with the Brooklyn Bridge making a nice contrast to the whole scene. As my camera's CCD is really dirty, most of the photographs I took of the Manhattan Skyline came out awful. So that's why there are no pictures!
Later on, the ferry that took us to Staten Island (where Liberty is) also ferried everyone else onboard to Ellis Island. Its just this small place with a museum about the immigration history of Americian via the New York side of it all. Nothing really much about that place except that its a very nice place to have a picnic by the sea. Comes with a great view of the Manhattan skyline as well as the New York Harbour too.
After that the ferry took me back to Battery Park - another place in New York that sees many activities taking place on the weekends. This time round, I ended up queuing for a tour bus whose stipulated operating hours had already ended. I guess that's just a good gauge as to how long it took to visit the Statue of Liberty and Staten Island and get back. However, so many other people were queuing for this one particular bus that gives a guide to Brooklyn (the one I slept though the previous day) that the bus company actually chartered one more tour bus specially for everyone who queued about 2 hours already. Overall, Brooklyn was just ok. Nothing much actually except that crossing the Brooklyn Bridge makes for some really nice scenic views of New York. Or maybe I was just tired.
On my third day. It rained. Heavily. In fact, very heavily. And when the wind blew, it was really cold. Overall, the weather in New York the previous two days had been really great. Imagine, bright sunshine yet the place feels so cool that no one even breaks out in a sweat. The rain really dampened my plans for that day so I ended up visiting the Musuem of the American Indian. Its a tribute to all the native American Indians of yesteryear. What's amazing is that the musuem is completely free and all its artifacts are now stored in what was previously known as the US Customs House. Its a very grand and fitting building as a tribute to all the native people of America.
Once again, when I enter the museum, there's this whole slew of security checks that I must go through. Bags must be thoroughly checked, and I have to do all that nonsense that comes with walking through a metal detector. I was quite amazed to find out that the museum actually allows photography - as long as there's no camera flash being used within its premises. So besides viewing the exhibits, many of them more than a hundred years old that pertained to the American Indians, I managed to take a few photographs as well. In addition, they were giving out free books that tributed to all the heroes of 9/11. The way they support the arts is just incredible. After 2 hours, I had only seen about 1/4 of the whole musuem. Just a huge place with beautiful architecture.
I didn't stay too long I guess. The minute the rain started to subside, I took a short walk over to Ground Zero. Its just around the corner from the museum. What's really a strange parrallel is that even though the Twin Towers have now been destroyed. There remain two shorter Twin Towers of the World Financial Center that seemingly look like a chilling reminder to us all. The entire place surrounding Ground Zero has been covered with thick steel girders while construction works goes on at the site for the Freedom Towers. And interesting name, but the design of the buildings aren't exactly what I'd call aesthetically pleasing. Then again maybe all great buildings are controversial in their time.
I can just feel this deep sense of sadness in the whole area. I don't know why, at the same time, its like this heavy weight suddenly grips my heart and tells me to start reflecting and thinking about the past and all the good times I have and how many countless times I've been blessed. I'd say even to be alive in good health is a blessing in itself already. As I shot the picture above, there was this girl, my age or so, just crying uncontrollably while gripping at the steel framework of the fence. Its just so unsettling to see grief being displyaed so openly and not being able to know what to make of such.
Definitely one big group of heroes on that day were the firemen that rushed into the building even as people ran out. To run into a burning building where people are fleeing for their lives isn't just being brave, it isn't just be courageous. Its true self-sacrifice and unconditional love for those whose lives are in peril. And even though New York firefighters are the worst paid in America in the city with the highest cost of living and even to this day they have not even been giving something as much as a "pay rise". Its really unsettling that we do not laud the true unsung heroes of society sometimes. But heroes live forever - in our hearts at least.
I ended my third day by visiting the world's largest camera store. Its at 9th Ave, 34th Street of New York City. I was rather surprised when I walked into B&H Photo Video to buy another compact flash memory card that the entire shop was really the world biggest camera stall. Just studio lighting alone - lamps and shades and clamps for all kinds of studio lighting fixtures would dwarf all the camera shops in Singapore combined. Its really huge. And the best thing is that I could finally get a proper personal test usage of the latest Canon 20D camera. Believe it or not, the Canon 20D was released about 2 weeks ago worldwide. And its completely sold out in the largest camera stall in America - what I could touch was the camera reserved for hands on usage only. Later on, the people at the shop were nice enough to let me play with Canon 1D Mark II and rev the shutter at 8.5 frames per second. Argh. But its four and a half grand. US Dollars.... Not including anything else... What a way to end the day - having not enough money to buy something that I want so badly for so long.
It rained really heavily on my Fourth day in New York as well. The weather forecast was for Sunshine and good dry weather. Once again, I had to change my plans at the last minute. As I didn't really know how to take the subway or the bus uptown. I ended up walking about 50 blocks. From 42nd street all the way to 92nd street on the Upper East Side to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Yup, security checks and all again and this time, the admission fee is 12 bucks. I've been highly recommended to visit this musuem by a good number of people. Indeed, it was a very good trip I'd say.
