San Francisco. Part One.

June 6

So I took a flight to San Francisco. Woohoo, it was going to be three glorious weeks on the west coast. For those who didn’t know, I was attending the Apple Developers’ Conference in SF, so I was going to meet up with schoolmates from school. NTU sent about 15 of us over for the conference. I arrived in SF a day earlier than them.

Domestic flights in the US are nice because you don’t have to be at as high an altitude as international flights, so you get to see what’s below. Flying into the California skies, you start to see the mountains and the deserts below. Some of the mountain tops are still capped with snow!

As we were descending, there were these pink fields/ponds? I don’t know what they were, so tell me if you do. Nuclear waste dumping?

So pink that it makes me worry.

Took an airport shuttle from the airport to Union Square, where the hotel was. First impression of SF was that it’s a very cosmopolitan city. There were many Asians too. Traveling to all these cities in the US, it has become my natural reaction to look at other Asians, wonder what their story is like, where they came from. Lots of Filipinos in SF.

After checking in, I took a walk around Union Square. It’s a lively shopping area. You can practically find every brand here. Walked down Market Street.

United Nations Plaza

Singapore joins the UN in 1965!

Asian Art Museum

Orange flowers on a red carpet. Hmmm, isn’t it strangely familiar? 

Civic Center, if I remember correctly.

San Francisco has quite a number of homeless people though, especially along Market Street. Most of them are old African-Americans, and I have reason to believe that some of them are mentally disturbed. Throughout our time in SF, we came across many who mumbled to themselves or did weird things on the streets.

San Francisco has the best weather I’ve experienced though. Clear sunny skies with low humidity in the day, and cool (though sometimes chilly) at night. I love SF’s climate.

The next day, I was using the internet down in the hotel’s lobby when I heard the distant sounds of Singlish. Definitely recognizable from a mile off, I got up from my seat and peered into the reception area. True enough, there was Luana and Faith who just arrived. I was waiting for them because we were going to drive to Yosemite for two days. Eventually the rest arrived. There were Yanzhao, Kangli, Kevin, Janus, Faith and Luana from Year Two; Shannon, May, Erwin and a bunch of others from Year One, and Mel from Year Four. It was so nice to meet them again, after three weeks with accountants! I was glad to be among other communication students. HAHA.

After everyone was settled in, we had lunch at a Vietnamese place in Chinatown. We packed a separate bag for Yosemite, collected two cars that we rented and off we were to Yosemite – a supposedly three to four hours drive from SF.

Boston.

June 3-5

We checked out of the Manhattan Inn Hostel and took the subway to Chinatown, where we were going to catch the 9 a.m. Fung Wah bus to Boston. It was not fun trudging through the streets of Chinatown with our bags. We walked about five blocks from the subway, which is normally fine without bags. Anyway, these Chinatown buses are operated by Chinese immigrants, for half the price of what Greyhound would cost. But their buses are of the same standard, if not better. Clean and not as crowded, for $15.

We pulled into Boston’s South Station bus terminal within 3-4 hours. For the Boston leg of my travel, I was just going to be a lazy tourist and depend on Yeh Yang. He did spend four months here as an exchange student at Bentley College, so he knows the area well, or so we thought. From the bus terminal, we took the T – the underground railway – to Fenway, which is where our hostel was.

Boston was cold. Surprisingly cold. New York was really warm while we were there, and we expected Boston to be the same, but apparently the day we arrived in Boston, the temperatures plunged. It was covered with mist that hung low over the tops of buildings. The hostel was pretty nice. It houses Boston University students so each room had a bathroom, and individual beds, and a study desk.

We took a walk, passing Boston University and settled for lunch at a burrito cafe. After that, we walked towards Newbury Street. It’s the main shopping area. According to Yeh Yang, the shops are in a way, arranged in order of their brand value. On one side of the street are affordable brands, while on the other side are higher-end brands.

Rugby Ralph Lauren, one of only nine stores in the US.

Copley Square

Trinity Church

Boston Public Library

Prudential Center is Boston’s tallest building

Inside the shopping area of Prudential Center

Dessert at Finale – pure indulgence. Too bad I’m not a dessert person.

Theater District

We passed a theater and it was the Boston production of The Light in the Piazza. Having never heard of this musical before, we peered into the theater, checking out what was going on. There was this guy standing outside the theater smoking and he asked us if we were interested in free tickets to the show. He said he worked for the theater and he had tickets but wasn’t going to use them. We were thinking, “Why not? Free tickets to a musical and we didn’t have much to do anyway.”

The musical was SO bad. The dialogue was SO lame, the songs weren’t nice, and the story line was terrible. And mind you, I later found out that this particular musical had won six Tony Awards and had a one-year run on Broadway. So, nothing comes free. We sacrificed time and energy to sit through that musical.

What made the night worse was that I encountered snobbish Bostonians. Yeh Yang had earlier said that in Boston, dress code was important. Some places required men to be dressed in pants and dress shoes, and didn’t allow men dressed in jeans and sneakers to enter. I was in jeans and sneakers, but seriously.. This was a musical in Boston, and we came without prior notice that we were going to attend one. I would dress up if I was in New York maybe, but Boston? I didn’t think we were dressed inappropriately.

