Central Park – w w w . x e .s . c x

New York City – Sightseeing

Typical NYC sight

My wife has never been to New York City hence we went to the usual sightseeing spots like the Statue of Liberty, Rockefeller Centre and Central Park. But this time round, we explored the city for good spots to eat. Will write another food guide for this.

Speaking about Rockefeller Centre, we went up to the Top of the Rock at night to see the concrete jungle at night. The sight is better at Empire States Building as they only barricade the top using clear glass walls. Also, some parts are not barricaded leaving you a clear view of the skyline.

We also visited the World Trade Center Memorial and also the National September Memorial & Museum. I visited the former when I was in New York two years ago. It still looks the same after two years but they have loads of tissue boxes placed around the memorial. I guess some people could not hold their tears.

The latter (minus the Museum) is now open to the public. The memorial is located at the World Trade Center site, on the former location of the Twin Towers. The memorial has two square pools, where the Twin Towers once stood. It also has names of all the victims engraved on bronze plates attached to parapet walls which forms the edges of the memorial pools.

There are a few other interesting sites around the World Trade Center area. One World Trade Center (formerly known as Freedom Tower) is still under construction but it’s a great sight.

The 200 over years old St. Paul’s Church is also worth visiting.

September 11?

Catching a play in New York City is a must. This time round, we caught “How to succeed in business without really trying” starring Nick Jonas.

Unlike the last play I caught namely Avenue Q (which I fell asleep. Sorry Tim!), this show was quite interesting and entertaining. It’s basically about how a young guy (Nick Jonas) climbs the corporate ladder. Plenty of tips and tricks but unfortunately, it’s no longer relevant to me since I’m not an employee anymore (not young too!)

After the show, we walked back to Times Square to find this.

We overheard some guy saying, “I can’t believe the crowd here. It’s not Barack Obama but Ricky Martin!”. Looks like everyone was trying to catch of glimpse of Ricky Martin. Reallly??

One of the best thing about New York City is accidentally finding interesting places. We passed by a flea market.

There was a small stall selling antiques and there were stamps. I managed to find 4 antique stamps.

Siam Occupation of Kelantan stamps. During the Japanese occupation in World War II, Kelantan was controlled by Thailand.

It costs around US$50 on eBay but the guy sold it to me for US$4! F YEAAAH!!

New York City: Central Park & Going Home

After rock climbing, we took a stroll around the park. There are couple of baseball fields. I wonder why the pitchers there throw their balls lightly for batters to hit.

Each bench in Central Park has a plague dedicating it to someone or something.

But this is a bit too much -_-

Squirrel!!

A friendly squirrel! p/s no the squirrel didn’t eat the sweet -_-

After our trip at Central Park, we met up with Raymond and his friend for dinner. He brought us to an awesome burger joint. Will blog about it later in my NYC food guide entry.

Night time in NYC

After dinner, Raymond brought us to his office. We had an awesome view of Central Park and the city!

Our day ended after the trip to Raymond’s office.

Since my flight is in the afternoon, I had to wake up early to catch a bus to JFK airport. Sarah brought me to a cafe in the city which serves massive breakfast. Apparently, it’s a “crew joint” (a place where airflight crews usually hang out). Will blog about this massive breakfast later. It was so much that I could feed all the children in an African village.

Walking towards the bus station…

One way ticket to JFK..

Goodbye New York City!

New York City: Central Park – Rock Climbing

The Wikipedia entry of Central Park states that there are rock climbing spots in the park. After weeks of food and no exercise, I was eager to find the place.

We found one of the spots! There was already a climber there 😀

This rock is called the Rat Rock. There’s even a Wikipedia entry on it. According to Wikipedia, this rock is called rat rock because rats swarms the place at night. Euw.

There were not many routes visible at this rock. Some can be seen through the white chalk patches on the wall.

Handholds were most crimps except for a few jugs here and there. Footholds on the other hand were tiny. It was difficult to climb without climbing shoes :/

Other than Rat Rock, there is also Cat Rock. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find that place.

Spotted 2 pairs of legs.

For more information about climbing in Central Park, check out rockclimbing.com’s entry.

New York City: Central Park – Part I

I left Boston a day after my conference ended. Since my flight back to KL departs from NYC, I took a flight to NYC.

The airport was quite near my hotel. A taxi ride there was about 20 minutes.

When I arrived at the airport, most of the flight counters have long, long queues. There was a short queue where you can actually pay 2USD to get on it. I rather pay than wait.

So when it was my turn, I gave the attendant my ticket and waited eagerly. I can wait to leave Boston. The attendant suddenly said, “Sir, it seems that your flight is from NYC to Boston. You have bought the wrong ticket.”

/(*O*)\!!!

FML!!

The attendant added, “You can get a new ticket inside”. There goes my 60USD. -_-

Upon arriving NYC, I met up with Sarah, an old friend of mine. She is one of my blog readers who eventually became a real life friend. She’s a stewardess and coincidentally she had a flight to NYC on the day I was there.

Since we only have a day to spare, we decided to spend it at Central Park. Both of us have not been there hence it was a good choice.

We decided to walk to the Park. Passed by a lot of nice places.