I could have spent the whole day in the museum. Even though owing to the fact that its half closed due to renovations and relocations of some art pieces. The place is HUGE I tell you. HUGE. I spent 2 hours looking through the sections of ancient Egypt. When I look at the map of the musuem, I realised that I had only covered about 5% of the place. And there are so many displays and so many things to see! From the egyptian section alone there are totems, all sorts of carvings, wall inscriptions, mummies, inner coffins, outer coffins, sacophargi. Then there's this other huge section which ancient pieces from Iran and Iraq. And at the Chinese historical section, they have pieces from the Shang Dynasty - 5000BC? I toured their other sections that housed beautiful Buddhas from Cambodia, Indonesia, Nepal and Tibet and there was just not enough time at all to see everything!
Then there's this section of modern art with pieces of art by famous artistes from the last 200 years or so. A 35 million dollar Vincent Van Gogh sits nicely next to a 55 million dollar Paul Gauguin piece. Yet receives no particular special attention in the various galleries. Truly, the musuem is really a world class one. And what's even better is that they allow people to take pictures of the paintings. Once again, no flash photography. I didn't snap at all. Because I felt that no camera is worthy to take a photograph of a 50 million dollar piece of art that is well received worldwide. Its better to take photographs of the interior of the museum - which in itself, is astoundingly beautiful architecture.
Later on, the rain cleared up sufficiently as to give good clear skies once again. I took the opportunity this time round to ride the subway up to 34th Street Station to visit the Empire State Building. Its now the only skyscraper that keeps its observatory open for the members of the public to have a view from. Yet again, security is very tight and there are the usual litany of checks to go through before having to queue for half and hour to purchase a ticket to the top. After buying the ticket, basically a lift takes me up to the 80th floor where I'll have to walk through some promotional stuff and all followed by another lift ride up 6 storeys. The lifts are very fast, 80 storeys can be covered in slightly less or more than a minute. And the updraft air current when leaving the lift due to the difference in pressure to the height is one strong wind indeed. The observatory is on the 87th floor and it literally feels like I'm on top of the world.
The New York Times professional photographer Vincent Laforet has a very famous picture of the men who have to change that one red bulb that blinks on top of the transmission tower of the Empire State Building once a year. How he managed to take that photograph, I'm not sure. But one things for sure - you'll need a lot of guts and a great freedome (liberty?) from altophobia to do THAT.
The view from the top is absolutely heavenly. I went up after the rain had cleared, so the visibility was about just 25 miles only. Still, this was far enough to see all the way to New Jersey. And the best thing was that the wind had subsided after the rainstorm, so it wasn't too cold and chilly up there on the outside. However, when the wind blew. It was COLD!
I tried to pay the Jewish Museum a visit on my fifth day. Unfortunately, the museum had been closed for a few days for a Jewish Holiday. Ah. And it was being reported on the news that their new exhibits were drawing a large number of people that would have to queue outside the musuem to gain entry. So I ended up wandering around Chinatown instead. The cheapest place for food is in Chinatown. Not only is the food in large portions. Its also cheaper and tastes just as good at the Chinese food back in Singapore. New York's Chinatown is home to the largest group of chinese people in the western hemisphere. Not to bad I guess. There are chinese here who have fled the 1949 communist revolution in China and have been in New York for more than 40 years, then there are others who have migrated from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. It seemed that everywhere I went, the waiter could almost identify that I was Singapore by the way I spoke my English and Chinese (ACS Standards? Perhaps?).
Later on I walked through Little Italy. Both Chinatown and Little Italy are in the place south of Canal Street. Just cross one side of the street to the other and from Chinatown, it becomes Little Italy. Even the paint jobs on the buildings are significantly different in style as well as color. I didn't do much photo taking - just a simple walk through Chinatown, Little Italy, followed by SoHo (South of Houston Street) and then to Tribeca (TRIangle BElow CAnal street) and then it was back to 7th Avenue for more sightseeing, finally ending up in a long walk up 5th avenue back to the hotel to rest.
On my 6th Day, more or less the momentum had slowed down considerably. I ended up walking in the park. Literally. For almost the whole day till late afternoon where I went to the world famous Carnegie Deli. They serve the biggest burgers and sandwiches in New York. And as I reached there, it started to rain. The restaurant was so crowded that I had to queue for quite some time in the rain before being let in. And it was not dissapointing. One ham sandwich came with 4 inches of ham in between two thin slices of bread. For a guy like me to tends to eat a lot. I skipped dinner that day and ended up watching TRL on MTV and the Presidential Debates of CNN in the hotel. Once again, just sit back and relax.