As I was walking out of the theater, two ladies behind me were talking about us, obviously. I overheard them saying that we looked as if we just walked in from the streets, which IS true, but there was such a rude message in the way she said it. She said anyone could have walked in from the streets and attended a musical. For your info, you don’t have to be well-dressed to appreciate a musical. And dressing up doesn’t give you the right to judge or criticize others. I mean, come on, there was a guy dressed in sweatpants and these ladies were making a fuss about us? Shallow snobs.

The next morning, we left for Quincy Market, which was a really nice area, with a variety of shops and eating places. It was raining pretty heavily though, so that made walking around quite a bother.

New England Clam Chowder 

The mist was thicker than the day before and now with the rain, it just made everything more gloomy. The area, however, had very rich history as one of the main British colonies in the New World. Also pretty significant in the Civil War and independence era. New England architecture – very old school red brick type.

Holocaust memorial

The glass structure was printed with the words of Holocaust victims, survivors and their families recalling the painful days.

Serial numbers of the prisoners imprinted on the memorial.

Very interesting road, decorated with banana skins and trash.

 

Boston Common

An ice rink during winter, now a pond. 

At the Beacon Hill neighborhood, there are lots of nice houses, very upmarket houses where the rich people live. I had a good impression of the people here, because even though they are rich, some I passed on the street smiled and said hi while walking their dogs. Boston is associated with “old money”,  and I think this area is where they live. We were looking for Acorn Street, which according to Lonely Planet, is the most photographed street in America. It’s a quiet traditional back alley, though I don’t understand what’s the significance behind it. It’s just a quiet grandeur I guess. The houses have very nice windows though.

We did a little window shopping, I can’t remember what that area is called. Had a sour cream cheese and herb pretzel at Seattle’s Best while chatting for a little bit. Finally settled at a Taiwan eatery for dinner. We ordered quite a bit of food for the two of us – beef noodle, soya sauce chicken and vege. It was a satisfying dinner, one of the better Chinese food I’ve had.

My first time having kang kong in US.

Soya sauce chicken. Yummy.

Fenway Park – home of the Boston Red Sox

After walking around Fenway Park, we left for Harvard. It’s outside Boston, across the river in Cambridge. So happened that they were having their graduation rehearsal, so saw many of them in their gowns, with flip flops and shorts. Quite a funny sight. There were many parents walking around campus. Harvard is so lively, more buzz going around than in Boston.

John Harvard

All set up for the convocation ceremony.

Harvard students for a day, if only.

Charles River

We left Harvard and walked back to Boston along the river. Yeh Yang was going to meet up with his friend and collect his luggage. So his friend drove us back to Bentley where YY had left his bag. Nothing much except that the handle of his bag broke! It was quite a funny sight, though I felt bad for seeing it as something funny. Now he had to struggle with the bag all the way to the airport. It still is funny!

YY had a flight back to Singapore the next morning, while I was going back to New York for my flight to San Francisco. We said goodbye and I was on my way to the bus terminal to take the Chinatown bus back. The bus left Boston at 11 p.m., and I reached New York City at 3 a.m. or so. The plan was to take the subway from Chinatown to JFK airport for my flight at 8 a.m. Being alone is not fun. Being alone on the New York subway could be dangerous. But it went well.

The thing about being in New York is that people generally mind their own business. The city is safer now compared to what it used to be. There are still many homeless people around, and on the subways overnight because they have nowhere else to be, so they hop on the subway and spend the night there. As long as you mind your own business, and don’t show that you are scared, they won’t mess with you. At least that’s what I tell myself. And of course, with God’s angels and blessings of guidance, one definitely feels safer.

New York City.

May 30-June 3

By the time Yeh Yang and I took the subway from JFK airport to Manhattan, it was close to 1AM. We were staying at Manhattan Inn Hostel, where I had stayed at previously with Rishi when we were in the City for the Singapore Day weekend. There was some minor delay with the checking-in because we had booked for three nights but on two separate bookings, so we had to wait for the guy to sort it out.

The next morning, I left for Ground Zero with Angela and Xinpei, while Yeh Yang went to do his own stuff because he’s been there before. You can’t really tell that the it was the site of a terrorist attack six years ago. Work is going on for the Freedom Tower, so you would think it’s just some construction site.

View from behind mesh and grille

We hung around the area for a good ten minutes, looking at the 9/11 time line, which explained the day’s events from when the first plane left Boston Logan Airport to when the cloud of dust cleared over Manhattan. There were various photographs and paintings depicting the confusion, chaos and pain the people endured that day. I can’t say I identified with what went on that day, but looking at the photographs helped me envision it, and one definitely feels sad at the suffering innocent people had to go through.

We left for the Wall Street financial district area. Seems like Donald Trump has a building everywhere. There are two in New York City alone. The New York Stock Exchange was worth looking at, but it was heavily guarded, and a huge American flag adorned its front columns. Other than that, Wall Street seemed really nondescript, a narrow street with financial bigwigs. Angela and Xinpei were quite disappointed. I think they expected more. They were probably as excited about Wall Street as I am about seeing the press room in the US Capitol and the White House. More on that in due time.

Next up was taking the free ferry service to Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty. It’s free, so I shall not complain much. We were still pretty far away from the Statue though. Of course, also because the camera can’t zoom, so I was at a disadvantage.

Yes, that is the closest we got to Lady Liberty.

Lower Manhattan cityscape awfully nondescript without the Twin Towers

Half of Manhattan, and New Jersey in the background

We later met up with Yeh Yang again and had dinner at a Dallas BBQ restaurant located at Times Square. I think Times Square is my favorite place in the whole world. After dinner, we went to the TKTS booth to check out Broadway shows. Yeh Yang and Angela went for Phantom, which I had already watched in London. Xinpei and I went for The Color Purple, starring Fantasia. To be honest, and I admitted this to Xinpei at the intermission, I wasn’t following the dialogue very well because their Southern accent was very thick. It was hard to follow the story when half the time I missed what they were saying. I enjoyed the songs though, and I was very impressed by Fantasia. Her acting was just okay, but she knew how to work the audience with her singing. The Color Purple has a very gospel repertoire, with many of its songs having a similar style to baptist church music. It deals with the role of women during the time the novel was written and how women were gradually empowered to be equal as men and able to stand for themselves. It also spoke of the equality of mankind without being subject to differences in race and color. Surprisingly, Yeh Yang and Angela were done earlier than us, cos Phantom is notorious for being three hours long.

Met them again at the M&M’s store. There were very unique souvenirs here, obviously targeting children who will then bug their parents to buy them. I think unless you see the store for yourself, it’s hard to imagine what it is like. Three floors of everything M&M.

M&M stores have to be the most indulgent ones.

I don’t think I could ever get enough of Times Square.

The city doesn’t sleep, and its energy rubs off on you.

The next morning, we set off for Brooklyn. Yeh Yang and I settled at a bagel cafe for breakfast because Angela and Xinpei overslept and missed our meeting time. Truly, the bagels in New York are just different from those I’ve tried outside New York. It’s unexplainable but you’ll know when you try them. A plain bagel and cream cheese with hot coffee. Now, that’s a New York breakfast that I’m going to continue having in Singapore.

When the girls arrived, we walked to Prospect Park. It was designed by the same people who did Central Park. There wasn’t much in there. We came across many kids of all ages, some toddlers with their mothers or nannies, and fathers in some instances; teachers with their students enjoying a day of sports and games and other random people. From what I saw of Brooklyn, it was very much a residential borough. Of course I didn’t see enough to generalize the area, but in comparison to Manhattan, it is quieter and less crowded. It is where rich people who work in Manhattan raise their families.

It was a really hot summer day, (in my opinion, spring didn’t last long enough!) Deciding that Brooklyn didn’t have much to see, we left to return to Manhattan. Again, we only went to one place in Brooklyn and it is a very large island, so I maintain that we didn’t see enough of it to make a judgment.

We headed to Chinatown and had lunch. I’ve never had so much Chinese food in the US until I started touring with the three of them! Also walked through Little Italy, which was quite lively. The area was done up with red, white and green-colored decorative stuff, and there was a little festival of some sort going on with arcade game stalls like bursting the balloons or knocking the cups over. Soho was next. In my opinion, the stores at Soho are still kind of expensive. You can find a bargain sometimes, but generally, the area has a reputation for its vintage clothing stores, and some of the big names in fashion. It’s a mix really, you find Urban Outfitters, Banana Republic and Old Navy, together with FCUK and some other high class brands that I have never heard of. I want only cheap stuff, like everything at Old Navy prices but of a better brand! I need to be at an outlet!

We walked to Greenwich Village, which is lesser known as West Village. Jimi Hendrix used to live in this neighborhood and it also attracted many radicals seeking alternative lifestyles (read: hippies and marijuana advocates). As such, the area is rather trendy and has many bars, restaurants and cafes. Active nightlife, in other words. Also in part due to the presence of New York University in this neighborhood, hence the youthful and vibrant crowds.

We stopped for drinks and a rest at MacD’s, and also saw the famed basketball cages. Apparently quite a sight; there was a sizeable crowd standing around the court and watching a game.

See? New York City is so diverse. How can anyone not like it?

We headed towards 34th St. to meet Ha Phuong, a Vietnamese girl I met in Ithaca for dinner. She brought us to an ice-cream parlor where she said served the best ice-cream. It was actually yogurt or sorbet, I can’t remember. But it was interesting because it had fruit toppings that were actually really nice. I preferred the fruits to the ice-cream, but that’s just me.

Dinner was at a Korean eatery at Koreatown. I can’t remember why I don’t have pictures of our food, but the food was good. We shared some dumplings among the five of us, and had individual stuff. Ha Phuong and I shared stir-fried vermicelli and an udon. After dinner, the girls wanted to rush to Macy’s to buy Coach bags but Macy’s was closed. Awww.. They were so disappointed because they couldn’t buy their Coach bags. To be honest, I didn’t know of the existence of the brand until we went shopping in Chicago and I could not understand Angela and Xinpei’s fascination because I didn’t know Coach was very expensive in Singapore. Well, Angela is earning a lot of money now so she can afford Coach bags in Singapore. HAHA.