As I passed through Times Square on the way back from the hotel, I could see people removing the blinds from the MTV building in Times Square. Normally when they start removing the blinds, it means that a show is going to be broadcast on TRL soon thereafter. I wasn't dissapointed to turn on the TV and see Times Square - four blocks away from my hotel room, playing the top 10 songs of the day. Oh, how I wish I could get into the TRL studio and shout my head off for just once in my lifetime. Argh! Besides TRL, the presidential debates were really interesting as well. Its amazing to note that 60 million Americans tuned in to watch a show on politics. I think back in Singapore election day is just a time to sleep late. Sigh.
My 7th and last day in New York City was spent in Chinatown once again. I went to tour the older and more derelict parts of Chinatown. Its interesting to note that the iron staircases that are now noted as fashionable parts of a building were once used to identify buildings where poor immigrants would stay and live in. Later on, I took the train to 14th street - Union Square. On Fridays, they have this small marketplace that springs up like a flea market that sells produce straight from the farm. I can even smell that the mud on the vegetables smells like fresh mud! Notable to see that some "enterprising" dog owners bring their pets to the market to feast on vegetables that have "accidentally" dropped onto the ground.
At Union Square I met a handicapped and disabled person who was spending time feeding the pigeons and the squirrels in the park. I tried to shoot the birds, but ended up only getting one good passable shot. Its really true. If not for things like bird photography and sports. Then there's no need for all those big mama lens systems with ultra lightning fast autofocus. My camera could even track the bird when it flapped its wings. That perhaps is one big distinguishing feature between a "prosumer" and a "professional" camera.
After this it was a short walk to Washington Square Park at Washington Square North. Its where the campus of NYU is based at. My parents want me to come here. Dad says he can visit me on his business trips. Mum says she won't mind flying 18 hours direct to see me at the campus. Not to mention that the doromitory rooms are along 5th Avenue itself. And there's no shortage of chinese food at Chinatown. Maybe I'll apply to NYU next year. See how things go. New York University. Wow....
My flight out of New York was at 11. So this gave plenty of time for sleeping in the afternoon to make up for the potential loss of sleep as well as jet lag on the flight thereafter. Dad and I took a taxi from the hotel to Newark Liberty International Airport. After checking in, I realised how efficient Changi really is - I took 20 minutes to check in. Just to key in a passport, check in a luggage and collect a boarding pass takes 20 minutes. My goodness. That's really inefficiency. The counter staff at the SIA were quite bad, really, to put it mildly. But I think the other airlines were even worst. For some airlines, their counters stretched lengths that would be unimaginable back in Singapore. What was worst was that I was told to leave my luggage unlocked since it was to be checked or something. Later on I found out that it was "optional" to leave my luggage unlocked.... Nonsense right?
Well, I guess that's how Changi and SIA win best airport and airline every year. If all the competition around them are slow, incompetant and fuddy-duddly, then SIA's efficiency at Changi really indeed takes the cake.
Overall, its been a great trip. I arrived back home safely today. Managed to blog most of this out. Didn't really sleep on the 18 hour flight back home and I've not even rested yet before editing all the pictures and typing out this blog post. I wonder why I do this. Maybe its because I'm just another case of a obsessive-compulsive disorder sufferer. Then again, maybe I do enjoy sharing a few facets of my life to people whom a good majority I don't know. And of course, this' a blog for me to keep in touch with my mei. As always. I wonder who actually read up to here. =) Maybe everyone just browsed the pictures and that was it. Or started out reading a little and realised later on that it was just too long.
New York's really a great place. I don't see any problem migrating there. Language, culture, racial barriers are more or less broken. I can get good chinese food at chinatown. Perhaps all I need is a good, well-paying and stable job in the city, an apartment to stay in and a few friends to kick start my pathetic social life that leaves me with time enough to blog this long and we'll see how things go from there. No doubt New York's very expensive. Even more pricey than Japan on all fronts. At the same time, after having seen a resonable deal of the city, travelled on its subways and tried to live life like a normal New Yorker, its not too hard I guess. Perhaps I'll have to first start by figuring out how the train system works so that I don't get lost all the time on it. Its safe too, New York's the safest large city in America. Police are everywhere, yet people too are nice most of the time.
On all fronts, New York's a great destination for quitters. No reservist. Great culture, great events to appreciate and expand one's horizons, fantastic people, a true melting pot. A place with great freedom of speech free of "OB markers". Where there is vigourous and active debate on public and foreign policy as well as a broad range of interests to pursue. All I need is one camera body, 2 lenses and 4 years in New York and I'd probably come out a much better photographer. There are so many things to photograph and to intepret in photography!
I do have a few regrets through. Not watching a broadway play, not being able to see the Yankees play baseball in the stadium when tickets are going at 300 dollars a piece. Not being able to meet up with a certain somebody and perhaps, not being able to experience it all. To completely soak into the culture. I don't think I can imagine it all in one lifetime. So that's why certain parts of New York will always be in that region of dreams and fantasy in our minds.
That's why its called - The City of Dreams
If I can make it there, I'll make it, anywhere. Its up to you New York, New York!
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