Walked Angela and Xinpei to Times Square to finish up the last of their souvenir shopping and then back to their hostel because it was their last night in the US. They were leaving for Tokyo the next morning. Spent three weeks with these girls from Miami, to Bahamas, to Chicago, to Toronto and now New York. Saying goodbye wasn’t that hard HAHA, but definitely had a lot of fun and laughter with them. Can’t wait to get home and meet up with them for dinner – but Angela can’t join us, she works odd hours now for Credit Suisse.

The next morning, it was just Yeh Yang and me. Sian. He went to search for the mysterious Macy’s while I left to get a hair cut. It was so weird cos we both thought we saw a second Macy’s the night before, but as it turns out, there’s only one Macy’s in New York City. Funny. After I got my hair cut, I left for Central Park. Actually I wanted to go to the Museum of Natural History, but the subway line that would bring me there was not scheduled for that day. Instead I had to take the subway to Columbus Circle and walk there through Central Park. In the end, I decided not to go, and walked through Central Park to get to MET instead.

Shakespeare Garden in Central Park

Belvedere Castle

View of Belvedere Lake and Delacorte Theater from the castle

Lake and Upper East Side skyline

MET

When I finally got through Central Park and out the other side, I was hot and itchy from the hair cut. I was just not in the mood to go and look at art pieces, even though it was a world-class museum. I had to leave it for another time (like in 2 weeks time, when I leave Washington, D.C. for New York, my last two days in New York, before I leave for Singapore.)

I decided to go back to the hostel, take a shower and have a change of clothes. Yeh Yang was back at the hostel too. After the shower, we left for Chelsea and Union Square. There was a flea market somewhere there and I bought a double-CD recording of Puccini’s La bohème, recorded by Andrea Bocelli, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Zubin Mehta. For $10. What a find.

We ended up at the Farmer’s Market at Union Square, where there were many farmers from around New York selling their local produce. There were potted plants of all types, vegetables, hot soups, homemade jam and local wines. Speaking of local wines, one of the stalls was from Ithaca, selling wine from the Cayuga Lake region.

We passed the Flatiron Building and settled at Madison Square Park for a rest. I think both of us were pretty tired from traveling and with the girls gone, we didn’t really feel like doing much. I know we were in New York City and we should have been high from all the energy in the city but somehow we were just a little jaded.

Flatiron Building, in the shape of an iron. Really narrow in the front.

It is a really narrow building.

We sat at in the park devising ways of how I could kidnap a baby. I couldn’t help it, they were just so cute!

I figured this could be our mug shot for The New York Times headlines after we kidnapped the baby.

Canan, Naomi and I enjoying our gryos in the same park on May 14

We were meeting Ha Phuong for dinner again, this time at Little Italy. So we abandoned our kidnapping plans and made our way to Soho for a last bit of shopping. Walked north to Chinatown too to check out the bus from Fung Wah that would bring us to Boston.

Some arch thing being built at Chinatown, near Manhattan Bridge.

Cigar maker at Little Italy

Fresh nougat

There was a stall selling fresh nougat that they weighed and chopped on the spot for you. Yeh Yang bought some to bring back for his girlfriend. I think I might buy some back too, since I’m stopping by in New York before going home.

The atmosphere in Little Italy was still rather lively. There was some kind of Catholic festival going on and a street band was marching down and playing some songs as loud as they could manage. The trumpet player at least, was pretty entertaining. He looked nonchalant as he played, but he always punctuated the ending of each song with a blast or a glissando as loud as he could manage. Trumpet players always like to steal the limelight and draw the focus to them, it’s the same everywhere.

We had dinner at a Italian restaurant. I can’t remember what we had but we had mushrooms for starters, and pasta for mains. It was yummy. I love pasta so much. Pasta with prawns, mussels and squid… Even better. Following dinner, we settled for tea at a cafe in Greenwich Village.

Ha Phuong and I at the cafe. I never realized my eyes were that small, and I have dimples. HAHA. Fat cheeks and dimples never coexist.

At the end, we concluded that I am more attractive than Yeh Yang. Earlier in the day, a Latina salesgirl at a store in Soho greeted me with a smile and a hey that seemed pretty over friendly. For a while, I thought maybe she was in one of my classes at Ithaca, and Yeh Yang too thought that we knew each other. She came up and started chatting like we were old friends, and even commented that she liked my color – the tan from Miami and Bahamas. It was really quite weird. Then at the Greenwich Village cafe, the waitress didn’t really address Yeh Yang, but me instead. HAHA, so we drew that conclusion that they just found me more attractive than him.

It really was quite a lazy day. After tea, we lazed at a park listening to a busker performing. It was quite a nice ten minutes actually, sitting there enjoying a summer evening in New York. The next morning we were leaving for Boston, so we bade goodbye to Ha Phuong, who is interning for RBS for the summer, and returned to the hostel to pack.

Toronto.

May 27-30

From Chicago, we flew into Buffalo (NY) to catch a Greyhound bus to Toronto. It’s cheaper that way, because flying into Toronto from Chicago would have incurred international flight costs. Way cheaper to break it up into flight-bus. Met Yeh Yang at the airport, his flight came in a little after ours.

We took a cab to downtown Buffalo where the bus terminal was and bought our round trip tickets to Toronto. We went out of the terminal to look for some food and was surprised that Buffalo was literally empty. I remember clearly seeing more sea gulls than people. It was a Sunday I think, so maybe that’s why it was so deserted. But Scully (one of my professors from IC) mentioned that Buffalo was one of those upstate New York cities that was booming in the days of early industrialization but is currently in a state of disrepair.

So anyway, the bus ride took four hours, and the bus got really crowded towards the end because it picked up passengers along the way, all heading towards Toronto. From the bus station, we took a cab to our hostel – Global Village Backpackers. It was not too bad. Yeh Yang and I were in the same room, Angela and Xinpei were in a room one floor below. I got into touch with Eliana, a really good friend of mine from Fairfield, who had been studying at the Uni. of Toronto for a few years now. She was going to join us for dinner.

Eliana locking her bike at the hostel before we headed out to dinner.

We walked to a Fish & Chips shop recommended by Eliana, and settled at a park to savor it. I think I’ve said this before but I haven’t had decent seafood in the US. Probably too expensive to get reasonable seafood in this country. But, thinking of calamari, soft shell crab, oat prawns….. Aahhh, very sad. Cos these are so readily available in Singapore.

Caught up with what’s going on in Eliana’s life. We were really close back in school, but after she went off to JC, we didn’t keep in touch. Funny how some people actually thought we were attached, when all there was was platonic. Weird lah. Fairfield days just seem so long ago.

We went to a little bar for some nachos and drinks, and chatted more about being vegan, and places to see in Toronto. When we got back to the hostel, Jane was there waiting for us. She’s a friend from school, doing her exchange studies at Uni. of Maryland, and joining us for our Toronto leg.

The next day, we set off early towards Casa Loma, passing through the city and the historic Uni. of Toronto. The architecture of the buildings here are a mix of old and new, urban meets Scottish tradition in the heart of the city.

I believe this is the Ontario Parliament Building, at Queen’s Park.

I have no idea what building this is; located across the Parliament Building, to emphasize the new and old mix.

Can you say the Uni. of Toronto is beautiful? NTU’s campus doesn’t even get near enough for comparison.

Last of Uni. of Toronto.

Inscription at Royal Ontario Museum – Man’s art, but Man is God’s art.

Jane, Angela, Xinpei and Yeh Yang, after a really long walk to Casa Loma.

Casa Loma is a castle built in 1914. It was, for some time, the largest private residence in North America and houses two pipe organs in its interior. It belonged to a Sir Henry Pellatt, who was famous for bringing hydroelectricity to Ontario by harnessing the power of the Niagara Falls.

Interior of the castle’s hall

View of downtown Toronto and CN Tower from the castle’s tower, currently undergoing restoration works

Jane and I in the castle’s garden

Found a little hole in the bushes to look at the CN Tower

After we left the castle, we took a cab to Chinatown for a late lunch, settled at a Hong Kong place that sold the traditional roasted fare. I had congee, and we ordered oyster-sauce vegetables. Actually, Chinese food in the US is not as bad as I thought it was. It got better as I traveled – had fantastic Chinese food in Boston at a Taiwanese restaurant, and here in Washington D.C. I found a really nice place that has Crystal Jade standard. But back to Toronto. Jane left for the hostel after lunch to rest her eyes, while we walked around Chinatown and Kensington Market, some quirky sights there.

A car filled with soil, with grass and a bush growing out of it.

The most quirky of all was finding a Singaporean restaurant in Chinatown. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we saw the signboard and the pictures of their dishes. Other than Singapore Day in New York, this was the closest to me finding Singapore in North America.

Merlion Restaurant – Singaporean without a single doubt.

Oyster with egg, and the correct chilli sauce!!!

Laksa!

Singapore Chilli Crab!!!

There were other dishes too – satay, popiah, pineapple fried rice, chicken rice, mee goreng, chicken curry, mee pok, teochew duck and in keeping with the spirit of sambal stingray, they had grilled spicy fish. HAHA. Sadly, the restaurant was closed though. Very very disappointing. Finally, a Singaporean had some sense to bring our famous hawker fare to N.America.

Toronto’s streetcar, with CN Tower background.

In the evening, we took a walk southwards towards the Toronto Harbour and Lake Ontario. Passed the CN Tower, a water fountain depicting the salmon’s journey upstream to lay eggs, the SkyDome where the Blue Jays were playing, the Air Canada Centre where WWE was taking place. There really wasn’t much to do in that area, so we headed up Yonge Street in search of a place to eat, and settled at a Japanese place.

The next day, we planned to go to Niagara Falls. We were renting a car from a company, (more on that later). Jane’s eye wasn’t doing any better so brought her to a clinic for a check. The doctor diagnosed it as cornea ulcer and recommended that we go to the hospital to see a specialist. I thought I should stay with Jane, while Yeh Yang, Angela and Xinpei went ahead to Niagara Falls. So, yet another reason for me to return to Toronto – to see Niagara Falls. Funny thing, how Ithaca is closer to Niagara Falls and Toronto than New York City, but by the time I’m done here in the US, I would have spent a total of 13 days (non-consecutively) in New York City, without having seen the Falls.

That evening, while Jane was resting, and the rest were still at Niagara Falls, I called Eliana out for dinner and we went to an Indian restaurant. She’s staying on at Uni. of Toronto for her grad studies. So that was goodbye, till I see her again one day.

The next morning, we sent Jane off to the airport because she decided to return to Maryland to get her eye treated. After that, we sent Angela and Xinpei to the bus terminal for their bus back to Buffalo. Their flight from Buffalo to New York City was earlier than ours and we were staying in different hostels in the City, so we would meet the next day. Yeh Yang and I then went to return the car, and got charged a lot of money cos the car had a minor scratch that no one really could have noticed, except the money-faced car rental guy out to make money. So, the lesson we concluded is that saving a little bit of money is not worth it and probably should have rented from a bigger company instead of trying to save some money.

That kind of bummed the whole day for us, especially for Yeh Yang. Can’t blame him for feeling lousy. So I tried to impart my skill of not letting things affect myself too much. What happened has happened, feeling lousy about it isn’t going to make things change. Yeah, so our moods picked up a little.

We left Toronto for Buffalo a little after 4PM I think. Not much to mention, except for an obnoxious police officer with a sad sense of humor. Well you see, I had all my belongings with me since I wasn’t returning to Ithaca until August. Naturally to a police officer, it wouldn’t make sense for someone who was in Toronto for three days to be carrying two large luggage bags. So I patiently explained that I studied in Ithaca for four months and this was everything from then, I was backpacking around N.America till end-June and was carrying everything with me. He then joked that I was a homeless man carrying my home with me. Yes.

The last straw came when it was time for baggage security checks. He watched me struggle to lift my bags onto their security table, because they don’t have a conveyor belt for that. After I had done that, he said, “Oh, I’m not going to check that. I just wanted to see how you were going to lift that onto the table. *Sniggers.”

…………..

Americans have surprised me with their social graces. I meet some really nice people who are just so friendly, and yet you also meet people like the above-mentioned police officer. I think that made me pretty blasé. Americans and me? Chalk and cheese.

Chicago.

May 24-27

So we took a Southwest flight to Chicago from Fort Lauderdale, FL. We were so tired from staying up overnight at the airport that we fell fast asleep even before the plane took off, without realizing that the plane was empty and there we were squeezing when we could have taken any seat on the plane.

We landed at Chicago’s Midway Airport, which was huge and quite nice considering it isn’t the famous O’Hare. We caught the train and I was really fatigued from the lack of proper sleep so I started throwing a famous fit. Well, not really, but I like how the expression sounds. But I was seriously tired and quite fed up of my blue Wilson bag. It was getting to me.

We finally found our way to Arlington International Hostel and checked in. Nice. We had a four-person room to ourselves with an attached bathroom. It was really hot in the room though. And the sink was kind of gross – it was lined with a coat of dirt that had dried up over many months. Or at least that’s what I thought it was. And we saw the Spanish couple from Key West. Such a coincidence to see them again.

I called Mezraq to ask him for must-see places in Chicago and he gave a list. Thanks Mezraq! We left for a walk through downtown Chicago. I remember being very out of it because we didn’t have sufficient sleep the night before. Sufficient sleep is eight hours per day. Well, Chicago is a very cosmopolitan city, the downtown area has tall skyscrapers every block, well… Now that I think about it, Chicago is a very livable city; lots of things to do – diverse people, cultural, the best way I can describe it is “the cleaner version of New York City”. Lots of art lining the streets, sculptures, gardens, quirky artifacts.. I think Chicago has a lot of pride in its public art.

We stumbled into a Hershey’s store that had an amazing collection of all things Reese’s. Rowie would have come close to bankruptcy here.

We were walking along the Magnificent Mile. As a side note here, when I was blogging about London and Paris, I would refer to my photos, my maps and Wikipedia so that I could blog with accuracy and add in information about the things I saw, but now I am too lazy to do that, and I have no time for that either, so forgive me. I would really like to describe the places I’ve been to in detail, but my memory does not serve me well, and if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to finish it all even when I’m back in Singapore.

So that was a long side note. Magnificent Mile – right now, I would tell you that I was following the crowd. It was a straight road after all. I told you I was sleep deprived, so I can’t really recall what we saw that day. I do remember churches, skyscrapers and the infamous Chicago wind blowing dust into our eyes.

There was a building in downtown Chicago that was really interesting. Many pieces of stone, or bricks maybe, were taken from famous places around the world, such as this – a White House piece of stone, and the one below, from the Royal Castle in Stockholm. This pieces of stone were used as part of the building. Very interesting..

Wrigley Building, the chewing gum company.

Chicago River.

We walked further down Michigan Avenue, I think that is what it was, and we came across this huge screen that was spurting water. It’s just a very big water thing.

It was spurting water, but because of Chicago’s rep as a windy city, the water was going in all directions once the wind picked up. There were many kids, and adults too, playing. It was pretty neat, because one could never guess where the wind would blow the water next.

The structure also showed a person’s face because I think behind the water is an LCD screen of some sort. And it was interesting because the water spurted out from where the person’s mouth was, as you will be able to see from the next photo.

Art Institute of Chicago

 

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

From downtown Chicago, we left for Chinatown. We took the subway there. No major complaints about their transport system, if I remember. We wanted to go look for dim sum I think. We also went to look for an optician for Xinpei cos her eye had been red for a while, since Miami..

A nondescript Chinatown

We had a huge meal at this place serving Asian cuisine from many countries – Korean, Chinese, Thai… all at one place. And they also had giant drink servings, like smoothies and bubble teas. None of us could finish our food, the portions were really huge. Then we went back to downtown Chicago, to see the Buckingham Fountain at Grant Park. We came across a marathon or some kind of massive race with thousands of participants. Quite a funny sight, considering that it was a weekday evening. Well, we figured it was some kind of charity or fund-raising thing that involved the companies in the area, cos many of them were wearing T-shirts endorsing their companies.

The next day, we headed to Shedd Aquarium. I haven’t been to one since Sea World in Gold Coast back in 2000 I think! Haha.

Sears Tower from outside the Aquarium

Icky silver slimy fish. I am averse to fish.

Despite my bad encounter with jellyfish in Bintan, I think these are beautiful!

Some kind of worm fish that sticks out of the sand.

Stone fish. Rock stone.

Nemo and Dory.

Dolphin show at the aquarium

Mother and calf Beluga whales

Beluga whales seem cuter than regular dolphins somehow.

For some reason, the aquarium had a reptile section.

Komodo Dragon

Poor shark. He can’t really help what goes into his mouth. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to eat you!”

Beautiful Chicago cityscape and Lake Michigan

Hall Se7en represented in the Windy City.

We wandered towards Little Italy and Greektown, (Yeh Yang’s idea) and somehow we got a little lost near a University, I can’t remember which one right now. Anyway, it got really windy and chilly, so we decided to have dinner early. Settled at a Greek restaurant, and this was what I ordered – shrimp and scallop. It came with rice topped with some kind of sauce. I had been craving seafood for a really long time!

The servers were really polite, and in a rush to make sure all our needs were met. I particularly remember one of them, a little man with a hearty laughter – he could pass off as Danny DeVito’s brother. Each time they lighted the hot plate (because some of the dishes came with flamin’ brandy) he shouted “Opa!” or something that sounded like that. So I just checked with an online dictionary, “Opa!” is shouted by Greeks to signify joy or celebration.

So after we finished dinner, we went in search of medication for me. I was having a slight headache, which I’m sure was caused by having less than 8 hours of sleep each night. There was a slight problem though. I had a little glass of wine with my dinner, so the pharmacist advised that I wait an hour before I took the pills.

Went to watch “Wicked” after dinner. It’s doing so well on Broadway that it was fully booked two months in advance when Yeh Yang tried to book it, so had to settle for the Chicago cast, but they didn’t disappoint. The plot is a little unbelievable at times, but many musicals are like that anyway. I still prefer musicals like RENT and The Color Purple that deal with more serious themes though. I like the music. It’s one of those soundtracks that you start to like after listening to it endlessly. Haha.

The next day, we went shopping! Took a one-hour train ride out of Chicago to a town called Aurora. There began my first experience with Premium Outlets in the US. I can’t believe that I had spent money on GAP and other brands like American Eagle, when you can get branded stuff like Guess? and Calvin Klein at discounted outlet price! Anyway. I think I spent wisely. Haha.. Seriously. I only spent on what I thought was a steal. A bargin that couldn’t be ignored. We literally went mad cos we had only about 3 hours before we had to catch the train back to Chicago – we wanted to go to Navy Pier in the evening. There also began my fascination with Cold Stone Creamery, so that made me late in meeting the rest, and we missed the bus to the train station. Haha. An excuse to shop more. But I stopped there, while the three of them shopped more.

By the time we got back to Chicago, it was dinner time. We were too lazy to go to Navy Pier so we settled for dinner at a pizzeria.

It was Chicago’s famous deep dish pizza. It’s really really thick and full of cheese. We only managed to eat a slice each; it was just too filling.

We packed the other half of the pizza home, and headed back to the hostel. It was funny how we parked our shopping stuff at the door of the pizzeria because they were too many to be brought in, so the staff very kindly allowed us to leave them behind the counter.

Back at the hostel, we packed up and got ready to leave the next morning. Yeh Yang was flying off to Buffalo, NY, on a different flight as ours and from O’Hare while ours was from Chicago-Midway. He left to spend the night at the airport, rather than take the subway at 3AM in morning cos he was scared of Chicago’s drug triads. HAHA!

Bahamas.

I still find it extraordinary that I visited the Bahamas. It’s one of those exotic locations in the world that gets talked about a lot – like most other islands in the Caribbean – but how many people can say they actually visited it?

We reached Port Everglades and there we found out that Yeh Yang and Tanny couldn’t go because of visa issues. By the time they return from Bahamas, their visas would have expired and they wouldn’t be able to enter the US. Something like that. The only reason I made it was because I had a new I-20 for my Washington summer class, so they allowed me to go. Felt really bad for Yeh Yang because he was looking forward to it. But then again, he made no attempt to hide his disappointment.. Haha. Tanny was better though. Maybe she was disappointed, but she probably didn’t want to make the situation worse by pulling a long face. Kudos. Cos I think I would have started sulking if I were denied the Bahamas. So it was to be Angela, Xinpei and me. I was having so much fun the day before, now that we had to split up, the mood was definitely dampened somewhat.

Breakfast on the cruise. Though their faces say otherwise, the disappointment of not having Yeh Yang and Tanny was still sorely lingering… Seriously!

We don’t gamble, so there wasn’t much to do on the cruise. We slept on the deck and almost missed our lunch! The meals weren’t very appetizing anyway. We arrived at the Grand Bahama Island and took a shuttle to the hotel.

The service at this hotel was not bad – they served Bahama Mama, a local rum concoction, and yucca chips as a welcome snack. And I had a double bed to myself cos Yang wasn’t here! HAHA, There wasn’t any beach near our hotel though. It was in the middle of town and there was nothing much to do at the hotel. We took a bus for a dollar each to Port Lucaya, which we were told was the main area with shopping, restaurants and the beach.

Trees stripped bare by hurricane activity.

Count Basie Square at the Marketplace.

As the sun set, the orange glow of the sky created a warm hue – the perfect setting for a wedding by the beach. And we came across two. Very nice.

Angela and Xinpei.

The closest I got to jet-skiing.

More bare trees post-hurricane.

Our second day in the Bahamas turned out really nice. We managed to score a cheap deal for snorkeling. We paid $35 each; there was a bus that shuttled us to and from our hotel, lunch was provided, and it also covered the rental of snorkeling equipment for about 8 hours at a private beach. Yeah it was an awesome deal, and the beach was amazing. The water was so clear that we could see the reefs from the shore. It was so beautiful.

 

 

In between three trips out to the reefs to snorkel, we stopped for lunch and to take in some sun. It was my first time snorkeling and was it quite the experience. It wasn’t so much the swimming because you have the fins to aid you, but the breathing was rather tricky. Dylan would find this easy because he breathes through his mouth all the time. For me, it was a matter of getting used to taking in air through the tube in my mouth, and I had to consciously remind myself to do so. I found myself subconsciously switching to my nose many times, and then grasping for air when there wasn’t any because the goggles around the nose area is airtight.

Xinpei buried under, courtesy of Angela.

 

BRRR….. It was cold from the sea breeze.

 

 

Snorkeling is tiring. Each of the three times we headed out, it lasted for an hour maybe. You feel the strain on your calf muscles as you struggle to swim against the current. The experience is very worth the effort though, because you see many different types of corals and marine life. I bought a single-use underwater camera to capture the reefs and fishes, though the photos didn’t turn out too well. Definitely want to try it again. But not at the expense of getting stung by jellyfish like I was in Bintan about three years back…

The Bahamas was really an enjoyable place to visit, but I wouldn’t recommend going to Grand Bahama Island. Maybe Nassau would be a better choice because GBI didn’t have very much to do. Oh, I have to mention the conch. It seems really common to eat conch here in the Caribbean. Fried conch, steamed conch, conch salad… It comes in many variations.

Our last day on the island, we returned to Port Lucaya to laze at the beach.. And bought some souvenirs and t-shirts for Tanny and Yeh Yang since they didn’t make it to Bahamas. It was a lazy day for us before making our way to the Port to board the cruise back to Fort Lauderdale. Once again, we slept most of it since we didn’t gamble. Cruises are just not my thing.

We arrived at Fort Lauderdale about 9 in the evening, so made our way to Fort Lauderdale Airport to meet Yeh Yang and Tanny. It was good to see them again and recount our experiences from the past three days. Apparently they had a great time in Fort Lauderdale too, glad for them. Hehe, but I was joking with Xinpei and Angela that we had to take nice pictures of Bahamas and also tell them what a good time we had so that we don’t lose out to them. Typical Singaporeans. x)

Our flight was to Chicago early the next morning, so we spent the night at the airport sprawled out on the sofa instead of getting a room for a few hours. We ended up using our laptops to compensate for our lack of connection – we didn’t have an Internet connection at our Bahamas hotel, and our auto-roaming phones didn’t receive a service on the island too.

Tanny was going to Ithaca to attend her friend’s brother’s graduation from Cornell, so we bade her goodbye and went on our way to Chicago…